SB Nation User Blog: Truzenzuzex

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- UK Basketball: Who's to Blame for the Henrys?

Truzenzuzex — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:16:29 -0000

"Momma told me not to come, Coach Cal."

This just in -- the NCAA and the NBA are to blame for the fact that the Henrys are being so flighty and indecisive about their college choice. And if that doesn't work for you, it is the fault of the Kansas City Star for writing an article that painted the Henry family in what looks more and more like the light of the truth. I know you're shocked ... Shocked! that the Henry family is apparently blameless in this kerfuffle.

Of course, we can't blame the father of these kids for running around telling anyone who will listen about how great they are, about how they might go to Europe, or UK, or whatever. We can't blame Xavier Henry for telling anyone who will listen that he really doesn't want to deal with the whole "going to class" thing.

You know, it really makes me wonder what this world is coming to when sportswriters fall all over themselves to grind their favorite axes at the expense of reality. Why not just deal with the situation at hand, instead of coming up with ludicrous excuses that allow fingers to be pointed anywhere but where they actually belong? Bloggers are even blaming Calipari, who apparently had very little interest in seeing the Henrys shift to the more stately Blue and White.

Excuses, excuses. How about blaming those actually responsible. Just once, for the heck of it.

Now, for the news:

UK Basketball

Calipari wants to see a more confident Miller | Vaught's Views
UK Basketball: Calipari thinks ahead: WinchesterSun.com
Yes. He does. Way ahead.
Looking At The SEC’s 10 Best Recruits. " The Pick And Roll
Money quote about John Wall:

"His outside shot is the one glaring weakness on his game. Opposing teams will already be looking to zone the DDM, and Wall isn’t really a threat to bust it. Is a one and done player."

Read the rest, there are blurbs in there about Boynton, Sindey, Cousins, John Jenkins of Vandy, Daniel Orton and more.
Darius Miller getting it done
Miller is a smart player. Be sure to follow the links to get the whole story.
TheBigSpur.com - SEC Hoops notebook
As with the strength of the conference, most of the coaches were asked about Calipari. Calipari built a powerhouse program at Memphis with relatively limited resources, and now moves to Kentucky, where the resources are nearly unlimited. The other coaches were not as eager to promote Calipari’s arrival as they were to tout the improved league, but Tennessee’s Pearl summed up the general feeling.

"John has raised the bar tremendously for all of us," he said. "It’s going to bring great credibility to our league, and John being in our league is going to make us all better. It’s going to be more difficult to win a championship, and it’s going to be more difficult to finish ahead of Kentucky."

I'm no lover of Bruce Pearl, but he got this one exactly right. I think the other coaches are thinking the same thing, even if they aren't saying it.
Porter has no regrets about UK career | Vaught's Views
After being asked by Larry Vaught if he was "...treated fairly, or did Calipari force him out ...", Porter responded, "Coach Calipari was fine. I just went in one day and told him I felt like I was done playing basketball." Classy comment by a classy young man making a wise and obviously well-considered decision. He didn't need to be pushed out -- he has other fish to fry.

UK Football

Rivals.com Preseason 120: No. 43 Kentucky
Steve Megargee of Rivals does a really good job of analyzing UK's foot ball chances this year.
2009 Kentucky Wildcats Preview - AthlonSports.com
A really terrific preview here:

"Defensively, it looks like we’ll be an improved team over what we were last year, which was a marked improvement for us over the previous years," UK coach Rich Brooks says. "Offensively, there isn’t any question in my mind that we’ll be better than we were last year." Sounds good, coach. Here's hoping ...
No. 8 teams Missouri, Kentucky meet in Big 12-SEC Challenge- ESPN
Interesting. Hypothetical, but interesting.
Cats add another Granger to the fold
Carmel's Morgan, Hammes chosen as Athletes of the Year | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star
"Morgan is the best athlete I have seen come through Carmel High School," said Carmel boys basketball coach Mark Galloway. "He was our leader in virtually every offensive category. His impact on young people will live on for many years in our community."

Oh, hell yeah! This is just what UK fans love to hear.

Other UK Sports

UK's Agostinelli to play Davis Cup for Canada | courier-journal.com
Congratulations to Bruno Agostinelli!

