John Clay's Sidelines

If you go by points allowed per possession, Kentucky’s 62-45 win over Cornell ranked as the Cats’ fifth-best defensive performance this season.

Courtesy of www.asapsports.com:

NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS & FINALS: SYRACUSE

March 25, 2010

Eric Bledsoe
John Calipari
Demarcus Cousins
Darius Miller
Patrick Patterson
John Wall

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK

Kentucky – 62
Cornell – 45

THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations. Can we ask you to make an opening statement and then we’ll take questions of the student-athletes.
COACH JOHN CALIPARI: You know, I was really pleased with the defense we played today. The guys really worked hard to make it hard for them. We fouled some at the end. Our goal in the game was to guard the three-point line and then to also not foul them because they’re a great free-throw shooting team, also, and at the end we fouled them a little bit. But the discipline it takes to play that way, the focus that it takes for a group of young people like this, you know, in their first NCAA Tournament run was tremendous.
Now, I thought the second half we kind of backed up and tried to just get out of the gym, and you can’t play that way in the NCAA Tournament, but that’s OK. We learned a great lesson. We gave them a chance to maybe clip us. But we did good.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We’ll start with questions for the student-athletes. Please try to direct your question to a specific student-athlete.

Q. For Darius and John: It seemed like you guys were able to get out so heavily on to their three-point shooters that did you get the sense that they just got to the point where they didn’t feel they could even get it off, like they would have to rush?
DARIUS MILLER: When they were coming off screens to hand off, we tried to pressure them over. Our big men did a great job giving us time to get back to them. Like Coach said, our main goal was to guard the three and try not to let them get open looks.
JOHN WALL: Basic idea was Coach said, make them shoot tough twos. When you help when they do rolls, you have to run back out with your hands high. We did a great job of that today.

Q. This is for DeMarcus and Eric: When it’s 10-2 and the crowd is so partisan Cornell, so loud, what are you guys thinking 10-2?
DeMARCUS COUSINS: That’s how the crowd is. Especially when it was more Cornell fans there tonight than Kentucky fans. When they made a run, we knew it was going to be loud. It’s like that usually with every road game. We just have to keep playing basketball.
ERIC BLEDSOE: Like DeMarcus said, we’ve been doing that all season. Coming out a little sluggish. We found a way to get back in it.

Q. For Darius: I think with Wittman went 26 minutes without scoring after he hit that early three. Do you think your length bothered him or your quickness or what in particular did you do with him?
DARIUS MILLER: I think it was just great team defense. Like I said, when he was coming off screens and hand-offs, the big man did a great job of giving me time to get back to him. And we just worked on closing out with high hands and trying to make him take tough twos, just like they said.

Q. This is for Patrick: You’re going to play West Virginia for the right to the Final Four. Can you talk about how much both state schools mean to people on both sides of the border there?
PATRICK PATTERSON: That is huge game for both people from Kentucky and West Virginia. For myself, definitely look forward to it. I know a couple of people off the team. They’re a great team. They deserve to be in the Elite Eight and to be this far. Their record shows how well they’ve been playing. I know my teammates and I will get ready and hopefully we can perform well against them.

Q. This is for John: You guys had about eight points ten minutes into the second half. Was that a matter of you guys just not shooting well or was Cornell doing something special defensively?
JOHN WALL: Like Coach said, second half we came out at the beginning we backed off on them. We didn’t come with the same intensity that we had in the first-half offense trying to score and look for our plays. I think we backed off and later on when they started making a run, we knew the game could get close. We started fouling and they started making shots. We knew we had to play basketball.

Continue reading ‘Transcript of Kentucky’s post-game press conference’

Courtesy of www.asapsports.com:

NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS & FINALS: SYRACUSE

March 25, 2010

Louis Dale
Steve Donahue
Ryan Wittman

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK

Kentucky – 62
Cornell – 45

THE MODERATOR: OK, Coach, can we ask you to make a brief opening statement before we take questions from the student-athletes.
COACH STEVE DONAHUE: In terms of the game itself, I thought Kentucky came out and played tremendous defense, understanding what our strengths were. Did a great job of taking us out of things. But I thought we also at times settled down and were able to run our offense, and for whatever reason, just missed shots that we normally make.
I was proud of us when we cut it to six, did everything we could, fought tooth and nail when obviously not playing our A game on the offensive end. I give Kentucky credit. They are very, very good, and they played well.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We’ll start with questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Ryan, obviously a tough shooting night. Would you blame it more on one of those nights where the shots weren’t falling or was it the Kentucky defense, athleticism and the fact their players are so long and pesky on defense?
RYAN WITTMAN: Probably a little bit of both. I think obviously there were some pretty open ones out there where I had a lot of space to get it off. Sometimes you just have games like that where they don’t go down. But they’ve got a lot of length on defense, obviously. Something we had to get a little bit adjusted to. I don’t think Temple and Wisconsin quite had the length on the perimeter that they do.

Q. Question for both Louis and Ryan: You two and Jeff Foote especially, you guys are kind of the core of this team. Do you think in these three games you’ve shown people who you are personally as basketball players, how good you can be, talking about getting to the next level? Have you thought about that as you’ve made this run?
RYAN WITTMAN: I think the thing with all three of us is we haven’t thought about that at all. We’re not doing this for personal stuff. We’re a team out there. We’re not worried about individual accomplishments. We’re going out there and having fun playing with our best friends. Just doing whatever it takes to win.
LOUIS DALE: Yeah, I think Ryan hit it on — you know, we’re just going out there trying to win. At the end of the day, I would be satisfied with zero points and a W. So I think we just were giving it our all and just really trying to go out there and win the game.

Q. For both players: It started out, I’m sure, the way you wanted it to. It got to them leading 14-12, and for the rest of the half, you guys were two out of eight shooting and nine turnovers. Can you describe how much their quickness out there and their strength at times bothered you.
RYAN WITTMAN: Obviously, that was a pretty good point in the game. I think it was just kind of a thing where we were being a little too passive, not being strong with the ball. You have to give them credit. Being aggressive on defense, we didn’t take advantage of that. I think after that little surge there we went in halftime and came out in the second half and executed a lot better. We were a lot more aggressive coming off ball screens and dribble hand-offs and things like that. Obviously the turnovers hurt us, because that allows Kentucky to get out and get easy baskets, which is when they’re at their best.
So, yeah, we weren’t very strong with the ball during that stretch.
LOUIS DALE: Yeah, I agree totally. During that stretch we had the nine turnovers, and we weren’t strong with the ball. They were getting their hands on balls and deflections. I think their length played a part in that. We haven’t really played against that sort of length during the season on the perimeter. So it was a different look for us.

Continue reading ‘Transcript of Cornell post-game press conference’

Because someone is broadcasting on same frequency, thus crushing the wireless here, they just supplied us with ethernet at courtside. So we’re going to try the Cover it Live liveblog, after all.

Some daily random notes as we wait on the UK-Cornell late-night tip tonight in Syracuse:

It didn’t take long for UK fans to go after a writer who criticized the Cats. (It never does.) This time it was Dan Shaugnessy of the Boston Globe, whose column made the headline of this blog’s Big Blue Links on Wednesday. In writing about the response, Dan refers to Kentucky Sports Radio and CoachCal.com’s Matt Jones as a “local radio guy.” And Dan swaps generalizations with Matt calling Boston “the most racist sports town in America.”

The one thing we know for sure is that for a supposedly backwards state, with “dumb kids,” as DeMarcus Cousins put it to the media on Wednesday, Kentuckians, and Kentucky fans have certianly mastered the internet. As I write this, the Shaughnessy rebuttal has received 181 comments.

The way Urban Meyer chastised Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel over Fowler having the audacity to run a quote by a Florida football player about ex-quarterback Tim Tebow reminded me of my old days on the football beat with Hal Mumme. Thankfully, there were no videos of those exchanges. And Hal didn’t win as many games as Urban.

Still, this doesn’t look like the low-stress Urban. More like the ol’ Urbanator. It’s also the classic blame-the-messenger approach. All Fowler did was quote wide receiver Deonte Thompson saying that as a wide out you never knew if Tebow was going to run or throw when he left the pocket. He said that UF’s John Brantley is a “real quarterback.” He didn’t say Brantley is a better quarterback. But coaches hear what they want to hear.

Mike Bianchi blogs that Meyer is dead-wrong. And I agree.

Update: Florida has now cuts its players and coaches off from the media.

My picks for tonight: Kentucky over Cornell by 15; West Virginia over Washington by six; Syracuse over Butler by 10 and Kansas State over Xavier by 4. All chalk, I know. But what can I say?

In case you were wondering, it’s supposed to snow here tonight in Syracuse. The high Friday is expected to be 32.

In blog post yesterday, included wild rumor that DePaul was using big bucks to try and entice Ben Howland from UCLA. Then got this e-mail from Marc Dellins, sports information director at UCLA. “From Ben Howland: ‘I am the coach at UCLA. I will never leave UCLA and will stay at UCLA as long as they will have me.’”

Speaking of e-mail, got this one from an obvious Cornell supporter: “David vs. Goliath, Brains vs. Brawn, Five Near Geniuses who will graduate to become doctors, lawyers, and scientists…vs….Five SAT challenged All American burger boys….should be a heckuva game…GO BIG RED!!”

Breakout USA Today stat: Before the tournament, Cornell was 3-63 against ranked teams. The Big Red has beaten two ranked teams thus far in this tournament, and could make it three tonight.

