Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: ULM Warhawks Edition

Kentucky heads into the game with the ULM Warhawks tomorrow on a major roll, with a chance to go to 5-1 on the year. In fact, the Wildcats are seeking a three-game sweep. When was the last time they did that?

Tweet of the Morning

Using Johnny Manziel as precedent, the NCAA contemplates Todd Gurley's punishment. pic.twitter.com/hsjyyPmhiM

— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) October 10, 2014

Heh. Bilas.

FYI, Rick Pitino is wearing a diaper in this C-J photo, it was just cropped out. pic.twitter.com/DgK0bPpkfS

— Creig Ewing (@acewing) October 10, 2014

Neil Budde, your office on line 1.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Mark Stoops says the team "…seems to be locked in."

• After a year or two of being among the worst, Kentucky is now one of the best pass defenses in the nation:

  The Cats were lowest in the Southeastern Conference and among the worst in the country in passes defended (31) last season.

  Now, thanks to lessons learned — sometimes painfully as Tiller discovered at Florida — Kentucky’s secondary is among the best in the nation at defending the pass.

• Kentucky in search of a complete game against ULM.

• It’s Okay for UK to fight, fight, fight for the black and gray? Bah. I get the black and gray in the uniforms, but it’s not okay by me.

Kentucky basketball

• Meet the Cats: Dominique Hawkins. Don’t go to sleep on this kid, he’s getting better every game.

  In case you’ve missed them, here are the other "Meet the Cats" articles from the Herald-Leader:

  • Alex Poythress
  • E.J. Floreal
  • Devin Booker
  • Aaron Harrison
  • Sam Malone
  • Tyler Ulis
  • Dakari Johnson
  • Brian Long

• ESPN jumped at the chance to televise UK practice:

  "Obviously, it’s a pretty special group at Kentucky this year," [ESPN Director of Programming and Acquisitions] Margulis said this week. "So it makes sense to do it."

  ESPN and UK worked out a mutually beneficial date to televise the practice, Margulis said.

  Also, Calipari is making sure recruits are watching, too. Of course. Why miss such a great opportunity?

• Kentucky loses Henry Ellenson to Marquette. Well, you can’t sign them all, and Marquette is certainly a lot closer to his home than UK. All the best to him.

Other Kentucky sports

• UK swimming and diving opens against South Carolina today.

• Volleyball takes on Tennessee in Knoxville tonight, and hosts the Auburn Tigers on Sunday. There’s likely an open game thread or two in the works for those games.

Links posts

• John Clay’s SEC Links

• John Clay’s Big Blue Links

• The Leach Report: Friday Wildcat Links

College football

• The best conference in college football may not even be a conference, but a division.

• You’ve heard, of course, about Georgia’s Todd Gurley, the Heisman leader, getting suspended pending investigation of an alleged NCAA violation. A week or two ago, somebody tried to contact SB Nation’s Spencer Hall and alert him to the potential violation. Read all about it.

• Compare and contrast FSU’s response regarding Jameis Winston with Kentucky’s regarding Lloyd Tubman. To be fair, one is a Heisman candidate and the other is a redshird defensive lineman.

• Burnt Orange Nation is getting pumped for the Red River Rivalry.

• Dawg Sports emotes about the Todd Gurley suspension, and sets some ground rules.

• Delusional optimism does not panic. Hope to shout!

• Florida’s Treon Harris, accused earlier this week of sexual assault, reinstated as student and player according to his attorney.

• Cowbell warning at Mississippi St.

College basketball

• Mike DeCourcy says that Rick Pitino’s rant about getting shoe companies out of college basketball was not only a total fantasy, but probably hypocritical:

  It would seem as though Louisville has had plenty of success recruiting athletes with a variety of shoe-company affiliations.

  The strangest element of Pitino’s soliloquy was this sentence: "I’m saying in the last five years, things have changed."

  If anything, players seem more open to programs wearing different apparel than what they’d worn as prospects – if only because many expect to be in college for a single season and want to assure they are in the best possible situation to launch professional careers. And, perhaps, to assure there’ll be multiple bidders in any future endorsement negotiations.

  Pitino, a hypocrite? Say it ain’t so, Mike!

Other sports news

• Remember John Rocker? He’s on Survivor, and apparently isn’t impressing anybody.

Other news

• Uh oh.

  EKU Alert: UNVERIFIED REPORT OF MAN WITH GUN AT ALUMNI COLISEUM. Protect yourself. Take shelter in a secure place. stay away. Updates to fol

  — EKU Emergency (@EKUEmergency) October 10, 2014

  
  

• Major step toward a cure for diabetes. Faster please.

• Wading in on women’s pay issues is like walking blindfolded through a minefield. Right, Microsoft CEO?

• Florida woman attacks her boyfriend, with an ax no less, because he wouldn’t talk to her. Men, do yourself a favor and communicate [nicely] with your spouse or significant other. Also, keep your axes and sharp tools locked away. Just sayin’. Via Fark.