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Dicky's World
by Ken Howlett
on Jul 3, 2009 1:37 AM EDT
in Guest Authors
1 comment
July 1, 2009
As the month of July begins, I am starting to feel like the old me. My leg is getting stronger, my routes are sharper, and I'm sporting a pretty good tan. I increased my workouts to three times per day to get into tip-top shape.
I have one more scheduled NFL workout, and that is with the Saints later this month. I am also working the Manning Passing Academy, and will have a workout with Eli and Peyton Manning. Hopefully, I can impress them, along with the many NFL coaches who attend their camp. I just need to get my foot in the door.
Some guys get the take their shoes off and put their slippers, walking into the NFL. I'm not one of those guys. I'm the guy who is going to have to break in the back door, and convince them to let me stay. That's all I have right now.
On a personal note: My dad and I are doing a radio ad for Kentucky National Insurance. So, listen for it on the radio. It's funny.
Dicky Lyons, Jr.
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The Big Blue Daily Mail -- UK Basketball: Who's to Blame for the Henrys?
by Truzenzuzex
on Jul 2, 2009 10:48 AM EDT
in News
120 comments
This just in -- the NCAA and the NBA are to blame for the fact that the Henrys are being so flighty and indecisive about their college choice. And if that doesn't work for you, it is the fault of the Kansas City Star for writing an article that painted the Henry family in what looks more and more like the light of the truth. I know you're shocked ... Shocked! that the Henry family is apparently blameless in this kerfuffle.
Of course, we can't blame the father of these kids for running around telling anyone who will listen about how great they are, about how they might go to Europe, or UK, or whatever. We can't blame Xavier Henry for telling anyone who will listen that he really doesn't want to deal with the whole "going to class" thing.
You know, it really makes me wonder what this world is coming to when sportswriters fall all over themselves to grind their favorite axes at the expense of reality. Why not just deal with the situation at hand, instead of coming up with ludicrous excuses that allow fingers to be pointed anywhere but where they actually belong? Bloggers are even blaming Calipari, who apparently had very little interest in seeing the Henrys shift to the more stately Blue and White.
Excuses, excuses. How about blaming those actually responsible. Just once, for the heck of it.
Now, for the news:
Top Stories
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Xavier Henry's father was always bluffing, right? - The Dagger - NCAA Hoops - Rivals.com
Another great piece by Eamonn Brennan. Be sure to follow the links, he does a good job of reconstructing this story. I do have to take issue with one point he made:
"Here's why [Kentucky can't take the Henrys]: Kentucky has one scholarship to offer, and it's clear they'd be very interested in Xavier Henry, the younger, lankier, and more talented of the two players. But that's not really how it works with the Henrys. They're a package deal.
So for Kentucky to take them both on, as Henry's father would probably demand, Kentucky would have to find a way to run off yet another scholarship player in an off-season in which they've already been heavily chided for doing so. Xavier's good and all, but isn't Kentucky talented enough already? Would John Calipari really want to get involved in that mess?"
As we all know, C.J. Henry would not require using another scholarship because he is signed with the New York Yankees to play baseball, and part of that deal requires the Yankees to pay his college expenses. Therefore a scholarship would be meaningless to him. Therefore he would walk on, just as he will walk on at Kansas.
But he goes on to make a good point that C.J. would be playing behind John Wall. But won't he be playing behind the even more accomplished, if not more talented, Sharron Collins at KU? Just askin' ... -
BB Recruiting Update - 2010 PF C.J. Leslie
My second choice for most likely to sign first for 2010. -
Meeks' 54 made good impression on Bucks | KentuckySports.com
Oh, God:
16. The Bledsoe buzz. Take this for what it's worth, but the Kentucky player getting the most raves from the summer pick-up game rumor mill is incoming freshman guard Eric Bledsoe.
That's usually the kiss of Death. Remember Lukasz Orbzut and how he was tearing it up in the summer? Josh Carrier? The list goes on and on. -
ZAGSBLOG " Kentucky Leading for Lamb
That's all you need to know. I predicted he was one of two guys I thought would be first to sign for 2010. He's now my leader in the clubhouse.
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The Big Blue Daily Mail -- You Will Now be Returned to your Regularly Scheduled Summer
by Truzenzuzex
on Jul 1, 2009 8:28 AM EDT
in News
57 comments
The top news of this morning is that Xavier Henry has told a number of people, radio stations and even a loathsome troll that he will not be reneging on his commitment to Bill Self and Kansas, despite numerous reports that he was strongly reconsidering his destination.
I am pleased that the young man has kept his word. While there is no penalty for changing your mind in Henry's situation, and Kentucky could have definitely used him to shore up what looks right now to be a significant weakness in next year's team, it always makes me happy to see notoriously flighty young people keep their agreements. Henry is a bright, articulate young man and I think he made the right decision. Some UK fans are rather miffed that he got us all excited again, but let's face it -- UK fans are well known for getting excited about any potential recruiting news, and we have only ourselves to blame if some of us got RickRoll'd.
Now, for the news:
Top Story
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Xavier Henry still going to Kansas
Henry stays with Kansas, according to this report. You can all return to your regularly scheduled summer. -
Kansas exhales after Henry watch ends
"Later, Carl said there was nothing factually wrong with the [Kansas City Star] story, but wasn’t happy with the writer. "The guy who wrote that story kind of betrayed my whole family and kind of made us look bad, like my kids are prima donnas, all I do is talk."
Heh. I think the Star was actually quite accurate, especially about that last part. -
Henrys stick with KU / LJWorld.com
"However, all was smoothed over by late Tuesday night when Xavier Henry sent a text message to Kansas City 610 radio’s Cory Anderson indicating he would remain a Jayhawk. "I’m goin’ to Kansas and that’s final," Anderson said in reading the message to the Journal-World."
