Thursday, March 8, 2012
This is important
You people. YOU PEOPLE.I’m still blinking in disbelief at the kindness you’ve shared with me and Brandon and Tiny Person Under My Shirt. I hate secrets, and this secret, no matter how well intentioned, surprised me with how heavy it felt, how unwieldy it was to carry around. It’s been a relief to to share it with you, and an unexpected thrill to have it met with such encouragement and
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Photos: UK Football Pro Day 2012
Video's of UK's 2012 football Pro Day here, along with a interview with UK Coach Joker Phillips, workouts with Danny Trevathan, Ronnie Sneed, Matt Roark and others.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
UK Men's Basketball dominate 2011-12 SEC Awards
Kentucky's Davis Earns Sporting News Player of the Year
Davis Named USBWA District IV Player of the Year
Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist voted All-District
- Anthony Davis named SEC Player of the Year
- Anthony Davis named SEC Freshman of the Year
- Anthony Davis named SEC Defensive Player of the Year
- Anthony Davis named to All-SEC First Team
- Anthony Davis named to SEC All-Freshman Team
- Anthony Davis named to SEC All-Defensive Team
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist named to All-SEC First Team
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist named to SEC All-Freshman Team
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist named to SEC All-Defensive Team
- Terrence Jones named to All-SEC Second Team
- Doron Lamb named to All-SEC Second Team
- Darius Miller is SEC Sixth Man of the Year
- John Calipari is SEC Coach of the Year
Monday, March 5, 2012
Anthony Davis Named SEC Player Of The Week 3/5/12
Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-10, 222-pound freshman forward from Chicago, Ill., was named SEC Freshman of the Week after averaging 15.5 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in wins over Georgia and at Florida. Davis averaged a double-double on the week including a 22 point-12 rebound-six block performance in UK’s win at 13th ranked Florida. It was his 14th double-double of the season, second most by a freshman in UK history. He moved to eighth (146) on UK’s career blocks list, fifth on all-time NCAA freshman blocks list.
AP/Coaches Poll 3/5/12
1. Kentucky
2. Syracuse
3. Kansas
4. North Carolina
5. Missouri
6. Duke
7. Ohio State
8. Michigan State
9. Marquette
10. Michigan
11. Murray State
12. Baylor
13. Georgetown
14. Wisconsin
15. Indiana
16. Wichita State
17. Florida State
18. San Diego State
19. Creighton
20. UNLV
21. Temple
22. Florida
23. Notre Dame
24. Gonzaga
25. Iowa State
Others Receiving Votes: St. Mary's (26-5) 88; Louisville (22-9) 84; Drexel (27-5) 83; New Mexico (24-6) 64; Virginia (22-8) 34; Memphis (23-8) 13; Virginia Commonwealth (27-6) 6; Vanderbilt (21-10) 6; Cincinnati (22-9) 5; Long Beach State (22-8) 3; Kansas State (21-9) 2; Harvard (26-4) 1; Saint Louis (24-6) 1
Coaches Poll
1. Kentucky
2. Syracuse
3. Kansas
4. North Carolina
5. Missouri
6. Duke
7. Ohio State
8. Michigan State
9. Marquette
10. Murray State
11. Baylor
12. Wisconsin
13. Michigan
14. Georgetown
15. Indiana
16. Wichita State
17. Florida State
18. St. Mary's
19. Florida
20. UNLV
21. San Diego State
22. Creighton
23. Notre Dame
24. Temple
25. Gonzaga
Others Receiving Votes: Louisville (22-9) 60; New Mexico (24-6) 26; Iowa State (22-9) 24; Memphis (23-8) 24; Drexel (27-5) 21; Virginia (22-8) 18; Kansas State (21-9) 11; Mississippi State (21-10) 8; Saint Louis (24-6) 6; Nevada (25-5) 3; Virginia Commonwealth (27-6) 3; Harvard (26-4) 2; Middle Tennessee (25-6) 1; Montana (23-6) 1
SEC Men's BB Final Standings 3/5/12
SEC Men's BB Final Standings 3/5/12| SEC Teams | Conf. W-L | Tot. W-L |
| Kentucky | 16-0 | 30-1 |
| Florida | 10-6 | 22-9 |
| Vanderbilt | 10-6 | 21-10 |
| Tennessee | 10-6 | 18-13 |
| Alabama | 9-7 | 20-10 |
| Mississippi St. | 8-8 | 21-10 |
| Mississippi | 8-8 | 18-12 |
| LSU | 7-9 | 17-13 |
| Arkansas | 6-10 | 18-13 |
| Auburn | 5-11 | 15-15 |
| Georgia | 5-11 | 14-16 |
| South Carolina | 2-14 | 10-20 |
Sunday, March 4, 2012
2012 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket - New Orleans, La
Thursday, March 8 - ALL GAMES EST TIME
#8 LSU vs. #9 Arkansas Game 1 SEC Network 1:00 pm ET
#5 Alabama vs. #12 South Carolina Game 2 SEC Network 3:30 pm ET
#7 Ole Miss vs. #10 Auburn Game 3 SEC Network 7:30 pm ET
#6 Mississippi State vs. #11 Georgia Game 4 SEC Network 10:00 pm ET
Friday, March 9
Winner Game 1 vs. #1 Kentucky Game 5 SEC Network 1:00 pm ET
Winner Game 2 vs. #4 Florida Game 6 SEC Network 3:30 pm ET
Winner Game 3 vs. #2 Tennessee Game 7 SEC Network 7:30 pm ET
Winner Game 4 vs. #3 Vanderbilt Game 8 SEC Network 10:00 pm ET
Saturday, March 10
Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 Game 9 ABC 1:00 pm ET
Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 Game 10 ABC 3:30 pm ET
Sunday, March 11
Championship Game Game 11 ABC 1:00 pm ET
Video: UK Coach John Calipari UK-Florida postgame comments after Cats 74-59 win
UK Coach John Calipari UK-Florida postgame comments after Cats 74-59 win and 16-0 regular season record.Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Video: Terrence Jones on UK's 16-0 SEC season
Terrence Jones on UK's 16-0 SEC season after UK's 74-59 win over Florida. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Video: Anthony Davis on UK's 16-0 SEC season
Anthony Davis on UK's 16-0 SEC season after UK's 74-59 win over Florida. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Photos: UK Hoops vs LSU 2012 SEC Tournament
Fouled up: UK Hoops loses to LSU 72-61 in SEC Tournament LSU was 34-for-43 from the free throw line. The Cats (25-6) will next play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament March 17 or 18. Their seeding, opponent, region and location will be decided and announced Monday, March 12.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Video: UK Coach John Calipari confident as Cats prep for Florida
UK Coach John Calipari confident as Cats prep for Florida game on Sunday at 12PM on CBS. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Pre-Florida Media Opportunity - Mar. 3, 2012
UK Head Coach John Calipari
On the opportunity to go undefeated in the league …
“Every game has its own importance for this program. We treat every game the same so it doesn’t matter who we are playing it is treated the same way. We will approach this game like every other game. One way you look at it is that it has no bearing on anything. Will we show up and play or will we let go of the game? We are going to find out about our guys. My thing is that you just want them to compete and if that is not good enough (that’s fine). Florida could come in and make 25 3s on you. If they come in and make 25 3s then alright we are going to the tournament as a one seed.”
On wanting to make history by going undefeated …
“I don’t think I have ever talked about making history. I would like to make history to take our home-winning streak to 12 years. Here (at Kentucky), there is no setting records. You try to be the best team you can be and establish the excellence of a program. We are playing Florida, a terrific basketball team and a ranked basketball team on the road. It is going to be very hard for us to win. We know that. I am more concerned about my team. We have gotten better now let’s see what we do with our last true road game. The rest of the games this season will be at neutral sites and we will have our share of fans.”
On taking Anthony Davis off the first team some during practice …
“It has worked out well two ways. One way, Anthony (Davis) gets to play the four position, which you saw him pop out and hit a 3. The second side of it is that it is giving us an awareness of, ‘Hey Terrence (Jones), you have to be him. You have to block more shots and do more stuff.”
On Dance Blue going on in Memorial Coliseum and the team making an appearance …
“I didn’t even know that is going on to be honest with you, but that is a great thing that our students do. We just sent the team over to cheer them on. It is a really neat thing and they raise a lot of money for a lot of good things. It is one of the highlights for our students.”
On heading into tournament play and the added length to TV timeouts, halftimes, etc., and if that affects the team …
“In the NCAA Tournament you have like 10 minutes to walk to your locker room so some of it is that and you need more time. People want to talk about our bench; I am almost like, ‘Man, are you wanting to grab anything.’ I have two players that come off the bench and score 25 points. If there is any other team in the country that has two players that can come off the bench and score 25 points tell me who they are. Maybe it’s Syracuse, maybe it’s Ohio State, I don’t know who it is. But those two (Darius Miller, Kyle Wiltjer) can score 25 points. You talk about our 3-point shooting. We don’t rely on it, yet, we are one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league. If we make 15, then we are going to beat you by 30. If we make five, then it appears we are going to beat you anyway. All I am trying to do is see how good we can be as a team, how much better we can be individually. Can we get in better shape? Can we get a little stronger? I am really trying to encourage these guys and I will say it again, one of the things I have said is that if we win then you are going to get all the credit. Each one of you are going to share in the glory and benefit in that success. And if we get beat, then it will be on me and I will take full responsibility. Just go play, go get better. I am not going to blame anybody. I’m not going to blame an official or blame a player. I have been through it now. In 2008, we lost and I took responsibility. I said, ‘You guys were great and that was me.’ I am going to do the same now. We are going to play it out and try to get these kids in the greatest frame of mind we can. This game here is a hard one, tough game.”
On if he has seen any signs that the team feels some pressure …
“No, I haven’t. But part of it is that two weeks ago I began the mantra that, ‘You guys are fine, just go play.’ I told them yesterday that over 100 practices I can’t remember a bad practice. DeWayne (Peevy) told me about this BPI, which I had never heard of, and (it measures) efficiency of teams. We are No. 1 in that and we have been so consistent all year it’s been amazing. In the last five years they have been doing it I have had two teams that have been No. 1 in it. The 2008 team was the No. 1 BPI team. No game is more important and you are trying to get them to play every game out. It is really, really hard. But that is the challenge and that is what we are trying to do.”
On how the injury to Will Yeguete affects them …
“That hurts them, that hurts them. Because they have to go small, which in another sense could help them, because now they could have five 3-point shooters on the floor if Erik (Murphy) is at the five. I want you to think about that, all five guys can shoot 3s. So in one way it hurts them, but it also helps them. He is that guy off the bench that was physical and could so some things. It is just unfortunate for the kid; I wish he didn’t get injured.”
On what he liked from looking at the tape from the win Thursday night vs. Georgia …
“There was a lot of good. I thought that we shared the ball. Three of our turnovers out of eight were a shot-clock violation, a lazy pass by Marquis (Teague) and look-away pass by Terrence (Jones) and those were all late. When you look at it, for us to play the way we did and we defended and talked and made it hard for them and rebounded. We did a lot of good stuff. The breakdown tape yesterday there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff I could show them. I picked out some stuff like how a guy went and got water and this guy wasn’t cheering on the bench, but it was hard to pick out stuff.”
On tomorrow being the last true road game and if there is a feeling that this is a throw-away game …
“I hope not. It is a pride game. Let’s figure out what we are. I let them know that it would be a physical game and that they would in all likelihood come out and be physical. They will play at their best and they will be so hyped and the building will be sold out. I don’t know if it is cup day, bat day, ball day, whatever it is. I imagine it is some day. Family night or senior night, whatever it is, it will be a hyped game.”
On if they are preparing for anything unexpected like West Virginia’s 1-3-1 two years ago …
“We have faced everything. We have faced it all. What happened in that game is we went 0-for-20 from the 3-point line and they were good. They had played in Syracuse a few different times before and had an advantage over us and for them to be the last two, or whatever you want to say, was unfortunate for us. I guess the luck of the draw as they would tell you. We were prepared but if you go 0-for-20 you aren’t supposed to win.”
On if there is any weakness he sees in his team right now …
“We are just trying to get better. You can go have a bad 3-point shooting night, a bad free-throw shooting night, get in foul trouble. There are all kinds of things. It is just one-and-done right now. Fate intervenes and all of a sudden that is a foul and that is foul and Anthony (Davis) you are done sit down. There is a close call and it goes against you twice. You get the seeds and look at the draw and say, ‘Oh my gosh, they let the Lakers in. I don’t think they can have the Lakers in there.’ It is fate. It intervenes in what you are doing here. All I am trying to do is say that we are in the best frame of mind and physically ready to go. Let’s go play the game and whatever happens is going to happen at this point. It is one game. It is not best of five or seven. Historically, I have had my teams ready for the challenge of that march and it is truly a march now. It is not just, ‘OK, play a game and yay.’ No, the first game is hard. Think about us last year, we had a pretty darn good team and played Princeton and were lucky to win. We won on a bank shot.”
On him thinking through as many contingency plans as he can to get them as prepared as possible …
“Yeah, but there are things that are going to happen that you aren’t prepared for. Do you ever think your team is going to go 0-for-20 from 3-point line. Then what do you do if they do? You say, ‘You can make it just keep shooting.’ Then they keep shooting and the balls keep bonking (off the rim). Stuff happens. Then you say, ‘We are good, get fouled and we will make the free throws.’ And you go 1-for-5. What is your solution? Put your best free-throw shooters on the line, they were. They were and they missed too. Guard these guys. It happens. My thing is to just get my team as prepared as we can be and let it go and see what happens.”
Pre-Florida Media Opportunity - Mar. 3, 2012
UK Head Coach John Calipari
On the opportunity to go undefeated in the league …
“Every game has its own importance for this program. We treat every game the same so it doesn’t matter who we are playing it is treated the same way. We will approach this game like every other game. One way you look at it is that it has no bearing on anything. Will we show up and play or will we let go of the game? We are going to find out about our guys. My thing is that you just want them to compete and if that is not good enough (that’s fine). Florida could come in and make 25 3s on you. If they come in and make 25 3s then alright we are going to the tournament as a one seed.”
