John Clay's Sidelines

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Nashville hoops star Alex Poythress talks about offer he received from Kentucky
• Billy Gillispie one of several coaches who invested with man now found dead
• Sea of Blue is trying to choose the best UK small forward since 1977
• Ira Combs offers some sizzling summer storylines for Kentucky
• DeMarcus Cousins will hold a summer camp in Georgetown
• Micah Johnson wants to make Big Blue Nation proud
• Kentucky will be searching for depth at running back come fall
• Former UK player Ramon Harris suffers a knee injury overseas
• Mark Krebs says John Calipari the best coach you could have
• Joker Phillips says the best players don’t always win championships

Jerry Tipton’s Sunday Notebook lead about the NCAA objecting to Kentucky’s celebration of John Calipari’s 500th victory was the talk of the weekend. Even Oscar Combs tweeted that readers needed to check out Jerry’s story. And Courier-Journal columnist Eric Crawford tackled the issue in his column this morning.

Writes Eric: “Worst of all – the NCAA now has given UK conspiracy theorists new ammunition. Because last September, Massachusetts inducted Marcus Camby into its athletic Hall of Fame. It didn’t just give him a game ball and a handshake, it gave him the full Hall of Fame treatment, including a bio of his accomplishments.”

Click the continue line for Monday’s Big Blue Links.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Reaction to NCAA’s objection to Calipari’s 500th’

(The State photo/Gerry Melendez)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Chris Low of espn.com does video talk about South Carolina receiver Alshon Jeffery.
• Kentucky’s cornerbacks hope to avoid a repeat of last year with Jeffery, reports B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Steve Brown is hearing some mumblings and rumblings, says my column.
• Raymond Sanders and Donald Russell will get their chances against South Carolina, writes Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader.
• Calipari says UK will lose some games early, blogs Jerry Tipton of the H-L.
• Calipari talks athletics and academics at UK forum, reports Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.
• South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia finds redemption, writes Travis Haney of the Charleston Post and Courier.
• Ramon Harris is still pursuing a professional career, reports Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• Volleyball trying to keep NCAA Tournament streak alive, writes Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches.
• Jake Lanefski plays role in latest UK football commitment, reports Mike Herndon of the Mobile Press-Register.

Videos from the three UK seniors, plus Patrick Patterson, talking to the media today about Sunday’s festitivities.

First up was Ramon Harris. Perry Stevenson, Mark Krebs and Patterson to come.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Happy Turkey Day:

• Jerry Tipton of the H-L reports from Cancun on the Cats’ overtime win over Stanford: “Calipari noted how a coach can learn about his team and his players in a pressure-cooker game.’I think we’ve got two guys who are not afraid to make plays,’ he said of Wall and Bledsoe. Later, the UK coach added Harris and Patterson to the freshman guards as players who won his trust.”

• Jerry’s notes from Cancun: “Because Kentucky fans bought almost 500 ticket packages, tournament officials moved the court to a North-South configuration. The rectangular court sits in the middle of a rectangular ballroom. That provided room for seven rows of bleachers behind the benches, six rows behind the opposite sideline and seven more rows behind each end line.”

• Mark Cornelison’s slide show from Cancun.

• Tom Leach has video of Calipari’s post-game press conference.

• Chip Cosby of the H-L reports that Tennessee is coming together: “Tennessee comes into Commonwealth with an unremarkable 6-5 record, but the Volunteers are a much different team now than they were in September. They easily beat Georgia and South Carolina and came within a blocked field goal of knocking off No. 2 Alabama. The only recent hiccup was a 42-17 loss at Mississippi that came on the heels of three players being arrested for attempted armed robbery.”

• Dave Hooker of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports UT can’t believe Randall Cobb got away: “Want to know what type of impact Randall Cobb will have on the Tennessee-Kentucky game on Saturday? Just check the scoreboard. ‘I think you’re talking about potentially a 14 to 21 point difference in one player about whether he was signed at Tennessee or went to Kentucky,’ UT coach Lane Kiffin said this week.”

• Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press also writes on Cobb: “The Knoxville-area native, who stunned Tennessee by picking the Wildcats over his childhood favorite Volunteers, is potentially a pesky problem looming in the near horizon. Whether he lines up at receiver, special-package quarterback or return specialist, Cobb drives the Wildcats.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Cats escape Cancun, Cobb escapes Tennessee’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Scott Shive of Herald-Leader reports that John Wall will get a shout-out on tonight’s Cougar Town: “In the episode of the TV comedy airing at 9:30 p.m. on ABC, Hopkins will sport a Sayre T-shirt. Emblazoned on the back will be the name “Goodman” – after his friend and former Sayre point guard Robert Goodman. If that’s not enough, at the end of the scene, which involves a basketball game, Hopkins does his rendition of Kentucky point guard John Wall’s much-imitated dance from last month’s Big Blue Madness.”

• High School Hoops reports that Shawn Teague says UK is still in the mix for his son, Marquis: “HSH: Is his school list the same? ST: Yeah, it’s Kentucky, Louisville, Wake Forest, Indiana, Purdue, Cincinnati and Ohio State.” (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader reports from Cancun on UK’s win over Cleveland State: “Calipari tried to jump-start UK early by inserting his best blue collar player, Ramon Harris. By halftime, with the Cats dominating around the basket yet stuck in an eight-point game in part because of turnovers, Calipari previewed his late-game tirade with some jalapeno-hot rhetoric.”

• Tipton reports that Calipari is happy with one Cat: “Yet Calipari noted Harris’ defense (physical and in communication with teammates) and rebounding. ‘He changed the game around,’ the UK coach said. ‘… Every day I watch him, he’s impressing me more and more. Great kid, and he’s trying. Offensively, he does some stuff. I’m trying to get him to just do what you can do.’”

• Herald-Leader slide show from UK win over Cleveland State.

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader writes that unsung players have driven UK’s year: “What if you had pulled aside any college football coach in America at the conclusion of spring practice and told him that he’d lose an NFL-quality defensive end before the first game, that his All-America-caliber cornerback would miss four games with an ankle injury, and that he’d have to play the second half of the season with a true freshman quarterback who was deemed not quite ready for prime time?”

• Brett Dawson of the C-J reports from Cancun on UK’s no day at the beach: “The Cats cranked up their intensity after halftime, and it turned into a ballroom blitz. UK opened the second half with an 18-4 run to ignite its fans, who made up the vast majority of the 832 in attendance at the Galactic Ballroom, transformed into a makeshift gym for the tournament.”

• Matt May of the Cats Pause reports from Cancun about UK’s slow start: “Wall scored a team-high 15 points, including 11 after halftime, as he zipped in and out of the Cleveland State defense. The nation’s top-rated recruit last year repeatedly took charge with the ball, drawing trips to the free-throw line or setting up teammates for open looks at the basket. Cousins added 14 points and seven rebounds while dominating the paint.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Cats in Cancun and on Cougar Town’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Here’s the post-game index on Kentucky’s 117-52 win over Clarion:

• Post-game video interview with John Wall after his 27-point performance.

• Audio of John Calipari post-game press conference.

• Herald-Leader photo slide show from the game.

• Jerry Tipton’s game story from the victory.

• Video post-game interview with Patrick Patterson.

• Video post-game interview with Perry Stevenson.

• Video post-game interview with Ramon Harris.

UK’s Ramon Harris, who turned in a nice game with 11 points and seven rebounds, talks about the team’s progress this week. John Calipari cracked the whip, putting in a curfew and conducting early-morning practices, and the Cats’ responded with a 117-52 crushing of poor Clarion, Coach Cal’s alma mater.

When I mention to Ramon Harris that he’s a holdover, he smiles. Harris has had an interesting college career — a late Tubby Smith recruit, injured in collision with Michael Porter, took ill at halftime at Alabama. Reserve, starter, etc. Harris has seen a little bit of everything. This is a new start for him, as well.

(David Coyle photography)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports on top hoops prospect Josh Selby, who has de-comitted from Tennessee and could be headed to Kentucky.
• At CBS Sportsline, Gary Parrish reports that Nike schools Kentucky and Oregon could be in line for Selby’s services, thanks to the William Wesley connection.
• Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free-Press writes on Selby giving Tennessee the slip.
• Kentucky Sports Radio says that Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman says that UK is the strong leader for Selby.
• Bleacher Report gives Jodie Meeks’ summer-league play an A grade.
• In the Courier-Journal, Rick Bozich writes that UK will have a tough time gathering six victories.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Having rejected UT, could Selby be headed for UK?’