The big news this morning are all the upsets of highly ranked teams on the road in college basketball last night. The road is not only cruel to teams like Kentucky in the SEC, but to better teams in other leagues as well, including #1 ranked Duke. I know this isn't news, but from some of the reaction we saw to UK's loss to Ole Miss, you would have thought that it was a rarity.
All that and more in the news, after the jump.
Kentucky Basketball News
- The Daily Gopher merrily criticizes Billy Gillispie, assuring us that "This may be why many (with the exception of Kentucky fans) think he is an arrogant prick."
Two things I would suggest to our brother blogger -- First, did Lisa Salters' cosmetics make her look just like Jeannine Edwards, or was that just my aged eyes seeing things? Second, Gillispie may be an arrogant prick, but he's our arrogant prick. The question was unprofessionally naive and agendafied. Yes, he was rude, but he was also right, and it normally takes more than one such comment to qualify someone as a full time "arrogant prick."
It baffles me why Gopher bloggers seem to have the need to continually find fault with Gillispie. It is an ongoing issue that has frankly begun to get on the wrong side of my normally even disposition. It's as though they feel they have to tear Gillispie down in order to validate Tubby Smith, which is utterly preposterous.
For the record, John Clay also thinks it was a good question. He maybe even thought Giillispie was an "arrogant prick," but found the good grace not to say so. But even Clay should know that it is easier to stop one person than two or three or even four. The correct question was, "Coach, so far Ole Miss has been doing a pretty good job keeping Jodie Meeks covered up, he's only got six points. What adjustments are you going to make to compensate for that?"
That's a really good question, and one that Gillispie ultimately had no answer for. Look, ESPN spent the whole night talking about Meeks and almost nothing else. Watching Kentucky on the floor, you could tell that they were more focused on getting Meeks the ball than finding the open man (remarkably, even ignoring that other pretty good player named Patterson) and getting good shots. You think that all the media hyping of Meeks was partially responsible? We need a team, not two players and ten stiffs.
More here, and then there's this piece suggesting Gillispie was cranky because Erin Andrews wasn't the sideline babe du jour. Funny.
- Cats lament lost perfection. Patterson explained that they didn't pay much attention to the scouting report. If they learn the lessons of this loss, it could turn a negative into a positive.
Kentucky Football/Other Sports News
- Kentucky is #1 in the SEC on the Academic Honor Roll. Congratulations to all! [Hat tip -- Matt Jones]
- Will Dermontti Dawson reach the NFL Hall of Fame?
NCAA Basketball News
- Wake Forest defeats Duke. Blogger So Dear (SBN Wake Forest blog) stakes a claim for Wake to be #1, whether they want it or not.
- Providence beats Syracuse at Providence.
- Villanova downs Pittsburgh.
- Cincinnati takes out Georgetown. The Hoyas are taking a beating lately from everyone.
- Tyler Zeller still out wtih the hand he broke against UK. For God's sake, Tyler, preserve the year of eligibility.
- Tubby Smith says he's not leaving Minnesota. Those of us in the know did not need him to tell us that.
- Weirdness in Maryland. Very weird.
NCAA Football News
- Rock Top Talk's hooper looks at football rivalries and team colors.