Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Preakness Edition

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, to the Saturday Morning Quickies. There’s a lot to talk about for a Saturday in May, not the least of which are the Bat Cats and the Preakness.

First, the Preakness — Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming looks to back up his stellar performance on the first Saturday in May with a win in Baltimore. Derby winners often do well at Pimlico, but a number of people think that the Todd Pletcher charge doesn’t have the stuff to get it done on a fast track.

I disagree. This looks like a good setup for the Derby champ, and he’s shown the ability to get ahead and stay there. I think he gets it done today.

Second, we have the Kentucky Wildcats baseball team. Last night, the Wildcats had a chance to place themselves at least in a tie for the SEC regular-season championship with LSU. They still have a chance to tie the Gators for the SEC East title, but would need help from Mississippi State to tie the SEC overall with LSU and Florida.

Last night’s game was a mess for Kentucky, with Florida’s Brady Singer dominating Bat Cat hitting pitching by pitching five no-hit innings and Kentucky pitching throwing the ball like Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn before he got his glasses. By the time Kentucky’s pitching got on track, it was 11-0 Florida and the Wildcats were never in it.

Adding to the tension of the game was Nick Mingione’s ejection in, I believe it was, the sixth inning. It was a classic attempt to fire up the team by getting ejected, and Mingione was complaining about a call that was correctly made — Mingione thought batsman Marcus Carson was hit by a pitch, but the replay clearly showed he wasn’t. Check it out below:

UK's Nick Mingione discussing dinner plans with the umpire... (1st ejection as a head coach). pic.twitter.com/esDeD677Di

— Lee K. Howard (@HowardWKYT) May 20, 2017

So today, Kentucky finds itself in a must-win scenario on the road for a piece of the SEC East and a chance for a piece of the SEC. Should be high drama, so don’t miss it (SECN+). First pitch at 1 PM today, Kentucky is projected to start right-hander Justin Lewis (6-2, 3.23 ERA) and the Gators righty Jackson Kowar (9-0, 3.92 ERA).

Tweet of the Morning

Mingione's first career ejection was a treat. (If you share my affection for people going absolutely bonkers.) https://t.co/GJ67zdP9u0

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_SEC) May 20, 2017

Heh. He did go bonkers, no question. If it was an act, as most suspect, it was an Oscar-level performance.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• A look at Kentucky football’s in-state offers.

• Connor Riley writing for SEC Country says Mark Stoops has altered Kentucky football’s direction for the better.

• Kirk Herbstreit walks back his comment that Kentucky football was "like an appetizer before the real thing starts."

• Hal Mumme vs. Mark Stoops — Keith Peel writing for Vaught’s Views says there are "interesting similarities."

Kentucky basketball

• Mohamed Bamba’s rationale for going to Texas may help Coach Cal land more recruits. It seems Bamba developed a relationship with Shaka Smart while Smart was coaching USA basketball — a position Calipari now finds himself in.

• Former UK player Heshimu Evans will be joining East Jessamine’s girls basketball staff.

• Calipari says he’s "ecstatic" about next year’s freshman class. I’m pretty happy with them as well.

• Sacha Killeya-Jones is ready to make an impact, according to "sources close" to the UK basketball program.

• Kentucky missed on Mo Bamba, so what’s next?

• Philadelphia, with the third pick in the NBA Draft, is reportedly looking hard at Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox.

• De’Aaron Fox is said to be hoping for Sacramento, in part because of the presence of Willie Cauley-Stein.

Other Kentucky sports

• Kentucky Softball (national #14 seed) beats DePaul to surge into the winner’s bracket of the Lexington Regional.

• Women’s basketball gets a huge commitment for 2018 in Rhyne Howard. UK’s 2018 recruiting class is shaping up to be one of the best of Matthew Mitchell’s career.

Links posts

• John Clay’s Big Blue Links

• The Leach Report: Saturday Wildcat Links.

College football

• Kirby Smart embracing favorite talk for the SEC East. Georgia is likely to be much better this year, but I wonder if Kentucky might have a say.

• Holly Rowe, longtime ESPN football reporter, has had a return of her malignant melanoma after two years in remission. This strikes very close to home for me. May is Melanoma Awareness month, and I urge all of you to sunscreen, stay out of the sun where possible, and don’t even think about going to a tanning bed.

  Related: CBS This Morning co-host Norah O’Donnell diagnosed with melanoma. It can happen to anyone, and it is more directly related to tanning than lung cancer is to cigarette smoking.

College basketball

• The art of the deal in college basketball.

• Ten NBA Draft decisions that will have a huge impact on college basketball for 2017-18.

• Billy Gillispie is coaching at Ranger College in Texas again. Reports of his retirement were evidently in error.

Other sports news

• Boston loses to Cleveland at home in Game 2. Worse, star point guard Isaiah Thomas has aggravated a hip injury and is questionable for Game 3.

Other news

• Four black hole images from NASA. Awesome stuff.

• Is Mount St. Helens recharging? That’s scary.

• Scientists use stem cells to create functional artificial blood. Faster, please.