Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: SEC Football Eve Edition

Tomorrow, your first game of the SEC season will take place at 3:00 PM on the SEC Network between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Texas A&M Aggies in Columbia, SC. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to watch it live, since most folks I know will be at work then, but that’s what the DVR was invented for.

Tweet of the Morning

Stat of the day: Of the 56 players listed on UK's 1st depth chart, just seven have played in an SEC game UK won.

— Jon Hale (@JonHaleTCP) August 27, 2014

Yikes. That stat is just begging for change.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Ira Combs:

  At the end of the day it’s no secret that everyone involved with UK football in any official capacity has geared their thoughts and expectations toward 2015 when the stadium renovations will be complete , the Cats will have an (8) game home schedule , and Stoops will have brought on board his 3rd consecutive recruiting class . But you can’t just hop and skip thru 2014 and expect Big Blue Nation to just sit tight in anticipation of 2015 .

  True, dat. Perhaps 2014 won’t be as bad as some fear.

• Jojo Kemp had bone spurs removed from his ankles after last season, and he should be much more comfortable now. He was in such pain during the season that he had surgery only three days after it was over.

• Mark Stoops rated out as the 63rd best "coach as a player" in the NCAA. In another "the way it should be moment," Bobby Petrino graded out at #84.

• Stanley "Boom" Williams will spend time at the inside receiver position this season, a la Randall Cobb. If this kid can catch the ball, he could be deadly.

• Neal Brown previews UT Martin, calls the game plan "simple."

  

• I wouldn’t mind a home-and-home with Cincinnati. I think that UK and Cincinnati are a natural football matchup.

Kentucky basketball

• Coach Cal talks about being an empty nester.

• Has John Calipari met his recruiting match in the SEC? No. There, saved you a click.

Other Kentucky sports

• Forward Luke Treadway of Cincinnati United Premier has committed to Kentucky soccer for 2015.

• Photo day for Kentucky Hoops.

• All four of Matthew Mitchell’s commitments for 2015 were mentioned in the latest player rankings from ProspectsNation.com. The rankings:

Hat tip: NextCats.

• Mark Stoops is eager to see how his talented newcomers will react to life in the SEC.

• Neal Brown says the Wildcats will be able to play "really fast" when needed. Well, we heard that last season. I’ll keep my powder dry.

Links posts

• John Clay’s Big Blue Links

• The Leach Report: Wednesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Roll ‘Bama Roll previews the Eastern Division of the SEC. They have us beating Vanderbilt and losing all the other games in the SEC, which is hard to fault, really. Seeing four wins out of this year’s team is reasonable, if a bit on the pessimistic side.

• John Clay’s "Must Watch" TV games.

College basketball

• Former Ole Miss star Marshall Henderson is getting a tryout in Italy.

• Blue Ribbon releases its first team All-Americans. No Kentucky players made it.

• The New York Times has a Q&A with Jeremy Kessler about his lawsuit against the NCAA.

Other sports news

• Anthony Davis leads Team USA to victory over Slovenia in an exhibition game in the Canary Islands.

• Tiger Woods sends his swing coach packing. What he needs to do is quick trying to rebuild his swing — there is no such thing in golf as a perfect swing, there are only good swings that produce great results.

  The physical injuries that are robbing Woods of his game right now will only heal with time away from the sport and a vigorous and intelligent rehab program. he cannot will his body back to health, it is (and dear God you know it hurts me to say this) a process.

  My message to Tiger: Get away from golf. Take up a hobby. Let your body heal, and come back with the understanding that age robs you of some of the power you’re used to playing with. You’ll still have most of it, but don’t sweat the ten yards you lose off the tee. Make it up by getting your putting stroke back to where it was. You do that, and you’ll see a big change. But when you start getting back injuries, "explosive" power is in your past.

  Stop worrying about the "big boys." Jack Nicklaus never worried about them, he just found ways to keep beating them after he was no longer the longest hitter out there. You want to catch the Bear? You’d better learn to think like the Bear — because your body cannot be trusted to produce what it once did. Age eventually defeats us all. Johnny Miller, I think has it right:

  "He’s not swinging. He’s trying to manhandle it," said Miller, who back in 2012 offered to replace [Sean] Foley to help Woods get back his natural swing, and who on Tuesday supplied some tips for free. "That’s what I’d have him work on, anyway. Just make it very basic … He should just go back to playing golf and playing at the target."

  He’s talking to you like a Dutch uncle, Tiger. You should listen.

Other news

• The sky is blue. The Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment rate isn’t accurate. I’ve known both of these things for a very long time.

• I’ve said Twitter was the Devil for years. Facebook is almost as bad. Both discourage free expression and encourage self-censorship.

• Time Warner Cable had a big Internet outage today. I know this well, which is why I am so late getting this post up.

• Chick-fil-A. Waffles. Chicken. Sign me up.