John Clay's Sidelines

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.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Forbes says Vandy spent more on football than UK’

(AP photo/Reggie Solis)

SEC links for Friday:

Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger: “Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings was looking for a breakthrough moment and Jeffery Taylor delivered it Thursday night. Mississippi State and Vanderbilt delivered blow after blow and exchanged leads 16 times, but it was Taylor who delivered the knockout punch in an 81-74 victory for the 19th-ranked Commodores – the first for Stallings in Starkville.”

Dan Fleser of the Knoxville News-Sentinel: “Tennessee’s Glory Johnson did the math beforehand, figuring that she had to help cover for three missing teammates. Afterward, the statisticians and record keepers were left to account for the Lady Vols’ junior forward, who did the work of three players and more in an 81-55 SEC women’s basketball victory over Mississippi State on Thursday night.”

David Helman of the Times-Picayune: “LSU junior forward LaSondra Barrett’s bid for school history serves as a metaphor for her team’s fourth SEC loss — a frustrating miss. Barrett entered Thursday night’s game against Arkansas (16-4, 4-4) with a chance to become LSU’s first player to reach 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds in the same game. She reached 1,000 points, but she fell one shy of 500 rebounds, just as the Lady Tigers (14-8, 4-4) stumbled their way to a 53-45 loss.”

Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger: “Mississippi State enters the final weekend before signing day scrambling to recover from several big hits. MSU won a battle against Ole Miss last week when it landed a commitment from defensive tackle P.J. Jones of Tupelo, bolstering an already-strong class of defensive lineman. Jones is listed as a four-star prospect (on a five-star scale) by Rivals.com. But Bulldog fans on Internet message boards entered meltdown mode this week after losing five-star linebacker C.J. Johnson from Philadelphia High School to Ole Miss on Tuesday.”

Continue reading ‘SEC: Kevin Stallings gets first win in Starkville’

Antonie Walker (AP photo)

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

Ken Berger of CBS Sports: “To the business types and families crammed in this vessel with a former NBA All-Star, the only priorities were a palatable meal and a clean connection. The tall, athletic-looking man in his mid-30s could have passed for a neighbor or a youth basketball coach or just another traveler coping with the misery of the road. The only giveaway — the lone symbol of Antoine Walker’s long and accomplished NBA career — was worn on his head.” (Hat tip All Ky Hoops)

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader: “Of course, freshman Jarrod Polson was nervous when Kentucky Coach John Calipari ordered him into the game at South Carolina last weekend. It was the first significant minutes for a player perceived to be a human victory cigar. Nothing more. ‘Yeah, a little bit,’ he said Wednesday. ‘I’m not going to lie. I was a little bit nervous. But at the same time, I tried to keep my composure.’”

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger: “Forget about the winning lottery numbers or even when it might quit snowing. Those answers don’t matter. What matters is this – where is Boyle County linebacker Lamar Dawson going to play his college football? Dawson has less than a week now before his 9 a.m. press conference on Feb. 2 – the first day of the national signing period – when he’ll pick either Kentucky, Tennessee, Oregon, Southern California or Central Florida.”

Matt Dover of Roll Bama Roll: “The second uncommitted player Bama is targeting is Trevor Lacey, a 6’3″ guard from Butler High School in Huntsville who is ranked as a top-40 national player. He has offers from Alabama and Auburn in addition to Kentucky and UConn. As a top-40 national player, it’s clear he’s pretty highly regarded by the recruiting gurus, but beyond that, long-time Alabama high school basketball observers insist that Lacey is the best scoring guard to come through the state in recent memory, and that he will provide instant offense for someone as a freshman in college.” (Hat tip Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader: “No coach wants to lose three straight games. But Coach Matthew Mitchell said last week that those three losses to start January probably “couldn’t have come at a better time” for the No. 17 Kentucky women’s basketball team. They came in time to – he hopes – kick-start the rest of the Cats’ season.”

