John Clay's Sidelines

(Miami Herald photo)

Random notes for Tuesday:

LOUISVILLE STEALS A FOOTBALL COMMITMENT – News out of Florida is that Charlie Strong has jumped in and taken the cornerstone of Miami’s football recruiting class, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Writes Jorge Milian of the Palm Beach Post: “Bridgewater, considered a keystone of Miami’s 2011 recruiting class, orally committed to UM in June but changed his mind after coach Randy Shannon was fired Nov. 27. He is ranked as the nation’s 70th-best player by Scout.com.”

The Miami Herald reports on Bridgewater, “The nation’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback and a top recruiting priority for the University of Miami before Randy Shannon was fired, decided over the weekend, according to his mother, that he will be following his Miami Northwestern teammate and favorite receiver Eli Rogers to Cardinals Country. Both players were recruited by former UM recruiting coordinator Clint Hurtt.”

- Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal reports on the Cards’ coup.

PITINO COULD GET THE LAST LAUGH – All the joke-making and you-can’t-make-this-up giggling about Rick Pitino’s decision to coach the Puerto Rico national team will fall flat when the U of L coach pulls in a top Caribbean recruit, like say Richard Ledo. Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports gets it right.

ON TAP – John Calipari and players are available to the media at 11:30 a.m. to talk about tomorrow’s matinee against Winthrop. (Check the blog afterward for video and notes.) The UK women are in action tonight against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. That’s a 7 p.m. tip at Memorial Coliseum.

Meanwhile, Louisville’s bowl game is tonight, with the Cardinals playing Southern Miss in the Beef O’Brady Bowl in St. Petersburg. Kick is 7 p.m. on ESPN.

- Eric Crawford of the C-J writes that the stars are now aligning for Louisville football.

- Patrick Magee of the Clarion-Ledger reports on the Louisville-Southern Miss matchup.

Continue reading ‘Louisville’s recruiting coup and other notes’

Daily randoms for Monday:

ON TAP – Not much on tap today as far as UK sports. We should get John Calipari and the Cats on Tuesday to preview Wednesday night’s game with Notre Dame in Freedom Hall. Arkansas meets Seton Hall in the first game of that SEC/Big East Invitational doubleheader. Don’t expect any updates on Enes Kanter today.

The big game tonight is the Jets-Patriots showdown on Monday Night Football, 8:30, ESPN. Jackie MacMullan on Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan.

Speaking of MNF, a RIP to Dandy Don Meredith, who has died at age 72. With so many games on television now, it’s hard to comprehend what rock stars Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford were during Monday Night Football’s heyday. Meredith was the irreverent foil to Howard Cosell. One of his best moments came in 1972 when the ABC cameras caught a Houston Oilers’ fan flipping the camerman the bird. Quipped Meredith quickly, “We’re No. 1 in the nation.”

There are no SEC basketball games tonight. Georgia meets Georgia Tech on Tuesday.

ESPN THINKS UK HAS CHANCE ON KANTER – ESPN.com blogger Eamonn Brennan thinks that the Cameron Newton ruling gives UK a much better chance of getting Enes Kanter eligible. Writes Brennan:

The Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement could have decided — and this is just a guess — that Kanter knew about the professional-level benefits he received as an ostensible amateur in Turkey, that his family wasn’t the only entity pulling the purse strings. If that’s not the case, if Kanter didn’t know how much money his family was receiving from Fenerbahce, then the NCAA appears to have backed itself into an intractable corner. That’s the distinction the NCAA has created, and that’s the one it will need to solve almost immediately.

I like Eamonn, but I’m not buying it. There’s no proof (yet) that the Newtons received money. There is proof (apparently) that the Kanters received money. That’s the difference.

CORRECTIONS – Experienced a brain cramp in this morning’s column and said Arkansas was going to the Cotton Bowl, even though I said that two SEC teams were in BCS bowls. Arkansas is going to the Sugar Bowl. Also said Pittsburgh beat Louisville at Papa John’s. The game was at Pittsburgh. I’m blaming it all on Delta, which delayed my Saturday night flight in Atlanta to the point where we didn’t arrive back into Lexington until 1:30 a.m., two-and-a-half hours behind schedule. But then that I guess was better than the C-J’s Rick Bozich, who got stuck in Raleigh, or our own Jerry Tipton, who got stuck in Charlotte.

UK HOOPS HAS A FLAT – Have to admit was surprised by the way Louisville thrashed the UK women 78-52. Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader has the game story from the Yum Center. Meanwhile, Mark Story of the H-L writes that the Kentucky women got a taste of the other side of revenge. Louisville beat Kentucky at its own game, blogs Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches. As for the U of L side, Eric Crawford says the Lady Cardinals gave people a reason to watch. And Jody Demling has the UK-U of L game story for the C-J.

Continue reading ‘Turn out the lights, daily random notes for a Monday’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Daily randoms for Thursday:

WAITING ON FREE ENES – Know many are drawing comparisons between the the Cameron Newton and Enes Kanter eligibility cases, but we’ll have to see if the NCAA draws the same connection. Newton’s father was shopping his son, and the NCAA ruled (for now) that his actions were without the knowledge of his son. (Not sure I’m buying that, by the way.) The Kanter case goes back to the fact he was paid above and beyond reasonable expenses when he played for that Turkish club team. Even UK agrees to that, or at least that’s my understanding. What is in dispute is the intent of the money paid. The NCAA ruled that it did not matter that the Kanters used it for educational purposes. UK is arguing that it does matter. UK says the Kanters did everything they could to keep Kanter’s amateur status. And apparently the appeal was heard Wednesday. So we should know something by this weekend. Once and for all.

ON TAP — We media types are to get the UK basketball players and then head coach John Calipari today around 2:15 — time subject to change, of course — to preview Saturday’s game at North Carolina. I’ll have news nuggets and then video on the blog once the proceedings end. Cal doesn’t use the Memorial Coliseum media room for the press conferences. He likes to stand outside the practice floor, and we envelope him in a semi-circle. It’s a thick crowd, so the key for us with our trusty flip cameras is to get good position. We’re becoming good at boxing out.

WELCOME HOME (NOT) — Tonight will be all about LeBron’s return to Cleveland. Heard Cowherd yesterday warning Cleveland not doing anything stupid that would stain the city for years. Cleveland fans face their own decision, writes Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain-Dealer. Wright Thompson of espn.com writes on Believeland. But as my friend Jim, a Cleveland native, says: “It’s on Queen James.”

As for the Heat, they remind (old) me of the old Lakers, with Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. LeBron is Wilt.

LeBron’s a lost cause, writes Fox Sports’ Jason Whitlock. (Speakin of Jason, I notice he now refers to the author of “Tuesdays with Morrie” as Myth Albom.)

And I really liked this column from last week by Michael Rosenberg of SI.com on why people hate LeBron.

Continue reading ‘Waiting on Enes Kanter and other random notes’

Daily Randoms for Wednesday:

ON TAP – Big game tonight is Michigan State-Duke in Cameron Indoor. It’s at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN, as part of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. Big 10 has a 4-2 lead after first two nights. Ohio State whipped Florida State. Northwestern thumped Georgia Tech. (Remember when we thought Paul Hewitt was a good coach?) Michigan beat Clemson. And Illinois knocked off North Carolina. (More on that one later.)

Anyway, State-Duke will be extremely interesting. Might be the two teams that play for the title in Houston once April rolls around. I think Duke is the better team, and like the Devils tonight. Will be interested to see how freshman point guard Kyrie Irving handles the Spartans’ pressure.

As Rick Bozich points out, Coach K needs just two more wins to pull even with Coach Rupp.

NOT MUCH ON TAP AT UK TODAY. The Calipari/players press conferences previewing Saturday’s game with North Carolina are probably in the works for Thursday. So is UK’s appeal on the Enes Kanter matter. The ruling could come down as early as this weekend.  The appeal itself will take about an hour, and will be done by phone on UK’s campus. Most are not optimistic about Kanter’s chances, but we shall see.

Meanwhile, Indiana lost on trying to get its foreign transfer eligible, as well.

SEC HOOPS TONIGHT — Florida is at Central Florida, where Billy Donovan goes against his old assistant, Donnie Jones. Oklahoma is at Arkansas. Delaware State is at South Carolina. South Alabama is at Alabama. And Western Kentucky is at Vanderbilt. ESPN3.com has the Florida, Vanderbilt and Arkansas games.

HELPLESS HEELS — TiVoed the Tar Heels-Illini game from last night and watched it this morning. I’ve seen North Carolina three times on TV, and Roy Williams’ club has lost all three. Lost to Minnesota and Vanderbilt in San Juan, then last night to Bruce Weber’s club. North Carolina didn’t look much better last night. This might be the worst passing team ol’ Roy has ever had. UNC turned it over 18 times. The guard tandem of Drew and Strickland didn’t score a point in the first half. And you can see the pressure getting to Harrison Barnes. The freshman didn’t make a field goal in the second half.

Tyler Zeller is the one player who could give UK problems. The 7-footer started strong, scoring UNC’s first four points and six of its first 12. But he picked up his third foul with 9:02 left in first half — Williams gambled by leaving him in and lost — with Illinois up just 16-14. Zeller ended up playing just 20 minutes, had 10 points and four rebounds. If he can stay on the floor, and if John Henson contributes like he did last night (16 points), Carolina could cause Kentucky some problems in the paint.

Continue reading ‘Duke-Michigan State on tap for tonight; Heels helpless’

Random notes for a Tuesday:

ON TAP – Of course, Kentucky takes on visiting Boston tonight at Rupp. Tipoff is 7 p.m. The game is on Fox Sports South, then delayed on the Big Blue Network.

JOHN CALIPARI is expected to coach his Cats, despite the death of his mother on Sunday after battling cancer.

DON’T FORGET that we will be liveblogging from Rupp tonight. If you sign-in using your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace account you can avoid having your comments constantly moderated, and thus see them posted quickly.

BOSTON U. PREVIEW – For info on Boston basketball, click here for the Terriers’ website. BU did beat Cornell 66-61 last time out. Yes, that’s the same Cornell that UK beat in the Sweet 16 last year. Mark Coury scored eight points for Cornell.

TOPS ON TV – ACC/Big 10 Challenge swings into high gear tonight. Best game is North Carolina at Illinois, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN. North Carolina plays host to Kentucky on Saturday before the CBS cameras, and the popular Gus Johnson.

HARRISON BARNES – Speaking of Saturday’s game against Carolina, UNC raved-about rookie Harrison Barnes is off to a rather slow start. Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News and Observer writes here about Barnes’ struggles and the pressure he’s facing.

Continue reading ‘Boston U., Antoine, ACC/Big 10 and more random notes’

Jennifer O:Neill (H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Twelve random notes at 12:

1. Sorry, but John Wall’s debut became so lopsided I switched over to the World Series. Wall had 14 points and nine assists, but the Wizards were crushed 112-83 by the Orlando Magic. He made just six of 19 shots, and it wasn’t hard to see what sort of defense he will face. Foes will give him the outside shot. Now it’s up to him to make that shot. It’s a long season, I know. But for Wall, as far as winning, it could be a very long season.
2. Touted UK Hoops freshmen Jennifer O’Neill sported a black eye on Media Day. She got it in practice. I think that’s a good sign.
3. BTW, Matthew Mitchell was great at Media Day. And he didn’t even dance.
4. No Derrick Locke is not good news for UK on Saturday at Starkville. I was not optimistic about the Cats’ chances against back-to-back Bulldogs, and less so now.
5. I looked all day for a picture of Eric Bledsoe and his blue tuxedo, with no luck. It was part of the Los Angeles Clippers rookie hazing. EB played one minute and took one missed shot in the Clips’ opening loss to Portland on Wednesday night.
6. NCAA Board of Directors wants to take a look at banning July basketball recruiting before actually doing away with July basketball recruiting. Hopefully this is just a step in the right direction, which would be to ban July basketball recruiting.
7. Today was amnesty day for fast guys named Chris, says Dr. Saturday.
8. Just a hunch, but I’m going to guess that we will hear something on #freeenes next week. Just a hunch.
9. Tweet from Late Show head writer Eric Stangel: BREAKING: After his 1 strike in 14 pitch effort, the NY Mets have signed Derek Holland to a 4 yr $32 million contract.
10. If you read this blog you know I have a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with ESPN radio’s Colin Cowherd, but I find myself enjoying Scott Van Pelt’s show that follows.
11. I wish someone would hold a Rally to Restore Sanity for Sports Fans.
12. Received this nice e-mail about Thursday’s column:

I’d like to offer you my sincere thanks for the article you wrote in this morning’s Herald-Leader. Was a teammate of Artie’s at Covington Catholic, and in the years passing since his death, my thoughts often go to him when reading about DUI arrests or seeing reports on the news about them. People – especially young people – don’t take the time to think about the possible repercussions to their actions.

Over the course of each school year, Covington Catholic offers several weekends in which their seniors can go on a “Christian Awakening Retreat”. In the last 12 years, I’ve helped run many of those retreats, and in running the retreats, the facilitators are asked to speak about certain experiences in their lives that have influenced the way that they live. Between participating faculty, alumni, and myself, I think Artie’s name is brought up on at least two or three of those retreats each year. Artie died almost twelve years ago, but I can assure you that he has not been forgotten in the Covington Catholic community. I’m glad to hear he is remembered elsewhere too.

Jeff Van Gundy (AP photo)

Ten random notes at 10:

1. Brandon Knight is really good, but the player I was most impressed with Tuesday night was Terrence Jones. Had seen Jones in practice back before Canada trip, but that was an injured Jones, and in no way shape or form the Terrence that scored 29 points in Tuesday night’s scrimmage.
2. That said, this team really needs Enes Kanter.
3. As for the Harrellson tweet controversy, I’m not the first to say this, but I think Calipari’s reaction to Josh’s tweet was similar to Josh’s reaction to Cal’s comment.
4. Terrible, terrible story today about a tragic death during Notre Dame’s football practice. A 20-year-old student and video crew worker died when the film tower he was working from fell.
5. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel asks the obvious question: How long before Pat Riley takes over coaching the Heat?
6. Rooting for a short World Series only because it means the less we are exposed to Tim McCarver.
7. On the other hand, I welcome the return of the NBA for the return of Jeff Van Gundy.
8. I’m guessing Derrick Locke does not play Saturday.
9. I’m in Rupp Arena busy liveblogging the Blue-White scrimmage on Tuesday when this pops up on my Tweet Deck from @bickett (I don’t even follow @bickett): @KySportsRadio I’m sitting behind @johnclayiv at the game. His Live Blog looks lonely.” The tweet itself didn’t bother me. What bothered me is that if he was sitting behind me, he had a clear view of my ample bald spot.
10. In honor of Herm Edwards being on the ESPNU broadcast crew for Saturday’s UK-Mississippi State game:

(AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Ten random notes for Wednesday night:

Mike Zimmer still doesn’t like Bobby Petrino. The Bengals defensive coordinator was on the Atlanta Falcons’ staff when Petrino up and quit three years ago. The Bengals play at Atlanta on Sunday. Petrino moved on to Arkansas, but  Zimmer didn’t like that then, and he doesn’t like Petrino now, telling the Cincinnati Enquirer:

“I never even was there. When a coach quits in the middle of the year and ruins a bunch of people’s families and doesn’t have enough guts to at least finish out the year … I am not a part of that.

“You can put that in the Arkansas News-Gazette. I don’t really give a (hooey). I am serious. He is a coward. Put that in quotes.”

There’s more good stuff after that.

Because of early-morning conflicts, there may not be SEC or Big Blue Links tomorrow morning. I promise to catch up at some point during the day (or night).

Terry Meiners was the controversy of the day, of how the Louisville radio personality was apparently dumped from the Rick Pitino Show on WHAS-TV, and U of L basketball broadcasts. Then Rick announced at the Big East Media Days that he would no longer be doing his show. At least not for this year. Said he wasn’t happy with WHAS for covering the Karen Sypher trial, but that it had nothing to do with his decision. Yeah, and I’m going to start at quarterback for Kentucky on Saturday.

Jodie Meeks played an exhibition game last night in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Enquirer has a photo gallery from the Sixers-Cavs game. Look for Jodie in pics 14-15.

Some Facebook fans want Minnesota to hire Mike Leach. You can find their page by clicking here.

CBS’ Gary Danielson to Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News on every SEC East team having at least two losses:

“I think it underlines the fact — and I’ve been saying it for three years, to CBS executives and on talk radio — that the BCS was the greatest thing ever for the SEC but it’s broken. The SEC is going to look like the ACC very, very quickly, meaning guys are going to beat each other before you know it. What you take as good competition and great football games, it’s also potentially a conference out of the national title picture.”

Continue reading ‘Randoms: Mike Zimmer calls Bobby Petrino “a coward”’

Ten randoms (+1) to close out this Tuesday:

• I give high marks to Randall Cobb for his apology in tomorrow’s print edition column, plus recycle the blog’s open letter. This is called cross-referencing, or synergy, or something like that. Either way, here’s the video of Randall’s stand-up apology this morning. Click here to read Chip Cosby’s story on Cobb’s apology.

• BTW, Randall tweeted a little earlier tonight that he had been back to Red Lobster, and had two baskets of cheddar biscuits before his meal. “I’m back it,” tweeted Cobb.

• Apparently, the UK basketball practice for students and faculty was not nearly the draw it was last year. Aaron Smith of the Kernel tweeted early on that the lower level was only about half-full. Some blame the scheduling. It’s right during mid-terms. But when have UK students put studying in front of hoops?

• Kentucky is No. 51 in the latest Sagarin computer college football rankings. Saturday’s foe, Georgia, is No. 48.

• During his Sunday morning talk show on WVLK, Larry Glover said he was told by a source that during their pre-game chat, Steve Spurrier told Joker Phillips that he had a “nice little team,” and that Phillips used that to fire up his team before the game. Joker apparently denied that on his radio show, but it sure sounds like Steve to me – especially since Spurrier (allegedly) used the same “little team” phrase during an interview with Rivals radio’s Bill King.

• The media have picked the UK women to finish second in the SEC this year behind Tennessee, and Victoria Dunlap was the overwhelming pick as pre-season Player of the Year.

Continue reading ‘Ten random notes (+1) for a Tuesday night’

Daily Randoms for Wednesday:

Don’t forget second season premiere of Modern Family tonight.

At right is the Philadelphia Daily News cover today. You be the judge.

The Reds are step closer to the post-season, but the best news in Redsland was the way Edinson Volquez pitched last night. Volquez threw eight innings of three-hit baseball. To win in the playoffs, the Reds have to get good pitching, good starting pitching. Arroyo is solid. Cueto is capable. An effective Volquez would give Cincinnati three good starting pitchers going into a short series. I love Travis Wood, but he is a rookie. Need Volquez to keep it going.

Also need to avoid the Phillies. There are some of us who would like to see the so-called Frauds, who are supposedly not built for the post-season, win at least one series.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel on the death of Leonard Skinner, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Truth be told, I own just one Lynyrd Skynard album, that given to me by an old girlfriend. But I must admit that when “Sweet Home Alabama” pops up on the radio, and Ronnie says, “Turn it up,” I turn it up. Every time.

Saw where one UK blog (no, not that UK blog) encouraged its readers to stop following Tony Wroten on twitter because Wroten was taking a home visit from Rick Pitino. Come on, now.

If I was going to do weekly SEC football power rankings, I should have started after the first week. There are already three weeks in the books. Still, if I did them today, they’d go: 1. Alabama, 2. Florida, 3. Arkansas (big SEC road win), 4. South Carolina (big SEC home win), 5. Auburn, 6. LSU, 7. Kentucky, 8. Georgia, 9. Tennessee, 10. Vanderbilt, 11. Mississippi State, 12. Ole Miss.

Continue reading ‘Reds, Skynyrd, Vick, TV and more Daily Randoms’