Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: 2014-15 NBA Season Begins Edition

The NBA season officially opened last night, and Kentucky Wildcats fans got good news and bad news.

The good news is that Anthony Davis had a monster game, and has pretty much convinced everyone that he is, in fact, the next big NBA thing. I never had any doubt.

The bad? Julius Randle’s broken leg. That’s just a real bummer for Wildcats fans who loved what he did here, and know what a great young man he is. I know he’ll be back stronger than ever, but not for a while.

Kyle Tucker at the Courier-Journal has a good story up on both guys today.

Tweet of the Morning

Love for Julius

Praying for my bro @J30_RANDLE to have a speedy recovery! Keep your head up man!

— Aaron Harrison (@AaronICE2) October 29, 2014

Praying for my brother @J30_RANDLE I know he's going to come back better then ever hardest worker I've been around love you bro

— Dakari Johnson (@SafariDakari44) October 29, 2014

Thoughts & prayers with ex-UK star Julius Randle who suffered fractured leg in his NBA debut with LA Lakers. Tough break right out of gate.

— Oscar Combs (@wildcatnews) October 29, 2014

Feel absolutely sick for @J30_RANDLE but I know he's going to come back from this better than ever. I'm praying for you, kid. Hang in there.

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) October 29, 2014

And:

Todd Gurley suspended 4 games. Guess this means UNC won't get punished at all, since their players can't even sign their names. So unfair.

— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) October 29, 2014

Ouch. That’s gonna leave a mark.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Mark Stoops says that Kentucky did not make enough plays to beat MSU:

  "Our guys went about their business. Their minds were right, their hearts were right. They tried the best they could. They were a better football team. As always in a loss, we all can do better. We will do better. We’ll get back to work. But give Mississippi State credit, they made the plays when they had to. They were a very physical football team, as you saw. Bottom line, they were a good team and they beat us."

  I think this is right. Will talks more about why in his latest piece here. Go read it if you haven’t.

• The Boom is back in Kentucky football:

  “It gives them a big lift. You saw what his lack of presence did to us last week,” running backs coach Chad Scott said. “Just seeing those guys rally around him today, seeing him go out and make plays today, it’s like it gives those other guys confidence. He was back there doing things that are just Boom being Boom.”

  He really does help give Kentucky a major threat to break a big play.

• This is good to hear:

  Just got cleared to play first round of the playoffs!! The Return is officially here. #Blessed

  — Damien Harris (@Damien_D1Harris) October 29, 2014

Kentucky basketball

• UK recruit Skal Labissiere is apparently playing for a preparatory school that was created around him, and very recently. I don’t think this is going to work out for him. I suspect we’ll hear less and less about him going forward as a UK target.

• Karl-Anthony Towns and Dakari Johnson go way back when it comes to basketball and competing against each other.

• Just in case, you know, you might want to:

  I'm interviewing John Calipari this morn for the #SethDavisShow on @CampusInsiders. Submit questions on our FB page. https://t.co/oMakkmvO8M

  — Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) October 29, 2014

Other Kentucky sports

• Already mentioned, but worth repeating: Kentucky student athletes break school graduation record — 81%

  That’s some news right there, boys and girls.

• Kentucky and Ohio State battled to a tie in double-overtime in men’s soccer. Kentucky is now undefeated in eight straight games.

• Freshman golfer Chip McDaniel won the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational yesterday.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Wednesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Mississippi State leads College Football Playoff committee’s first rankings, which came out last night. These will be endlessly analyzed, so here are some links to that analysis:

  • Team Speed Kills
  • SB Nation: Full Rankings
  • SB Nation: What we learned from the rankings

• George Schroeder writing for USA Today says that College Football Playoff rankings every week is a bad idea. I don’t really agree. I think it’s better for transparency, better for giving people a clue at what the committee sees as important — much like the NCAA Selection Committee has made clear that quality non-conference opponents matter.

• Georgia’s Todd Gurley will be eligible again after sitting out two more games — this week (Florida) and next week (Kentucky).

College basketball

• Not terribly impressed by Mike Rutherford’s top 100 basketball players. The Montrezl Harrell pick at #3 seems homerish, and Jahlil Okafor doesn’t deserve to be #1, based on what I’ve seen.

  Of course, I’m not criticizing the effort he put in, which must’ve been considerable and I promise you, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I just disagree with a fair number of his choices. Reasonable people can disagree.

Other sports news

• Anthony Davis on quadruple-double watch:

  In the Pelicans’ season opener, Davis posted a jaw-dropping 26 points, 17 rebounds, nine blocks, three steals and two assists. Only Hakeem Olajuwon has hit those marks in a game since at least 1985-86.

  Just four players have ever done that. Read the whole thing.

Other news

• WTF?

• AT&T sued by the FTC for misleading its customers by throttling “unlimited” data plans.

• Rocket explodes, sending Orbital Sciences stock tumbling.