Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Colombia Lions Edition

Tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats take on the Columbia Lions in our final "tune up" (if it’s fair to call it that, Ivy League schools have given us real trouble before) before taking on major rivals North Carolina, Louisville, and UCLA.

Tweet of the Morning

@AdamHimmelsbach Isn't this exactly what Calipari has said he proposed and IU wanted no part of?

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) December 10, 2014

Heh. WWCD (what will Crean do?)  If he says "Yes," I think we'll be having just a little fun with that, and tweeting some really fun tweets at Dickie V and some others who blamed Calipari for the death of the Indiana series.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Rivals top 100 defensive back has UK in his top three. You think our secondary could use a little help after that Louisville game? I sure do. Also this:

  Btw, Marcus Lewis would be the highest-rated Rivals recruit to pick UK since Mark Stoops took over. Cats in top 3 http://t.co/fCcIbOUhEi

  — Ben Roberts (@NextCats) December 10, 2014

• Funny. Silly, but funny:

  Is Nick Saban in Kentucky to recruit Damien Harris? Or is Nick Saban in Kentucky to talk to Mark Stoops about the open UK OC job?

  — Joseph E Cassin (@joe_cassin) December 9, 2014

  Heh.

Kentucky basketball

• Barry Rohrssen gives a preview of the game against the Columbia Lions. Hat tip: John Clay

• Kentucky is on course to be one of the best defensive teams in college basketball history.

  We’ve already talked about this briefly in other editions of the Quickies, but consider a couple of things, like this quote from EKU coach Jeff Neubauer:

  "Our team, I told them they were just guarded by the best defensive team in the modern era of college basketball," Neubauer said. "And I’m not exaggerating a little bit when I say that."

  Ken Pomeroy pegs Kentucky’s defensive efficiency at 82.6 points per 100 possessions or 0.82 points/possession. In the Ken Pomeroy era, (since 2002), nobody has ever finished the season at better than 0.85+ points per possession.

  Given the relative weakness of the SEC, particularly the bottom-feeders, it is very possible, and even somewhat likely, that this Kentucky team will smash that record by a significant amount. We could see some really ugly opponent numbers in the SEC portion of the season, and it’s likely that this defense will only get tougher. Despite Pomeroy’s attempts to equalize competition, those efforts mostly hit the middle of the scale, not the extremes. Kentucky is going to be hitting the extremes — a lot.

Other Kentucky sports

• Four Wildcats named to the AVCA All-Region team for volleyball. The NCAA tournament was a bit of a downer for volleyball this season, but the season itself was excellent.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Wednesday’s Wildcat Links

• Rush The Court: Morning Five

College football

• Whoa! David Cutcliff would rather coach Duke than Michigan? That boy needs to head to a psychiatrist right away — either that, or he’s being blackmailed by the Blue Devils. Conspiracy theory? No way, man, they are devils, after all.

• Vanderbilt scapegoats their defensive coordinator after only one season.

College basketball

• MIke Rutherford of Card Chronicle talks about his dad detesting Indiana. Common cause with a Cardinal fan? Well, yes, I guess so. Hey, I’m all for Louisville and IU playing every season. I wouldn’t mind playing them, either, but not if they’re going to hurt our women and act the very fool.

• Louisville shows why it will be hard to handle in their victory over Indiana, says John Clay. I say, "Bring ‘em on!" They can’t shoot straight, and they are small. I’d like to see them against a team like Texas.

• Oh, Michigan. More bad news and indignities for the Wolverines here. Hey, I sympathize — I remember the Gardner-Webb game with great pain and a desire for heavy drinking.

Other sports news

• Interesting. Rajon Rondo is still one of the best point guards in the game, and it does make one wonder if Rondo’s days as a Celtic are numbered. Then again, what he says might be exactly right, and the observers might be making a mountain out of a molehill.

• ZZZOMMMGG!!!

  I have no words … https://t.co/ztPoOA6BwU

  — Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) December 10, 2014

Other news

• LeBron James may be a "king" in this country, but he’s got a lot to learn about royal etiquette.

  I think, however, any American might bristle being considered a "commoner." Yet another reason why kicking the Brits out of this country was a good idea, as fond as I am of them.