Saturday Quickies: The new face of college basketball Edition

Happy Saturday, BBN. It should be a beautiful weekend for the most part and I’m excited to get things going.

Earlier this week Coach K shocked the sports world by announcing his retirement from Duke. Whether you love him or hate him, Coach K is an institution and is viewed by many as the voice/face of college basketball. He is leaving a significant void.

Matt Norlander of CBS penned an article on Thursday detailing how John Calipari can be the next man up as the elder statesman of college basketball.

It’s quite the turnaround for Cal. For many years the college basketball media dubbed him as the bad guy. He was the epitome of everything that was wrong with collegiate athletics because of his One and Done approach until Coach K adopted the same model. But as time marched on, that opinion began to soften. Calipari switched the script at Kentucky as he won at an amazing rate and that propelled him to the Hall of Fame.

Now Calipari is looked at as one of the remaining figures of the Old Guard along with guys like Jim Boeheim.

Norlander also points out that Cal will benefit more than anyone from K’s exit. It’s been a well documented recruiting feud between the two, and with K out of the way, there’s a clear path for Calipari to once again dominate recruiting and start getting back to going to Final Fours and winning National Championships.

I think Calipari has about 5-7 years left in him. The overhaul of his staff and the apparent change in coaching philosophy shows us that Calipari is going to do everything he can to get back to the Promised Land before he hang it up. The distinction between coaches with one title vs. coaches with multiple titles is quite large.

Tweet of the Day

Jai Lucas is hilarious. His enthusiasm is infectious and I’d need some convincing that Calipari doesn’t have the best staff in the country.

Quickies

Newcomers to watch for Kentucky football | Cats Pause- There are some exciting editions to the team headlined by Wandale Robinson and Will Levis.

Chris Collins is ready to recruit in the SEC | KSR- The new defensive backs coach is “champing at the bit” to get into SEC recruiting.

Keion Brooks is looking to follow the path of WCS, Nick Richards and few others | LHL- There haven’t been many players that have stayed at Kentucky 3+ years but those that did had great success on the court for the Cats.

Dino Gaudio pleads guilty to extortion | Courier-Journal- Chris Mack’s former mentor/assistant coach will be given a slap on the wrist for extorting UofL for a year’s salary after being fired by Mack. Honestly, from everything I’ve read, I think all of this could have been avoided but Mack and UofL decided to get the FBI involved rather quickly here. Moral of the story: don’t extort people.

Offseason woes adding up for UK baseball | Vaught’s Views- It was bad enough that the UK baseball team once again missed the NCAA tournament, now multiple players have entered the transfer portal. The clock is ticking for Nick Mingione.

Will the SEC close out it’s best season in baseball with a NCAA title? | SDS- The SEC has dominated the tournament thus far and it’s likely one of the remaining teams will end up holding a first place trophy in Omaha.

Alabama’s Montana Fouts makes history | Yahoo!- The Tide’s pitcher threw the first no hitter in the WCWS in 21 years! She’s a bad, bad woman.

Kawhi Leonard comes up clutch for the Clippers | ESPN- Leonard gave the Clippers one last chance to advance in the Playoffs past the Maverick thanks to Kawhi Leonard’s amazing performance.

Brooks Koepka gives beer to Bryson DeChambeau hecklers | USA Today- This is fastly becoming the greatest rivalry in all of sports. If either or both guys start winning consistently, then there’s no question about it.

Belmont Stakes odds and information | Sporting News- This is the least hyped Belmont Stakes we’ve seen in a long time. Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit have overtaken the headlines.