NCAA Sports

Andy Katz: Cincinnati joins UK, Arizona as recruiting winners
What a difference Lance Stephenson makes -- if he can avoid the hoosegow or being declared ineligible for his association with BornReady.tv.
My favorite stadiums in the SEC - SEC - ESPN
Chris Low ranks UK's stadium last in the SEC. Southern Pigskin has a slightly better view.
What vehicle do you associate with certain SEC coaches
Heh. Funny.

Other News of Interest

Antwain Barbour Signs With Top-Level Spanish Team
Good news for Barbour.
JCPS releases investigation into Gilpin death
JCPS says the coach did nothing wrong with respect to school policy. I think David Stengel needs to do the right thing and drop the charges. Based on this report, I think that continued pursuit by the Commonwealth's Attorney will look like pure gubernatorial politics, which I strongly suspect it was all along.

The Daily Schadenfreude

Fan Loyalty Runs Deep In Louisville | U of L Card Game
So let's see -- in the city of Louisville, according to a 2005 Bluegrass poll, U of L can claim a whopping 57% support? And this is something to brag about? I wonder if they would even hit double digits in the rest of the state?
College Football Predictions: 2009 Louisville Cardinals
Louisville is listed at +1,500 to win the 2009 Big East Championship. Heh. That's all you need to know.

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- You Will Now be Returned to your Regularly Scheduled Summer

Truzenzuzex — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:50:26 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

"Hooray! Thank you, Xavier! Thank you!"

Browse more photos »

The top news of this morning is that Xavier Henry has told a number of people, radio stations and even a loathsome troll that he will not be reneging on his commitment to Bill Self and Kansas, despite numerous reports that he was strongly reconsidering his destination.

I am pleased that the young man has kept his word. While there is no penalty for changing your mind in Henry's situation, and Kentucky could have definitely used him to shore up what looks right now to be a significant weakness in next year's team, it always makes me happy to see notoriously flighty young people keep their agreements. Henry is a bright, articulate young man and I think he made the right decision. Some UK fans are rather miffed that he got us all excited again, but let's face it -- UK fans are well known for getting excited about any potential recruiting news, and we have only ourselves to blame if some of us got RickRoll'd.

Now, for the news:

Top Story

Xavier Henry still going to Kansas
Henry stays with Kansas, according to this report. You can all return to your regularly scheduled summer.
Kansas exhales after Henry watch ends
"Later, Carl said there was nothing factually wrong with the [Kansas City Star] story, but wasn’t happy with the writer. "The guy who wrote that story kind of betrayed my whole family and kind of made us look bad, like my kids are prima donnas, all I do is talk."

Heh. I think the Star was actually quite accurate, especially about that last part.
Henrys stick with KU / LJWorld.com
"However, all was smoothed over by late Tuesday night when Xavier Henry sent a text message to Kansas City 610 radio’s Cory Anderson indicating he would remain a Jayhawk. "I’m goin’ to Kansas and that’s final," Anderson said in reading the message to the Journal-World."

UK Basketball News

Kentucky dueling Duke for Terrance Jones
CatsPause.com - Whispers: Wall on track at UK
"John Wall is on track to be eligible to play at Kentucky next season. John Wall, the No. 1-ranked prospect in the Rivals150, confirmed that he received the SAT score he needed and is doing well in summer school at Kentucky."[Subscription required]
Miller, Mack trying to put U.S. back on top
Good luck to them.
A Legal View of the Gillispie v UKAA Lawsuit’s Early Battles
Very interesting blog post, and with the exception of his conclusion that Gillispie won't coach again unless he wins, I agree with all of it. That last conclusion though, is just specious.
John Calipari: Rock Star?
Well, yeah, at least around here. "(EDIT: Yes, I forgot about Rick Pitino -- one Final Four at Providence, two playoff appearances in two years with the New York Knicks. So who was the bigger Rock Star upon arriving at UK -- Pitino or Calipari?)"

My answer: Unquestionably Calipari. Pitino had a lot of buzz when he came, but it has never been like this.
UK Basketball: Full speed ahead for Calipari: WinchesterSun.com
"The Kentucky coach understood the reasoning behind Meeks’ decision to stay in the draft. If he had stayed, Meeks would have been playing for his third coach in four years. " Jay Bilas also touched on this. I think it was much more of a factor than any other single thing besides Meeks' desire to be a pro.
Matt Pilgrim's progress may bring him to Memphis
'"He [Calipari] didn't give me a reason," Pilgrim said. "He said, (on) talent, I can play in the (NBA) if I wanted to, but it's how hard I was willing to work. I told him I was willing to work hard, but I guess it wasn't convincing enough."'

That quote looks bad, but it is offset by an amplifying one in this article: '"He just gave me a choice...to sit the bench or go somewhere and play. So, you know he basically gave me a choice but it wasn't really a choice at the same time," Pilgrim said.'
"When the Wildcats win, the SEC matters more."
Indeed.

UK Football News

Mark Story: Evaluating UK football's streak-busting chances
Interesting piece by Story. I would love to see the Tennessee and Spurrier streaks end this year. If that happens, I expect the bowl streak will happen as well.
Brown expects Cats' defense to keep on rising
"The Wildcats were 118th in total defense when Brown took over in 2007. That number climbed to 67th following his first year and 40th in 2008. After being 99th in scoring defense before Brown took the reigns, the Cats finished 35th last fall." I think Steve Brown has made an impact on our defense, but this season could really tell the tale.

Other UK Sports News

None today

NCAA Sports News

Pearl signs new six-yeal deal reportedly worth $2.4 Million/year.
"Both Pearl and Hamilton have indicated they are comfortable with Pearl being the third-highest-paid coach in the SEC."
$kyrocketing $EC $alaries
Offered without comment.
League's coaches expect rebound
Definitely the SEC will be better this year than last. "Having a traditional power such as Kentucky climb back to its pedestal after missing the NCAA for the first time in 18 years will also rehab to conference's reputation, Pearl said. Having a leader in the arms race only forces the rest to reach higher." Indeed.
Kelvin Sampson's appeal denied by NCAA
Reeee...jected!

Other News of Interest

BCS won’t change ‘if Congress does nothing’
Orin Hatch is full of it on this issue. It's all about looking good for his home state, and nothing else. Filthy politics at its worst. He and his ilk should be ashamed, but the word "ashamed" when applied to a politician like Hatch is an oxymoron.

The Daily Schadenfreude

The Snake of the Bluegrass Stealing the Henrys
How sweet. Calipari gets all this recruiting interest, and it's gotta be illegal. Get this line: "The other thing that even more appalling is the fact that Kentucky decided to cut two players loose to make sure that they are under in scholarships. Now I realize that my Marquette Golden Eagles have done somewhat of the same things with the scholarships but its not to sign one of the best players in the nation."

Oh, well then, if it's not to "sign one of the best players in the nation," running players off is just fine, right? What kind of insensate, brain-dead reasoning is that? My college logic teacher just rolled over in his grave.

As the last insult, I will note that the author missed a golden opportunity at clever wordplay by replacing "of" with "in" for his title, but upon reflection, cleverness seems... beyond his reach.
Many thanks to Coach K staying at Duke
I can't imagine Krzyzewski going to the Lakers, and it isn't going to happen according to Mike Miller.

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Breaking News for Kentucky Fans

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:03:42 -0000

More photos » AP

Could it really happen? Could Xavier Henry bolt the Jayhawks and don the Blue and White?

Browse more photos »

Okay, this story has just exploded in the last hour or so and we are going to need more than just a FanShot to talk about it. The word is going around that Xavier Henry wanted to follow Calipari to Kentucky, but his mother refused to move here and he wanted to be near her. So he and his brother C.J. agreed to come play for Bill Self at Kansas.

Here is the key -- Henry is not signed anywhere. You can only sign one LOI per year, and Henry did that -- with Memphis. When Memphis let him out of that LOI, he essentially became the college equivalent of a free agent -- he can just show up on campus and sign scholarship papers if the school wants to extend one and he is otherwise qualified. His agreement with Self to come to Kansas is non-binding on either him or Self.

Apparently, Xavier Henry is now seriously thinking about coming to Kentucky instead of Kansas. That would be huge for two reasons -- one, we have an available scholarship, and two, Henry would fill an immediate and crucial (if not quite desperate) need that UK currently has -- that of a shooting guard. Henry is a remarkable, NBA -level talent that would significantly alter Kentucky's fortunes if he actually decided to come here.

Another thing that Henry would do if he came to Kentucky is make the 2009 recruiting class the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight class of all time, exceeding even the Fab Five of Michigan. To my knowledge, no school has ever landed the #1, 2, and 3 ranked recruits as well as two other Rivals.com five-star players. Henry would remove all doubt about the #1 class in modern college basketball history.

After the jump, you will find lots of articles for more information.

Xavier Henry News

Henry brothers ponder another move -- to Kentucky Wildcats - ESPN
Katz gets it wrong, saying we would have to lose another player for Henry. CJ would be a walk on, and UK currently has a scholly open.
Xavier and CJ Still Jayhawks? - Rock Chalk Talk
The Kansas point of view from Rock Chalk Talk
Basketball prospect Henry wants to play at UK, father says
Well. I don't know what else to say. What will Xavier do?
Dan Shanoff: Xavier Henry: Why Not Try D-League?
Offered without comment.
Attention Whore Status? (Henry Brothers)
Intentional Foul takes the Henrys to task. I think he has a point.
Putnam City's Xavier Henry still thinking about Kentucky
Henry family will meet to discuss brothers' commitment to KU - Kansas City Star
This is the paper that started it all.

Other UK News of Interest

Bluegrass State Basketball: Donald Williams to Mississippi Gulf Coast CC
Good for him.
KSN First Look: Harrison Barnes talks Kentucky - Kentucky Sports Network
We caught up with Harrison Bames at the NBA Top 100 Camp.
Chris Russin signs with the Cubs
Congrats to Chris, we will miss him next year. For more on the Cubs, be sure to visit Bleed Cubbie Blue, SBN's outstanding Chicago Cubs site.
Calipari still bringing his A game
Calipari says the DDMO is "actually designed to feature two point guards. Huh? Well, he made the thing, he gets to say how it is designed, mmkay?

Xavier Henry reconsidering?

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:49:17 -0000

Xavier Henry reconsidering?

It was a rumor, now it qualifies as a "report."

Two words. Very interesting. If Henry came to UK, the schadenfreude would be as thick as molasses in the wintertime.

SNY.tv: News: Source: Stephenson picks Cincinnati

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:23:52 -0000

SNY.tv: News: Source: Stephenson picks Cincinnati

For those of you wondering about this. Via Adam Zagoria.

UK Athletics: Director's Cup -- Is Mitch Barnhart Getting the Job Done?

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:31:51 -0000

More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

"I'm still chasing Jurich, and I'll catch him, I swear ..."

Browse more photos »

The Director's Cup results for 2009 are out, and just as we did in 2007 (I somehow overlooked it in 2008), it is now possible to compare Kentucky's performance with others. As I did before, what I'll be doing here is comparing how rival schools have performed over the last five years compared with UK. First, the basic chart:

School	2004 – 2005	2005 – 2006	2006 – 2007	2007-2008	2008-2009	*Average*
Florida	6	5	6	6	3	5.2
North Carolina	9	4	3	14	2	6.4
Duke	5	8	11	19	17	12
Tennessee	8	14	7	16	23	13.6
UK	35	33	45	36	34	36.6
UL	50	54	28	32	32	39.2

Graphically, that chart looks like this:

What this shows us is UK's performance over the last 5 years, compared with some other schools. The lower the line is on the chart, the better, and descending is improving. One bit of good news here is that UK has been improving in the director's cup since 2007, but it is still the lowest-ranked school overall of this group.

Next, we will look at "bang for buck" information. What this chart and attending graph do is show you which schools get the most Director's Cup positions per dollar spent on overall athletics:

School	Dollars/Pos
Florida	$366,412.62
North Carolina	$226,931.35
Duke	$267,009.19
Tennessee	$352,503.02
UK	$286,055.11
UL	$212,587.73

Now putting that chart in graphical form, we get the following:

As before, lower values represent the most "Bang for the buck." So who, in this group, is getting the most out of their athletic expenditures when it comes to the Director's Cup? Louisville is, by just a small amount over North Carolina. Florida is actually getting the least value/dollar spent, but I think that they would not complain too much about that, since their income exceeds their outflow by a significant amount in athletics and they are among the tops in the nation in the Director's Cup standings. UK is next to last in this "Bang for the buck" analysis.

So is Mitch Barnhart getting the job done? Well, any way you measure it, Tom Jurich is getting the job done better and cheaper at this point, but that may well change with the upward trajectory of Kentucky's football program, the downward trajectory of Louisville's, and the hiring of John Calipari. UK's performance has been weighed down by basketball in the last four years rather than helped, and it shows. Prior to that, it was football doing its best "boat anchor" imitation. Will next year finally see UK return back to a more respectable showing in the Director's Cup? I sure hope so.

Kentucky Basketball: Wheels Within Wheels

Truzenzuzex — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:41:02 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

Would you buy what this man is selling? If you want to be an NBA star, you will.

Browse more photos »

I, along with others, have expressed concerns about implementing Calipari's now-famous Dribble Drive Motion Offense next year due to a lack of perimeter shooting, and there has been much give and take on that point. We all know how the DDMO is supposed to work -- players attack the rim with the objective of a layup, a dump-off to the big player on the weak side, or a skip pass to the open shooter depending on where help comes from. Simple. Elegant. Effective? Well, yes and no.

The obvious hole in the scheme is shooting. In order for the DDMO to be effective, you must have people capable of making the three-point shot. Kentucky has almost no proven perimeter shooting now that Jodie Meeks has moved on to the NBA. Does that mean that UK's season is doomed to failure? Can Calipari even run the DDMO with this bunch?

Before I attempt to answer that, let's take a look at this interview with Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal by Bluegrass State Basketball which does much to validate my concerns and provides an excellent opportunity for fans of the Big Blue to comment not only on the DDMO, but on all things John Calipari. But first, I want to look at some of Wolken's comments to BSB:

As far as the DDM itself, it’s definitely wide open; guys have freedom in that system, and it’s a good sell on the recruiting trail. Otherwise, I’m not a huge fan of it. I saw Memphis get taken out of that offense way, way too much by zones and junk defenses, and it can look downright ugly when that happens and shots aren’t falling. The fact is, when teams go zone, you can’t really run the DDM. You have to have make shots and force teams to go back to man. That was really the flaw for Memphis last year, and Calipari knew that. Every time I talked to him, he lamented the fact that they hadn’t recruited enough shooters and was really in the process of changing his recruiting approach to get more guys who could make shots even if they weren’t as athletic. If you look at the game tapes, Memphis barely ran the DDM at all last year. There’s no doubt that going to the DDM when he did made Calipari think differently about basketball, and I think it really rejuvenated his career. On the other hand, I know a couple coaches who would take you into the film room and just trash it. At the end of the day, it’s really all about players.

So can UK run this offense with the current players it has? Well, the answer to that may not be what you think, and there is still a lot we don't know about our perimeter shooting this year. But what I find even more fascinating than how effective the zone and junk is against the DDMO is Wolken's comments on recruiting.

I think Wolken validates perception that I pointed out on this blog some time back. The reality is (at least in my opinion), the DDMO is more valuable as a recruiting tool than as an actual offensive system. Does it work? Absolutely, under the right conditions. Can it be stopped? Sure, and the zone is the easiest way to clog up the works. But there is a much larger method to this madness.

The DDMO works best with big, quick, athletic players who can shoot. Well, let me tell you that basketball in general works best with big, quick, athletic players who can shoot, no matter what offensive style a team runs. Calipari is an innovative coach, but not in the way that many people have been lead to believe, i.e. adapting Vance Walberg's progenitor, the attack-attack-skip-attack-attack offense into some kind of X and O marvel.

No, Calipari's innovation is much more subtle and powerful. He has developed a system that he doesn't really need to run all the time, because its true value is how it is perceived by recruits throughout the country. They see the DDMO as a way to showcase their individual skills, and it absolutely is all of that, and when teams try to play man against UK next year, they are going to see just how effective it can be. But in reality, it can only be run well against a man-to-man defense. It is easy for good coaches to design defenses to make this scheme look and play ugly and ineffectively... BUT (and this is a big, big BUT), even the greatest defensive scheme in the world will not give the opponent bigger, quicker, more athletic players.

Calipari understands perfectly well that the DDMO is vulnerable to the zone. That's one big reason it isn't just a straight copy of Walberg's system. Walberg may be considered a guru by some, but his system is not only imperfect, it is downright vulnerable to a zone or junk defenses. And sticking with it in a zone without good shooting is a recipe for disaster, which is perhaps why Walberg is coaching at ~~Pepperdine~~ UMass and not Indiana or UCLA.

But Calipari's real genius is how he has marketed and packaged this stuff to appeal directly to the best basketball players in America, and if you don't think it does, just take a look at his recruiting success since he implemented it. If you put teams that include four or five first-round NBA draft picks on the floor, it doesn't really matter what kind of a scheme you run -- these guys are generally going to be too good for most teams under all but the most adverse of circumstances.

Now for another interesting tidbit:

BSB: How do you see Kentucky’s season playing out? How do you see Memphis’ season playing out?

Wolken: It will be extremely interesting to watch Kentucky this year with a whole team of guys who have never been coached by John before. Obviously, they’re loaded with terrific players, but it might take awhile for things to click. Derrick Rose wasn’t an elite college player until mid-February. Tyreke Evans was horrendous until mid-January. Even with guys of that ability level, it doesn’t happen automatically. Kentucky will certainly be a Sweet 16 caliber team. They’ll have an opportunity to go further if they figure out who’s going to make perimeter shots, since that seems to be an area of concern right now

I think this is a great point by Wolken. I know that everyone is all excited about this great recruiting class and all the marvelolus athletes and players UK has coming in, but we do need to take a reality pill -- it is rare for teams as young as UK will be next year not to have some growing pains, although for a fact, it has been a long while since this much freshman talent has been present on one team. But if guys like Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans struggled early on, you can best believe that even John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins aren't going to step in and be elite players from day one in the college game.

But if Wolken's examples hold true to form, there is a good chance that UK will be very dangerous by February, and that's when it counts. I think we will muddle through on superior talent in the early and mid part of the season, but it could get really exciting when these young freshmen begin to turn into sophomores. And of course, Patrick Patterson, Ramon Harris and Perry Stevenson will be there to provide leadership both on and off the floor.

Be sure and read the whole interview, it is jam packed with good stuff.

Calipari has first SEC Coaches Teleconference

Truzenzuzex — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:14:07 -0000

Calipari has first SEC Coaches Teleconference

Read all about it at Cat Scratches.

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- UK Football Heating Up

Truzenzuzex — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:08:57 -0000

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

Will UK fans travel well to the Miami of Ohio game up in Cincy?

Browse more photos »

At long last, the basketball talk is beginning to wane just a bit, and football talk is beginning to heat up. We have several interesting pieces today about the UK football team, and even more about the SEC. I will be adding an SEC news section now that we are firmly in the buildup for the nascent football season, and you may expect more and more football links as the summer wears on.

Of course, all this does not imply a dearth of basketball news or comment. Both Ken and I have had plenty to say abou that, and you can definitely expect plenty of basketball comments as well as FanPosts and FanShots. But we have been on a big-time roundball binge here since Calipari took over, and we can't forget our football team.

So now, on with the news:

UK Football

UK freshman QBs Mossakowski, Newton work together
This is a very good thing, but I do wonder what will happen when one separates from the other. Will we lose the trailer?
Football Outside of the Big Ten - The MAC - The Rivalry, Esq.
"The Miami (OH)/Kentucky match-up is fascinating. If it was a basketball game, the 'Cats would travel enough people to sell out the football stadium. Because it's a football game, Kentucky might travel enough folks to sell out the basketball arena."
A preview of the UK running backs.
South Bend Tribune: A new kind of generation gap
"Rich Brooks, the veteran Kentucky coach, said psychology is more a part of his job than it ever has been. Brooks, who has been coaching more than 40 years, said recently players have become more difficult to coach and that 'it's probably because of the information age and expectation levels.'"
Cat Scratches for today.

