John Clay's Sidelines

Anthony Davis

Within minutes of each other, Rivals and Prep Stars have released their player recruiting rankings for the Class of 2011.

Rivals ranks Duke signee Austin Rivers as No. 1.

PrepStars, which the 247 network and the Cats Pause is now using, ranks Anthony Davis at No. 1.

Click here for Rivals rankings, which puts Davis at No. 2, Michael Gilchrist at No. 3 and Marquis Teague at No. 5.

Click here for PrepStars rankings, which has Gilchrist at No. 2 and Rivers at No. 3.

Scout and ESPNU both had Anthony Davis at No. 1.

Check out Next Cats for all your recruiting links.
Continue reading ‘Rivals and PrepStars differ on just who’s No. 1′

Enes Kanter from his days at Stoneridge Prep.

(AP photo)

Morning notes and links for another storm-packed Wednesday:

- So did Ryan Harrow visit UK’s campus yesterday or not? Chris Fisher of the Cats Pause reported that Harrow was on campus. You need a subscription to read that report, by the way.

But Garrett Tucker of Nation of Blue talked to Harrow, who said he was not on campus.

Fisher then tweeted: “I understand there is conflicting info on Ryan Harrow but I and CatsPause.com stand by our story.”

So who is Harrow anyway? A five-star prospect who was ranked as the No. 19 prospect overall by Rivals, Harrow was a point guard at North Carolina State last year. He averaged 9.3 points and 3.3 assists for the Wolfpack before asking for his transfer after Sidney Lowe was let go as coach and N.C. State hired Mark Gottfried.

J.P. Giglio of the Raleigh News and Observer has the details of Harrow’s departure.

Excerpt: “Once on campus, though, Harrow found himself behind senior Javier Gonzalez for the first half of the season and often overmatched on defense. At 6 feet and 160 pounds, Harrow’s physical stamina was an issue as was his grasp of Lowe’s concepts of team defense. He finally broke into the starting lineup on Jan. 15. He had 17 points in his first start, at Florida State, and followed that up with 15 in a home loss to Duke. Three games later, he suffered an illness which cost him two games, and he was never the same player.”

- Meanwhile, Aaron Smith of the Kernel writes about how UK’s four incoming signees for next year have raised expectations.

- All Ky Hoops reports that Trevor Lacey will not be visiting UK this weekend.

Continue reading ‘Was NC State transfer Ryan Harrow on UK campus or not?’

Update: A couple of UK sites are arguing tonight over whether Harrow was really on campus.

Amidst internet reports that North Carolina State transfer Ryan Harrow was on the Kentucky campus today, Next Cats has everything you need to know about the point guard who was rated No. 8 by Scout at his position in 2010.

Chris Fisher of the Cats Pause first reported that Harrow was in Lexington.

Harrow did have some Twitter trouble this year.

Continue reading ‘Next Cats has all you need to know on Ryan Harrow’

Last Friday was the deadline for UK season-ticket holders to renew for this fall.

Did you renew?

Continue reading ‘Poll: Did you renew your UK football tickets?’

(AP photo)

Will Muschamp is turning over a new leaf at Florida.

Or he’s trying to stop some bad vines from growing back.

The Gators’ new head football coach announced today that he has dismissed first-team All-SEC defensive back Janoris Jenkins.

The three-year starter was arrested was arrested twice in the past three months on marijuana charges.

Under Muschamp’s predecessor, Urban Meyer, the Florida football program had no less than 30 players arrested on one charge or another.

Looks like Muschamp is trying to put a stop to that before it starts under his watch.
Continue reading ‘Muschamp lays down law, dismisses All-SEC star’

Dewayne Robertson

Mike Huguenin of Rivals has assembled interesting charts comparing NFL draft numbers, by school and conference, since 2000. For Kentucky, it’s not a pretty picture.

In the SEC, Kentucky is tied for 10th with Mississippi State for fewest draft picks during that time.

Georgia leads the way with 61, Tennessee is second with 60.

Florida and Tennessee are tied for first in the number of first-round picks with 12 each.

Since 2000, Kentucky has had 18 overall draft picks and one first-rounder — Dewayne Robertson in 2003.

Only Vanderbilt has had fewer draft picks, with 14. But Vandy had one more first-rounder than did Kentucky. Only Mississippi State has had fewer first-round picks than the Cats since 2000. State hasn’t had a first-round draft pick since 1996.
Continue reading ‘For NFL drafts since 2000, UK at low end of SEC’

With Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and DeAndre Liggins trying to decide whether to stay or go in the NBA draft, I put together a chart of Kentucky’s early entrants into the NBA draft.

Continue reading ‘NBA draft history of Kentucky’s early entrants’

Chad Wright scores the go-ahead run in UK's win at U of L earlier this month. (H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Some morning notes and links on another stormy Tuesday:

- Kentucky baseball meets Louisville tonight at Cliff Hagan Stadium, weather permitting. The Cats beat the Cards 3-2 in Louisville back on April 12. Jordan Cooper, who allowed just five hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings against U of L in that game, will pitch for Kentucky again. In what has been a disappointing season, the Cats would get some satisfaction out of sweeping U of L. Gametime is 7 p.m. WLAP-630 in Lexington has the radio call. The game is also being televised on the Big Blue Network.

- UK’s Alex Meyer was named SEC Pitcher of the Week.

- Speaking of UK baseball, Brett Dawson of the C-J writes on two-sport star Brian Adams. The centerfielder on the UK baseball team, Adams also made a couple of nice catches in the Blue-White spring football game on Saturday. He is one player who needs to come through come fall, what with the losses of Randall Cobb and Chris Matthews.

- In case you missed it, Cobb was one of 25 players invited to the NFL Draft on Thursday night. Well, the first round is Thursday night. For the second straight year, the draft is a three-day event. ESPN will have the coverage.

- Mark Story of the Herald-Leader writes on Frank Vogel, the former UK student manager who is now the Indiana Pacers’ interim head coach. Down 3-1, the Pacers play at Chicago tonight at 8 p.m. on TNT.

Heard Dick Gabriel do an interview with Vogel last week. He said that when he was at UK, he was playing on the junior varsity team, doing his duties as a student manager, trying to learn everything he could about coaching, and was also carrying a full academic load. The secret: “Time management,” he said.

Continue reading ‘UK baseball goes for sweep of U of L, and more notes’

Cat Scratches’ Eric Lindsey reports that Randall Cobb is one of 25 players who have been invited to attend the NFL Draft on Thursday in New York.

That would seem to indicate that Cobb has at least a decent shot of being picked in the first round.

Sports Blog Nation has Cobb going with the 61st pick, which puts him well into the second round.

But I’m guessing the NFL knows more.