Kentucky Wildcats Sunday Quickies: NBA All-Star Game Edition

Tonight is the NBA All-Star game. If you missed the NBA All-Star Saturday Night last night, UK product Brandon Knight acquitted himself well, finishing 2nd in the Skills Challenge. He should’ve won, but he missed his first two 3-point attempts.

Here’s the replay of the final:

Tonight's game rosters features the following former Wildcats:

• Anthony Davis (not playing due to injury, but selected as a starter for the West)
• John Wall (Starter for the East)
• DeMarcus Cousins (Reserve for the West)

Finally, Zach Lavine won the NBA All-Star dunk contest last night. This was also highly amusing; the high-tech scoring approach just didn’t work with old NBA guys.

Tweet of the Morning

A lot of fans were salty over Coach Cal getting the nod as a finalist for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame:

If that cheating bastard Calipari gets in the hall and Bo doesn't, I'm going to be mad and stuff

— Kyle Olson (@sconnieOle) February 15, 2015

So let me get this straight- that cheater Calipari, who left two programs after his actions put them on probation, is up for the HOF? #fail

— Andy Glantzman (@AndyGlantzman) February 15, 2015

Sour grapes is such fun to mock. Poor fools.

No chance in hell Calipari gets in the Hall of Fame. Dude vacated two final 4's with more to come. Have some dignity HOF committee.

— ⚡️VILLENUT⚡️ (@Mac6493) February 15, 2015

Love the handle. If Cal gets in this season, Louisville fans will be found on bridges and tall buildings for days.

Calipari as a hall of fame finalist is like like considering putting Richard Nixon on Mount Rushmore

— Peter Robbins (@probbins4) February 15, 2015

The fact that John Calipari might make the basketball Hall of Fame before Billy Donovan is an absolute travesty

— danny enjamio (@denjamio) February 15, 2015

Who was paid off to put John Calipari as a finalist?

— Andrew Trisler (@_notAndy) February 14, 2015

And finally, the voice of reason, speaking truth to lamebrains:

Nothing like Hall of Fame nomination to give people the opportunity to show how little knowledge they have about Calipari's NCAA issues

— Matt Vautour (@GazetteUMass) February 14, 2015

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Mark Stoops was quick to alleviate staff concerns over the departure of Neal Brown. Also, consider this about Jabari Greenwood, one of UK’s receiver signess from Washington DC:

  "He never blinked," Mainord said of Greenwood. "He’s never taken a phone call. And they’ve tried. He won’t let them. Those are the guys you don’t have to worry about."

Kentucky basketball

• There seems to be a dispute as to who would win between the 2012 and 2015 version of the Kentucky Wildcats. Anthony Davis thinks that 2012 would "destroy" 2015. I very, very much doubt that, but it would be a great game. Consider:

  But back to the hypothetical Davis raised: What would happen if the 2012 and 2015 Wildcats collided? Beyond records through 25 games – the ‘12 team had the one loss already – margin of victory at the same stage is worth considering. This UK team has won by an average of 21.8 points and that squad (excluding the loss) won by an average of 20.9 points.

  2015’s KenPom number are better, but of course, the full season hasn’t been played yet.

• Watch as Trey Lyles photobombs John Calipari, if you haven’t seen it already on social media:

• Does this strike you as idiotic, or is it just me:

  Calipari will need 18 of 24 votes. Pitino missed in 2012, arrived in 2013. Dick Vitale fell short twice before he got the good news. It can be a mysterious process. Good luck trying to predict how the voters weigh the highlights and holes on Calipari’s resume.

  Make no mistake: Calipari’s team is a surer thing than he is. There will be debate about Calipari’s inclusion. It’s already started, with the discussion about the Final Four banners than came down at Massachusetts and Memphis.

  Just a brief reminder that Calipari was found not culpable by the NCAA in both those matters. The same cannot be said of Hall of Famers Jerry Tarkanian and Larry Brown. Am I the only person in America aware of this?

• He’s everywhere, all the time:

  Did see UK coach John Calipari and HOF nominee here at Barclay's Center. Supporting Wildcats Brandon Knight, Cousins, John Wall, etc.

  — Sean Deveney (@SeanDeveney) February 15, 2015

• Willie Cauley-Stein is in the poster-making business. Well, he certainly should be with what he’s done lately.

• Calipari humbled by HOF nomination, but won’t let it distract him. I wonder what he really thinks about it, privately, I mean? I’ll bet he’s thinking he deserves it. He does, you know.

• Derek Kellogg and Lou Roe react to Coach Cal being named a HOF finalist.

• Mass Live’s Ron Chimelis explains why John Calipari should be in the Hall of Fame, and addresses exactly the objections that so many are raising. If Calipari’s NCAA problems keep him out, a lot of HOF’ers shouldn’t be in to begin with, including Adolph Rupp and Denny Crum, just to name two of the less-obvious.

Other Kentucky sports

• Hoops is at Tennessee today, going for their third straight victory.

• Bat Cats blast Richmond 10-1.

• Softball splits doubleheader with IUPUI and Kennesaw St.

• Men’s tennis sweeps doubleheader with in-state foes.

Links posts

• KSR’s Sunday Morning Links

• The Leach Report: Sunday Wildcat Links

• John Clay’s Big Blue Links

• John Clay’s SEC Links

College football

• Auburn replaces the oaks destroyed by deranged Alabama fan Harvey Updyke back in 2010. May they grow to an obscene old age and provide a target for toilet paper for many generations.

College basketball

• Arkansas is on a four-game winning streak, barely escaping at Ole Miss yesterday. Right now, Arkansas is sitting at about a 5 seed by my calculations, but they have a very favorable schedule remaining, favored in every game except at Kentucky and at South Carolina.

  

• LSU went down to Knoxville and beat the Tennessee Volunteers convincingly. Maybe that close loss to Kentucky energized them. They are currently looking like a nine or ten seed. Their remaining schedule is favorable enough, but Arkansas is better.

  

• Weather disrupts Mississippi St. trip to Missouri. I’m glad everybody is okay.

Other sports news

• John Wall sits down for a 27-minute interview at Red Bull Studios. There is a lot of interesting stuff I doubt you knew (I know I didn’t) about John Wall in this.

• You mess with the bull, you get the horns. Sounds really painful.

• DeMarcus Cousins is not a fan of Charles Barkley.

Other news

• Here’s a quiz that the frequent fliers among us might enjoy. I got 7/10 right, but I must confess, most of that was due to skill at reasoning and the process of elimination. I’ve only been to three of these airports other than a quick pass/through.

  Hat Tip: hoboat33

• Interesting. Kentucky is not really a destination state, is it?

• Seven odd innovations. Odd indeed.

• Solving the Alzheimer’s mystery. Faster, please. Alzheimers is one of the very few conditions I actually dread, along with anything that robs us of our cognitive ability. I worry far less about about losing my mobility or suffering pain than I do losing my ability to think and remember.