UK Basketball News

Bluegrass State Basketball: Vinny Zollo Will Re-Open Recruitment
Offered without comment.
Wildcats Thunder blogs about John Calipari
Some pretty good stuff here. Recommended.
Danny Jett's Inner Circle: Kentucky's All Decade Teams
Danny Jett gives us his choices for the all-decade teams. I think some of you may disagree with some of his choices. I know I do.
Looking to Next Year: 2010 Mock NBA Lottery Draft
Interesting. John Wall at #1 is no surprise, but Patrick Patterson is nowhere to be found in the lottery.
Joe Dwyer: UK to blame for the Gillispie mess
Offered without comment.
Black and Gold: Tough choice for Scuderi
Calipari figures as a Godfather figure in this one, complete with a quote you might have heard from Don Vito.
Show me your Calipari photos
John Clay has Calipari photos!

Other UK Sports News

None today

SEC Football News

The Scents of the SEC - Roll 'Bama Roll
A must-read. Hilarious.
Kansas, Ole Miss, and South Carolina All Look to Decline in 2009
Kyle King of Dawg Sports looks at some decliners for 2009. I am not surprised to see Kansas or Ole Miss, but the Gamecocks do surprise me. Then again, maybe they shouldn't.
Sprints Is Trimming Down to Get Ready for the Season
Tons of SEC football related comment and links for your perusal.
Alabama and Auburn decline to take the breathalyzer - Rocky Top Talk
More on secondary violations, and some other good SEC-related stuff.

NCAA Sports news

Scott County's Ge'Lawn Guyn picks Charlotte
Interesting choice. Not many recruits would take Charlotte over Indiana.
Could the Lance Stephenson train finally be coming to a halt?
It's certainly way past time.

Other News of Interest

New technique sheds some light on Alzheimer's
It's awesome to see UK at the forefront in developing new diagnostics and treatments for this dread disease. I can think of nothing more horrible than slowly losing brain function. I fear that more than cancer or a heart attack.
Leftover Wreckage From Draft Night
Rise and fire questions Meeks' decision to stay in the draft.
Kenny Perry surges to 14th victory with Travelers Championship win
Congratulations to Kenny Perry! What an outstanding victory. I'd dearly love to see him be a Ryder Cupper again.
NBA needs better eligibility rule
Michael Wilbon rarely makes sense to me, but for the most part, he does in this article.

The Daily Schadenfreude

An innocent mistake can still look bad
I blogged about this yesterday. I just wonder if Kragthorpe can turn his PR ship around before it sinks to the bottom.
Louisville Gear Attracts Friends, Foes
Heh. Very funny. Well, I'm sure we all have had our stories about how wearing school colors attracts praise and interest as well as derision.

Ramel Bradley now on a French pro team

Truzenzuzex — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:48:28 -0000

Ramel Bradley now on a French pro team

Congrats, Ramel!

SB Nation User Blog: Truzenzuzex

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- UK Basketball: Who's to Blame for the Henrys?

Top Stories

UK Basketball

UK Football

Other UK Sports

NCAA Sports

Other News of Interest

The Daily Schadenfreude

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- You Will Now be Returned to your Regularly Scheduled Summer

Top Story

UK Basketball News

UK Football News

Other UK Sports News

NCAA Sports News

Other News of Interest

The Daily Schadenfreude

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Breaking News for Kentucky Fans

Xavier Henry News

Other UK News of Interest

Xavier Henry reconsidering?

Xavier Henry reconsidering?

SNY.tv: News: Source: Stephenson picks Cincinnati

SNY.tv: News: Source: Stephenson picks Cincinnati

UK Athletics: Director's Cup -- Is Mitch Barnhart Getting the Job Done?

Kentucky Basketball: Wheels Within Wheels

Calipari has first SEC Coaches Teleconference

Calipari has first SEC Coaches Teleconference

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- UK Football Heating Up

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The Daily Schadenfreude

Ramel Bradley now on a French pro team

Ramel Bradley now on a French pro team