Kentucky Sports Radio

If you enjoy reading articles about the UK men’s basketball team, please visit my webpage at http://kybasketball.blogspot.com.  You can also follow my webpage on Twitter. My webpage has been around for several years and I update it several times per day so UK basketball fans have access to the best and most recent articles about the team.

Now, The Article Links-

Gary Parrish from CBSSports.com says Calipari is one of five college coaches that could lead USA basketball after Coach K.

Marquis Teague will be a capable role player in the NBA as his career progresses, but for a rookie who was thrown into a unique situation, you can’t really complain about the job he did with the minutes he was given

Duke, Kentucky and Michigan State are the presumed favorites for Jahil Okafor and Tyus Jones

ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla says Nerlens Noel is the most overrated NBA Draft prospect

Calipari believes the sky’s the limit for Willie Cauley-Stein

From KSR College’s David Mulloy…

Photo by Regina Rickert

On April 2nd, after a thrilling extra inning win against the UL in Louisville, the Bat Cats’ record stood at 22-6, 6-3 in the SEC, and were ranked a season high fifth in the nation. Seven weeks to the day later, they were eliminated in the first game of the SEC Tournament by Ole Miss after dropping 19 of their last 27 games to finish unranked and out of the NCAA Tournament. So the question is, how can a team that was so highly ranked, so talented, and who played so well out of the gate suffer such a traumatic collapse in the second half of the season?

Where did it all go wrong?

The obvious answer is the LSU series. Following the win over UL, the Cats went down to Baton Rouge and were promptly swept by a combined score of 31-6. Although disappointing, at the time, the sweep was not overly concerning. LSU was, and still is, a very good team and a national title contender.

Where I think the season really went off the rails was the next weekend against Tennessee at Cliff Hagan Stadium. After a come from behind series opening win, the Cats dropped the next two games, giving the Vols, who finished 22-30 (8-20 in the SEC), their second of two SEC series victories. The 5-0 loss in the series finale was the first “uh-oh” moment of the season. I won’t mince words; Tennessee was not a good team and the series loss to them was inexcusable and a sign of things to come.

What made the series loss even worse was that the next four weekends were against South Carolina, Ole Miss, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt, all of whom were, and still are, ranked with three of the four legitimate national title contenders. The Cats were swept at USC, won the series in Oxford, won once against the Razorbacks and were swept at home by Vandy to put them on the brink of the NCAA Bubble. Throw in a beat down in Lexington by UL and an 18 inning loss against WKU in the middle and you have a really bad month of baseball. The final nail on the coffin was last weekend at Mizzouri where the 16-30 Tigers took two out of three to eliminate any hope of an at large NCAA bid.

What went wrong?

Last summer when Jerad Grundy announced that he would turn down draft 28th round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins to return for his senior season I thought, “That’s it. That is what is going to make them contenders for Omaha.” Grundy started slow but finished the 2012 season very strong and had two postseason wins. His return, combined with Corey Littrell’s second season and A.J. Reed’s promotion to the weekend gave the Cats a formidable and experienced left-handed weekend rotation. On March 23rd, Grundy pitched eight innings strong innings and struck out ten in a 3-2 victory over Mississippi State. His ERA was 1.99 after six starts. The win, his fifth on the season, would be his last in the SEC. In the following weeks, Grundy would drop four of his next five starts with an ERA of over 10 in those game before being demoted to the midweek starter. I don’t mean to pick on Jerad, who was really having a terrific season until April, but he was a microcosm of the entire team as he simply “lost it” and could never get back on the right track. As Grundy went, so did the Cats.

That’s not to say that the other two weekend starters, Littrell and Reed, didn’t have struggles of their own. Reed was just 2-8 on the season with both wins coming early in the non-conference portion of the schedule but his record doesn’t tell the entire story. Reed’s problem was that the offense (despite his own efforts) simply didn’t give him enough run support. Seven of his eight losses came in games where he gave up four earned runs or less and all four of his no decisions came in games in which he gave up two or earned runs or less.

Speaking of the offense (or lack thereof), it was the Cats’ Achilles heel all season. It was especially absent down the stretch as seven of UK’s final eleven losses came by two runs or less. Of those seven losses, the maximum number of runs an opponent scored in a game? Five. To say that the offense struggled is a massive understatement. Only one starter batted over .300 on the season and that was freshman Kyle Barrett, who was inserted as the everyday right fielder midway through the season, with a .349 average. Even A.J. Reed, who led the team with 13 home runs and 52 RBI, batted just .280. Fellow sophomore Austin Cousino batted .249 and led the team with 46 strikeouts. J.T. Riddle, who collected 11 hits in 14 at bats on the first weekend of the season, was the team’s second leading hitter with a .283 average. As a team, the Cats’ batted .255.

Where does UK go from here?

First, the Cats have to take stock of who is coming and going. On top of graduating three seniors: Jerad Grundy, Walter Wijas, and Zac Zellers, the Cats have six draft eligible juniors: Lucas Witt, Paul McConkey, Matt Reida, J.T. Riddle, Trevor Gott, and Corey Littrell who will likely be drafted this summer. Their decision return or go pro will have a large impact on next year’s team. UK has eight LOIs 2013 recruiting class which includes two of the state’s top pitchers, Hunter Green and Woodford County’s Clinton Hollon. Both Green and Hollon are expected to be selected in the MLB draft this summer so their decision will have a large impact on next season as well.

Second, the coaching staff is going to have to address the offensive woes. For the second consecutive season, the lack of offensive production down the stretch as cost the Cats dearly. I don’t know what specifically can be done to get the bats going but I do know that no matter how good the pitching staff is, it is impossible to win without scoring any runs.

Earlier this week, I shared my love for “Arrested Development,” one of TV’s most underrated comedies that will return with new episodes Sunday on Netflix. All week, pop culture blogs have been full of posts heralding the show’s return, and now, a South Carolina sports site has even gotten in on the fun, assigning an “Arrested Development” character to each SEC football team. Who would UK be?

Kentucky: Maeby Funkë

Occasionally able to deceive onlookers into thinking they’re more valuable than they are. Identifies with Vanderbilt, as both go largely ignored. Practices form of rebellion by being basketball school.

Obviously the Gamecocks are still a little bitter about losing Drew Barker to us, but I’ll give the site credit: some of their picks are spot on. I especially like Arkansas as Lucille Austero.

Top 2014 point guard Emmanuel Mudiay is the latest elite recruit to do a blog for USA Today’s High School site, and in his latest installment, opens up about some of the coaches recruiting him. What does he have to say about Cal? Take it way, Mr. Mudiay…

Then I’ll talk to Coach (John) Calipari and you’d think that we talk about how I can help Kentucky and basketball things like that, but we don’t.

He moreso talks about what I should want to be in life period. He tells me that I’ve got to know what my goals are for life; whether it’s helping others or things like that. The thing I really love about Coach Cal is that he’s got a big heart. I’m the same way.

For the past year or so, Cal has really focused on the “changing lives” aspect of recruitment, and it’s nice to see that players like Mudiay not only respect, but respond to that. So often top coaches go in and practically beg players to come to their schools (cough, Crean), but Cal is selling something much different: come play for me and we’ll change you and your family’s lives.

Also, in case you were wondering how Mudiay got all that great footwork, he says that he played soccer growing up in the Congo. Mudiay is also very spiritual, and says that coaches will text him scripture every so often.

[USATodayHS: Emmanuel's Manual]

The venerable Larry Vaught recently caught up with Marcus Lee, one of Kentucky’s six incoming McDonald’s All-Americans. We’ve heard the incoming freshmen talk about how excited they are for the upcoming season and their shared goal of winning a National Championship, something Lee says is “stuck” in their minds:

“Winning the national championship has gone through our minds. Now it’s stuck in our minds. That is all we plan on doing, especially since we are all big competitors. We will refuse to lose next year.“

(Nice use of one of Cal’s slogans, Lee. You’re a natural already)

If their talent wasn’t mind-boggling enough, the freshmen have also been fortunate enough to play together and form chemistry during the numerous All-American games over the past few months. Lee says that experience has been invaluable, and helped the six bond:

“I think it is great to be together like that. It helps us mesh quicker and gives us more time to be together. We all get to be around each other, laugh and joke around together. That has to help for next year. …We are similar but we are still different. We get along real well. We are joking around probably 90 percent of the time. The other players are probably tired of us always talking about Kentucky, but we are loving it. There are six of us. If five of us are not talking about Kentucky, the sixth one will be. We are really excited to get there and do greatness.”

We’re excited too, Marcus.

It looks like our sources are correct again. As KSR reported yesterday morning, Jeff Goodman has been hired by ESPN to be an on-air reporter, as well as write for ESPN.com.

Goodman was hired by CBS Sports two years ago, along with Gary Parrish, and helped make the site one of the best sources for college basketball information on the net. Good luck to him in his new endeavors at the Worldwide Leader.

Four-star wide receiver Derek Kief made his top-five official Thursday with this professional-looking graphic, bearing his own rap lyrics. The Cincinnati La Salle target is high on the list of Mark Stoops and Neal Brown for the class of 2014, but Vince Marrow is taking the lead on this recruitment for Kentucky, continuing to tap his Ohio pipeline.

His top-five has been figured to be the schools listed here: Kentucky, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Alabama, in no particular order.

