John Clay's Sidelines

Have seen where some in the media report that after consulting with the NCAA, UK apologized for celebrating John Calipari’s 500^th victory last season.

Have also seen where some have said that Kentucky refused to apologize.

Don’t think either one is correct.

Kentucky didn’t apologize.

Nor was it asked to apologize.

The NCAA never requested that UK issue any kind of apology. Instead, what the NCAA wanted was for Kentucky to acknowledge it was incorrect, given previous NCAA rulings that vacated victories that the Kentucky coach was involved in, saying that Calipari had attained the 500-win mark.

Continue reading ‘NCAA asked for an acknowledgment, not an apology’

Saying he’s not good at making decisions on his own, Terrence Jones told the media today that he came back to UK because college was too much fun, and he wants to get more mature.

Click here to this video on YouTube.

More of the Terrence Jones meeting with media today, where he talks about where he wants to get better and what he’s shooting for with next year’s draft.

Click here to see this video on YouTube.

Kentucky senior-to-be Darius Miller talks to the media today at the Joe Craft Center about his preparations for next season.

Click here to see this video on YouTube.

Kentucky’s Eloy Vargas talks to the media about playing recently in China and his preparations for next season.

Click here to see this video on YouTube.

Video of Doron Lamb talking to the media today, where he discusses his decision to return for sophomore season, expresses surprise that Terrence Jones returned for his sophomore season, and says an NCAA title and then on to the NBA “sounds good to me.”

Click here to see this video on YouTube.

This just released from UK:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UK MEDIA RELATIONS

June 16, 2011

LEXINGTON, Ky. — After consulting with the NCAA, the University of Kentucky has been informed that the honoring of our head men’s basketball coach for his 500th career victory on Feb. 26, 2011 was in error and that, henceforth, we will reflect our head men’s basketball coach’s career record in our media guides, Internet sites and other publications consistent with the NCAA’s official records and statistics.

Continue reading ‘Kentucky says it made “error” celebrating Cal’s 500th’

(AP photo)

John Calipari’s visit to Richmond for a fund-raiser on Wednesday saw the coach not only avoid the 500 wins controversy — “I’m 0-0,” he said — but also rib the Duke Blue Devils.

When asked about the possibility of a Coach Cal-Coach K matchup in the future, Calipari said, “They will not play us.”

The Duke Basketball Report issued a retort: “Here’s a reasonable guess: given the venom that still comes out of Lexington, nearly 20 years after The Shot, why would anyone from Duke wish to play there? It’s an unhealthy atmosphere which comes from the inability of Kentucky fans to deal with reality.”

UPDATE: Alert twitter follower points out that UK will play Duke on Nov. 13, 2012 in the Champions Classic at Georgia Dome. But think Cal was talking about a home-and-home series with the Dookies.

Program note: Kentucky is making certain basketball players available to the media this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. (We don’t know which ones.) Check the blog later today for video, details, etc.

Click on the continue line for today’s Big Blue Links.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Calipari tells crowd that Duke won’t play UK’

(H-L photo/Pablo Alcala)

WLEX is reporting that UK sophomore running back Raymond Sanders has undergone arthroscopic surgery to repair his cartilage in his left knee. Sanders should be ready for camp in the fall, UK officials say.

Sanders is the No. 1 back on the depth chart that will try and make up for the loss of starter and near-1,000-yard rusher Derrick Locke. Recently, espn.com’s Chris Low rated the Kentucky backfield situation as the worst in the SEC heading into next season.

Sanders rushed for 254 yards on 68 carries last year.

(AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

Left my cozy dugout and pinch-hit for Larry Glover the last three nights. Thanks to the guests. Thanks to the callers. Thanks to producer Terry Murphy. Thanks to Larry.

Anyway, a caller wanted to know if I thought Kentucky might add a little more meat to its non-conference schedule in the future? My answer: No. Not with Mitch Barnhart as AD. Mitch thinks the SEC schedule, plus Louisville every year, is tough enough for the football Cats. He wants bowl games. Best path to the six-win bowl eligibility requirement is non-conference victories.

But, just for chart fun, I decided to chart Kentucky’s non-conference foes over the past decade (2001-10). The Cats played Louisville every year, of course. UK also had that annual series with Indiana, which lasted through 2005. But in that time, Kentucky played six Mid-American Conference teams, five FCS teams and three Sun Belt teams, one Conference-USA team and one Big Sky team.

Click on the continue line for the chart.

Continue reading ‘A look at UK’s non-conference football foes last decade’