John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader on the bond shared by Kentucky’s new football coaches: “Charlie Strong was happy when he heard the news that Joker Phillips would take over for Rich Brooks as head football coach at the University of Kentucky, and Phillips had the same sentiment when Tom Jurich tabbed Strong to rebuild the program at the University of Louisville. And both Phillips and Strong were glad to see young up-and-comer Willie Taggart get his shot as the head coach at Western Kentucky University in November.”

A Sea of Blue on Calipari taking a break from basketball to visit someone in need: “Calipari did them one better. Unbeknownst to Kevin, Calipari, touched by the story related to him by Ed Schilling, took a plane to Indianapolis and surprised the youngster by personally visiting him in the hospital. As Cal walked through the door, tears began streaming down the cheeks of the extremely ill young man.”

Mark Story of the H-L on Mark Coury, ex-Wildcat now at Cornell: “When he picked Cornell, Coury became the first men’s hoops player ever to leave the basketball factory here in Lexington for the hallowed academic halls of the Ivy League. Yet that’s not the most unlikely part of the story.”

The Big Lead catches DeMarcus Cousins watching at Erin Andrews. (Hat tip to Walter’s Wildcat World.)

Wildcat Blue Blog looks at what UK does for SEC attendance: “Some SEC schools struggle to fill their seats year in and year out, except when the Kentucky Wildcats come to town. Then, the entire community seems to want to have a ticket and cram into the arena like sardines. UK has played 6 road games in the SEC so far this season and I looked at the average home attendance in conference play of those 6 teams and then compared it to the attendance for the Kentucky game.”

Inner Circle wants to forgive Billy Gillispie: “Many people say he only has himself to blame. He was the cause of his own demise. Nobody told him to drink and possibly neglect his players. Nobody told him to treat the media with disregard. Nobody told him to think narrow-mindedly offensively and defensively. Nobody told him to recruit the players he was recruiting.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Calipari takes a break to visit someone in need’

Videos from post-game press conference after Kentucky women completed its home season undefeated with a 71-50 win over visiting South Carolina. On top is UK coach Matthew Mitchell. In the middle is Victoria Dunlap, Amani Franklin and Lydia Watkins. At the bottom is a none-too-happy South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.

Hat tip to Tom Leach’s blog.

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• NPR’s Frank Deford works John Calipari into a screed on the turmoil in college sports.
• Andy Katz of ESPN on Calipari reaching out to John Wooden.
• Jerry Tipton of the H-L reports that some teams are sacrificing for SEC TV deal.
• Jen Smith of the H-L on UK women cracking the Top 25 in coaches poll.
• Rick Bozich’s blog reports that Rick Pitino doesn’t believe UK will go undefeated.
• Bozich also catches up with Tubby Smith.
• Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star reports that Arizona’s Sean Miller is headed to look at Josh Selby. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• Metz Camfield of the Kentucky Kernel reports that young Cats are trying to stay focused.
• Billy Reed has some praise for Coach Cal.
• Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman believes John Wall’s POY lead is shrinking.
• Kentucky Sports Radio has a rumor that Rock Oliver is returning to UK, this time for football.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Rick Pitino doesn’t see unbeaten Cats’

(H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

Update: UK will have media opp with players and Calipari starting at 12:45 today. Check the blog this afternoon for video, etc.

Big Blue Links for Friday:

Basketball Prospectus nominates John Wall for President: “He certainly looked heroic, calm, and in total and absolute control at the Garden against perhaps the single most stylistically consistent elite team in the nation. The program that Jim Calhoun has built always blocks shots. It never shoots threes. It has been this way forever. And what Calhoun’s team really wants is for some hotshot point guard to drive into the paint on them. Connecticut eats those little guys for lunch, always has.” (Hat tip to Bluegrass State Basketball.)

Jerry Tipton of the H-L writes that Cats are fine with John Wall’s star power: “As Calipari spoke about the great Wall of Kentucky (surely its wonderment can be seen from space like that other wall in China), the UK players shot glances at each other and smiled. Wall buried his face in his hands and giggled. Continue reading ‘BBL: John Wall for President?’