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Kentucky Wildcats Afternoon Quickies: Marcus Mariota Edition

News and commentary from around the Big Blue Internet. Kentucky football lands 4-star center. Hoops takes on Belmont tonight.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Congratulations to the Oregon Ducks’ quarterback Marcus Mariota for winning the Heisman Trophy. I am not convinced he deserved it over Jameis Winston based purely on football performance, but it has become de rigeur these days for sports awards outfits to be politically sensitive, and Winston’s off-the-field antics and continuing issues with a rape allegation have made him a tough inclusion.

The moral of the story is that being in an exalted athletics position requires more than just on-the-field performance. You have to have a modicum of character, or at least not repeatedly engage in overt displays of entitlement or other bad behavior.

Tweet of the Day

It’s always an honor to get tweeted out by Ashley Judd. Doesn’t hurt traffic, either. :-)

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football
Kentucky basketball
  • I can’t believe I am linking two Pat Forde articles today, but I think this one needs linking. Consider:

    The team took the news of Poythress’ injury hard, but no Wildcat took it harder than the thoughtful giant from Olathe, Kan.

    “He’s one of the best kids I ever met,” Cauley-Stein said Saturday, after the ‘Cats moved to 11-0 by pounding North Carolina, 84-70.

    How droll is it to have a young man refer to another young man as a “kid?” That’s one of the things I love most about WCS — he’s so … unconventional.

    My wife refers to Willie as “Little Cuz” in reference to DeMarcus Cousins, the “Big Cuz.” Seeing this quote from him somehow makes that comparison more apt, despite the vast difference in how the two men play the game.

    Another point that deserves mentioning is this one made by Ol’ Roy:

    “He is a complete player,” Williams said. “If you look at it, he affected the game drastically and only took nine shots. … Their defense was so much stronger, and I think that was the dominating thing in the game. And Willie was the spearhead.”

    There is only one other player I can remember that did that — a certain Anthony Davis.

  • Eric Crawford:

    How far can he go? Cauley-Stein is rarely mentioned among national player of the year candidates, but he ought to be. His numbers aren’t going to jump off the page, but there’s not another 7-footer in the country who can do the things he does, or change games the way he can change them on either end.

    Absolutely right.

  • Can somebody please explain to me what “UK wins without whining” means? This, as I recall, is the same guy who happily had the “brat Calipari” picture associated with his article — you know, the one the Courier-Journal wound up apologizing for?

Other Kentucky sports
College football
  • Tragedy in Auburn. 18-year old Auburn freshman Jakell Mitchell was shot and killed early this morning in an apartment complex close to the university. He had redshirted this season. Our prayers go out to his family, and we hope his killer is brought swiftly to justice.
College basketball
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