Monday Quickies: Moving On Up Edition

Happy Monday! I know Monday’s aren’t usually celebratory in nature but today we can be happy because our beloved Kentucky Wildcats football team has risen in the ranks of the AP poll thanks to other top 25 teams losing.

Obviously the Cats didn’t play this week so the bye was a big advantage as they now sit at #14 in the AP Poll.

This week’s game against the Vanderbilt Commodores is crucial because of the current momentum of the team. Even though they lost against the Texas A&M Aggies, that game went into overtime and the Cats had every chance to win that game.

If UK can win Saturday and things break their way as far as teams ahead of them losing, they could very well be knocking on the door of the top 10 this time next week.

But first: Beat Vandy.

Tweets of the Day

To think the players don’t read social media is naive. Some of the replies to Wenyen Gabriel are disappointing as there are some fans that would rather pledge their allegiance to a sports blog/radio show than the program and players.

Rick Pitino is paying someone to tweet this garbage.

Quickies

Can Rhyne Howard inject life into Matthew Mitchell’s team? | Lexington Herald Leader- The last two seasons have been difficult for the UK Hoops team. The tournament has been hard to come by and the attrition has been epidemic. Howard may be the solution to that problem.

Can Calipari find minutes for his big men? | Courier-Journal- Reid Travis, PJ Washington, EJ Montgomery, and Nick Richards are all good enough to start on any team in the country. But only two will find starting spots for the Cats. Can John Calipari spread the minutes around enough to make them all happy?

SEC bowl projections | Saturdays Down South- Kentucky is now projected to play in the Citrus Bowl on January 1st against Penn State. Sign me up for that right now.

Cats sweep the Rebs | UK Athletics- The Kentucky Wildcats volleyball team continues their success in the SEC by dominating Ole Miss.

Bulls sign Tyler Ulis to a two way deal | NBC- It didn’t take long for a team to pick up Tyler Ulis after the Warriors decided to drop him. He will be playing for his hometown NBA team.

More positive bowl projections for Kentucky | CBS- Here the Cats are projected to play Texas in the Peach Bowl on December 29th. That would be fun.

Turn your attention back to football | Cats Pause- Now that Big Blue Madness is over, we are still three weeks out from the first basketball game vs. Duke. The football team is in prime position to make history so let’s get back on board with Stoops’ Troops.

Vanderbilt vs. Florida by the numbers | Anchor of Gold- Vanderbilt let Florida gain over 600 yards, 346 of those yards on the ground. That favors Kentucky.

Kentucky 15th in ESPN Power Rankings | ESPN- The game vs. Vandy must not be overlooked.

15. Kentucky (5-1, 3-1 SEC)

Week 7 result: open week

What’s next: vs. Vanderbilt (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

The Wildcats had a week off to put their heartbreaking overtime loss to Texas A&M behind them, and they still have a shot at winning the East. They get back to it against Vanderbilt, which nearly upset Florida on Saturday.