John Clay's Sidelines

SEC links for Thursday:

• Dave Hooker of the Knoxville News-Sentinel on Eric Berry’s chances of going very high in tonight’s NFL draft.
• Berry tops the Vols’ draft class, writes Wes Rucker in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
• Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald reports on the arrest of yet another Georgia football player.
• Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun writes that the for Florida, the draft is not just about Tim Tebow.
• Ole Miss guard Olden Polynice enters the draft, reports the AP.
• Chris Low of espn.com reports that Tennessee football doesn’t expect major NCAA penalties.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Eric Berry likley first SEC player to be picked’

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader on UK linebacker/defensive end Ridge Wilson:

But Wilson’s early progress was derailed when he was charged with fourth-degree assault for punching a woman in the face last September. Wilson saw his Wildcat career flash before his eyes, but then-UK Coach Rich Brooks, citing Wilson’s previous track record as a solid citizen, reinstated him to the team.

Wildcat Blue Blog on Marquis Teague:

The future of the 2011 class takes a big step forward when Marquis Teague makes his college decision known. He will make his decision at 1:30 PM Thursday and this has evolved into a Kentucky vs Louisville decision. Now that Michael Chandler has de-committed from the Cardinals. Pitino desperately needs a win in the recruiting department. Getting Teague will obviously get Calipari further toward a monster 2011 class, but it has become apparent that the top talent in the 2011 class is actively seeking out Calipari and making their pitches to be recruited.

Straitpinkie on UK recruiting suspense:

With the upcoming decisions of Marquis Teague, Terrence Jones, and CJ Leslie, I think that predictability is about to go out the window and those those gluttons for surprise are about to get their fix. Over the next two to three weeks, I expect all three of these prospects to make public commitments with UK prominently involved, and when they step to the podium, I think you are going to have people in the know and out of the know guessing multiple ways and potentially even throwing their arms up in the air and saying “I have no idea”.

Ryan Clark of the Kentucky Enquirer on Marquis Teague:

That brings us to Thursday, when we are supposed to hear of the decision of 2011 point guard Marquis Teague of Indianapolis. A bit of history here: UofL set its sights on Teague way back in 2009 or 2008, and they began their recruiting push at that time, even hiring one of his coaches to their staff. Teague is generally regarded as not only the best point guard in the class, but possibly the best player, behind only UK commit Michael Gilchrist. For two seasons now, the Cards have displayed mediocre point guard play, only to point to the future and say Teague is on the way (which, by the way, I’d like to point out that Teague is also, in all probability, a one-and-done player).

Continue reading ‘BBL: What’s up with Marquis Teague?’

(Photo Alabama media relations)

SEC links for Tuesday:

David Jones of Florida Today reports that prized quarterback commits to Florida:

Jeff Driskel, at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, was rated one of the nation’s top quarterback recruits for the 2011 class and has been offered — and accepted — a scholarship to attend Florida

Chip Towers of the AJC on the bright side to Georgia’s quarterback dismissal:

The silver lining in the whole Zach Mettenberger situation at Georgia may be in the way it will affect recruiting at the quarterback position for 2011. Christian LeMay, arguably the top quarterback prospect in the country for the Class of 2011, already had the Bulldogs in his Top 5. But after Mettenberger was dismissed for disciplinary reasons on Sunday, the father of the Matthews, N.C., athlete thinks Georgia now may be hard to beat.

Joe Person of The State on Steve Spurrier celebrating his 65th birthday:

As South Carolina’s sixth-year coach reaches retirement age, he says he’s in better shape than he was at 25, when he was a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Spurrier works out five to six days a week, maintains a healthy diet and refuses to keep the long hours that often lead to burnout among his peers.

Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News on Alabama’s champs getting their rings:

Alabama won the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7 with a 37-21 victory over Texas in Pasadena, Calif. Spoils from the 14-0 season include a ring from the Southeastern Conference, one from the BCS and a third provided by UA. Players had some artistic control over the look of the UA-issued ring. ‘I haven’t seen the rings in person, but I’ve been sent a picture of them on someone’s hand,’ said senior tight end Colin Peek. ‘I’m really looking forward to getting the one that the team designed.’

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Florida gets top quarterback, Georgia after one’

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader writes that UK football players are getting used to new coaches.
• My column saying Caliapri’s Kentucky 2.0 has some big shoes to fill.
• Scott Sloan of H-L reports that UK regular season basketball games outdrew Winter Olympics locally.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal on why UK’s Justin Henderson is glad he graduated early.
• The Tucson Citizen says Kentucky is still in the mix for Eloy Vargas. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• Calipari keeps the recruits right on coming, writes Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• The New York Post on Doron Lamb joining Calipari’s clan.
• Tom Leach has an audio interview with AP basketball guru Jim O’Connell.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Who’s next for Calipari’s clan?’

Mike Rosario

SEC links for Monday:

• Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun reports on Mike Rosario’s transfer to the basketball Gators.
• More on the Rosario transfer from David Jones of Florida Today.
• Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald reports that Georgia coach Mark Richt has kicked a quarterback off the football team.
• More on the dismissing of Georiga quarterback Zach Mettenberger from Tim Tucker of the AJC.
• Jeff Schultz of the AJC applauds Richt for turning tough on crime.
• AP report on Arkansas’ Courtney Fortson declaring for the NBA draft, without an agent.
• Vanderbilt takes series from Auburn baseball with walk-off homer, reports Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Florida gains a guard, Georgia loses a QB’

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

Jerry Tipton has video from New York of Doron Lamb talking about his commitment to UK:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader was in New York to cover the Lamb commitment:

For Lamb, UK’s announcement earlier this month that five players planned to enter their names in this year’s NBA Draft seemed to validate Coach John Calipari as a prophet. “My eyes opened up,” Lamb said. “That’s what he told me before the season started. He promised me that, and that happened. So I believed what he says.

Tipton’s notebook leads with Calipari’s secret:

That translates into the perception that players are not restricted by a system. “The day of the dictator is over,” Smith said. “Guys don’t like that anymore. Not to say they don’t need a stern kick every once in a while. But players want to feel they have some freedom.”

One recruit’s father is critical of Calipari in the Tucson Citizen:

“You have to ask yourself, ‘Why did Kentucky hire Calipari?’” the elder Mayes told me. “They hired him to win national championships. That’s why they are paying him all that money ($31.65 million over eight years). So knowing that, what good did it do him to recruit all these guys who left after one year? How far did it get him this year? It didn’t get him a national championship. I think knowing that, I’d say his first year there was a failure, wouldn’t you?”

(Hat tip to Big Blue Nation.)

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader on the Big Blue Arms Race:

The open competition taking place in spring practice among Mike Hartline, Morgan Newton and Ryan Mossakowski is not to determine who will run “Operation Future Development,” or “Operation Past Experience.” It’s about who Phillips believes will be ready to lead the team to its fifth consecutive bowl game this fall.

Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star on Lamb and Josh Selby:

If there’s two things that Josh Selby and Doron Lamb made clear they were looking for in a college choice, it’s the chance to win an NCAA title and the chance to get to the NBA quickly. Preferably both within a 12-month period. That pretty much eliminated joining rebuilding projects like Arizona coach Sean Miller’s.

Tipton has video of C.J. Leslie talking after the Jordan Brand Classic:

Continue reading ‘BBL: Doron Lamb’s commitment, C.J. Leslie video’

SEC links for Sunday:

• Mississippi State quarterback Tyler Russell struggles in spring game, reports Rusty Hampton of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Brad Locke of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal reports from State’s spring game.
• Rick Cleveland of the Clarion-Ledger writes that there’s still hope for Ole Miss football.
• Mike Strange of the News-Sentinel writes that Tennessee’s spring game shows it a work in progress.
• Tennessee’s scrimmage didn’t raise hopes, writes David Climer of the Tennessean.
• Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports on one bright spot for the Vols.
• It’s Lane Who? at Tennessee, writes Mark Wiedmer of the Times Free Press.
• Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News reports from Alabama’s spring football game.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Spring football game wrap-ups’

Big Blue Links for Friday:

Jerry Tipton of the H-L is in New York for the Jordan Classic, and talked to Brandon Knight:

Yet Brandon Knight, the latest fuzzy-cheeked savant to place his point guard skills in Calipari’s hands, shrugs. “I feel wherever you go, you’re going to be looked at as someone stepping in, I mean, if someone’s leaving,” he said here on Thursday.

Tipton also reports from the Big Apple that prospects have noticed UK’s recruiting coup:

Arguably the best players in the high school junior and senior classes committed to Kentucky on national television Wednesday, the first day of the monthlong spring signing period. If UK orchestrated that spectacle in order to command the attention of other prospects, it worked.

Luke Winn of SI.com thinks Kentucky’s recruiting impact is overstated:

I’m not as sure about Kentucky being in the top 10. Knight is a step down from Wall; Kanter is a step down from Cousins; and the Wildcats won’t have the same kind of depth as they did in ’09-’10. Might we be wasting a lot of breath on a team that will be just decent, but not nearly Final Four-level good, and then faced with the same, “figure out how many guys we’re gonna lose, and replace them” situation in the spring of 2011?

Jennifer Smith of the H-L reports that DeMarcus Cousins could have stayed at UK forever:

He said it was Coach John Calipari pushing him from the comfortable, feathery nest that is Kentucky basketball. “Cal’s pushing me away,” Cousins said on Thursday. “He said, ‘You’ve got to go.’

My column saying that Cousins benefited from the one before done:

Thing is, when critics knock one-and-dones, they knock them as a group, a faceless group that is not all for one as much as all for themselves. Then you see DeMarcus Cousins’ face. That goofy face. “I guess my goofiness became popular,” he said Thursday.

Video of Doron Lamb from New York:

Continue reading ‘BBL: More Kentucky recruiting news, links, video’

SEC links for Friday:

• USA Today reports that bidding war is shaping up for the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

• NE Mississippi Daily Journal reports that MSU coach Rick Stansbury has been fined $30,000 for knocking officials.

• NCAA’s new taunting rule is exercise in overlegislation, writes Mike Herndon of the Mobile Press Register.

• Josh Moon of the Montgomery Advertiser on the new taunting rules being a black and white issue.

• Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun reports on NCAA banning eye-black messages, a la Tim Tebow.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: TV bids, rule changes and Stansbury fined’