Today we will be doing an excerpt from the article "Man on a Mission: How Patrick Patterson Became the Most Celebrated Recruit To Come to Kentucky in Almost 20 Years" by Travis Hubbard out of Wildcat Tip-off.  It's an article about Patrick Patterson's recruitment that has a ton of details that have been previously unreported.

I will be keeping intro paragraphs short today because of the volume of posts.  I want to keep as many visible as possible, so most of the content will be following the jump.

Continue reading this post »

As many of you know, I have been somewhat AWOL on the blog this summer, and frequently alluded to a "Big Project" that I was working on, and that was keeping me from making my normally appointed rounds on the blog.  Well, the time has come to reveal that project.

Last year, I was asked to edit the inaugural edition of Wildcat Tipoff 2009-2010, published by Maple Street Press.  It was an honor that I was first reluctant to embrace, because my familiarity with publishing was limited to what you see before you -- darkening pixels on an Internet website.

Well, to make a long story short, I took the job, did the work, and now the product is ready for distribution to the Wildcat Faithful.  More after the jump ...

Continue reading this post »

I have been reading Gary Parrish's work for a couple of years now.  There are two characteristics that strike me about him as a writer; he has a good sense of humor, which is something that is not often found in sports writers, and he is very even-handed and fair in his analysis.  His work is consistently entertaining and an easy read.  

Parrish began working for The Commercial Appeal of Memphis just out of college.  He toiled there for several years, and during his time at The Commercial Appeal he covered John Calipari and the University of Memphis for five years, and along the way he uncovered the Albert Means recruiting scandal.  This won him several awards, most notably two AP Sports Editors Awards.

He left The Commercial Appeal to go to work for CBSSports.com roughly two years ago.  He not only writes an excellent column, he also operates one of the more entertaining and informative blogs in the sports "blogoshpere".  He's not shy about telling folks who the best, and biggest fans in college basketball are ... of course UK fans, and he is generally very positive when discussing anything UK related.  Which of course is the polar opposite of many other national sports writers who shall remain unnamed. 

Not long ago I contacted Mr. Parrish to gauge his interest in doing a Q&A with A Sea of Blue, and he graciously accepted the challenge.  As I suspected, he was very forthright with his answers:

ASOB -- You're from Olive Branch, MS, which is only a few miles from Memphis.  Did you grow up a Memphis fan or did you root for one of the Mississippi schools?

GP -- "I'm actually from Horn Lake, MS, but now I live in Olive Branch.  Same thing really.  But anyway, yeah, I grew up a Memphis fan. Keith Lee was my childhood hero, Penny Hardaway too.  But when I got out of college -- and before I got this job at CBS -- I covered the Tigers for five seasons for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, and the 'fan' aspect totally disappeared.  I mean, sitting courtside at this years national title game should've been one of the highlights of my life.  But it wasn't.  I was indifferent to the whole thing, and I don't say that in an attempt to prove I'm impartial.  It kinda makes me sad, actually, because the main reason I wanted to be a sports writer was because I loved sports, and I don't really love sports anymore.  Don't get me wrong.  I love my job and consider myself lucky to have it.  But I have no emotional interest in any team in any sport anymore, and sometimes I wish that wasn't so because there's something nice about living and dying with a team." 

ASOB -- What is the most memorable sporting event you have ever covered?

GP -- "I covered the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis fight while at the Commercial Appeal.  That was just tremendous.  I was on the Tyson beat all week, so I spent 10 hours a day around Tyson.  Obviously, that was interesting, and I found Tyson to be a compelling figure.  He's insane, for sure, or at least bipolar.  But he was pleasant and genuinely kind to most people that week, and that's the way I remember him.  Anyway, Fight Night was like nothing I had ever seen.  Denzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and practically every other major star was there, just walking around the floor.  Honestly, you couldn't take five steps without bumping into somebody, and the 20 minutes leading up to the main event was the most electric atmosphere I've ever encountered.  All in all, it was a fabulous night ( for everybody except Tyson, of course )."

ASOB -- You did an award winning job of uncovering the whole Albert Means mess.  Based on your experience do you think there is a similar scandal waiting to be uncovered in college basketball?

GP -- "Oh sure, there are tons.  This is a sketchy sport.  But what people don't realize is that things like the Albert Means scandal are incredibly difficult to uncover and report because you basically need somebody on the inside who is willing to sacrifice himself to bring down others, and those people are rare.  Without Milton Kirk I would've never been able to uncover that scandal.  And do you remember what happened to Milton?  He was fired, indicted and is now a convicted felon.  That was his 'reward' for coming forward and telling the truth.  He destroyed his own life, and how many people are willing to do that just to tell some reporter about a scandal? Not many.  And that's why the Means story was so rare, because what I had was a guy who was pissed to the point where it meant more to him to bring down another person than it did to save his own career.  There aren't many people like that, which is why most scandals are never uncovered even though I'm confident there are similar stories every year."

ASOB -- You've written abut the unscrupulous nature of big-time college basketball recruiting, in particular the AAU coaches and their ubiquitous "scouting services", as well as the Elite Camps that have become popular.  Do you think there is anything Myles Brand and the NCAA can to to put a stop to these borderline illegal practices?

GP -- "In short, no.  The NCAA can make as many rules as it wants, but college coaches are smart and creative and they'll always figure out a way to get things done, if you will.  This is a business built around men making millions of dollars to win basketball games, and it's hard to win without great players.  Consequently, it's crucial for a coach to get great players, and a man will always find a loophole in the system when his livelihood depends on it." 

ASOB -- What is your take on the current trend among college basketball coaches of recruiting younger and younger players?  After Billy Donovan's acceptance of Austin River's verbal commitment, do you think coaches will follow the NABC's non-binding finding?

GP -- "I think its a rule/suggestion that can't be enforced, and completely unnecessary in most cases.  The coaches and parents can handle this on their own, as far as I'm concerned.  If a kid wants to commit and a coach wants to commit him, who is the NABC to step in the way.  Plus, basketball is a sport where the elite players can usually be tabbed pretty early.  We knew about O.J. Mayo when he was in middle school.  LeBron James was considered a future NBA star by the time he was a sophomore, as was Greg Oden.  In other words, it's not crazy to peg a young prospect as a future Division I player.  So I don't have a problem with a college coach who wants to do it and get a headstart on the process, because if you're not in front of the game you are behind."

ASOB -- Based on your own personal experience, who is the best "game" coach you have ever seen, and why?

GP --" Ben Howland is pretty damn good, the results of the last three Final Fours not withstanding.  For my money he's the best ... though he's probably gonna have to open it up on offense a little more to ever get that national title that has eluded him.  But rest assured, he'll get a national title.  He might be the best combination of recruiter/coach in all of basketball."

ASOB -- Billy Gillispie has become a rather popular figure in Kentucky over the last year-and-a-half; what are your thoughts on the job he's doing?

GP -- "I think the world of him as a coach.  There are people who love him and people who don't love him, but even the ones who don't usually acknowledge he's good at what he does.  He's smarter than you think, smarter than he lets on.  So though I know he got off to a terrible start in his UK career, I can't imagine any scenario under which he doesn't return UK to prominence.  He's too good at -- and to obsessed with -- his job to not succeed."

ASOB -- UK alum Travis Ford seems to be doing a bang-up job at Oklahoma State.  How long before he moves up the ladder again?  And do you think he would be a good fit to someday coach Kentucky?

GP -- "Obviously, Kentucky would be his dream job, and you could make the argument that if he and Gillispie switched places they might both be more comfortable.  As for moving up the ladder, if he wins at OSU and the fans ( T. Boone Pickens included ) fall in love with him, the school will make it difficult to leave because nobody will outbid Pickens.  Put another way, I think Kentucky might be the only 'step up' for Travis because if he fails nobody else will want him, and if he succeeds nobody else will be able to pay what Oklahoma State will be willing to pay.  So he's in a good spot.  I wish I had his salary."

ASOB -- You have Tennessee and Florida as the only ranked SEC teams in your "Ridiculously Early But Still Kind of Fun Preseason Top 25 ( and one )".  Do you foresee, if Jodie Meeks is healthy and DeAndre Liggins qualifies, UK challenging UT and UF for SEC East supremacy?

GP -- I think UT is, on paper, the best team in the SEC.  After that, everything is up for grabs.  And though I don't have Kentucky ranked in the preseason, I won't be surprised if the Wildcats are ranked at some point.  I think the world of Billy Gillispie as a coach.  To pick against him being successful would be to pick against a career body of work that is impressive.  So while he still doesn't have the type of roster to challenge for the things Kentucky is used to challenging for, I do think he'll win this year and continue to lay the foundation for what I suspect will be big things"

I want to thank Mr. Parrish for agreeing to do the interview, and I certainly appreciate his candidness. 

Thanks for reading, and Go 'Cats!

UPDATE 04:25 PM:  MInuteblog, a Umass blog at Masslive.com, apparently didn't like Ken's question to Parrish about Travis Ford.  It looks to me like some in Massachusetts still carry around a bit of a chip on their shoulder when it comes to young Mr. Ford.

Well.  It's been about a week or so since Michael Avery committed to Kentucky and the whole firestorm about early recruiting consumed the media.  I can tell this story is finally starting to lose steam, because most of the opinion pieces on it today are laughable, some of them hilariously so.  Some writers, and one academic, are trying so hard to come up with new and creative reasons to scold early commitments and the coaches who accept them that they are in serious danger of becoming self-parodies.

Case study #1 -- Bob Hill of the Louisville Courier-Journal.  His was so easy it didn't even merit a front-page comment, just this FanPost.  I won't flatter it by adding anything here.

Case study #2 -- the Fayetteville Observer.  That's right, brothers and sisters of the Big Blue Nation, one of Tobacco Road's finest decided to smite the Philistines of Kentucky with righteous haughty outrage:

Perhaps even more ridiculous is Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie’s eagerness to accept such an early commitment. It’s not like Kentucky is some hungry mid-major that needs to get in early — and here we’re talking really early — on top prospects to make its mark.

We can be certain that in the summer of 2010, there will be dozens of talented Class of 2012 prospects wanting to play for the Wildcats. So why not wait and see who’s the best of the litter then?

I'm sure the author would agree with me that one should make sure his own house is in order before pointing to a mess in his neighbor's, especially if he wants to be taken seriously.  I wonder if the writer of this sanctimonious little screed knows that both of Gillispie's commitments are 15 years old?  I wonder if he further knows that North Carolina's Roy Williams accepted a commitment from Kendall Marshall, who was a whopping 15 years old at the time, just last year?  I'm thinking not.

Case study #3 -- The Herald-Leader.  Our favorite (oh, stop, you know you love it!) newspaper decided to get on it's high horse today, as it and it's competitor in Louisville are often wont to do, and chastise the University of Kentucky for not paying enough attention to academics.  How did it make this case again, for the 500,000th time?  How about this:

Closer to home, University of Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie has reached agreements to play at Kentucky with two boys -- an eighth-grader and a ninth-grader. One of them did not know where he was going to high school until last week. UK also has made a scholarship offer to another ninth-grader.

UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. initially seemed shocked that Gillispie was going after such young players but within a week had come around so completely that he spent a half-hour recruiting the ninth-grader.

So how did the LHL use this little anecdote as evidence that UK is not paying enough attention to academics?  I'm not sure.  The entire opinion piece makes no sense at all to me.  It reads like someone intended to make a point about something, forgot what it was, and just writes a conclusion at the end that has no relationship to the dialog.  I think this is a new theory about writing opinion pieces -- if nobody can follow your point, they can't say you are full of it.

