Hey you! Yeah, you, rolling your eyes in the corner. You don’t like soccer, right? You’re annoyed that I dedicated the news and views to the World Cup, aren’t you? Well, get over it. I like soccer, so much so that I even called it “futbol” for awhile before I got over myself. So yeah, start scrolling and I’ll meet you at the news and views part, okay?
…Okay, sorry about that. What’s up, soccer loving friends? Who’s wearing a jersey right now? Come on, raise your hands. No need to be ashamed. The World Cup begins on Thursday, and we’re all excited. Sure, the US may be in the “Group of Death” and our own coach doesn’t think we have a shot of winning, but hey, anything can happen, right? We can beat Ghana (they have it coming!), and maybe Ronaldo will get hurt or something and we’ll at least tie Portugal. (Sorry, even this optimist doesn’t think we have a chance against Germany.) Either way, it’s going to be a fun month with opportunities to hate on all sorts of nations, and for once, the time zones are working with us, making it possible to catch all of the action without staying up half the night.
The first game is Brazil vs. Croatia at 4 p.m. Thursday, and we’ve got a whole weekend of games before the US laces up Monday evening. Because Drew and I are big futbol fans (there I go again! Sorry), we’ll throw in some World Cup updates here and there along with your University of Kentucky basketball, football, and recruiting news. All in the most ridiculous manner, of course. In fact, Drew’s working on a massive World Cup post for tomorrow, so get ready for that.
I need to watch my favorite promo again.
Hey, welcome back, everyone else. To the news of the day…
Paul Biancardi called UK’s 2014 class the most skilled class John Calipari’s had
CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein hosted the show on Wednesday, and brought on former Cat and Samford head coach Scott Padgett along with ESPN recruiting guru Paul Biancardi. Biancardi was very high on UK’s new freshmen class, saying that “the skill level of this class is like none other that John Calipari has recruited.” Oooh…gimme more:
“All four guys can score the basketball. I don’t think you can say that about John’s classes in the past. Although dominant players, I don’t think they can all score the ball easily. If you left anyone of these guys alone, they can make an open shot from the three-point line — all four of them. Or they can make a pull-up jumpshot. Skill level is tremendous. I like the way they pass the ball. This is a passing class.”
Bruce Pearl was on KSR for the first time ever
Rothstein also brought on Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl, Pearl’s first appearance ever on KSR. As you would expect, Pearl was very excited about improving SEC basketball and what’s going on at Auburn, as he should be. This morning, Niagra’s Antoine Mason announced he will transfer to Auburn. Mason is the nation’s leading returning scorer at over 25 points per game last season and he will be eligible to play immediately. And so it begins…
Pearl put on his old commentator hat for a minute and said that for Kentucky to win it all this year, they need a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist type player to pull the team together. Of course they do, every single team in the world needs a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist type player.
Joker Phillips resigns at Florida for “personal reasons”
On Wednesday afternoon, some big news broke down in Gainesville when Joker Phillips resigned as Florida’s wide receivers coach. Joker cited “personal reasons,” and later in the day, ESPN’s Brett McMurphy is reporting that Joker resigned over possible NCAA recruiting violations, and Football Scoop’s Scott Roussel says that violation may have been a “bump,” or a brief, unplanned meeting with a recruit. Bumps happen all the time in recruiting, and Roussel’s sources say this one was very minor, but another school in Florida reported it and therefore, Joker felt the need to step down.
For now, the mystery continues…
Wesley Woodyard is making sure Avery Williamson keeps up with his rookie duties
Meanwhile, in Nashville, Avery Williamson has his hands full thanks to Wesley Woodyard and the rest of the Titans, who are making sure he’s keeping up with his rookie duties. This isn’t really a news or a view, I just needed something positive after the Joker stuff.
Dominique Hawkins will talk about his trip to China tomorrow
A few weeks ago, Dominique Hawkins traveled to China with the SportsReach program, and will meet with the Lexington media on Thursday to talk about his experience. Dominique is the best, so I’m really looking forward to hearing him talk about his trip, and how the Chinese woman couldn’t keep their hands off of him. It’s that smile…
Tim Couch and Jared Lorenzen host KSR in the morning, it will be epic
We’ve had some great guests hosts fill in while Matt’s on vacation, but tomorrow’s show has the potential to be downright epic. UK football legends Tim Couch and Jared Lorenzen will man the mics to talk about UK football past, present, and future, as well as the mystery surrounding Joker Phillips’ resignation at Florida. If that wasn’t exciting enough, UK head coach Mark Stoops will host Friday’s show along with some members of his staff. A lot of you complain that we don’t talk enough football on the show and site, so these two shows are for you.
Happy birthday, Drew Franklin
Finally, let me be the first to wish my co-editor Drew Franklin a very happy birthday. According to the Sklar Brothers, Drew turns the ripe old age of 24 on Thursday, and because we love Drew so much, we’ll let that one slide. I’ve been working for KSR full-time for about a year and a half now, and I can honestly say that without Drew, I would have pulled all of my hair out by now. He has the wit to keep this site sharp and the patience to keep us all sane, and therefore is one of the absolute best at this bizarre, ridiculous job we do. And because he’s Drew, I have total faith that he’ll make this birthday count.