John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader on the bond shared by Kentucky’s new football coaches: “Charlie Strong was happy when he heard the news that Joker Phillips would take over for Rich Brooks as head football coach at the University of Kentucky, and Phillips had the same sentiment when Tom Jurich tabbed Strong to rebuild the program at the University of Louisville. And both Phillips and Strong were glad to see young up-and-comer Willie Taggart get his shot as the head coach at Western Kentucky University in November.”

A Sea of Blue on Calipari taking a break from basketball to visit someone in need: “Calipari did them one better. Unbeknownst to Kevin, Calipari, touched by the story related to him by Ed Schilling, took a plane to Indianapolis and surprised the youngster by personally visiting him in the hospital. As Cal walked through the door, tears began streaming down the cheeks of the extremely ill young man.”

Mark Story of the H-L on Mark Coury, ex-Wildcat now at Cornell: “When he picked Cornell, Coury became the first men’s hoops player ever to leave the basketball factory here in Lexington for the hallowed academic halls of the Ivy League. Yet that’s not the most unlikely part of the story.”

The Big Lead catches DeMarcus Cousins watching at Erin Andrews. (Hat tip to Walter’s Wildcat World.)

Wildcat Blue Blog looks at what UK does for SEC attendance: “Some SEC schools struggle to fill their seats year in and year out, except when the Kentucky Wildcats come to town. Then, the entire community seems to want to have a ticket and cram into the arena like sardines. UK has played 6 road games in the SEC so far this season and I looked at the average home attendance in conference play of those 6 teams and then compared it to the attendance for the Kentucky game.”

Inner Circle wants to forgive Billy Gillispie: “Many people say he only has himself to blame. He was the cause of his own demise. Nobody told him to drink and possibly neglect his players. Nobody told him to treat the media with disregard. Nobody told him to think narrow-mindedly offensively and defensively. Nobody told him to recruit the players he was recruiting.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Calipari takes a break to visit someone in need’

Videos from post-game press conference after Kentucky women completed its home season undefeated with a 71-50 win over visiting South Carolina. On top is UK coach Matthew Mitchell. In the middle is Victoria Dunlap, Amani Franklin and Lydia Watkins. At the bottom is a none-too-happy South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times on Chuck Hayes:In the 63 years of the N.B.A., few teams have had a regular starting center as short as the 6-foot-6 Hayes, and certainly none in recent decades. Hayes is a full foot shorter than Yao Ming, the injured All-Star for whom he is filling in. Dikembe Mutombo, who backed up Yao last season before retiring, is 7-2.”

Doug Robertson of the AJC on NCAA recruiting proposals: “During its annual convention, this year in Atlanta, the NCAA’s Legislative Council will vote on four proposals, two of which seem to be aimed at reducing the influence on the recruiting process that a player’s associates or coaches at the AAU and high school levels can have.”

Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader on tonight’s UK-South Carolina women’s clash: “In this week’s Associated Press poll, there are three teams that have similar records and less difficult schedule strengths than UK, according to RealTimeRPI.com. The Cats’ schedule strength was listed as No. 98. They are No. 29 in the national RPI, according to that site. The ranked teams with the weaker schedules are No. 25 Miami (Fla.) at 13-2, No. 17 Wisconsin-Green Bay, which is undefeated, and No. 9 Baylor (13-2).”

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes on UK’s depth: “Eric Bledsoe took advantage of the opportunity when Florida concentrated – quite sensibly – on containing national player of the year candidate John Wall. Darnell Dodson, who missed all eight shots he took in the previous two games, hit a clutch three-pointer with the game on the line inside the final five minutes.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: New York Times shines light on Chuck Hayes’