Still a couple months away but todays release of the official Kentucky Men’s Basketball schedule makes it feel that much closer.
Source: Kentucky Official Athletic Site
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Still a couple months away but todays release of the official Kentucky Men’s Basketball schedule makes it feel that much closer.
So a few days ago it was announced that Kentucky Men’s basketball will be hosting its annual “Women’s Clinic” on October 6th. Let me say that I have always struggled a little with the concept of the Women’s Clinic. I’m not really sure what that means and I find myself wondering why there needs to be a clinic for women. It should be noted that I am not opposed to the idea. In fact I have been trying to convince my wife that she wants to go. I’m just confused by the idea. Why does this need to happen? Well the reality is that men and women are different. Case in point. (Sorry I couldn’t embed that one.) But here is Bill Cosby’s take on what makes men and women different. If you don’t think Bill Cosby is one of the funniest men ever, I will fight you.
Now my wife says that the perfect women’s clinic would involve purses and chocolate and lotion and crochet taught by Russell Crowe.  But I got to thinking, what should be done for the men’s clinic. A few ideas. How about an instructional seminar on proper power tool operation.
Here’s a little look in alphabetical order at what SEC basketball has been up to in the offseason. Alabama lost talented point guard Mikhail Torrance after a great senior season for the Tide. Coach Anthony Grant also must add some depth in the frontcourt after losing Justin Knox to transfer. Talented freshman to be Trevor Releford could compete for the spot as Torrance’s replacement right away. With the loss of forwards Justin Knox and Demetrius Jemison to transfer, Alabama has serious depth problems in the frontcourt. Grant signed Rivals.com 4 star forward Jason Carter in the hopes of filling that hole Grant also added late signee Swede Carl Engstrom, a 7’1” center in June as he scrambled to replace his departing forwards I like John Pelphrey at Arkansas. I think he’s a good coach and a good guy, but he hasn’t gotten a lot of breaks in his time at Fayetteville. His teams have been riddled with injuries and disciplinary problems the past two seasons. Last year the Razorbacks did not have a full roster for any one of their 32 games. Four players missed a total of 25 games due to suspension including starting point guard Courtney Fortson who missed 14 games. Three players missed 32 total games due to injuries including key power forward Michael Sanchez who played in only 4 games. Mike Washington missed 3 games due to injury and sharp shooter Rotnei Clarke missed 1. After the season, Courtney Fortson declared for the draft and went unselected. Fortson’s loss is bad at first sight as he led the team in scoring and assists, but much like Downey he also had deficiencies. He was turnover prone and shot a dismal 36 percent from the field. Look for junior transfer Jeff Peterson to pick up the load in both scoring and assists. Peterson is a capable guard who averaged 10.6 points and 4.2 assists in his sophomore season at Iowa. Arkansas adds Peterson to Juco transfer shooting guard Rickey Scott and freshman shooting guard Mardracus Wade. With those players and sharpshooter Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas may have a high scoring back court this season despite the loss of Courtney Fortson. Look I like Tony Barbee and I wish him the best at Auburn, but he’s got a lot of work to do. The Tigers lost four of their top five scorers from a team that only won six games in league play last year. Barbee’s first team will be young with seldom used Larry Williams Jr. the only senior on the roster. His best returning player, Frankie Sullivan is a legitimate talent who averaged 12.7 points per game at guard, but after Sullivan the Tigers’ leading returning scorer is Earnest Ross at a paltry 2.8 points per game. Honestly, when you consider Auburn’s recent basketball history having made three NCAA tournaments in the last twenty years, the last one coming in 2003, Auburn has nowhere to go but up. Barbee created an immediate splash at Auburn by adding Alabama native Luke Cothron at power forward. Cothron will contribute immediately and is joined by freshmen small forwards Allen Payne and Josh Langford and center Shawn Kemp Jr. (yes that Shawn Kemp). Junior college transfer Adrian Forbes, a power forward in the front court and will be expected to produce right away. Barbee also brings in freshman point guard Chris Denson to join his bevy of inside players. Despite the heavy losses from last year’s team Barbee did a great job at UTEP compiling an 85-52 record in four years at UTEP including a 15-1 conference mark last year. Auburn will also open a brand new $92 million arena this season. With a new coach, new