John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Update: The Shiver reports Payne will announce at 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman tweeets that Adreian Payne will make his announcement today, with UK West Virginia and Michigan State the finalists.
• Kyle Nagel of the Dayton Daily News confirms that Payne will announce his choice tonight.
• Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star also reports that Payne may announce today.
• Bluegrass State Basketball thinks Payne is headed to Michigan State.
• Best of the Best thinks that Payne is headed to East Lansing. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• Wildcat Blue Blog goes rumor-mongering with Payne.
• Jerry Tipton reports that the Cats showed their star power in basketball scrimmage.
• Tipton reports that John Calipari downplayed the John Wall eligibility questions.
• My master-of-the-obvious column that the Cats are much more athletic than in previous years.
• The Herald-Leader slide show of the scrimmage.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Is Adreian Payne headed to Michigan State?’

SEC links for Thursday:

• Dave Hooker of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that Tennessee football has gone Lil Wayne.
• Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press writes about Tennessee and Lil Wayne.
• Mike Griffith of the News-Sentinel reports that Vols’ basketball player Josh Tabb has withdrawn from school.
• Ray Melick of the Birmingham News writes that Mike Slive needs to step up control of the SEC family.
• Evan Woodbery of the Mobile Press-Register reports on the Gus Malzahn-Houston Nutt reunion.
• Joe Person of The State revisits David Reaves’ switch from South Carolina to Tennessee.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Tennessee goes Lil Wayne’

A ten-spot from the Blue-White scrimmage:

• 1. This team is athletic. I know that’s obvious. But when was the last time we could truly say that about a Kentucky basketball team. Not that the Cats lacked athletes in the past few years. It’s just that they haven’t had this many athletes on one team since, when, 1996?

• 2. John Wall is ridiculous. But then you already knew that. As for the eligibility issue, John Calipari tried to play coy in the post-scrimmage press conference, answering Alan Cutler’s first question about Wall’s status as if it was another question entirely. But Wall was made available to the media afterward, where he didn’t have much to say about what was going on, or how he felt about what was going on. But at least we got the opportunity to ask.

• 3. Darnell Dodson will fill a key role on this team. The sophomore juco transfer was slighted on the publicity, what with Wall and DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton, etc., being in the newcomer class. But Dodson’s outside shot is a needed asset on this team. He made four-of-11 threes on the night, and that after looking a bit nervous in the early going

• 4. Calipari claims that Wall and Bledsoe play better together than they do apart, and that may in fact be true. I’m not going to doubt the coach. So whatever happened to all those who said, before Bledsoe signed, that the two could not co-exist in the same backcourt. I’m with Cal. There’s no reason they can’t do better than that in the same backcourt.

• 5. The best move of the night was when Calipari pulled Joe B. Hall off the front row behind the bench and had him sit on the bench with him. That got a standing ovation from the Rupp crowd of 14,060, and deservedly so. I know, Joe has said all the right things about this Wildcat Coal Lodge controversy. And I have no doubt he understands the difficulties of raising funds for facility improvements, etc. But still, it’s the only thing on campus named in his honor, a former basketball coach who won a national championship and went to three Final Fours. And you’re going to tell me there’s anyone out there who loves the program more than Joe? Mitch Barnhart said the school will find another way to honor Joe. It better.

Continue reading ‘A 10-spot from the UK Blue-White scrimmage’

UK freshman DeMarcus Cousins, aka “Big Cuz” admits that yes, he’s a “Momma’s Boy.” He also talks about his play, which said could have been better, in tonight’s Blue-White scrimmage at Rupp Arena.

UK sophomore Darnell Dodson talks about his 26-point performance in the team’s Blue-White scrimmage tonight. Dodson made 9-of-19 shots, including 4-of-11 three-pointers.

UK junior Patrick Patterson talks about his play, and the team’s play after tonight’s Blue-White Scrimmage. Patterson finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and made a pair of three-pointers.

Video of UK freshman John Wall after tonight’s scrimmage talking to the media, which naturally asked about his eligibility status.

I’m out of pocket for most of today, at least until the basketball scrimmage tonight. So no SEC links, and an abbreviated Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader talks to Lee Todd about the UK eligbility issue.
• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader reports on the UK run defense.
• My notes column which leads with Wildcat Coal Lodge.
• Pat Forde of espn.com writes that the time to bash SEC basketball has likely passed.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal writes on DeMarcus Cousins.
• B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel writes on UK defensive tackle Corey Peters.
• Tom Leach has video of Rich Brooks squashing the black jersey rumors.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger posts a letter from Mitch Barnhart about the blackout game.

Update: C-J now reporting that a contract has been signed for a Sunday practice at Freedom Hall that is expected to be open to the public.

WKYT is reporting that Kentucky coach John Calipari is working on practicing at Freedom Hall on Sunday.

UK would neither confirm nor deny the report, but Freedom Hall officials said they have been contacted.

No word yet on wether the workout would be open to fans.

Kentucky Sports Radio spread the Freedom Hall rumor earlier today.