John Clay's Sidelines

After Kentucky’s 104-61 win over Hartford tonight, coach John Calipari asked the Big Blue Nation to show class when arch-rival Louisville comes to town on Saturday.

Outside of Kentucky-Hartford, which doesn’t figure to be much of a competitive game, tonight’s TV hoops fare is higlighted by the start of Big 10 basketball play.

Fourth-ranked Purdue travels to Iowa for both team’s conference opener. Iowa was picked to finish last in the league and is just 5-7. But it is a road game for the Boilermakers. Meanwhile, after the UK-Hartford game on ESPN2, Penn State travels to Minnesota, which is off to a 9-3 start.

As for SEC fans, good one with LSU at Xavier tonight in Cincinnati.

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

Jerry Meyer of Rivals reports on UK basketball target Damien Leonard: “With visits to Clemson and Virginia Tech already under his belt, Leonard plans to visit Kentucky and Texas this spring.” (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

Jennifer Smith of the H-L reports on UK women’s first loss: “Middle Tennessee State halted the Cats’ 11-game win streak with a 57-51 win in front of 4,811 in the Murphy Center on Monday night. It was the Cats’ first loss of the season, and it was a difficult one that saw UK turn over the ball a season-high 29 times against a soft 2-2-1 press.”

Mark Story of the H-L writes that Brooks has done it the right way: “Yet if Brooks takes his intention to retire as Kentucky’s head man from the 80 percent he stated after the Music City Bowl to 100 percent, he will depart Lexington as one of the coaches I’ve covered that I respect the most. (From what I’m hearing, Brooks doesn’t want to leave; he does want the UK administration to display some of the urgency in investing in football success it’s shown in abundance recently for men’s basketball).”

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has report on ex-UK assistant Mike Leach’s suspension at Texas Tech: “Tech completed an initial investigation before suspending Leach. The Avalanche-Journal learned during that investigation Leach did not dispute the facts, but did not believe he had done anything wrong. Leach also told officials James was a slacker and his father was always calling and acting like a Little League dad. Leach had until Monday to write an apology and when he did not, the university officials felt they had to take action. Leach has been suspended indefinitely, with pay, from his role as head coach.”

Jerry Tipton of the H-L reports on Calipari and the stress of the job: ” When Kentucky Coach John Calipari meets with reporters the day before a game, he usually arrives drenched in sweat. He comes directly from a 3-mile pre-practice jog on the treadmill. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Hartford Coach Dan Leibovitz called for a scheduled telephone interview on Monday after getting off a treadmill.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: UK women lose as men prepare to remain unbeaten’

SEC links for Tuesday:

• Tim Tucker of the AJC reports on Georgia’s Independence Bowl win over Texas A&M.
• Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald writes that Georgia finishes year on a high note.
• John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes ACC can crow if Virginia Tech beats Vols.
• Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger reports on MSU basketball win over Delta State.
• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reports on Florida basketball’s win over American.
• Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham News reports on how Auburn’s secondary will face a bowl test.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel says Urban Meyer is like an alcoholic who can’t stay away from the booze.
• Ray Melick of the Birmingham News writes that Urban Meyer showed his priorities after all.
• In The State, Joe Person reports that Steve Spurrier has a little R and R advice for Meyer.
• Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun writes that Meyer trusts Steve Addazio with program.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

My column after Rich Brooks announces he is 80 percent sure he will not return for 2010: After what he called a disappointing loss to end a “disappointing” season, Rich Brooks said he thinks “maybe it’s time.” In fact, after his Kentucky team’s 21-13 loss to Clemson in the Music City Bowl on Sunday night here at LP Field, Brooks told first his team and then the media that he is 80 percent sure that he will not return to coach the team in 2010.”

Chris Low of espn.com writes that Brooks’ class will be missed: “I wasn’t surprised to hear the news because I knew the 68-year-old Brooks was pretty close to saying “so long” to a fine coaching career that goes all the way back to 1963 when he was an assistant freshman coach at Oregon State. But I was saddened.”

Mark Story of the H-L writes on the UK quarterback situation: “Joker Phillips said in the run-up to the Music City Bowl that Kentucky would have an open quarterback competition in the spring regardless of what happened in the game. UK’s 21-13 loss to Clemson showed the wisdom of that stance.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Rich Brooks probable retirement round-up’

Before I pack up and leave Nashville, if anyone is interested, we’ll do a short live chat about the Rich Brooks’ announcement last night that he is probably not coming back to coach the UK football team in 2010. We’ll get underway about 10 a.m.

Here’s a video of Brooks’ “80-percent” statement, and the player reaction from Randall Cobb, Zipp Duncan and Corey Peters, who were sitting at the podium with the coach in the post-game press conference.