Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Calipari Kindness Edition

Coach Cal has long been known for his connection to players of all ages and interests, even ones tragically killed in a drive-by shooting.

By Glenn Logan May 28, 2019, 9:09am EDT

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

We are just learning today that John Calipari did a really nice, thoughtful thing back on mother’s day – he gave a jersey and a scholarship offer to the mother of a young basketball player, Taylon Vail from Arkansas who was shot and killed by stray bullets from a drive-by shooting. Consider:

Vail’s son, Taylon, was shot and killed by stray bullets during a drive-by shooting in April. The high school freshman “always wanted to play college basketball,” per the Commerical Appeal, aiming to follow in the footsteps of fellow Arkansas native and former Kentucky guard Malik Monk.

Calipari’s gift on May 27 to Tabatha Vail included a letter and scholarship offer intended for Taylon. Calipari signed the front of the jersey, while the back read “Vail” with Taylon’s No. 35.

I have to say, I was really touched by this. The tragedy of losing a son to a random act of lawless violence is impossible for me to comprehend. Coach Cal’s thoughtful gift to Mrs. Vail is the kind of thing that endears him not only to the Big Blue Nation, but to everyone that interacts with him.

Well done, coach.

Tweet of the Morning

Five-star guard RJ Hampton just announced on @GetUpESPN he will play professionally in Australian NBL next season and forgo college. Was considering Texas Tech, Kansas and Memphis.
— Kyle Boone (@Kyle__Boone) May 28, 2019

Interesting.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

Sports Illustrated has a list of five teams that will backslide in 2019, and UK is on the list. I actually would be surprised if UK was able to duplicate last season’s success.

Kentucky basketball

Other Kentucky sports

Links posts

The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

Rod Bramblett, Auburn’s radio football announcer, and his wife Paula were killed in a two-car accident near campus on Memorial Day. SBNation’s Bill Connelly explains how much he will be missed.

College basketball

Marques Bolden is done with Duke, and staying in the NBA draft. He was never more than a role player with the Blue Devils.
Good news for LSU:

Skylar Mays is withdrawing from the NBA Draft and returning to LSU for his senior year, a source told @CBSSports. The 6-4 guard was the Tigers’ third-leading scorer last season. He averaged 13.4 points in 33.1 minutes per game for the SEC champs.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) May 28, 2019

Impact NBA draft decisions yet to be made. Well, one of them was made, see above.
The NCAA issues notices of allegations to schools involved in the FBI corruption investigation.
Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa has been reinstated by the NCAA, and Mike DeCourcy says it was the right call. I agree.

Other sports news

Rex Chapman’s Twitter account has been suspended for some reason. As per usual, nobody knows why, because Twitter is about as transparent as a black hole.

Other news

Could this tech, inspired by ants, replace GPS? It is certainly intriguing, but subject to … well, the weather, I’d say.
New layers of water ice have been found on Mars’ North Pole.
Colliding lasers double the energy of proton beams.