Random notes for a Tuesday:
ON TAP – Of course, Kentucky takes on visiting Boston tonight at Rupp. Tipoff is 7 p.m. The game is on Fox Sports South, then delayed on the Big Blue Network.
JOHN CALIPARI is expected to coach his Cats, despite the death of his mother on Sunday after battling cancer.
DON’T FORGET that we will be liveblogging from Rupp tonight. If you sign-in using your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace account you can avoid having your comments constantly moderated, and thus see them posted quickly.
BOSTON U. PREVIEW – For info on Boston basketball, click here for the Terriers’ website. BU did beat Cornell 66-61 last time out. Yes, that’s the same Cornell that UK beat in the Sweet 16 last year. Mark Coury scored eight points for Cornell.
TOPS ON TV – ACC/Big 10 Challenge swings into high gear tonight. Best game is North Carolina at Illinois, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN. North Carolina plays host to Kentucky on Saturday before the CBS cameras, and the popular Gus Johnson.
HARRISON BARNES – Speaking of Saturday’s game against Carolina, UNC raved-about rookie Harrison Barnes is off to a rather slow start. Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News and Observer writes here about Barnes’ struggles and the pressure he’s facing.
SEC HOOPS — Tonight’s schedule has Boston at Kentucky, Middle Tennessee at Tennessee, Ole Miss at Miami of Florida, Georgia Southwestern at Auburn, Houston at LSU and Florida Atlantic at Mississippi State.
BOWL PROJECTIONS — USA Today and most others have Kentucky in the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham playing South Florida. But Kentucky still needs Auburn to beat South Carolina on Saturday, which would just about assure Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. An Auburn loss, however, and the league may get just one BCS bid. That pushes everyone down the ladder a notch, and probably knocks UK off the ladder. That would mean a “fill-in” bowl somewhere, such as Detroit.
Meanwhile, Louisville is waiting to see where it might be going.
E-MAIL — From William:
In my opinion Kentucky should “man up” and respectfully decline any bowl bids. Forget the extra practice, maybe what we need is 8 months of reflection. If we did go to a bowl and were once again beaten that would be totally demoralizing. You are correct in thinking that the Fan base will eventually see that the “emperor has no clothes” and will not continue to support such mediocrity of post season bowls. I’d venture to say any bowl we are invited to would be a very hard sale. The coaching staff’s first date is over and it is now put up or shut up time for this group. The only reason that we are bowl eligible is because we played 3 teams that probably should not even have football teams.
A friend of mine and I were sitting in Nashville, at a Vandy game, probably 35 years ago. There were two older gentlemen sitting in front of us, probably about the age we are now. We were running the ball up the middle right, up the middle left, then up the middle complimented by a punt. My friend and I were commenting on this and the two gentlemen in front of us turned around and said; “Well boys we have been watching this for 40 years and to tell you the truth it just doesn’t get any better or change very much.” I’m thinking they were prophetic in their thinking. After the latest Tennessee debacle I tried to rationalize that we have a lot of very good redshirts in the pipeline and a good recruiting class coming in. If we hold out one more year things will be different. Then I remembered this is pretty much what I say every year. My patience is wearing thin, with never ending hope. I feel like a Cubs fan.
CRAIG SKINNER — Said it before, and will say it again, of all UK’s coaches in all UK’s sports, Skinner could well be the best. In an obvious rebuilding year, Skinner has Kentucky in its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament.
TUBBY SMITH took a tough loss last night in the kickoff of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. Minnesota lost an early 22-9 lead and fell 87-79 to Virginia. Yes, that’s the same Virginia that lost 106-63 to Washington over in Maui. But in Tubby’s defense, Minnesota was without point guard Al Nolen.
JOKER PHILLIPS -- The UK coach taped his call-in show on Monday. Not sure that was a good idea. Might have earned more points for taking questions from the grumbling Big Blue Nation. Might have defused some of the frustration. After all, Urban Meyer is taking some heat in Florida for skipping his post-game radio show after loss to Florida State on Saturday.
LOTS OF REACTION to TCU joining up with the BCS-apporoved Big East. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports thinks the move is a winner. Ivan Maisel of espn.com calls it a shotgun marriage. One great aspect for Big East, it puts them in the ever-growing Dallas media market.
THIS NEVER HAPPENED WHEN I WAS AT THE KERNEL – The editor of the University of Georgia’s student newspaper resigned after he was asked to leave the president’s box during Saturday night’s UGA-Georgia Tech game. The editor admits he had been drinking, but claims he was not intoxicated.
DREW BREES — He is a deserving Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. If you remember, Hal Mumme recruited the former Texas prep star to come to UK, but Brees turned down the Cats for Purdue. The Big 12 schools thought he was too short to play quarterback.
KEMBA WALKER — Seth Davis of SI.com reports that when Walker boarded the UConn bus after the Huskies beat UK, he got a standing ovation from his teammates. “”When he got on the bus, his teammates stood and clapped,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun told me on Sunday. “I’ve never experienced that as a coach. They clapped. But that’s the kind of respect they have for him. He works hard, he’s tight with the young guys, and he’s obviously playing the best basketball of his life.”
ANTOINE WALKER — Looks like his comeback attempt will take the former Cats star to Idaho in the D-League.
CONGRATS — To Eric Lindsey of UK’s Cat Scratches blog on his acceptance into grad school.
IRON MAN AWARD — Matt May of Cats Pause arrived back from Maui on Friday, then made the early drive down to Knoxville on Saturday to cover UK’s loss to Tennessee.
KSTV — Matt Jones marks the start of his TV show tonight (6:30) on Insight by writing today, “For many years, we have made it our modus operandi to make fun of those reporters who cover sports on television in the state of Kentucky. Countless jokes have been made at the expense of Alan Cutler, Rob Bromley, Dick Gabriel, etc and the idea of UK sports television has existed on this site primarily as the setup to a punchline. No more. Because beginning tonight, our nightly sports television show takes the air on CN2.”
I assume that this means we are now allowed to make fun of Matt? Seems only fair, right? (wink)
DERRICK ANDERSON suffers a media meltdown after a reporter asks the Arizona quarterback about a TV shot of Anderson laughing on the sideline late in the Cardinals’ 27-6 loss to San Francisco. Click here to see the video.
I’ll tell you what William. Even if the SEC would allow us to skip the bowl game, which I doubt they would, but lets say they do, we’ll let you deliver the news to the players. You be the one telling them they don’t get the free MP3 or X-box that the bowl games give all all the players. Better yet, you make up for it and but all them one.
Anderson may be right in being offended by the question……..but he needs a lesson in media relations. Why not just say, “Losing is not a funny matter to me. I wasn’t laughing at the game or the situation but a side bar personal comment made by a team mate. It had nothing to do with the game. Next question.” Instead he allowed himself to look like a hot head who can’t handle pressure. Not a good thing for a QB.
“Man up” and quit? Pass on a chance to play a bowl game, which brings recruiting opportunities, extra practice and MONEY to the university, b/c we “might loose?” That doesn’t sound like “manning up” to me William. That sounds like being a quitter and a loser. If that is your idea of improving the program, I hope you don’t run a business.
William is a moron. If UK should turn down a bowl what does that say about Tennessee and Georgia, teams with vastly more talent and history and experienced head coaches than us but with the same 6-6 record?