Saturday Quickies: Beat Auburn Edition

Good morning and welcome to another edition of the Saturday Quickies.

The Kentucky Wildcats are back on the road this week to take on the Auburn Tigers. ESPN’s College Game Day will be on campus to preview the big game.

The Cats have won 8 of their last 9 games and will be looking to add another Quad 1 win to their resume. There aren’t many teams in the country with wins as good as UK’s. But there aren’t many top 25 teams with the types of losses UK has.

For whatever reason this team seems to thrive in these tough road environments. They have performed well at Arkansas, Georgia, and Texas Tech. The one SEC road loss was suffered at South Carolina but that had more to do with Kentucky’s play than it did the crowd.

I doubt the Cats can get a two seed at this point but a three is a likely outcome if they can to continue to win. Today will be a great step in that direction.

Tweets of the Day

This was big news last night. Vince Marrow has his fingerprints all over the success of the UK football program. He’s about to get PAID.

Get HYPE!

Came across this one on Jay Bilas’ timeline. Really cool.

Quickies

Kahlil Whitney looking towards the NBA Draft | Cats Pause- This is disappointing news. The more that comes out, the more it is obvious that the people surrounding Kahlil Whitney are giving him terrible advice. And he’s not innocent in this. It’s also become obvious that he had no interest at working while he was at UK.

Gearing up for the stretch run in the SEC | Saturday’s Down South- It’s already February and conference season is heading into the final stretch. Interesting discussion here as LSU and Kentucky are emerging as the class of the conference.

Cats eager to face next road challenge | UK Athletics- The game at Auburn may be the hottest ticket in the country. And I’m sure there will be a hat, a t-shirt, a pompom, or free beers for the crowd. Maybe they will get one of each.

Key informant working with the NCAA | Sports Illustrated- Marty Blazer’s activities sparked the FBI investigation into the college basketball scandal and now he is cooperating with the NCAA. Louisville, Kansas, Arizona, and others will be shaking in their boots.

Top 25 picks | CBS- Everybody but Chip Patterson likes the Cats heading into Auburn today.

Kentucky on the road in a big game in the SEC. It happens often. UK has one loss in its last nine games, a freakish 3 at the buzzer at South Carolina. Auburn actually rates right about the same area in most predictive metrics at this point as UK. But with how well Nick Richards, Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans have been playing, I will take Kentucky to win straight up. Auburn’s been wobbly as of late. This is the Tigers’ first game vs. a ranked team this season. Expect Kentucky to win a slower-paced affair — and an improved effort from Tyrese Maxey. He’s due. Pick: Kentucky +2.5 (Matt Norlander)

Revisiting preseason picks | ESPN- The Florida Gators emerge as the biggest disappointment of the season so far. They went from a title contender to a team firmly on the bubble. The experts are split on Kentucky at Auburn.

The Big Dog is staying | Cats Pause- Everyone in the Big Blue Nation sighed in relief last night as associate head coach and lead recruiter Vince Marrow decided to stay in Lexington rather than take the head coaching job at Youngstown State. Mark Stoops and Marrow are still putting the finishing touches on a historically great recruiting class.

Cats at Tigers tops college basketball showdowns | USA Today- Cats and Tigers are center stage today.