John Clay's Sidelines

Greg Byrne

SEC links for Tuesday:

• Greg Byrne leaving AD post at Mississippi State for Arizona, reports Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger.

• Byrne left his mark in Starkville, writes Rick Cleveland of the Clarion-Ledger.

• Brad Locke of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal writes that State is disappointed with Byrne’s decision.

• Auburn will interview North Texas coach Johnny Jones, reports Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham News.

• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel thinks a Florida receiver should repent after dissing Tim Tebow.

• AP reports that father of Alabama’s Mark Ingram will serve more prison time.

• The State reports that ex-Carolina coach Dave Odom may be a candidate at Charlotte.

• Dan Fleser of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports on Lady Vols’ drubbing of Dayton to reach Sweet 16.

• Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs reach the Sweet 16, reports Jack Magrudger of the Athens Banner-Herald.

• Duke women surge past LSU, reports Scott Hotard of The Advocate.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Byrne leaving Mississippi State for Arizona’

Cornell's most famous fictious alum, Andy Benard of The Office

Big Blue Links for Monday:

Jennifer Smith of the H-L writes that tonight’s UK-Michigan State women’s matchup is size vs. speed:

Post-season tournaments always spark debate: Would you rather be the more talented team or the more experienced team?

Would you rather be the faster team or the bigger team?

Kentucky and Michigan State will do their best to answer that second question in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Monday night at Freedom Hall, playing for a chance to advance to the regional in Kansas City.

Stacey Shackford of the Ithaca Journal on Cornell’s win over Wisconsin:

Lauren McPhillips was seeing red on Sunday, but not in anger — she was flush with the thrill of victory and pride as she watched her alma mater advance to the next round of the NCAA semifinals in a historic 87-69 win over the University of Wisconsin.

“I can’t fathom it. I’m so excited to be a Cornell alum right now. Our cheerleaders finally have something to cheer for,” she said.

The Big Red’s historic win was the cherry on the top of a sweet treat of victories that piled up over the weekend.

Jerry Tipton of the H-L reports that DeMarcus Cousins thinks UK can still improve:

Despite last week’s two overwhelming victories, big man DeMarcus Cousins envisioned even better play in a future that begins in Syracuse with an East Regional semifinal game against Cornell on Thursday.

“We can still get better,” he said after the humiliation of Wake Forest. “I wish it was the middle of the season. I’d want to see how good we can actually get. I don’t know how good we can be.”

My column saying it was a pretty good 24 hours for a Kentucky basketball fan:

OK, OK, of course there are such things as hanging another national title banner at Rupp Arena, or pulling in another consensus No. 1 recruit, or beating another storied program to make another college basketball milestone.

Besides those blissful occasions, if you are a Kentucky basketball fan, it could not have been much better than the 24 hours of enjoyable hoops that stretched from late Friday night right through the Saturday night specials.

Matt Hayes of the Sporting News on how Cornell is primed for Kentucky:

They were kicking around a hacky sack an hour before it all unfolded, laughing and joking and treating the biggest game of their lives like another ‘got next’ at the YMCA.

This is what Cornell has done to the NCAA tournament: create an historic moment for the Ivy League, and treat it like it was no big deal.

That’s what happens when you haven’t been tested in two games as an underdog.

“The more these teams sleep on us, the more we’ll take advantage of it,” said Cornell center Jeff Foote. “Anything is possible. Our goal is the Final Four.”

Andy Staples of SI.com says driven Cornell is no Cinderella:

There was no sense of wonder Sunday as the Big Red walked off the court following its 87-69 demolition of Wisconsin. No dog pile. No jersey pops for the cameras. None of that glass slipper mumbo-jumbo. Cornell had just dispatched No. 5 seed Temple and No. 4 seed Wisconsin by an average of 16.5 points, and Big Red players walked off the court like a team that accomplished the task it came to perform.

