John Clay's Sidelines

Here’s what I’ve been told about tonight’s local call-in shows:

• WVLK-590: Larry Glover welcomes ex-UK and current Kentucky Horsemen quarterback Jared Lorenzen at 7:05 p.m.

Photo by Mark Cornelison.

Big Blue Links for Friday.

In the Herald-Leader:

• Jennifer Smith has all the details on the UK women’s upset of No. 13 Tennessee at Memorial Coliseum.
• Mark Maloney previews the UK baseball season, which starts today.
• Beverly Fortune reports that study on new UK arena is temporarily delayed.
• Jerry Tipton writes that Jodie Meeks is in Tennessee’s head.
• Mark Story puts Billy Gillispie in context with Rich Brooks.

Elsewhere:

• Dan Fleser of the Knoxville News-Sentinel has game story of Tennessee’s loss to Kentucky.
• B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel writes that UK women surge to the Summitt.
• Cat Scratches blog has report of Patrick Patterson participating in Thursday’s practice.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal writes that Tennessee’s perimeter defense has improved.
• Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel quotes Wayne Chism as saying, “This ain’t Tennessee basketball.”
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger previews Kentucky-Tennessee.
• Vaught on the need for Patterson to return.
• James Pennington of Kernel writes that coaches revisit January game between Cats and Vols.
• Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio gives his news and views.

SEC links for Friday:

• Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger writes that ex-UK baseball coach John Cohen has come full circle at Mississippi State.
• In the Tennessean, columnist David Climer says more college football recruits should be on the clock.
• Also in the Tennessean, columnist Joe Biddle writes that more SEC teams will be home watching the NCAA Tournament.
• Mike Organ of the Tennessean writes on Vandy’s win over Auburn women to force tie atop SEC.
• Edward Aschoff of the Gainesville Sun writes on the change (or no change) brought by new 3-point line.
• Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News writes that Auburn’s new football staff shows it’s a young man’s game.
• Also in the News, Ian Rapoport reports on ex-Alabama offensive lineman Andre Smith at the NFL Combine.
• In the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Wally Hall writes that LSU’s talent and experience was too much for Arkansas.
• Randy Rosetta of the Baton Rouge Advocate writes on LSU’s new state-of-the-art baseball stadium.
• Chip Towers of the AJC writes on Georgia baseball.

The North Carolina coach let the f-bomb slip in his post-game press conference after North Carolina beat N.C. State.

Usually Roy says friggin’ or some other variation, but when talking about his full-court press, he let the big one fly.

You can find the clip here.

Don’t worry. The offending word has been bleeped.

I’d like to use the Cover it Live format for chats not associated with UK games. So let’s try one tonight. At 8 p.m., I’ll be on here to take questions, comments, whatever you want to talk about with regards to, well, whatever you want to talk about. We’ll go no later than 9. I have to watch The Office/30 Rock. See you at 8.

Here’s what I’ve heard from the local radio call-in shows (plus one):

• WVLK-590: Gregg Doyel of Sportsline.com will join Larry Glover at 7:05.  Gregg was part of the media mock selection committee that released its mock bracket back on Monday.

• WHAS-840: Drew Deener is the guest host. He’ll have Pat Forde at 7:30, and 8:45 Bob McGrath, Louisville native and replay official in the Super Bowl this year.

Hat tip to Thomas Beisner and Kentucky Sports Radio, where I saw this first.

The Optimistic Kat didn’t think much of my column today stating that it’s too soon to make a lasting judgement on how Billy Gillispie is doing at UK.

An excerpt:

John, John, John…you are one of the DeathEaters (coming soon).  You speak so sordidly towards Gillispie as though you know enough about him to make a judgement.  Mr. Clay don’t you understand that once you bring up negative questions to a rabid fan mob, that you can say as many things nice or logical afterward and all they hear is white noise…the ringing of rage is so loud in their ears they cannot and will not listen to reason.  They question you raise are not stories they are sensationalism.  You have not even addressed the team or evaluated the team in a respectable manner.

You can read the entire post here. (Hat tip to A Sea of Blue.) I’d argue with the “sensationalism” remark, but that’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It’s what makes it fun. And I’ve received quite a bit of e-mail on the column. I’ll post some of it soon.

Catching up on some Hoops Links:

• Jerry Palm’s latest projection, before last night’s games, did not have Kentucky in the tournament. Palm: “Also, this is a predictive bracket, and those predictions are re-evaluated every week. As we get closer to the end of the season, those predictions will get better, if only because there are fewer games to predict and more information on which to base the predictions. Inconsistent teams (Kentucky, for example) are harder to nail down, and those are usually the ones near the bottom of the at-large pool.”

• Great Michael Lewis story in New York Times Sunday Magazine (last week) about Shane Battier and a new way of looking at stats. Lewis: “The virus that infected professional baseball in the 1990s, the use of statistics to find new and better ways to value players and strategies, has found its way into every major sport. Not just basketball and football, but also soccer and cricket and rugby and, for all I know, snooker and darts — each one now supports a subculture of smart people who view it not just as a game to be played but as a problem to be solved.” (There’s also an interesting Pitino anecdote in the story.)

• The Courier-Journal’s Rick Bozich on Louisville’s win over Providence. Bozich: “With 15 minutes to play, I was convinced this was going to be the game that soiled the University of Louisville’s chance to win the Big East, a third conference defeat that knocked the Cardinals off the two-loss perch with three other contenders. Sources say Rick Pitino was battling similar thoughts.”

• So you think the SEC officials are bad? The Los Angeles Times reports that plenty are upset with Pac-10 officials. LAT: “But after a pair of hotly debated charging calls against UCLA and USC at Arizona State last weekend — see USC Coach Tim Floyd’s on-court tirade on YouTube — Pac-10 officials have become a point of contention among college basketball fans in Southern California.”

Continue reading ‘HL: NCAA brackets, Battier and the refs’

College basketball on the tube for Thursday, Feb. 19: