UK Men's Basketball - Cleveland St.
This was the second game that wasn't televised in Orlando, but I listened on the radio. For a while I thought that karma was going to bite us for enjoying Louisville's loss to UNC too much. For much of the game, I had visions of last year. Thankfully, our kids finally woke up and began to play and pulled out a 68-61 win. I'm not sure what happened since I couldn't see the game action, but we apparently couldn't throw a rock in the ocean for much of the game. The stat line seems to bear that out as it says we shot only 36% for the game. Tyler Thompson at KSR did a good recap of the game that is worth reading.
Officiating
I watched a couple of games and parts of games during commercial breaks this weekend and noticed some officials are not calling the games correctly according to the new rules. There were lots of charges called that should have been called the other way. And, some allowed the grabbing and hacking that was supposed to end.
Last night's UK game had Doug Shows as one of the officials. He's the new TV Teddy (Valentine). Jerry Tipton may like this guy. I don't. While Valentine has aged, he's become one of the better officials. You can't say that about Shows. In my opinion, he wants to be the star of the games. You can see his professional bio and stats here at Statsheet.com which is a great website. They even have graphs for those, like me, who like such things because I am visually oriented. Graphs for Shows can be seen here.
Since I made mention of Ted Valentine, I did a comparison (which is why I love Statsheet.com) between Valentine and Shows. Shows is averaging 38.4 fouls called per game compared to Valentine's 35.0. Shows has it out for home teams as you can see in this chart. Shows is making his presence known in technical fouls and disqualifications (foul outs). With all of the above being said, Doug Shows isn't the worst of the attention-grabbers. For how all referee rank in various categories, go to statsheet. The site has a wealth of information on teams and players.
Julius Randle ranks 2nd in rebounds per game. He also tied Jim Andrews in consecutive double-doubles at UK with his double-dip effort against Eastern Michigan.
UK Football
I've got a preview of the UT game coming up later, but this game is going to come down to consistent line play on both sides of the ball. If our O-line can play well with some consistency, it is a winnable game. A win would further solidify our 2014 recruiting class and help with our 2015 class. The same can be said for Butch Jones and Tennessee.
In my post-Georgia NCAA stats article I claimed that Nick Richardson was one of the early enrollees for next season. I got my information from KSR and the information was not correct. The early enrollees are Barker, Hendrix, Snodgrass, Horton and T.V. Williams. This was UK's official announcement by Mark Stoops. Don't be too down because Richardson isn't an early enrollee. His mom says he'll sign in Febraury. Lookee at what we're getting! Think pancakes.
If you're wondering where the information came from that Raymond Sanders has been dismissed from the team, it came from Bleed Blue Kentucky, according to KSR.
Drew Barker's final senior year and career stats. Take the time to read his entire diary and you'll get a feel for his leadership qualities. My bet is that he will either red shirt or become our starting QB next year.
Matt Elam update from Ben Roberts at the Lexington Herald-Leader. It's good news. I know Glenn has posted this in his quickies, but it is still worth noting.
Do you agree with Mark Story regarding the downsizing of Commonwealth Stadium? I do. Most of those lost seats will be coming from the students and is something else I agree with. They don't support their team anyway, so sell those tickets to those who are willing to support our team. In the article, Mitch Barnhart addresses the issue of chair-back seating.
According to Rank By Offers, Kentucky is hanging on to #4 in the 2014 recruiting team rankings behind #1 Tennessee, #2 Notre Dame and # 3 Alabama. The Cats are just ahead of #5 Florida State. Check it out.
Other Football Stories
Here's an interesting Will Muschamp story which notes that Ron Zook was fired after going 22-14 while Muschamp is being retained with a 22-15 record. I bet the reason is the $8 million buyout in Muschamp's contract.
Other Basketball Stories
Missouri fan group, known as The Antlers, were kicked out of Mizzou Arena Saturday night. Read about it at the Columbia Daily Tribune.