John Clay's Sidelines

When it comes to college basketball on television, it’s former Kentucky coach night. At 7 p.m., you can tune in and find out if Rick Pitino has enough healthy bodies to put on the floor for Louisville to play Villanova. At 8:30, watch Tubby Smith and his Minnesota Gophers attempt to survive the Izzone. Then at 9 p.m., watch Billy Gillispie continue his search for his first Big 12 win at Texas Tech.

If ESPN’s 30 for 30 would do an Eddie Sutton documentary, the night would be set.

I was on Chip Cosby’s new CN/2 show via Skype on Monday. That’s my kitchen, by the way.

(AP photo)

If, for some reason, you don’t want to check out Tennessee-Vanderbilt tonight on the tube, you can keep it on ESPN for the Super Tuesday double header where Michigan meets Matt Painter (above) and Purdue at 7, followed by Kentucky-Georgia at 9.

Jimmy Dykes alert: He’s the color analyst on the Cats and Dawgs.

There are five AP Top 25 teams in action, including Kentucky (1), Baylor (6), San Diego State (13), Marquette (17) and Michigan (20).

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Continue reading ‘Tonight’s TV college hoops schedule and Top 25 roundup’

Full slate of games on Saturday. Kentucky-Alabama is a noon game on CBS. Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel are the broadcast team. Two of the most disappointing Big East teams, Louisville and Pittsburgh, meet in the ESPN GameDay game.

College basketball recommendations for tonight:

• 1. Vanderbilt at Alabama – Watch Vandy’s Kevin Stallings attempt to coach when his mind is consumed with the fact that Kentucky doesn’t have to play a Thursday/Saturday rotation. (I’ll Tivo 30 Rock.)
• 2. North Carolina at Virginia Tech – If the Tar Heels lose again tonight, will Roy Williams just leave his walk-ons in Blacksburg?
• 3. Wake Forest at Duke – Wake has absolutely no shot in this game. You’ve been warned.

Here are your hoops on the tube tonight:

• Michigan State at Michigan (7:00-ESPN): Could be a huge game in the Big 10 with Michigan State and Illinois tied atop the Big 10 at 4-1 and Ohio State and Michigan right behind at 4-2. Michigan is coming off a home loss to Iowa. The Wolverines are expected to get Jon Horford back from injury, but probably not tonight.
• Georgetown at DePaul (7:00-ESPN2): Quick turnaround for Georgetown, which beat St. John’s 69-49 on Sunday. At 4-2, the Hoyas are in a five-way tie for third in the Big East behind Syracuse (7-0) and surprising Cincinnati (4-1). DePaul is 1-4 in the league after falling at Louisville on Saturday.
• Auburn at LSU (7:00-ESPNU): If LSU has any hope of being an NCAA Tournament team, Trent Johnson’s club must take care of visiting Auburn. LSU is coming off back-to-back road losses at Alabama and Arkansas. After tonight, it travels to Florida and Mississippi State. Auburn won its first league game, beating Ole Miss in double overtime on Saturday.
• Iowa at Purdue (8:00-Big 10): Fresh off a 75-59 win over Michigan, Fran “I’ll Slam A Chair If I Want” McCaffery leads Iowa into West Lafayette to meet the Boilermakers. Purdue is coming off tough 67-62 loss to visiting Wisconsin.
• Arkansas at Kentucky (9:00-ESPN): The host Cats will be looking for their 46th straight home win, their 45th at Rupp Arena. In fact, John Calipari has never lost in the friendly confines as the UK coach. First-year Arkansas coach Mike Anderson is 1-1 against the Cats as a head coach. His UAB team upset top-seed Kentucky in the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Arkansas wants to run, run, run. Note: Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes and Shannon Spake comprise the broadcast team tonight.
• Maryland at Florida State (9:00-ESPNU): Can the Seminoles build off the devastation they threw down at North Carolina last Saturday, winning by 33? Leonard Hamilton’s team has won two straight in ACC play. Maryland has won nine of its last 10, but not against the strongest of schedules.

To the chagrin of UK Hoops fans, there’s no TV coverage today of Kentucky’s 3 p.m. visit to South Carolina to face the Lady Gamecocks. You will have to rely on tweets from our very own Jennifer Smith, who is in Columbia to provide coverage, and the smooth sound of Neil Price and the IMG Network.

As for the tube, if you’re watching the Giants-Packers NFL playoff game on FOX, you might want to DVR the 4:30 p.m. Indiana-Ohio State basketball matchup on CBS from Columbus. Indiana won the first matchup in Bloomington. At 6 p.m., Duke travels to Clemson on ESPNU.

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Continue reading ‘Indiana-Ohio State tops today’s hoops on television’

Happy Osborne

It’s a high-noon showdown in K-town as Kentucky visits Tennessee on ESPN. That’s the local highlight of Saturday’s schedule. But there ae some other interesting viewing possibilities:

• Following the Cats and Vols on ESPN, you can root for Leonard Hamilton and Florida State to upset visiting North Carolina.
• At 2 p.m. on ESPNU, you can see just how bad Pittsburgh is, with the Panthers playing at Marquette.
• At 6 p.m. on ESPNU, Murray State puts its unbeaten record on the line when it faces Tennessee Tech. With Happy Osborne as an associate head coach, Tech is off to a 3-1 start in the OVC.