John Clay's Sidelines

Kentucky point guard Marquis Teague speaks to the media after last night’s win.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Finally, here we go. The tournament commences. Kentucky plays Western Kentucky at 6:40 p.m. today at the KFC Yum Center. The game is being televised by TBS. Kentucky is the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Western Kentucky is a No. 16 seed.

A No. 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1 seed.

The pre-game stories centered on Kentucky being the tournament favorite, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s friendship with WKU’s Derrick Gordon, how Kentucky fans have taken over Louisville and Marquis Teague’s role as point guard in a tournament where guard play is paramount. There is plenty to read.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

Continue reading ‘BBL: All the links to get you ready for UK-WKU’

Kentucky point guard Marquis Teague talks to the media Wednesday in Louisville.

Post-game player videos from the UK locker room after Kentucky’s 71-64 loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament.

Anthony Davis

Continue reading ‘Videos: Post-game player videos from UK locker room’

Covered the post-game press conference in interview room, so could not get locker room video after UK’s nine-point win over LSU at the New Orleans Arena.

Thanks to Nation of Blue, which was on the spot and shot interviews of Doron Lamb, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague and Darius Miller.

Click the continue line for the videos.

Continue reading ‘Videos: Teague, Miller, Kidd-Gilchrist and Lamb’

Kentucky players Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb after UK’s win at Vanderbilt.

UK point guard Marquis Teague was one of the players made available at today’s pre-Vanderbilt media opp, and with good reason. The freshman will be experiencing something for the first time on Saturday, trying to run a team while his head coach is on the other baseline.

Teague said that John Calipari has told him to try and get the play calls at the free throw line when the other team is shooting free throws. He said that at this point of the year he feels comfortable enough to make some of the play calls himself. “It’s about half-and-half,” he said.

He also talked about feeding Anthony Davis lobs for dunks. The key is penetrating enough to make the defender commit. Sometimes, Davis gives Teague a signal. Sometimes, they both know the lob is there. “You just throw it up and he goes and gets it,” said the point guard.

Teague said that after the Florida game they were watching ESPN highlights in which they saw Davis go as high as “the top of the square” to get a lob pass before dunking it in.

“That’s crazy,” Teague said.

(H-L photo)

Check out the Herald-Leader fans gallery from the UK-Florida game.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• Players stepping up as Cats are clicking, writes Aaron Smith of Kernel.
• Kidd-Gilchrist a virtuoso again, writes Matt May of Cats Pause.
• MKG excelling in all areas, writes Jordan Schultz of Huffington Post.
• Davis making case to be nation’s No. 1, says Jake Curtis of Chronicle.
• This is Calipari’s best team, says my notes column.
• After flattening Florida, UK looks for challenge, writes Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• Basketball stats to get ready for Vandy, from Herald-Leader.
• Kidd-Gilchrist gives Davis a soothing feeling, says Sun’s Keith Taylor.
• Teague now knows UK is “my” team, writes Larry Vaught of A-M.
• Teague keeps improving, writes Jon Hale of KyForward.

After producing the first double-double of his collegiate career, Kentucky’s Marquis Teague talks to media about his improvement and Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt.