John Clay's Sidelines

A friend from Alabama media told me last night before the game, “It’s nice to cover a basketball game here the fans care about.” They always care when Kentucky comes to town. Look at this chart of Alabama’s attendance. Last night’s crowd of 14,859 was a season-high.

Terrence Jones just put up a couple of tweets defending his coach, John Calipari, over the coach’s language last night.

Update: The Big Lead has the video.

Good schedule of games tonight, including Arkansas at South Carolina on the SEC Network. Kentucky travels to South Carolina on Saturday. Darrin Horn’s team is a surprising 2-1 in the league after a huge road win at Florida on Saturday.

First off, at 6:30, if you get the Big 10 Network, you can see the new No. 1, Ohio State, play host to lowly Iowa. Don’t expect much of a battle, however. The Hawkeyes are already 0-5 in the Big 10. At 7, you can see the old No. 1.  Now fourth-ranked Duke travels to Raleigh to meet North Carolina State.

Elsewhere, red-hot Texas A&M travels to Austin to take on Texas. The Aggies have won 13 straight. Texas is 14-3 overall and 2-0 in the Big 12.

• Iowa at Ohio State (6:30 p.m., Big 10)
• Wake Forest at Georgia Tech (7:00, ESPNU)
• Duke at North Carolina State (7:00, ESPN)
• Cincinnati at Notre Dame (7:00, ESPN2)
• Tulsa at Houston (7:00, ESPN2)
• Memphis at Southern Miss (7:00, CSS)
• Arkansas at South Carolina (8:00, SEC)
• Penn State at Purdue (8:30, Big 10)
• Iowa St at Oklahoma St (9:00, ESPNU)
• Texas A&M at Texas (9:00, ESPN2)
• Florida State at Miami (9:00, FS South)

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Click here for Herald-Leader photo gallery from last night’s game.

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Kentucky’s rally stemmed by the Tide, reports Jerry Tipton from Tuscaloosa.
• Roller-coaster Cats fight youth on the road, so says my column from Tuscaloosa.
• The Cats have lost their swagger on the road, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal from Alabama.
• The Cats get clocked at Coleman, reports the Cats Pause’ Matt May from courtside.
• Kentucky’s comeback not enough, writes Aaron Smith from Alabama.
• Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News writes that Anthony Grant has joined the “I Beat Kentucky” club.
• Alabama survives Kentucky’s late rally to get the win, reports Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.
• Bama holds on to upset the No. 12 Cats, writes Michael Casagrande of the Anniston Star.
• Alabama’s win over Kentucky produces a mob scene, writes A. Stacy Long of the Montgomery Advertiser.
• Alabama gets some home-court heroics, reports Laura Owens of The Crimson White.

Continue reading ‘BBL: A Tidal wave of links from Kentucky-Alabama’

(AP photo)

SEC links for Wednesday:

• Louisville’s Mike Sanford interviews with LSU for offensive coordinator position, reports Randy Rosetta of The Advocate.
• Brian Williams’ shot at buzzer lifts Tennessee over Georgia 68-66, reports Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• Georgia’s good vibes get interrupted, writes Tim Tucker of the AJC.
• For a moment, Williams shot it like Kobe, writes Mike Strange of the News-Sentinel.
• Tennessee tops Georgia, reports Patrick Brown of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
• Darrin Horn preaching focus at South Carolina, reports Travis Haney of the Charleston Post and Courier.
• Mississippi State says it still needs more time to jell, reports Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Vanderbilt’s home strength will be tough challenge for Ole Miss, reports Parrish Alford of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal.
• Vandy working on its finishing product, writes Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• Florida shifting its focus back to defense, writes Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun.

Kentucky had barely left Coleman Coliseum last night when coach John Calipari sent out tweets apologizing for being caught on national TV using some, well, colorful and graphic language to Terrence Jones at the end of the Kentucky loss.

John Calipari meets the media after Alabama rushes out to a 20-point lead over his Cats, then hangs on to win 68-66.

Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones speak to the media after UK’s 68-66 loss in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night.

Thank goodness they have free wireless in the Birmingham aiport. How else would I know what James Wolcott thought of Piers Morgan’s debut?