John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Kentucky coach John Calipari says dropping a traditional rivalry is best for the players, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• In a span of eight days, Kentucky sports fans saw their Christmas come early, writes Mark Story of the Herald-Leader.
• Duke recruits are trying to persuade  Julius Randle, but the Class of 2013 star still has Kentucky on his list, reports Zagsblog.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes on those poor quality issues for Kentucky basketball telecasts.
• Anthony Davis is one of five basketball finalists for ESPN’s NEXT award, reports Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel.

On the Dan LeBatard Show today, Dick Vitale took up for John Calipari, then became upset when LeBatard’s co-host said that every program has committed some sort of NCAA infraction. Finally, Vitale said he doesn’t want to waste his time and hangs up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGTYPBW3R80&feature=player_embedded#!

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Ryan Harrow will be visiting UK today, says Keith Bays of Kentucky Sports Report.
• Trevor Lacey done with visits, will make decision May 18, reports Gary Bedore of the Lawrence Journal-World.
• Roy Williams, John Calipari and Dick Vitale join together to fight cancer, reports Robbi Pickeral of the Charlotte Observer.
• Did Terrence Jones make the right decision? asks Mark Story of the Herald-Leader.
• DeAndre Liggins is ready to live with his NBA decision, he tells Cat Scratches.
• Kentucky at No. 2 behind North Carolina, according to Andy Katz of espn.com.
• Jones and Liggins both made the right calls, says Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports.
• Tom Leach gives his take on the decisions made by UK basketball players.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Report says Harrow visiting Kentucky today’

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Another top John Calipari class is ready to sign today, writes Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Calipari rules the recruiting trail again, writes Jim Halley of USA Today.
• Randall Cobb to consider leaving early for the NFL draft, reports Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader.
• Cobb could be near the end of his UK career, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.
• DeQuin Evans has been battling injuries all year, writes Dawson for the C-J.
• Vanderbilt defensive back will help out at quarterback, reports Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• Matt Roark flying under the radar for UK, writes B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel.
• It will be Kentucky’s talent vs. East Tennessee’s experience, writes Tipton of the H-L.
• Houston Rockets send Patrick Patterson to D-League, says H-L staff report.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Calipari ready to ink a No. 1 class again today’

Dick Vitale

The Nation of Blue blog documents today’s back-and-forth battle between Dick Vitale and John Pennington of the Mr. SEC blog.

Vitale defended Calipari and Kentucky against last week’s Chicago Sun-Times story concerning, well, you know.

Mr. SEC questioned Vitale’s reasoning, saying that the Hall of Famer looked silly in doing so.

Excerpt:

Good Lord. Vitale just gave a full recruiting pitch for the Wildcats. Am I the only one who believes Calipari and Vitale spoke by phone about this most recent mess? The two paragraphs above could have darn well been written by Coach Cal himself.

But here’s my issue with Vitale’s ridiculous argument – all of that stuff was true about Kentucky when Eddie Sutton’s crew wrecked the Cats’ program, too. Rupp Arena, great tradition, yada, yada, yada. All true. But UK still cheated themselves to the verge of the death penalty in the late ’80s.

As Nation of Blue points out, this caused Vitale to tweet a response.

Click here to get Nation of Blue’s response.

From Dick Vitale’s Twitter page this morning:

Dick Vitale

With conference basketball swinging into gear, we move the Media Approval Ratings to the men and women who bring us the games. That means broadcasters, as in play-by-play broadcasters and color analysts. With ESPN handling the honors for Tuesday night’s Kentucky-Florida tilt inside the O-Dome, we start with WWL’s lead analyst, the now Hall of Famer Dick Vitale.

What say you on Dicky V, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Jeannine Edwards

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• UK Athletics says Jeannine Edwards will be at the UK Women’s Basketball Clinic, Oct. 7.
• Tom Leach calls that another shrewd PR move by UK.
• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader previews the UK secondary.
• Cosby reports that a foot injury has put E.J. Fields’ season in jeopardy.
• UK Football Fan did a Q&A with Chip about UK’s football fortunes.
• Jennifer Smith of the H-L writes about the new UK women’s basketball schedule.
• Mark Story of the H-L writes on former UK receiver Steve Johnson, now learning from T.O.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal reports on Kentucky’s tight ends.
• Gary Bedore of the Lawrence Journal World reports that Brandon Knight will visit Kansas. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• Zagsblog reports that UK will make an in-home visit to Tobias Harris on Sept. 7.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Jeannine Edwards to appear at UK women’s clinic’

On his blog today, Dick Vitale latches on to the NCAA Clearing House — or is it clearinghouse? — issue in defending new UK coach John Calipari.

Excerpt:

Here is a simple question: Which Division I coach would keep Rose out of the lineup after the NCAA declared him eligible to play? There is an NCAA clearinghouse that determines player eligibility and they told Memphis that Rose could play.

I don’t believe there is a coach in America who wouldn’t play him after the clearinghouse declared him eligible.

Why shouldn’t they play the No. 1 point guard when the governing body, on two occasions, declared him eligible.

The University of Memphis and then-coach John Calipari followed the rules and regulations. Compliance people did the best they could in finding out what the player’s status was. The determination was simple: play him.

Hat tip to Kentucky Sports Radio.

By the way, I received a message from someone who says the NCAA no longer calls it the Clearing House. It’s now known as the NCAA Eligibility Center.

ESPN’s Dick Vitale is trying to win himself back into the good graces of Kentucky fans who have been put out with the WWL’s most ubiquitous basketball announcer.

Vitale is out with his pre-season top 40 for next season, and John Calipari’s Cats are No. 2 on the list, behind No. 1 Kansas.

Here is Dicky V’s top 10:

• 1. Kansas
• 2. Kentucky
• 3. Michigan St
• 4. Texas
• 5. Duke
• 6. Purdue
• 7. Villanova
• 8. North Carolina
• 9. West Virginia
• 10. Illinois