On wanting to make history by going undefeated …
“I don’t think I have ever talked about making history. I would like to make history to take our home-winning streak to 12 years. Here (at Kentucky), there is no setting records. You try to be the best team you can be and establish the excellence of a program. We are playing Florida, a terrific basketball team and a ranked basketball team on the road. It is going to be very hard for us to win. We know that. I am more concerned about my team. We have gotten better now let’s see what we do with our last true road game. The rest of the games this season will be at neutral sites and we will have our share of fans.”
On taking Anthony Davis off the first team some during practice …
“It has worked out well two ways. One way, Anthony (Davis) gets to play the four position, which you saw him pop out and hit a 3. The second side of it is that it is giving us an awareness of, ‘Hey Terrence (Jones), you have to be him. You have to block more shots and do more stuff.”
On Dance Blue going on in Memorial Coliseum and the team making an appearance …
“I didn’t even know that is going on to be honest with you, but that is a great thing that our students do. We just sent the team over to cheer them on. It is a really neat thing and they raise a lot of money for a lot of good things. It is one of the highlights for our students.”
On heading into tournament play and the added length to TV timeouts, halftimes, etc., and if that affects the team …
“In the NCAA Tournament you have like 10 minutes to walk to your locker room so some of it is that and you need more time. People want to talk about our bench; I am almost like, ‘Man, are you wanting to grab anything.’ I have two players that come off the bench and score 25 points. If there is any other team in the country that has two players that can come off the bench and score 25 points tell me who they are. Maybe it’s Syracuse, maybe it’s Ohio State, I don’t know who it is. But those two (Darius Miller, Kyle Wiltjer) can score 25 points. You talk about our 3-point shooting. We don’t rely on it, yet, we are one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league. If we make 15, then we are going to beat you by 30. If we make five, then it appears we are going to beat you anyway. All I am trying to do is see how good we can be as a team, how much better we can be individually. Can we get in better shape? Can we get a little stronger? I am really trying to encourage these guys and I will say it again, one of the things I have said is that if we win then you are going to get all the credit. Each one of you are going to share in the glory and benefit in that success. And if we get beat, then it will be on me and I will take full responsibility. Just go play, go get better. I am not going to blame anybody. I’m not going to blame an official or blame a player. I have been through it now. In 2008, we lost and I took responsibility. I said, ‘You guys were great and that was me.’ I am going to do the same now. We are going to play it out and try to get these kids in the greatest frame of mind we can. This game here is a hard one, tough game.”
On if he has seen any signs that the team feels some pressure …
“No, I haven’t. But part of it is that two weeks ago I began the mantra that, ‘You guys are fine, just go play.’ I told them yesterday that over 100 practices I can’t remember a bad practice. DeWayne (Peevy) told me about this BPI, which I had never heard of, and (it measures) efficiency of teams. We are No. 1 in that and we have been so consistent all year it’s been amazing. In the last five years they have been doing it I have had two teams that have been No. 1 in it. The 2008 team was the No. 1 BPI team. No game is more important and you are trying to get them to play every game out. It is really, really hard. But that is the challenge and that is what we are trying to do.”
On how the injury to Will Yeguete affects them …
“That hurts them, that hurts them. Because they have to go small, which in another sense could help them, because now they could have five 3-point shooters on the floor if Erik (Murphy) is at the five. I want you to think about that, all five guys can shoot 3s. So in one way it hurts them, but it also helps them. He is that guy off the bench that was physical and could so some things. It is just unfortunate for the kid; I wish he didn’t get injured.”
On what he liked from looking at the tape from the win Thursday night vs. Georgia …
“There was a lot of good. I thought that we shared the ball. Three of our turnovers out of eight were a shot-clock violation, a lazy pass by Marquis (Teague) and look-away pass by Terrence (Jones) and those were all late. When you look at it, for us to play the way we did and we defended and talked and made it hard for them and rebounded. We did a lot of good stuff. The breakdown tape yesterday there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff I could show them. I picked out some stuff like how a guy went and got water and this guy wasn’t cheering on the bench, but it was hard to pick out stuff.”
On tomorrow being the last true road game and if there is a feeling that this is a throw-away game …
“I hope not. It is a pride game. Let’s figure out what we are. I let them know that it would be a physical game and that they would in all likelihood come out and be physical. They will play at their best and they will be so hyped and the building will be sold out. I don’t know if it is cup day, bat day, ball day, whatever it is. I imagine it is some day. Family night or senior night, whatever it is, it will be a hyped game.”
On if they are preparing for anything unexpected like West Virginia’s 1-3-1 two years ago …
“We have faced everything. We have faced it all. What happened in that game is we went 0-for-20 from the 3-point line and they were good. They had played in Syracuse a few different times before and had an advantage over us and for them to be the last two, or whatever you want to say, was unfortunate for us. I guess the luck of the draw as they would tell you. We were prepared but if you go 0-for-20 you aren’t supposed to win.”
On if there is any weakness he sees in his team right now …
“We are just trying to get better. You can go have a bad 3-point shooting night, a bad free-throw shooting night, get in foul trouble. There are all kinds of things. It is just one-and-done right now. Fate intervenes and all of a sudden that is a foul and that is foul and Anthony (Davis) you are done sit down. There is a close call and it goes against you twice. You get the seeds and look at the draw and say, ‘Oh my gosh, they let the Lakers in. I don’t think they can have the Lakers in there.’ It is fate. It intervenes in what you are doing here. All I am trying to do is say that we are in the best frame of mind and physically ready to go. Let’s go play the game and whatever happens is going to happen at this point. It is one game. It is not best of five or seven. Historically, I have had my teams ready for the challenge of that march and it is truly a march now. It is not just, ‘OK, play a game and yay.’ No, the first game is hard. Think about us last year, we had a pretty darn good team and played Princeton and were lucky to win. We won on a bank shot.”
On him thinking through as many contingency plans as he can to get them as prepared as possible …
“Yeah, but there are things that are going to happen that you aren’t prepared for. Do you ever think your team is going to go 0-for-20 from 3-point line. Then what do you do if they do? You say, ‘You can make it just keep shooting.’ Then they keep shooting and the balls keep bonking (off the rim). Stuff happens. Then you say, ‘We are good, get fouled and we will make the free throws.’ And you go 1-for-5. What is your solution? Put your best free-throw shooters on the line, they were. They were and they missed too. Guard these guys. It happens. My thing is to just get my team as prepared as we can be and let it go and see what happens.”
Video: Marquis Teague previews UK's SEC finale
UK Freshman PG Marquis Teague previews UK's SEC finale Sunday on CBS at Florida. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com
Video: Terrence Jones previews UK's SEC finale
UK Sophomore Terrence Jones previews UK's SEC finale Sunday on CBS at Florida. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com
Kentucky vs Florida Rd 2.....A Preview
WT Administrator
Kentucky vs Florida (Round 2)….3/4/12
Sunday 12PM (CBS)
Kentucky leads the series 91-33
Location: Gainesville
Enrollment: 52,271
Arena: 12,000
Florida
Head Coach: Billy Donovan
Career Record: 395-167 (70.3%) 17 seasons
At Florida: 360-147 (71.0%) 15 seasons
2010-11 Record: 29-8
2010-11 SEC Record: 13-3
2010-11 Postseason: 3-1 (Lost in NCAA Elite 8)
2011-12 Record: 22-8
2011-12 SEC Record: 10-5
Florida 99 Jackson St. 59
Ohio St. 81 Florida 74
Florida 91 North Florida 55
Florida 78 Wright St. 65
Florida 96 Stetson 70
Syracuse 72 Florida 68
Florida 78 Arizona 72 (OT)
Florida 90 Rider 69
Florida 84 Texas A&M 64
Florida 82 Mississippi Valley St. 54
Florida 82 Florida St. 64
Rutgers 85 Florida 83 (OT)
Florida 90 Yale 70
Florida 79 UAB 61
Tennessee 67 Florida 56
Florida 70 Georgia 48
Florida 79 South Carolina 65
Florida 76 LSU 64
Florida 64 Ole Miss 60
Florida 69 Mississippi St. 57
Florida 74 South Carolina 66
Florida 73 Vanderbilt 65
Kentucky 78 Florida 58
Tennessee 75 Florida 70
Florida 61 Alabama 52
Florida 98 Arkansas 68
Florida 63 Auburn 47
Georgia 76 Florida 62
Vanderbilt 77 Florida 67
Florida Stats
PPG-77.4
FG%-46.5%
3 PT%-39.2% (10.0 PG)
FT%-70.2%
RPG-35.9 (+3.1)
APG-14.9
TO’s-11.3
SPG-6.7
BPG-3.4
UK Stats
PPG-77.8
FG%-48.9%
3 PT%-38.7% (5.9 PG)
FT%-72.4%
RPG-39.2% (+7.4)
APG-13.5
TO’s-11.6
SPG-6.4
BPG-8.9
Probable Starting Lineup
Patric Young-F/C 6’9” Soph……………………….10.1 PPG
Erik Murphy-C 6’10” Jr…………………………….9.9 PPG
Kenny Boynton-G 6’2” Jr…………………………..17.1 PPG
Bradley Beal-G 6’3” Fr……………………………..14.7 PPG
Erving Walker-G 5’8” Sr……………………………12.6 PPG
Other Key Player
Mike Rosario-G 6’3” Jr…………………………….7.4 PPG
Florida has lost 4 of their last 7 SEC games….including their only home loss of the season to Tennessee. Two of Florida’s 8 losses were to top 10 ranked Ohio State and Syracuse early in the season….both on the road. The Gators wins and losses this season have almost always depended on their perimeter shooting. Thus far this season, Florida has taken 767 perimeter shots which is an average of 25 shots per game. In contrast UK averages around 15 perimeter shots per game. When the long range shots are dropping, the Gators are very tough to beat.
