John Clay's Sidelines

Daily Randoms for a Monday:

Back from the Preakness, where there were numerous interesting sites. A couple happened back at the Pimlico Stakes Barn, just an hour before the race. There was Bob Baffert talking to gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn. The two had been introduced by Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden. Then there was Baffert trying to find a photographer to get his son Bode’s picture taken with Vonn. A few minutes later, you could hear the buzz of planes overhead. First was a plane carrying a “Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club: Free admission w/race tix” banner. Then came a “Millstream Inn/millstreamgirls.com: Free drink with race ticket” banner. Both circled the infield. They obviously new their target audience.

During the post-race press conference, a rambunctious Bode Baffert ran up to the head table, grabbed a reporter’s microphone and ran off. “Bode, you can’t do that,” said his dad Bob, laughing. But Bode did. And no one stopped him, either.

Check out the Herald-Leader photo slide show.

As for the Belmont, seems the Boston Herald has the right headline.

Those persistent Calipari-NBA rumors. John Calipari tweeted this morning “Now do I have to respond to these rumors too?” Answer: No. He doesn’t have to tweet either. Or keep talking to the national press. But he does, because he’s Cal. And because he’s Cal, and because of LeBron’s connections to WWW and Leon Rose, these rumors are not going to die. Not anytime soon. Doesn’t matter what Calipari says or tweets. He’s a coach. When it comes to coaches, we have learned to take anything they say with regards to jobs with a large bag of salt.

As for LeBron, a (small) part of me wonders about all the fuss. What exactly has LeBron done? He’s been one to NBA finals, where his team was swept. It lost in the conference finals last year, and semifinals this year. It has underachieved. I know LBJ doesn’t have the Lakers supporting cast, but doesn’t some of that fall back on him, especially the way his effort flat-lined at end of Boston series? And it’s just May 17 and I’m already sick of the free agent angle.

Continue reading ‘Preakness, Cal, Boss sings Journey, and more randoms’

Big Blue Links for Monday:

Nation of Blue tackles the controversy over fan comments on Daniel Orton’s Facebook page:

Facebook requires people to approve their friends, unless the person doesn’t set up their account as private. Daniel Orton does have his setup for private. Is it really right to post negative comments from a fan on a UK player’s facebook to a public forum for all to see and hence creating a witch hunt? It was already posted on twitter, which probably a low percentage of people use anyway. Two wrongs don’t make it right.

Chris Setters of Kentucky Ink on the Facebook saga with Orton:

With the rumor mill spinning out of control for the last week it has undoubtedly frustrated some fans which is okay because everyone has their opinions on matters. What isn’t okay is when fans take it upon themselves to get ahold of players on their twitter accounts and facebook’s.

Seth Davis sent out this tweet:

Check out what an actual grown man wrote on college kid Daniel Orton’s Facebook page. What a jerk. http://twitpic.com/1d93id

Kentucky Sports Zone has a recommendation:

The Daniel Orton saga continued with Daniel posting the message he received on facebook. If you read my post below you’ll know how I feel about the situation. We here at Kentucky Sports Zone don’t condone retaliation against the guy who’s giving Orton crap. Of course, we don’t condone NOT retaliating either. Use your best judgement. Bottom line, I would suggest when dealing with players facebook and twitter, feel free to praise them publicly all you want. If you aren’t satisfied with them though, I highly suggest you save it for discussions around the water cooler and not post it to the players.

James Pennington of the Kentucky Kernel on the rumor mill:

Surely no one could make up a story about Daniel Orton’s future at UK. That’s why over the weekend, according to all of the rumors that popped up: He dropped his classes at UK, re-enrolled, moved to California, came back to Lexington and then ended up back in California to finish his classes by correspondence so the Cats don’t lose a scholarship next year. All of this surfaced amid the looming Final Four, and it seemed like everyone in Lexington who wasn’t busy rooting for Shelvin Mack and Butler instantly bought into it.

Hawgs Illustrated reports on Arkansas’ grand slam walk-off 17-16 win over Kentucky baseball:

“I don’t know how many games I’ve been involved in as an assistant, as a player, as a head coach, but that might be the craziest game I’ve been involved in,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “There was a lot of emotion and both teams really wanted to win. They had a five-run lead, we had an eight-run lead and then all of a sudden we’re down to our last strike.”

