John Clay's Sidelines

First part of John Calipari’s media opp today to talk about Saturday’s game against Florida at Rupp Arena.

Some quick shots from UK’s basketball media opp today:

First off, there’s no player video. Not yet, anyway. We were brought into the Craft Center for our usual chance to interview two or three players, only to be hustled back out again after only 35 seconds with Terrence Jones. We were told that head coach John Calipari was ready for his interview. After Cal did his 12 minutes, we were told that there had been a communication mix-up, and that there would be no player interviews.

Maybe that’s the kind of communication that ends up getting a team beat six times by a total of 18 points.

Later, we were told that there we would be an opportunity to interview players after practice.

In his talking time, Calipari talked about his team’s “rebound attempts” went down in the loss at Arkansas on Wednesday, and how while some players make think they are playing hard, they’re not playing harder than the “other guy.” Or the opponent.

Cal did say that his team had a tremendous opportunity build a better resume with “the three best teams in the league” left on the schedule. After Saturday’s visit by Florida, Vanderbilt arrives in Rupp on Tuesday. Kentucky finishes up at Tennessee next Sunday.

And Cal all but said he has too many nice guys. Well, what he actually said was that he wished his guys were “a little rougher.” He joked that they had to stop the boxing with the heavy bags: “Four guys got hurt.”

When asked if his team had enough of a mean streak, the coach said, “Probably. They have it. But you know, you got to go get it. You got to go do it.”

(H-L photo/Pablo Alcala)

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Get to know the power players on UK sidelines at interactive site from the H-L.
• Kentucky men running out of time, reports Jerry Tipton of the H-L.
• Mathies layup lifts Kentucky over Arkansas 55-54, reports Jennifer Smith of the H-L.
• Victoria Dunlap hits all the right notes in home finale, says Mark Story of the H-L.
• Heart-stopping win for UK women, writes T.J. Walker of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Group wants Billy Gillispie at Texas Tech, writes Jon Arnold of the Daily Toreador.
• Some question method of Lacey’s record, writes Gregg Dewalt of the Times Dailey.
• To be the best is Marquis Teague’s goal, says Brett Carney of WLEX-TV.
• Wiltjer ready to return to action, writes Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune.
• Brett Dawson of C-J reports that Calipari believes Kentucky needs to get angry.
• Meaning of  three-point sign is unclear, writes Nick Craddock of the Kernel.
• Road woes raise March questions about Cats, writes Jeff Eisenberg for Yahoo.
• It was deja vu in Fayetteville, writes Tom Leach.
• Does Calipari have to accept blame for close losses? asks Larry Vaught of A-M.

Continue reading ‘BBL: New Billy Gillispie group; Lacey scoring controversy’

A leaking roof abbreviated the Tennessee-Ole Miss women

SEC links for Friday:

• Florida beats Georgia to clinch share of SEC East title, reports Kevin Brockway of Gainesville Sun.
• Georgia stumbles to lose 71-62, writes Seth Emerson of the Macon Telegraph.
• Tennessee women beat Ole Miss 66-39 in odd game, reports Dan Fleser of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• UT-Ole Miss women’s game shortened by weather and a leaky roof, reports David Brandt of the AP.
• Division is nice, but Gators want to win the entire conference, writes MIke DiRocco of the Florida Times-Union.
• No way Chandler Parsons was sitting this game out, writes Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun.
• Parsons provided the second-half spark the Gators needed to win, writes Rachel George of Orlando Sentinel.
• The NCAA tease continues with the Bulldogs, says Jeff Schultz of the AJC.
• NCAA committee will decide UT’s fate, reports Andrew Gribble of News-Sentinel.
• Kidney failure forcing Jack Cristil to retire at MSU, writes Brandon Marcello of the C-L.
• Auburn beats Lady Bulldogs 63-58, reports Roger Clarkson of Athens Banner-Herald.
• LSU beats South Carolina women in OT, reports Scott Rabalais of The Advocate.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Florida clinches; Rain shortens basketball game’

Kentucky’s loss to Arkansas last night was the Cats’ first loss this year to a team that has current RPI of 100 or worse.

It also brings up the question of how Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament resume compares to other teams, such as the one up the road. Kentucky has slipped to an RPI of 17, while Louisville is at No. 23.

But when you break it down, you could make the case that U of L has a slightly better resume.

On the other hand, head-to-head, Kentucky has that win over Louisville back on Dec. 31.

Bruce Pearl

After being caught lying to NCAA investigators, Bruce Pearl gave a tearful public apology that was quite sincere.

For all of four days.

Four days after Pearl’s press conference, the Tennessee coach allegedly committed another violation.

As Ray Glier of the New York Times writes:

Four days after the N.C.A.A. sent a letter to the University of Tennessee about the recruiting activities of the men’s basketball coach, Bruce Pearl, in September 2010, Pearl is alleged to have committed another recruiting violation.

. . . The new charge against Pearl is an alleged improper contact on Sept. 14, 2010, with Jordan Adams, who was a junior basketball player at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. The N.C.A.A. alleges that Pearl and the assistant coach Tony Jones had a two- to three-minute conversation with Adams before an Oak Hill practice.

Having an extended conversation with a high school junior while off campus is a no-no.

Meanwhile, Dana O’Neil looks at the NCAA’s track record and believes Pearl could be headed toward the dreaded “show-cause” judgement.

As has been pointed out, Kentucky has now lost more conference road games in a single season than at any time since the SEC expanded in 1991-92. So here’s a chart of the last 10 seasons, with Kentucky’s home and away records inside the league.

The Cats are now 18-21 on the road in the conference over the last five years. John Calipari is 7-8 in road SEC games as UK coach. At Memphis, Calipari won his last 24 Conference-USA road games.

Josh Harrellson

Back home from Arkansas and noticed Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel has a good breakdown of Kentucky’s final play — the in-bounds play in which Brandon Knight ended up sailing a three-point attempt well over the goal — in the 77-76 overtime loss to the Razorbacks.

Looking at the screenshots, however, it doesn’t appear to me that Josh Harrellson is all that open on the final play. In the post-game press conference, head coach John Calipari said Harrellson was “wide open” and that UK did not throw him the basketball. But the frame in which Knight has the ball in the corner appears to show that in fact a triangle of Arkansas defenders would have a chance to deflect or contest a pass to the post.

Plus, there were only 1.8 seconds left when Kentucky inbounded the ball, not a lot of time for a second pass.

I do agree with Aaron that Liggins was “patient enough” on the in-bounds play to look for Harrellson. But Kentucky is not a post-up team. The Cats rarely look for Harrellson in the post. He’s been used as more of a screener who rolls to the basket for clean-up duty. Maybe out of habit Kentucky failed to look for Josh in the post on the final play.

I’m not going to rip off the pics, so read Aaron’s analysis and see what you think.

Video of UK coach John Calipari, plus Brandon Knight and Josh Harrellson after the Cats’ 77-76 overtime loss to Arkansas on Wednesday night in Fayetteville.