Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Just Over A Month Until Football Edition

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

It may be hard to believe, but we are just over one month away from the beginning of the 2019 college football season. Naturally, season predictions have begun. We learned recently that ESPN’s FPI does not think highly of Kentucky this season, picking the Wildcats to win just five games and only one in conference.

That would place Kentucky outside bowl eligibility for the first time since 2015 after three straight appearances, including a record-setting season last year. My old friend GregNJ from back in the days when I was the head honcho around here had this to allow:

And, backing up his position is Bill Bender at The Sporting News, who likes UK to face off against Virginia in the Music City Bowl, always a likely destination for Kentucky football in the post-season.

It’s axiomatic around CFB circles that UK will not be able to repeat last season’s magic, but all too many seem to think that Kentucky is primed to take a big step back.

But not everyone. And what many are missing is the winning culture that is beginning to take hold at Kentucky. That will matter more than the naysayers think, I expect.

Tweet of the Morning

I’d say this is crazy, but... it’s SEC football.

Another thought: the average non-CFB fan must think to himself when he sees these, “How many scholarships could be funded with the money required to do this?”

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• 2020 wide receiver commit Isayah Cummings talks about his relationship with the coaches and his expectations for the season.

Kentucky basketball

• A closer look at three intriguing 2020 prospects that have recently emerged.
• Ben Roberts lists the top ten most impactful recruits of the John Calipari era. The first six or seven are rote, but 8-10 are a bit out of the box. Well, maybe not 10...

Some additional comments in response to a question:

• Daniel Orton returns to UK for the first time since he left college.

Other Kentucky sports

• UK golfer Cullan Brown puts in a strong showing at the Barbasol Championship at Nicholasville this past weekend.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

• The best players Kentucky will face in 2019.

College basketball

• Why Sean Miller and Arizona will survive the recruiting fallout from the NCAA.

Other sports news

• Man, the weather in Northern Ireland can really suck, and playing through it is a different level of challenge:

Makes you really appreciate how tough The Open can be, and what a monumental final round Shane Lowry put together while in the lead.

• Pelicans officially resign Darius Miller.
• Coach Cal thinks Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can help the OKC Thunder rebuild. SGA is still one of the greatest success stories of UK basketball when comparing pre-season expectations to actual performance.
• Remember Maximum Security, the horse that finished first in the Derby and got taken down? He had another steward’s inquiry in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. This time, his victory survived.

Other news

• The legendary NASA flight director Chris Kraft, Jr., has died only days after the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Godspeed, Chris.
• Scientists discover new chemical reaction that may explain how cellular life began on earth.
• Some scientists do not agree with NASA’s assertion that terraforming mars is impossible.

Well, I know it’s possible because I saw it in the movies!