Case study #4 -- Miles Brand, NCAA President.  Via a Jerry Tipton article (oh, no -- did I say "Jerry Tipton?"), Miles decides he hates the whole early recruiting thing and thinks it ignores academics.  Well, at least now we know where the authors of the opinion piece above got the idea from.

Brand welcomed the National Association of Basketball Coaches' look into the propriety of its members recruiting middle-schoolers. "Whether it's professional behavior or not," Brand said, before adding, "and that seems appropriate."

The NCAA will not seek to pass legislation to ban such commitments. Instead, Brand said, the NCAA will look to create an atmosphere that inhibits the offering of scholarships to prospects so young. He called for a reform of the "pre-collegiate environment" with the help of such entities as the NBA, high school federations, USA Basketball, the NABC and shoe companies. "Make it less unsavory," he said.

Just exactly what in the name of James Naismith is this psychobabble supposed to mean?  My goodness, if you are going to say something is bad, how hard is it just to ban the practice?  God knows, the academics that make up the NCAA's governing body won't require much of a shove.

But nooooo.  Instead, Brand "welcome[s]" the NABC's "look" into the propriety of it's members.  This is absolutely cowardly, Dr. Brand, and just reinforces why the NCAA is the brunt of jokes around the sporting community.  Why wait for coaches to examine the issue?  Is it bad or isn't it?  As to the pre-collegiate environment, the NCAA is largely responsible for that abomination with their shoe-company money grubbing on one hand and their pious pronouncements on the other.  Once again, the old proverb "Better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt" would seem to apply.

I give up.  Nobody wants to take anything like the lead on the young recruitment issue.  Instead, everyone wants to pass the buck while condemning the practice, and then only as long as their ox isn't the one being gored.  Does this remind you of anything?  Congress, perhaps? 

That's probably the next stop for all this, and why not?  If you can accuse the BCS of violating anti-trust law, almost anything is possible.

UPDATE 05/14 7:38:  It's easy to be a critic, but part of that is noting when journalists write really good and thoughtful commentary.  This article by the Bellevue (Washington) Reporter is such a piece.  More, please.

There has been quite a controversy brewing in the last few days here in the Big Blue Nation over a couple of interviews that Marc Maggard of Kentucky Ink did with the parents of two of Kentucky's youngest and most recent verbal commitments -- Vinny Zollo and Michael Avery (Note:  The Howard Avery interview is about 30 minutes long, and the relevant part does not appear until near the end).  In these interviews, Maggard asked the mother of Zollo and the father of Avery to talk about the interviews Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader had with them, among many other things.  Their answers created a firestorm of criticism and invective directed at Tipton and the Lexington Herald-Leader that have set the on-line blogs and message boards ablaze.

At this point, I think it is fair to warn you, Dear Reader, that this is going to be a long piece, essentially an essay.  I am going to carefully examine this issue, and if you don't have the time to read it, stop now.  Still here?  Good.  Here we go:

The facts of the case, as best I can glean them from Maggard's website, his interviews with Avery and Zollo's parents, and reading the numerous threads about the subject are these:

1. Jerry Tipton interviewed the parents of Zollo and Avery about their commitments to UK.  In them, he asked the usual questions about why committing so early, why Kentucky, etc.  The sort of stuff that one would figure newspaper reporters would normally ask.
2. In addition to 1 above, Tipton apparently asked both parents (and we do not know the wording of these questions) something along the lines of,  "Are you concerned about the fact that Gillispie is considered to be arrogant and hard to play for?" and asked Avery something along the lines of, "There have been injuries at UK that some have attributed to the more difficult and numerous practices Gillispie holds, does that concern you?"
3. Tipton allegedly mentioned or asked a question to Zollo's mother about "rumors" surrounding the coach, apparently including his two earlier arrests for suspicion of DUI.  This allegation is a bit fuzzy in the recorded record, but Marc Maggard has insisted that Zollo's mother was more candid with him off the record about this subject, and even included an intimation that Lexington was a bad place to live.
   