We will try to hand Cornell a sling before it faces top-seeded Kentucky in the Sweet 16 in Syracuse on Thursday. The Big Red don’t need one. They’ve proven this season they can stand toe-to-toe with Goliath and trade punches. They pushed Kansas in Lawrence. They made nine three-pointers in the first half against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Big Red is next in line for the Big Blue’

SEC links for Monday:

• Tubby Smith says he out selling Minnesota, not Auburn, reports Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham News.

• Mark Wiedmer of the Chattanooga Times Free Press thinks Tennessee can make the Final Four.

• Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl says J.P. Prince can be tremendous, reports Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

• David Climer of the Tennessean examines Bruce Pearl the salesman.

• Dave Hooker of the News-Sentinel on Kentuckian Luke Stocker, who fits Derek Dooley’s mold for a tight end at Tennessee.

• Monte Hale of the Murfreesboro Daily Journal on Mississippi State women beating MTSU in NCAA play.

• Gentry Estes of the Mobile Press-Register on Vanderbilt avoiding a baseball sweep at Alabama.

• Florida sweeps John Cohen and Mississippi State, reports Arnold Feliciano of the Gainesville Sun.

• Georgia blows out Auburn, reports Chris Starrs of the Athens Banner-Herald.

• South Carolina baseball improves to 3-0 in the SEC, reports Neil White of The State.

• Travis Haney of the Charleston Post and Courier says all eyes are on the South Carolina quarterbacks.

First, click here for an spreadsheet on the NCAA Tournament thus far. Or you can download the spreadsheet by clicking here.

Now, here are some fun facts about the NCAA’s Sweet 16.

Sweet 16 seeds:

• There are three No. 1 seeds (Kentucky, Syracuse and Duke)
• There are three No. 2 seeds (West Virginia, Ohio State and Kansas State)
• There is one No. 3 seed (Baylor)
• There is one No. 4 seed (Purdue)
• There are two No. 5 seeds (Michigan State and Butler)
• There are two No. 6 seeds (Xavier and Tennessee)
• There is one No. 9 seed (Northern Iowa)
• There is one No. 10 seed (Saint Mary’s)
• There is one No. 11 seed (Washington)
• There is one No. 12 seed (Cornell)

RPIs of the Sweet 16 teams:

• 2-Kentucky
• 3-Duke
• 4-West Virginia
• 5-Syracuse
• 6-Kansas St
• 9-Baylor
• 12-Butler
• 14-Tennessee
• 16-Purdue
• 17-Northern Iowa
• 19-Xavier
• 22-Ohio State
• 28-Michigan State
• 35-Saint Mary’s
• 41-Washington
• 46-Cornell

Continue reading ‘Some fun facts about the NCAA’s Sweet 16′

Seth Davis recommends this video for those needing to feed their Cornell basketball jones. It’s Cornell freshman Eitan Chemerinski taking on Rubik’s Cube while the Big Red is waiting at the airport.

Here are some early links having do with Cornell, which plays Kentucky on Thursday night:

• Brian Bennett of espn.com blogs on Cornell’s victory over Wisconsin to reach the Sweet 16.

• CBSSports.com wire report on the Cornell win over Wisconsin.

• Cornell’s John Jaques is blogging for the New York Times during the tournament.

• Official Cornell University athletics basketball site.

• John Harper of the New York Daily News on Cornell 7-footer Jeff Foote.

• Jasmine Marcus of the Cornell Daily Sun writes that Cornell is not afraid to “Hatorade.”

• Ray Glier of the New York Times on Cornell’s jack-of-all-trades Barry Leonard.

• Cornell’s basketball page on espn.com.

• Yes, there is a Cornell Basketball Blog, and it’s a good one, too.

Updated Kentucky basketball stats in Excel files through Saturday’s win over Wake Forest:

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

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

Post-game videos taken by H-L’s Charles Bertram in New Orleans:

Continue reading ‘Videos: Kentucky after win over Wake Forest’

(AP photo)

BBL for Sunday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader on Kentucky’s big win in the Big Easy:

Foul trouble for Wake Forest’s leading scorer and rebounder, Al-Farouq Aminu, helped get the rout started. But Kentucky was clicking with newfound precision and merciless consistency, and advancement to Syracuse this week became a certainty by halftime.