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader on how UK’s football jucos expect to step up:

Looking back on it, the level of expectation for junior-college transfers DeQuin Evans and Chris Matthews was probably unrealistic. The talent was there, as both players were four-star prospects out of Harbor College in Los Angeles. But the duo didn’t arrive in Lexington until late summer, missing a good portion of off-season workouts and time to bond with teammates and learn UK’s schemes.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Daniel Orton’s Facebook controversy’

Mark Fox

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader reports that John Calipari isn’t saying slump: “So when does Kentucky’s poor three-point shooting – 12-for-73 in the last four games and next to last among Southeastern Conference teams through 14 league games – go from a “spell” to a “slump” to a “problem?” ‘It becomes a problem if you’re losing a bunch of games in a row because of it,’ Calipari said.”

Mark Bradley of the AJC thinks Georgia’s Mark Fox is the SEC Coach of the Year: “Coach of the year awards don’t always go to those who win their conferences, but seldom are they bestowed on someone who enters the final days of the regular season tied for last in a division. I speak here of Mark Fox, and he should be the exception. He should be the SEC’s coach of the year.”

John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectus thinks Fox should get national honors: “Now that it’s March you’ll see a flurry of awards being bestowed and disputed. I decided to get in on the ground floor. First-year Georgia head coach Mark Fox is my choice as 2010 national coach of the year. Over the past four years no unit, offense or defense, has improved year-to-year as much in major-conference play as the Georgia offense has this year.”

Jennifer Smith of the H-L on UK women’s post-season awards sweep: “But after the program swept all of the major SEC awards on Tuesday afternoon, it’s probably safe to say that won’t happen again next season. In a vote of conference coaches announced by the league on Tuesday, UK Coach Matthew Mitchell claimed coach of the year, and junior Victoria Dunlap was named player of the year. A’dia Mathies was honored as freshman of the year.”

Tim Tucker of the AJC writes that Kentucky will test Georgia’s home streak: “The Bulldogs wrap up their home schedule Wednesday night against Kentucky in Stegeman Coliseum, which has turned into quite the home-court advantage this season. Georgia is 12-3 in Stegeman, including victories over three nationally ranked opponents (Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt) and all four SEC East opponents to visit thus far (Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida).”

Meanwhile, here’s more video of John Calipari talking to the media on Tuesday:

Continue reading ‘BBL: Is Georgia’s Mark Fox the coach of the year?’

Here are the updated UK game-by-game stats, through Auburn:

• Kentucky basketball team game-by-game team stats in an Excel file using Google Docs.

• Kentucky basketball individual game-by-game stats in an Excel file using Google Docs.

Three notes from John Calipari’s meeting with media before Kentucky takes on Austin Peay on Saturday at Rupp Arena:

• 1. Before Calipari met with the media, UK sports information director DeWayne Peevy told the media that Calipari would address Bob Knight’s comments from the night before. But Peevey wanted to “clear up” a couple of items of misinformation. He said that UMass was never on probation after Calipari coached there. And that the NCAA ruling on Memphis is under appeal.

• 2. When Calipari did meet with us, he tried as best he could to shrug off Knight’s comments. He said that he and his staff even went to Lubbock and spent time at a Texas Tech practice and how helpful that experience turned out to be. He talked about his respect for Knight and his coaching accomplishments. It was a “take the high road” response with a dash of “he’s been nice to me” thrown in.

• 3. Cal was asked a couple of Kngiht follow-ups and deflected both with a quick “next question.” He spent the rest of the time talking about how Saturday would be a tough game, and how badly his team has practiced this week. The team backed that up by saying one day Calipari allowed them to practice as a group on their own, without the head coach’s supervision. It didn’t get so well. Josh Harrellson said the team “went wild.” When Calipari saw the tape he hit the roof. On a scale of 1-10, Calipari’s anger was a “10,” said Eric Bledsoe. (That might have been Calipari’s real reaction to Knight’s comments, but he ain’t saying.)

Here are the videos:

Update: Gary Parrish says this is the way it’s going to be for UK fans. Get used to it.

Some Twitter reaction on the Bob Knight-John Calipari throwdown:

• @Bo memiles86er: “bob knight gets punished for his coaching style, the schools coach cal coaches get punished and cal gets off the hook” (mike and mike)

• @thskidmore: Good for Bobby Knight. I love that he called out John Calipari. NCAA should punish coaches like Calipari for rules that the coaches broke!

• @jschlitt: Bobby Knight called out John Calipari for having to vacate two Final Fours? He’s now my favorite person on ESPN not named Erin Andrews.

• @radar1408: @GreenyAndGolic really, Bobby knight questioning somone’s integrity(John calipari). He’s at least made me laugh 2day

• @PaulKatcher: Bobby Knight chides John Calipari in speech. And he’s right. Coach Cal illuminates the hypocrisy that is college hoops http://bit.ly/7LOIPC (expand)

• @VanillaVelvet: is wow… Bob Knight said Calipari doesnt have integrity.. i guess Calipari has to choke players and throw chairs to get integrity!!

