John Clay’s Sidelines

(AP photo)

Big Blue Links for Saturday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader on tonight’s battle of the blurs:

Kentucky point guard John Wall, certainly no cartoon figure although his exploits this season tested the bounds of credulity, might give Aminu a new perspective on speed when the teams play in the NCAA Tournament second round Saturday night.

DeMarcus Cousins certainly thought so. He frowned and shook his head, as if in pity, at the suggestion that someone believed Smith was faster than Wall.

Mark Story of the Herald-Leader on how Wake plans to agitate Big Cuz:

Will Rogers - who famously said he never met a man he didn’t like - never encountered Chas (pronounced Chase) McFarland on a basketball court.

In its Feb. 22 edition, ESPN The Magazine featured the Wake big man with a headline that asked “why does everyone, no, really, everyone, want to take a swing at Chas McFarland?”

Jennifer Smith of the H-L previews UK women’s NCAA opener:

Matthew Mitchell isn’t from Kentucky, but he often sounds as though he might be.

When the coach talks about UK basketball and what it means to the commonwealth, he sounds as though he spent his childhood shooting hoops in his driveway re-enacting the 1978 national championship.

“Kentucky is such a unique place and the passion for basketball is so strong here,” he told the media gathered before No. 19 UK’s start in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall.

Luke DeCock of the Raliegh News and Observer writes that Wake has reason to smile:

When Wake Forest’s players entered the interview room at the New Orleans Arena on Wednesday, there was little interest and a lot of gloom. As the last of eight teams to proceed to the podium, pushing East Coast deadlines at 7 p.m. Central Time, Wake was questioned only by three North Carolina reporters and one local reporter — and given the Demon Deacons’ run of five losses in six games, it was a grim line of inquiry.

Forty-eight hours later, the Deacons were back, and they couldn’t stop smiling. Thursday’s overtime win over Texas took an unimaginable amount of pressure off Wake Forest, from last season’s upset by Cleveland State to this season’s slide to the finish. As the Deacons prepared to play Kentucky tomorrow, there’s suddenly reason for optimism.

Dan Collins of the Winston-Salem Journal reports that Wake knows what it faces:

The challenge will now be to take the floor with the same passion and intensity for tonight’s game against No. 1 seed Kentucky, scheduled for around 8:30 at New Orleans Arena. The Wildcats, who steamrolled East Tennessee State 100-71 Thursday, will be as heavily favored as one would expect a 32-2 team playing an opponent that is 20-10.

There’s no guarantee that the Deacons’ best effort will be enough. But anything less could obviously make for a long day against the brawny and fast Wildcats.

Lenox Rawlings of the Journal thinks Wake has a shot:

That’s not saying the Deacons will upset the No. 2 choice for the NCAA championship, behind Kansas. That’s not saying the Deacons will come closer than the nine-point spread. That’s not saying John Wall should haul his sweet dribble to the NBA before sundown Sunday, driven out of town by that one-man Texas posse Ish Smith.

But stranger things have happened. N.C. State beat Houston in 1983. Villanova beat Georgetown in 1985. In this year’s first round, deep seeds Ohio U., Murray State and Cornell flipped the tables on Sweet 16 pretenders Georgetown, Vanderbilt and Temple.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Deacons stand between Sweet 16 and Kentucky’

This from the in-box:

You might find this interesting. A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were watching Kansas playing somebody. The TV broadcast crew was Bob Knight and Brent Mussberger. During the broadcast and usually during time-outs, they would do promos about upcoming games. They did a couple that day with UK and an upcoming opponent. After the last promo involving UK, my wife said something to the effect: Did you notice that neither Bob Knight or nor Brent Mussberger ever said the word “Kentucky”.

They would dance around it by referring to that first place team in the SEC or something to that effect but, they would not say the word “Kentucky”. Well,we just watched Kansas beat Kansas State and the game was broadcast by Bob Knight and Brent Mussberger. Guess what? They did it again! At no time did they say the word “Kentucky” during a promo. They would say Georgia Tech vs. Duke and Mississippi State vs. the regular season SEC winner but, they would never say “Kentucky”. Think maybe Bob Knight had something to do with that? Our only explanation was that they must suffer from “Wildcat Phobia”. It was kinda funny, really.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Saturday:

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes that it was John Wall to the rescue for UK’s win over Alabama.
• My column on Kentucky-Tennessee, round three.
• Tipton leads his post-game notes with UK failing the board test.
• Herald-Leader photo slide show from Kentucky’s win over Alabama.
• Jennifer Brooks of the Tennessean reports that Kentucky fans have overrun Nashville.
• John Wall doesn’t need perfection to shine, writes Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal writes that shaken Cats must now shake off Tennessee.
• Matt May of the Cats Pause says Kentucky survived, and advanced.
• Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel on Tennessee’s win over Ole Miss, setting up the Cats-Vols semifinal.
• It’ll be all about passion and emotion today, says Griffith.
• Wayne Chism has the energy of urgency, writes John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• David Climer of the Tennessean writes that this semifinal will stoke the fires.
• Michael Compton of the Bowling Green Daily News on the Kentucky victory Friday.
• Tom Leach says Kentucky played Wall ball.

(H-L photo)

Continue reading ‘BBL: All the links for Kentucky-Tennessee, part 3′

Here are Patrick Patterson talking to the media after UK’s 58-56 win at Vanderbilt.

Because of a tight deadline and an iffy wireless situation here at the Humphrey Coliseum, we will dispense with the Cover it Live format and go with an old school liveblog for tonight’s Kentucky-Mississippi State. Check here or on my twitter account for updates.

• Kentucky wins 81-75 in overtime.

• Overtime at The Hump. 67-67. This is State’s second straight overtime game. Bulldogs beat Auburn in OT here on Saturday. Liggins missed a contest shot from corner at buzzer.

• Barry Stewart throws up a double-pump airball. Out of bounds. UK ball with 6.2 left.

• Patterson hits baseline jumper and we’re tied at 67. State calls time with 30.4 left. There’s 27 left on shot clock.

• State up 67-65 but Kentucky has ball with 51.8 left.

• Even though Jarvis Varnado fouled out with 5:08 left, Mississippi State still leads Kentucky 65-60 with 3:15 left. Dee Bost leads all scorers with 17, but Osby’s pogo-stick tip-in of a Bost missed three, giving Bulldogs the five-point lead, may be the game’s biggest basket to this point.

• Cousins is answering the call — get it? — scores five key points, then Pat jams and Kentucky leads 58-54 with 7:41 left at The Hump. Cousins and Patterson each have 15 on the night. Wall has 13. Bost leads all scorers with 17.

• Kentucky back in front 51-49 with 11:39 left at Mississippi State. Looks like this one could go to wire. Varnado still out with 4 fouls.

• Mississippi State up 42-38 with 15:52 left, but Bulldogs center Jarvis Varnado has four fouls. DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe each have three fouls. Kentucky has made two of 14 three-pointers. State’s Barry Stewart leads all scorers with 14 points. Dee Bost has 13.

• Kentucky missed 11 of 12 three-pointers in the first half, yet still led by three at the break.

• Kentucky up 32-29 on Mississippi State at half, but Calipari hung around so he could have a word with the officials.

• Kentucky leads Mississippi State 29-22 with 3:52 left in first half. Patrick Patterson and John Wall each have nine points. Darius Miller has seen quite a bit of action to this point, and has four points. But he just fouled on a three-point try for the Bulldogs.

Continue reading ‘Liveblog: Kentucky-Mississippi State’

Updated: Poll question added at bottom of post.

John Calipari just sent out a twit pic of photo shoot for Slam Magazine, which apparently has UK players in the new uniforms.

By the way, if you read comments, some think Wall’s jersey reads: “KENTCUKY”.

Updates: Walter’s Wildcat World has some tight shots of the unis. So does Kentucky Sports Radio.

Jay Williams

Former Duke star Jay Williams will be teaming with Rob Stone when ESPNU telecasts the Kentucky-Alabama game on Tuesday night. That makes it a good time to put Jay up for our Media Approval Ratings.

So what say you on Jay, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Seth Davis, Greg Anthony, Clark Kellogg, Bill Raftery, Jimmy Dykes, Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale

Videos of DeMarcus Cousins talking about (a) his feelings about Alabama, Kentucky’s opponent on Tuesday night, and (b) the beating he takes underneath the basket. Cousins is from the great state of Alabama, but says it was a “bad situation” as far as himself and the Crimson Tide. In the second video, Big Cuz talks about how opponents are playing him.