John Clay's Sidelines

Daily randoms for a Friday:

First things first, now being told the Enes Kanter twitter account may be fake. So proceed at your own risk.

So the NCAA is expanding its men’s basketball tournament, but just to 68 teams. Funny thing is that what C.M. Newton told me back in February he’d like to see the NCAA do. C.M. was once chairman of the selection committee. Now the former UK athletics director is retired and living with his wife, Nancy, in Tuscaloosa. He does some consulting work for the SEC and runs the NIT for the NCAA.  He said he’d like to see three more play-in games, which would let three more at-large teams into the tournament. If you’re going to expand, I see nothing wrong with that.

One of my favorites, John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectus, sees plenty wrong with how the expansion story has been covered. Meanwhile, Garry Parrish — I like him, too — praises Greg Shaheen.

Not sure how much the (for now) rejection of the 96-team format did with the near universal negative reaction. The NCAA has never paid much attention to the pundits before, not sure why it would cave to the court of public opinion  now. Still, I’ll take 68 over 96 any day.

Also not against the fact Tuner is now broadcast partner with CBS, if that in fact means that every game will now be shown. Interesting detail: Starting in 2016, the Final Four will be alternated between CBS and TBS.

Stayed up watching NFL draft, of which I have settled on the following WWL observations: 1. Love John “Dumba– Coaches” Gruden. 2. Still love Kiper, even if he did protest a little too much on Tebow. 3. Tom Jackson looked bored, sleepy and frustrated. 4. Steve Young has to go-go-go. (I won’t even mention Boomer, whom I quit paying attention to years ago.)

Continue reading ‘Little expansion is better than big expansion’

Update: Been told by more than one that is not a real account. Read at your own risk.

And now a word, or tweet from Enes Kanter (we presume it’s the real Enes Kanter):

John Calipari watches John Wall (H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

Big Blue Links for Friday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader was in Indianapolis for Marquis Teague’s announcement:

Teague’s announcement gives Kentucky commitments from the players rated by Rivals.com as the top two in the class of 2011. Teague, who is No. 2, joins New Jersey forward Michael Gilchrist, the No. 1 prospect, who committed to Calipari last week. When asked how he thought he and Gilchrist would fare together, Teague said, “I think we can do some great things at Kentucky, have a nice dynasty.”

Marcus Thornton (Photo Chick-fil-A Classic)

Michael Carvell of the AJC has an update on Marcus Thornton:

Westlake’s Marcus Thornton, who is one of college basketball top free agents, has finished the in-home visits with all seven of his finalists – Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, UGA, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Michigan. On Thursday, Thornton left for Florida for a mini-spring break. He will return late Sunday night and begin narrowing down his schools on Monday, his father confirmed to the AJC on Thursday night.

Mark Story of the H-L writes that it’s easy to root for John Wall:

“I sat back for about a week and a half and just realized, if we came back, we could win it,” Wall said of the five Kentucky underclassmen who have put their names in the draft. “But there’s no guarantee, you never know what could happen for next year. So I just felt like this was my opportunity to go (pro). After I talked to my family and my coaching staff, they said it was time to go.”

Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal on Marquis Teague committing to Kentucky:

Marquis Teague said he was ready to commit to the University of Louisville at least twice during a two-year recruitment by the Cardinals. But when Teague, a standout junior basketball prospect from Indianapolis Pike High School, made his announcement on Thursday afternoon, the 6-foot-2 point guard put on a University of Kentucky hat.

Zagsblog says North Carolina State leading on C.J. Leslie:

Through it all, N.C. State could have the inside track because of Leslie’s relationship with head coach Sidney Lowe. “He’s looking at N.C. State because he’s known Sidney Lowe for four or five years,” Lisa said. “He has a good relationship with him. I would say they are pretty high on the list.”

UK basketball target Terrence Jones on Twitter last night, announcing his decision date:

Continue reading ‘BBL: UK makes in-home visit with Marcus Thornton’

SEC links for Friday:

• And with its first-round pick, Denver takes Tim Tebow, reports Mike Klis of the Denver Post.
• Woody Paige of the Denver Post says the Broncos got it right with quarterback of the future.
• Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun writes that a lot of Gators fans just became Broncos fans.
• Without Tebow, Jacksonville Jags go to the dogs, blogs Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel.
• Tennessee’s Eric Berry is first SEC player selected, reports Austin Ward of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Tim Tebow ends up talk of NFL draft’

Jerry Tipton took some videos of Marquis Teague in Indianapolis:

Sent this out as a tweet earlier today:

By Rivals rankings, Calipari got/kept Nos. 1, 2, 22, 23, 40 in 2009; Nos. 1, 21, 27 and Kanter in 2010; Nos. 1, 2 and leads on 3 for 2011.

