John Clay's Sidelines

Cornell’s Mark Coury talks about Kentucky. In case you haven’t heart, Coury once played for the Wildcats.

(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’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Update: Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports reports that sources say Wall is likely to be cleared before the Sept. 13 opener.

Update: Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal adds a thought about the Wall situation.

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• The ESPN story on John Wall’s eligibility issue.
• Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline reports that UK is confident that Wall will be eligible, but may miss 3-4 games.
• My two cents on the Wall story.
• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader reports that Patrick Patterson embraces the leading-man role.
• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader gives the UK football team mid-season grades.
• Chip also reports that Derrick Locke has been upgraded to probable for Saturday.
• Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports on the SEC Media Day back-and-forth between John Calipari and Bruce Pearl.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Is John Wall issue no big deal?’

Net surfing for UK news:

• New: Bleacher Report gives stats to back up why UK should be ranked.
• Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog digs up a link saying Mark Coury is headed to Cornell.
• Joe Hickman of KY3 News reports that UK is still recruiting Trae Golden.
• Herald-Leader’s Chip Cosby writes on the new titles for key offensive staff members.
• Herald-Leader’s Jerry Tipton reports that freshman Darius Miller shed some frustrations at Tennessee.
• Tipton also reports that Billy Gillispie is a-ok with Patrick Patterson’s scoring dip.
• Herald-Leader columnist Mark Story wants to know where all the big scorers have gone.
• In the Kentucky Kernel, Bobby Reagan writes that Jodie Meeks was not always a big-time scorer.
• H-L reports has that starters star in road win for UK women’s team.
• In the Tuscaloosa News, Christopher Walsh reports that cold-shooting doomed Bama in loss to UK.
• C-J columnist Eric Crawford writes that UK football is up, U of L football down.
• Dick Gabriel on the Jodie Meeks’ eruption zone.
• Dick Vitale jumps on the Jodie Meeks’ bandwagon.
• AP reports that the New York Giants have signed Andre Woodson again.
• The Cat Scratches blog talks to Jeremy Jarmon about his NFL draft research experiences.
• Had overlooked this earlier, but Jeff Goodman gives love to Jodie Meeks, duds to Tennessee.