4. Mr. Avery explicitly denied that Tipton ever mentioned any drinking or womanizing rumors, or discussed Lexington's suitability.
   
5. Both parents suggested that potentially negative aspects of Coach Gillispie's personality were discussed -- i.e. how "hard" he was on players, that he was arrogant, etc.
6. Both parents stated that they were "uncomfortable" with some of Tipton's questions, ostensibly because of their perception of them as negative.  Both of the parents declined to discuss the Tipton interview in detail, citing a desire to keep most of the details private.
   

First of all, let me say that I am not disputing anything Maggard is saying about what he was told.  I don't know Marc, but I am familiar with his work and read his website and I think he does a fine job over at Kentucky Ink, especially when it comes to recruiting.  With that said, I must point out that Marc Maggard has made it abundantly clear that he does not like Tipton, and considers him a threat to Kentucky's recruiting.  I will have more on this point later, but the reason I mention it now is that we must accept that Maggard has chosen a side here against Tipton.  That doesn't change Marc's facts in the least, but we do have to separate the facts he presents from his conclusions.  Second, let me point out that I am not unbiased, either.  I am not a journalist, and I don't play one on the Internet.  Like Marc, I am a UK partisan, and anything that hurts UK recruiting is very much "Not OK" with me.  Keep these two things firmly in mind while reading the rest.

Now that the disclaimers are out of the way, I want to examine the whole "hard and frequent practice creates injury" thing.  First of all, the medical side.  Here is a description of stress fractures from eMedicine.com:
Now, we know that Tipton wrote an article on his blog about questions asked of Gillispie about whether or not his famous hard and frequent practices could be responsible, in part, for the injuries suffered by Harris, Meeks and Patterson.  Predictably, Coach Gillispie didn't think he was pushing too hard, and said that his earlier teams did not suffer stress fractures.  But consider these facts:

1. Kentucky suffered 3 stress fractures this year, and abnormally high number.
2. Kentucky, by acclamation of various sources, practiced much harder under Gillispie this year than last -- game day practices, "boot camp," etc.
3. Stress fractures are caused by "overuse."
4. Gillispie's practice habits constitute an increased load on the bones in question that had not been experienced before by the players.
   

Is it logical to conclude that the additional frequency and intensity of Gillispie's practice routine produced the stress fractures?  No.  Is it logical to conclude that those same practice habits may have produced, or significantly contributed to, the overuse that cumulatively resulted in stress fracture?  Absolutely.  Can you connect Michael Porter's concussion to these practices and their frequency?  No -- concussions are a part of basketball that can occur anytime -- Just ask Ramel Bradley.

So while we don't have a straight "connect the dots" cause-and-effect conclusion, we do have what is essentially strong evidence that the team may not have been as physically prepared for the additional stress as Gillispie thought, and the stress fractures may have been partially due to that increased workload.  Does this cast aspersions on Gillispie's character or his judgment?  In no way.  There is no way a reasonable person could have foreseen these injuries, and no thinking human being in Gillispie's position would knowingly risk injuries like this to his best players.  But medically, and logically, it is possible to conclude in hindsight that UK's new tougher practices could have been a contributing factor.  I encourage any medical professionals who read this blog to correct my reasoning if they see a flaw.  To me, Tipton asking this question to the two new Wildcats' parents does not seem over the top.  Tipton would be incorrect to suggest a straight-line logical conclusion that Gillispie's practices were the cause of the injuries, but it isn't at all clear from the record available to me that is what he did. 

Moving along to the suggestions by Zollo's mother that Tipton discussed "rumors" with her that were "negative," I can only say this -- If Jerry Tipton asked about Gillispie's record of previous DUI related arrests, that is fair game.  That is public record, not a rumor, and not subject to dispute.  It is also public record that Gillispie was not convicted either time, so if he mentioned the arrests without also mentioning the lack of conviction, I would consider that a problem -- as I have pointed out before, Tipton sometimes writes articles that lack balance, and in almost every case, UK's or Gillispie's mitigating factors are the "balance" that gets left out.  That could be Tipton simply being a curmudgeon and writing "defensively," i.e. he would rather be seen as a critic than a "homer," or it could be (and I don't believe this is the case) evidence of some kind of anti-UK agenda on Tipton's part.

