John Clay's Sidelines

Jerry Tipton of the H-L is at the Adidas Invitational Camp in Indianapolis and shot this interview with Quincy Miller today:

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• A 6-foot-9 forward from Chicago, Anthony Davis will visit Kentucky, reports Zagsblog.

• Daniel Orton struggles in his summer league debut, says a Herald-Leader staff report.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel on Orton being ejected in his first Summer League game.

• Orton must push the reset button, writes Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel.

• Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman was in Orlando to watch the Orton meltdown.

• Despite his son being tossed in first game, Larry Orton is excited about Daniel’s future, writes Alan Cutler of WLEX.

(AP photo)

• Ex-U of L quarterback Dave Ragone could be coaching ex-UK quarterback Andre Woodson in the UFL, writes Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal.

• Bluegrass State Basketball on U.S. U-17 team’s romp over China.

• Quincy Miller could end up being his class’ No. 1 prospect, says Draft Express. (Hat tip to Spam’s Wildcat Page.)

• Kentucky Sports Network on Joker Phillips and Operation Win.

• Added: John Middleton of the Harlan Daily Enterprise says UK may regret hiring Calipari.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Orton gets the hook; Anthony Davis to visit Kentucky’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Kentucky fans learning to live with John Calipari’s Catch-22, writes John Pennington of Mr. SEC.

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader catches up with Joker Phillips at his youth camp in Louisville.

• John Wall pays “younger brother” Quincy Miller a visit, reports Jerry Biggs of the San Antonio News-Express. (Hat tip to Tom Leach.)

• Patrick Patterson writes about his draft night for SportsIllustrated.com.

• Joker Phillips will take a break, just not sure when, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.

• Rick Pitino is trying to fight back against Calipari, blogs Eamonn Brennan of espn.com.

Continue reading ‘BBL: John Wall pays Quincy Miller a visit’

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Old guard wasn’t buying John Calipari’s remarks about draft being UK’s best day ever, writes Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.

• Should athletics and academics be separated? asks UK professor Bill Maloney.

• Kentucky football can’t afford to take a step backwards, writes Mark Story of the Herald-Leader.

• UK football trying to hold its commitments, writes Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader.

• Quincy Miller has a big night in the Virgin Islands, reports Zagsblog.

• DeMarcus Cousins is eager to prove himself, writes Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.

• Like it or not, Kentucky is becoming an NBA farm system, writes Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal.

• Kentucky football ranked 65th in the nation, by the Orlando Sentinel.

• John Calipari wasn’t talking to you, writes Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News.

• Calipari talks about next year’s roster:

Continue reading ‘BBL: NBA draft aftermath means football heating up’

Ashley Judd at the UK-West Virginia game. (AP photo)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• A tentative menu has been released for the Judd-Calipari dinner, reports Sharon Thompson of the Herald-Leader.
• Patrick Patterson canceled his workout with the Bucks because he doesn’t believe he’ll last to the 16th pick, reports Gary Woelfel of the Milwaukee Journal-Times. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• My notes column, which leads with the fact that Calipari’s APR numbers at Memphis rank favorably when compared to SEC schools.
• Alabama superintendent orders review of Eric Bledsoe’s transcript, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Kenny Payne will be in Lexington next week, reports Kent Spencer of WTVQ-TV.
• Bluegrass State Basketball reports that Derrick Millar will receive a shock probation hearing.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Patterson cancels workout; Payne on the way’

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Yahoo Sports national columnist Dan Wetzel gives John Calipari some well-deserved props for his Hoops for Haiti.
• Andy Mead of H-L reports that one donor spent over $108,000 on Hoops for Haiti.
• Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer on how John Wall escaped North Carolina.
• Calipari tells Dan Patrick he wants John Wall to go pro if he’s No. 1 pick.
• Jennifer Smith Mark Maloney of the H-L reports that Rich Brooks gave UK women a helping hand in win over Arkansas.
• Mason Linker of the Winston-Salem Journal writes on UK target Quincy Miller. (Hat tip to Spam’s Wildcat Page.)
• Mark Story of the H-L writes on former UK commitment Dakotah Euton.
• Danny Jett’s Inner Circle has a Calipari encounter at a middle school basketball game.
• Jerry Tipton of the H-L writes that Saturday is another emotional hurdle for Arkansas coach John Pelphrey.
• High School Hoops says Ryan Harrow is backtracking on his C.J. Leslie statement. (Hat tip to Bluegrass State Basketball.)

Continue reading ‘BBL: Rex Chapman, Howard Stern, Quincy Miller & more’

Big Blue Links for Friday:

Mark Pope

Jerry Tipton of the H-L on ex-UK player Mark Pope, who gave up medical school to coach at Georgia: “Then he gave up a career in medicine last summer to become Georgia’s basketball operations coordinator. He’ll be a coach-in-training on the Bulldogs’ bench Saturday in Rupp Arena, where the closest he’ll come to doctoring will be keeping first-year coach Mark Fox supplied with water and cough drops. Pope acknowledges that his career change is a head scratcher.”

Jimmy Heggins

Rick Petri

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger reports that Joker Phillips has let two assistants go: “One day after signing a contract that will pay him at least $1.7 million annually for five years, Phillips let offensive line coach Jimmy Heggins and defensive line coach Rick Petri know they would not be on his staff.”

H-L report on UK women’s overtime loss at Georgia: “Jasmine James knew she was going to be called on to win the game. Whatever nerves the freshman had evaporated by the time she took the three-pointer with 17 seconds left in overtime that went through and gave No. 8 Georgia a school-record 15-0 start with a 61-60 win over Kentucky on Thursday night.”

Kentucky Sports Network talks to C.J. Leslie, who will be playing at Lexington Catholic this weekend.

Mike Fields has the details on Leslie appearance at Catholic and Quincy Miller’s appearance at LCA.

Mark Story of the H-L gives out his Orange Globes: “Kanye West has shown up, ripped the microphone from the hands of Joan and Melissa Rivers, and demanded that every one of my mid-season Kentucky college basketball awards go to John Wall. OK, he might have a point.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Joker Phillips reportedly lets two assistants go’

(Photo John Clay)

Big Blue Links for Saturday:

Ray Ratto writes for CBS SportsLine that Bob Kngiht was a little late: “Does this invalidate his points at the Hall of Fame? No, of course not. His principles speech is always on point. It is, however, a lot like going to a meeting of a mob family and complaining about rampant lawbreaking. You’re speaking about people who long ago figured out the price of a soul and use that number when amortizing its costs, and wondering aloud why they aren’t nicer people. They’re not, and in many cases they never were. They just crossed more lines with less care for the punishment, because there is none and never has been.”

Gary Parrish of CBS SportsLine says UK fans will have to live with this: “And this is how it’s going to be forever, UK fans, and why it was clear — even before Knight said what he said — that any success Calipari has going forward will be tainted regardless of whether it’s really tainted. Until the day he retires, the majority of observers will believe, fair or not, that every recruit Calipari gets is a product of his relationship with William Wesley even if Worldwide Wes has never met the recruit. All SATs will be assumed fake even if they’re legit, all future pros will supposedly have agents even if they do not.”

Mike DeCourcy says Knight got it wrong: “Knight always contended too many in the media wrote or talked about things they didn’t know or understand. Now he has done the same. The current Kentucky coach – yes, we know his name, John Calipari – did previously work at Massachusetts and Memphis, and both of those schools wound up facing NCAA sanctions for incidents that occurred while he coached there. However, Calipari was not implicated in either circumstance.”

Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal takes a different view of Knight’s comments: “Knight could talk about the way Kentucky essentially bought Memphis’ recruiting class for $32 million. He could talk about the way Calipari rigged the recruits’ letters of intent so they wouldn’t actually be bound to the school. He could point out that Calipari used that Memphis recruiting class to escape NCAA sanctions he knew were coming. He could say the things Dick Vitale and the rest don’t have the guts or objectivity to say.”

My column calling Bob Knight a washed-up bully, among other things: “Before a rapt audience Thursday night, Knight tried to make it sound as though he was the one too good for the game, when actually the game’s grown too good for him. The days of coaches abusively treating players and fans and administrators is coming to a close. Ask Mark Mangino, the former football coach at Kansas. He, too, has some time on his hands.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Reaction to the Calipari-Knight reaction’