Friday Quickies: Softball Lexington Regional Edition

Good morning and happy Friday. Let's get right to it.

Tweet of the Morning:

Two major sites not crowning Duke the crootin champ. https://t.co/NMSlLQqbIL

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) May 19, 2016

UK did land five 5 star players despite Marques Bolden deciding to take his talents to Raleigh-Durham. I've been trying to wrap my head around the attention and hype Bolden received in recent weeks. He's not a transcendent prep talent - like Anthony Davis, Shabazz Muhammad, Karl Anthony Towns, or Andrew Wiggins - and most services rank him around 10th for the 2016 Class, and yet the build-up to his commitment reached disproportional heights.

Slow sports month? The best available player announcing? Something else?

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• The numbers predict the season.
• I think UK and UofL playing each other at the Kentucky Motor Speedway would make for great spectacle. I do not want to imagine what traffic would be like on I-71 within 25 miles of the Sparta exit.

Kentucky basketball

• The women's team is getting a three star point guard originally committed to Louisiana Tech.
• Don't be a jerk to high schoolers.

Other Kentucky sports

• The softball team begins their tournament run today at 1:30 EST against Butler. Rachel Lawson thought the UK program could be strong nationally, and her vision is coming to fruition.
• The baseball team isn't doing as well. They lost to Mizzou 9-3 yesterday in the opening game of a critical three game series that will determine their post-season availability. Game two today has been moved to noon due to weather concerns. UK needs to win these next two games.
• UK T&F freshman Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (great name, btw) is receiving votes for the Bowerman Watch List. Recall Kendra Harrison was a finalist last year. Speaking of T&F, the East and West Prelims are now out.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Friday Wildcat Links

College football

• It's an important year for Charlie Strong at Texas.
• Baylor football could be in big trouble from the head coach all the way up to the school's president. SB Nation's Baylor site coverage here.

College basketball

• Villanova's Jay Wright wants agents to help with draft decisions. Feels weird that Cal isn't the one leading the charge on an innovative idea.
• Call timeouts while inbounding the ball?

Other sports news

• The Orlando Magic have hired Frank Vogel, and the New York Knicks have hired Jeff Hornacek. I do say, both seem like good hires. Sort of surprised especially if Hornacek's hire means The Triangle offense is dead.
• The Milwaukee Bucks' players had financial data leaked. The IRS and FBI have been notified.
  
• Cal freshman Jaylen Brown is bucking the system.
• Cleveland destroyed Toronto last night.
• The Preakness runs tomorrow evening. Here's a breakdown.

Other news

• Mega tsunamis on Mars.
• (content removed).
• Bacon! I've recently gotten into curing meats. I just did some quick turnaround lox that was delicious. Next, I'm going to try pig cheek and duck leg. Any expert curers can to share their experiences and advice?
• People like nature when it's cute and cuddly, but nature rarely is cute and cuddly.