A crowd of 11,966 in the New Orleans Arena watched Kentucky advance to the Sweet 16 round for the first time since 2005. The Cats got there in style. The combined margins of victory in two games here – 59 points – represented Kentucky’s third biggest two-game spread to start an NCAA Tournament. Only the 68-point margin in 1995 and 62 in 1996 have been larger.

Mark Story of the H-L on how Kentucky is now the favorite:

Finally, genuine NCAA Tournament electricity came to the Crescent City.

Oh, not in the actual New Orleans Arena.

As word spread that No. 1 overall seed Kansas was in deep doo-doo Saturday against Northern Iowa, an unusual crowd gathered around a TV near the media room buried deep inside the bowels of the facility.

Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader on the UK women’s win over Liberty:

On Monday night, Kentucky will face fifth-seeded Michigan State, a 72-62 winner over Bowling Green in the first game on Saturday.

The Cats have struggled with teams from the Big Ten, losing their last eight games, including a loss in the second round to Michigan State in 2006.

For a while on Saturday, it looked as though the big team from the Big South was going to be just as troubling for Kentucky.

My column on A’dia Mathies’ big day in her hometown:

She was back in her hometown after all, back where A’dia Mathies starred for Iroquois High School and captured Miss Basketball honors.

So it shouldn’t have been surprising Saturday when, during warm-ups, the Kentucky freshman kept hearing someone call her name.

“I didn’t want to look,” said Mathies.

Why not?

“It shows that I was focused if I didn’t look out there,” she said.

Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal on UK’s Saturday night shooting clinic:

In advancing to the Sweet16 for the first time since 2005, UK won its two games by an average of 29.5 points.

Against Wake Forest, the Cats pulled away late in the first half and dominated the second, leading by 31 points, shooting 60.3 percent and getting double-digit scoring from four players, including a career-high 20 points from sophomore Darius Miller.

Matt May of the Cats Pause writes that UK left Deacons in their Wake:

For a night in the Big Easy Miller made everything look as simple as the city’s nickname, setting a career-high with 20 points in Kentucky’s 90-60 annihilation of Wake Forest in front of 11,966 fans at New Orleans Arena.

Miller set the tone for the Cats (34-2) by attacking the Demon Deacons’ defense in the opening minutes of the game, then his teammates joined in to put another NCAA Tournament punishment on Wake Forest, just as they did in 1993 and the 1996 national championship season.

Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News on UK’s new role:

The Wildcats didn’t find out about KU losing until after they had demolished Wake Forest, 90-60, with 20 points from Miller, 14 points and seven assists from guard Eric Bledsoe and 19 points, eight rebounds and an impressive episode of restraint from center DeMarcus Cousins.

By the time they knew, however, they were having too much fun celebrating a lopsided win and watching Bledsoe’s scorching second-half dunk being replayed on ESPN to worry about one of their fellow No. 1 seeds being vanquished.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Hot-shooting Kentucky keeps on rolling’

(AP photo)

SEC links for Sunday:

• Tennessee’s bench makes the difference in win over Ohio, reports Mike Griffith in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• John Adams of the News-Sentinel praises Tennessee’s perimeter defense.
• David Climer of the Tennessean on UT’s Josh Bone finding his niche.
• Andy Gardiner of USA Today on Tennessee’s trip to the Sweet 16.
• New no-grill tailgating rules at Georgia, reports Liz Shearer of the Athens Banner-Herald.
• Scott Hotard of The Advocate reports on LSU women’s NCAA win over Hartford.
• North Carolina ends Mississippi State’s season at the buzzer, reports Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Paul Jones of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal on the Mississippi State loss to Carolina.
• Clarion-Ledger reports that Ole Miss will play host to Texas Tech in next NIT game.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Tennessee’s bench takes Vols to next round’