Thursday Quickies: NFL Draft Edition

The NFL Draft is upon us. Unfortunately, we won’t see any Cats taken tonight. But we’re eventually hoping to see Jon Toth and Boom Williams drafted once we hit the weekend portion of the draft. Toth is the only Cat expected to be drafted, but Williams has a chance, though it’s a small one, to hear his name called.

Tweets of the day

The Bat Cats won’t stop

Your quickies

Looking ahead to Jon Toth’s NFL future - KSTV
Toth is currently the only Cats projected to be drafted.

Boom Williams’ path to the pros - Stack
On the eve of the NFL Draft, a look at how Boom Williams (a draft longshot) got to where he is now.

Derek Willis says Sacha Killeya-Jones has best potential of returning players - KSR
He has to be right. A McDonald’s All-American that was apart of last year’s highly-touted recruiting class. He might not have played much, but he’s been improving.

Kentucky baseball shuts out Xavier - SEC Country
The Bat Cats keep rolling with a good mid-week win. Freshman Zack Thompson had a dominant outing, throwing six shutout innings in his start.

Kentucky softball downs UT-Martin - Herald-Leader
Meagan Prince struck out a career-high 14 batters in the Lady Cats’ 8-2 win over UT-Martin. That’s the sixth win in a row for UK softball.

Mark Smith picks Illinois - Chicago Tribune
The overwhelming majority of national experts predicted this to happen. Kentucky could’ve used him to add depth at the guard spots, but he’ll stay in his home state.

Lynch, Seattle and Oakland have a deal - NFL.com
Despite having told us he was done, Beast Mode couldn’t stay away for too long. He’s back with his hometown team, and I think the entire football world is excited, to say the least.

ESPN laid off 100 people - NJ.com
It’s a sad day for the sports media giant. Some of sports media’s most respectable names are now without a job, although probably not for long (hopefully). This opens up a whole new conversation about what’s next for an ESPN that seems to be bleeding money and scrambling desperately to cut costs. But for now, I’m hoping people like Jayson Stark find another job.

Character has become a huge deal in the NFL Draft - CBS Sports
So much so, that scouts spend a lot of time on it. Off the field issues have hampered way too many potential superstars.

Tyronn Lue not worried about LeBron’s increased postseason minutes - ESPN
I would hope not. No matter Lebron James’ age, he lives for the postseason, and over recent years he’s found an extra gear in the playoffs that makes us forget his age and how much he’s played.

What we learned from day 12 of the NBA Playoffs - FOX Sports
Flopping, scheduling issues and the fact that Rajon Rondo is the real coach of the Chicago Bulls. That’s what we learned from day 12.

Will the Cleveland Browns fix their problems on draft night? - Washington Post
I seriously doubt it, but maybe a little progress will be made.