After a fantastic (and much-needed) vacation, I’m back in the saddle for a little bit, at least until I take another vacation in the coming weeks. A big thanks goes to Guy Ramsey for filling in for me while I was gone. It looks like he kept everyone up-to-date on the Southeastern Conference meetings in Destin, Fla., as well as kicked off the “Where are they now” series with a great story on Dicky Lyons Jr. Here are a few notes that we didn’t get around to that should catch you up on everything going on around Big Blue Nation:- Alex Meyer became Kentucky baseball’s highest MLB Draft pick since 2002 when he was chosen by the Washington Nationals with the 23rd overall selection Monday, but the draft is far from over for current Wildcats. Rounds 2-30 will take place Tuesday, starting at noon, followed by rounds 31-50 on Wednesday. Current Wildcats Chad Wright, Thomas McCarthy, Jordan Cooper, Braden Kapteyn, Michael Williams and Taylor Black could all hear their names called over the next couple of days. Wright, McCarthy, Cooper, Kapteyn and Williams are underclassmen and could return to UK next year.
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– One thing that wasn’t mentioned on here last week from the SEC meetings was the new oversigning limit for football scholarships. The presidents and chancellors of the league voted unanimously last week to cut the number of scholarship players a school can sign from 28 to 25. It was a pretty fair compromise between the SEC coaches, who didn’t want any restrictions on how they manage their rosters, and the critics of the critics of oversigning. Jon Solomon of The Birminghman News has a pretty good recap on the new limit here.
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– Former UK women’s golfer Mallory Blackwelder will play in her first U.S. Open on July 7-10 after qualifying for the major tournament this past weekend. Blackwelder, the daughter of former Kentucky coach Myra Blackwelder, finished third out of 69 players in the qualifying event with a 14-over-par 156 total. The U.S. Open will take place at Broadmoor East in Colorado Springs, Colo., the same course where Blackwelder qualified.
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– Men’s basketball head coach John Calipari continued his “State of the Cats” series last week on his website, CoachCal.com. In last week’s address, he talked about UK’s draft-eligible players and gave his opinion on each. You can read his full thoughts here, but the most interesting part, I thought, was that Enes Kanter would be his No. 1 pick if it were his decision. Here is an excerpt of what Calipari had to say:
This one is so hard for me because as more and more people see what we saw all year at the Joe Craft Center with Enes, I can’t help but think how much more special last season could have been if our big teenager had been able to join us for our Final Four run! He just turned 19 a few weeks ago. There is a strong possibility that Enes could be the No. 1 overall pick. If it were my decision, Enes is who I would pick at No. 1. Here’s why: he can truly be a dominating kind of player; he can be a Karl Malone-type big man. As the league gets smaller (size-wise) his ability to dominate his position will grow. He’s got a position and a true size. If he doesn’t go No. 1 he will go shortly thereafter and the teams that passed on him will look back and wince at that decision. I’m biased because I love him, but I’m also talking in pragmatic terms.
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– The final UK Athletics event of the 2010-11 athletics year takes place this week in Des Moines, Iowa, for the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. Sean Hilen is traveling with the team and should have the full details of the event later Tuesday in a release. The championships begin Wednesday.