The Herald-Leader editor Linda Austin defended Tipton in this post on the Herald-Leader's "Behind the Headlines" blog.  In it, she denied that Tipton had asked Robyn Curry (Zollo's mother) about rumors surrounding Gillispie, or commented in any way about Lexington as a place to live.  What we appear to have, therefore, is a conflict between off-the-air series of comments Marc Maggard claims Curry had with him (and I see no reason why Marc should dissemble about that) and Tipton's side of the story as related by Austin.  While it is not out of the realm of possibility that any person in this chain of events is just flat lying, what is usually the case is that there is some sort of a misunderstanding or miscommunication between the parties.  I think this is the strongest probability here.

So what are UK fans to make of all this?  Well, I don't blame Kentucky fans for being angry.  Even if we assume that Austin's defense of Tipton represents the objective facts and that much of this is a misunderstanding (which, by the way, I do), Tipton asking recruits' parents about injuries in this manner does not make me happy.  As Cat fans, we don't want to see the potential negatives of our program, especially when the connection to the facts is not indisputable, paraded in front of the people who have the most influence on where their sons or daughters matriculate. 

Marc Maggard recently said in a post on Kentucky Ink,  "I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that Tipton is UK enemy #1."  I can understand why he thinks so, even if I would demand a lot more proof of that statement than has been supplied so far, and from more than one verifiable source saying so without equivocation.  Is Tipton deliberately setting out to sabotage Kentucky's basketball program?  I don't believe so, but then again, I can't and won't attempt to prove he isn't.  If he is, he is violating every tenet of journalism I know of, and probably should be disciplined by the Herald-Leader.  If he isn't, which I believe, his questions are still a good reason for UK fans to be angry with him.  While the injury thing is out there, it is far from being a cause-and-effect slam dunk, and I can't see why it should be mentioned in questioning for an article.  In fact, Curry denied in the podcast that Tipton had asked any questions along the lines of "have you heard that Gillispie works his players to the point of injury."  With respect to the rumors, I am dismissing that as a misunderstanding -- Curry did say that Tipton asked if she had heard any rumors about Gillispie, but that other reporters had also asked her the same thing.  Avery flat out denied any questions about rumors from Tipton.  With respect to Gillispie's "hard" attitude, I suppose that is a fair question, and we should just let that pass.  Other coaches have had to endure similar, and nobody could mistake Billy Gillispie for Mother Theresa.

Kentucky fans over at Kentucky Ink and The Cats Pause have gone so far as to demand Tipton be fired, and are trying to organize a boycott of the Herald-Leader's advertisers.  Quite frankly, I think that given the facts that we have to work with, and notwithstanding Maggard's admonition that Tipton is "UK enemy #1," that is over the top.  Unless someone can provide verifiable evidence that Tipton is actively trying to sabotage UK recruiting (and folks, despite what some will tell you, what I have seen so far doesn't qualify), I see nothing professionally or ethically wrong with the questions Tipton is asking these people and the pieces he writes for the Herald-Leader.  He is certainly not endearing himself to me by doing what he is doing, but when it comes to people who's jobs are to write stories about objective facts, it is hard to justify such extreme action just because we don't like the questions they are asking -- especially when those questions relate to issues that are not rumor and not innuendo.  If Tipton legitimately believes the injury thing is an issue, I guess it is fair to ask about it, although I think the evidence supporting it is less than totally compelling.

In the final analysis, I think what we have here is a couple of things:  Tipton has been asking questions that probe issues most UK fans would not want probed.  Further, I question whether some of these issues are really solidly grounded enough in fact to be considered issues at all, but that is a judgment call that is certainly within the province of the reporter to make.  I think from listening closely to these interviews that Tipton's reputation is preceding him in at least one of them (Robyn Curry), and that makes me question whether or not some anti-Tipton bias may be responsible for some of the comments made by Curry in particular.  Curry stated in her interview that Tipton first called Zollo's high school coach, who subsequently called her and warned her Tipton was "an ass."

In the end, though, what I think we will wind up with is what we have had for a long time now -- Kentucky fans at odds with Jerry Tipton, and to some extent, the Herald-Leader.  That is nothing new.  We at A Sea of Blue have taken media types, Tipton included, to task many times and will continue to do so when circumstances warrant.  But what I have seen so far about this situation is a lot more heat than light.

Update [2008-5-8 15:17:24 by Truzenzuzex]:  Matt Jones holds forth on the Tipton controversy.  Interesting read -- don't miss it.

Update [2008-5-8 19:18:38 by Truzenzuzex]:  Fake Gimel strikes!  If you haven't read this post at Firebilly.com, drop what you are doing and get thee hence.

Update [2008-5-8 19:23:41 by Truzenzuzex]:  UK Wildcat Country has thoughts.  No shrinking violet, this guy.

As all college team bloggers sometimes discover upon a review of the events of the past few days, this morning I found that there was pretty much no uncovered ground in Kentucky football, basketball or even baseball.  In case you missed my update below, Kentucky defeated Florida in the rubber match of a three game home stand yesterday to claim a 2-1 victory in the series.  That should help Kentucky's national ranking, as the Gators are ranked #24 in the country.  Great news, and despite their rather pedestrian record in the SEC the Bat Cats are starting to come out of their recent ... well, it's hard to call it a slump ... two weeks of slight under-achievement.

But beyond that the spring football game is over and, we are mostly waiting for word -- from Josh Harrellson, Paul McCoy, Maurice Sutton, Ater Majok, Morakinyo Williams, Derrick Jasper -- word on what is going to happen next in their futures.  I don't like writing over and over again about recruits and players waiting to take some kind decision.  I find it monotonous.

So instead, I thought I would look at a few of the things going on around the basketball and football universe today.  First off, we have a short piece from the Philadelphia Daily News talking about a new attitude for the U.S. Olympic basketball team.  If Jerry Colangelo lives up to his word, things could indeed be different:

Well.  Now that is definitely lip service to a change, at the very least.  It remains to be seen if this is real, or just more posturing.  There is also this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which goes into a bit more depth on the issue.  If you believe Jerry Colangelo's words when discussing the U.S. Olympic team's performance in Athens in 2004, there may be some meat on this bone:
Heh.  "The attitude," eh?  You mean the, "This is a darn nice vacation, and who cares if we win" attitude, Jerry?  Or the, "I'm not takin' a chance on hurting my knee for this crap" attitude?  Take your pick, I guess.  If Colangelo can actually scape together a team that truly cares about winning in Bejing, it would be a minor miracle, and definitely won't include the likes of Carmelo Anthony, who doesn't even seem to care if he kills somebody driving around in his car.  I'll keep my own counsel on this until I see more.

Next, we have the Saban Rule.  "What's that," you ask?  Well, the NCAA enacted a new rule forbidding college football coaches from showing up at high schools and "bumping into" coveted recruits.  Apparently, Nick Saban used this tactic to such an effect, the vast majority of NCAA coaches felt the need to level the playing field by passing a rule against it.  What does Nick Saban think?  He's agin' it.

In the SEC, the two main "offenders" on this have been Urban Meyer of Florida and Nick Saban of Alabama.  Naturally, the papers of Florida and Alabama have little good to say about the rule.  But Nick Saban being Nick Saban, he is determined to find another way to get into the hearts and minds of recruits, and with the help of Fox Sports Net South, he has found television a great way to peddle his wares, even in the off season.

You have to admire determination like that.