“Speed does kill, yeah speed does kill. You’ll get punished with my strength, that’s for real.”

You can hear the rap over his highlight video that has appeared on the site before.

Enjoy watching ESPN’s Edward Aschoff interview Mark Stoops about how the Cats did in spring practice. Great tie, coach.

Matt and Drew got up at the crack of dawn this morning to go to Floyd County to meet Charles Ramsey, but it was worth it in the end. Charles finally made his appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio to talk about discovering the three girls trapped next door to him, what his life’s been like since then, and his favorite UK player.

It’s pure gold, and I don’t to spoil it, but here are a few teasers:

– Since he gets free McDonald’s now, he says he sometimes travels to four or five locations a day to get his free burgers, and they recognize him now. “Hey, that’s you!” “Yeah, now give me a Big Mac.”

– What he’d like to do with the kidnapper, Ariel Castro: “I’d like to pay his $8 million dollar bond and ship him to Puerto Rico.”

– Get on his bad side and he’ll cut off your head and kick it like a soccer ball down the street.

– He wants to know why people in Lexington spit on Rick Pitino.

– He is a Rex Chapman man.

– So. much. more. Listen now.

Ramsey comes on in the last twenty minutes of the show, but tune in early to hear Matt’s mini-meltdown about whether or not he’ll make it.

LISTEN TO KENTUCKY SPORTS RADIO

Matt Jones, Charles Ramsey, and Drew Franklin.

Shannon is currently uploading the podcast, we will have it for you as soon as possible…

We was three-goggling with this dude…

The 2012-13 season is mercifully over, and despite having the #1 ranked recruiting class in the country, Kentucky failed to make the NCAA Tournament, and were unceremoniously dispatched in the First Round of the NIT by Robert Morris. Hard to see things being any different in 2013-14. To stay apprised and educated, follow me on Twitter @NotJerryTipton. Here’s the weekly notebook:

*Power Circle (Feat. Kendrick Lamar): While there is considerable optimism among Kentucky fans regarding next year’s team, Las Vegas is not impressed with the Cats. The experts have spoken, and they have guaranteed that Kentucky will not win a national championship next year. This has to be a devastating blow for UK fans, who were already clearing space on the mantel for a 9th championship trophy. By giving Kentucky 5-1 odds to win it all next year, Vegas is saying that there is only a 1 in 6 chance that Calipari gets the job done. In other words, they are saying there is literally no chance* that the Cats win it all next year. By comparison, the gamblers are guaranteeing that the crown will be won by either Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Duke, UNC or Florida.** Oh well. There’s always 2015.***

*They are saying there is a 17% chance.
**Collectively, they have a 64% chance of winning.
***Unless the world ends before then.

*The Boss (Feat. T-Pain): As it stands currently, Kentucky is the winningest basketball program of all time. However, it does not appear that this distinction will last very long. Presently, Kentucky holds a mere 10 game lead on the 2nd place team, Kansas. However, the Jayhawks gained 10 games on the Cats last season. If that happens again – and there’s no reason to think it won’t – then poof. UK’s lead is gone. And those who say there’s no guarantee that last year will repeat itself are right. If history is any indication – and it usually is – next year will be worse. During his 10 seasons at KU, coach Bill Self is winning an average of 30 games per year. Meanwhile, in 110 seasons of playing basketball, Kentucky is only averaging 19 wins per season. In other words, if these trends continue — and there’s no reason to think they won’t — then this time next year, the winningest basketball program in the history of the sport will be the Kansas Jayhawks. When that happens, it will be interesting to see if UK will be forced to stop billing itself as “The Greatest Tradition in the History of College Basketball.” At least one writer I spoke with in the mirror hopes so.

*Super High: After Louisville won a national championship in April, coach Rick Pitino treated himself to an absurdly large, unsightly back tattoo. This does not bode well for Kentucky. By getting himself a “Champ Stamp,” Pitino has in no uncertain terms told Louisville fans that he is there for the long haul. And the beauty of it is that he told Card fans this in language they can understand: Body art. Meanwhile, despite winning a title in just his 3rd year at UK (it took Pitino 12 at UofL), despite a 4-1 record against Pitino in the UK/UofL rivalry, and despite winning 83% of his games at UK (Pitino has just won 74% of his at UofL), Calipari has so far refused to permanently defile his body with a ridiculous tattoo. Could this be because Calipari has his eyes on a return to the NBA? He has yet to emphatically deny it, so yes.

* On this date: On this date in 1951, Kentucky was celebrating its 3rd national championship. (Congrats on your achievement, Cards!)

Yesterday, we found out that Anthony Davis got an invite to the Team USA minicamp in Las Vegas, and it looks like at least one fellow former Cat will be there too. According to Yahoo Sports, John Wall has accepted an invitation to the camp, along with six other point guards (Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Ty Lawson, Kemba Walker, Mike Conley and George Hill). Steph Curry may receive an invitation as well.

Coach K and the rest of the Team USA staff will likely make selections for the 2014 World Championships in Madrid at the minicamp, and eventually, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The camp takes place from July 22-25.

Want to know just how different things are in Kentucky football recruiting these days? A top prospect is deciding between Alabama, Louisville…and Kentucky. Elizabethtown giant Matt Elam is the 24th best defensive tackle in the nation, and says that right now, all three schools are neck-to-neck:

“I will say of the offers I have right now, it’s a three-horse race between Alabama, Kentucky and Louisville,” Elam told LEX18. “Kentucky and Louisville are so close to home, [they're] great atmospheres, I love the coaching staffs at both schools. And then Alabama — national championships, that’s just a great opportunity to have.”

In the past, recruits that have offers from Alabama wouldn’t look twice at Kentucky. However, Mark Stoops, Neal Brown and the rest of the UK staff have made keeping in-state talent in-state a priority, and after top 2014 QB Drew Barker committed to the Cats a few week ago, the “come be a hero” campaign has a lot of momentum. However, it was two-time defending National Champion Alabama that gave Elam his first offer, when the talented defensive tackle went to a camp in Tuscaloosa:

“We went in his office — it was me and my coach — and we sat down on his [Nick Saban's] couch and he was just right in front of me. You hear about him all the time, but [I'm thinking] I’m never going to meet this guy or let alone talk to him and get an offer. It was just very surreal meeting him.”

Alabama’s only negative? It’s not close to Elizabethtown. Fortunately, UK is only an hour and a half away.

There’s the head right there. Charles will join Matt and Drew on the radio sometime in the second hour, so grab some McDonald’s and tune in.

The day we never thought would happen is finally here. Matt and I are in Floyd County, Kentucky at Eric C. Conn’s law office to meet Charles Ramsey, a true American hero.

Charles will be on the show from 11:15 to 11:45 before the unveiling of his statue.

This is happening.

Join in on the fun by calling (502) 571-1080.

Topics include:

– Ribs

– McDonald’s

– Salsa music

– Can’t get in that way

Listen to Kentucky Sports Radio

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On Delay…

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WKYQ (1560 am) Paducah 5-7 pm

Sorry Rex, your place in the records books is fading away.

Hey everybody, did you know John Calipari plays freshman a lot?  I bet you didn’t.  But see, I pay attention to things like this.  And I pay attention to the record books as well.  And I am amazed how drastically the record books have changed under the John Calipari administration.  OK, not really the entire record books, but the FRESHMAN record books for sure.  Take a look at some of the freshman records and how they have changed in the 4 short years John Calipari has been the coach:

Freshman Points pre-Calipari
1. Rex Chapman- 464
2. Chris Mills- 459
3. Sam Bowie- 440

Freshman Points post-Calipari
1. Brandon Knight- 657
2. John Wall- 616
3. Terrence Jones- 595
4. Demarcus Cousins- 575
5. Anthony Davis- 567
6. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist- 476
7. Doron Lamb- 469
8. Archie Goodwin- 466
9. Chapman
10. Mills
————————————————
Freshman Rebounds pre-Calipari
1. Chris Mills- 277
2. Sam Bowie- 276
3. Rick Robey- 214

Freshman Rebounds post-Calipari
1. Anthony Davis- 415
2. Demarcus Cousins- 375
3. Terrence Jones- 336
4. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist- 297
5. Mills
6. Bowie
————————————————-
Freshman Assists pre-Calipari
1. Dirk Minnefield- 126
2. Rajon Rondo- 118
3. Rex Chapman- 103

Freshman Assists post-Calipari
1. John Wall- 241
2. Marquis Teague- 191
3. Brandon Knight- 159
4. Minnifield
5. Rondo
————————————————

What strikes me the most about that is how much we criticized Archie Goodwin for his freshman year.  The kid is selfish and takes horrible shots and on and on.  Consider this: ARCHIE GOODWIN TOOK LESS SHOTS THAN REX CHAPMAN IN EACH MAN’S FRESHMAN SEASON.  You think Goodwin was a ball hog, what about Chapman?  And people consider Chapman’s freshman season to be legendary, while Goodwin was some kind of bust.  And don’t think Chapman’s freshman team was so great and that’s why people love him.  His 1987 team was bounced in the first round of both the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. 

My point is 2 fold: that we look at freshman basketball players at UK in a completely different light.  Some would call it an unfair light.  And second, the performance of the freshman in 4 years at Kentucky is something that is unheard of in college basketball, and certainly in Lexington.  And I think even more unheard of or appreciated than UK fans are doing. 

Follow me on twitter @BryantheIntern