Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Rose Bowl Edition

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome back to work and to the Tuesday Morning Quickies. I know none of you are particularly happy to be back in the grind, but do remember it’s only for four days this week. A tiny additional holiday benefit.

I hope you all got to watch the Rose Bowl last night. It was far and away the best bowl of an otherwise rather pedestrian bowl season. Yes, some will point out that the Rose Bowl this year is just another of the stand-alone games that really mean nothing, but that is rarely ever true of the granddaddy of bowl games. Last night’s game lived up to its billing, and more.

Pat Forde, for once, gets it right:

It was chaotic, cathartic, frantic, fearless and almost endless – a 4-hour, 12-minute melodrama marked by whiplash-inducing momentum shifts. There weren’t just lead changes; there were sea changes. There were more points scored than in any Rose Bowl. And the entire splashy spectacle wasn’t decided until the very last play.

The poise of the young USC freshman QB Sam Darnold was inspiring. The guts of Penn State’s QB Trace McSorley equally so. The great catches, the stunning picks, the bad calls, even the drama of USC losing its best defensive player to targeting late in the second half. It was an amazing football game that had all the drama, power and pathos of the entire NCAA football season wrapped into one giant super-tasty enchilada with red and yellow sauce.

This Rose Bowl was a game to remember.

Tweet of the Morning

UK opens as a 14-pts favorite over Texas A&M Tuesday at Rupp Arena according to Vegas oddsmakers. Aggies have been relentless with the Cats.

— Oscar Combs (@wildcatnews) January 3, 2017

And:

Mychal Mulder has played nine or more minutes in four of Kentucky's last five games. A piece to watch moving forward in Lexington. #BBN

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 3, 2017

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Despite the loss to Georgia Tech, Kentucky football fans have plenty to be happy about. That’s no doubt true. It would be a little bit better if Boom Williams were not declaring for the NFL Draft, but I understand why he would.

• Kentucky football 2016 year in review.

• Hmm…

  Food for thought. Through 4 years, Mark Stoops has one less victory at Kentucky than Hal Mumme

  — Darren (@BashBrother1) January 2, 2017

Kentucky basketball

• Coach Rick Pitino to be a guest — on John Calipari’s podcast. Is this what Bill Murray meant in his famous Ghostbusters ad-lib “Dogs and cats, living together … Mass hysteria!”

• Lack of consistent point guard play is a major factor in why Texas A&M is only 8-4 right now. 3 of those four losses were by six points or less.

• After his missed free-throw assist to Isaiah Briscoe’s triple-double, Derek Willis is mulling the idea of practicing misses. In close games, a deliberately missed free throw can be the difference, although more often it’s the accidental misses that hurt the most.

• All-Access video from Camp Cal:

• Kyle Tucker is wondering of Tai Wynyard is the backup big man Kentucky needs. I don’t know, but we’ll probably be seeing more of him as he improves.

• For the second time this season, UK men’s basketball sweeps the weekly SEC awards. This time it’s Malik Monk as Freshman and Isaiah Briscoe as Player of the Week.

Other Kentucky sports

• Women lose a tough one to Tennessee in Knoxville. Kentucky’s lack of size really kills them when they don’t shoot it well. Props to Taylor Murray, the diminutive sophomore point guard — she really played well.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Oklahoma mauls Auburn in the Cotton Bowl. The Rose Bowl, however, was an instant classic. What an excellent, fun-filled football game that was!

• Cincinnati has reportedly hired former UK coach Joker Phillips to coach wide receivers.

College basketball

• Duke coach Mike Krzyzewsky has to have back surgery, and will miss about four weeks. We hope Coach K has a successful procedure and a quick recovery. Jeff Capl will take over in his absence.

• Speaking of Duke, Gary Parrish says that given all their troubles, Duke is no longer the NCAA championship favorite.

• Seth Davis’ Hoop Thoughts — buy/sell rankings

• Duke, North Carolina both lose to start the ACC season.

• Who’s the best point guard in college basketball? It says something about the quality of the position when De’Aaron Fox only manages an honorable mention.

• Team Speed Kills: Kentucky and Florida represent the SEC in the week nine college basketball polls.

Other sports news

• DeAndre Liggins, the unlikely NBA Finals X-factor. Consider:

Cleveland transforms into an elite defense when Liggins swallows opposing point guards whole. He possesses the quickness to hound shifty lead ball handlers and the size to switch any high ball screen as well. And when it comes to Cleveland’s most essential matchup, Durant’s Golden State Warriors, Liggins can nearly neutralize Stephen Curry, as evidenced on Christmas Day.

To Kentucky fans, this sounds vaguely familiar.

Other news

• Nice

  Happy birthday dear @bellhooks, thank you for welcoming me to the @bellhooksinst this week and introducing me to beautiful Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/0AVLqYfGzJ

  — Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) September 25, 2016

• Has the “impossible” EmDrive started a new space race between the USA and China? I hope so.

• What’s the biggest discovery of 2016? Grav waves. Check out this video to see why.