John Clay's Sidelines

College basketball on the tube for Monday, Feb. 24:

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes on South Carolina guard Devan Downey.
• Mark Story of the Herald-Leader asks what will Darius Miller do for an encore?
• Seth Emerson of The State writes that it’s “go-time” in the SEC East.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal writes that it’s a strange view for Gamecocks atop SEC East.
• Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal writes on Carly Ormerod, ending her career at UK.
• Hal Morris of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes on UK’s show of support.
• Ken Howlett of A Sea of Blue writes on a ton of UK trends.
• Matt Jones at Kentucky Sports Radio reports that UK is allowing ESPN to go behind the scenes.
• Bobby Reagen of the Kentucky Kernel writes on the threat imposed by Carolina’s Downey.
• Tom Leach writes on a big week for the Big Blue.
• On his WLAP blog, Dick Gabriel writes on a foul trip to Myrtle Beach.
• Cat Scratches has a UK practice report.

SEC links for Tuesday:

• In the Mobile Press-Register, Paul Finebaum asks if its time for a historic hire at Alabama.
• Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that talent is more than skin deep.
• Gary Laney of the Baton Rouge Advocate reports that LSU’s focus is on visiting Florida.
• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun writes on the ultimate Gator hangout, the barber shop.
• In the Tennessean, Bryan Mullen writes that Tennessee is struggling to keep focus on the court.
• Also in the Tennessean, Joe Biddle writes on a high-scoring high school star headed to Vandy.
• And Maurice Patton of the Tennessean reports that Vandy’s three-point shooting has not good.
• In the News-Sentinel, Mike Griffith reports that UT’s Scotty Hopson knows he must do more.
• In the Huntsville Times, Mark McCarter writes on Andre Smith’s problems.
• The AJC reports that Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno got passing grades at the NFL Combine.
• David Brandt of the Clarion-Ledger writes that Ole Miss is still searching for a 12th football game.
• Gentry Estes of the Mobile Press-Register writes on former Arkansas assistant and UAB head coach Mike Anderson who has found his groove at Missouri.

Here’s what I’ve heard from the local call-in shows:

• WLXG-1300: I’m on with Chris Cross and Mike Cameron at 6:05 p.m.

• WLAP-630: Billy Gillispie call-in show starts at 6 p.m. Dick Gabriel follows at 7.

It’s official.

Kentucky has more interest in basketball than any other state.

Google says so.

Basketball.org used Google info to find out which state “Googles” the most with concern to basketball-relate topics. (Hat tip to TrueHoop.)

Kentucky beat out Kansas and North Carolina, according to the site:

Lets start with the term “Basketball” and see which state shows the most online love for the sport.  Turns out that Kentucky takes the crown over Kansas, North Carolina and Indiana.  Now keep in mind this is calculated by the percentage of searches within that states population.  So North Carolina may be searched more overall, but North Carolina natives don’t show quite as much love in North Carolina, as Kentucky natives do to the sport.

Be sure to check the post for more breakdowns on this subject, but here’s the Top 10:

Here’s the video of Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun’s run-in with a free-lance journalist/activist in a press-conference this weekend. Calhoun became agitated with questions about his salary.

College basketball on the tube for Monday, Feb. 23:

Here is an updated look at the SEC East divisional chart after play this past weekend. Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida are in a three-way tie for first. If the tiebreaker comes down to divisional play, UK has a slight edge on Carolina, though both are tied in the lost column.

A breakdown of divisional play:

Rajon Rondo celebrated his 23rd birthday in style Sunday, scoring a career-high 32 points in Boston’s 128-108 win at Phoenix. Some details on the ex-Cat’s day:

• Steve Bulpett writes in the Boston Herald that Rondo knows how to celebrate. Bulpett: ” Rajon Rondo celebrated his 23rd birthday in a most unique fashion yesterday. Candles? He didn’t need no stinking candles. Rajon Rondo blew out the Suns.”

• Frank Dell’Apa writes in the Boston Globe that Rajon is now a running theme for the Celtics. Quote from Paul Pierce: “As Rondo goes, this team goes,” Pierce said. “If he plays as well as he’s playing, there is no way we can lose. He’s doing a great job finding guys and putting the ball in the hole.”

• From the comments section on the Globe story: “I say we get a guy in to hypnotize Rondo before every game and to tell him it’s his birthday! Happy Birthday, Rajon! That was quite some present you gave yourself and us yesterday. Keep on rockin’ and clockin’ those points and you’ll be an All Star one day and a Hall of Famer too! “

• Bob Young has the game story in the Arizona Republic. Young: “The Suns got a little taste of reality and a double dose of Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen from the Boston Celtics on Sunday, falling 128-108 to the defending NBA champions at US Airways Center. Rondo scored a career-high 32 points and added 10 assists and six rebounds, and Allen poured in 31 and Paul Pierce added 26 to lead Boston.”

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• In the Herald-Leader, Coastal Carolina hands UK its second baseball loss.
• Also in the H-L, LSU nips Kentucky in women’s basketball.
• Joseph Schiefelbein of The Advocate writes on the late drama that preserved LSU’s win over UK.
• Andy Glockner of SportsIllustrated.com writes that Jodie Meeks should be national Player of the Year. (Hat tip to Tom Leach.)
• In the New York Times Quad blog, John Temple writes that UK finds a supporting cast.
• Tom Leach talks to CBS’ Dan Bonner after Saturday’s game about the Cats.
• Mark Wiedmer of the Chattanooga Free-Press on Saturday’s UK-Tennessee game.
• Chuck Jones of the Elizabethtown News-Enterprise writes that it’s better late than never for Darius Miller.
• A Sea of Blue ponders the basketball Cats.
• Kentucky Sports Radio spent its weekend trying to hijack this blog.
• In the Kentucky Kernel, Sam Ranard writes on UK hockey.