John Clay's Sidelines

Alex Bozich of Inside the Hall has the scoop on Indiana center Mitch McGary, a 6-foot-11 prospect in Class of 2012 who has overcome academic problems to be a coveted recruit.

McGary transferred out of his home state to a New Hampshire prep school to get his grades in line, and now Kentucky is among the schools showing lots of interest in his services.

An excerpt:

“It’s been blowing up actually the last couple of weeks,” McGary told Inside the Hall on Sunday at the adidas May Classic. “I think it’s been mainly because I moved out to Brewster. The transition out there got me better on and off the court. Grades were a factor for most schools last year, but now my grades are well.”

The list of schools in regular contact with McGary is impressive. He reeled off Duke, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Indiana, Purdue, West Virginia, Connecticut, Kentucky, Kansas, Memphis, Louisville and Maryland as schools showing interest.

(Miami Herald photo)

Notes and links for Monday morning:

HEAT MELTS IN CHICAGO – Watched the Bulls batter Miami 103-82 last night. Miami led 58-57 with 7:35 left in the third quarter, then managed just 24 points the rest of the way. LeBron James scored three points in the final 19:35. I’m sure Colin Cowherd will think of some excuse, and will be sure to point out that James sells more jerseys than Derrick Rose.

- It was a Windy City blowout, writes Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald.

- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel says come join the Heat Haters of America.

UK BASEBALL — Kentucky couldn’t pull off the sweep of Georgia, losing to the Bulldogs 7-6 on Sunday at Cliff Hagan. Gary Henderson’s team did fight back, closing to within a run after trailing 7-2. And Thomas McCarthy had a huge weekend,

- Meanwhile, my Monday column is on Henderson and his three years as head coach here. Talked to the UK coach after the game in the dugout. It’s always tough to talk to a coach after a close loss, especially when my questions dealt more with the season and the program than the game that was completed. After I was back home, writing, my cell rang and it was Henderson. He wanted to talk some more, thought that he had not given his best answers to the questions. I told him I thought they were fine, but he wanted to expound some more on the subject matter.

- Baseball America projects UK ace Alex Meyer as the sixth overall selection in this summer’s MLB draft.

Continue reading ‘Heat melts, Reds sweep, Tony Woods and more notes’

(Hat tip Nation of Blue)

(H-L photo/Matt Goins)

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• Future basketball Cats put summer classes ahead of USA hoops, writes Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Kentucky tennis advances to Sweet 16 with win over Louisville, reports Mark Maloney of the H-L.
• Kentucky baseball hits four homers to clinch series over Georgia, says H-L staff report.
• Chip Cosby is moving on after 10 compelling years of covering Kentucky football.
• Tony Woods trying to put incident behind him, writes Tipton.
• No easy answers for UK in the Woods case, says my Sunday column.
• Reaction around Big Blue Nation on Woods has been mostly negative, writes Glenn Logan of A Sea of Blue.
• DeAndre Liggins talks about UK career and NBA combine, reports Nation of Blue.
• Louisville tennis comes up just short against Kentucky, writes J.J. Hysell for the Courier-Journal.
• Kentucky takes the state’s tennis dream game, writes Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Win over Louisville is extra sweet, reports Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches.
• Was Friday night Alex Meyer’s last home start? asks James Pennington for the Cats Pause.
• Bleed Blue Kentucky has an update on Donald Hawkins.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger gets a tattoo.

South Carolina celebrates walk-off win over Arkansas. (The State photo)

SEC links for Sunday:

• SEC assistants are some of the highest paid in college football, reports Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel.
• John Pelphrey will earn $180,000 as assistant at Florida, reports Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News.
• Rivals are united in grief over the death of Alabama lineman Aaron Douglas, writes Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.
• Tennessee’s NCAA hearing figures to be intense, writes Andrew Gribble of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• Tennessee wins SEC softball title, reports Kory Keys for the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• Don’t count out Auburn football next season, writes Mike Herndon of the Mobile Press-Register.
• Cam Newton trying to mitigate effects of NFL lockout, writes Brett Martel of AP.
• Alan Faneca should have bust at Hall of Fame, writes Scott Rabalais of The Advocate.
• Recruiting OK for Tennessee, reports Patrick Brown of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
• Wingo’s walk-off gives South Carolina a big win over Arkansas, writes Chris Dearing of The State.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Conference boasts high-paid assistant coaches’

The Big Man, Chip Cosby, pretty in pink at this year's Kentucky Derby.

Notes and links for a Saturday morning:

- Let’s open with a goodbye. Yesterday was the last day at the Herald-Leader for my colleague and friend Chip Cosby, our football beat writer since 2000. To celebrate his new job at cn/2, there was a small get-together last night at Ramsey’s on High Street in downtown Lexington.

Ok, so it wasn’t so small. Joker Phillips was there. Rich Brooks was there. Jennifer Palumbo from Fox-62 was there. Kent Spencer and Dan Rieffer from from WTVQ were there. (And that was just while was there.) Chip always knew how to bring out the star power. Good luck to him in his new job.

- There’s a Kentucky vs. Louisville matchup today. It’s in tennis. UK beat Cleveland State 4-0 in yesterday’s first round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. Louisville blanked Cornell 4-0. The two teams have not met since 2005.

“I think it’s great,” UK Coach Dennis Emery said of Saturday’s matchup. “It just is such a good opportunity for all of us to showcase what we have in the state. We have two very good programs. Had Louisville gone to Texas A&M or something, there wouldn’t be the same sense of excitement. So I think it’s a great opportunity for both of us.”

Meanwhile, Louisville’s No. 1 player, Austen Childs, hurt his shoulder in Friday’s match.

Today’s match is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.

Continue reading ‘So long to a colleague, plus more Saturday morning notes’

Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog has some recruiting updates, including one on former North Carolina State point guard Ryan Harrow, who visited UK this week.

Excerpt:

Meantime, former N.C. State point guard Ryan Harrow is currently at Texas with his mother, Fern Matthews, following a visit to Kentucky.
“The University of Kentucky was very impressive,” Matthews said by text. “I am currently with the University of Texas.”

Harrow will also visit Louisville, Georgia and St. John’s.

His mother previously said “St. John’s is our home,” because both parents grew up in Queens.

Today we put WTVQ-TV’s Kent Spencer through the media approval rating blender. The station’s sports anchor joined the station as a general news reporter in 2003. A Morehead State graduate, he switched to sports in 2005.

So what do you say on Kent, approve or disapprove?

Previously: Alan Cutler, Rob Bromley.

Continue reading ‘Media Approval Ratings: Kent Spencer’

Today we take a look at the Kentucky running backs, via scholarship year. The graph points out that there isn’t much experience in the backfield for next season. No seniors. One junior. Andrew Joseph is really the only fullback candidate the moment. If the young guys, Marcus Caffey and Josh Clemmons come through, the Cats should be in good shape down the road. Right now, however, there a lot of new, unproven faces.

Here’s the graph. I’ve added an RS column for redshirts. Y means yes the player has redshirted. N means no the players has not used a redshirt year.