Some pre-lunch notes:
- Kentucky is holding a media opportunity at 1 p.m. to preview tomorrow’s UK-Vanderbilt basketball game. I’ll have video, notes, etc. after the interviews.
- Interesting that the only thing that could keep Kentucky women from winning the SEC title outright is Mississippi State, whose retiring coach Sharon Fanning-Otis is coaching her final home game on Sunday. Fanning-Otis was once the head coach at Kentucky.
- ESPN’s SEC blog has a spring practice preview, which includes Kentucky. An excerpt: “Maxwell Smith: With fellow quarterback Morgan Newton sidelined this spring as he recovers from shoulder surgery, all eyes will be on Smith. He struggled at times last year, but Kentucky’s offense was better when he was under center. Now, he’ll have to make even bigger strides this spring if he wants to create a sizable lead in the race before Newton returns. Smith needs to work on his consistency, clean up his mistakes and develop better chemistry with his receivers.”
- I still think Duke needs to beat visiting North Carolina a week from tomorrow to get a No. 1 seed, but the Blue Devils’ 74-66 win at Florida State last night sure put Coach K’s team in position. Andre Dawkins scored 18 in the first half and 22 for the game. Duke and Carolina are now both 11-2 in the ACC. Florida State is 10-3.
- In case you missed it, Murray State extracted revenge on Tennessee State last night, winning 80-62 in Nashville. TSU had handed the Racers their only loss of the season.
- Since they removed the YouTube video of Lamar coach Pat Knight ripping his players, here’s the USA Today story with the video.
- Eastern Kentucky has to win Saturday to earn a shot at a spot in the OVC Tournament.
- Louisville’s loss at Cincinnati last night dropped the Cardinals to seventh place at 9-6 in the Big East. Rick Pitino said afterward that U of L is in the NCAA Tournament, which is probably right. But the Cards have what now looks like a big game with South Florida at the Yum Center on Feb. 29. USF is 10-5 in the Big East.
- Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal on whether UK’s football staff is too old.
- NCAA has approved the new rule on kickoffs. Teams will now kickoff from the 35, instead of the 30. That means more touchbacks, fewer injuries.
- Brewers slugger Ryan Braun winning his appeal with MLB over his drug test is a bad break for the Reds.
- Best wishes to Miami of Ohio coach Charlie Coles, who has been hospitalized and won’t coach this weekend.
If you’re not going to play football on the kickoffs (“kickoff from the 35, instead of the 30 . . . more touchbacks, fewer injuries”), why not just play 20-20 football: if a team has to kick (kickoff or punt), the opponent gets the ball on its own 20 yard line. That way, you really won’t have to worry about injuries on any kick returns! After that goes into effect, we can then work on those injuries that occur when blocking or tackling (although some mightsay that is already being taken care of by all those missed blocks and tackles).