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John Wall lost a young friend to cancer, and it got to him. Very sad, but it reflects well on John, even the breakdown after his game last night. He obviously really cared for the child, and it’s very touching to see just how much.
Tweet of the Morning
If you were blessed to meet and get to know Miyah you know how special of a little gir… http://t.co/FjGYmt9oZR pic.twitter.com/twA7IjMI4k
— John Wall (@JohnWall) December 9, 2014
Rest in peace.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
- Matt Jones thinks ECU’s Lincoln Riley is still the favorite to replace Neal Brown as Kentucky’s OC.
Kentucky basketball
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Skal Labissiere reacts to committing to Kentucky.
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Malik Newman talks Kentucky, likes Isaiah Briscoe. He’s being pretty coy about his choices, though.
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Karl-Anthony Towns says he’s done playing like a freshman, and plans to scowl more. Just don’t make it all the time, KAT.
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UK officially announces home-home series with UCLA. I love this decision.
Other Kentucky sports
Links posts
College football
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Sour grapes from the sad Big 12:
By NCAA rules, the Big 12 cannot stage the kind of title game that catapulted Ohio State because it has only 10 teams. "It appears we were penalized for not having a postseason championship game," Bowlsby said, subsequently acknowledging the tough task of the committee. "I wish we could have been advised of that."
What would you have done? Seriously, you can’t just go throw a 12-team conference together a week, or even a month before the playoff and stage a championship game.
To me, the playoff has generated more furor than the BCS ever did. Instead of just a team or two, you have a whole conference pissed off. I have very little in the way of give-a-crap since I don’t have any rooting interest involved other than as an SEC member, but all this blowup is making the CFB Playoff look like a fiasco. It doesn’t seem like one to me. Reading further:
The exclusion of TCU and Baylor already has led to talk of reform. In the offseason, the Big 12 could move to add a title game and remove its status as the lone major conference without one. To do so, it would require the conference to add an additional two teams or obtain a waiver from the NCAA.
You can bet they’ll try to get to 12 teams. Asking the NCAA for a waiver is unattractive for many reasons, and there would be consequences if they granted one.
Related: This didn’t take long. My only question is, how long before we get to 16, or 32? 64?
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Louisville and Georgia to face off in the Belk Bowl. Whatever. I hope the SEC gives a better account of itself than when Florida met Louisville.
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3 reasons why Ohio State made made the playoff over TCU and Baylor. Two of them deal directly with the fact that they won a conference championship game.
I also think it’s possible that the committee thought that naming conference co-champions was an attempt to game the system. Even if that was never the intention, it’s possible that the committee could’ve seen it that way.
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Ivan Maisel of CBS says the committee got it right. Consider:
Dropping Florida State to No. 3 exemplifies the value of a committee making the decision instead of the BCS system, and the four-team format gave the committee the elbow room to execute its verdict without straying too far afield from traditional thinking.
The Big 12 may be wishing for the halcyon days of computer input right about now.
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Matt Hayes at SI says the CFB system worked just fine, and we don’t need to change a thing.
This sport needs controversy; it’s fueled by it. The last thing it needs is to change a playoff formula that — who in the world thought this could happen? — is more controversial than the three dreaded letters: BCS.
Heh. Maybe he’s right.
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Jameis Winston will not be the Heisman trophy winner this year. I think the off-the-field stuff is the biggest reason why.
College basketball
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Strength of schedule hit for Kentucky: Providence loses to Brown, drops third game in a row.
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Indiana-Louisville preview. Can I root for both of them to lose? No? Well, I guess I’ll have to hope for a heartbreaker in overtime.
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Kentucky isn’t the only blueblood program with outside shooting woes. Syracuse is on a 2-game skid and is shooting… gasp!… 21% from three for the year.
Other sports news
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Way to go, Eric!
Eric Bledsoe records first career triple-double: 27 points, career-high 16 assists and 11 rebounds in 121-120 OT loss to the Clippers. #BBN
— TheCatsPause247 (@TheCatsPause247) December 9, 2014
Other news
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Smoking in America declines to an all-time low. That’s an unalloyed good thing for better health.
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Just like fat before it, shunning gluten may not be as great an idea as many think. And despite all the press, gluten sensitivity is extremely rare, affecting about 1% of the population.