John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo)

The two hot UK topics for today’s Big Blue Links are the one player who said he is staying, though few may believe him, and the one player who is unexpectedly leaving.

Almost as big as Kentucky clinching its 45th SEC title over the weekend was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s comment to a question in which the freshman said he was definitely returning for his sophomore season. MKG later threw some water on that with a tweet. Then John Calipari on Monday (rightly) indicated that there’s a long time between now and the time players must declare for the draft in June.

Continue reading ‘BBL: One Cat says he is staying while one is told to go’

(H-L photo/Jonathan Palmer)

Big Blue and SEC links for Monday:

- Jennifer Smith of Herald-Leader from Starkville, Mississippi on UK women winning first SEC basketball title in 30 years: “Kentucky couldn’t have scripted it any better. The No. 13 Cats clinched their first Southeastern Conference title in 30 years with an emphatic 76-40 win at Mississippi State on Sunday. They didn’t need a dominant performer in this dominant win. As they had all season, the Cats relied on defense to be the star, forcing 33 Mississippi State turnovers, which they turned into 32 points at Humphrey Coliseum.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: UK women hang a title banner of their own’

(H-L photo/Pablo Alcala)

Big Blue links for Friday:

• Smith: UK women beat South Carolina, take sole possession of first place
• Story: UK women show championship mettle when needed
• Herald-Leader photo gallery from UK-South Carolina women’s game
• Smith: A win was more important than senior nostalgia
• Arkansas beats host Lady Vols in overtime 72-71
• Adams: Winning close games not Lady Vols forte
• Tipton: Vandy’s Jenkins is an efficient, deadly shooter
• Vaught: Stansbury says current Cats are better than 1996 national champs
• Kernel: UK women clinch a share of SEC basketball title
• Cat Scratches: Cats survive thrilling finish to beat South Carolina
• Cats Illustrated: Turned out to be a perfect night for UK women
• Cats Pause: Cats clinch share of first-ever SEC regular-season women’s title
• Sea of Blue: Tracking official recruiting visits
• Shabazz Muhammad earns MVP honors

Continue reading ‘BBL: Arkansas lends Kentucky women a helping hand’

Thayer Evans may have his doubts about this Kentucky basketball team, but Shane Ryan of Bill Simmons’ Grantland and Luke Winn, SI.com’s college basketball numbers expert, are both bullish on the Cats. After all, John Calipari’s club is 27-1 and 13-0 in the SEC as we wind down to the final week of the regular season. Selection Sunday is two weeks from this Sunday.

This must be one strange morning because not only am I linking to KSR, I’m actually promoting one of its posts.A reader did some research on what has happened to the players Billy Gillispie was going to bring to Lexington. As laid out in black-and-white it’s a frightening look at what might have happened to Kentucky basketball, as compared to what is actually happening now.

OK, I think I’ve italicized enough words for one morning. On to the links.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• Terrible truth about Kentucky, says Shane Ryan of Grantland.
• Where Billy G’s guys are now, by KSR.
• Willingness to play together serves UK well, says my column.
• A 14-year-old 7-footer has heard from UK, reports Jody Demling of C-J.
• UK among eight that could cut down nets, says Luke Winn of SI.com.

Sorry for the travel-induced delay, but here are some links of interest, most pertaining to tonight’s Cats-Dogs battle at The Hump:

• MSU another foe looking to make a name, writes Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• UK women beat Vandy to stop skid, reports Jen Smith of H-L.
• Bluegrass State kind of college hoops, writes H-L’s Mark Story.
• Forget the praise, it’s Cats and Dogs, writes Brandon Marcello of C-L.
• UK expects State to bring its A-game, reports Kyle Tucker of C-J.
• State riding a three-game skid, reports Brad Locke of Daily Journal.
• Poythress a likable leader, reports Larry Vaught of Advocate-Messenger.

The Monday schedule of college basketball games tonight, including Kentucky-Vanderbilt women. Pam Ward will be doing the play-by-play with former Connecticut All-American Rebecca Lobo, who also happens to be the wife of writer Steve Rushin, doing the color.

• 7:00 Connecticut at Villanova (ESPN)
• 7:00 Texas Southern at Mississippi Valley (ESPNU)
• 7:00 Ohio State at Penn State women (ESPN2)
• 9:00 Baylor at Texas (ESPN)
• 9:00 DePaul at St. John’s (ESPNU)
• 9:00 Vanderbilt at Kentucky women (ESPN2)

Big game for the Kentucky women tonight as Vanderbilt comes to Memorial Coliseum for a 9 p.m. start on ESPN2. Matthew Mitchell’s club has lost three straight games, including a Thursday night loss in which UK trailed 50-28 at halftime at lowly Alabama. Kentucky needs a win tonight to re-tie Tennessee atop the SEC standings.

Meanwhile, just when some experts were hinting that UCLA was leading on Shabazz Muhammad and Syracuse was the school to beat on Nerlens Noel, ESPNU recruiting expert Paul Biancardi tweeted that he still considers Kentucky to be the “heavy favorite” for both Class of 2013 2012 standouts.

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Mitchell stays positive, reports Jen Smith of Herald-Leader.
• UK heavy favorite to get Shabazz and Noel, tweets ESPN’s Paul Biancardi.
• State faces tall order vs. No. 1 UK, reports Brandon Marcello of C-L.
• San Francisco bar turns blue when UK plays, reports Larry Vaught of A-M.

Danny Travathan picked up an award during Saturday's game. (H-L photo/Jonathan Palmer)

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• Kentucky tops Ole Miss 77-62 for 50th consecutive home win, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Terrence Jones’ first double-double came out of necessity, reports Tipton as part of his post-game notes.
• Practice habits help Kyle Wiltjer deliver when called upon, says my game column. The freshman provided a lift with 10 first-half points.
• Wildcats prove to be too much for Ole Miss, reports Hugh Kellenberger of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy is a Wildcat believer, writes Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal.
• UK easily defeats Ole Miss, reports Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal.
• Cats do just enough to beat the Rebels, writes Matt May of the Cats Pause.
• Ole Miss on wrong side of Kentucky streak, reports the AP.
• The list of ways to beat Kentucky are dwindling, writes Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Wiltjer sparks the Kentucky win, says Brian Rickerd of the State-Journal.
• Ole Miss coach has no doubts about how good Kentucky really is, writes Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• Super Subs Miller and Wiltjer propel Cats past Rebels, writes Guy Ramsey of Cat Scratches.

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Alabama hands Kentucky women third straight loss, reports John Zenor of AP.
• Alabama women hold on for win, reports Don Kausler of Birmingham News.
• Bama’s first win over Top 10 team since 2000, reports Meredith Qualls of News.
• Lady Vols win to tie UK for first place, reports Dan Fleser of News-Sentinel.
• Tee Martin’s departure hurts on two fronts, writes Mark Story of H-L.
• Kentucky baseball wants to end slide, reports Kyle Tucker of the C-J.
• UK basketball stats to get ready for Ole Miss, from Herald-Leader.
• Softball growing out of underdog role, writes Guy Ramsey of Cat Scratches.
• Snowcats provide big adventure, writes Paul Martin of Kentucky Kernel.
• The Cats Meow? asks Ken Howlett of A Sea of Blue.
• Cats seek perfection, writes Mike Huguenin of Yahoo Sports.
• Kentucky in perfect position, writes Robbie Andreu of Gainesville Sun.
• More on Noel’s upcoming visit to UK, from espn.com.
• Is Davis the next Kevin Garnett? asks Jordan Schultz of Huffington Post.