John Clay's Sidelines

Ricardo Ledo

The Providence Journal’s Kevin McNamara has a good piece on top 2012 prospect and Kentucky target Ricardo Ledo.

Here’s an interesting excerpt on why Ledo chose not to attend the NBAP Top 100 camp in Virginia:

“He’s taking his final exams. He had some work he needed to get done and that’s a little more important,” said Ryan Hurd, Ledo’s coach at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg. “Besides, he’s already a top-five guard. Does he need to go there and prove he’s a real top-five guard?”

McNamara reports that while many of the nation’s elite programs, including UK, are high on Ledo’s list, it’s not sure whether the guard will be able to gain eligibility. The former Providence commitment has been to four different schools.

John Infante of the Bylaw Blog writes this morning about the theories and practices behind the NCAA “vacating” games.

Infante, the assistant compliance director at Colorado State, argues that the practice of “vacating” is based on the “acknowledgement of a true fact.”

In light of the controversy over Kentuckyk’s treatment of John Calipari’s 500th victory, which Infante mentions, he argues that there is a solid reason behind and a legitimate place in the NCAA record books for the use of “vacating” results of games or seasons.

Continue reading ‘The Bylaw Blog tackles the “vacate” question’

Not sure why I’m so fascinated with espn.com’s SEC position-by-position rankings.

Perhaps it’s the fact that my friend Chris Low ranked Morgan Newton 10 out of the 10 quarterbacks he ranked. Or maybe it’s because he put the Kentucky running back situation dead last in the conference. Or that he followed that by placing Kentucky’s wide receivers/tight ends as 12th out of 12.

Good news. Today, Chris actually ranks the Kentucky offensive line fourth in the SEC.

Continue reading ‘Good news: ESPN ranks UK’s offensive line 4th in SEC’

ESPN’s Jay Bilas is no fan of the NCAA. He’s also one Dookie that UK fans can abide.

(H-L photo/David Perry)

There was more than just news about Kentucky and the NCAA and Cal’s non-500th victory.

There was also the NBAP Top 100 camp in Virginia, which is being covered by several outlets. Interesting tidbit is that UK is now interested in yet another Oregon product.

There was also the UK basketball media opp at the Joe Craft Center which featured Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, Darius Miller and Eloy Vargas.

Plus, there was Brandon Knight’s workout for the Utah Jazz, and Knight’s expressed wish that he would love to workout against Kyrie Irving.

Click the continue line to get today’s Big Blue Links.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Kentucky interested in another Oregon product’

There are just too many Jeffersons. That’s the problem.

Yesterday, LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson made the rounds at ESPN headquarters in Bristol. In the course of his round-robin interviews, the history major got a little confused about the difference between former American president Thomas Jefferson and former sitcom character George Jefferson.

Don’t worry, I’m sure new LSU offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe will get it all straightened out.

Click the continue line for today’s SEC links.

Continue reading ‘SEC: LSU quarterback Jefferson mixes up his Jeffersons’

Steve Fisher

Hat tip to Jay Bilas for this one, as Bilas tweeted: SDSU and Steve Fisher celebrated 400th win this season, too: http://t.co/lfe2ZkU. Does NCAA need to take off socks to count vacated wins?”And it’s true, San Diego State does include Fisher’s vacated victories on its school web site.

The web site lists Fisher’s record in 1991-92 season with Michigan as 25-9, when the NCAA says it is 24-8 because of vacated games in Final Four that year.

Fisher’s 1992-93 (31-5), 1995-96 (21-11) and 1996-97 (24-11) seasons were also vacated at Michigan, but that is not reflected on the San Diego State web site.

Continue reading ‘San Diego State includes Fisher’s vacated victories’

Dwane Casey

Marc Stein of ESPN Dallas is reporting that former UK player and assistant Dwane Casey is now the favorite to be the head coach of the Toronto Raptors and could be named as early as next week.

Excerpt:

Casey’s reputation as a defensive guru undoubtedly appeals to the Raptors after they finished 30th in the league in defensive efficiency last season, allowing 110 points per 100 possessions. The Mavericks finished seventh in the same category (102.3 points per 100 possessions) and further shed their reputation as defensive pushovers in the playoffs with successful schemes against the likes of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and, most notably, LeBron James.

The Morganfield native was an assistant on the NBA title-winning Mavericks staff this year. He was previously head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, posting a 53-69 record there.

There are various media reports, now confirmed by Cats Illustrated, that defensive linemen Norman Delic and Brice Laughlin are no longer with the UK football team.

Laughlin was a redshirt freshman from Summerville, South Carolina. Laughlin entered spring third on depth chart at defensive tackle.

Delic was a sophomore from Dalton, Ga. who played in eight games last year. He entered spring drills No. 2 on depth chart at end behind Collins Ukwu.

Kentucky confirmed that the two are no longer with the team, but there has been no official media release.

Matt May of the Cats Pause first broke the story. (subscription)

Our industrious intern Cole Claybourn shot this video tonight of UK football fans being part of a video the school is shooting to promote the upcoming football season. The video was being shot at Commonwealth Stadium tonight.