John Calipari on Twitter: “I’m very excited to have Coach Larry Brown visiting for a few days. He was at practice & got a good look at our team & can help us improve.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Walker’s comeback; Polson, Lacey, Dawson’

(AP photo/Wade Payne)

SEC links for Thursday:

Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel: “Scotty Hopson let his play do the talking after not meeting with the media in the days leading up to Wednesday’s game against LSU. The message was loud and clear. ‘I had to come out with aggression,’ Hopson said, ‘and do the things I know I can do.’ Hopson scored 17 of his SEC career-high 22 points in the first half as Tennessee ran away from LSU for a 75-53 men’s basketball victory before a crowd of 18,991 at Thompson-Boling Arena.”

Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel: “Tough? At least tough enough for LSU. I went to Thompson-Boling Arena looking for one thing Wednesday night: toughness. That’s how coach Bruce Pearl set the agenda for Tennessee’s SEC date with LSU. He talked this week about the Vols’ need to re-establish an identity for the stretch run of the 2010-11 season. And that identity was going to be No More Mr. Nice Guy.”

Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean: “Starkville is the final frontier for Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings, at least in terms of SEC destinations. It is the one place in the conference where the Commodores have yet to win during his 12 seasons, losing five times by an average of nearly 15 points. That can change tonight when No. 19 Vandy (14-4, 2-2) takes its two-game win streak and new national ranking on the road to face Mississippi State (10-8, 2-2) at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.”

Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun: “The coaches bristle at the derogatory remarks. The spin doctors point to other conferences like the ACC and Pac-10. The players tell you that every night is a battle when you get into conference play. Nobody in the SEC likes it when there is a conversation about the weakness of the conference in basketball. Don’t blame you. If you are in the East.”

John Pennington of Mr. SEC: “The East is a beast and the West is a mess. Such is the state of SEC basketball in 2011. For that reason, we’ll take a closer look here at the East Division only. (Handicapping the West seems unfair as that division is handicapped enough as is.) Tuesday night’s win by Florida in Athens was the second road game the Gators have stolen from an East rival this year. First Tennessee, then Georgia, both in overtime… which says something for the Gators’ maturity.”

Continue reading ‘SEC: Vols roll hapless LSU; Vandy looks for win at State’

Kentucky basketball statistics:

• Click here for Kentucky game-by-game team stats in an Excel file using Google Docs.

Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal is reporting that Louisville prep tight end Jon Davis will not make an announcement about his college decision today, as was expected.

Excerpt:

Whalen said Davis’ mother, Juanette, informed him the family would cut off all recruiting from colleges after Wednesday. Illinois coach Ron Zook is expected to visit later Wednesday.

Whalen said he was told that Davis is “close” to his decision but that after a final pitch from Zook, the family will sit down and talk over the decision later this week. The coach said a decision “probably won’t come until Feb. 2,” which is national signing day.

Davis had committed to Kentucky, but has been considering Louisville and Illinois, of late.

(AP photo)

Some individual UK basketball player notes:

• Josh Harrellson
  • Has made just three of 14 shots over last three games.
  • Has averaged 8.6 rebounds per game in SEC play.
  • Averaged 10.2 rebounds last five games of non-conference play.
  • Has not scored in double figures since the Penn game on Jan. 3.
  • Does not have an assist in his last four games.
• Jon Hood
  • Has played eight minutes last two games after playing 20 minutes vs. LSU.
  • Has one one game, Coppin State on Dec. 28, when he made more than one shot.
  • Is 1-of-8 from the floor in SEC play.
  • His three assists against LSU represent 75 percent of his total for the season.
  • Has not made a three-pointer since the Coppin State game.
• Terrence Jones
  • His 37 minutes vs. South Carolina most since 38 against Notre Dame on Dec. 8.
  • Is 0-5 from three-point land in his last three games.
  • Is averaging 8.2 rebounds per game in SEC play.
  • Has scored in double figures every game but one (at North Carolina) this season.
  • After no assists in first three SEC games, has three assists over last two.
• Brandon Knight
  • His 23 points at South Carolina most since 25 at Louisville.
  • His 10 free throw attempts at South Carolina most since 10-for-10 vs. Indiana on Dec. 11.
  • Has taken double-digit shots each of the last 10 games.
  • His seven rebounds at South Carolina was a career high.
  • His five turnovers at South Carolina most since five at Louisville.

Continue reading ‘Kentucky basketball player notes’