Overall, Florida is a good perimeter shooting team hitting 39.2%.....with Boynton hitting 43.9%....Murphy hitting 43.4%......Walker hitting 38.0%. However, Beal who is a terrific freshman only shoots 32.2% from the perimeter. Unfortunately, Florida doesn’t have a great inside game and mostly depends on Patric Young for in the paint points. The Gators have been hurt in the paint with the loss of 6’7” Will Yeguete 4 games ago to a season ending injury. Yeguete came off the bench and averaged 22 minutes to give Florida good interior defense and rebounding.
Erving Walker, Florida’s only senior, is the team leader in assists while Bradley Beal leads in steals. Beal at 6’4” is a terrific athlete and is an amazing rebounder for his size….as he along with Young are the two best Florida rebounders.
Unquestionably, Florida has talent, but they are mostly one demensional with a 3 guard lineup and scoring a huge percentage of their points from the perimeter. However, the Gators are very tough to defeat in Gainesville as they almost always shoot well in their home arena.
Kentucky arrives in Gainesville after soundly defeating Georgia at senior day…. the Cats last home game. UK is playing very well both offensively and defensively….in fact, the Cats are now peaking in on court performance.
Kentucky defeated Florida at Rupp arena by 20 points. In that game, UK held the Gators to 6-27 from long range and out rebounded Florida 38-31. In contrast, UK shot 9-15 from the perimeter. Obviously, the Cats will need to once again play great perimeter defense, but no one expects the Gators to shoot as poorly from long range in their home arena. This game will be much closer….I see a UK win by 9 points. GO CATS!
Photos: SEC Women's Tournament UK Hoops vs Florida
UK Hoops celebrated a SEC regular-season championship before tipoff of its SEC tournament game in a trophy presentation on the court of Bridgestone Arena. UK Hoops rally late in second half to win 71-67 and advance to face LSU Saturday at 4pm.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Video: Darius Miller, Eloy Vargas honored at UK's 2012 Senior Night
Darius Miller, Eloy Vargas honored at UK's 2012 Senior Night. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Video: One last "My Old Kentucky Home" for UK's 2012 Seniors
One last "My Old Kentucky Home" for UK seniors. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Video: Darius Miller on UK's Senior Night 79-49 rout of Georgia
Darius Miller on UK's Senior Night 79-49 rout of Georgia. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Video: John Calipari talks about UK's 79-49 win over Georgia
UK Coach John Calipari talks about UK's 79-49 win over Georgia Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Video: Eloy Vargas on his UK Senior Night
Eloy Vargas on his UK Senior Night 2012 as UK wins 79-49. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Video: Doron Lamb on UK's 79-49 rout of Georgia on Senior Night
Doron Lamb on UK's 79-49 rout of Georgia on Senior Night March 1, 2012. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Video: Kyle Wiltjer on UK's 3-point barrage, zone offense
Kyle Wiltjer on UK's 3-point barrage, zone offense on 2012 Senior Night. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com
Photos: UK vs. Georgia 2012 Senior Night
UK says farewell at Rupp Arena to UK Seniors Daruis Miller & Eloy Vargas as Cats win 79-49 on Senior Night.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
September 4
Hi.I’ve never made an announcement like this before, and it feels very awkward and shouty to do it through a computer screen, so please be nice and pretend that we’re sitting in your living room. I’ll give you a minute to get settled.The thing is, I’ve been working on my manuscript, yes, yes, but I’ve also been working on something else. That something else has made it difficult, actually, to
Video: John Calipari previews UK's 2012 Senior Night game
UK Coach John Calipari previews UK's 2012 Senior Night game against Georgia.Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
Pre-Georgia Media Opportunity - Feb. 29, 2012
Head Coach John Calipari
On the seniors …
“You have two players and people who have come to this program in different circumstances. Darius (Miller)’s case, rough freshman year, new coach comes in with a bunch of new players, adapts, changes his game, accepts new players and then responds and gets better every year. He will be an NBA player, no doubt in my mind. There is no college player that has played with more NBA players than him. Eloy (Vargas) comes here and again, plays on a team with some pretty good players and has been waiting his turn. Like I’ve told you before, I’ve had scouts come to me like, ‘is this another Josh (Harrellson)?’ we’re not getting to see him because he is playing behind the spider-man (Anthony Davis) there. My hope is he gets the opportunity to go to Portsmouth and show himself and at the end of this year as we finish it out, including this game Thursday, that he shows people, hey I’m Swen Nater, played behind (Bill) Walton, all the sudden has an 11-year career. When I said he’d be a professional, he will be a professional, it may not be the NBA and it may be the NBA. Someone is going to like his size and what he does. They are both going to graduate which is neat. They have both done the work they need to do and they have stayed out of trouble. Last night I get a call at 11:20 and Eloy Vargas is on the treadmill, last night at 11:20. He is waiting for his opportunity, that’s hard now, it’s easy to be out there playing, it’s hard when you are standing there waiting for your opportunity and working hard every day.”
On what he tells scouts when they ask about Eloy …
“What I say is, you have a 6’10, 6’11 player who can rebound and run the court and is more skilled than you think. You look in the NBA, how many big guys are there, they have 30 teams. You look at all these teams in Europe, if he chooses to do this he will continue to play.”
On Darius Miller late in games …
“It’s not been calming, he’s just changed. I got on him because he was 1-13 on free throws after someone calls a timeout and he has to go shoot a free throw. I told him, you know why, because you sit there and think too much then you go out there and almost shoot an air ball. Well the last game there was a timeout and he made one and he said, ‘did you notice I made that free throw after the timeout.’ When you let him know, he responds and he has responded for this team. Like I said, we have six starters and he has started some of the games and if he’s not the sixth man of the year you have to show me who it will be. He’s awfully good.”
On how much Eloy will play against Georgia …
“I’m going to try to play him as many minutes as I can which is what I always do with the seniors on senior night.”
On Darius being a “glue” guy …
“It means he does everything the team needs him to do, he completes everybody. He’s not competing, he’s completing. He’ll do, if he needs to rebound, defend, he’ll play some guard, and he’ll play some forward, whatever position we ask him, he just completes everybody.”
On what he saw from Darius when he became the coach at UK …
“Well when I first got here, of the all the players that I watched and this is before the freshman class came in, he had a better feel for the dribble drive than anybody there and I was pleasantly surprised. Then I said, ‘how much did he play?’ ‘Two minutes a game.’ What? So obviously there were two different styles of play. I liked what I saw and obviously he has just gotten mentally and physically tougher. All these kids are on different time tables. Just because a young man stays three years, four years doesn’t mean the guy that’s one or two years (is better). No, they are just on different time tables. When you talk about us having three guys in that ‘Rise’ game and no other school had more than one, I hope that’s every year. Which means, not only are they leaving to go to the league, they are performing, Josh Harrellson. When you look at that and a guy like Darius, it has taken him some time but at the end of the day he is going to be in the position he wants to be in.”
On Darius Miller getting an opportunity to play more …
“There is no such thing in any program that I have coached that says it is my turn. It doesn’t matter if you are a sophomore, junior or senior. There is no such thing that says it is my turn. Either you play or he plays. There is no real emotion about it. We are trying to put the best team on the floor and the best players on the floor. You like to reward, but at the end of the day, it is about performance and you know, it’s like he was playing in front of guys my first year here and then some guys were playing in front of him. That’s just how it goes. There is no ‘my turn’. If you have that kind of program, you don’t have that competitive fire within; you’re not going to reach the height of your team in my opinion.”
On Darius Miller playing better off the bench …
“It didn’t matter if it was he or Doron (Lamb). And it still doesn’t matter. If Doron is in, and he’s not playing, then he’s out. If Terrence (Jones) is not playing, he will go in at the four and we will go small. My point guard threw it away two times in 2:30, then you’re out. Then he went in, and Doron moved to point. This is about performance and it is day-to-day. We talked today about this team in general. I told (assistant coach) John Robic, how many bad practice days have we had? We have probably had over 100 practice days. Maybe one or two, and it’s hard for me to remember. How many games did we just play flat this year? I don’t really remember any. These kids are not machines and they are not computers. They are trying. They know they are up against it every game they play. Someone is going to come out and try to blow their brains out. I’m really proud of all of these guys. Leadership on this team, you think about it, whether it’s Darius (Miller) coming off the bench or Eloy (Vargas) not playing a whole lot. They haven’t affected us, except in a positive way. They have both been positive in how they have done this. I really want them to do well.”
On Anthony Davis being a Player of the Year candidate …
“I think there are some other worthy candidates too, but I am going to be biased and at the end of the year, he is going to take 200 shots less than all of those guys that they are considering; 200 shots less, yet probably has more of an impact on any of these games. And that’s not taking away anything from anybody else because, you know, those other guys are just as deserving. He has had a special year. What he has done defensively for us, what he has done offensively for us, and he has done it in a way where he is not selfish in anyway. He has taken 200 less shots. That’s a big number now. You’re talking about averaging five more points a game, maybe six. The best thing for my team is to pass it more and get it less, and he is fine with that.”
Pre-Georgia Media Opportunity - Feb. 29, 2012
Head Coach John Calipari
On the seniors …
“You have two players and people who have come to this program in different circumstances. Darius (Miller)’s case, rough freshman year, new coach comes in with a bunch of new players, adapts, changes his game, accepts new players and then responds and gets better every year. He will be an NBA player, no doubt in my mind. There is no college player that has played with more NBA players than him. Eloy (Vargas) comes here and again, plays on a team with some pretty good players and has been waiting his turn. Like I’ve told you before, I’ve had scouts come to me like, ‘is this another Josh (Harrellson)?’ we’re not getting to see him because he is playing behind the spider-man (Anthony Davis) there. My hope is he gets the opportunity to go to Portsmouth and show himself and at the end of this year as we finish it out, including this game Thursday, that he shows people, hey I’m Swen Nater, played behind (Bill) Walton, all the sudden has an 11-year career. When I said he’d be a professional, he will be a professional, it may not be the NBA and it may be the NBA. Someone is going to like his size and what he does. They are both going to graduate which is neat. They have both done the work they need to do and they have stayed out of trouble. Last night I get a call at 11:20 and Eloy Vargas is on the treadmill, last night at 11:20. He is waiting for his opportunity, that’s hard now, it’s easy to be out there playing, it’s hard when you are standing there waiting for your opportunity and working hard every day.”
On what he tells scouts when they ask about Eloy …
“What I say is, you have a 6’10, 6’11 player who can rebound and run the court and is more skilled than you think. You look in the NBA, how many big guys are there, they have 30 teams. You look at all these teams in Europe, if he chooses to do this he will continue to play.”
On Darius Miller late in games …
“It’s not been calming, he’s just changed. I got on him because he was 1-13 on free throws after someone calls a timeout and he has to go shoot a free throw. I told him, you know why, because you sit there and think too much then you go out there and almost shoot an air ball. Well the last game there was a timeout and he made one and he said, ‘did you notice I made that free throw after the timeout.’ When you let him know, he responds and he has responded for this team. Like I said, we have six starters and he has started some of the games and if he’s not the sixth man of the year you have to show me who it will be. He’s awfully good.”
On how much Eloy will play against Georgia …
“I’m going to try to play him as many minutes as I can which is what I always do with the seniors on senior night.”
On Darius being a “glue” guy …
“It means he does everything the team needs him to do, he completes everybody. He’s not competing, he’s completing. He’ll do, if he needs to rebound, defend, he’ll play some guard, and he’ll play some forward, whatever position we ask him, he just completes everybody.”
On what he saw from Darius when he became the coach at UK …
“Well when I first got here, of the all the players that I watched and this is before the freshman class came in, he had a better feel for the dribble drive than anybody there and I was pleasantly surprised. Then I said, ‘how much did he play?’ ‘Two minutes a game.’ What? So obviously there were two different styles of play. I liked what I saw and obviously he has just gotten mentally and physically tougher. All these kids are on different time tables. Just because a young man stays three years, four years doesn’t mean the guy that’s one or two years (is better). No, they are just on different time tables. When you talk about us having three guys in that ‘Rise’ game and no other school had more than one, I hope that’s every year. Which means, not only are they leaving to go to the league, they are performing, Josh Harrellson. When you look at that and a guy like Darius, it has taken him some time but at the end of the day he is going to be in the position he wants to be in.”
On Darius Miller getting an opportunity to play more …
“There is no such thing in any program that I have coached that says it is my turn. It doesn’t matter if you are a sophomore, junior or senior. There is no such thing that says it is my turn. Either you play or he plays. There is no real emotion about it. We are trying to put the best team on the floor and the best players on the floor. You like to reward, but at the end of the day, it is about performance and you know, it’s like he was playing in front of guys my first year here and then some guys were playing in front of him. That’s just how it goes. There is no ‘my turn’. If you have that kind of program, you don’t have that competitive fire within; you’re not going to reach the height of your team in my opinion.”
On Darius Miller playing better off the bench …
“It didn’t matter if it was he or Doron (Lamb). And it still doesn’t matter. If Doron is in, and he’s not playing, then he’s out. If Terrence (Jones) is not playing, he will go in at the four and we will go small. My point guard threw it away two times in 2:30, then you’re out. Then he went in, and Doron moved to point. This is about performance and it is day-to-day. We talked today about this team in general. I told (assistant coach) John Robic, how many bad practice days have we had? We have probably had over 100 practice days. Maybe one or two, and it’s hard for me to remember. How many games did we just play flat this year? I don’t really remember any. These kids are not machines and they are not computers. They are trying. They know they are up against it every game they play. Someone is going to come out and try to blow their brains out. I’m really proud of all of these guys. Leadership on this team, you think about it, whether it’s Darius (Miller) coming off the bench or Eloy (Vargas) not playing a whole lot. They haven’t affected us, except in a positive way. They have both been positive in how they have done this. I really want them to do well.”
On Anthony Davis being a Player of the Year candidate …
“I think there are some other worthy candidates too, but I am going to be biased and at the end of the year, he is going to take 200 shots less than all of those guys that they are considering; 200 shots less, yet probably has more of an impact on any of these games. And that’s not taking away anything from anybody else because, you know, those other guys are just as deserving. He has had a special year. What he has done defensively for us, what he has done offensively for us, and he has done it in a way where he is not selfish in anyway. He has taken 200 less shots. That’s a big number now. You’re talking about averaging five more points a game, maybe six. The best thing for my team is to pass it more and get it less, and he is fine with that.”
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