John Clay's Sidelines

The Los Angeles Times reports that ex-Louisville basketball player Derrick Caracter, now a reserve with the Los Angeles Lakers, was arrested last night, but contrary to previous reports, the victim was not pregnant.

An excerpt:

Caracter, 22, reportedly grabbed and shoved a cashier at an IHOP restaurant on Canal Street, according to New Orleans police. The account, issued in a police news release Monday morning, said the Lakers rookie forward had been refused service at the IHOP because he was “obviously drunk, unruly.”

A police officer was summoned to try to defuse the situation, and backup also arrived after Caracter would not cooperate.

The Lakers lost to the Hornets last night in New Orleans, evening their NBA playoff series at 2-2. Caracter did not play.

After parting ways with Rick Pitino at Louisville, Caracter played for ex-John Calipari assistant Tony Barbee at UTEP.

The deadline for underclassmen wanting to enter the NBA draft was 11:59 p.m. last night. The deadline to withdraw from the draft is May 8.

Here is a look at the SEC underclassmen who have declared for the draft.

Click the more button for a list of all underclassmen.

Continue reading ‘List of underclassmen who have declared for NBA draft’

Adam Zagoria is reporting that God’s Gift Achiuwa will announce his college choice this week.

St. John’s, Cincinnati and Washington are his final three.

There were some reports a couple of weeks back that Kentucky had re-connected on the recruiting trail with Achiuwa, a 6-foot-8 forward from Erie Community College in New York.

Alas, there was probably not much to those reports.

Which is a shame, considering what fun it would have been to write about someone named God’s Gift.

New York coach Mike D’Antoni made an unflattering remark about Rajon Rondo as the Knicks were on their way to being swept by the Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Here are Rondo’s stats for the series.

Louisville signee Zach Price experienced a wardrobe malfunction when he was introduced at the Derby Festival Classic on Friday night. Well, not really.

(Hat tip to All Ky Hoops)

Video of Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce talking to the media after Boston swept New York in the NBA playoffs.

(Hat tip All Ky Hoops)

Karen, Jennifer and Jeff Stahl in 2008.

On his blog, Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger shares a story sent to him by Pat Stahl of Maysville about Pat’s brother, Jeff, a Kentucky basketball fan who at the time was fighting terminal cancer at age 54.

Jeff Stahl passed away yesterday. He was a friend of mine, but I’m not sure Jeff ever met anyone who didn’t end up being his friend. He had that kind of personality.

I met Jeff through a good friend of mine, one who had grown up with him in Maysville before moving to Winchester. And after that, Jeff became friends with everyone he met in Winchester. If you were friends with Jeff’s friend, then you were his friend, too.

Continue reading ‘Kentucky basketball loses a fan and a friend’

The Reds dropped two out of three in St. Louis over the weekend. The reason? Cincinnati couldn’t hit. The Reds scored just seven runs in three games. They were four-hit by Cardinals’ starter Jake Westbrook last night on Sunday Night Baseball. Here’s the breakdown on how the Reds hitters did in St. Louis:

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Kentucky baseball takes series from Arkansas, reports Mark Maloney of the H-L.
• UK track’s Venezuelan connection has lofty goals, reports Maloney.
• Men’s tennis falls to Florida in SEC final, says H-L staff report.
• Kentucky’s prospects remain fuzzy, writes Caulton Tudor of Charlotte Observer.
• UK football shows inconsistency, writes Brian Rickerd of the State Journal.
• Rondo writing his way into history, writes Eric Crawford of the C-J.
• Remy Abell will visit Indiana today, reports Jody Demling of the C-J.
• Perry Ellis’ recruiting diary, for Nation of Blue.
• Joker Phillips asks why not, reports Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches.
• Kentucky wraps up spring drills, blogs Chris Low for espn.com.
• Tradition for the fans, not the players, writes Glenn Logan of A Sea of Blue.
• Shabazz Muhammad will have Arizona in final five, reports Tucson Citizen.
• UK football offers Virginia linebacker, reports Bleed Blue Kentucky.
• Daniel Orton has no regrets, reports Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
• Florida men defy odds to win SEC tennis title, writes the Independent Alligator.

SEC links for Monday:

• With spring drills over, thoughts on the Alabama and Auburn quarterback races, from Charles Hollis of Birmingham News.
• Alabama football could have three first-round NFL draft picks, reports Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News.
• Ex-Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley is trying not to sweat the critics, reports John Zenor of the Associated Press.
• Boling could end a Georgia draft drought, writes Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald. The Bulldogs haven’t had an offensive lineman drafted in first three rounds since 2003.
• Vanderbilt baseball sweeps LSU, reports Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• Florida sweeps visiting Alabama, reports Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun.
• Baseball win over Ole Miss puts Auburn in a tie for first place in the SEC West, reports Andy Bitter of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
• South Carolina pounds Mississippi State in rubber game of series in Starkville, reports Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Tennessee loses game it needed in playoff chase, falling to Georgia 5-3, reports Austin Ward of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• Talent on hand has helped boost Dan Mullen’s cause at Mississippi State, writes Brad Locke of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal.