Kentucky Wildcats Friday Quickies: Michael Wilbon Edition

Good morning and happy Friday, ladies and gentlemen. There's hopefully a three-day weekend ahead of you that will provide respite from the daily grind.

Earlier this week, Michael Wilbon filed a piece for the WWL's new vertical The Undefeated. In it, Wilbon modestly surmises, on behalf of the entire black community, that "blacks are not feeling the sports metric movement." I have a few brief thoughts in response.

Wilbon makes the mistake of many columnists assuming their personal, read anecdotal, experiences means something wider. In this case, Wilbon seemingly talked to his friends in the media and at a barbershop. If one draws broad conclusions based on personal experience, one tends to get skewed results. For example, almost every single person I encounter on a daily basis is obsessed with "the worst regional foodstuff" in America and is a terrible driver. These observations only mean I live in Ohio, and not something broader about the US or the human species (thank God).

Even beyond personal experience, it's not surprising Wilbon can't find anyone in the black community that's into sports metrics. I know because conducting the same exercise wouldn't yield anyone in my bougie white circle that's into it either. Talking advanced stats in most sports remains niche regardless of skin color.

I've used advanced stats here at ASoB and at TSK for both football and basketball for nearly three years, and those posts never drive traffic compared to "a call to arms" or "the sky is falling"-style posts that I and others have published. The numbers aren't even close. ASoB is lucky to have an annual Fan Post based on log5 analysis, but it garners little interest. Our resident professional mathematician's contributions towards quantitative analysis via a UK prism draws the most eyeballs but that's uncommon.

Recently, after my advanced stats season preview post, I was graciously informed that "liars figure and figures lie" (As an aside: how easy life must be when guided by Manichean impulse). That particular opinion reflects the mainstream, is not unique to the black community, but that doesn't make it uniform. Exceptions abound and there are growing numbers of fans who are applying stats to sports besides baseball, where advanced stats became mainstream. It's dubious that increasing acceptance is only happening outside the black community.

Via Deadspin, Bomani Jones makes similar and separate points worth considering (e.g. stats seem indecipherable to a lot of readers but the math behind most is pretty basic - "just changing the denominator"). I also recommend checking out that comment section for more goodness. I'd forgotten Seth Davis declaring Virginia's men's basketball team was "deceptively uptempo", and his subsequent defensiveness at being proven wrong. Fun times!

Tweets of the Morning:

"…football coaches or staff met directly w/ a complainant or parent of complainant & did not report the misconduct." pic.twitter.com/WYFH9QrRsr

— Kami Mattioli (@kmattio) May 26, 2016

Pepper Hamilton findings in a nutshell: pic.twitter.com/IpGfKONj1D

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) May 26, 2016

baylor sports, since 2003:

- murder coverup
- massive sexual assault coverup
- tried to deport a player for picking another school

— Kyle Robbins (@kylerrobbins) May 26, 2016

The fact that Baylor admitted to violating Title IX cannot be overstated. Could lead to huge and devastating sanctions from the feds

— Brandon Larrabee (@BecomingBrandon) May 26, 2016

Gross. Will the NCAA act against Baylor as it did against Penn State? Mark Emmert's power now exists on the serrated edge of morale dilemmas given precedent.

Palate cleanser:

Photoshoppers so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. pic.twitter.com/6AYaJFjgWd

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) May 26, 2016

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Landon Young hopes to be state champ in two track and field events along with his wrestling state championship.
• Justin Rowland at Cats Illustrated asks which game is the most important to the upcoming season? Also, it's 100 days until the season begins. Some of the skill players are cl

Kentucky basketball

• It's interesting to look back at recruiting "misses" to see if UK actually "missed" out. I've been documenting the same for football "misses" under Stoops that will publish next May (h/t WW).
• KSR asks, "How will Marcus Lee be remembered?"

Other Kentucky sports

• The men's tennis team's season ended yesterday when William Bushamuka lost to the top-seeded player in the round of 32. The future is bright for the sophomore.
  
• At the East Prelims, four Wildcats advanced to the final round in Eugene, Oregon. Well done!
  
• The men's golf team begins the National Championship today. A sophomore from Clay County has been the team's catalyst. Not to be outdone, the women's team has a player who qualified for the US Open this summer.
  

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Friday Wildcat Links

College football

• ODB reax to Art Briles firing at Baylor. More from Fox Sports Bruce Feldman.
• Recruits are liking the texting deregulation.
• LSU's mascot has cancer.

College basketball

• How CM Newton changed the SEC from The Undefeated.
  
• Melo Trimble is returning to Maryland.
• NBA Draft deadline winners and losers from SI.

Other sports news

• Clickhole's, "An Oral History of the 1998 Major League Baseball Home Run Chase" is the most important link in this entire post. You have no idea the role quicksand, trail mix, Martin Scorsese, and a peacock named "Judas" were to that summer when baseball captured America's attention.
• Last night, the Warriors came out to plaaaayyy. They defeated the Thunder last 120-111. More analysis from the mothership.
  
• Gymnast Simone Biles could become a household name this summer in Rio.

Other news

• American kids are too smart for ESPN's Spelling Bee competition.
• The 20 scariest horror movies of the last ten years.
• Speaking of horror, the octopi are rising from their briny kingdoms, to overthrow the human race. It's a well-known fact that cephalopods will not harbor negotiations, and only speak the language of force. They must be dealt with before their alliance with house cats becomes formalized tipping the planetary balance of power. Do your part and eat their ranks. When you don't cook octopus, you cook your own future. Enlist today!