John Clay’s Sidelines

Blog commenter “Double Take” points out that the Oregonian has now changed the Terrence Jones story to include Kentucky.

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Doug Binder of the Oregonian does not list UK among Terrence Jones’ choices: “Jones spent much of the fall traveling to campuses, taking visits designed to acquire the information and build relationships necessary to pick a school. But the early signing came and went and Jones still has five that he is considering - Oregon, Washington, UCLA, Oklahoma and Kansas.” (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

• Jerry Tipton of H-L reports on UK’s open basketball practice at Freedom Hall: “A fan asked All-American candidate Patrick Patterson to stomp on the Louisville Cardinal logo at center court. ‘OK,’ Patterson said, ‘if you want me to.’”

• Tipton also writes that John Calipari wants to expand UK’s presence in Louisville: “Calipari asked to make UK’s game with North Carolina-Asheville on Monday a sellout in order to help him sell the administration on the idea of several “home” games in Louisville each season.”

• My column saying that Joker Phillips, UK’s coach-in-waiting, is already on the hot seat: “Can a head coach be on the hot seat before he’s a head coach? He can if he’s Joker Phillips. Such is the down side of the succession plan, that recent collegiate trend to address the pesky problem of recruits asking the dreaded retirement question of aging head coaches.” (Note: Need to make a correction to the column. For some reason I wrote there are 200 teams in FBS. There are actually 120.)

• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal reports on the logo stomping: “So when the University of Kentucky basketball coach learned, toward the end of a media session Sunday night, that several of his players had stomped on the University of Louisville’s halfcourt Cardinal logo during an open practice at Freedom Hall, it was another criticism to add to the list. during an open practice at Freedom Hall, it was another criticism to add to the list.”

• Metz Camfield of the Kentucky Kernel previews tonight’s game at Freedom Hall: “UK’s game on Monday with the Bulldogs is against a team that was beaten by Tennessee by 75 points on Nov. 17. UK will also face a tough stretch of games following their match against the Bulldogs on Monday night. They’ll go up against No. 11 North Carolina and No. 13 Connecticut in that span. Still, freshman guard John Wall said they’re not worried about the Bulldogs’ struggles thus far this season or the games in the future, but instead are just trying to improve.”

• B.W. Jones of the Kernel reports on UK volleyball’s NCAA bid: “The No. 10 Cats (27-4, 17-3 Southeastern Conference) will open their tournament with a 7 p.m. match against Michigan State at Memorial Coliseum. That Cats were swept in 2008.”

• WKYT’s Steve Moss has an interesting DeMarcus Cousins tidbit: “After the trip to Cancun, which saw Cousins purposely miss a free throw, coach John Calipari made his freshman big man attempt 250 free throws during one practice.”

• Tom Leach’s take on the football loss to Tennessee: “Still, I would have liked to have seen at least one more shot for Cobb to do something, given how much freshman QB Morgan Newton was struggling in the second half. A true freshman struggling to throw the ball down the field was not a good matchup for a Monte Kiffin-coached defense but that’s the hand the Cats were dealt after Mike Hartline’s injury.”

• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes that Morgan Newton blames himself for loss: “He also lost a fumble and was stopped on a third-down run in the final minute that forced UK to settle for a field goal to tie the game rather than a touchdown that would have ended a 24-game losing streak to the Vols.”

• Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches says UK to make more inroads in Louisville: “To say the crowd was enthusiastic might be selling it short. A cult-like following might be more appropriate. When the players walked around to sign autographs, fans screamed their names like they were teenage girls seeing Robert Pattinson at a premiere showing of ‘Twilight.’“

• Wildcat Blue Blog says it’s boom or bust for UK basketball recruiting: “Personally, I think that UK has a very good shot on Lamb and the fact that it has taken so long kind of makes me think that he wanted to commit early to UK, took a step back and looked at all his options, and is ready to declare now. Pure speculation here, but I get a UK vibe from Doron. For today, that is”

• Bluegrass State Basketball has an update on C.J. Leslie, with video.

• Aaron’s UK Football Blog takes up for Joker Phillips: “Coaches coach and players play. The team didn’t execute the called plays properly. It’s not Joker’s fault that Derrick Locke didn’t block correctly, it’s not his fault that Morgan Newton didn’t cut back to the inside. How can Joker take the blame for Cobb’s fumble which lead to a UT field goal? How does Joker take the blame for Newton’s fumble and bad throws?”

• KSR reports on the open practice: “It was a GREAT UK turnout at the Louisville practice today, as fans produced the biggest crowd in recent years. I am not good at estimating numbers, but it was probably around 4,000-5,000 and the crowd was very energetic.”

• Wildcat-Den says loss to Vols left UK speechless: “It was an opportunity that seemed impossible for this team after opening the season with three losses in the first five games. Kentucky defeated Auburn, Vanderbilt and Georgia on the road to make things interesting down the stretch, but failed to top Rocky Top.“