College basketball was stuffed with upsets and top-25 losses this week. No. 2 UCLA fell to No. 21 Oregon, No. 5 Duke lost to Virginia Tech, No. 6 Louisville got upset by No. 12 Virginia and then went on to beat No. 16 Indiana. Meanwhile, No. 12 Virginia got beat by No. 20 Florida State. Also, No. 9 North Carolina lost to Georgia Tech, No. 10 Creighton lost to No. 1 Villanova (not surprising), No. 13 Butler lost to St. John’s and No. 22 USC lost to No. 21 Oregon. And to cap it all off, No. 15 Purdue lost to Minnesota yesterday. It was one heck of a week, and Kentucky should get a nice little bump in the rankings due to all these losses.
Top tweets
So to recap, No. 2 UCLA, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 UofL , No. 9 UNC, No. 10 Creighton, No. 12 Virginia, No. 13 Butler, No. 16 IU all lost this week.
— Jason Marcum (@marcum89) December 31, 2016
Reassess-- Reaffirm-- Reattack
— Mark Stoops (@UKCoachStoops) January 2, 2017
Thank You BBN for your support, looking forward to 2017! #DONTFLINCH pic.twitter.com/8gPmUKrGZc
Your quickies
Grading Kentucky’s bowl performance - SEC Country
In summary, the offense was really bad and the defense wasn’t bad at all. In the end it was an average game, and it wasn’t enough to keep it close.
First bowl in six years gives UK a starting point - USA Today
It was an ugly loss, but the progress made this year has set the foundation for a successful rebuild at Kentucky.
Texas A&M-Kentucky preview - Yahoo
Kentucky will play their first home SEC game of the year against an A&M team that offered great competition last year.
Lady Cats fall to Tennessee - Yahoo
The No. 17 Wildcats fell to a red-hot Tennessee Volunteers team on the road. They kept it close, but the Vols held on to win their fifth straight.
Photos from Kentucky-Tennessee - Knoxville News Sentinel
Packers go on a streak, take the NFC North - NFL
In a miraculous occurrence, the Green Bay Packers ran the table, winning six straight games to take their division and make the playoffs. They finished off the sixgame streak to close out the season with a win over the Detroit Lions last night. In the process, Aaron Rodgers made himself a legitimate contender for the NFL MVP award.
San Diego Chargers fire Mike McCoy - ESPN
The coach firings are coming. McCoy is one of the first to go, as he went 28-38 with the Chargers, and the team failed to keep up in a highly competitive AFC West this year. The Chargers have a lot of uncertainty; their franchise doesn’t have a clear direction, they may be moving out of San Diego and they now need a new coach.
The San Francisco 49ers are cleaning house - Fox Sports
The 49ers have fired head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke, and they’ll be in full-on rebuild mode going forward.
Reggie Bush sets the saddest NFL rushing record ever - Washington Post
Bush didn’t get a single carry in the Buffalo Bills’ last game of the season, which means he finished the year with negative 3 rushing yards.
Aqib Talib snatched Michael Crabtree’s chain during a game - Denver Post
Aqib Talib is a bit out of control at times, and he showed it again. He got into Crabtree’s face and tried to snatch his chain off simply because he wanted it.
Why the Chiefs are the biggest threat to the Patriots - Fox Sports
It has seemed for awhile as though it’s the Patriots and everyone else in the AFC, but the Chiefs could be a legitimate threat to the Pats on the road to the Super Bowl.
Mariah Carey’s bad performance at NYE was fitting end to 2016 - Washington Post