Big Blue Links for Sunday:
- My column asking if Team Turnover will get a turnover at the top?
- The Herald-Leader’s Jerry Tipton has the game story on UK’s loss at Florida.
- Tipton’s notes lead with UK hoping for an SEC Tournament run.
- Herald-Leader slide show from UK-Florida.
- Chip Cosby of the H-L writes that if March has you mad turn the page to football.
- Mark Maloney of the H-L reports on the UK baseball win.
- H-L’s Mark Story writes on Lake Kelly, who passed away this week.
- Andy Staples at SI.com writes that a UK-Minnesota NIT game would be poetic justice.
- Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley writes that toughness carried Gators over Cats.
- Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel writes that UK sent a statement to NCAA: Don’t pick us.
- Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal writes that where UK has drifted is a mystery.
- Brett Dawson of the C-J writes that while Cats are beaten, they try to stay up.
- Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun writes on Florida stopping its three-game skid with win over UK.
- Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union writes that UK helped Florida out of its hole.
- Also in the Times-Union, Mike Dirocco writes that Florida pushed back.
- In the Tampa Tribune, Martin Fennelly writes that Florida’s bubble hasn’t burst.
- James Pennington of the Kentucky Kernel reports that Gators send UK’s NCAA hopes reeling.
- A Sea of Blue has the postmortem on the loss at Florida.
- Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio kicks the Cats off the bubble.
- Straitpinkie calls the Cats “The Unwatchables.”
- Bluegrass State Basketball delves into Bracketology. NIT Bracketology.
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky and graduate of UK, he covered UK football for 13 seasons before being promoted to columnist in 2000. Born in Paris, he graduated from George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester in 1977. He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. You can e-mail him at johnclay.bloginky.com.
Fourteen minutes remained of Florida’s final home game of the season Saturday when Ray Shipman took his place next to Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks for a free throw.
That is the moment when Shipman, a freshman from Monsignor Pace, realized there might be a little fight left in his languishing basketball team.
Meeks, one of the Southeastern Conference’s best players, candidly told Shipman that Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie instructed Meeks to stop shooting.
‘I was like, `Your coach told you not to shoot anymore?’ ” Shipman said.
Then it hit Shipman. Finally, after an entire season of struggles and setbacks, the Gators’ defense had figured something out. It’s not how you start the season, it’s how you finish.
I thought “Team Turnover” was a good name for the team, but I think “The Unwatchables” is my favorite.