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John Calipari

Ryan Clark of the Kentucky Enquirer’s Big Bluegrass Blog reports that both outgoing president Dr. Lee Todd and UK basketball coach John Calipari will be appearing in Cincinnati next Wednesday, April 13.

An excerpt:

On Wednesday, April 13 at Paul Brown Stadium, the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati University of Kentucky Alumni Club will present an evening with Todd, as well as with John Calipari. Dr. Todd will be honored for his decade of leadership to his alma mater, and the pair will talk about the recent run to the Final Four.

Ryan has all the pertinent details about tickets, cost, etc., so click on the link above.

Morning notes and Big Blue Links:

- Gary Parrish, Jeff Goodman and Andy Katz have all ranked Kentucky No. 1 for next season, but I think it’s a little overly optimistic. The Cats will have a ton of talent next year, but again it will be young talent. If Harrison Barnes is back at North Carolina, with Tyler Zeller and John Henson already returning, then I’d put the Heels as the pre-season No. 1, with Kentucky at No. 2.

- So Kyrie Irving is going pro. Let’s say that Irving had spent his one year — most of it on the bench with a toe injury — at Kentucky instead of Duke. Would the one-and-done perception be different?

- Parrish has Vanderbilt at No. 5 in his pre-season rankings for next year.

- Glad to see Josh Harrellson has his twitter account back.

- Brandon Knight is No. 7 on nbadraft.net’s mock board. Terrence Jones is at No. 14.

- When John Calipari is receiving $325,000 and Mitch Barnhart $50,000 in bonuses for Kentucky making the Final Four, can we really argue that colleges don’t have enough money to pay athletes? Please.

Continue reading ‘Kentucky as pre-season No. 1 is a little optimistic’

A pair of wind-inhibited clips of UK football coach Joker Phillips talking to media after this morning’s edition of  spring practice. First clip is Joker’s overall comments. Second clip has Joker talking defense, and Maxwell Smith.

According to this tweet from John Calipari:

Continue reading ‘Josh Harrellson gets his twitter account back’

Jeff Goodman, college basketball writer for Fox Sports, thinks both Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight should become one-and-dones and enter the NBA draft.

Goodman examines the draft prospects of many underclassmen, including the aforementioned UK duo..

Excerpt:

BRANDON KNIGHT, KENTUCKY

His stock will never be higher than it is right now. NBA folks are convinced he’s a clear lottery pick because of his ability to score and his maturity running the team.

Goodman’s advice: Go. There’s no reason to come back, especially with Marquis Teague – a true point guard – coming to Lexington next year. Knight would have the ball in his hands a lot less, and his stock would drop.

TERRENCE JONES, KENTUCKY

Although he didn’t have a terrific second half of the year, the NBA execs saw more than enough from him. The knock, as I said before the season, was his inconsistency. But the potential is clearly there.

Goodman’s advice: Bolt now. Although he didn’t finish as strong as Knight, Jones’ ceiling is even higher. That’s what matters to a lot of these NBA guys. Potential. Hit it while you can, Terrence, and go now.

My guess is that both will go. I’ve believed all along that Jones was a one-and-doner. I was less sure or Knight’s intentions, but with all draft experts declaring this to be a shallow pool, the Florida native would probably be risking his standing by returning to Lexington next year.

Continue reading ‘Goodman thinks both Knight and Jones should go pro’

Former UK women’s basketball coach Debbie Yow, now the athletics director at North Carolina State, accused Gary Williams, basketball coach when Yow was AD at Maryland, of trying to sabotage her search for a new basketball coach at N.C. State. Yow ended up hiring ex-Alabama coach Mark Gottfried.

Robbi Pickeral of the Raleigh News and Observer reports on the Yow-Williams feud.

Kentucky signee Kyle Wiltjer interviewed about this weekend’s Nike Hoops Summit.

(Hat tip Nation of Blue)

Dick Vitale picks Kentucky No. 2, behind North Carolina, for 2011-12.

His top 6:

• 1. North Carolina
• 2. Kentucky
• 3. Texas
• 4. Ohio State
• 5. Duke
• 6. Louisville

My friend Todd alerted me to this story, or really update, from Tom Archdeacon of the Dayton Daily News on how the life ex-UK star Dwight Anderson has taken a turn for the better.

An excerpt:

The room is quite small – just enough space for a single bed, a dresser and some shelves – and yet to Dwight Anderson it feels almost like a mansion.

There were a few pairs of tennis shoes tossed in the corner, some canned goods stacked on a shelf, a TV next to the bed, a couple of space heaters on the floor, and propped up on the dresser was a small plaque that had the figure of a basketball player bursting off the front of it and an inscription that read: “Buffalo Masters North American Championship … 2011 All-Star.”

Although he’d been awarded that a couple of weeks ago in New York, Anderson was more intent on checking out the now clear-eyed view he has of downtown Dayton from the lone window of his fourth-floor room at the St. Vincent De Paul Center on St. Clair Street.

It certainly is better than the one he had the past couple of decades while drifting through the dreary, dangerous and sometimes deadly under-belly of this city.

Just 14 months ago he was spending his winter nights sleeping on an old couch in an unheated Hoover Avenue garage. There was no electricity, no running water, no view beyond his daily, drug-sated despair.

Dennis Dodd

CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd raised a ruckus at the Final Four when he asked Kentucky coach John Calipari on being at his “first” Final Four.

Dodd prefaced his question by saying he was asking it “facetiously,” but it still raised a stink among Kentucky fans, who were not in the interview room at the time.

Dodd heard from those fans, and he blogged a response.

Excerpt:

I also understand that the BBN reaction to “The Question” is the same reason some Bucknuts are tired of the Jim Tressel criticism. Both guys win. That, to me, has always been the thinnest argument. You are who you have beaten. If Cal won half his games or Tressel was on the other end of those Michigan scores, they would suddenly become a lot dumber.

That’s why BBN — and its kin in college athletics — need us: The objective, the even-handed, the informed. Yes, even the opinionated. The basic duty of the media is to be a watchdog over the rich and powerful. That’s why the Fiesta Bowl was taken down. That’s why there is a cloud of scandal hanging over college football and basketball. That’s why NCAA president Mark Emmert squirmed last week when he was asked is salary on PBS’ Frontline. Sooner or later, we’ll know it. We deserve to know it.

You may not care but that’s why we do what we do. Sometimes we give you stuff you need to read, as opposed to want you want to read.

Continue reading ‘Dennis Dodd on his John Calipari question’