John Clay's Sidelines

Daily Randoms for a Friday:

Can’t say that I agree with my friend and colleague Mark Story, who wrote for the H-L this morning that Kentucky football would be getting ahead of itself if it tried to toughen up its non-conference schedule.

Not saying that that the Cats should schedule Texas every year. But considering the increasing ticket costs, and K-Fund costs, it wouldn’t hurt from a political standpoint for the UK administration to toss in a Duke, or a Wake Forest, or an Illinois, or even a Clemson every couple of years. The football ticket-holders I speak to are increasingly bored with the steady diet of Western Kentucky, Akron, Louisiana-Monroe, Charleston Southern, etc.

And do you really want a bored fan base?

Think outsiders haven’t caught on to what the Cats are doing in terms of scheduling?

Consider this from FanHouse’s Clay Travis:

Sneakily, the Kentucky Wildcats will advance to 3-0 with a win over another mediocre team. Kentucky has been to four consecutive bowl games — a huge feat when you consider that the team had been to only 10 bowl games in its history before this run — to a great degree because the Wildcats have mastered the art of scheduling. Namely, Kentucky plays three teams every year that are absolutely awful opponents, guaranteed wins.

Start with three wins, hope you can handle Louisville, and then you just have to go 2-6 in the SEC to be bowl eligible. Toss in a guaranteed yearly matchup with Mississippi State — last SEC title 1941 — and you’ve got a recipe for decent success. It’s how, despite never even reaching .500 in SEC play in any of these four seasons, Kentucky has managed to win three of its last four bowl games.

Continue reading ‘How about toughening the schedule just a bit?’

Daily randoms for Thursday:

With all the (negative) publicity afforded poor little Bobby Petrino over the Arkansas/Gator hat controversy, I feel compelled to divulge the headgear I normally wear to UK press conferences.

See above picture.

It is not a South Carolina Gamecocks hat. I don’t even think of it as a South Carolina hat. It is my Hilton Head cap. My joke is that I wear it to remind me why I work. We got to Hilton Head on a family vacation almost ever year. (Missed last summer, returned this summer.)

And yes, Joker Phillips has made mention of it. That’s because one year while in Hilton Head, I bumped into Joker. He was coaching elsewhere, but was at Hilton Head for a reunion of Jerry Caliborne’s former players. We ran into each other in line at the Salty Dog Ice Cream Shop one wonderful summer night, wonderful because we were both at Hilton Head.

The main reason I wear the hat? I am this-close to being bald.

Huge win for the Redlegs last night, rallying from a 7-3 deficit to beat the Deadbacks 11-7. When it was 7-3, I thought seriously about hitting the off button. But then I remembered these are indeed this year’s Reds. Most comeback wins, behind Atlanta, anyway. And back they came. Four runs in the eighth to tie it. For more in the ninth to win it.

Jay Bruce lays down a perfect bunt single in the second inning, on his way to a four-hit night which included a homer and a triple. Old guy Jim Edmonds scores off a young guy Chris Heisey squeeze bunt to put the Reds’ ahead. Paul Janish strokes two hits and a long sac fly that looked like it was a grand slam homer when it left the bat. Laynce Nix doubles in two more runs off the bench.

Bench being a Reds’ key, and we’re not talking Johnny. Janish has filled in superbly for the shelved Orlando Cabrera. The Redlegs have six outfielders with the addition of Edmonds, and all but Gomes played key roles last night. (Stubbs hit a sac fly for the visitor’s first run.) Miguel Cairo has been a jack-of-all-trades. And old guy Edmonds played first base last night after Joey Votto was a late scratch, thanks to back tightness.

Eamonn Brennan, college basketball blogger for espn.com gives a shout-out to our friends over at A Sea of Blue, calling it he “the best fans writing about Kentucky hoops out there,” even as he disagrees with its Brandon Knight assertion.

Continue reading ‘The hat I wear to press conferences, and other notes’

Rob Mullens introduced as Oregon AD. (AP photo)

Daily Randoms for a Monday:

Back from a few days vacation, so there’s need for catch-up.

On the UK front, congrats to Rob Mullens for snaring the Oregon AD job. Mullens is a personable and professional. He’ll do the Ducks proud. And as much as we’ve banged on Mitch Barnhart — I’ve done my share — the Kentucky athletics boss now has three of his UK proteges running big-time athletic programs elsewhere. Greg Byrne is AD at Arizona. Scott Stricklin is AD at Mississippi State. Now Mullens takes the reigns in Eugene. All three were hires made by Barnhart shortly after he arrived in Lexington.

That said, I’ve heard a lot of griping from UK football ticket holders about new parking policies, fees, especially with regard to the Blue Lot. What are you hearing?

And what about The State in Columbia’s report about South Carolina season ticket sales for football are on the wane? Georgia, Tennessee and Clemson have also seen declines in ticket sales. Has the sport finally reached its saturation point? Are there too many games on TV? Is it the economy?

I missed my old friend Greg Nord being officially introduced as assistant on the UK football staff. Excellent hired. Other than Joker Phillips himself, there may not be another coach with better Kentucky high school connections than Nord. His 15 years at Louisville obviously help with recruiting in the River City, where the Cats have made great in-roads the past few years. Steve Ortmayer, Nord’s predecessor as special teams coach, did some good things. UK ranked highly in some categories, especially returns. But blocked kicks were a constant problem. You cannot be a Kentucky in the SEC and continually give away points on blocked kicks.

UK assistant basketball coach John Robic told the UK convention in Ohio last weekend that Darnell Dodson is eligible and still on the team. What’s that? You say that another blog, Bluegrass State Basketball, reported that Dodson is ineligible and would sit out next season? Actually, BSB reported that as a rumor. And I linked to that rumor, clearly defining that it was a rumor. That’s one of the blogosphere’s hazards/problems, the propensity to throw out rumors in hopes that something will stick. Many times, they don’t.

Plus, Calipari is tweeting that he plans to press more next season.

Continue reading ‘Catching up from a short vacation’

Daily Randoms for a Monday:

I haven’t plunked down my cold hard cash yet for the pre-season football yearbooks, so thought maybe I’d get some recommendations from the faithful as to your favorites.

In my youth, I couldn’t wait to purchase my Street and Smith’s Yearbooks, be they baseball, football or college football and basketball. I still have some Street and Smith Pro Football and Baseball yearbooks dating back to the early 1970s. Of course, now we have Athlon, Lindy’s, Sporting News, Phil Steele, etc., etc.

Which is your favorite?

Alert reader Tim of Lexington pointed out that I committed a turnover in my Saturday front-page column chronicling Joe B. Hall and John Wooden’s friendship, which started after UCLA beat UK 92-85 in the 1975 NCAA Tournament final, which turned out to be Wooden’s final game.

Wrote Tim:

This is not accurate. At that point in the game a technical foul was given to the UCLA player Dave Myers. When this foul was given John Wooden ran onto the court shouting “You crook”. The game was delayed while the officials talked to Coach Wooden and escorted him back to the bench. A technical foul was not called on Wooden. Following Wooden’s actions Kevin Grevey missed the technical free shots. It is worth noting that in the 1974 NCAA championship Al McGuire received a technical foul for walking onto the floor to object to a call and this call was considered a turning point in his losing the game to NC State.

As a follow-up story, the next UK season, 75-76, one of the officiating crew from the UCLA-UK game was assigned to work the a UK game at Memorial Coliseum. In the game he called a technical foul on Joe Hall. Hall shouted “you didn’t call one on Wooden” and the official said “Joe, you just got his”.

Continue reading ‘Which is your favorite pre-season magazine?’

Daily Randoms for a Thursday:

Hat tip to Eamonn Brennan of espn.com on a couple of fronts, first being this CNN story which crunches the college basketball numbers and decides that the state of Kentucky does have the most profitable hoops program in the country.

Only it’s not UK. It’s U of L.

Louisville basketball showed a profit of $16.8 million last year, best in the nation. Kentucky’s profit was $6.1 million. Interesting side note is that Minnesota ($7.8 millions) showed a higher profit than did UK.

