Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Death On Campus Edition

There was a tragedy on the Kentucky campus today. A UK student, Johnathan Krueger, has apparently been killed by gunshot. He was the photo editor at the Kentucky Kernel. Our prayers go out to his family and friends.

Here’s more from Dr. Eli Capilouto.

Tweet of the Morning

Bigs need guards to get them ball. UNLV has none. This is like letting your kid star QB or RB commit to a bad football school with no O-Line

— Greg (@GregNJ) April 17, 2015

Yeah. Well.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot is working hard to replace Bud Dupree, and likes how it’s goiong so far.

• Mark Stoops lists standouts from this spring. Hat tip: John Clay

Kentucky basketball

• There are four elite American prospects left, according to Adam Zagoria. What if Kentucky doesn’t get any of them?

  Well, the good news is that UK has some pretty good returning pieces to go with their #1 recruiting class, but they desperately need another front-court player and some shooting. If Kentucky doesn’t ink another elite prospect, it looks like Derek Willis and Dominique Hawkins suddenly become very important.

  There is also Thon Maker and Tai Wynyard. It is possible Wynyard may reclassify to 2015, or matriculate early in December.

• Brandon Ingram hosting Kentucky today. I would love to get this kid. Of all the players remaining on the board, he’s the one we probably need the most. He addresses two major needs: Size and shooting.

• UK recruit Stephen Zimmerman has declared his intentions, and he will attend UNLV:

  Thx 2 all the programs & fans that supported me. This is MY decision & I've decided 2 stay home & attend #UNLV #LetsRun #Vegas

  — Stephen Zimmerman Jr (@BIGG_ZIMM) April 17, 2015

  There had been a lot of recent buzz about this, so it isn’t really surprising. What I am curious about is what took him so long, it seems to me this decision could’ve been made months ago. Kids, I guess.

• Skal Labissiere and Isaiah Briscoe are beginning to play well together:

  They have only had a couple of practices together leading into Friday’s Jordan Brand Classic, but the two are already developing a chemistry.

  "A little bit, on and off the court," Briscoe said.

  There’s some more in here about Charles Matthews, UK’s forgotten recruit, as well.

• There’s a bit of panic going on in some corners of the Big Blue Nation. Not here, at least not me. I’ll be happy with whatever we get.

Other Kentucky sports

• Some good news for the Bat Cats, who have been struggling of late. Zach Brown threw a shutout last night against Tennessee for a 5-0 victory over the Vols in their first game of the series.

• Softball hosts South Carolina starting tonight in Lexington. The Hittin’ Kittens have been struggling a bit of late, but an 8-game home stand now looms before them. Make the most of it, ladies.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Friday Wildcat Links

College football

• Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh invades SEC country on recruiting trip. Bring it on, big boy.

• Jameis Winston being sued by sexual assault accuser.

• Eastern Kentucky has suspended the players involved in the fights with UK’s players in January, and will review their conduct to see if they should be further disciplined. Good.

College basketball

• Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg is scheduled for open heart surgery today to replace a faulty valve with a mechanical one. Let’s keep him in our prayers for a successful procedure and a prompt, complete recovery. I look forward to seeing the Mayor healthy on the sidelines again next year.

Other sports news

• Time for the NBA Playoffs. This is about the point in the season where I start paying attention, I suppose the exact opposite of those who start paying attention to college basketball around NCAA Tournament time.

• Apparently, Florida coach Billy Donovan is on the Denver Nuggets’ radar. Not sure he would leave Florida for Denver, but you never know.

• Jordan Spieth doesn’t consider himself on the same level as Rory McIlroy. I think he’s right, he’s got a ways to go yet.

• The NBA will begin testing for Human Growth Hormone next season.

Other news

• The worlds ten happiest countries. Eight of them, I believe, are Scandinavian.

• Want to know how the Large Hadron Collider works? Here you go.

• NASA spaceship prepares to crash into Mercury.