Josh Selby (Photo by Henry Ray Abrams)
Big Blue Links for Tuesday:
Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader on Oklahoma eliminating UK women in NCAA Tournament:
Kentucky was one win away from making a special season even more special with a trip to the Final Four. But Oklahoma and its speedy guard duo of Nyeshia Stevenson and Danielle Robinson ran away with a 88-68 win over the Cats on Tuesday night in the Sprint Center.
Mark Story of the H-L writes that there is still plenty of hope for the UK women:
An enchanted women’s basketball season that began with Kentucky picked to finish 11th in the SEC ended in the Sprint Center with UK one victory short of making its first-ever trip to the women’s Final Four. In spite of 31 points and 13 rebounds from SEC Player of the Year Dunlap, UK suffered its worst loss of the season, 88-68, to Oklahoma.
H-L photo gallery from Kentucky-Oklahoma.
Jerry Tipton of the H-L talks to Josh Selby:
When asked about recruiting talk that he’s waiting for Knight to sign so he can go to another school, Selby said, “That’s not true at all. (Knight’s choice) is not going to stop me. If we go to the same school, we’ll just have to fight for playing time.” Selby said he watched how Wall and Bledsoe prospered for Kentucky this season.
Luke Cothron, a 6′ 8″ forward from North Carolina, has changed his commitment from North Carolina State and has narrowed down his choices to five schools: Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida and Texas A&M.
Kentucky Sports Network sent along this video of Doron Lamb and C.J. Leslie talking Cats:
Jody Demling of the C-J reports that UK is interested in Melvin Turpin’s son:
The 7-foot, 205-pound Turpin has heard from plenty of colleges in the past two weeks including the most recent interest from Kentucky and Louisville. He said he talked with UK for the first time on Tuesday, chatting with assistant coach Orlando Antigua.
Lang Wiseman on the UK fan reaction to his post critical of Calipari:
Needless to say, my post was not well received in UK-country. I got over 2,750 blog hits in less than 24 hours, and a few of the UK homers left some “nice” comments on the message boards, and even on my blog. (Which I thoroughly enjoyed.)
Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reports that C.J. Leslie will visit Florida:
Florida also is reportedly showing interest in Will Yeguete, a 6-6 three-star Class of 2010 wing player from Florida Air Academy in Melbourne (the same high school that produced former Gator guard Walter Hodge). Star 6-foot-7 wing player C.J. Leslie is planning a visit to the UF campus the weekend of April 17, but is considered a long shot to sign with the Gators.
Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader writes that coach in waiting is over for Joker Phillips:
“When we break up into individual (drills) now, I’m kind of lost,” Phillips said. “It’s like, ‘Dang, what do I do next?’ But the thing I think a head coach has to do is, number one, make sure our offense, defense and special teams schemes are sound. The next thing I have to focus on is making sure we’re fundamentally sound, and then the third thing is to make sure we’re playing with effort.”
(H-L photo/David Perry)
Nick Craddock of the Kentucky Kernel on the end of UK women’s run:
Entering the game, OU’s halfcourt execution concerned UK head coach Matthew Mitchell, while OU head coach Sherri Coale believed her team, led by third team All-America point guard Danielle Robinson, were equipped to handle the defensive intensity of the Cats. “We’ve played guards that quick before… we just turned the ball over too much,” junior guard Amber Smith said.
Brett Dawson of the C-J on Joker’s Army:
A theme that started with Phillips’ “Operation: Win” slogan continued at Tuesday’s pre-spring news conference, in which Phillips announced a “military approach” to football. He’ll rename special teams “special forces,” for example. “I’ve always been intrigued with the military and how they can, on one command, get thousands of people to move in the same direction,” Phillips said. “That’s the approach that we’ve taken.”
Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel on Joker Phillips’ first spring as head coach:
While that may seem like a simple cosmetic change, Phillips also has implemented a new approach on defense concerning third-down stops. But he said it’s not only how to get those stops, it’s what happens once you get them. “We’ve put a huge emphasis on how to run off the field,” Phillips said. “We want to be excited when we do get a stop, be sprinting off the field. The guys got excited about that because they can get off and drink Gatorade and watch the offense.”
Aaron’s UK Football Blog has some recruiting updates:
Zach West (Lexington, KY) informed me last night he will be visiting Tennessee today, Louisville this week and Kentucky on Saturday. West’s recruitment has really heated up over the past couple of weeks with offers from Penn State and Louisville. Most feel UK will extend an offer.
Michael Grant of the Courier-Journal reports on the UK loss to OU:
But Oklahoma isn’t Nebraska. This is not the Sooners’ first rodeo, and their experience showed as they methodically clawed their way back. They took the lead for good at 34-32 on a layup by Nyeshia Stevenson and were up 43-39 at halftime. Oklahoma boosted the margin to 58-44 early in the second half. The Wildcats responded with six straight points, but the Sooners put it away with an 11-0 burst to push the margin to 69-50.”
Michelle Voepel of espn.com on the Oklahoma win over Kentucky:
Little more than two weeks ago, the Oklahoma Sooners were just a couple of blocks away here in downtown KC not-so-successfully fighting back tears. Danielle Robinson, a junior point guard, acknowledged all the emotion that was coming out after a hard-fought 74-67 loss to Texas A&M in the Big 12 title game had to do with her team’s senior class.
Blair Kerkhoff of the Kansas City Star on the Sooners’ surge to the Final Four:
From a bracket standpoint, cutting nets and donning the championship T-shirts and caps makes sense for the third-seeded Sooners. But add up the obstacles and it seems far-fetched that Oklahoma would be headed to its second straight Final Four and third in Coach Sherri Coale’s tenure. “That puts us in a different league,” Coale said. “That’s a different deal.”
Keith Taylor of the Winchester Sun on UK men moving forward:
Many figured Wall and Cousins wouldn’t last more than nine months in Lexington, but many have wondered if all five players would come back after coming up short in the Big Dance. If all five players returned, the team would be a legitimate title contender. If not, it’s like starting over. You can’t blame NBA teams for wanting the best players and throwing money and freedom at them. However, college basketball only comes around once in a lifetime and can’t be reclaimed once the sport becomes a job instead of an audition.
Kenny Colston of the Kernel thinks UK fans should be proud of Calipari’s first season:
For the last few days, things have been rough. People are walking around campus in dark clothes, hoods up and eyes down. The only thing cutting through the solemnnity is the wind whipping around Patterson Office Tower. There’s no joy or celebration, even though spring is here and Keeneland opens on Friday. It’s like a notable figure suddenly died and, like in the ancient Roman and Greek days, we are having a week of mourning to hail the tragic loss.
Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger on UK’s spring football:
Joker Phillips admits he was probably at fault for Kentucky’s lack of downfield passing prowess last year. The UK head coach said once freshman Morgan Newton became the starting quarterback after Mike Hartline was injured, he didn’t always feel comfortable calling plays for Newton to throw deep passes.
Aaron Torres thinks UK had a great season:
I knew that what I had seen, and what I had written touched a nerve, when after publishing that article the following day, I had an inbox full of e-mails from Kentucky fans, and close to 100 comments on my old website (unfortunately, when the site got redesigned to look like this, those comments disappeared forever) all thanking me for documenting that game for them. To this day, that was the single most well received piece I’ve ever written. And I will forever be in debt to all Kentucky fans, and those who took the time to reach out to me.
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