John Clay's Sidelines

Antonie Walker (AP photo)

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

Ken Berger of CBS Sports: “To the business types and families crammed in this vessel with a former NBA All-Star, the only priorities were a palatable meal and a clean connection. The tall, athletic-looking man in his mid-30s could have passed for a neighbor or a youth basketball coach or just another traveler coping with the misery of the road. The only giveaway — the lone symbol of Antoine Walker’s long and accomplished NBA career — was worn on his head.” (Hat tip All Ky Hoops)

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader: “Of course, freshman Jarrod Polson was nervous when Kentucky Coach John Calipari ordered him into the game at South Carolina last weekend. It was the first significant minutes for a player perceived to be a human victory cigar. Nothing more. ‘Yeah, a little bit,’ he said Wednesday. ‘I’m not going to lie. I was a little bit nervous. But at the same time, I tried to keep my composure.’”

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger: “Forget about the winning lottery numbers or even when it might quit snowing. Those answers don’t matter. What matters is this – where is Boyle County linebacker Lamar Dawson going to play his college football? Dawson has less than a week now before his 9 a.m. press conference on Feb. 2 – the first day of the national signing period – when he’ll pick either Kentucky, Tennessee, Oregon, Southern California or Central Florida.”

Matt Dover of Roll Bama Roll: “The second uncommitted player Bama is targeting is Trevor Lacey, a 6’3″ guard from Butler High School in Huntsville who is ranked as a top-40 national player. He has offers from Alabama and Auburn in addition to Kentucky and UConn. As a top-40 national player, it’s clear he’s pretty highly regarded by the recruiting gurus, but beyond that, long-time Alabama high school basketball observers insist that Lacey is the best scoring guard to come through the state in recent memory, and that he will provide instant offense for someone as a freshman in college.” (Hat tip Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader: “No coach wants to lose three straight games. But Coach Matthew Mitchell said last week that those three losses to start January probably “couldn’t have come at a better time” for the No. 17 Kentucky women’s basketball team. They came in time to – he hopes – kick-start the rest of the Cats’ season.”

John Calipari on Twitter: “I’m very excited to have Coach Larry Brown visiting for a few days. He was at practice & got a good look at our team & can help us improve.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Walker’s comeback; Polson, Lacey, Dawson’

(Sacramento Bee photo/Paul Kitagaki)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Jason Jones: DeMarcus Cousins’ best game as a pro leads Kings’ rally over Phoenix.
• Jerry Tipton: Dirty work is DeAndre Liggins’ business.
• Jerry Tipton: Kentucky fan turnout at Yum Center impresses Calipari and players.
• Jennifer Smith: Keyla Snowden is Kentucky’s queen of the three.
• H-L: Victoria Dunlap not practicing, but expected to play at Duke.
• Daily Pennsylvanian: Will Penn get lucky in Kentucky?
• Rick Bozich: Kentucky and Louisville have different roads ahead.
• Eric Crawford: Give Calipari credit, Cats can adjust.
• Brett Dawson: Call him DeAndre, with the accent on the D.
• Aaron Smith: Just call DeAndre Liggins the defender.
• Brent Carney: Cal uses treadmill in search for answers.
• Larry Vaught: DeAndre Liggins has the mindset to play defense.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Cousins has best game; Liggins earns praise’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Sunday.

Kentucky over Indiana 81-62

• Herald-Leader photo gallery from UK-IU.
• Calipari shaking head over UK’s mistakes in win over Indiana, writes Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• My column on the “Big White Kid” Josh Harrellson.
• Liggins brings back the hustle, writes Tipton.
• Wildcats throttle the Hoosiers, writes Will Graves of the AP.
• Liggins sparks Cats to win over Hoosiers, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.
• Desperate defense helps Kentucky to the win, says Matt May of the Cats Pause.
• Liggins has his breakthrough game, writes Keith Taylor of the Winchester Sun.
• Terrence Jones doesn’t quite get it yet, says Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• Late run pushes Kentucky to the win, writes Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Hoosiers close to becoming the Hoosiers of old, says Nick Craddock of the Kernel.

From Indiana’s point of view

• Hoosiers fight, but can’t quite finish, writes Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star.
• Wildcats maintain domination of Hoosiers, writes Pete DiPrimio of the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel.
• Some thoughts on the Indiana loss to Kentucky from Inside the Hall.
• Kentucky runs away late from Indiana, writes Kent Sterling.

New defensive coordinator hire looming?

• Football additions at UK all but official, writes Chip Cosby of the H-L.
• Has Rick Minter already been hired? asks WLEX-TV.

Continue reading ‘BBL: DeAndre Liggins, Rick Minter, Mike Hartline’

Andre Woodson (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Birmingham school superintendent will investigate Eric Bledsoe’s transcript, reports Jeff Sentell of the Birmingham News.
• Antoine Walker ordered to trial over casino debt, reports Ken Ritter of the AP.
• Andre Woodson to play in the United Football League, reports the Elizabethtown News-Enterprise.
• Jason Kidd sees a bright future for John Wall, blogs Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Isaiah Thomas says he was sure Terrence Jones was coming to Washington, reports Luke Winn of SI.com.
• Patrick Patterson works to impress the Pacers, reports Cliff Brunt of AP.
• Patterson thinks he can make an impact, reports Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star.
• John Calipari talked to Tom Izzo about the NBA, reports Alan Cutler of WLEX.
• Jarrod Polson believes he can help Kentucky in the long run, writes Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• DeMarcus Cousins talks about draft with the Sacramento Kings: (Hat tip to Cat Scratches.)

Continue reading ‘BBL: Birmingham schools will investigate Bledsoe’

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

Hoopsworld thinks Daniel Orton is over-hyped:

Orton’s trip to Chicago was quite revealing though, and not in a very good way for him. He measured in shorter than expected at 6’9.5 in shoes and was below average athletically with just a 24″ vertical leap. It’s Orton’s injury history that is most alarming though.

In his final two years of high school Orton had two separate and serious ligament issues in the same knee and also broke his wrist. It’s a little troublesome that the only time in the last three years he’s gone injury free is when he was playing just 13 minutes a night this past season. Orton’s a risky investment for a first-round pick due to being unproven and potentially unreliable.

(Hat tip to Tom Leach.)

My column from Monday about questions and a few answers in Bledsoe case:

3. How is this unlike the Rose case? Rose’s case dealt with one test score, and improper benefits given to his brother. Bledsoe’s case could deal with a number of grades, and the circumstances behind the rise in his GPA after he changed schools.

There is also the question of whether the Parker coach, Maurice Ford, was demanding money from college coaches in exchange for signing Bledsoe.

Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal says Calipari is Teflon John:

Eventually, we arrive at the point where John Calipari arrived Friday: With the serious scent of a possible NCAA investigation of Calipari’s program, this time at the University of Kentucky.

Teflon John has already survived two of these dustups — one at Massachusetts 14 years ago, another at Memphis, the job he left for UK in 2009. His name doesn’t show up in the first batch of reporting in this story, either. All he’s done is take a player with a high school academic transcript that is being questioned.

The Big Lead thinks that “Teflon John” has a ring to it.

Paul Finebaum of the Mobile Press-Register thinks Calipari might need some movers:

Well, it’s early June and that can only mean two things: John Calipari is relaxing at the beach in the wake of another stellar college basketball season — the most recent saw his team go 35-3, earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and an elite eight appearance.

And the other rite of late spring? Trouble in his program. The New York Times reported that one of his star freshmen, Eric Bledsoe of Birmingham, is the subject of an NCAA investigation focused on academic fraud in high school. The report doesn’t implicate Calipari or Kentucky . But it could spell problems down the road.

Cat Scratches reports on UK being left out of the NCAA Baseball Tournament:

That appears to indicate that a late-season collapse against the Southeastern Conference’s last-place team, Georgia, cost the Cats. UK, which had seemingly played itself into the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament in recent weeks with series wins over nationally ranked South Carolina and LSU (which won the national title last year and this week’s SEC Tournament), dropped two of three games at Georgia on the final week of the regular season, including a 20-0 loss.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Is Orton overhyped? More Bledsoe reaction’

(H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Here’s TV and internet streaming rundown for Big Blue Madness from UK Athletics.
• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader reports from UK Basketball Media Day that Calipari mixes old with the new.
• Mark Story of H-L writes that Wall and Bledsoe give Cats a break.
• Tipton writes that Calipari thinks fans deserve a show at Madness.
• Herald-Leader photo gallery from Media Day.
• Zagsblog reports on a quartet of New York prospects headed to Madness.
• Chip Cosby writes on UK defensive end Taylor Wyndham, who wants to be known for more than the Tebow hit.
• Brett Dawson of the C-J writes that the Cats see this as a banner year.
• Jack Carey of USA Today asks if Calipari can be a contender right away?
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger thought Miss Kentucky USA was the star of media day.

Continue reading ‘BBL: From Media Day to Big Blue Madness’