Big Blue Links for Friday:
Kristi Dosh of Forbes Magazine: “Now let’s take a look at who the big spenders are: Football Expenses 1 Univ. of Alabama $31,118,134.00 2 Auburn Univ. $27,911,713.00 3 Louisiana State Univ. $25,566,520.00 4 Univ. of Florida $24,457,557.00 5 Univ. of South Carolina $22,794,211.00 6 Univ. of Arkansas $22,005,104.00 7 Univ. of Georgia $18,308,654.00 8 Univ. of Tennessee $17,357,345.00 9 Vanderbilt Univ. $14,152,061.00 10 Univ. of Kentucky $13,905,724.00 11 Univ. of Mississippi $11,920,510.00 12 Mississippi State Univ. $9,951,097.00″
Associated Press: “Victoria Dunlap had 18 points and No. 17 Kentucky turned to its full-court press to rally past Ole Miss 74-68 on Thursday night. The Wildcats scored 21 points off 18 second-half turnovers en route to the comeback victory. Jennifer O’Neill added 10 points for Kentucky (16-4, 5-2 Southeastern Conference), which took its first lead of the second half at the 6:45 mark on a 3-pointer by O’Neill and never relinquished the advantage.”
Mark Story of the Herald-Leader: “Here in Kentucky, our state’s top-ranked prospect, Boyle County linebacker Lamar Dawson, will announce his college choice next Wednesday. What, I wondered, is life like now for his coach, Larry French? ‘I’ve never seen anything like this thing with Lamar,’ French said Wednesday. ‘This one’s different.’”
B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel: “Carly and Meredith Morrow shared a lot as they grew up together in Chattanooga, Tenn. As sisters, they spent plenty of time together. But even when Carly left for college in 2007, they were never too distant. Now, they share the same campus – and the blue and white. Carly is a senior shooting guard who has started 12 games this season for the women’s basketball team. Meredith is a freshman on the women’s tennis squad. Their competitiveness can still be found on their respective courts, even if they didn’t feel any sibling rivalry growing up together.”
Alan Cutler of WLEX: “Craig Yeast is hoping to become the head coach at Bryan Station High in Lexington. Bryan Station has their search narrowed down to three candidates. Interviews will continue this Saturday. Yeast, who played in the NFL, CFL and for the Lexington Horseman, was the assistant head coach at Washington County High School this past season, working for former UK football player Mark Perry.”
Matt David of Yahoo Sports: “This brings us back to the fact that Kentucky may be losing another four players out of the six that get significant minutes. The other two are Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins who will likely stay. Next year, Coach Calipari will have another team with little depth that relies mostly on freshman. We prefer that to the way it was before when we had to make ourselves believe that mediocre players were Kentucky Wildcat caliber.” (Hat tip All Ky Hoops)
Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal: “Sometimes John Calipari shouts at Terrence Jones and nobody makes a fuss. Sometimes the University of Kentucky basketball coach yells from down the hall or across the court at his freshman star, and it doesn’t make national news. ‘He’ll say, ‘Terrence! I loo-oove you!’ ‘ Jones said, mimicking a singsong shout from his coach. ‘He’ll start chasing me and he’ll give me a big hug. If you’ve had a bad day and you run into Coach, he’ll make your day better.’”
David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press: “With a 14-5 record, the Bulldogs already have matched last season’s 14-17 team in the victory column. Thompkins (17.6 ppg) and Leslie (15.0) are again leading Georgia in scoring, but the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Robinson is a stout third with 13.7 points per game on 50-percent shooting (98-of-196). More importantly, the transfer from Tennessee State is distributing the ball to the tune of 4.2 assists a game, which ranks second in the Southeastern Conference. Fellow guard Dustin Ware ranks fifth in assists with 3.8 a game, and Georgia leads the SEC in that category with 15.5 per contest.”
Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches: “After struggling tremendously in the first half, O’Neill provided perhaps the three biggest shots of the game. On the heels of a turnover-riddled stretch from Ole Miss, O’Neill knocked down three straight shots, including two 3-pointers, to turn a 55-53 deficit into a 61-57 lead, Kentucky’s first lead since the middle of the second half. O’Neill finished with 10 points on the evening, her fourth straight game in double figures.”
Glenn Logan of A Sea of Blue: “Robinson is a small guard for the 2 spot, but he gets the job done by putting constant pressure on the defense with slashes to the rim. His stats don’t seem that intimidating until you notice that he gets used a lot — in fact, Robinson is second only to Howard Trey Thompkins in possessions used. That means that Robinson ends more possessions, either by a basket, missed shot, turnover, or free throws than anyone other than Georgia’s big Dawg.”
Thomas Beisner of KSR: “As I mumbled and stuttered my way through Larry Glover Live Thursday night, we took a couple of calls from people who thought that Kentucky might not necessarily need a new arena because of the mystique surrounding the building and some compared it to Allen Fieldhouse and Cameron Indoor Stadium. I think those comparisons are misplaced a bit for a few reasons, but most notably the fact that Rupp Arena is not old enough to carry that historical significance. One caller compared the situation to baseball, with Allen and Cameron being Wrigley and Fenway and Rupp being like Riverfront Stadium. I think that’s an accurate comparison.”
If Vandy’s “expenses” in football include the cost of tuition for that players that is a very misleading statistic. Vandy’s tuition and fees are just under 40K per student. Kentucky’s is $8600 for instate students and $17,600 for out of state students. Even if UK had zero in-state students they would “spend” almost 2 million less on football than Vandy just based on the difference in tuition. Based on these numbers it appears that UK spends at least 2 million MORE than Vandy on actual football operating costs (facilities, coach salaries, equipment, recruiting, etc.) Still not good enough, but better than Vandy.
The “total operating cost” is very misleading because it’s not as if Vandy hires more teachers or builds more buildings or turns away paying students because of its 85 football players. Misleading stat and very misleading headline. Do some research guys….
Money will not buy a winning team. For example look at Butler in basketball, or Mississipi state in football. Joker will not turn around UK with a $40 million dollar budget.