John Clay's Sidelines

Daily Randoms for a Wednesday night:

Lang Wiseman

Full day today with family matters, etc., plus wrote a column, so now time to throw in some odds and ends. My new buddy is Lang Wiseman, the former Tennessee basketball player, who took a shot at Calipari, I linked to it, as probably did others, and now Lang is hearing it from the UK fans. He e-mailed me: “And just when I thought it might be impossible for UK fans to hate a UT guy any more than they might naturally already…. Haha. You proved me wrong.”

Kudos to the UK Hoopsters, though they did take it on the chin from Sherry Coale and her Oklahoma Lady Sooners last night, even it was without the Paris twins. Bad ending to a great, great season. The key now is for Matthew Mitchell and Company to keep the momentum going for next year. A lot of good to great talent will be back next year, and there are reinforcements on the way. Ah, but there will be expectations next year. That’s a whole different kettle of fish to deal with.

In case you haven’t heard, Daniel Orton’s father tells Jerry Tipton that his son will test the NBA waters. I expect him to go. Strike while the iron is hot. I know, Orton didn’t even start. I know, Orton is not much on the offensive end. But he has excellent defensive skills and looked like a terrific shot blocker. He would benefit from staying, and maybe he will. Hope he does. He’s bright, articulate, good fun for a media/player conversation, as those things go. But I’m betting he makes the jump. Just have that feeling.

Rick Pitino got a contract extension. Don’t get me wrong, I think Rick is a great coach. But is his record at Louisville any better than Tubby Smith’s record was at Kentucky? Just asking. That said, I did think Rick did a pretty good job this year. Coaching, that is. He didn’t have a lot to work with. But then that’s his problem, too, right? He’s the recruiter.

Everyone’s writing their take on Huggs. Rick Reilly did a “lazy” job, according to Paul Daugherty. Here’s Joe Posnanski’s take on the Bob Huggins subject. Have to admit I can’t quite figure out what Reilly is doing at ESPN. He’s writing columsn, re-cycling e-mails, doing television? Not sure he’s found his niche, which can’t be making his bosses too happy considering all the jack he’s taking home. Still think he’s a great writer, but I admit to scratching my head.

John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectus has a good take on Brad Stevens, who at age 33 is just the guy to be a stats-head. And he is. Have read that Stevens spends a lot of time pouring over stats, doing analysis. If you read this blog, you know I trend that way myself. Mr. Spreadsheet, they call me. (Or the folks at KSR did when I objected to them running my charts.) Anyway, Gasaway says that age really doesn’t have anything to do with it (but):

Not that there’s a perfect correlation between birth date and a willingness to use reality-based information, of course. Far from it. Bo Ryan is 62 and he’s all over this stuff. (Not to mention Dean Smith is 79 and he invented this stuff. Stevens is speaking for us all when he says “We’re followers.”) But, Ryan notwithstanding, your head coaches who have boldly come clean and admitted yes, this stuff does actually help, do trend toward a more youthful demographic, to wit: Buzz Williams (37), Eric Reveno (44), and Dino Gaudio (52). Of course those are just some examples of head coaches who know their way around a rebound percentage. I’ve noted before that the vast majority of coaches who contact me out of the blue are assistants, for whom the whole tempo-free shtick is old hat.

Chad Ochostinko survived to dance another day on Dancing With the Stars. Maybe the judges will like him better next week, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Please tell me there’s a new Modern Family on tonight. (I haven’t checked.) And I still don’t know what to make of Cougar Town. It’s as hot and cold as any series as I’ve seen in awhile. Good characters. Decent dialogue. But it’s either play-it-back funny or falling flat on its face.

By the way, opening day is just around the corner.