John Clay's Sidelines

Who knew Mitch Barnhart had such power?

The UK athletics director tweeted this afternoon that UK will no longer approve the camera position which caused Kentucky basketball fans to reach for the Dramamine on Tuesday night. The World Wide Leader’s decision to use a SkyCam hanging from the bottom of Big Bertha brought an avalanche of complaints from viewers annoyed by the overhead viewer.

So this afternoon, Mitch tweeted:

(AP photo)

Some after-lunch random notes:

Big game tonight, Louisville is at Cincinnati, 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Cincinnati desperately needs a win to help its NCAA resume. With Connecticut coming to Louisville for a rare Friday night game, Rick Pitino’s club can’t afford to get caught by a trap game here. It also gives me an excuse to use the above photo of former Cincinnati great Oscar Robertson, maybe the best basketball photo of all time.

About last night, Kentucky was very good offensively in its win over Mississippi State. Very good shooting percentage for the night. Good passing. Good drives to the basket. I would wonder about the defense, but then the Cats have played two good offensive teams in succession in Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. We’ll see what happens on Saturday when South Carolina comes to town. If the Gamecocks have a good offensive night, might be time for concern.

I’m on WLAP-630 tonight with Dick Gabriel, Kyle Macy and Matt from 6 to 8.

Tweet from Donte Green of the Kings: Ok ima say this one time and one time ONLY! @boogiecousins and I are FINE! So yall can stop tryn 2 hype stuff like da media. Thank u! COS!” (Follow here.)

Braden Anderson - Tweet by The Recruit Scoop: Kentucky will watch former DePaul commit Braeden Anderson play either Wednesday or Thursday, per his AAU coach @RoTheRev.

Have only one thing to say about SkyCam, as I tweeted last night: When TV can give you the best seat in the house, why would it give you the worst seat in the house?

Continue reading ‘Big game for Louisville tonight; thoughts about last night’

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• Some trustees say Todd should have consulted them, reports the Herald-Leader.
• Reaction says ESPN is insane with use of SkyCam, writes Awful Announcing.
• Kentucky fans go after Renardo Sidney, says WLEX’s Alan Cutler.
• Cats get much-needed win over Mississippi State, writes Jerry Tipton of the H-L.
• Kentucky runs by State 85-79, writes Will Graves for the AP.
• Stansbury’s missteps send Cats on their way to win, says my game column.
• Controversial first-half ending gives UK momentum, writes C-L’s Brandon Marcello.
• State falls apart in the second half, writes Brad Locke of the Daily Journal.
• Doron Lamb bounces back, writes Matt May of the Cats Pause.
• Loss spoils homecoming for State’s Benock, says Chuck Jones of News-Enterprise.
• Wyoming hires search firm that brought Billy G. to UK, blogs All Ky Hoops.
• Steve Brown staying put for now, says Bleed Blue Kentucky.

Continue reading ‘ESPN’s DizzyCam, Sidney’s cell, Steve Brown, more BBL’

Post-game press conferences for John Calipari and Rick Stansbury.

(AP photo/Mark Humphrey)

SEC links for Wednesday:

• Big home game for Georgia tonight vs. Vandy, writes Tim Tucker of the AJC.
• Vanderbilt values Taylor’s defense, writes Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• Jenkins latest in long line of Vandy sharpshooters, writes Ron Higgins of the C-A.
• SEC stretch key to improving resume, says Marc Weiszer of Athens Banner-Herald.
• Mr. SEC looks at those NCAA tournament resumes.
• Defense has Alabama thinking tourney, says Mike Herndon of the Press-Register.
• Ross has become Auburn’s go-to guy, reports John Zenor of the AP.
• Arkansas players talk about critics, reports Robbie Neiswanger of Arkansas News.
• Sources say no NCAA bombshells on Newton, reports News’ Kevin Scarbinsky.
• NCAA prez’s comments sound good for Newton, says Anniston Star’s Joe Medley.
• Clowney takes some digs at Nick Saban, blogs Chris Low for espn.com.
• Scotty Hopson says Tennessee not done, writes Mike Griffith of the News-Sentinel.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Georgia-Vandy battle for second place in East’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Some numbers from UK’s 85-79 win over Mississippi State:

• Kentucky averaged 1.205 points per possession, best since 1.408 vs Penn on Jan. 3.
• Kentucky shot 56.1 percent, its best percentage since 57.1 vs. Penn.
• Kentucky’s last two opponents have made 23 of 42 three-pointers, for 54.7 percent.
• UK made nine three-pointers, most since hitting 10-of-20 against LSU on Jan. 15.
• Mississippi State averaged 1.112 points per possession.
• That’s the fourth opponent in last 5 games to average more than 1.0 ppp vs. UK.
• Last three games, Josh Harrellson is averaging 10.7 points and 7.3 rebounds.
• Terrence Jones posted his third double-double in his past five games.
• Jones had 17 rebounds/10 points and five assists.
• Jones’ five assists are his most since the Louisville game.
• Over his last two games, Jones has made 16 of 25 shots (64 percent).
• Doron Lamb’s 20 points most since his 20 at Ole Miss.
• Lamb had scored 22 points in UK’s previous three games.
• DeAndre Liggins played just 15 minutes and scored just two points.
• It was Liggins’ fewest points since his one point at South Carolina on Jan. 22.
• Because a strained groin kept Miller out of practice on Monday, he did not start.
• Miller played 33 minutes and scored 13 points.
• Miller’s 13 points is his most since he scored 14 against Georgia on Jan. 29.

I think I know the answer to this, given the reactions on the liveblog.

Renardo Sidney

He sat out the entire 2009-10 season because of an NCAA investigation into whether or not he received illegal benefits while in high school. After the NCAA determined that he had in fact received benefits, he had to sit out the first part of this season. Then, when he returned, he was suspended again for behavior detrimental to the team.

And then, oh yeah, Renardo Sidney got into a fistfight with a teammate in the stands while Mississippi State was playing in a tournament in Hawaii.

But Sidney has a tremendous amount of basketball potential, which is surely why he was suspended just two more games for the fight, and why he is still on the State basketball team. He has shown flashes of that this SEC season, but has not been very consistent. The good news for Sidney, he is working on a string of three straight double-digit rebound games. The bad news for Sidney, he’s out of shape, and has played 30+ minutes in just three of his 10 SEC games.

If on, he’ll give Kentucky problems tonight. If off, the Cats should win in a romp.