John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

Jerry Tipton of the H-L on Kentucky’s win over Florida: “Kentucky completed its Southeastern Conference regular-season championship run in style on Sunday. That meant this UK team’s signature style of building a lead, then having the opponent rally and create the need for clutch plays to avoid Cat-astrophe. In other words, Kentucky got back on the seesaw of momentum. UK built an 18-point lead in the first half, then found itself having to outperform Florida in the final five minutes to win 74-66.”

Mark Story of the H-L on UK Senior Day: “Mark Krebs was a jumble of emotions. As excited as he’d ever been to step on a basketball court. Yet using every ounce of discipline he had to hold back the tears. University of Kentucky basketball Senior Day is always rich in sentiment. But it is unlikely that anyone who has ever bowed out as a Kentucky Wildcats player has experienced the churning feelings that Krebs lived through Sunday.”

Herald-Leader photo slide show from Sunday’s UK-Florida game.

Jennifer Smith of H-L reports that UK women’s rally fell short in SEC title game: “The loss stung for Kentucky, which was making just its second appearance in the championship game and its first since 1982, but Coach Matthew Mitchell was pleased with his team’s showing. The Cats shook off an early 10-point deficit and grabbed a four-point lead early in the second half to challenge the Volunteers, who beat them by 16 points in Knoxville on Feb. 25.”

Smith of the H-L on UK women waiting for their NCAA fate: “Now the waiting game begins for Kentucky. The Cats have a week before they find out their NCAA Tournament destination and next opponent. It has been four long years since No. 19 Kentucky has advanced to the Big Dance, so it seems sort of like asking a little kid to wait an extra week for Christmas, but Coach Matthew Mitchell can’t wait to wait.”

My column on what UK men now face is the biggest NCAA question: “In this wondrous regular season, Kentucky has shown beyond a reasonable doubt it has the talent necessary to bring home the school’s eighth national championship. But also in this wondrous regular season, Kentucky has shown its youth can make it vulnerable in this NCAA Tournament.”

Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports writes that a young Kentucky will spend post-season on the brink: “This wasn’t easy, going 29-2, but now comes the really hard part, the part of the season where teams like Kentucky are measured. The Wildcats have the spectacular talent to win the national championship, but they have the immaturity to fall spectacularly short. Calipari knows. And he’s concerned by what he saw Sunday, when the Wildcats led by 18 in the first half but fooled around and allowed Florida to get within 62-60 in the final six minutes.”

Brett Dawson of the C-J on the Cats completing a perfect home season: “There were no confetti cannons, no banners raised to the Rupp Arena rafters. In fact, as the No. 3 University of Kentucky men’s basketball team closed out Florida 74-66 in Sunday’s regular-season finale, there wasn’t a single salute to UK’s 44th Southeastern Conference championship, clinched the day before with Vanderbilt’s loss to South Carolina.”

Matt May of the Cats Pause writes that some nagging questions remain: “The Kentucky basketball team has been besieged with questions about what it supposedly can’t do since the season started. Are the Cats too young? Can they make perimeter shots? How will they react in moments tighter than a penny-pinching billionaire? In a remarkable regular season the Cats have answered virtually ever criticism, but there is one nagging issue that has yet to be sufficiently addressed – is UK too much of a ‘light switch’ squad?”

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News writes that UK needs a challenge: “UK did not have a lot at stake, other than pleasing the 24,354 fans at Rupp Arena. A 44th SEC championship was already secure; the team clinched a tie in winning at Georgia, and Vanderbilt gave over the whole thing by losing at home Saturday to South Carolina. Kentucky will be a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.”

The Sporting News names Wall its NCAA Freshman of the Year.

(H-L photo)

Keith Taylor of the Winchester Sun on UK’s farewell party: “As soon as Miller stepped on the court, he popped a 3-pointer and scored eight points during a Kentucky scoring spree that pushed the margin to 36-18 with three minutes remaining in the opening half. Miller drained another trey in the second half after the Gators trimmed the margin to four. Miller’s long-range shot provided a cushion for the Wildcats down the stretch.”

Chuck Jones of the Elizabethtown News-Enterprise says celebrate the Cats: “Senior Day is a great celebration for players’ careers and no one does it better than the University of Kentucky, where it’s not just an event, but a celebration with 24,000-plus fans. Busting through the hoop. Walking out to family. Giving hugs to family, coaches and teammates. Hearing “My Old Kentucky Home” for the final time as a Wildcat at Rupp Arena.”

Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun writes that Florida’s rally fell short: “After falling behind by 18 points in the first half at Rupp Arena, the Gators rallied to within two points of Kentucky in the final five minutes. But again, failing to score down the stretch proved costly in a 74-66 loss to the Wildcats on UK’s Senior Day.”

Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Florida showed pride, but sputtered: “The Florida Gators have perfected this routine of falling behind early, fighting their way back and faltering in the end with offensive struggles. This time around was both courageous and painful because of what was at stake. A win would have made Florida’s season.”

James Pennington of the Kentucky Kernel writes that winning the SEC is nice, but not enough: “In most college towns, any day in which the home team staples down a conference championship, clinching an undefeated home season in the process, is a pretty good day. At the very least, it should yield some sort of celebration. Not in Lexington.”

Metz Camfield of the Kernel writes on UK’s balanced attack: “UK shot 53.8 percent from the field in the first half and 6-of-12 from beyond the arc to lead 41-31 at the halftime break. The Cats rode a 14-0 run in the first half to stretch the lead to 34-16, and held Florida without a field goal for 5:38. The Gators then used a 10-3 run to close out the half, and cut the once 18-point lead to 10.”

Tom Leach says it’s time to move on: “John Wall’s ability to seize control of games at key moments is not only his best argument for Player of the Year but it may also be Kentucky’s best asset as a national title contender. I don’t see any other guys doing that as regularly as he does. Sometimes it’s suble, like this game, where he scored two consecutive baskets when Florida was on the verge of taking its first lead of the day.”

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes that John Wall continued his knack: “When the game started, it was almost like John Wall wanted to make sure that everyone but him had a chance to score.”

The Kentucky Kernel on UK women falling in SEC finals: “The Cats found themselves on the wrong side of tradition and the tale of the tape against No. 4 Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship game on Sunday, falling 70-62 to the Lady Volunteers.”

Dan Fleser of the Knoxville News-Sentinel on Tennessee’s win over UK women in Duluth: “Pat Summitt sang a happy tune Sunday night. Tennessee’s coach grabbed a microphone and broke into an impromptu version of “Rocky Top” after the Lady Vols’ 70-62 SEC women’s basketball tournament championship victory over Kentucky before a crowd of 5,854 at Gwinnett Arena.”

John Adams of the News-Sentinel was also in Duluth: “Tennessee coach Pat Summitt extended her bench just far enough to seize the SEC tournament championship Sunday night at the Gwinnett Arena. Freshman guard Kamiko Williams was the final link in the championship chain. Her timing was as significant as her production in UT’s 70-62 victory over Kentucky.”

Brian Bennett of espn.com writes that the destination was worth the journey for Patterson: “With nine seconds left and a victory against Florida assured, Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson stepped to the free throw line. The Rupp Arena crowd began chanting “One more year!” Chalk that up to just plain greed.“