The day after Kentucky’s Tuesday night win over Georgia, the debate continues about whether the Cats get preferential treatment in avoiding those quick Thursday-Saturday turnarounds.
The SEC-leading Kentucky women are in action tonight at Auburn for a 7 p.m. start.
But the bigger news may come out of the college football ranks, where the lousy bowl TV ratings have caused an examination of eligibility criteria. There is apparently now a push to raise the minimum number of wins needed for bowl eligibility from six to seven. That could have a big effect on a school like Kentucky, which in recent years has made the needed six-wins a major priority.
Big Blue Links for Thursday:
- SEC takes care of Kentucky, writes Kevin Scrabinsky of the Birmingham News.
- Teams may need seven wins for bowl eligibility, writes CBS Sports’ Brett McMurphy.
- Calipari pushing Cats to be special, reports Jerry Tipton of H-L.
- New uniforms bring love/hate reaction, writes Mike Miller of NBC Sports.
- Snowden making most of minutes, writes Jen Smith of Herald-Leader.
- Matthew Mitchell using depth to keep UK atop SEC, writes Les Johns of Kernel.
- Evans has been a rock for UK Hoops, writes Guy Ramsey of Cat Scratches.
- Unselfishness sets this Kentucky team apart, writes Kyle Tucker of C-J.
- Wiltjer’s parents understand his role, writes Larry Vaught of A-M.
- Terrence Jones needs a defensive boost, reports Cats Illustrated.
- Knight learning early NBA lessons, reports Miami Herald’s Joseph Goodman.
- To get more, you have to ask for more, writes Eric Lindsey of CoachCal.com.
SEC women’s basketball schedule tonight
- Kentucky at Auburn 7:00 p.m.
- Ole Miss at South Carolina 7:00 p.m.
- Arkansas at Mississippi St. 8:00 p.m.
- Georgia at Vanderbilt 9:00 p.m.
- Tennessee at Alabama 9:00 p.m.
More links of interest:
- Follow Jen Smith of the Herald-Leader on twitter
- Check out Cats Stats Weekly
- Follow Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader on twitter
Hopefully that will be the case for future bowls. This past holiday tv viewing was innundated by “who cares” football matchups. Not only will adding the requirement of an extra win help, it will stop several colleges (*nudge, nudge; wink wink*) from reaping the benefits of scheduling all cupcakes for the non-conference part of their schedule.
Bowl games used to be a reward for excellence. 6-6 (or in UCLA’s case 6-7) isn’t a reward…it’s a farce.
Raising the minimum win number to qualify will also eliminate some of these ‘garbage’ (sorry there’s no other word to use) bowl games that nobody cares about because there simply won’t be enough teams available to fill the spots.
Mark Liptak