JoJo Kemp’s Trash Talking Not Welcomed by Stoops

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

JoJo Kemp grew up in Florida and knows several Gators he will lining up against on Saturday night. So perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising that Kemp engaged in a little trash talk the other day. But, it was something that didn’t make Coach Stoops too happy. Jennifer Smith writes:

"“The former Florida State defensive coordinator, who has recruited many of the players on the Gators’ roster, said he doesn’t imagine they’ll take too kindly to the‘It’s not very smart to try to challenge their pride before you play them,’ Stoops said. ‘I don’t think that was very smart. It’s not something that I teach. It’s not how we talk.'”"

Why were Kemp’s words so bad? After all, isn’t confidence a good thing? Ken Bradley writes:

"“OK, Problem No. 1: Never call out an opponent and predict a victory in public. It often ends poorly.Problem No. 2: November 15, 1986. That’s the last time Kentucky beat Florida. And the two teams play every season. Don’t bother counting — that’s 27 consecutive Gator wins against the Wildcats.”"

Kentucky ought to be one of the most fun teams to watch this year in college basketball. With such a loaded roster, every game could be a high-scoring, entertaining affair. Kerry Miller writes:

"“What’s really going to make them fun to watch, though, is Tyler Ulis.The 5’9″ point guard looks like a small child next to giants like Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson, Karl Towns Jr. and Trey Lyles, but Kentucky’s trip to the Bahamas demonstrated that he might be the most talented player on the roster.”"

Calipari’s Pro Day in October is yet another example of Cal’s creative thinking. But could it be a game-changer for college basketball? David Gardner writes:

"“Hopefully, this move paves the way for a football-like model of Pro Days at campuses across the nation. Although college football’s season is actually shorter than college basketball’s, it gets much more media attention – and not just because football is a more popular sport in the United Sates. College football’s offseason schedule has more spread-out media events, from February’s National Signing Day to spring practices – which are often open to fans and media – to late-summer media days. College basketball falls essentially silent from May to October. If more teams adopted this model and moved their dates up to say, September, the college basketball offseason would attract more attention from NBA fans particularly, who sometimes don’t start focusing on college hoops until February or March.”"

I haven’t always been the biggest Around the Horn fan but I, like many other people, like its host Tony Reali. But Reali is moving on to bigger and better things after hosting the show for 10 years. Richard Deitsch writes:

"“His name was Tony Reali.Ten years later, Reali remains the host of Horn and will soon join Good Morning America as its social media correspondent. As part of that new job, he will be relocating from Washington D.C. to New York City, which means he will be giving up his duties as a Pardon the Interruption regular after 13 years. Reali said he decided to step away from PTI in part because of the GMA deal but even more so because he and his wife Sami wanted to raise their newborn daughter Francesca in New York City. Reali is a Fordham University graduate and was born in Staten Island.”"