Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies.
A documentary on former UK and Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton aired on ESPN last night. Sutton recently passed away in March, and it’s fitting that his life should be chronicled in an ESPN documentary. He was a very successful coach almost everywhere he went.
I didn’t get to see the documentary myself, but others did. Here are a couple of tweets:
When times were good you couldn't help but to smile for Eddie Sutton & enjoy his success on the court. Great career but so tragic & heartbreaking. If you missed #Eddie you definitely need to watch. Listen to his players, family & colleagues to fully understand what he was about. pic.twitter.com/P7tZMQ69RP
— Beau Big Blue (@BeauBigBlue) June 30, 2020
Love seeing the highlights of @HardenRoger and Kenny Walker in the Eddie Sutton documentary. "...order the rings." #Eddie #BBN #WeAreUK
— Beau Big Blue (@BeauBigBlue) June 30, 2020
If you saw the ESPN program, please share your comments on it below. I’ll be looking for a rerun of it, which fortunately ESPN always does on these types of programs.
Sutton was at UK for only four seasons, but I remember when he coached the University of Arkansas to the Final Four in 1977-78, the year that put him squarely on UK’s radar. Arkansas had three outstanding players that year — Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph and Sidney (“Sid the Squid”) Moncreif, and nearly defeated Kentucky in the regional final. Of course, history will record that UK went on to send Sutton and his great team home to Fayetteville while the Wildcats went on to defeat Duke for the NCAA Tournament Championship in St. Louis.
But it was that coaching job, and Sutton’s defeat of then #1 North Carolina (a team that featured Michael Jordan) along with nine straight NCAA Tournament teams, including one Final Four, two Elite Eights and four Sweet Sixteens that ultimately made him attractive to Kentucky.
Sutton would never get past the Elite Eight at Kentucky, but he had some great names playing for him —names like Kenny Walker, Roger Harden, Rex Chapman, Derrick Miller, Ed Davender, Reggie Hanson, John Pelphrey, Deron Feldhaus, Sean Woods and Winston Bennett played for Sutton. Many of these names would figure mightily in UK legend, although ironically, most of them not under Sutton.
Sutton also brought us the worst years in UK basketball history. But that is a story for another time.
Tweet of the Morning
Home sweet home pic.twitter.com/SSjlpMRY73
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) June 29, 2020
Great to see!
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
- Four programs in college football expected to have explosive running games. Kentucky is actually on this list in some pretty rare air.
- Mark Stoops is the 24th highest-paid coach in college football. Mitch Barnhart has worked very hard to provide Stoops with what he needs to build this program, and it’s definitely paying off.
Kentucky basketball
- Kentucky basketball team arriving on campus. The pandemic will make it more difficult for everybody, but hopes for a college basketball season of some kind are high.
- Jeff Sheppard’s son Reed has some of his father’s hops. Jeff was always very athletic, and there’s a lot to be said for good genes.
- Five Kentucky Mr. Basketballs will be in action for colleges in the state of Kentucky this season. Mark Story thinks this may be a record, and I think he’s right.
- Documentary on Eddie Sutton aired last night on ESPN. I didn’t get to see it, but perhaps some of you did. Tell us about it in the comments if so.
- Grad transfer Davion Mintz is on campus at UK.
- Kentucky, Louisville, and Indiana basketball predictions.
- Our Savior Lutheran (N.Y.) coach Peter Wehye says, though he’s never coached UK frosh Terrence Clarke, he’s coached against him often enough to say that it isn’t absurd to think Clarke is the best Calipari recruit since John Wall. High praise, indeed.
- Larry Vaught shares some remembrances about Louie Dampiere. Lethal shooter.
Other Kentucky sports
- Ten former Bat Cats selected for MLB summer player pools.
- Four UK women’s golfers named WGCA All-American scholars.
- Knoxville Farragut first baseman picks UK.
- Sorry to see this:
Deasia Merrill has decided to transfer from the Kentucky women's basketball program. We will do whatever we can to help her during this process and wish her the best in the future. Deasia will always find support and love from everyone in our program.
— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) June 29, 2020
Links posts
College football
- COVID-19 has a full NCAA football season in jeopardy.
- Best CFB Playoff contenders for every conference in 2020.
College basketball
- Five questions the UCLA Bruins must answer in 2020. UCLA is expected to be contenders for the Pac-12 championship, and Johnny Juzang, late of Kentucky, is expected to contribute to that effort.
- Top high school player in 2022 commits to Michigan State over Kentucky.
- We all knew this was coming:
The comments by some fans on my LSU & Arizona report amazes me .Look I respect the fans love for their Tigers & Wildcats but for the fans to think I am charging them with violations is absurd. I’m reporting what my source states & when the @NCAA will issue the charges.
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) June 30, 2020
Other news
- Physics: How do flying snakes glide through the air?
- A massive, bright star in a nearby galaxy has suddenly disappeared. This could be the second known case of the collapse of a supermassive star into a black hole without creating a supernova.
- NASA releases a decade-long video of sun activity, greatly sped up. Fascinating.