– Athlon Sports, which produces one of the most popular preseason publication for the football and basketball seasons, has already released its rankings of all 120 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The UK football team checked in at No. 51 (no matter what the program does the year before, doesn’t it always seem like they end up in the 50-range?) above such Southeastern Conference teams as Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Here is what the publication has to say about the Cats:

“Joker Phillips inherits a Kentucky program that has been to four straight bowl games, but also is 12-20 against SEC teams in that stretch, including 0-12 against Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. The schedule is forgiving enough that the Wildcats can make a fifth straight bowl game, but the defense isn’t strong enough for Phillips to give Cats fans the breakout season they crave.”

– The Los Angeles Clippers introduced first-round picks Al-Farouq Aminu and Eric Bledsoe a couple of days ago and posted quotes from the former UK guard. Fans can check out the full transcript at clippers.com. A couple of interesting quotes from Bledsoe are below:

Advice from players from their schools …“I talk to Tony Delk a lot. I talk to him every day. He just tells me to come in and work harder than everyone else on the court and that will help me a lot.”

Awareness of Baron Davis …“I like Baron’s toughness. He goes out every night and just plays. It doesn’t matter who he goes up against. He still goes out and performs every game. I’m looking forward to playing with him and learning from him.”

– Evening update: Former UK guard and top overall NBA Draft pick John Wall has decided to go with jersey No. 2 for his rookie season with the Washington Wizards. Wall announced the decision on Twitter on Wednesday night. Wall wore No. 11 at UK but the number was not available with Washington. No. 11 is retired in Washington in honor of Elvin Hayes. Wall talked with CSNWashington about the number selection in the video below: