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Quickies: Vandy Gameday Edition

Cats learning ‘winning’ basketball. Winter madness. Willis' rise. Camron Justice's return to Rupp. More.

By Jason Marcum

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Kentucky is back home today as Vanderbilt comes to Rupp Arena for the first of two matchups between the old SEC East rivals.

This, while snow has caused a state of emergency in the Bluegrass, so hopefully you are having a safe and warm weekend wherever you are.

Also, your national champion UK cheerleaders will be honored during today's game, and they deserve to have a standing ovation from what hopes to be a rocking Rupp Arena crowd, despite inclement weather.

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Your Quickies

Class in Session as UK still Learning how to play - CoachCal.com
Academic classes at UK were canceled Friday as Lexington was blanketed with heavy snow throughout the day. But as UK students stayed at home and enjoyed their day off, the men’s basketball team was hard at work in its own version of a classroom: the court.

Vanderbilt's Camron Justice no stranger to Rupp Arena - The Tennessean
Justice, the third-leading scorer (3,588 points) in Kentucky high school basketball history, shrugs his shoulders at his Rupp Arena experience, but he’s been there far more than “a couple of times.” He guided Knott County to six state tournament games over four seasons at Rupp Arena.

Cats take small step toward ‘winning’ basketball as Vandy comes to town | Lexington Herald-Leader
A much-needed road victory over Arkansas on Thursday does not yet constitute a complete turnaround for John Calipari’s expectation-confounding Wildcats, but it’s a start. “In this game, we just said, ‘Man, you gotta refuse to lose. You gotta listen. You gotta fight,”’ Calipari said.

Unusual suspects lead UK to win at Arkansas - LCJ
Just as precisely zero people predicted, Derek Willis and Skal Labissiere were the spark Kentucky needed to give John Calipari his Bud Walton Arena breakthrough on Thursday night.

Listen to Darin Hinshaw on KSR | Kentucky Sports Radio
New co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Darin Hinshaw, made his KSR debut Friday morning, and he made a good first impression. He also talked about new UK passer Stephen Johnson, but did also tell Drew Barker, “All eyes are on you right now.”

Calipari: 'Willis makes us a better team' - 24/7
After his performance against Auburn and a strong week of practice, Derek Willis made his second career start against Arkansas, and made it count.

QBs a question mark for SEC again headed into 2016 | The State
The 2015 season was supposed to be the down year for SEC quarterback play, but it might end up looking like the good ol’ days this fall with as many as 10 of the conference’s teams breaking in new starters.

SEC Power Rankings Week 11 - Rock M Nation
The writers of the SEC SB Nation sites get together to rank the 14 teams of the SEC. Slipping into third, Kentucky still remains in Tier 1, though the loss to Auburn, on the road or otherwise, is troubling.

College sports discusses ending NCAA academic standards for freshmen - CBSSports.com
There's very preliminary chatter within college sports about eliminating NCAA eligibility standards for freshman. Frankly, there should be competitive advantages for schools that graduate more players than others as opposed to only providing penalties to schools with low APR scores.

Young NBA Cats Playing Quite Good: Kentucky Sports Connection
While Boogie, AD and Wall get all of the attention, the newest NBA Wildcats have been making a lot of noise themselves.

Winter storm Jonas making crucial football recruiting visits difficult - SBNation.com
Winter storms can throw a wrench in college football recruits' visit plans. Virginia Tech has already cancelled its big recruiting weekend due to the inclement weather.

An ‘iPhone 5SE’ might come as soon as March | The Verge
Apple is believed to be working on a new 4-inch iPhone, claims to have details on what we should expect. The new phone is reported to be an improved version of the iPhone 5S.

Bevin declares emergency, activates National Guard as snow buries Kentucky | Lexington Herald-Leader
Gov. Matt Bevin declared a state of emergency and activated the Kentucky National Guard on Friday afternoon as a massive winter storm blanketed the state with ice and snow.

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