Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Basketball-Football Overlap Edition

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies.

This has to be one of the best times for UK sports aficionados every year — the middle of football season and the beginning of basketball season’s earliest stages. This weekend will see the first of the football-basketball back-to-backs — basketball on Friday and football on Saturday. Exciting times.

Speaking first of basketball: I was encouraged by what I saw in the Blue-White game on Sunday. Kentucky vs. Kentucky showed that a lot of the problems UK had to live with last year will be addressed to some degree in this season’s team. Let’s list those weaknesses and their remedy just to keep us straight:

• Offensive efficiency — Kentucky suffered from an average 2-point and 3-point percentage, coupled with a well below-average free throw percentage.
• 3-point shooting — nothing can up your OE like a high 3-point shooting percentage, and judging from what we saw, UK should be much better at range.
• 3-point attempts — Kentucky attempted the eighth-fewest 3-pointers in Division I last year, 344th out of 351. That will change, and coupled with a better percentage, should up OE significantly.
• 2-point percentage — with the improvement of Nick Richards and the matriculation of Reid Travis and EJ Montgomery, that percentage is likely to improve.
• Turnovers — Kentucky’s ballhandling was barely average last season. The return of Quade Green and PJ Washington, two of the biggest turnover culprits as freshman as well as a plethora of talented guards suggests this will improve. Live ball turnovers were a particular problem last season.

I can’t address the defense at this point. With pests like Keldon Johnson and Ashton Hagans, as well as length like Richardson, Travis and Montgomery, odds seem in favor of an improvement in DE as well.

Football Remarks

There is now a buzz about the possibility of Terry Wilson sharing time at QB this weekend because of his lackluster play in the last two games. I am of two minds about this — I like to see coaches stick with their choice, generally, but I also can’t fault the staff for being proactive about what appears to be a significant chink in Kentucky’s armor.

Wilson appears to have hit a bit of a wall, and his confidence looks a little shaken, if you read between the lines of Coach Stoops’ comments the other day. One thing a QB cannot afford is a confidence problem, and that may be the thing that most worries the staff about his ongoing difficulties.

We shall see.

Tweet of the Morning

Great, kids. Don’t get cocky.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Top QB in the state of Kentucky is facing a dilemma — is run-heavy UK the best landing spot for a passing quarterback?
• Mark Stoops will be playing multiple QB’s on Saturday. Terry Wilson’s underwhelming performance lately has apparently caused significant concern among the staff, and Stoops’ suggestion that mistakes are affecting Wilson’s play is troubling.
• Some new bowl projections for UK football. God, I hope it’s the Peach Bowl. I’d go to that game, I have family down there.
• Stoops says Mizzou is dangerous. Well, yeah, most any SEC team on the road can be safely classified as “dangerous,” especially if your offense is stuck in the mud.
• Well, this isn’t surprising.

Kentucky basketball

• John Calipari is not a fan of the new G-League contracts. In my opinion, Cal has much better ideas, and the NCAA and NBA should listen to him.
• The AP has UK ranked #2 behind Kansas for the preseason. Duke only garnered 4 first-place votes, which is a surprise to me.

Other Kentucky sports

• Khalil ElMedkhar named CUSA offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.
• Women’s hoops player Dorie Harrison out indefinitely for personal health reasons.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

• This week in schadenfruede: Ohio State has the anger spotlight all to themselves.

Related: Ohio St. has an Urban Meyer problem.

• In this moment, it’s hard to argue against this.

• Revenge of WAKEYLEAKS? Nobody deserves the pain more than Bobby Petrino.

College basketball

• Which first-year coaches are best positioned for success in college basketball this year? I’m going to guess Dan Hurley at UConn or Chris Mack at Louisville. Both have programs that have suffered lately, particularly UConn.
• New G-league contracts could spell the end of the one-and-done era. Maybe, but I’m skeptical.
• This is a good get for Mississippi St. Kid had an offer from Arizona and looks like a sleeper.

• Former Alabama player Braxton Key is immediately eligible to play for Virginia. Lots of celebrating in Hooville today, I’m sure.
• Rising Missouri star Jontay Porter blows out his ACL, is done for the season. Horrible news.
• The first college basketball corruption trial is now with the jury.

Other sports news

• Lakers drop to 0-3 after losing thriller to San Antonio. So far, LeBron has not been the cure for the Laker’s woes, but it’s early.

Other news

• Life on Mars might exist — under the surface. I just had a War of the Worlds flashback …
• Grav waves!
• Northwestern University and SDSU researchers think they have a better grasp of how black widow spiders create such strong webs.