John Clay's Sidelines

(AP photo)

Some daily randoms from an Easter Sunday at the Final Four:

To me, anyway, it’s not too hard to figure out what’s going on with Daniel Orton. He’s going into the draft. He may be dropping out of school, or finishing school in California — how exactly do you do that? — or training for the draft in California. He may love John Calipari, or hate John Calipari. None of that seems to matter. What matters is that Larry Orton said his son is testing the NBA draft waters, so Daniel will test the waters. But if you really are going to California to train, chances are you are doing more than testing. And in speaking with Calipari here in Indianapolis on Thursday, the guess here is that Cal’s guess is that Orton will not be a Wildcat next year.

If you’re a Kentucky fan, the only thing worse than watching you team make just four of 32 three-pointers against West Virginia in a regional final is to see Duke make 13 of 25 threes against West Virginia in the Final Four. Duke shot lights out, but then the Blue Devils own better shooters than did this year’s Kentucky. Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and even Nolan Smith can light it up, as they say. They lit up the ‘Neers.

Afterward, Bob Huggins lamented his switch to a 1-3-1 zone without using a dead ball situation first, but that didn’t make any real difference. Duke was on fire. West Virginia left its game up in Syracuse.

Speaking of West Virginia, got some flak for tweeting that Huggins’ emotional on-the-floor hug of De’Sean Bryant Butler after the Mountaineer tore up his knee was “weird.” Was accused of being a cynic, and mean, and sarcastic. I admit, poor choice of words, or word. Just not sure that I’d ever seen anything quite like that before. Not saying it was bad, or wrong. And from what I hear, on television it certainly looked powerful, what with the coach right up in Bryant’s face, trying to get him to calm down. But you have to admit, it was unusual.

Huggy-ologist Paul Daugherty writes about the Huggy/Bryant Butler moment here.

Continue reading ‘Daniel Orton, the Final Four and other random notes’

Shelvin Mack

Shelvin Mack says he’s fine. The former Bryan Station star, now a starting guard on Butler’s national finalists — who’d have thunk it? — said he had been suffering from food poisoning that started Thursday night. That caused him to cramp up during the second half of Butler’s 52-50 win over Michigan State on Saturday night. After scoring 12 points in 17 first-half minutes, Mack played just eight the second half, and said he took himself out because he didn’t want to short-change his teammates.

Mack appeared at the Butler press conference today, and in a break-out room for more interviews. (UK’s DeWayne Peevy was the moderator in Mack’s room.) He said he used to have problems with cramps until he changed his diet this season. He thought that last night’s problem went back to whatever caused his food poisoning on Thursday. Mack also said he expects to practice today, and will play Monday.

Mack also said that his good friend, UK’s Darius Miller, would be among his guests for Monday night’s game with Duke. Mack said he’s leaving a ticket for Miller, who played with Mack both in AAU ball and on the U.S. Under-19 world championships team last summer.

I’ll be writing a story/update on Mack for on-line today and the print edition on Monday.

Shelvin Mack talks about Monday night from John Clay on Vimeo.

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

Seth Emerson of The State in Columbia on the relationship between former South Carolina assistants Joker Phillips and Charlie Strong:

They lived one house apart. So nearly every morning, Charlie Strong would walk to Joker Phillips’ house, or vice versa, and they would go for a run. Or sometimes, the run waited until the coaches arrived at their offices at the South Carolina football complex. In truth, there was more than the proximity of their homes that connected Strong and Phillips for that one year, 2002, they were together on Lou Holtz’s Gamecocks staff. They were both young, energetic and black – and working in a field in which opportunities for advancement seemed minimal.

From Twitter:

RT @Chandrathan: Daniel Orton just posted on FB he is indeed going to California tomorrow. Looks like he’s officially gone.

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader reports that Elisa Justice has heard from John Calipari:

Apparently, Justice had his own pre-conditions before more serious discussions could ensue. “The only way Elisha would be willing to go to Kentucky, I’d say, is if it’s on a full four-year scholarship,” Booher said.

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader writes that UK football has a hitter in Qua Huzzie:

So needless to say, the UK coaching staff was disappointed last August when prized freshman Qua Huzzie, a 2009 signee from LaGrange, Ga., suffered an injury to his left shoulder in August that caused him to redshirt. Huzzie had shown enough early in fall camp that he would have likely seen backup action behind Micah Johnson at middle linebacker as well as being a key contributor on special teams.

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader on one-and-dones and Lee Todd:

Meanwhile, UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. sits uneasy at the head of an educational institution. “If you don’t recruit them, you’ll play against them very likely,” Todd said of one-and-done players in a recent interview. “It’s a system problem, I think.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Strong, Phillips friendship back to South Carolina’

SEC links for Sunday:

• Ray Melick of the Birmingham News writes on the idea of a 96-team NCAA Tournament.

• Tennessee is back on Josh Selby’s list, writes Joe Biddle in the Tennessean.

• Matt Simms feels comfortable at Tennessee, reports Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

• John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel says Derek Dooley should please the fans, not the media.

• Tim Tucker of the AJC reports that Georgia coach Mark Richt is “very impressed” with his quarterbacks.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Matt Simms feeling comfortable at Tennessee’

I am Indianapolis for the Final Four, courtside at Lucas Oil Stadium.

I’ll be tweeting throughout the game. Follow me at www.twitter.com/johnclayiv.

In my column for Saturday, which should be on-line at Kentucky.com soon, mention that Mike Krzyzewski was upset with a cartoon done by the Indianapolis Star that depicts the Duke coach as the devil.

USA Today has a note that the Indianapolis paper apologized to Duke, and here’s the cartoon:

More daily randoms for a Friday:

Finished up the player/coach press conferences after the open practices here at Lucas Oil Stadium. To say Butler’s open practice was well-attended is to say Bob Huggins looks bored most of the time. Even Butler coach Brad Stevens said that while his team was on the bus coming to the stadium, he thought “How the heck are we going to get to Lucas Oil Stadium,” through the multitudes of Bulldogs backers on the streets and roadways.

West Virginia’s Joe Mazzulla said he thought Duke will attack the 1-3-1 zone much differently than Kentucky. “I didn’t think Kentucky made that much of an effort to get the ball to Cousins,” he said Friday. “I think Zoubek and Plumlee are a little bit more active.”

These two tweets from Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski have received plenty of attention:

NBA execs and agents say Calipari battled infighting among parents of upperclassmen and underclassmen over playing time, publicity, etc. about 1 hour ago via web
Kentucky frosh Daniel Orton doesn’t love playing for Calipari and Cal doesn’t love coaching him, sources say. Expect him to stay in draft. about 2 hours ago via web

I don’t know about Orton, and school, but I don’t doubt Adrian’s first tweet. I noticed several times that Calipari mentioned players trying to please their “parents” or “family members.” If you sat anywhere close to the UK parents section you know that was not a silent group. So it wouldn’t surprise me if while the players seemed happy, it may have been a different story for some of the people on the outside.

Continue reading ‘WVU’s Mazzulla says Kentucky forgot Cousins’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Daily randoms for a Friday:

Made the drive up to Indiana-no-place and Peyton Manning/Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday for the first day of Final Four facts and fiction. Job one was writing a piece on Bryan Station product Shelvin Mack, who starts at guard for the Final Four participating Butler Bulldogs.  The wireless is still $16.50 a day, but I was smart enough to sit close to a router, improving my chances of connecting to an actual, fast signal. This is known as progress.

Job two was covering the Rupp Trophy/Cup awards, which were handed to John Wall and John Calipari at the Marriott. Most of we media types wanted to know more about the future (departures, recruits, etc.) than about the past. Calipari said all the right things, as he usually does. But the guess here he is going to lose probably eight guys, and that Daniel Orton will be one of them. Interesting that Cal said he wouldn’t even being to replace all eight. He said he would be content with 10 scholarship players and a couple of walk-ons. Part of that statement is aimed at future recruits worried about playing time. But it’s a long way from the Billy G. days when the former coach loaded up the “roster” with a bevy of walk-ons.

In a related note, Jody Demling of the C-J reports that Calipari has put in a call to Elisha Justice.

I’m back at the Peyton Manning Dome today for the open practices and press conferences. Since I’m staying off-site, had to pay $20 to park behind a warehouse, but it was close enough that I shouldn’t complain. There was a long line of fans waiting to enter the building. Looked like a lot of Butler fans.

Speaking of Billy G., word around here is that the ex-Kentucky coach was in line for the Houston job until the president stepped in with a no-way. That could be BCG’s fate for awhile, or at least until there’s more distance between his Kentucky debacle and the present. Look at the man who got the Houston job. James Dickey was an assistant at Kentucky under Eddie Sutton, and got into a little trouble at Texas Tech. Yet here is James back in the saddle again, heading up the Houston program. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Sean Sutton get a second chance as an assistant there. Or hope he does.

Continue reading ‘Some news and notes from the Final Four’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Friday:

My report from Indianapolis on John Calipari and John Wall receiving awards, talking future:

Kentucky Coach John Calipari said Thursday he doesn’t yet know how many players will be leaving his program, but that the worst-case scenario is that “it could be so many you’re not gonna ever try to fill that many.” Calipari received the Adolph Rupp Cup for Coach of the Year and John Wall the Adolph Rupp Trophy for Player of the Year during a ceremony held by the Commonwealth Athletic Club at the Marriott Hotel on Thursday.

Video of John Wall talking to media after ceremony:

Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star reports that Marquis Teague’s decision could be coming soon:

Marquis Teague’s much-anticipated college decision could be coming soon. Shawn Teague, the father of the standout Pike High School junior, said his son “will make the decision whenever he wants to make it.” “We’ve talked about it the last couple weeks,” Shawn Teague said. “We wanted him to have a chance to see all the teams he was looking at and he’s done that. So it’s really up to him now to make that decision.”

(Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

Mark Story of the H-L on UK’s Elite Eight heartbreak:

NCAA Tournament regional finals. Historically, have been the place where UK basketball dreams go to die. Kentucky men’s teams have fallen one victory short of the Final Four a whopping 19 times, including four in a row. So, Cat fan, which of these UK Elite Eight defeats caused you the most pain?

Kentucky Sports Network sent along this video of Terrence Jones:

Continue reading ‘BBL: Kentucky basketball, football look to future’

SEC links for Friday:

• Top Tennessee signee Tobias Harris suffers a broken foot in All-Star game, reports Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

• Reports of Georgia players harassing couple in taxi have Mark Richt’s attention, reports Marc Weiszer in the Athens Banner-Herald.

• Marc Wiedmer of the Chattanooga Times Free Press writes on UT’s video coordinator and the love of the job.

• Vanderbilt’s Jeffrey Taylor not entering draft, reports Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.

• Austin Ward of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that Tennessee quarterbacks are shaky in scrimmage.

• Here’s another Tennessee scrimmage report, from Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Harris breaks foot; Georgia has cab trouble’