Dirk Nowitzki's Tuesday News and Views

Good morning, my KSR brothers and sisters and welcome to day number 18 of Enes Watch: The Sequel.  As you sat quietly by your computers and hit refresh Monday night in hopes that a foreign big man would be in Kentucky's future, a notable international 7-footer with some UK ties (shout-out to Tomlin's brother) was inching himself closer to NBA history.  Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks superstar and the subject of one very unhealthy obsession of yours truly (I own 15+ bobbleheads and multiple autographed memorabilia pieces) dropped 26 points on the team that took what was his in 2006 and, in doing so, pushed himself within 10 points of Larry Bird for 25th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.  Nowitzki, who has transformed from a goofy German teenager with a bad bowl cut to a goofy NBA superstar with an assortment of bad hair cuts, revived what was once the laughingstock of the NBA into perennial contenders, but because the Mavericks are perpetually doomed to fall short in the playoffs, will likely never fully be appreciated as a historically great player by those that don't closely follow the NBA.  For this stalker/fan, that is a tragedy.  A tragedy so depressing, I might just order another bobblehead. Now onto some UK notes...  - As mentioned earlier, it was another day of the Enes Watch and little news trickled out until late Monday evening when Coach Cal hinted said that if he were ruled ineligible, he would encourage the Turkish phenom to sue the NCAA.  It's not something that the coach has discussed with his player, but he believed it to be possible. After calling the five good lawyers in my phone book and got no answer, I decided to call Matt to discuss the the possibility and on what grounds Kanter could possibly have for a lawsuit.  Matt told me that there is a difference between filing a lawsuit and having a sufficient case and he believes that, in this instance, the likelihood of any suit by the Kanter family would have very little probability of winning.  That's because the family would have to prove that the NCAA has violated one of the rules that they've established as the governing body in the determination on ineligibility.  To this point, that doesn't seem to be the case.  But, what does that guy know?  He's just a CBS blogger now.  But, for what it's worth, Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal received an email from NCAA spokesman Chuck Wynne, who said the case was still under review as of Monday and they were working on a quick resolution.  Just remember:  refresh, refresh, refresh.  - Keeping with the waiting theme, the recruiting saga of DeAndre Danielscontinues to play itself out.  Evan Daniels of Scout.com talked with DeAndre Monday and was told that the decision would be "soon".  Later, ESPN's Dave Telep Tweeted out that Daniels said he hasn't made the decision, but Michael Gilchrist stopped by the City of Palms tournament to prod him a little bit and preach the Big Blue word.  As one commenter noted earlier in the day, it appears that the decision will come down to a school with a "U" and a "K" in it.  The order of those letters are what is yet to still be decided.  SIDE NOTE:  KU is actually The University of Kansas.  I guess they knew to stay off of our acronym.  Or, is that like saying "City of Kansas"?  - As a part of my new blog czar responsibilities, I listened to my first Lexy message Monday night from Coach Cal.  He said that the team had two practices on Monday and he "tried to rough them up"a little bit.  For the new guys, it was probably tough.  For the guys who were locked in the bathroom stalls, forced to play when they were hurt and threatened to be thrown off the boss and walk home, it was probably cake.  However, Calipari noted that it's important to avoid a letdown in the final game before they break away from each other for Christmas and I guess tough love is what the doctor ordered.  - Coach Cal also said that if he had to grade his team at this point, he would say they are "ok".  He said that they are a "20th of December team" and he's pleased with that, though he noted that they have to get better by January.  Calipari went on to add that in terms of conditioning and they way they're playing, they're doing very well.  He stopped short of saying, "At least we're not Tennessee or Louisville", but was likely thinking it.  - If you're one of the people who is concerned with the grades, and apparently someone is because Coach Cal said it was requested by the media already, he said the team is a little over 2.8 for their GPA at this point.  So, there you go.  You have what you need.  - In case you missed it earlier, your preseason SEC favorites, Florida, lost to Jacksonville at home.  Assuming you still want to count Auburn as an SEC school, Jacksonville is now 2-0 in the conference.  However, they're also 0-1 against the Big South thanks to a defeat to Winthrop, the school UK faces Wednesday.  Panic! - It was a relatively quiet day for the UK football team, but they did get some good news as Mister Cobble was declared eligible immediately.  It's great news for the UK defense and even better news for a young man who worked very hard to get his academics in check.  But, it's also great news for you, the reader, as the man Chip Cosby dubbed Mister "Answer When My Mama Calls" Cobble had this to say about his accomplishment:

"I did everything the opposite that I did last semester. I didn't procrastinate. I didn't chase the girls. I read my books and I answered the phone when Momma called."

Well done. That's it for now.  Stay tuned throughout the day for Enes Watch.  There might be something brewing.  Or, we might just have another day of good fun and get ready for Winthrop.  Either way, you're going to want to stick around.  See you in a few... #FreeEnes