players, new arena, everything is new in Auburn. Florida could use a little depth up front and that’s about it. The Gators return their entire starting five and all but 5 of their 72 points per game. After just slipping into the NCAA tournament last year, Florida enters the 2010-11 season as the SEC favorite and a legitimate top 10 team. With no significant losses freshmen power forwards PatricYoung, Will Yeguete, and Cody Larsen will fill the final piece in Florida’s march back to relevance after three less than stellar years following its two championships. Coach Donovan also brings in shooting guard Casey Prather and early high school graduate Scottie Wilbekin at point guard. Donovan is already adding talent for 2011 as well. Rutgers leading scorer Mike Rosario will sit out this season and be eligible after a year red shirt year. Look for Donovan’s critics to be quiet now that the Gators are back on track. Georgia’s Mark Fox really may be the only coach in the SEC other than Florida’s Billy Donovan with a strong core of returning talent. The Bulldogs’ only significant loss is senior guard Ricky McPhee. With leading scorers Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie with another year under their belts plus Jeremy Price and Dustin Ware returning the Bulldogs are poised to improve upon their five SEC wins last year. Georgia showed promise in Fox’s first year with wins against Tennessee, Florida and Vanderbilt. The Dogs also lead Kentucky at the half in Lexington. Georgia will add Juco transfer point guard Sherrard Brantley and freshmen power forwards Cady Lalanne (until he was declared academically ineligible), Donte Williams and Marcus Thornton, the number one player in the state of Georgia. Fox’s best addition however may be Gerald Robinson, a transfer from Tennessee State who becomes eligible this season after sitting out last year. Robinson averaged 15.2 and 17.6 points in his freshman and sophomore seasons respectively and should easily replace McPhee’s 9.6 points per game. Expect Mark Fox to do big things at Georgia and quick. Kentucky’s entire team (John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Pattrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton) went to the NBA. Kentucky also lost Perry Stevenson, Ramon Harris and Mark Krebs to graduation Darnell Dodson for the season for undisclosed reasons. So what did Calipari do? He signed the number one class in the America, again. Calipari’s haul includes five top 50 players in point guard Brandon Knight, shooting guard Doron Lamb, small forward Stacey Poole, power forwards Terrence Jones and Enes Kanter, and center Eloy Vargas who comes to Kentucky after playing one year at Florida and one year at Miami Dade College. The new Cats will be asked to contribute immediately as Kentucky will enter the 2010-11 season with only four returning scholarship players, two of which played less than five minutes per game last year. Kentucky’s recent trip to Canada did highlight Jon Hood’s improved skills and they played like a team that really wants to win with defense. A positive sign for a young team. LSU suffered through a dismal season in 2010, finishing last in the conference following a first place finish in 2009. Making the situation more difficult, the Tigers lost leading scorer and rebounder Tasmin Mitchell, a senior last year. Trent Johnson however is no slouch and has gotten work done when it comes to recruiting. He adds three ESPN top 100 players in shooting guard Ralston Turner, point guard Andre Stringer and small forward Matt Derenbecker. Johnson also brings in high scoring former Kentucky commit K.C. Ross-Miller, but he was recently declared academically ineligible. Promising forward Malcom White who played two seasons at Mississippi before transferring to LSU will be eligible to play this year and should be able to contribute immediately. Johnson also brought in center Justin Hamilton, a transfer from Iowa State who will sit out this season. One final note. Coach Johnson dropped point guard Bo Spencer from his roster in the offseason. Spencer would have been LSU’s lone senior and the only player left from LSU’s 2009 SEC championship team. But as Trent Johnson so stoicly put it, “We won two league games with him last season.” Now that’s the attitude. Mississippi needs to replace Terrico White who was drafted by the Detroit Pistons and Eniel Polynice who declared for the NBA draft but ultimately pulled out and transferred to Seton Hall after finishing his degree at Ole Miss this summer. Murphy Holloway also elected to transfer to South Carolina. That’s three of Mississippi’s top five scorers and the loss of Holloway in particular leaves a hole inside on an already guard heavy team. Not significant, but Mississippi also loses DeAngelo Riley and Kevin Cantinol to transfer. Freshman center Demarco Cox should provide help right away but will it be enough? Coach Andy Kennedy hopes that one of two freshmen Isaiah Massey or Steadman Short can provide some help at forward. Juco transfers Dundrecous Nelson, a point guard and shooting guard Donald Williams, a former Kentucky red shirt freshman could also see significant minutes in their first year in Oxford but Nick Williams, a transfer from Indiana who averaged 8.