John Clay's Sidelines

Rick Pitino changed the mood inside the Louisville basketball program. He backed off. He lightened the mood. He had a laugh. It was a welcome change, apparently. If you watched the Cardinals the last few games, one thing was obvious. Nobody was having any fun. Not the fans. Not the players. Not the coach.

Beating downtrodden Pittsburgh last Saturday was a step in the right direction, but last night in an 84-74 win over Villanova, U of L looked like a different team. They ripped. They ran. They actually scored points — 84. That’s the most Pitino’s team has scored this year since it beat Memphis 95-87 to go 10-0 way back on Dec. 17.

Let’s not get carried away here. Pittsburgh is a mess. Villanova is having an atypical down year. Louisville’s schedule grows tougher, starting with a trip to Seton Hall on Saturday. But if the Cards are going to have a shot at climbing back up the Big East ladder — they are 4-4 after last night’s win — they needed to shake out of the depressing funk that began with the home loss to Georgetown way back on Dec. 28. Looks like they at least done that.

• Louisville’s next five games
• Sept. 28 at Seton Hall
• Feb. 4 at home vs. Rutgers
• Feb. 6 at home vs UConn
• Feb. 11 at West Virginia
• Feb. 13 at home vs. Syracuse

(H-L photo/Jonathan Palmer)

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• UK women have evolved since first loss to Georgia, writes Jen Smith of the H-L.
• Kentucky hoops playing for seeding, writes T.J. Walker of the Kernel.
• The Jasmines clicking for Georgia women, writes Roger Clarkson of Banner-Herald.
• Dunlap’s family never far away on game day, writes Mark Story of the H-L.
• Kentucky on L.J. Rose’s list, reports Dime Magazine.
• Cal says Cats need to avoid late-game extremes, reports Jerry Tipton of the H-L.
• Cats having trouble with foes’ three-pointers, reports Aaron Smith of the Kernel.
• The numbers when it comes to guarding the perimeter, provided by Tailgate Review.
• Cats won Tuesday because they were home, says State-Journal’s Brian Rickerd.
• Mitch Barnhart bans the SkyCam, reports Tipton.
• Hopefully, that’s last we see of that camera, writes Jeff Eisenberg of The Dagger.
• Minutes are adding up for UK’s players, writes Richard Skinner of the Enquirer.

Continue reading ‘BBL: UK women at Georgia; UK men need to stop the 3′

Update: Meiners confirms he’s out.

Our friend over at KSR is tweeting this morning that WHAS personality Terry Meiners has been replaced on all U of L broadcasts because of criticism of the school administration.

Matt Jones is also claiming that U of L is not giving access to Rick Pitino because of the station’s coverage of Karen Sypher.

Don’t know if this is true, but do know that Jones is friends with Meiners, and does the UK post-game call-in shows on WHAS. So it stands to reason he has his sources.

And thanks to @BigBlueBass, who led us to this Meiners-Pitino interview from years past.

More of John Calipari’s media opp before Tuesday’s practice. The first clip has Cal talking about Florida, and the Gators’ point guard, Kenny Boynton.

The second clip has Cal talking about DeAndre Liggins, Daniel Orton and how he wants his teams to go after 50-50 balls.

(AP photo/Ethan Hyman)

SEC links for Monday:

• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reports on Florida’s miracle win at North Carolina State.
• Edward Robinson of the Raleigh News and Observer writes on the last-second decision.
• Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that Tennessee AD wants facts on arrests.
• John Adams of the News-Sentinel writes that the punishment must fit the crime.
• Kyle Veazey of Clarion-Ledger previews tonight’s Western Kentucky-Mississippi State matchup.
• Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News reports that Alabama built a privacy fence at its practice field.
• Ray Melick of the Birmingham News writes that Nick Saban, BCS title game and fun don’t mix.
• Tommy Hicks of the Mobile Press-Register writes that the SEC hasn’t lost its swagger.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Florida wins on 75-footer at buzzer’

(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’

(H-L photo/David Perry)

Updated with this from ESPN’s Chris Low: “If Kentucky does this coming Saturday what it’s failed to do every year since 1984 – and that’s beat Tennessee – the SEC Coach of the Year Award this season should take its rightful place in Lexington, Ky. The more you watch this team play, the more respect you gain for what Rich Brooks has done with this team.”

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader reports from Athens on UK’s football win over Georgia: “But in the final two quarters, the Wildcats morphed into a team that looked ready to make a trip to Tampa or Atlanta for bowl season.”

• My column from Athens saying Rich Brooks was proud of the second-half win.

• Herald-Leader’s Mark Story writes on John Wall: “Wall’s arsenal of new-age weaponry was on full display in Kentucky’s 92-63 spanking of cold-shooting Rider on Saturday in Rupp Arena. Yet the 6-foot-4 freshman’s ability to wow was not the most encouraging aspect of his third college game.”

• The H-L’s Jerry Tipton reports on UK’s win over Rider: “Offense. Defense. The Cats put on a five-star performance in its last warm-up before going to the five-star Moon Palace resort for the Cancun Challenge semifinals Tuesday.”

• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal was also in Athens for the UK football win: It was UK’s first win in Athens since 1977 – the year the Cats’ current coach, Rich Brooks, took Oregon to Sanford Stadium in his first game as a collegiate head coach. In that game 32 years ago, Brooks’ team held a late lead and lost.”

• Darrell Bird of the Cats Pause was at Sanford Stadium for UK’s breakthrough: “It took exactly one play for the tide to turn. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Moncell Allen delivered a crushing tackle that jarred the ball loose and Matt Roark recovered. Two plays and 14 yards later, Kentucky had made it a ball game at 20-13 less than one minute into the second half.”

• My old Lexington Leader friend C. Ray Hall, of the Courier-Journal, covered UK’s basketball win: Basketball can be a funny game. Even at Kentucky. Preparing for Saturday’s game against Rider, the University of Kentucky men’s team watched film of its recent defensive lapses. It could have been a horror show for the players. It turned into a comedy.”

• B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel also made the long drive to Athens: “The noise was deafening. It came through concrete walls and steel doors, a beat on a metal locker loud enough to march armies and chants so earsplitting they could have woken the dead. Hearing the UK football team celebrate in the locker room after its 34-27 upset win over the Georgia Bulldogs, a nervous police officer gripped the doorknob, as though he had to physically keep the chaos inside from escaping into the outside world.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: What they said from Athens on the UK football win’

Here’s SEC basketball roundup after first weekend:

• Mississippi State, ranked 18th, passed out SEC Tournament title rings in a pre-game ceremony, then went out and lost to Rider 88-74 before 7,421 at Humphrey Coliseum.

• Remember, Rider plays Kentucky next Saturday in Rupp.

• In Kyle Veazey’s game story for Clarion-Ledger, Rider coach Tommy Dempsey said, “I know that most of you don’t know much about us, about Rider, or even the MAAC conference, but we have a good basketball team and we play in a great conference.”

• State coach Rick Stansbury: “Everybody understands now when I said how good Rider is, how good they are. They were just better than us.”

• Rider made 10 of 16 of its 3-point shots and committed all of six turnovers.

• Kodi Augustus, who scored nine points and had five rebounds in 15 minutes after starting, told reporters after the game that he wasn’t pleased with his playing time. “I played all these minutes in the exhibition games and I played 15 minutes? Wow,” Augustus said.

• Alabama lost to Cornell 71-67 in Anthony Grant’s debut. Cornell is the two-time defending Ivy League champion.

• Ex-Kentucky forward Mark Coury had six points and five rebounds for Cornell, which had not beaten a current SEC team since 1972-73.

• JaMychal Green led the Tide with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

• Crowd was listed at 10,135 fans, and attendance was surely hurt by football team playing 90 minutes away Saturday night at Mississippi State.

Continue reading ‘SEC basketball roundup after first weekend’

Update: And this from one happy customer — @jwh323: After the student only practice, all I can say is @UKCoachCalipari is no doubt the right man for the job and this team is going to be sick.

Update No. 2: This from former Kernel columnist and Facebook friend Jon Hale: “most interesting part was Wayne Turner, technically a student I guess, watching from the front row.”

UK students are at the student-only UK basketball practice — no media — and students being students, they know how to (a) take pictures with their phones, and (b) use Twitter.

BTW, my friends over at Kentucky Sports Radio also have some student-only practice pix.

Eric Lindsey at Cat Scratches, who did nothing to save me when I was nearly flattened at the UK volleyball match Wednesday, has more pictures from the student-only practice.

Photo by @chubbarth)

(Photo by @SIX_EIGHT)

(Photo by @justinmc44)

Continue reading ‘Twitter pix from student-only UK practice’

If you know of one I’ve missed let me know, but here looks to be the college football games on TV this weekend: