John Clay's Sidelines

AOL FanHouse’s Clay Travis, an attorney who can also write, makes an arresting case for just how illogical and inconsistent the NCAA has been with its 2010 rulings. The grid-obsessed Travis makes no mention of Enes Kanter, but he does bring up an interesting question about Ohio State football and the word “vacate”, as in vacating a season for playing an ineligible player.

An excerpt:

4. Why isn’t Ohio State’s entire 2009 and 2010 season vacated?

This is the second part of the NCAA ruling, the one no one has questioned. If playing with ineligible players leads to vacated wins, why isn’t Ohio State being forced to vacate its past two football seasons when ineligible players, by its own admission, took the field?

The NCAA says the players didn’t gain a competitive advantage. Okay, gotcha. But did Alabama gain a competitive advantage when its players resold textbooks? Did that make them better at tackling or catching? Of course not. But it was an improper benefit.

So why did Alabama vacate 21 wins in 2005, ’06 and ’07 and Ohio State vacates none?

How can you reconcile this?

You can’t.

Think John Calipari might be asking the same question?

A college hoops look-around for Wednesday:

• Wisconsin hands Tubby Smith and visiting Minnesota a 68-60 loss.
  • Myron P. Medcalf: “The Minnesotan weaved in and out of the lane. He hit shots from all over the floor and carried his team in crunch time. But Jordan Taylor, who led Wisconsin to a 68-60 victory over the No. 14 Gophers at the Kohl Center on Tuesday night, doesn’t wear maroon and gold.”
• Syracuse opens Big East schedule with 81-74 win over Providence.
  • Mike Waters: “When Providence trimmed Syracuse’s 16-point lead down to four points with a little more than three minutes remaining in the game, the Orange relied on the experience it gained in early season nail-biters against the Tribe, Wolverines, Yellow Jackets and Wolfpack.”
• Purdue trounces Michigan 80-57 in Big Ten opener.
  • Jeff Washburn: “The 23-point Big Ten road victory is Purdue’s most lopsided since the Brian Cardinal-led Boilermakers defeated Iowa 84-58 on Feb. 5, 2000. Purdue, which got 22 points and eight rebounds from senior center JaJuan Johnson and 21 points and nine rebounds from senior guard E’Twaun Moore.”
• Kansas’ Marcus Morris benched for hitting player.
  • Gary Bedore: “Marcus Morris faced no NCAA-mandated suspension for committing a flagrant foul and getting tossed from Kansas University’s heated 78-63 victory over the University of California last Wednesday in Berkeley, Calif. He’s encountered some discipline, Bill Self-style, however. KU’s junior small forward from Philadelphia will come off the bench for the first time this season.”

Continue reading ‘Some college basketball news and links’

Update: I have been chastised by the AP’s Will Graves, who tweets: “@johnclayiv dude, Pitino has been saying as much for weeks.”

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports is reporting that U of L’s Jared Swopshire looks to be done for the year.

The 6-foot-8 forward from St. Louis has not played this year because of a groin injury.

An excerpt:

“He’s probably going to be done for the year,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino told FOXSports.com on Wednesday morning. “He’s going to get a second opinion, but it looks like he’s going to need surgery.”

. . . “I’m worried about this long term,” Pitino said. “There’s been no improvement and it could be career-threatening.”

(H-L photo)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Tipton: Miller sparks Kentucky to 91-61 rout of Coppin State.
• Dawson: Small lineup spurs Cats to rout of visiting Coppin.
• H-L: Photo gallery from Kentucky’s win over Coppin.
• Smith: Miller shows up for Kentucky’s Tuesday night tune-up.
• May: Rapid rewind of Kentucky win over Fang Mitchell’s club.
• Tipton: Derrick Ramsey returns for Coppin State’s big payday.
• Clay: Young Cats will learn what Kentucky-Louisville is all about.
• Crawford: For UK-U of L, speaking and hearing are not the same thing.
• Lindsey: Finally, it’s Kentucky-Louisville time.
• Taylor: Terrence Jones liking the team concept.
• Vaught: Calipari doesn’t want dirty game in Louisville.
• Smith: Ex-Dunbar star in town to take on Kentucky women’s basketball team.
• Fisher: Cats drop a piano on Coppin State.
• Logan: Inferior opponents have rarely been able to challenge Cats.
• AKH: Trevor Lacey scores 28, earns football honors.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Miller gets the love; Cats-Cards up next’

Post-game videos of UK players Darius Miller, Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight after victory over Coppin State.

SEC links for Wednesday:

• Ching: Georgia takes care of business, beats Charleston Southern 70-55.
• Veazey: Fate of fighters Sidney, Bailey hangs in balance at Mississippi State.
• Jones: Florida basketball game with Fairfield canceled because of weather.
• Black: Alabama buries Pepperdine 83-60 to give Grant 100th win.
• Tucker: Georgia and Ohio State agree to play home-and-home in football.
• Scarbinsky: It’s only Auburn’s biggest football game ever.
• Adams: What is the name of the new Vanderbilt football coach?
• Tate: Maryland may have reached out to Gus Malzahn.
• George: Urban Meyer says he may work for ESPN next year.
• Lockridge: Vandy doesn’t know if Goulbourne can play against Marquette.
• Woodbery: Auburn basketball meets Georgia Southern tonight.
• Jones: Another Florida football coach is hospitalized.
• Pennington: James Willis’ departure story gets a little weirder.
• Leiser: Meyer exit, Muschamp arrival has everyone at Florida antsy.
• Emerson: Georgia’s Sturdivant talks to media for first time in two years.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Georgia, Alabama win in hoops; Florida canceled’

Coppin State coach Fang Mitchell gives praise to Kentucky after Tuesday night’s game.