Now here’s a chart showing teams that have secured at least two signings/commitments, based on Rivals rankings, over the recruiting periods of 2009, 2010 and 2011. As you can see, John Calipari is doing pretty well.

Here is early Twitter reaction to Marquis Teague picking Kentucky:

• @GaryParrishCBS: In other news, Marquis Teague has committed to UK over UL. Question: Who has complicated Pitino’s life more in the past year: Karen or Cal?

• @irishhooliganx: The entire BBN is Fa-Teagued from all the excitement.

• @LarryGlover: If Pitino can’t close out Teague then he’ll never get anybody that Cal wants. He should look for another job. He’ll always be no. 2 in ky.

• @DanBodner: Marquis Teague to UK. UK now has the #1 and #2 players in the 2011 class. Quincy Miller will make it #1, #2, and #3. Never been done before.

• @babiez4: Welcome to the BIG BLUE MARQUIS TEAGUE!!! You will look sooo much better in Blue than u would in Red!!!

• @billmeehan: Marquis Teague joins the #Kentucky freight train that keeps barreling down the track. Go Big Blue! Welcome Marquis!

• @jkillerkella: Yay! I almost feel bad for stealing him from pitino, then i remember he’s a filthy card

• @NorthstarBball: In the last 9 days, Kentucky has gotten commitments from Brandon Knight, Michael Gilchrist, Doron Lamb, and Marquis Teague. Wow.

• @raphiellej: OK so now it’s official: Marquis Teague to Kentucky. That’s all I wanted…and actual official commitment. Not that 3rd party nonsense.

• @GoldandBlackcom: Does anyone know where Marquis Teague committed? Can’t find anything about it on Twitter. Thanks.

More video clips from John Wall’s press conference this morning:

Some daily randoms for a Thursday:

Just attended the John Wall press conference, where the UK guard said he is in fact entering the NBA draft. Not much news there. Wall hedged on question of whether he has hired an agent, but the guess here is that if he hasn’t signed a contract with an agent, he will shortly.

Wall was good, well-spoken and well-dressed in a pin-stripe suit. Said it was the only suit he owns. He said that he didn’t care about buying anything for himself with his NBA money, just a house and car for his mother, so “she can relax.” I keep going back to that point, that we don’t know the circumstances under which a lot of these one-and-doners currently live, or grow up. So often its not that they covet the riches for themselves. They just want to make things easier for their family.

Wall was also good talking about his year here, and his bond with his teammates. He made a point of mentioning the veterans, Perry Stevenson, Ramon Harris, Josh Harrellson, etc., and how he will keep a bond with those guys, not just his fellow freshmen Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins.

Continue reading ‘Video and thoughts on John Wall and MarquisTeague’

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

Max Smith

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader on Kentucky picking up a quarterback commitment from California:

Smith was in Lexington last weekend and committed to UK shortly after his visit. Smith will be grayshirted, which means he will delay enrollment until January and count toward the 2011 class. “I’ve always been fascinated with SEC football, and Kentucky seemed like a good place with a lot of tradition,” he said. “Plus their system really seemed to fit with the way I play.”

Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal on decision day for Marquis Teague:

The 6-foot-2 Teague, considered the top point guard in the Class of 2011, is expected to make an announcement at 1:30p.m. at Pike. Teague’s list includes Cincinnati, Indiana and Purdue, but he is expected to pick either Kentucky or Louisville.

Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star on Teague’s choice:

Kentucky and Louisville basketball fans want him. Indiana fans hope for an upset. Pike High School junior guard Marquis Teague will announce his college decision today at the school’s freshman center, putting an end to months of speculation and scrutiny. He listed his final choices as Cincinnati, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and Purdue.

Card Chronicle asks what is it that Rick Pitino is supposed to do?

There will be LOTS of Pitino bashing, but other than “try harder” or “he should have said X or Y” what exactly could Pitino have done to get this kid? The current college basketball recruiting landscape for the very top subjects heavily favors Kentucky now. I know his dad played for Pitino, but why is that necessarily a lock? Calipari (and if rumors are to be believed, WWW and Lebron) are tough people to recruit against, and it’s not just Pitino losing guys to him/them.

Mary Meehan of the H-L on the 58 percent jump in UK football parking rates:

A week after the University of Kentucky increased the price of football tickets, fans took another hit to the wallet: Parking lot permits will cost $100 more this season than last. The 57 percent increase pushed the price to $275 for fans in the blue, purple, orange, green and red lots. All other parking passes are going up as well.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Day of decision for Marquis Teague’