John Clay's Sidelines

Larry Munson (UGA photo)

A sad day for the SEC as the league loses two, one a legend, the other far too young.

Long-time Georgia play-by-play announcer Larry Munson passed away Sunday night from complications associated with pneumonia. Munson was 89. As Mark Bradley nails it in the AJC, “From property being destroyed on St. Simons after Belue-to-Scott to the Knoxville noses broken by the hobnailed boot, the Munson sense of imagery was a gale force unto itself. Nobody else sounded like him. Nobody else would choose the words he chose. The first time I heard Munson doing a Georgia game, I thought I had, by some trick of the ionosphere, tuned into some ham radioman having a nervous breakdown. The more I listened to the great man, the more I realized my first impression wasn’t far wrong, and I mean that in the best possible way.”

Continue reading ‘SEC: Legendary Larry Munson passes at 89′

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reports that while on a Memphis radio show this morning, UK coach John Calipari made a comment that could easily be construed as a shot at Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Norlander reports that Cal said:

“Start a clean slate,” Calipari said. “Police each other, give it to league commissioners and schools to deal with. If it goes beyond that, there’s a board there that’s ready to deal with it. … You’ve got coaches being fired over phone calls and text messages. Some. Other guys can make phone calls and it’s not that big a deal.”

Continue reading ‘John Calipari denies he took a shot at Mike Krzyzewski’

(AP photo)

Duke announced Saturday that is looking into a possible recruiting violation by basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

(Yes, you read that line correctly.)

CBS Sports reported that Nashville prep star Alex Poythress, who is being recruited by Kentucky, said that he spoke with Krzyzewski during an AAU tournament in the Orlando and the Duke coach offered him a scholarship. Coaches are not allowed to contact recruits during tournaments.

Continue reading ‘Duke looking into possible Mike Krzyzewski violation’

Mike Krzyzewski

This from UK:

NEW YORK – March 29, 2011 – The next edition of Basketball and Beyond with Coach K, the weekly SiriusXM show hosted by Duke University and U.S. Men’s National Team coach Mike Krzyzewski, will debut Wednesday, March 30 (7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT) on Mad Dog Radio (Sirius channel 123 and XM channel 144).

On this week’s program, Coach K’s guests will include two of this year’s Final Four coaches – Butler coach Brad Stevens, whose team is seeking its second consecutive appearance in the National Championship game, and Kentucky coach John Calipari. Coach K will also be joined by Hall of Famer John Thompson, Jr., the legendary former Georgetown head coach who led the Hoyas to the 1984 National Title and three Final Fours.

After Wednesday night’s debut, Basketball and Beyond with Coach K will replay several times including:

· Wednesday, March 30 (11:00 pm ET), and Friday, April 1 (11:00 pm ET) on SiriusXM College Sports Nation (Sirius channel 122 and XM channel 143).

· Saturday, April 2 (7:00 am ET), and Sunday, April 3 (7:00 am ET), on Mad Dog Radio (Sirius channel 123 and XM channel 144).

Antonie Walker (AP photo)

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

Ken Berger of CBS Sports: “To the business types and families crammed in this vessel with a former NBA All-Star, the only priorities were a palatable meal and a clean connection. The tall, athletic-looking man in his mid-30s could have passed for a neighbor or a youth basketball coach or just another traveler coping with the misery of the road. The only giveaway — the lone symbol of Antoine Walker’s long and accomplished NBA career — was worn on his head.” (Hat tip All Ky Hoops)

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader: “Of course, freshman Jarrod Polson was nervous when Kentucky Coach John Calipari ordered him into the game at South Carolina last weekend. It was the first significant minutes for a player perceived to be a human victory cigar. Nothing more. ‘Yeah, a little bit,’ he said Wednesday. ‘I’m not going to lie. I was a little bit nervous. But at the same time, I tried to keep my composure.’”

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger: “Forget about the winning lottery numbers or even when it might quit snowing. Those answers don’t matter. What matters is this – where is Boyle County linebacker Lamar Dawson going to play his college football? Dawson has less than a week now before his 9 a.m. press conference on Feb. 2 – the first day of the national signing period – when he’ll pick either Kentucky, Tennessee, Oregon, Southern California or Central Florida.”

Matt Dover of Roll Bama Roll: “The second uncommitted player Bama is targeting is Trevor Lacey, a 6’3″ guard from Butler High School in Huntsville who is ranked as a top-40 national player. He has offers from Alabama and Auburn in addition to Kentucky and UConn. As a top-40 national player, it’s clear he’s pretty highly regarded by the recruiting gurus, but beyond that, long-time Alabama high school basketball observers insist that Lacey is the best scoring guard to come through the state in recent memory, and that he will provide instant offense for someone as a freshman in college.” (Hat tip Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader: “No coach wants to lose three straight games. But Coach Matthew Mitchell said last week that those three losses to start January probably “couldn’t have come at a better time” for the No. 17 Kentucky women’s basketball team. They came in time to – he hopes – kick-start the rest of the Cats’ season.”

John Calipari on Twitter: “I’m very excited to have Coach Larry Brown visiting for a few days. He was at practice & got a good look at our team & can help us improve.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Walker’s comeback; Polson, Lacey, Dawson’

Interesting college hoops links on this historic Inauguration Day:

• J. Brady McCollugh of the Kansas City Star reports that Kansas coach Bill Self admits that he greeted recruit John Wall, which could be a violation of NCAA rules.
• Steve Wieberg of USA Today writes that Self has some explaining to do.
• Allen Vaughn of the Springfield News-Leader first broke the Self-Wall story.
• Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t think the Raleigh News and Observer appreciates Duke’s success.
• RNO columnist Caulton Tudor writes that in the long run poll numbers don’t mean much.
• ESPN’s Andy Katz on the high school hoops tourney ban.
• Jeff Walker of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that Pat Knight is rather frustrated with his Texas Tech team.
• SI.com’s Andy Glockner gives his NCAA Tournament seed projections. (Spoiler alert: You won’t like where he has Cats.)
• Thoughts from CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish.
• Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Pitt’s win over Syracuse last night.
• Tom Keegan of the Lawrence Journal-World writes that Kansas’ pieces may be falling into place.
• Check out Kyle Whelliston’s Mid-Majority blog.