• @petekoutoulas: Bobby Knight blasts John Calipari’s “lack of integrity.” My granny would say that’s like the pot calling the kettle black.

Continue reading ‘Twitter reaction to Knight calling out Calipari’

Here are updated Kentucky game-by-game basketball stats through the win over UConn.

• Here is a spreadsheet of UK’s team game-by-game stats, using Google Docs.

• Here is a spreadsheet of UK’s individual game-by-game stats, using Google Docs.

World Wide Wes sat in front row of end zone in front of Kentucky cheering section. (Photo by John Clay)

Here at Madison Square Garden for UK-Connecticut:

• Kentucky wins 64-61.

• Wall somehow drives to basket and muscles in an and-one, then makes foul shot to give Kentucky a 63-61 lead over UConn. Huskies call time with 26.6 left.

• By the way, this has been a terrific game.

• Kentucky hasn’t scored since 3:00 mark and now trails Connecticut 61-60 with 48.7 left. Bledsoe has joined Orton on bench with five fouls.

• John Wall has scored nine of last 11 for Kentucky and Cats hanging at Garden, leading 60-57 over Connecticut with 2:52 left. Wall has 20. Orton has just fouled out with 2:52 left. That could be big. He has banged bodies all night. Edwards has come up huge for Huskies, with 16 points. Dyson has just four in second half.

• Wild back and forth with Kentucky clinging 56-53 over Connecticut with 4:51 left.

• Kentucky leads 49-46 with 7:59 left but this indeed has a heavyweight feel at the Garden that should go down to the buzzer. Wall has made a couple of freshman errors, including one just before the TV time, which had Calipari up off the bench and in his ear. World Wide Wes, Ron Harper, and Chris Douglas-Roberts are all taking it in behind the Kentucky cheerleaders.

• Here’s that run we were looking for, as Kentucky now within one, 40-39, of UConn with 11:35 left. Cats finally make a 3. Patterson does it. He has 14 points to lead Cats. Wall has 10.

• UConn up 33-28 as Kentucky has yet to make a run early in 2H. Wall did score his first basket since 16:27 of first half. No made 3s by either team to this point. There’s 15:36 left.

• The 23 is fewest first-half points for Kentucky this year. Next lowest? The 32 versus Stanford in the Cancun Challenge.

Continue reading ‘Liveblog: Kentucky-Connecticut basketball’

(AP photo/John Amis)

Program note: I’ll be liveblogging from Rich Brooks’ final Monday press luncheon of season. The coach usually addresses the media around 12:10 or 12:15. So check back.
Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader writes a follow on the UK football win: “A game where you get outgained 487-260 and still manage to pull out a win might be described by some as ugly. But to Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks, the Wildcats’ 34-27 come-from-behind win was a thing of beauty in its own way.”

• My column on how Brooks has chased away the ghosts of the past: These Cats no longer slip on the banana peel; they have the team speed and determination to fly right past it. See, it’s funny how suddenly the breaks start evening out, or even bounce your way when you have talent.”

• Jen Smith of the H-L reports on UK women basketball’s 4-0 start: “Kentucky’s defense held Chattanooga to just 13 points in the final 12 minutes of the game. The Mocs managed just one field goal in a nearly seven-minute span while UK went on a 13-2 run.“

• Nick Craddock of the Kentucky Kernel also reports on the women’s win: “The UK women’s basketball team’s torrid offensive start to the season turned tepid Sunday as UK looked for a solution. The answer was defensive intensity, and the result was a 65-55 victory over Chattanooga in front of 4,301 fans at Memorial Coliseum.”

• Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal writes on UK basketball’s front-line: “It also means this: After two seasons of having essentially nobody to ensure that it was dangerous strategy to double-team him, Patterson now has two frontcourt friends capable of forcing the defense to play him honest.”

• Tom Leach thinks it’s the power of the blune pants: “For Saturday’s game at Georgia, the Cats donned blue pants with their white road jerseys–the same look they wore to victory in the Liberty Bowl after the players lobbied Brooks for the change. Only, this time, it wasn’t done because of player requests. Brooks made the move himself, to try and put a little spark in his team.“

Continue reading ‘BBL: Kentucky football day-afters, and other links’

Several clips of UK coach John Calipari talking to the media before today’s practice.

There will be four are five clips in all. Click the continue button to see the other clips.

Here Calipari talks about his team’s defense against the 3-pointer.

Continue reading ‘Video: John Calipari before today’s practice’