John Clay's Sidelines

H-L photo/Charles Bertram

Monday morning notes and links:

- UK announced this morning that it has reached a contract extension with basketball coach John Calipari. Associate AD for media relations DeWayne Peevy alerted media early this morning (12:11 a.m.) to look for a news release this morning. There will be no press conference.

- Andy Katz reports that the new contract will also include a raise in pay. Here’s the link to Andy’s story.

- My quick take: It’s all nice and good, but only the naive will believe that this will put an end to the Calipari-to-the-NBA rumors. I’m not saying he’s going. I don’t think he is going anywhere. I’m just saying a new contract isn’t going to put a stop to the speculation.

- There is the SEC basketball coaches summer teleconference this morning. We will be able to ask Calipari about the new deal then.

- Meanwhile, UK’s official athletics blog, Cat Scratches, has a story with comments from both Calipari and Mitch Barnhart.

- David Climer of the Tennessean weighs in on the Calipari 500-win issue. He does get one thing wrong. The NCAA never asked for an apology. The word is nowhere in the five-page letter. The NCAA asked for an acknowledgment. David is right about this: “It strikes me that until we get a grip on bylaw 10.1, this fixation on Calipari’s victory total and the like is much ado about virtually nothing. Considering the number of cases on its docket and the level of cheating that is going on under its nose, the Committee on Infractions should stick to the matters at hand instead of getting into the accounting business.”

-  Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal writes about the slogan wars being waged between Calipari and Louisville coach Rick Pitino. Eric writes: “In the spin zone that is college basketball in the state of Kentucky, we have a new rhetorical rivalry. It’s The Kentucky Effect vs. Louisville First. Those are the latest campaigns rolled out by the state’s coaching heavyweights. University of Kentucky coach John Calipari launched “The Kentucky Effect” in the days preceding the NBA draft, using it to describe the affinity NBA clubs seem to be showing for drafting Wildcats. University of Louisville coach Rick Pitino fired out “Louisville First” even earlier, hoping to give his players a team identity and – don’t mistake it – a contrast to the star power emanating from down the road.”

- Paul Woody of the Richmond Times-Dispatch doesn’t like John Calipari’s “super conference” idea. He writes: “The real reason for Calipari’s plan is power and control. It is about weakening the NCAA and raking in almost all the money generated by college athletics. This is a harebrained idea. It should be jettisoned immediately. The major conferences – Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10 and Southeastern – already control college football. If the Bowl Championship Series would provide a legitimate playoff system, critics, including the U.S. Justice Department, would be quieted.”

- Tubby Smith’s old critic, Richard Cheeks, writes for Larry Vaught’s blog about the possibility of UK suing the NCAA. Read at your own risk.

- UK baseball loses another key underclassmen, reports Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches.

- The SEC-only College World Series best-of-three championship series starts tonight. It’s defending champ South Carolina vs. SEC champion Florida. First pitch at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

- Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News writes about how the CWS became the SEC Championship Series.

- And as Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun points out, no matter what, the SEC is the big winner in Omaha.

- Joe Biddle reports that Vandy’s Mr. Commodore at the College World Series is really a University of Tennessee student.

- Reds lost 7-5 at Baltimore on Sunday and immediately petitioned to Bud Selig that interleague play cease. Ok, they didn’t really petition but they should. This Reds’ team just doesn’t appear to have the same spark as last year’s team, for whatever reason.