Finally, we revisit this recent blog post of mine talking about members of congress from a few states that felt the sting of the BCS this year.  Kyle King of Dawg Sports has a great piece about why he thinks investigating the BCS is bunk, and there are several interesting editorials ridiculing the resolution and using it as an excuse to rail against the BCS.

But the most fascinating article I found on the subject was this one; not because I agree with it, but because part of me is in complete shock that anyone would actually make this argument and post it on the Internet.  Predictably, somehow, it comes from WRAL in the Raliegh-Durham area.  The author, one Barry Jacobs, argues that the BCS is great.  Why?  Because if the current petition for three more bowl games are agreed to and no other bowls are discontinued, college football will have almost 60% of its D-1 schools participating in some bowl or other.

He goes on to explain why this is good  -- because "35 teams will end their seasons wreathed in triumph. Even if the financial payoff from some of these games is relatively small, the rewards in satisfaction, prestige, extra practice time, new experiences, and coaches' bonuses are not to be minimized."  He goes on to rip college basketball's post season, lamenting the fact that, including the NIT and the CBI, only 113 out of 341 teams get to participate, and "of all those participants, only three teams go home on a victorious note."  Oh dear.

Without engaging in bitter, pointless sarcasm at the remarkable silliness of that suggestion, I can only imagine that Vince Lombardi, should he read this piece, would roll over in his grave and curse the fact he can't regale Mr. Jacobs with tales of competitiveness, and what a truly competitive nature is all about.  Unfortunately, I don't think Mr. Jacobs could handle Coach Lombardi's truth.  You wonder how guys like this ever get to write about sports.

I found this link on TCP, which made me smile.

First, Seth Davis all but assures us that Patrick Patterson is headed to the NBA.  Now, he is convinced that Oklahoma State has Gillispie on their radar, and can pry him away because T. Boone Pickens, the gazillionaire, is an OSU alum.

Oh, yeah, it's all about the money to Gillispie.  No doubt, the first second-tier college in the middle of nowhere with a billionaire booster will be able to scoop him right up from the most storied program in America.  Hey, Seth -- sometimes, money isn't the only thing.

Seth is a funny guy.  I think also just a few beers short of a six-pack.  Or perhaps, he's just missing that plastic thingy that holds it together.

This is an open thread.  Talk about anything Wildcat related.

Kentucky is finally getting a fair amount of sweet love from the national media.  After you go on a 10/12 rampage, even the haters have to surrender a modicum of respect.

I don't know about you, dear reader, but this season has been a very trying one.  From the Days of Darkness when everyone was doubting everything about Coach Gillispie and the players on this team, hating on Smith for leaving us such terrible players, passing rumors about underage love affairs and carousing.  I have not forgotten going to bed after the Florida game at the O-dome, so incredibly frustrated I got almost no sleep.  It is doubly fitting, therefore, that the latest victory against Florida is the "cherry on top" of one of the great in-season turn-arounds in NCAA history.

So let's get to some of that sweet, sweet love, shall we?  Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News:

Well, I suppose I can't blame him for doubting we're in, that is a legitimate difference of opinion.  But I love Kentucky being compared to Freddy Krueger or Jason.  I loved Freddy -- Jason, not so much -- but the metaphor leaves me wanting more.  So here is more from Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline:
Oh, yeah.  There is a bit o' honey for ya Billy.  Well earned, I might add.  Next, we go to Andrew Skwara of Rivals.com, writing for Yahoo:
Now, we're getting somewhere.  From "more work to do" to "Coach of the Year" to "serious threat to make a run in the tournament."  Still need more?  Spencer Hall, a.k.a "Orson Swindle" of EDSBS fame, has a little something over at The Sporting News:
Heh.  Well, somebody had to mention the Big Blue Nation and our expectations.  Finally, via Chris Diggs at the Courier-Journal UK fan blog, some weirdness from Florida after the game:
You just gotta learn to hold your ears right, fellas.  And it's Jasper, Nick -- a name I am quite certain you will come to know much better than you would like.