NEWSSTAND (10/27): Cats-Vols, basketball exhibition, visitors, Cousins

Football recruiting with Kentucky's big game against Tennessee almost here, what Mark Stoops is saying, John Calipari's comments on UK's upcoming exhibitions and much more.

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Jarren Williams will be the most high profile high school football prospect visiting Kentucky this weekend when Tennessee travels to Lexington for a big SEC showdown at nighttime. But there will be a good number of other Kentucky commits and targets in attendance. Here's a running list of some of the biggest names that Cats Illustrated has confirmed will be at Kroger Field.

LINK: Visitor list for Kentucky-Tennessee

We have reached Halloween weekend and there are coaches on the hot seat all over the league. We could be entering an offseason where four or five programs could be looking for new head coaches and the only way to know how it plays out is seeing how these next five weeks develop.

This week in the SEC, we have the Cocktail Party leading the way for some very interesting matchups in the SEC. Just like always, we’re here to break down all the action.

LINK: Around the SEC (Week 9)

Is it really college basketball season?

Kentucky's first exhibition basketball game takes place on Friday night against Thomas More.

There won't be a line. There's not much of a question about which team will emerge victorious. That's not what UK-Thomas More is about. This is one of three exhibition games for Kentucky's basketball program before the start of the 2017-18 season.

Here are five things to watch for when the Cats take the court on Friday night.

LINK: What to watch for in the Cats' first basketball exhibition Friday night

Entering his ninth season as head coach at Kentucky, John Calipari is no stranger to dealing with young players and the growing pains that accompany them.

This particular edition of the Wildcats, however, may prove to be the biggest test of his patience to date.

“We’re a ways away from being a good basketball team,” Calipari said Thursday in advance of UK’s exhibition opener against Thomas More. The Cats will face the Division III program on Friday night at Rupp Arena, followed by a disaster relief charity exhibition on Monday against Morehead State from the DI ranks.

LINK: Calipari says Cats are still figuring out who they are

Sports Illustrated’s 2017–18 preview is guided by data from our College Basketball Projection System, a collaboration between economist Dan Hanner and SI’s Chris Johnson and Jeremy Fuchs. We project teams on a player-by-player, lineup-based level and then simulate the season 10,000 times to generate our 1–351 national rankings and conference forecasts.

These are the model’s projections for the SEC, including individual awards, the teams’ order of finish and (advanced and raw) stats for the top seven players in each school’s rotation.

LINK: Who will rule a league filled with freshman phenoms?

Kentucky and Tennessee renew their college football border rivalry Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Kroger Field in an SEC game on the SEC Network.

Both teams are trying to get up off the mat. Both lost by identical 45-7 scores last Saturday. UK was drubbed at Mississippi State. Tennessee was drubbed at No. 1-ranked Alabama. Kentucky is now 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the SEC. Tennessee is 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the league.

LINK: Can Kentucky football execute a bounce-back Saturday against Tennessee?

Tennessee has won 31 of the last 32 meetings with Kentucky in football with the only loss in the series during that span in 2011. It took place in Lexington. The same location for Saturday's game.

LINK: Tennessee writers predicting a Kentucky win

New Orleans Pelicans forward DeMarcus Cousins probably couldn't have written a better script for his return to Sacramento on Thursday night.

Cousins had a memorable all-around game, going off for 41 points, 23 rebounds and 6 assists and nailing three 3-pointers during a 114-106 comeback triumph in his first game in Sacramento since being traded in February. The Kings traded Cousins to the Pelicans during the 2017 NBA All-Star Game after he played six-and-a-half seasons for the franchise.

LINK: Demarcus Cousins gets standing ovation, scores 41 in Sacramento

The NBA has entered full-on mercenary mode, and Cousins shouldn't go out of his way to force a fit in New Orleans. Cousins should—and surely will—give his unusual Twin Towers pairing with Davis his best shot over the next two or three months, but he should be prepared to pull the plug if it doesn’t work. Cousins can’t wipe Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca from New Orleans’s salary cap sheet, he can’t place healing hands on Solomon Hill, and he can’t transform Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen into floor-spacers. Cousins shouldn’t feel responsible if Rondo can’t stay healthy or if the Rondo/Jrue Holiday pairing doesn’t mesh. Cousins can’t make the Pelicans’ owners care about basketball more than football, and he shouldn’t feel burdened by ongoing hot seat talk for GM Dell Demps and coach Alvin Gentry.

LINK: Cousins controls his own playoff destiny

It was exactly seven years ago Friday that DeMarcus Cousins began his NBA career with the Sacramento Kings, scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds in a rare Kings victory.

Remarkably, all the questions that surrounded Cousins when he was selected fifth overall in the 2010 NBA Draft remain, even as he arrived here Thursday with his new team, the New Orleans Pelicans, for his first game against his old one.

LINK: Cousins remains an enigma eight years into NBA career