John Clay's Sidelines

It’s the night of that ESPN gimmick, the great announcers switch. The WWL tried it last year, with college announcers doing an NBA game, and the NBA announcers doing a college game. Tonight, the sequel. Actually, the NBA announcers doing a college game is not that bad, considering that I might submit to listen to Jeff Van Gundy call a game of checkers. And last year, Van Gundy was absolutely right to whine about all the block/charge calls that muddy up the college game. The NBA boys are calling North Carolina-Wake Forest. Vitale is doing the Jazz and Spurs. You’ve been warned.

Here are the updated UK game-by-game stats, through Auburn:

• Kentucky basketball team game-by-game team stats in an Excel file using Google Docs.

• Kentucky basketball individual game-by-game stats in an Excel file using Google Docs.

Hat tip to Tom Leach’s blog.

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• NPR’s Frank Deford works John Calipari into a screed on the turmoil in college sports.
• Andy Katz of ESPN on Calipari reaching out to John Wooden.
• Jerry Tipton of the H-L reports that some teams are sacrificing for SEC TV deal.
• Jen Smith of the H-L on UK women cracking the Top 25 in coaches poll.
• Rick Bozich’s blog reports that Rick Pitino doesn’t believe UK will go undefeated.
• Bozich also catches up with Tubby Smith.
• Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star reports that Arizona’s Sean Miller is headed to look at Josh Selby. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• Metz Camfield of the Kentucky Kernel reports that young Cats are trying to stay focused.
• Billy Reed has some praise for Coach Cal.
• Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman believes John Wall’s POY lead is shrinking.
• Kentucky Sports Radio has a rumor that Rock Oliver is returning to UK, this time for football.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Rick Pitino doesn’t see unbeaten Cats’

(AP photo/Butch Dill)

SEC links for Wednesday:

• Knoxville News-Sentinel reports on Lane Kiffin’s hidden car wreck.
• Clay Travis of AOL Fanhouse on Kiffin’s comedy of eras.
• Gentry Estes of the Mobile Press-Register has the game story from Alabama’s loss to Tennessee.
• Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel on the Tennessee victory in Tuscaloosa.
• David Jones of Florida Today reports on the firing of Florida radio network coordinator after child porn charges.
• Joe Biddle of the Tennessean writes that college coaches excel at the running game.
• Mike Strange of the News-Sentinel on Bruce Pearl.
• Mark Wiedmer of the Chattanooga Times Free Press thinks Pearl’s team could be true contenders.
• Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald reports that new Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s contract contains a big buyout.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Kiffin leaves the road, but UT wins on road’

Clark Kellogg

Media Approval Ratings switches networks and dials up Clark Kellogg, now in his second season as CBS’ lead college basketball color man. Mr. Spurtability was the network’s top studio analyst until Billy Packer was sent to the rocking chair after the 2008 Final Four. Kellogg took his place.

What say you on Clark Kellogg, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Bill Raftery, Jimmy Dykes, Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale

Tennessee is 4-0 since the infamous weapons charges that cost Tyler Smith the remainder of his college career. The Vols travel to Alabama for a 7 p.m. game on ESPN.

Coming off a win at North Carolina, Gerogia Tech plays host to Vlemson on ESPN2. Meanwhile, Purdue hopes to stop its slide when it travels to Illinois, 9 p.m. on ESPN.

Kansas State coach Frank Martin wears a fake beard during a post-game interview after beating Texas 72-61 in Manhattan, Kan. The beards were given to the first 1,000 fans at the game to support Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen. (AP photo/Charles Reidel)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

Mark Rosner of the Austin American-Statesman on Texas loss, leaving UK as only unbeaten: “Forwards Jamar Samuels and Curtis Kelly scored 20 and 17 points respectively as the 10th-ranked Wildcats defeated No. 1 Texas 71-62 in front of 12,528 fans, a sellout crowd at Bramlage Coliseum. Most of those points by the 6-foot-8 Kelly and 6-7 Samuels were scored around the basket or with free throws they earned with their hustle inside. Kansas State (16-2 overall, 3-1 in Big 12) outrebounded the Longhorns 50-41 and outscored them on second-chance points 23-10.”

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader on teams trying to push Big Cuz’s buttons: ” Early in the first half of Kentucky’s game on Saturday, freshman DeMarcus Cousins exchanged shoves with Auburn’s Kenny Gabriel as play stopped. One of the referees spoke with Cousins for several seconds. Afterward, the UK player walked to Gabriel, shook the Auburn player’s hand and looked at the referee as if to say, ‘Is that what you want?’”

Ken Howlett of A Sea of Blue on a new fiddlin’ five: “In that way, the 1958 “Fiddlin’ Five” are not dissimilar to the squad of “fiddlers” who currently don the blue and white of the Kentucky Wildcats. For the entire 1958 season is oftentimes encapsulated in a single 40 minute performance of John Calipari’s modern-day musicians. The current crop of ‘Cats, whether due to youth, or supreme confidence in their collective abilities, only seem to possess the killer-cat instinct when the game is on the line.”

Matt Norlander of College Hoops Journal writes it’s harder to hate Calipari now: “I was away from the computer for most of the weekend, so I didn’t get to this as it was going on, but what an awesome, uplifting story out of Lexington. Even the largest of John Calipari detractors can’t ignore the goodwill he helped with as coaches from all over the country called in to donate and raise money for the victims in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti.” (Hat tip to Bluegrass State Basketball.)

Continue reading ‘BBL: And then there was one unbeaten and it was UK’

(AP photo/Butch Dill)

SEC links for Tuesday:

In the Mobile Press-Register, Paul Finebaum writes that Nick Saban knows its lonely at the top: “After hearing this, I was surprised Saban allowed the school to even schedule a national championship celebration last Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. With this attitude, he probably would have preferred his team to runs stadium steps. Of course, the party was only for an hour, which was perhaps why the attendance read 38,000 vs. 98,000, which might have been the number if the school had allowed something fun to happen like maybe a parade and day long party vs. a scripted made-for-DVD event.”

Brad Locke of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal on Renardo Sidney: “On Friday, Mississippi State filed a response to the NCAA’s statement of facts regarding its recently completed amateurism evaluation of Sidney, the 6-foot-10 Bulldog freshman. That has given head coach Rick Stansbury reason to believe that a resolution might finally come after eight-plus months of NCAA scrutiny.”

Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News previews tonight’s Alabama-Tennessee clash: “The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team didn’t need to look any stronger than it did in its just-concluded homestand – but the Alabama Crimson Tide will be facing a bolstered version of the Volunteers (14-2, 2-0 SEC) when it hosts No. 8 UT at Coleman Coliseum tonight. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be nationally televised on ESPN.”

Tim Gayle of the Montgomery Advertiser writes that Anthony Grant is looking for intensity: “Before the first-year Alaba­ma head coach can worry too much about the Vols, he has to figure out what’s going on with his team’s sporadic play. The Crimson Tide took a step backward in its game at Arkan­sas on Saturday, displaying little intensity in the paint and less effectiveness on the perime­ter in dropping a 71-59 decision to the Razorbacks.”

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Nick Saban knows it’s lonely at the top’

Bill Raftery

Media Approval Ratings return with ESPN college hoops analyst Bill Raftery, the former coach of the Seton Hall whose schtick is to point out in an exagerrated way what defense a team happens to be playing at the start of the game.

What say you on Bill Raftery, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Jimmy Dykes, Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale