John Clay's Sidelines

(AP photo)

The Boogie Train is picking up speed.

DeMarcus Cousins scored 28 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to lead Sacramento back from an 18-point second-quarter deficit to beat host New Orleans 100-92.

Cousins scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the second half alone as the Kings picked up their season-best third straight win. Cousins also had three blocked shots and an assist.

The former UK center picked up a technical foul in the second quarter, but kept on trucking.

“It’s happened to me before,” he said. “I complained, it didn’t help, and I basically ignored it and kept playing.”

“What was good during that time was he didn’t explode,” said Kings’ coach Keith Smart. “That’s growth.”

Cousins had 21 points and 20 rebounds in the Kings’ 114-106 win over Golden State on Saturday. For the month of February, he’s averaging 19 points and 15 rebounds. The Kings are now now 9-15.

It’s a far cry from earlier in the season when former Sacramento coach Paul Westphal instructed Cousins to stay home after the center allegedly asked to be traded. Westphal got the pink slip, Smart was named coach and things have improved for the second-year center. And his team.

Related links:

• Video: DeMarcus Cousins talks about coming back to Rupp
• DeMarcus Cousins does it again as Kings win
• Video: DeMarcus Cousins receives interesting voice mail

(H-L photo/Joseph Rey Au)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Kentucky women hit 14 three-pointers, reports Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader.
• Women get back to “Kentucky basketball” writes Guy Ramsey of Cat Scratches.
• Herald-Leader photo gallery from the UK win Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.
• Bennett trims his list, reports Zagsblog.
• Tony Parker information page, by Next Cats.
• Poythress wanted to put on a show, reports Mike Marsee of the Advocate-Messenger.
• Marquis Teague is managing great expectations, reports Eric Lindsey of CoachCal.com.
• Is Terrence Jones back? asks Glenn Logan of A Sea of Blue.
• DeMarcus Cousins scores 16 points and grabs 10 rebounds, reports the Sacramento Bee.
• Wizards get a taste of what might have been had they taken Ricky Rubio instead of John Wall, reports Michael Lee of the Washington Post.

ESPN columnist J.A. Adande says that former UK center DeMarcus Cousins needs to grow up on another NBA team.

An excerpt:

The Kings have learned the hard way that there’s a reason a player as talented as Cousins was still available to them with the No. 5 pick in the 2010 draft, and they’ve also learned that those reasons have a way of showing up.

And it usually means that when the players grow up, they will do so elsewhere, not with the team that drafted them. It’s why Michael Beasley dropped behind Derrick Rose in the 2008 draft even though Beasley was taller and the college player of the year, and then wound up in Minnesota two years later. It’s why the Clippers once got Lamar Odom at No. 4 in 1999, even though he wound up standing taller than Elton Brand, Steve Francis and Baron Davis a decade later.

When a player’s immaturity and/or irresponsibility is so deeply ingrained, it’s not something that gets resolved during the span of a rookie contract. The Kings have come to that conclusion only a week into Cousins’ second season. Better to realize it now than after it’s too late.

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(Sacramento Bee photo)

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The Sacramento Kings left have disciplined former UK center DeMarcus Cousins at home rather than take him on a road trip, saying that the second-year player has twice demanded to be traded.

Excerpt from the Sacramento Bee report:

Kings coach Paul Westphal said he told DeMarcus Cousins to stay home from tonight’s game after Cousins asked to be traded last night for the second time this season.

Cousins was among several Kings players who were visibly frustrated with the Kings’ recent three-game skid when addressing reporters following the 114-92 loss to the New York Knicks last night.

Westphal said Cousins later told Westphal he wanted to be traded. The Kings’ second-year center had already asked for a trade earlier this season, Westphal said.

Cousins’ agent, John Greig, told The Bee earlier today that it is “absolutely not true that DeMarcus or I demanded a trade. We need to find out what the position of the organization is. Nobody has talked to me and I would look forward to talking to the Maloofs.”

The Kings are playing at the New Orleans Hornets tonight.

After a loss to the Knicks, the Bee reported that “Respected veteran Chuck Hayes sat with his head in his hands, visibly disturbed by a lack of cohesiveness.”

Cousins was left back at Sacramento after a game last February because of a locker room incident.

Thanks to an alert twitter follower, who passed along this link to former Herald-Leader staffer Ryan Alessi, now with cn/2′s Pure Politcs, who reports that former UK basketball stars DeMarcus Cousins and Josh Harrellson were at a Mitt Romney fundraiser last night.

Ryan’s story has a picture of the two with the Republican presidential candidate.

Romney’s Kentucky finance co-chair is Joe Craft. Yes, that’s the Joe Craft of the Joe Craft Center, where UK basketball practices, and the man behind the Wildcat Coal Lodge, where the UK basketball players will soon live.

Continue reading ‘Cousins and Harrellson attend Romney fundraiser’

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• Stuart Hines is the quiet leader of Kentucky’s offensive line
• UK softball’s Brittany Cervantes meets her hero Erin Andrews
• Kentucky basketball thinking outside the luxury box
• Collinsworth says Towles is as good a high school player as he’s been around
• Cousins in negotiations with multiple European teams
• Arizona injury could provide chance for Alfonso Smith
• Cat fights continuing in football position battles
• Kentucky football coaches are fired up over freshmen
• UK receiver LaRod King gets a grip on things
• New lights make a difference at Nutter Field House
• Notes from Kentucky’s final football scrimmage
• Joker Phillips makes the all-card team

DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo talk about coming back to Rupp.

From Nation of Blue:

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• New UK president says athletics are important asset to university
• Preston LeMaster named head coach at East Ridge High School
• Darius Miller was nervous as roster cuts were being made for USA team
• Brandon Bender confirms NCAA investigation rumors
• Jeff Goodman thinks Archie Goodwin could be UK’s first 2012 commit
• Randall Cobb working out at three receiving positions for Packers
• At his skills camp, DeMarcus Cousins says he misses UK
• Nothing but love for Lexington sports maven Dick Robinson
• DeQuin Evans trying to make it as linebacker with Bengals
• If the NCAA takes it away, did it really happen?

Continue reading ‘BBL: New UK president says athletics important’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Kentucky and Louisville football currently tied in their recruiting duel
• Western Kentucky football coach Willie Taggart says Hilltoppers must think big
• Calipari’s web site has a virtual tour of new Wildcat Coal Lodge
• Calipari says student-athletes should receive living expenses
• Kentucky coach gets his wish with UK paying first game in Nets’ new arena
• Jacob Tamme’s Swing for our Soldiers an impressive event
• Josh Harrellson will be part of celebrity match at Fifth Third Tennis Classic tonight
• ESPN breaks down top players at the Under Armour Challenge
• Looking at Kentucky football’s new crop of playmakers
• Large response causes DeMarcus Cousins’ camp to be moved