John Clay's Sidelines

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• Basketball
  • Clay: Vacated wins not treated equally by schools
  • Class of 2013 star Kuran Iverson has Kentucky in his top three
  • Kyle Wiltjer’s hook shot part of his dad’s playbook
  • Ex-UK star Anthony Epps arrested for DUI, resigns coaching job
  • Day three notes from the NBAP Top 100 camp in Virginia
  • More notes and highlights from the NBAP camp
  • ESPN draft analysts evaluate Enes Kanter
  • NCAA bedazzles us with petulance, beclowns itself with pedantics
  • Brandon Knight remains confident
  • Knight and Kanter invited to NBA Draft green room
  • Vargas looking for a bigger role
• Overall
  • Story: Give Kentucky athletics the edge over Louisville in 2010-11
• Football
  • ESPN ranks UK’s Larry Warford as fourth best O-lineman in SEC
  • Update with UK target offensive lineman Will Adams

(AP photo)

SEC links for Sunday:

• Baseball
  • Historic homer helps Vanderbilt beat North Carolina in College World Series
  • Florida rallies to knock off Texas in first round of CWS
  • Morris: At South Carolina, commitments lead to championships
  • Defending champs are cool and calm, but not cocky
  • Schultz: Johnathan Taylor’s courage inspiration to us all
• Basketball
  • Arkansas grants Rotnei Clarke his release to transfer
  • Bruce Pearl says, “I will always love the Vols”
  • Solomon: The lost decade of NBA talent from Alabama and Auburn
  • Wiedmer: NCAA needs to hammer those responsible for breaking rules
• Football
  • Tate: Auburn football coaches take the money and stun
  • Malick Jackson among underclassmen trying to exhort Vols
  • Mississippi State’s Ravern Johnson says life has changed since he left school

Enes Kanter takes a walk with ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla.

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Big Blue Links for Saturday:

• Kentucky target Devonta Pollard is fighting through adversity, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Chris Walker likes the Cats and other NCAA camp notes, reports Tipton.
• Rodney Purvis’ narrowed list doesn’t include UK, reports the H-L.
• NBA camp notes, day two, from Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal.
• Cats Illustrated has a photo gallery from the NBA camp in Virginia.
• Contract signed for upgrades at Commonwealth Stadium, reports Matt May of the Cats Pause.
• Doron Lamb still thinks about the UConn loss every day, says Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• Enes Kanter’s workout with the Wizards went well, reports Michael Lee of the Washington Post.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Devonta Pollard video; more NBA camp notes’

At least John Wall is a really good basketball player.

Rotnei Clarke (AP photo)

SEC links for Saturday:

• Rotnei Clarke reportedly asks for release from Arkansas, says Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News.
• Razorbacks take a hard line and won’t release Clarke, reports Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports.
• Fans embrace Vanderbilt as underdog in College World Series, reports Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• Key players cleared as Florida prepares for CWS opener, reports Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun.
• Business-like Gators hope to finish the job in Omaha, writes Jesse Simonton for the Miami Herald.
• Ron Morris of The State writes that determining center fielder’s status has been tough on South Carolina coach.
• USC coach says it’s hard to imagine a better event than the CWS, reports Travis Haney of the Charleston Post and Courier.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Arkansas takes a hard line with Rotnei Clarke’

Dennis Thomas

UPDATE: Rush the Court documents another MEAC member that includes wins since vacated.

Been out and about, but when I got back saw this (6:27 p.m.) e-mail from UK fan Jacob Kiper, who also sent copies to KSR, Gregg Doyel, Gary Parrish and Eric Crawford.

Kiper has done his research and found that Dennis Thomas, the chairman of the MEAC who sent the letter to UK asking for the acknowledgment that the school was in error for recognizing John Calipari’s vacated wins, has not one but two three members in his own conference which are doing the same thing.

(Jacob also posted the info on my facebook page this afternoon.)

Click the continue line to read the e-mail.

Continue reading ‘Shout-out to UK fan who turns tables on NCAA’

Nick Saban

Add Alabama to the list of schools that are defying NCAA rules and continuing to list vacated victories in coaches records.

In this case, we’re talking about Alabama athletic web site with regards to football coach Nick Saban.

This from the Alabama web site:

Named the 27th head football coach in UA history on January 3, 2007, Saban owns an overall record of 139-67-1 (.674) in 16 seasons as a head coach, having also led programs at Louisiana State (LSU), Michigan State and Toledo, as well as in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. At each of his five stops, he has improved the win-loss record in his first year when compared to the previous season. Prior to Saban’s arrival, those teams posted a combined average winning percentage of .387. In the first season with Saban at the helm, a .617 winning percentage was achieved.

Continue reading ‘Add Alabama football to list including “vacated” wins’

(AP photo)

News that Syracuse center DeShonte Riley is transferring to Eastern Michigan is one more apparent blow in what has been a tough early summer for the Orangemen.

The Orange Fizz blog explains:

With Waiters set to come back next season, Syracuse is stacked in the backcourt. On the other hand, its potential lack of – forget talent – sheer bodies in the frontcourt is frightening.

Take away any of what has transpired this offseason, and Boeheim’s platoon of big men was already nothing more than a giant roll of the dice. Rick Jackson was the most productive interior player in the Big East last year. He was Syracuse’s only consistent big. Now RJ has graduated, and the Orange has very little with which to replace him.

Continue reading ‘Syracuse basketball is having a tough off-season’

UPDATE: Walker says Kentucky is the leader.

Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal has a blog post concerning Chris Walker, a 6-foot-10 forward out of Florida, who is high on Kentucky’s list.

Wednesday was the first day that college coaches could call 2013 prospects.

Walker said one call stood out.

You can guess which one.

A teaser from Walker, “I really do like Kentucky.”

Continue reading ‘Florida junior says Calipari’s call stood out’