Continue reading ‘CNN: Louisville more profitable than UK in hoops’

Daily Randoms for a Monday:

Back from the Preakness, where there were numerous interesting sites. A couple happened back at the Pimlico Stakes Barn, just an hour before the race. There was Bob Baffert talking to gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn. The two had been introduced by Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden. Then there was Baffert trying to find a photographer to get his son Bode’s picture taken with Vonn. A few minutes later, you could hear the buzz of planes overhead. First was a plane carrying a “Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club: Free admission w/race tix” banner. Then came a “Millstream Inn/millstreamgirls.com: Free drink with race ticket” banner. Both circled the infield. They obviously new their target audience.

During the post-race press conference, a rambunctious Bode Baffert ran up to the head table, grabbed a reporter’s microphone and ran off. “Bode, you can’t do that,” said his dad Bob, laughing. But Bode did. And no one stopped him, either.

Check out the Herald-Leader photo slide show.

As for the Belmont, seems the Boston Herald has the right headline.

Those persistent Calipari-NBA rumors. John Calipari tweeted this morning “Now do I have to respond to these rumors too?” Answer: No. He doesn’t have to tweet either. Or keep talking to the national press. But he does, because he’s Cal. And because he’s Cal, and because of LeBron’s connections to WWW and Leon Rose, these rumors are not going to die. Not anytime soon. Doesn’t matter what Calipari says or tweets. He’s a coach. When it comes to coaches, we have learned to take anything they say with regards to jobs with a large bag of salt.

As for LeBron, a (small) part of me wonders about all the fuss. What exactly has LeBron done? He’s been one to NBA finals, where his team was swept. It lost in the conference finals last year, and semifinals this year. It has underachieved. I know LBJ doesn’t have the Lakers supporting cast, but doesn’t some of that fall back on him, especially the way his effort flat-lined at end of Boston series? And it’s just May 17 and I’m already sick of the free agent angle.

Continue reading ‘Preakness, Cal, Boss sings Journey, and more randoms’

Eric Bledsoe (H-L photo/John Clay)

Daily randoms for a Monday:

No surprise that Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe are remaining in the draft. I agree with John Calipari. Did anyone think these two would be one-and-dones? John Wall, sure. DeMarcus Cousins, probably. You knew this was it for Patrick Patterson. But Bledsoe? He was supposed to move back to point guard once Wall bolted. Orton? The kid didn’t even start. But he’s big. An athletic. The NBA sees that as potential. The NBA drafts on potential.

Interesting to note that Orton has yet to have a single workout with an NBA team. Bledsoe has at least had two.

Looks like Lookin At Lucky is in the Preakness, with a different rider.

Don’t look now, but with Alex Tyus withdrawing from the draft, Florida basketball has all five starters back from a year ago, plus a couple of decent recruits. If Billy Donovan doesn’t show some progress in 2010-11, could the natives grown restless again in Gainesville? Or do they care enough about basketball to grow restless?

Congrats to Scott Stricklin, named athletics director at Mississippi State on Friday, one day before his 40th birthday. Stricklin was associate athletics director for media relations at UK before returning home to MSU to join Greg Byrne’s staff in Starkville. Scott was a pro’s pro here at UK, reasonable, with good judgment and a calming influence. I was pretty rough on Mitch Barnhart early on, and Stricklin bridged the gap between columnist and AD, arguing Mitch’s side, but never in an angry or accusatory tone. Plus, Stricklin listened. Best of luck to him as the Bulldogs’ new boss.

Continue reading ‘No surprises from Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton’

Daily randoms for a Friday:

First things first, now being told the Enes Kanter twitter account may be fake. So proceed at your own risk.

So the NCAA is expanding its men’s basketball tournament, but just to 68 teams. Funny thing is that what C.M. Newton told me back in February he’d like to see the NCAA do. C.M. was once chairman of the selection committee. Now the former UK athletics director is retired and living with his wife, Nancy, in Tuscaloosa. He does some consulting work for the SEC and runs the NIT for the NCAA.  He said he’d like to see three more play-in games, which would let three more at-large teams into the tournament. If you’re going to expand, I see nothing wrong with that.

One of my favorites, John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectus, sees plenty wrong with how the expansion story has been covered. Meanwhile, Garry Parrish — I like him, too — praises Greg Shaheen.

Not sure how much the (for now) rejection of the 96-team format did with the near universal negative reaction. The NCAA has never paid much attention to the pundits before, not sure why it would cave to the court of public opinion  now. Still, I’ll take 68 over 96 any day.

Also not against the fact Tuner is now broadcast partner with CBS, if that in fact means that every game will now be shown. Interesting detail: Starting in 2016, the Final Four will be alternated between CBS and TBS.

Stayed up watching NFL draft, of which I have settled on the following WWL observations: 1. Love John “Dumba– Coaches” Gruden. 2. Still love Kiper, even if he did protest a little too much on Tebow. 3. Tom Jackson looked bored, sleepy and frustrated. 4. Steve Young has to go-go-go. (I won’t even mention Boomer, whom I quit paying attention to years ago.)

Continue reading ‘Little expansion is better than big expansion’

Kenny Payne

Daily randoms for Monday:

One DUI arrest may not be enough to earn UK assistant basketball coach Rod Strickland a pink slip, but four is definitely red-flag territory. Rumor mill was already churning that John Calipari was seeking a way to hire Kenny Payne, the ex-Louisville star who was on Ernie Kent’s staff at Oregon. Kent was fired, so Payne is a free agent. Strickland being pulled over at 3 a.m., coupled with his past arrests for similar transgressions, may give Calipari reason to engineer a staff switch.

Here is Payne’s bio.

Only hearts of stone were not touched by Phil Mickelson’s Masters win on Sunday. The Phil smile. The Phil-Amy hug off the 18th green. Amy and the kids. Phil strikes me as something of a goofball, which is just fine. I’ve rooted for Mickelson ever since the golf/national media claimed he would never win a major. Hate that “never” talk. Annoys me almost as much as the “gets it” crowd. Think this is Mickelson’s third green jacket, if I’m not mistaken. And Phil won it his way, too, making incredible shots that if he had missed would have been widely criticized.

What struck me about Tiger was the same old Tiger in his post-round interview on Sunday. He said he only came to win. That’s all he cares about. OK, so he does care about some other things. But would have felt better about the Woods weekend if he had thanked the fans for their support, said he was happy to do so well after a long layoff, etc. It’s all-or-nothing for Tiger, which I guess makes him great. Doesn’t mean he’s a great guy.

Interesting note from New York Daily News about how Amy Mickelson walked right past Tiger to hug Anthony Kim.

Continue reading ‘Could Strickland’s DUI open door for Kenny Payne?’

Daily randoms for a Friday:

Missed this excellent Pete Thamel story in the New York Times in which coaches says it’s more of an occupational sin to lose than it is to cheat. There is plenty of evidence to support the theory. Shamed at Kentucky, Eddie Sutton got a second chance at Oklahoma State. Houston is giving James Dickey another chance. UTEP is giving Tim Floyd a second chance. Bob Knight would be quick to point out that John Calipari has received a couple of chances now, even though Cal has never been specifically implicated by the NCAA, etc., etc. and so forth.

Speaking of coaches, latest from the carousel: Clemson wants Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel, who actually may want the Wake Forest job more than the Clemson job. Either way, Capel is said to want out at Oklahoma. if Capel does go to Wake, ex-Florida assistant Shaka Smith, could return to Clemson, where he was once an assistant.

And did you see where Oregon actually interviewed Billy Gillispie? BCG pulled up to Eugene in a limo, which may or may not qualify as a designated driver. Can’t imagine that OU would actually hire Billy G., not if the Ducks still have Rich Brooks’ phone number.

I’m in Blue Grass Stakes, leading into Kentucky Derby doings, mode, and have to say it won’t bother me if Todd Pletcher runs 10 horses on the first day of May. I know, I know, much of the media considers Pletcher a plastic man. But I’ve found him to be polite, talented and ridiculously well-organized, which is a skill/talent I greatly admire. I remember talking to Pletcher in his barn at Keeneland a couple of years ago, when a van driver came in looking for some misplaced documentation of some sort. Pletcher found it right away, in a file in his desk drawer. But then you’d have to be well-organized to juggle the number of horses that Pletcher trains each year.

Continue reading ‘For coaches, is it better to cheat than it is to lose?’