John Clay's Sidelines

(Charleston Daily Mail photo used by permission.)

Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail is reporting that West Virginia compliance officials are looking into whether secondary violations were committed when fans used signs and t-shirts to welcome recruit Adreian Payne to Mountaineer Madness.

WVU officials told Casazza that no violations had been found at this time, but an investigation was proceeding just to make sure.

An excerpt:

One issue likely to be explored is how the T-shirts were supplied. If the Mountaineer Maniacs, the largest student group on campus and part of the Student Government Association supervised by the Division of Student Affairs, paid for and provided the shirts, it could be interpreted as a university entity celebrating Payne’s visit.

Update: Had forgotten this tidbit, according to Raleigh News and Observer, Duke officials removed student signs welcoming Kyrie Irving for fear they would violate NCAA rules.

Update No. 2: Bluegrass State Basketball says/alleges a current WVU player tried to pull Payne onto the court.

(AP photo/Butch Dill)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Mark Story of the Herald-Leader writes on Randall Cobb.
• Chip Cosby of the H-L reports that Kentucky wants to build on its credentials.
• SEC media picks Kentucky to win the SEC in basketball.
• Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline says media was dumb to put John Wall on second team.
• Andy Katz of ESPN says that Big Blue Madness was unprecedented.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal writes that Kentucky fears another football scare.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger reports that the win was bigger to Micah Johnson than an individual honor.
• B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel writes that UK is wary of a potential trap game.
• Tom Leach has some video from Monday’s UK football luncheon.
• WLEX’s Mary Jo Perino thought the media got it wrong on SEC hoops voting.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Big Blue Madness unprecedented, media dumb’

SEC links for Tuesday:

• Paul Gattis of the Huntsville Times reports on SEC admitting officials made another error.
• Alex Abrams of the NW Arkansas Morning News reports on the officiating error.
• Don Kausler of the Birmingham News reports on Alabama’s Nick Saban denying Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin’s request to wear orange jerseys.
• Mike Strange of the News-Sentinel writes about the jersey issue.
• John Adams of the News-Sentinel writes that Alabama’s defense makes life hard for quarterbacks.
• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reports that Florida’s Billy Donovan is encouraged by his freshmen.
• Ray Melick of the Birmingham News writes that winning ugly sounds pretty to Auburn.
• Paul Finebaum of the Mobile Press-Register wants to just skip to the title game.
• Tony Barnhart of the AJC writes that there can be a Florida-Alabama rematch for BCS title.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Saban won’t let Kiffin get his way’

Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline has his point guard rankings out, with UK’s John Wall at No. 1, ahead of Kansas’ Sherron Collins.

And Collins doesn’t like it.

Collins tells Parrish:

“It bothers me a little bit,” Collins said when I asked about all the attention Wall is getting. “I think I’ve established myself, and he’s coming out of high school with a lot of hype. But I’m the old guy, and I ain’t gonna let no young boy get the best of me.”

Parrish ranks South Carolina’s Devan Downey fourth and Florida freshman Kenny Boynton eighth.

(Charleston Daily Mail photo used by permission.)

Click the “more” line for a couple of updates to this post.

At its own Madness celebration on Friday night, West Virginia basketball fans went all-out, and then some — illustrated here in a blog post by Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail — to welcome top hoops recruit Adreian Payne, a 6-foot-10 center from Dayton.

Kentucky is also reportedly recruiting Payne, who is ranked as the 20th best player in America by Rivals.

West Virginia was not allowed to publicize Payne’s visit, or even acknowledge that he was there, but West Virginia fans certainly knew the center would be on campus for an official visit. They made signs, banners, etc. to welcome Payne.

An excerpt from Casazza’s blog:

Somehow, Bob Huggins was able to get Adreian Payne, only one of the best high school players in America, on campus for an official visit last night. This wasn’t a real secret, but rather a tremendous coup. Everyone had their version of Madness last night and Payne is a coveted prospect. WVU got him for the weekend. I left last night with the feeling if Payne went elsewhere, it was not fault of the Mountaineers. Or their maniacs.

Continue reading ‘Did West Virginia fans go too far for Adreian Payne?’

Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said today that Morgan Newton is “the likely” starter for Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Monroe. The coach said he likes the idea of starting the younger quarterback, and if things aren’t going well, bringing in the older hand. Do you agree? Which quarterback would you start Saturday?

Let’s chart Derrick Locke’s runs on the way to his career-high 126-yard effort at Auburn:

By the way, 1st and 0 means 1st and goal. And any number over 50 in the “On” column means the opponent’s territory.

People are heaping praise on UK’s offensive line after the Cats ground out 282 yards on the ground in Saturday’s 21-14 win at Auburn. Now Rich Brooks said today he’s always superstitious about praising the offensive line. Compared it to keeping mushrooms in the dark. (Rich is always the gardener.) But even the coach admitted that the line deserves the praise. Besides, few know the line is even there until they are called for holding, or move before the snap. The guys deserve the pub. Here’s offensive tackle Brad Durham, who alternated at right tackle with Justin Jeffries, at today’s press conference talking about the line play.

If you get and up-close and personal look at Micah Johnson, you may notice that he has numerals cut into each side of his head — or at least the hair on his head.

(H-L photo/John Clay)

(H-L photo/John Clay)

As you see here, Micah has the numerals 931 cut into the left side of his head. And, Micah has the numerals 703 cut into the right side of his head.

I asked him the significance of the numerals, and the senior linebacker said that 931 is the area code in which the Johnsons lived when his family was in Ft. Campbell. Actually, the family lived on the Tennessee side, in Clarksville, Tenn. The 703 is the area code for Alexandria, Virginia where the Johnsons resided before moving to Ft. Campbell.

So even though the senior linebacker, who was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week for his 14-tackle performance at Auburn hopes to move on to the next level next season, he doesn’t forget the folks back home.