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and .7 assists in 26.5 minutes will most certainly get the minutes until someone else proves more deserving. Mississippi State under Rick Stansbury has consistently brought in new talent during his 12 seasons as head coach of the Bulldogs, but this year is a little different as State only brings in three players in juco transfer point guard Brian Bryant and shooting guards Michael Carr and Jalen Steele, a former Auburn commit. Gone from last year’s team are Barry Stewart, Jarvis Varnado and Phil Turner. Dee Bost is trying to get eligible on appeal after missing the NCAA’s deadline for withdrawal from the NBA draft. If he gets eligible then Mississippi State could make some noise in the SEC West because there’s this whole issue of that Renardo Sidney character finally becoming eligible to play in Mississippi State’s game against Virginia Tech on December 18, a year and a half after arriving at Mississippi State. Mark your calendar folks. He’s going to be exciting to watch. He will step right in and fill the spot left by Varnado under the basket and will be a better scorer than Varnado ever was even if he fails to lead the NCAA in blocked shots. Darrin Horn would seem to have his work cut out for him at South Carolina. What looked like a top 25 team going into the 2009-10 season suffered major setbacks after losing Dominique Archie to injury and Mike Holmes to dismissal. The Gamecocks finished 15-16 and suffered an offseason setback after they requested and were denied a sixth year of eligibility for Dominique Archie on account of his injury five games into the season. The Gamecocks also lost seniors Brandis Raley-Ross and Devan Downey. While Downey’s SEC leading 22.5 points per game will be tough to replace, he was also tenth of twelve starting point guards in the SEC in assist to turnover ratio and ninth of twelve in overall offensive rating. He also shot an ugly 40 percent from the field. That hurts when he takes 30% of the team’s shots. Coach Horn brings in six quality freshmen in point guards Bruce Ellington and Eric Smith, power forwards Damontre Harris and R.J. Slawson, center Carlton Geathers and shooting guard Brian Richardson. Malik Cooke, a transfer from Nevada who is eligible this season after sitting out last year averaged 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds. If Mississippi transfer forward Murphy Holloway (10.6 points, 7.6 rebounds) can get eligible this year on a hardship waiver he’s requesting for moving closer to his daughter in his home state of South Carolina, the Gamecocks could end up with a better record in 2011 and have an outside shot at making the NCAA’s again after a six year hiatus. Tennessee had as turbulent a season as any team in America last year losing Tyler Smith for the season and Cameron Tatum, Melvin Goins and Brian Williams to suspension early in the year. After the Volunteers barely lost to Michigan State missing their first Final Four in the process, they also lost seniors Bobby Maze, Wayne Chism and J.P. Prince. Coach Bruce Pearl has proven himself one of the better recruiters in the nation however, and this year is no different. Pearl brings in top flight power forward Tobias Harris and talented shooting guards Jordan McRae and Trae Golden. Pearl also adds John Fields a transfer from UNC Wilmington. Fields a 6’9” forward who played one year after Wilmington after playing two years at East Carolina will have on year of eligibility remaining and should be able to play immediately as NCAA rules allow a transfer player who has graduated to play immediately if he is enrolling in graduate school. Last year Fields averaged 10.2 points per game and 8.7 rebounds in one season at Wilmington where he also set the school single game rebounding record with 21 against Towson. Vanderbilt is going to really feel the loss of leading scorers Jermaine Beal and AJ Ogilvy, the latter of which had no business entering the NBA draft and Coach Stallings just has not done enough to address the huge hole left by Ogilvy in the frontcourt. While Josh Henderson, a center, and Rod Odom and James Siakam both forwards, will add depth to the frontcourt, there is no one on this team that can consistently get under the basket and bang, score and rebound against elite talent. Coach Kevin Stallings also adds point guard Kyle Fuller to his roster. He will probably have to wait a year before he sees significant minutes as Brad Tinsley and John Jenkins will be expected to shoulder a heavy load in the backcourt this year. Well Coach Calipari mentioned he was unhappy with Harrellson’s lack of blocked shots last night (he had five) so Harrellson blocked the first shot in the first play of the game. Doron Lamb had a poor shooting night, he opened up with a high arching layup from the right side after Harrellson’s block. Early in the first half, Western Ontario went on a 9-0 run to take the lead at 13-12. After a time-out Kentucky pressed got a quick steal by Jon Hood and a score then another quick score by Miller with an and one. You like to see your team come out of a time-out and execute. The Cats really put the heat on tonight forcing 28 turnovers and shooting 52.3% from the floor. Calipari’s defensive scheme doesn’t generally call for a lot of turnovers, so getting 28 turnovers on 20 steals is nice. It should be noted that the Cats only committed 14 turnovers, many of them unforced and only held their opponents to 46.9%, but they were able to keep them from scoring by limiting shots. Josh Harrellson was more aggressive on the defensive end. He did get called for a goal tend, but Cal makes it clear he’s ok with a goal ten or two because it means his players are getting after it challenging shots. He still fouled a couple of times when he shouldn’t have and Calipari was in his ear frequently. Brandon Knight picked up right where he left off, getting inside with ease, drawing fouls and scoring plenty of points. Doron Lamb shot much better even getting a friendly roll that seemed to spend about a minute and a half on the back of the rim before falling in the basket. He also had a nice harassing cover on the ball forcing his opponent far outside and then forcing his opponent to turn it over on the travel. Had a great follow up game to last night when he struggled in what Calipari called his worst play so far. He led all scorers with 24 points. Jon Hood once again looked good getting steals and generally looking quick on his feet on defense. Darius Miller is a different player. He’s mean under the basket and aggressive with the ball. He had a stat stuffer night with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks, 5 steals and 3 assists. He is playing with the attitude and mindset results that I expected him to have prior to last season. Last year he disappointed me a little bit. Not gonna happen this year. Stacey Poole didn’t really stand out. He had four points, no rebounds and 2 steals in 16 minutes of play. Jarrod Polson got a lot of playing time again and again looked perfectly comfortable on the floor. He didn’t have any of that walk-on jittery play that you so often see. Again, not nearly as skilled as the other players and much smaller, but I like the kid. DeAndre Liggins played well and hit some nice shots. A solid performance as he came out with 11 points 6 rebounds and 3 steals. All in all a pretty good outing, and the defense is definitely a good sign. If this team continues to play with this kind of defensive intensity, they should be in a place where they can win a lot of games where the offense isn’t clicking on all cylinders. Well the game was fairly sloppy at times but that is to be expected after only a handful of practices but the Cats got the win 95-62. The offense didn’t always flow and the defense wasn’t perfect but they players were very active on defense. It’s obvious that there will indeed be a different tempo this year, much more up and down, and much more challenging the dribbler. Kentucky got their hands on more balls than Karen S-oh never mind. Anyway, while not beautiful basketball it was certainly adequate given the circumstances and I was excited to see the Cats. Jon Hood was everywhere, working hard, getting rebounds, knocking down jumpers, getting steals and generally looking like a player that will be a legitimate contributor this year. He was quick on his feet and aggressive and I’m excited about his potential. Brandon Knight is really good. For reals though. He scored 31 points to lead all scorers. He has a good handle on the ball and can hit the outside shot, certainly an area that Kentucky could improve upon from last year. He was also knifing his way to the basket at high speed and showed an ability to draw the foul. He’s quick, athletic and fun to watch. Josh Harrellson played well in the post rebounding and moving his feet well That was the first half. The second could use some work. I have always liked Harrellson’s game. He has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. He hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to showcase his abilities but this year will be different and if his play in China and the first half are any indication, he is poised to have a great year. DeAndre Liggins as well as billed over the past week. He looks aggressive, confident and relaxed scoring and making plays. Darius Miller is stronger and more confident this year. He looked good getting inside and scoring and also went four for four from three. Fantastic. Terrence Jones has great moves for his size. A few days ago Josh Harrellson said he played a lot like Patrick Patterson. I would say that time will tell if he is as good as Patterson, but he does seem to be more mobile with smoother foot movement. Doron Lamb made a couple of shots but I didn’t see the 99 out of 100 floaters that I’ve heard the rumors about. Stacey Poole played some good defense but didn’t stand out on the offensive end. Jarrod Polson got on the court and immediately forced a turnover and then scored off a pass from Harrellson in a one on two as his ball got goaltended.. He’s going to be a star! While I don’t expect to see him on the court a lo this year. He looked comfortable on the court and was even bringing the ball down in the closing minutes. What I liked more than anything else in this game is that you didn’t see a single player playing for himself. No one tried to show off his skillz and show the fan what he can do. That’s a good sign for an exhibition game against an overmatched opponent. This team played hard and competitively throughout. You’ll recall that last year’s team while tremendously talented had trouble smelling that blood in the water and pilling it on when they get a little lead. This team never let up. They played like this game counted for something and it’s that kind of competitive fire that can take a team far. I really like this team and I think they’ll have a great year. So I went to the Craft Center today hoping to learn a little about how this year’s team is looking and what we can expect from the Cats in the Frozen North which I hear has year round snow. I hope they packed jackets for when they get off the plane. Here’s what I learned today: Josh Harrellson made sure to note that Enes Kanter is a completely different player from DeMarcus Cousins. When asked where Kanter is in his development at this time versus Cousins in summer pick-up Harrellson laughed and said, he had no idea because Cousins played point guard in summer games. I would love to see Cousins running the point. He also said it’s very hard to get at the ball when it’s in Kanter’s hands as he never brings the ball below his chin. He has great post instincts. Harrellson stated that Terrence Jones plays a lot like Patrick Patterson. I like that. A lot. Everyone agrees that Doron Lamb can really shoot. No one made reference to three point shooting but Jorts did mention that he’s probably seen him take a 100 floaters in practice and miss one. That’s really good. Speaking of shooting, Calipari mentioned that he had his players shoot free throws for the first time in his career, and mentioned that they shot really well, specifically Jon Hood made 49 of 50. That hasn’t exactly been a strong point of Calipari teams so that’s good to hear. Kanter is probably the goofiest kid on the team, according to Harrellson. Those crazy Turks. Unfortunately we won’t have Turkish representation among our American delegation in the land of bacon as Enes is still not cleared to play. While we’re on bacon, can I just say that I love it and I love any country that will paint their flag on a porker.  Eh And while we’re on Enes/Cousins comparisons, one thing Harrellson said that Kanter does not yet have that Cousins does is that killer instinct. I previously posted my solution to said lack of killer instinct here. Darius Miller has lost his baby face. (My wife is saddened.) He is beginning to look much more imposing. He has gotten bigger and has maybe even grown a little bit. Calipari confirms this too and states that Jon Hood has probably grown an inch also. Calipari noted that Hood is playing much better and much more assertively. Good to hear. He needs a little aggression. His turning point in high school was when he was told in and AAU game that if he didn’t start dunking more, he was going to see the court less. Harrellson noted that Calipari mentioned that this team was further (farther?) six days into practice than last year’s after a month. Calipari tempered that however when he said “We’re not good” but that he was having fun and that they’re coming along. No team is good after ten days of practice though, which is what Kentucky has going into this trip. Everyone, players and coaches alike stated that Liggins is much better and that we should be prepared to see a different player this year. Calipari in particular stated that Liggins is better than he thought he would be after seeing him play in high school. Calipari again stated that we (media) are crazy because even in the summer there are 70 people at the Craft Center to cover a few exhibition games. He also noted that only Kentucky basketball’s summer exhibitions would be covered in 14 states by Fox Sports South. Take that World Wide Leader. Kentucky is now playing about 90% dribble drive as compared to 30% last year. DeAndre Liggins is being given a lot more freedom this year. He is doing everything that is asked of him and doing everything right. Cal says he misses layups and throws a fit at himself, but that he’s not worried because he’s doing everything right and the layups will come. Doron Lamb is being referred to as buckets because of how well he shoots. One thing that concerns Calipari is how much the team talks noting that Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins are not very vocal players. Liggins leads by example and the others will need to learn to talk a little more. That’s to be expected some out of such a young team as they’re still learning. It’s difficult to tell guys what they need to be doing when you still don’t know your own role. The team’s cumulative GPA this summer was 2.875. Nothing for Jerry Tipton to write home about. Finally Calipari was asked if he would be attending any NBA games this season to see his rookies play and said while he would love to go see all of them, it would be difficult to find the time. He’ll keep his eye on them, but “I’ve got this team now.” I think that puts things into perspective. Those were some great Wildcats, but we’ve got this team now. Let’s enjoy them. Oh yeah, if you don’t think this is the greatest video ever, I will fight you. You just can’t beat watching Cal toss Alan Cutler around a little bit. Something Gillispie never got to do. Note: I was in hurry, so if there are spelling/grammar errors, get over yourself, you can still understand it. While jumping from $1350 to $5000 in one whack is pretty frustrating, it’s common for universities to raise fees in big chunks so that they don’t raise them every year. If it went up a $1000 a year for several years people would be outraged every year, so instead universities opt to do it all in one and then keep it at that price for five or ten years. The reality is that while we may not like it, for the vast majority of us who already can’t afford season tickets it doesn’t affect us anyway. I’m lucky that between being in the MBA program and getting a press pass I can get in, but if not for that, I’d have to do like so many other people do, hope to get my second cousin’s tickets or get them from a scalper. So if you already couldn’t afford a ticket then it doesn’t matter to you anyway, it’s actually kind of good because it means more revenue to your team. My one regret over high priced tickets is this however. Only older (blue hairs) can really afford those tickets and let’s face it, they don’t bring a lot of energy to the games. They sit down and fold their arms far too often when they should be cheering their team out of a tight spot. I am a Kentucky native, but I did my undergraduate work at Utah State. The crowd at Utah State only reaches 10,000, but they make more noise and have more energy than just about any school in the country.This is largely because the tickets are much cheaper so younger folks can afford them and the student section is probably a third of all of the tickets. You see as fans get older they get quieter. I love the UK students. They bring the noise, the young families bring the noise, the blue hairs, they’ll stand up for a nice dunk or a rival opponent, but when they have to pay for a game against someone like Miami (Ohio), they act like they’d rather be some place else. So in the end, while it may not affect me anyway, because I already couldn’t afford them, the one negative against revenues is an aging group of fans that would prefer to enjoy their basketball in a more reserved manner than the heckling younger fans.
While I would normally like to devote a post to something UK sports related, I feel the need this evening to discuss something of much greater import. The world’s largest water balloon fight which was just held at BYU in Provo, Utah, a lovely town nestled against the Wasatch Mountains of Central Utah. 3900 people joined in this event and they threw over 120,000 water balloons. Why does this matter? Well the old record was held by none other than the University of Kentucky, and if you’re like me, you don’t like seeing anyone beat UK at anything. This disgusts me. How did we ever let them sneak up on us and take away a title that has rightly been ours for like at least a year or two? Well anyway, regardless, our video is way cooler than theirs, well except for the guy that did the flips, but at least we’re allowed to take our shirts off. Anyway here are the two videos, you be the judge. Please no Mormon jokes, I am one, well at least other than my joke about taking shirts off. One last note. I’ll bet they never rappelled from the third floor in their library. |
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For some reason I’m always interested in what happens to random players that had some association with Kentucky basketball. For example I regularly checked up on Bernard Cote at Northwestern. Turns out he didn’t really play any better there than he did here at UK. He eventually lost interest in basketball and quit playing before his senior year.