Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Quade Green Returns Edition

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

The big news of this morning, at least for me, is that Quade Green has apparently decided to return to Lexington for his sophomore season. I’m excited to hear that because Green adds another ballhandler and shooter to Kentucky’s 2018-19 squad, and I was impressed by his effort and growth during a season that saw him forced into a supporting role instead of the starter he was expected to be before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander blew up and took over the starting job at the point.

Injuries and some mid-season struggles challenged Green last season, but he fought through them to become a big factor during Kentucky’s late-season run-up to the the SEC Tournament, including an almost 4-1 assist/turnover ratio and a double-digit point average. He faded a bit in the stretch of the season, but that’s just a freshman for you.

I’m a big fan of Green’s pace. He understands that basketball has to be played with what used to be called “deliberate speed.” He manages to go fast, but not hurry in a way that reminds me of such worthies as Rajon Rondo, Tyler Ulis and yes, the aforementioned Gilgeous-Alexander. It is a nice quality to have in your game.

Quade needs to work on his left hand in the off season. He shoots the ball well from everywhere, his floor awareness is good enough, but he needs to be able to finish confidently with either hand at the rim. His shooting needs to become a touch more consistent — 38% from 3 isn’t bad, but it isn’t good enough for a 6-foot-nothing guard — but put those two things together and he’ll be ready to make some noise.

More from your favorite reporter, Jerry Tipton, can be found here.

Tweet of the Morning

When geese attack:

Frightening. Pull out your four-iron and use it like a lightsaber, dude.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Kash Daniel on Stephen Johnson:

• 3-star Ohio offensive lineman has Kentucky in his top two, along with… wait for it… Indiana.

Kentucky basketball

• Kentucky walk-on Johny David breaks some fake news.
• Coach Cal meets with the National Basketball Players Association to push for new rules that would end “one-and-done.”

Other Kentucky sports

• The CATSPY awards were presented last night. Stephen Johnson won the Heart of a Wildcat award, and the Rifle team won lots of awards, particularly Henrik Larson.
• #18 UK softball takes on NKU, Morehead State for midweek games.
• Justin Lewis is the SEC Pitcher of the Week.
• Kentucky gymnastics coaches get national honors for leading UK to its first NCAA Championships appearance in school history. They ended the season ranked 12th.
• UK baseball drops eight spots in the rankings after a tough week.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Nick Saban retiring? Not so fast…
• Navy to rely on… passing game next season? That’s… :

College basketball

• Chris Johnson of Sports Illustrated grades the major-conference coaching changes this season. Louisville gets the highest mark, and I think that’s deserved. On thing that strikes me is how rapid the fall of the once-formidable Kevin Stallings. He was all the rage at Vanderbilt, and now he’s on the scrap-heap of coaches who traded up and found themselves unequal to the task.

My second observation: What’s the over-under on Penny Hardaway’s first NCAA violation? Memphis had better watch him like a hawk, not because I think he’s untrustworthy, but lots of former pro players who jump straight into college coaches have run afoul of the arcane NCAA rules.

• Former UK player Charles Matthews declares for the NBA Draft, but doesn’t sign an agent yet.

Other sports news

• The five levels of football hell. This is weird, but kind of fun.
• Vintage picture of the day:

• Headline of the day: There’s so much Jazz inside the Thunder’s heads you’d think it was 1920s Harlem.

Not something you’d expect to see from an Internet sports blog.

Also, yeah, pretty much spot on.

• Are we watching a former UK Wildcat become the best basketball player on the planet?

Yes. There, saved you a click.

• There’s actually going to be a book titled “The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino.”

Sounds like a real page-turner

Other news

• Hubble at 28: The telescope that has helped us uncover the mysteries of the universe.
• News you can use: Uranus smells like rotten eggs.

That’s a damn lie.

• Breakthroughs from the far corners of science.