I find myself writing about Kentucky basketball way more than any single program deserves in the offseason, but so much of what is going on there is just so compelling that I can’t help it. It’s rare that a team goes through such a complete overhaul in an offseason, never mind an iconic program like this one. The program found itself in the news three different times yesterday, for three totally unrelated reasons:
- Well, the seemingly inevitable has finally been confirmed – point guard phenom John Wall will spend his one year in college playing basketball at Kentucky. He was a virtual lock to go to Memphis before John Calipari left for Kentucky. Since then he flirted strongly with Duke, and he even reportedly gave a soft verbal commitment to Miami of all places, but he has landed in the place that totally makes sense for him. The dribble-drive offense is tailor made for a guy like Wall just as it was for Derrick Rose. In fact, Wall is frequently compared to Rose, though he is said to be even faster and more athletic. That’s scary for opposing teams to hear.
Jay Cutler is the biggest baby I have ever seen. The latest news on the Broncos’ QB front is that the team has given up and is going to trade their pivot before the draft. That news has apparently been confirmed by owner Pat Bowlen as well, so it is past the point of just being a rumor. The impetus for this latest move is that apparently neither Bowlen nor coach Josh McDaniels has apparently been able to get Cutler to return a phone call for the last 10 days. Seriously? Not returning phone calls is what you do when you are in grade school and you are having a fight with your friend. It’s not what you do when you are a highly paid and well respected professional who has yet to prove that they can actually do their job – lead the team to playoff success. I don’t think that there is a quarterback in the league that could justify this kind of immature, prima donna behaviour, but at the very least you should have to have a winning record before you do it. Teams will line up for Cutler, and he’s probably an upgrade for at least half the teams in the league, but this whole episode has convinced me that Cutler doesn’t have what it takes to go all the way. I mean, can you imagine Tom Brady not returning Robert Kraft’s calls? Or Peyton Manning screening out Tony Dungy? Ridiculous.
This has not been a good preseason for pitchers. Johan Santana is behind schedule, Justin Duchscherer is out for a month or more, and we’re hearing even more today. Cole Hamels’ elbow isn’t recovering as quickly as they hoped it would, and he officially isn’t in contention to be the opening day starter anymore. His fastball is still only in the 85-88 miles per hour range so he has some work to do, but that’s much better than what it was earlier in the spring. The Angels also got some bad news – John Lackey is out until late April or May. The good news, if there is some, is that the MRI showed that the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The Angels have a lack of depth in their rotation at the best of times, so the sooner they can get their ace back the better.
1. Suck on that, Blake Griffin.
2. Roy Williams proved yet again how incredibly good he is. He and his staff had the Tar Heels as prepared as they possibly could have been for the Oklahoma game. The first half was as brilliant a defensive performance against a formidable foe as I have ever seen. I have been down on North Carolina for a while now, but that showing made it harder for me to stick with my opinion – especially now that they have a week to get ready for the Wildcats.
