John Clay's Sidelines

On the eve of UK-Tennessee, Lexington has turned into Rumorville. Depending on who you believe, Joker Phillips is (a) rock-solid to be back next year, or (b) likely to be fired on Sunday, or (c) resigning on Sunday, or (d) keeping his job because Mitch Barnhart can’t get anyone to take it, or (e) keeping his job because the SEC won’t let conference schools hire Mike Leach, or (f) poised to become Charlie Strong’s offensive coordinator at Louisville. Take your pick.

• Phillips won’t address rumors, reports Jen Smith of H-L.
• NCAA stops high school games in Rupp Arena, reports Mike Fields of H-L.
• NCAA messes up again, writes Anthony Wireman of All Ky Hoops.
• Trevathan’s legacy will be felt, reports Smith of H-L.

Can Arkansas pull off the upset today in Baton Rouge? Bobby Petrino’s Hogs meet LSU at 2:30 p.m. on CBS. An Arkansas win, coupled with an Alabama victory at Auburn on Saturday, throws the SEC West into a three-way tie and probably sends Bama to Atlanta for the SEC title game. If Alabama loses to Auburn, then an Arkansas win sends the Razorbacks to the Georgia Dome to play Georgia.

• LSU-Arkansas another huge game, reports Gary Laney of The Advocate.
• The 2007 Razorbacks know about beating LSU, writes News’ Robbie Neiswanger.
• LSU ready for air attack, writes Glenn Guilbeau of Shreveport Times.
• A lot on the line today in Baton Rouge, writes Jim Kleinpeter of Times-Picayune.

Kentucky rolled to an easy 88-40 win over Radford, but there were some red flags. One continues to be turnovers. Kentucky had just 11 assists compared to 16 turnovers. Marquis Teague did a much better job, turning the basketball over two times. But John Calipari’s young club is still too sloppy with the basketball, especially with the epic North Carolina challenge just over a week away.

More notes and thoughts from Kentucky basketball’s Wednesday night win.

Continue reading ‘Some notes and thoughts from UK’s rout of Radford’

Video of Kentucky head coach John Calipari talking to the media after his team’s 88-40 whipping of overmatched Radford on Wednesday night. Among Cal’s comments, the coach said he is now giving point guard Marquis Teague one “flub” a half. He said that when it gets to two, then Calipari will start yelling. But for now, he is willing to wave the first Teague turnover off.

Continue reading ‘Video: John Calipari after Kentucky’s win over Radford’

All KY Hoops is reporting that a Kentucky-Duke/North Carolina exhibition game between current players will take place next Friday night at Rupp Arena. That’s the night before No. 1 North Carolina plays No. 2 UK at Rupp.

The exhibition is to be entitled “Battle of the Blues” and will include Brandon Knight, Josh Harrelson, Jodie Meeks, Rasheed Wallace, Raymond Felton, Ed Davis, Nolan Smith, Dahntay Jones, Corey Maggette, Kyrie Irving and Elton Brand. More players are to be announced next week.

Rupp Arena has more information.

Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips speaks to media after this morning’s practice at the Nutter Field House. He talks about the quarterback situation.

College basketball on TV tonight:

• Tennessee vs. Chaminade (2:30/ESPNU)
• Georgetown vs. Memphis (5:00/ESPN2)
• Radford at Kentucky (7:00/Fox Sports South)
• VMI at Ohio State (7:00/Big 10 Network)
• Stanford vs. Oklahoma St (7:00/ESPN2)
• Michigan vs. UCLA (7:30/ESPN)
• Oregon at Nebraska (9:00/Big 10 Network)
• Virginia Tech vs. Syracuse (9:30/ESPN2)
• Duke vs. Kansas (10:00/ESPN)

First, ex-UK associate AD Greg Byrne, now AD at Arizona, announced the hiring of his new football coach Rich Rodriguez via twitter.

Now, ex-UK associate AD Scott Stricklin, now AD at Mississippi State, has put a twitter hashtag in the MSU end zone.

When Ole Miss plays Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl on Saturday night in Starkville, the end zones will read #HAILSTATE.

Excerpt:

Chad Thomas, the Mississippi State athletics department’s director of marketing, said he hopes the endzone hashtag will reach beyond just football fans.

“We want to wrap our arms around the casual fans and this is just one way we’re getting our name out to people who might not have any affiliation with us at all,” Thomas said.

Click here to find more pictures of the end zones.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Melillo making impact as senior, writes Jen Smith of H-L.
• Rogers’ numbers look good for UT, writes Andrew Gribble of KNS.
• Teague needs more time, writes Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• Davis’ toughness attainable, reports Tipton.
• Fans missed unique UK experience, says my notes column.