John Clay's Sidelines

Kentucky basketball players Darius Miller, Marquis Teague and Kyle Wiltjer from today’s media opportunity.

Darius Miller

 
Marquis Teague

 
Kyle Wiltjer

At his Friday media opportunity, Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari was asked about the comment he made at the end of his interview on ESPN’s PTI on Thursday, the comment in which Calipari talked about getting “separation” from other programs. The question produced a long, involved, far-reaching answer that ended with Calipari imitating a mail correspondence he had with a dog.

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Imani Cross picks Nebraska, says Big Red Report. (subscription)
• Cross turns down Cats, says Cats Pause. (subscription)
• Troy Williams has UK in his final four, reports Zagsblog.
• Hickey has brushed aside recruiting snub, writes Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• Hickey gearing up to face Cats, writes Jim Kleinpeter of Times-Picayune.
• LSU has little time to look back, writes Scott Hotard of The Advocate.
• Brandon Knight’s mom suing Hyatt, reports Jennifer Hewlett of H-L.
• UK women ride tough defense to win at Auburn, reports Jen Smith of H-L.
• Conwright makes most of time, reports Smith.
• Auburn struggles with turnovers, writes David Morrison of Opelika News.
• Davis nation’s top big man, says Jay Bilas of ESPN.
• Miller providing leadership, reports Keith Taylor of Winchester Sun.
• Jones still a lottery pick, writes Larry Vaught of the A-M.
• Three things for UK-LSU, from Aaron Smith of the Kernel.
• Magic should let Orton play, argues Mike Bianchi of Orlando Sentinel.

SEC basketball last night:

Florida 64, Ole Miss 60: The Gators fell behind by a whopping 20-4 before rallying in the second half to win in Oxford. Ole Miss was six-of-six from three-point land in the first half on the way to a 38-28 halftime lead. But Mike Rosario hit a three with 5:35 left to give Florida a 53-52 lead. Kenny Boynton followed with a three and the visitors went on to the win. The Gators are now 4-1 in the conference, a game-and-a-half in back of Kentucky. Billy Donovan’s club is now 2-4 on the road this season. Ole Miss shot just 27.6 percent in the second half.

“This is going to hurt and it should hurt,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “Let’s learn from it. Tomorrow, let’s come back and get our focus on our next opportunity, which happens to be Saturday night against South Carolina.”

SEC road records: Kentucky 3-0, Vanderbilt 2-0, Florida 2-1, Ole Miss 1-2, Mississippi St 1-2, Arkansas 0-2, Georgia 0-2, South Carolina 0-2, Alabama 0-3, Auburn 0-3, LSU 0-3, Tennessee 0-3.

A look at the AP Top 25, where Kentucky is currently No. 1:

• In action tonight:
• No. 7 North Carolina plays host to North Carolina State
• No. 14 Florida is at Ole Miss
• No. 16 Indiana is at No. 25 Wisconsin
• No. 19 Virginia plays host to Boston College
• No. 21 Saint Mary’s is at Loyola Marymount
• Last night’s Top 25 action
• No. 2 Missouri lost at Oklahoma State 79-72
• No. 8 Duke won at Maryland 74-61
• No. 10 Michigan State beat visiting Minnesota 68-52
• No. 12 UNLV won at Boise State 77-72
• No. 15 Creighton beat visiting Drake 77-69
• No. 18 Mississippi State beat visiting LSU 76-71
• No. 22 Kansas State won at Texas Tech 69-47
• No. 23 Florida State won at Wake Forest 75-52

Updated Kentucky basketball player pages:

Rick Pitino changed the mood inside the Louisville basketball program. He backed off. He lightened the mood. He had a laugh. It was a welcome change, apparently. If you watched the Cardinals the last few games, one thing was obvious. Nobody was having any fun. Not the fans. Not the players. Not the coach.

Beating downtrodden Pittsburgh last Saturday was a step in the right direction, but last night in an 84-74 win over Villanova, U of L looked like a different team. They ripped. They ran. They actually scored points — 84. That’s the most Pitino’s team has scored this year since it beat Memphis 95-87 to go 10-0 way back on Dec. 17.

Let’s not get carried away here. Pittsburgh is a mess. Villanova is having an atypical down year. Louisville’s schedule grows tougher, starting with a trip to Seton Hall on Saturday. But if the Cards are going to have a shot at climbing back up the Big East ladder — they are 4-4 after last night’s win — they needed to shake out of the depressing funk that began with the home loss to Georgetown way back on Dec. 28. Looks like they at least done that.

• Louisville’s next five games
• Sept. 28 at Seton Hall
• Feb. 4 at home vs. Rutgers
• Feb. 6 at home vs UConn
• Feb. 11 at West Virginia
• Feb. 13 at home vs. Syracuse

Let’s throw Mark Gottfried some credit. Numerous eyebrows were raised when our good friend Debbie Yow plucked the former Alabama head coach to be her new basketball coach at North Carolina State. More remember Yow’s accusatory rant against Gary Williams, her former coach at Maryland, whom Yow believed was trying to circumvent her search in Raleigh, than they do wo was actually hired for the job.

Anyway, here we are on Jan. 26 and Gottfried has the Wolfpack 4-1 heading into tonight’s matchup with North Carolina. State is but a half-game behind Duke and Florida State in the ACC standings. Gottfried’s team is on a three-game win streak as it plays in Chapel Hill. Check it out at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Tonight’s college basketball schedule on TV:

• 7:00 North Carolina-North Carolina State (ESPN)
• 7:00 Florida-Ole Miss (ESPN2)
• 7:00 Nebraska-Iowa (ESPNU)
• 7:00 Navy-Lehigh (CBS Sports)
• 9:00 Indiana-Wisconsin (ESPN2)
• 9:00 Boston College-Virginia (ESPNU)
• 10:30 Washington State-Arizona (FSN)
• 11:00 Gonzaga-Portland (ESPN2)

From the inbox, Mark writes in regards to these new “platinum” uniforms Kentucky will wear next Tuesday against Tennesse:

Get with the fashion….you are showing your age. The new platinum uniforms are really strong…..a good look and not a gimmick.

Get in the game, its 2012 and the cutting edge of uniforms are here. Re-visit the 2012 Rose Bowl film if you need more, everyone should be happy UK is included in the new gear. You sounded really old when you ripped it today.

My response: I’m old enough to know those are not good-looking uniforms. As for the Rose Bowl, I’ve got no problem with Oregon. Wearing wild uniforms is what Oregon does. That is its tradition.

What do you think of the uniforms? Vote in the poll.

The day after Kentucky’s Tuesday night win over Georgia, the debate continues about whether the Cats get preferential treatment in avoiding those quick Thursday-Saturday turnarounds.

The SEC-leading Kentucky women are in action tonight at Auburn for a  7 p.m. start.

But the bigger news may come out of the college football ranks, where the lousy bowl TV ratings have caused an examination of eligibility criteria. There is apparently now a push to raise the minimum number of wins needed for bowl eligibility from six to seven. That could have a big effect on a school like Kentucky, which in recent years has made the needed six-wins a major priority.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• SEC takes care of Kentucky, writes Kevin Scrabinsky of the Birmingham News.
• Teams may need seven wins for bowl eligibility, writes CBS Sports’ Brett McMurphy.
• Calipari pushing Cats to be special, reports Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• New uniforms bring love/hate reaction, writes Mike Miller of NBC Sports.
• Snowden making most of minutes, writes Jen Smith of Herald-Leader.