Good Pete Thamel story in the New York Times on the three-story house occupied by 14 Cornell basketball players. It’s not exactly Wildcat Lodge. Certainly not the Wildcat Coal Lodge.

Continue reading ‘Random notes from Syracuse before Kentucky-Cornell’

DeMarcus Cousins signs autographs before UK's practice at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday. (Photo by John Clay)

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes that Cornell’s smart bombs go up against UK’s thick defense: “Cornell (29-4), the 12th seed in the East Region, counters as one of best shooting teams in the country. The Big Red rank 12th nationally in overall shooting (48.6 percent) and are especially dead-eye from three-point range, ranking first in accuracy (43.5 percent) and third in treys per game (9.7, on average).”

Dennis Berman of the Wall Street Journal on one fan’s UK-Cornell crisis: “Thursday’s best Sweet 16 matchup represents two basketball worlds that couldn’t be further apart. Except in the chosen body of one person: My best friend, Matt Atlas. He is a rabid Kentucky fan and a Cornell graduate. Matt grew up in Louisville and came to love Kentucky after a still unforgivable defection from the hometown Cardinals. He followed the legendary Pitino teams to Florida and Hawaii. His Cornell degree also helped shape him into a brilliant, unflappable lawyer. He can argue persuasively on any issue from David Paterson’s governing style to John Calipari’s cruel treatment by the NCAA.”

John Feinstein of the Washington Post says UK and Cornell are miles apart: “That’s not to say the Cornell kids aren’t a little bit scary smart. When an especially obnoxious radio reporter launched into a long-winded question that boiled down to, “Isn’t this smart guys versus athletic guys?” (welcome to journalistic cliches 101) Wittman smiled and said, “No doubt our passion buckets will be overflowing tomorrow night,” causing Foote to almost fall off his chair laughing.”

Mark Blaudschun of the Boston Globe says the stage is set for Calipari: “And John Calipari loves it, embraces it. His critics – and they are out there – shake their heads and mutter, wondering when the next misstep will take place, when the glitter of a Final Four will be tarnished the way it was at the University of Massachusetts, where Calipari was the ultimate anytime/anywhere/against-anyone salesman. He brought that program to the Final Four in 1996, only to have the appearance vacated because of NCAA violations. Then at Memphis, Calipari elevated a mid-major program to the highest level, only to have more charges and allegations come up. And another Final Four vacated.”

My column says the smart money is on the “dumb kids”: “If it’s just basketball, Kentucky will be just fine on Thursday. Yes, Cornell is good. Yes, Cornell has shot 58.8 percent from the floor so far this tournament. Yes, Cornell took apart Temple and then Wisconsin in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. But neither Temple nor even Wisconsin comes close to matching Kentucky in overall athletic ability.”

Brian Delaney of the Ithaca Journal says Cornell hasn’t pulled off the big one yet: “With wins over fifth-seeded Temple and fourth-seeded Wisconsin last weekend in Jacksonville, Fla., Cornell sharpened the country’s focus. Among those paying attention was Kentucky coach John Calipari. In a matchup of contrasts that has captivated the nation, the top-seeded and uber-athletic Wildcats (34-2) will face the confident, loose Big Red (29-4) at about 10 p.m. Thursday in a Sweet 16 game at the Carrier Dome.”

Cory Francer of the Ithacan on the Cornell sweet spot: “But, for the month of March I’m putting my biases aside and rooting for what would be best for Ithaca. I’m temporarily shedding my Blue and Gold for the Red and White. However, before I completely jumped ship, I needed to explore “that other school in town,” and see what the natives were saying about their NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Kentucky-Cornell preview links and more links’

Tony Barbee

SEC links for Thursday:

• Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham News on new Auburn basketball coach Tony Barbee.

• Florida coach Urban Meyer gets into it with a reporter after practice, reports Robbie Andreu in the Gainesville Sun.

• Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel on “Why Urban Meyer says I’m a bad guy.”

• Here’s the video of the Fowler-Meyer confrontation.

• Tennessee’s season didn’t end with arrests, writes Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

• Barbee will be publicly announced as Auburn’s new coach today, reports Evan Woodbery of the Mobile Press-Register.

• John Adams of the News-Sentinel writes that not everyone is ruling out Tennessee against Ohio State.

• The lack of a college degree may have hurt Chuck Person’s chances of being Auburn’s coach, writes Kevin Scarbinsky in the Birmingham News.

• Jay G. Tate of the Montgomery Advertiser on the Tony Barbee hire at Auburn.

• David Brandt of the Clarion-Ledger reports that Ole Miss’ Patrick Patterson is in Houston Nutt’s doghouse.

• Lack of diversity on South Carolina board not an issue with players, reports Eric Boynton of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

• Tennessee basketball will test its bench strength again, writes Wes Rucker in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Cornell’s Mark Coury talks about Kentucky. In case you haven’t heart, Coury once played for the Wildcats.