SB Nation User Blog: the spork

What's going on in Starkville?

the spork — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:06:44 -0000

What's going on in Starkville?

UK & UCONN 12/9 @ MSG

the spork — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:36:23 -0000

Kentucky Basketball - Fear Our Future

the spork — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:50:22 -0000

Kentucky Basketball - Fear Our Future

Great Video

Meyer Grades Recruits

the spork — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:10:06 -0000

Meyer Grades Recruits

Cousins dominates the big man list:
#3 Rebounder
#3 Defender
#1 Offensive Player
#1 Passer

Wall does the same with the PG lists:
#1 Penetrator (Bledsoe #3)
#1 Ball Handler (Bledsoe #4)
#1 Offensive Player
#3 Defender (Bledsoe #1)

Only 1 mention of Henry for the SG's and he comes in at #3 in the range department. Nolan Dennis gets the nod for best ball handler.

Why Xavier will not be a Jayhawk

the spork — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:21:12 -0000

Why Xavier will not be a Jayhawk

This guy makes some pretty good points. He says its not an emotional opinion, but he obviously doesn't like Calipari.

Lance Stephenson, Waiting On Henry?

the spork — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:32:54 -0000

Lance Stephenson, Waiting On Henry?

Not sure why Aaron just posted this link as it was written at the end of March, but reading this makes me believe that he is in fact waiting on Henry's decision. If Henry chooses UK, then Stephenson would probably go to KU, but if Henry goes to KU, do we get Stephenson? The way this article reads I think not.

Scholarships

the spork — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:19:21 -0000

      With the hiring of John Calipari our scholarship situation gets even tighter. The NCAA allows 13 scholarships a year and right now we have 12 on scholarship. The word is, and has been all year, that Williams will either transfer of walk on. I expect that he will transfer because he was getting some good looks from other division 1 schools. That puts us at 11, enough room for Orton and Hood. That still leaves 1 more commitment that we have to make room for, Vilarino. Reading comments from his father like "We'll see if Coach Cal wants us as much as we want UK" makes me wonder if he will actually end up here, but we'll assume that he comes. I believe Porter will move on. Don't get me wrong, I would like to have him back, but he has a lot going for him outside of basketball. Porter will not fit into Cal's system, most likely he would be a 2 year starter now riding the bench. So we'll say he goes and makes room for Vilarino and the last of the 3 UK recruits.
      Now we can look at Cal's recruits. I believe Henry ends up at KU, so I'll just try and make room for Wall and Cousins. The first name on our roster that sticks out to me is Harrellson's. Yet another player who stands almost no chance in Cal's offense. It would be a bad deal for him to have to make another move, but it may be worth it to actually get to play. So Harrellson leaves and we now have room for the best point guard in the '09 class. Freeing up another spot may be easier than expected as I'm hearing that Pilgrim may not qualify academically. Let's say he does qualify, would he have to sit out another year if Cal asked him to transfer? A question to the more knowledgable around here. Well, that frees up one more spot for Cousins and would complete a fab 5 recruiting class.
      You could go one step further and figure a way to get Henry in if he decides not to attend KU, but who would it be? Patterson, Meeks, and Miller are untouchable and I think Galloway, Liggins, and even Stewart would fit nicely into Cal's system. That leaves Harris and Stevenson, I doubt they're going anywhere until they graduate. The only way that I see us getting Henry is if one of our current recruits opt out or if Cal went after him before Cousins. Of course, this is nothing more than my opinion of what may shake out over the next few weeks. At one time, there was talk of mass defection for this team. Now, I doubt anyone will want out of Lexington. One thing is for sure, we need atleast one player to leave, not counting Williams, and up to four if we want Cal's recruits.

And if you want to see Cal's recruits, they'll be in action tonight on ESPN for the McDonald's All-American game.

Caliparication!!!

the spork — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:10:53 -0000

Caliparication!!!

Someone posted this on KSR's live blog tonight. It is hilarious. If you're not familiar with the Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Californication, it won't be as funny, but still great.

Pitino Era Fools...

the spork — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:57:09 -0000

Tru deleted something last night that I wanted to be seen. He didn't want it to be seen because it was a response to a stupid post about Tubby. I, and many others, are a product of the Pitino era, and most of us are not spoiled brats that some of you around here tend to believe, one notably that is a stat stating freak. I'm so sick and tired of it. All I hear is you don't know what its like, you just think we should win it every year, you know what, we aren't as stupid as you think. We understand, maybe even better than you, the state of college basketball. How often do you watch ESPN? I know that when I had a rear projection TV that the ESPN ticker was stained on to my screen. ESPN not a credible source you say, fine. I frequent many college basketball sites every day including rivals, scout, yahoo sports, cbs sports, and of course aaron's blog and aseaofblue. I can also say that I played basketball and have seen it coached, and say that it doesn't mean squat. So many people want to come on here and say that "I coached little league basketball and I know" or "my brother played in such and such league and I know" blah blah blah. I've read the history books, I've seen the banners, and I know that we're not going to win it every year. I forget off the top of my head, but I believe it was 1978 to 1996. 18 years between championships, wow, why wouldn't I think we should win it every year.

NIT

the spork — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:08:16 -0000

Now that our season is officialy over, I started looking for some information on the NIT. While I was looking at Jody Demling's recruiting blog I found this. It is the bracketology for the NIT. Yeah, I'm kind of surprised that they do this as well. This is a projection of what the field would look like if the season ended on the 9th, which happens to be before most of the conference tournaments, so it may change drastically. If you look at this bracket, you'll notice that it will be a tough road to the fizzling four. In our bracket alone they have Vandy, Miami, Providence, and Davidson. Two of which have beaten us this year. Definitely some stiff competition in the NIT this year.