Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Eclipse Aftermath Edition

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies. Yesterday, as you all know, was solar eclipse day, and since the path of totality went through southwestern Kentucky, it was a busy day for folks in that area.

Back when I was in grade school, I remember making a cardboard box eclipse viewer. I recall being underwhelmed, probably because my fascination with science and astronomy had made such mundane astrological occurrences as a solar eclipse seem pale and routine. I confess, that “meh” attitude lingers to this day.

But that wasn’t the case for many, as untold numbers of people went outside to view the rare phenomenon. The next solar eclipse, for those of you interested, will happen just seven years hence.

In non-eclipse news, Kentucky wide receiver Dorian Baker will have to have surgery on his dislocated and broken ankle, and that will likely shelve him for the entire 2017 football season. He may be able to mount a brief comeback at the end, but I’m not optimistic.

Tweet of the Morning

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Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Former UK football commit winds up at Tennessee. Drat.

• Kentucky received votes in the football AP poll. Cool, and rare in recent years.
• How significant will Dorian Baker’s absence be for Kentucky? Well, anytime you lose a senior starter, it’s going to hurt significantly. Are there guys who can step into his role? Maybe. Blake Bone comes to mind, but this one is still going to leave a mark on UK’s offense.
• Boom Williams cut by Bengals, picked up by Denver.
• This SEC East team preview has some good things to say about Kentucky.
• Mark Story says that if it weren’t for bad luck, Kentucky would be bereft of it. All I can cay in response to that is “because Kenutucky football.” Long-time fans know what I mean.

Kentucky basketball

• Nick Richards could make his mark at Kentucky on defense, according to Sports Illustrated.
• For what it’s worth…

• Kevin Knox, Hamidou Diallo ranked among the best at their positions by CBS Sports.

Other Kentucky sports

• Former UK Bat Cats star AJ Reed making noise:

• Former Wildcat Mark Blakefield wins National Capital Open on the PGA Mackenzie Tour.
• UK swimmer Bridgette Alexander wins the bronze medal in the World University Games in 200-meter backstroke.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Word.

• 2017 most overrated and underrated teams in the AP top 25. The author trashes the SEC, which is getting to be de rigeur among football pundits.

College basketball

• New York Post writer Phil Mushnick trashes Mike Krzyzewski for recruiting Marvin Bagley III. Money graf:

Imagine what those desensitized, TV-celebrated “Cameron Crazies” would do to Bagley if he played at Duke for UNC, North Carolina St. or Kentucky. They’d mob-trash him as a one-and-done rent-a-star.

The double-standard received by Duke is an embarrassment to the national sports media when it comes to recruiting. Some of the commentariat are coming around slowly, but it’s like watching an aircraft carrier try to turn on a dime. Hat tip: KSR.

• Kentucky is absent in the top five of CBS Sports’ Candid Coaches poll of the best teams for 2017-18. That’s not really unfair, since we are basically starting over from scratch. We do have a good group, though.

Other sports news

• Kentucky’s former players have taken over the New Orleans Pelicans, and led an organized voluntary practice in Lexington in which 13 Pelicans participated.
• Tiger Woods just can’t get off the negative news schneid. Now, its about nude photos of him, and he’s threatening to sue over someone hacking Lindsey Vonn’s phone (his former girlfriend) to get them.

Here’s my advice: You wanna avoid having pictures of your nude body published? Then don’t take them in the first place, or let your girlfriend/wife/lover/hook-up take them either.

• Nerlens Noel switches agents.

Other news

• Apparently, a lot of dumb people watched the solar eclipse without special glasses. Bad move.
• New observations and experiments help understanding of why graphene is such a good electrical conductor.
• William Shatner says Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had “little to do with Star Trek” after the first 13 episodes.