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Athlon has released its 2011 SEC predictions, and the annual college football yearbook has Kentucky tied with Tennessee for fourth place in the SEC East with a 2-6 conference mark. Athlon thinks the Cats will wind up with their second consecutive 6-6 regular-season finish.

Like this tweet from @Mengus22: “Like Groundhog Day.”

The Cats have gone 6-6 in the regular season two of the last three years. They finished 7-6 in 2008 after beating East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl. They finished 6-7 last season after losing to Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl.

Overall, Athlon loves Alabama, but not Auburn.

Click the continue line for Athlon’s SEC predictions.

Continue reading ‘Athlon picks Kentucky to go 6-6 overall, 2-6 in SEC’

Rodney Purvis

CBS Sports’ Jeff Goodman, as part of the recruiting-obsessed media mob, talked to Rodney Purvis, the former Louisville commitment who jumped off the Cardinals bandwagon when assistant Tim Fuller left the ‘Ville to join his mentor, Frank Haith, at Missouri. Funny, but I didn’t see Haith on Goodman’s top coaches, by age bracket, list yesterday.

Anyway, Kentucky is one of the schools pursing Purvis. But according to Goodman, the Cats are playing catch-up for the  6-foot-4 guard out of Raleigh. Purvis told Goodman he has Duke and North Carolina State as his top two. Goodman mentions that Scout.com has Kentucky, Louisville and Memphis rounding out Purvis’ top five.

Purvis was expected to be at the NBAP Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Virginia this morning.

(AP photo)

Despite some projection boards which have former Kentucky student assistant Enes Kanter rated as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says the Cavs are set to take Duke point guard Kyrie Irving.

Still think the Cavs will take Kanter with the No. 4 pick, if Cleveland can’t trad up to get Arizona forward Derrick Williams.

The key question is where will UK guard Brandon Knight end up? Word is some clubs do not like the way Knight has been handling the workout process, and it could end up dropping him a few spots. But today is a big day for Brandon. He has a private workout with the Utah Jazz.

As for Windhorst, he is a former Cleveland Plain Dealer who was hired by ESPN to concentrate on LeBron James, whom he has known since high school. Windhorst still has connections to the Cavs’ front office. The guess here is that he’s right about Cleveland targeting Irving.

Morehouse College tweeted last night that its basketball team will play Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Nov. 7 in an exhibition game.

Morehouse was 14-14 last season, losing to Tuskegee University in the second round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. The Maroon Tigers had been 7-20 the season before. Head coach Grady Brewer has been at the Atlanta school for 11 seasons, compiling a 171-139 record. The school hasn’t had a winning season in basketball since 2005-06.

Morehouse did split its two games with Kentucky State last year, winning 91-76 in Atlanta before losing 82-75 in Frankfort.

(h/t @awireman)

(AP photo/Wade Payne)

Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel talked to now former Tennessee coaches Bruce Pearl and Tony Jones, who attended the opening night of the Pilot Rocky Top Basketball League in Knoxville, a summer league for college players.

Pearl told Griffith ”I care about the guys and I respect them, but I don’t want to be a distraction and I have to respect the new coaching staff. I’ve stayed in touch with Scotty (Hopson) and Tobias (Harris), and Tobias invited me to attend the draft with him, which I consider an honor.”

Pearl was in Indianapolis last Saturday as Tennessee met with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions. A ruling won’t be handed down for several months, but most expect the former UT coach to receive some sort of show-cause punishment, meaning that a school would have to go before the NCAA before hiring Pearl.

Click the continue link for today’s SEC links.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Pearl says he doesn’t want to be a distraction’

Aaron Ross

Aaron Ross, ranked No. 143 by Rivals, may not be a part of Mike Anderson’s freshman class at Arkansas after all.

Recruited by previous Razorbacks coach John Pelphrey, the 6-foot-7 Ross has academic eligibility problems which may keep the Little Rock native from playing for the Hogs, reports the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

An excerpt:

Ross, who was diagnosed with a learning disability within the last year, had hoped to be able to take an untimed and verbal exam earlier this month. That didn’t happen, however, because necessary paperwork for the exemption was failed to be turned in on time, according to sources.

If Ross’ latest ACT score doesn’t meet the requirements of the NCAA’s clearinghouse, the Little Rock Parkview product will likely head to junior college or prep school next season with the hopes of joining the Razorbacks for the 2012-13 campaign.

Kent Spencer of WTVQ has a good story on former UK football stars Jeremy Jarmon and Corey Peters using yoga to train for the upcoming NFL season, if there is an NFL season.

With the league in lockout mode, the two have been training in Lexington.

An excerpt:

Sometimes their methods are just a bit off the beaten path. For example, Bikram Yoga, which is done in over 100 degree heat.

Peters said, “In order for us to get to the levels we want to, we have to step out of our comfort zone some.”

From the Terrence Jones twitter account tonight:

Don’t expect John Calipari to jump into the middle of the debate over whether Kentucky was right to recognize his 500th victory last year.

The NCAA has asked UK to acknowledge that it should not have recognized the coach as having 500 victories since some of Calipari’s wins were vacated at UMass (4) and Memphis (38).

Brett Dawson of Cats Illustrated covered Calipari’s appearance at a fund-raiser in Richmond where the question was broached.

An excerpt:

If the conflict is causing concern, Calipari has a funny way of showing it. The Kentucky basketball coach grinned Wednesday night when he was asked about the controversy surrounding his record (and the UK ceremony that celebrated it) prior to a fundraiser at the Telford YMCA.

“Let’s just say my record is 0-0,” Calipari said. “I’m fine with that. This is about those kids, and that’s what I’ve always been about.”

Me, the more I think about it, the more I side with Mike Wilbon.

(AP photo)

Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports ranking of coaches in the 50-60 age bracket lists Roy Williams as No. 1, Rick Pitino as No. 2, Tom Izzo as No. 3, John Calipari as No. 4 and Bob Huggins as No. 5.

Only Goodman was not ranking the coaches for how they are doing currently, but for what they’ve accomplished over their careers.

The key excerpt:

It got me thinking of who are the most accomplished coaches in the country in each age group. Some age groups (the 50 to 60 range) were easier than others — and Gary Williams certainly would have made the list if he hadn’t called it a career this past offseason.

Continue reading ‘Goodman’s ranking of Pitino over Calipari is correct’