UK Fans of the Day Want Afternoon Notes

by:Matt Jones09/17/13

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It is an exciting day around the Bluegrass (ok not really, but the Champions League is on right now and I have a new book I am reading, so I guess that counts) and that means that we need a few notes, don’t you think?

— It has been all quiet on the UK football front, as the team did not have a media opportunity yesterday and we have heard little word from the coaches. The most obvious issue currently on the table is what to do at the Quarterback position. The QB play hasn’t been terrible, but it also hasn’t been a strength, something that was expected going into the season. Most of the next few weeks depends on the health of Max Smith. If he is able to go, then the two QB system probably continues and the team just hopes to keep Max healthy. If he doesn’t then the question is whether the staff goes just with Whitlow or then introduces Patrick Towles into a rotation. The working assumption is that they want to keep the redshirt on Towles, but with the way Whitlow plays and the possibility of a serious Smith injury, at that point it may not be feasible. The bye week is coming at a perfect time for this decision, but one thing is clear…for UK to pull off any upsets and surprise some people, the QB position has to improve.

Along those lines, here was my KSR Minute last night from WKYT about the UK-UL game and what to take from it:

— I am doing my best to contain my excitement about the UK basketball team this year, but I admit that is very hard to do. Having been around a bit these past few weeks, one thing is clear to me. Kentucky is going to be crazy good and this will be one hell of a ride. Julius Randle is a special player, the likes of which you don’t see a lot in college basketball. His physicality and ability to get to the rim is stunning. The Twins are able to do it all and Aaron Harrison, thought to be the lesser of the two, may be the surprise of the season. Throw in an improving Alex Poythress, two big-time centers in Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee’s amazing energy and the talent of James Young and…well it is pretty exciting. I am going to break down the team as a whole based on the off-season improvement for a post tomorrow. But for now, just know this…they are going to be crazy good.

I hope you played in the Draftstreet KSR Fantasy Football game last week. 100 of you were separated into two leagues and it was quite the battle. Some of you won some significant money, and I was pleased to come in sixth in both leagues (thank you Aaron Rodgers and Michael Vick). We will do it again very soon, so make sure and play…and fantasy college basketball will be awesome this year.

— Much has been talked about today concerning the tweet from Stanley Johnson about the Kelly Oubre to UK gossip at this point. While I initially wondered if Johnson’s words were negative (he suggested that Oubre to Kentucky could make things clearer for him…but how it made it clear wasn’t entirely certain), now I think it was positive. Johnson has talked about playing with Oubre and he confirmed on Twitter that he likes the idea of playing with the star forward, even if he is not a “package deal.” I still believe Kentucky adds Trey Lyles and Devin Booker to the class, but if somehow Oubre and Johnson are added (one has to think they don’t get all four…someone would likely end up elsewhere), the class becomes a monster yet again. I have said all along that Kentucky needs one “ELITE” level player in this class…as of now, I don’t think they have one but Johnson can be that guy. For me, ELITE is top 3-5 and Calipari has gotten at least one every year (Wall, Cousins, Knight, Davis, MKG, Noel and Randle). In this class Okafor is clearly one and I think Johnson is right on the edge. Picking him up over Arizona would be a tremendous achievement.

northhampton clown

The story of the Northampton, England clown fascinated us today on radio. He just walks around town looking like the “IT” character and scaring people. His picture is above and objectively it is creepy. But they can’t do anything about it because he isn’t breaking any laws. What would you do? And will someone take Ryan’s advice and dress like this at a UK game? We shall see.

Finally, we restarted the Walk-Ons Podcast, the national college basketball chatter I do with Ben Swain and Mark Ennis. Many of you seem to like it, so if you are one of those people take a listen and subscribe at this handy link here. Today we go over the Top 10 preseason teams, talk about the Calipari camp and Jeff Goodman’s “depth.” If you are a college basketball fan, you will like.

Go Cats and be as happy as these guys:

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