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The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Breaking News for Kentucky Fans
by Truzenzuzex
on Jun 30, 2009 6:26 PM EDT
in News
60 comments
Okay, this story has just exploded in the last hour or so and we are going to need more than just a FanShot to talk about it. The word is going around that Xavier Henry wanted to follow Calipari to Kentucky, but his mother refused to move here and he wanted to be near her. So he and his brother C.J. agreed to come play for Bill Self at Kansas.
Here is the key -- Henry is not signed anywhere. You can only sign one LOI per year, and Henry did that -- with Memphis. When Memphis let him out of that LOI, he essentially became the college equivalent of a free agent -- he can just show up on campus and sign scholarship papers if the school wants to extend one and he is otherwise qualified. His agreement with Self to come to Kansas is non-binding on either him or Self.
Apparently, Xavier Henry is now seriously thinking about coming to Kentucky instead of Kansas. That would be huge for two reasons -- one, we have an available scholarship, and two, Henry would fill an immediate and crucial (if not quite desperate) need that UK currently has -- that of a shooting guard. Henry is a remarkable, NBA -level talent that would significantly alter Kentucky's fortunes if he actually decided to come here.
Another thing that Henry would do if he came to Kentucky is make the 2009 recruiting class the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight class of all time, exceeding even the Fab Five of Michigan. To my knowledge, no school has ever landed the #1, 2, and 3 ranked recruits as well as two other Rivals.com five-star players. Henry would remove all doubt about the #1 class in modern college basketball history.
After the jump, you will find lots of articles for more information.
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Xavier Henry reconsidering?
It was a rumor, now it qualifies as a "report."
Two words. Very interesting. If Henry came to UK, the schadenfreude would be as thick as molasses in the wintertime.
3 days ago
Truzenzuzex
1 comment
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UK Athletics: Director's Cup -- Is Mitch Barnhart Getting the Job Done?
by Truzenzuzex
on Jun 30, 2009 11:13 AM EDT
in News
15 comments
The Director's Cup results for 2009 are out, and just as we did in 2007 (I somehow overlooked it in 2008), it is now possible to compare Kentucky's performance with others. As I did before, what I'll be doing here is comparing how rival schools have performed over the last five years compared with UK. First, the basic chart:
| School | 2004 – 2005 | 2005 – 2006 | 2006 – 2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | Average |
| Florida | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5.2 |
| North Carolina | 9 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 2 | 6.4 |
| Duke | 5 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 17 | 12 |
| Tennessee | 8 | 14 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 13.6 |
| UK | 35 | 33 | 45 | 36 | 34 | 36.6 |
| UL | 50 | 54 | 28 | 32 | 32 | 39.2 |
Graphically, that chart looks like this:
What this shows us is UK's performance over the last 5 years, compared with some other schools. The lower the line is on the chart, the better, and descending is improving. One bit of good news here is that UK has been improving in the director's cup since 2007, but it is still the lowest-ranked school overall of this group.
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Kentucky Basketball: Wheels Within Wheels
by Truzenzuzex
on Jun 29, 2009 5:35 PM EDT
in Basketball
23 comments
I, along with others, have expressed concerns about implementing Calipari's now-famous Dribble Drive Motion Offense next year due to a lack of perimeter shooting, and there has been much give and take on that point. We all know how the DDMO is supposed to work -- players attack the rim with the objective of a layup, a dump-off to the big player on the weak side, or a skip pass to the open shooter depending on where help comes from. Simple. Elegant. Effective? Well, yes and no.
The obvious hole in the scheme is shooting. In order for the DDMO to be effective, you must have people capable of making the three-point shot. Kentucky has almost no proven perimeter shooting now that Jodie Meeks has moved on to the NBA. Does that mean that UK's season is doomed to failure? Can Calipari even run the DDMO with this bunch?
Before I attempt to answer that, let's take a look at this interview with Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal by Bluegrass State Basketball which does much to validate my concerns and provides an excellent opportunity for fans of the Big Blue to comment not only on the DDMO, but on all things John Calipari. But first, I want to look at some of Wolken's comments to BSB:
As far as the DDM itself, it’s definitely wide open; guys have freedom in that system, and it’s a good sell on the recruiting trail. Otherwise, I’m not a huge fan of it. I saw Memphis get taken out of that offense way, way too much by zones and junk defenses, and it can look downright ugly when that happens and shots aren’t falling. The fact is, when teams go zone, you can’t really run the DDM. You have to have make shots and force teams to go back to man. That was really the flaw for Memphis last year, and Calipari knew that. Every time I talked to him, he lamented the fact that they hadn’t recruited enough shooters and was really in the process of changing his recruiting approach to get more guys who could make shots even if they weren’t as athletic. If you look at the game tapes, Memphis barely ran the DDM at all last year. There’s no doubt that going to the DDM when he did made Calipari think differently about basketball, and I think it really rejuvenated his career. On the other hand, I know a couple coaches who would take you into the film room and just trash it. At the end of the day, it’s really all about players.
So can UK run this offense with the current players it has? Well, the answer to that may not be what you think, and there is still a lot we don't know about our perimeter shooting this year. But what I find even more fascinating than how effective the zone and junk is against the DDMO is Wolken's comments on recruiting.
I think Wolken validates perception that I pointed out on this blog some time back. The reality is (at least in my opinion), the DDMO is more valuable as a recruiting tool than as an actual offensive system. Does it work? Absolutely, under the right conditions. Can it be stopped? Sure, and the zone is the easiest way to clog up the works. But there is a much larger method to this madness.
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Calipari has first SEC Coaches Teleconference
Read all about it at Cat Scratches.
4 days ago
Truzenzuzex
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