John Clay's Sidelines

Here is Kentucky’s Josh Harrellson after the game:

Here’s UK freshman Daniel Orton after the win over Drexel for No. 2,000.

Here is Drexel coach Bruiser Flint talking about his team’s loss to Kentucky. Later in the video, Flint says that he thinks Kentucky is much better than Villanova, which also beat Drexel. Flint said UK is has more length and is more physical than ‘Nova.

Kentucky coach John Calipari’s opening remarks after his team’s 88-44 thumping of Drexel, which marked the program’s 2,000th win, the first college basketball program to achieve that milestone.

John Calipari was on Sports Radio Interviews recently, where he said a little more about Bob Knight’s comments last week.

An exceprt:

On whether or not he plans on calling Knight after these comments:

“I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it. I might. I have his cell number ‘cause like I said we have stayed in touch some. I do have it and I may call him, but like I said I’m worried about coaching my team, getting this team better and I’ve been pretty good over my career about the distractions. When I get on point of what I’m doing and what I’m coaching, you can try to throw stuff at me to see if you can get me off point to affect this or affect that, but in most cases it makes me a little sharper.

I know, I know, if you have the U, you’ll want to park yourself in front of the tube to watch Kentucky make basketball numbers history tonight as the Cats go for victory number 2,000. The Kentucky-Drexel game is at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

But before that, you can check out ex-Redbird Derrick Caracter, now a UTEP Miner, as UTEP takes on Oklahoma at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

The show will air Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Fox Sports South. Here’s a clip:

Drexel coach Brusier Flint. (AP photo/Mel Evans)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader says UK near 2,000-win finish line: “Like fame, milestones can be so fleeting. That’s how it felt to reporters who had less than four minutes on Sunday to talk to Kentucky players about the chance to achieve the program’s 2,000th victory on Monday against Drexel.”

Jennifer Smith of the H-L reports on UK women’s pasting of turnover-prone Louisville: “The Kentucky coach and his players did their best to keep the post-game talk quiet and low-key. Even though they had just ended five years of frustration and beaten Louisville by the second-largest margin in series history, 101-67, the Cats kept the chatter to a minimum.”

Mike Fields of the H-L reports on a junior lineman from Bryan Station that has committed to UK football: ” Bryan Station junior offensive tackle Darrian Miller has committed to play college football at Kentucky. Miller called UK assistant Chuck Smith on Sunday night to tell him he wanted to join the Cats for the 2011 season.”

David Ramey of Examiner.com reports that ex-UK assistant Chris Hatcher will be named head coach at Murray State today: “Sources close to the situation confirmed to Examiner.com Sunday that Hatcher agreed earlier this weekend to take over a struggling football program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2004.”

Tipton talks to Drexel coach Bruiser Flint about his old friend Cal: “‘I know we didn’t go on probation at UMass because I took over after he left,’ said Flint, who succeeded Calipari as Massachusetts coach in 1996. ‘One of the things we talk about a lot is how people perceive him. As you’ll find out, he’s a lot different from what people write about him.’”

UK’s Mark Krebs talks about going for 2,000:

Continue reading ‘BBL: Cats on the verge of a Big Blue 2K’

SEC links for Monday:

• David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that new SEC TV deal has upset a lot of routines.
• Remember Sam Houston State? The Montgomery Advertiser reports on how Sam Houston knocked off Auburn on Sunday.
• Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald writes that some Georgia GAs are getting a big opportunity.
• Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that Tennessee flunked its first road test.
• David Climer of the Tennessean writes that Vanderbilt needs a floor leader.
• The Baton Rouge Advocate has report on LSU women’s loss at Nebraska.
• Clarion-Ledger has report on Mississippi State men’s win at Houston.
• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun on Florida basketball’s loss to Richmond.
• Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News on Alabama’s loss to Kansas State.
• Austin Ward of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that Tennessee’s Bryce Brown now knows what it takes.