Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Big Blue Madness Campout Edition

It’s campout time again for Big Blue Madness, and this year’s assault on the camping areas is … well, madness!

Tweet of the Morning

#BBN, a friend of one our fantasy campers really needs our help. Owen McMasters could really use a bone marrow match pic.twitter.com/WV1JA4noi0

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) September 18, 2014

And:

Under Armour All-American Damien Harris. pic.twitter.com/NC3a1JOt6J

— Brett Dawson (@BDawsonRivals) September 18, 2014

Just once. You’d think we could land a top recruit from Kentucky just once, wouldn’t you?

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Kentucky fine-tuning the defense during bye week. The defense so far has been much better than I expected.

• D.J. Eliot breaks down the defense versus Florida::

  On getting more multiple against Florida, and if they had more mental mistakes as the package increased: “We had the same blitz percentage the last two weeks. Against Ohio was the same blitz percentage that we had against Florida. So it wasn’t any more multiple than it was against Ohio. But we come up with a game plan that we think is best for our opponent, so whatever we think we need to do to win the game on defense and be successful, that’s what we do. And that’ll change week to week.”

• Mark Stoops on the SEC Week 4 Conference Call.

Kentucky basketball

• John Calipari “connected” with 5-star forward Carlton Bragg and his mother last night. More on Bragg here from his home-state paper.

• The Big Blue Madness campout is exciting for Kentucky fans. Consider:

  The latest count from Tent City 2014 as of Wednesday was 680 tents, and one of them is mine. I have camped out for the past three years and it’s one of those experiences that you do once and it leaves you instantly hooked. It’s just not about getting tickets to Big Blue Madness. It’s about making friendships that will last a lifetime and having experiences that you just can’t get anywhere else. Players interact with fans on a very personal level. They smile. They engage in small talk and they will even play a game of corn hole.

• Lots of big 2015 uncommitted names to play in the Marshall County Hoop Fest; Bragg, Maker, Diallo, and Newman among others.

• MKG makes a campout appearance.

Other Kentucky sports

• Volleyball prepares for last non-conference match of the season vs. Lipscomb.

• Makayla Epps says that “Acountability has really been stressed over the summer.” Consider:

  "Our goal is coming together and becoming our team and being our best," Epps said. "Accountability has really been stressed over the summer, especially with strength and conditioning. I’ve taken a major outlook on what I was eating on campus my freshman year and what I need to stop eating. I’ve stopped drinking soda, I’m running more, taking it more seriously and watching what I am eating. The transformation is great. I’m loving it. I’m moving better and I’m ready to get the season started."

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Thursday Wildcat LInks

• John Clay’s SEC Links

College football

• Will has a good piece up over at Team Speed Kills previewing the Auburn-Kansas State game this weekend.

• Where the SEC East race stands after the South Carolina upset of Georgia.

• Heh. Hilarious! But perhaps this one would be better.

• The SEC west is the best right now, but who had the best division ever? Bud Elliott tries to answer that question.

• SEC Morning Links

College basketball

• Top 2015 prospect Ben Simmons says he’s 100% committed to LSU. Good for him.

Other sports news

• Anthony Davis has become “the gold standard.” He certainly has enough gold medals.

Other news

• Michigan teen commits arson to avoid an arranged marriage. Bizarre that there are still arranged marriages in the USA.

• Shakeup at Microsoft, more layoffs ahead.

• So Garard Depardieu likes his wine — a lot.

• Why no sports fan should ever root for two teams. I’m looking at you, UK/UL dual fans.