Wildcats Thunder Blog: October 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

UK's John Wall cleared by NCAA

UK vs Miss St Football Headlines 10/30/09

	Mississippi State at Kentucky 7 p.m. ET Lexington, Ky. Commonwealth Stadium (67,942)

SEC Games for Oct. 31, 2009

	Ole Miss at Auburn 11:21 a.m. CT Auburn, Ala. Pat Dye Field / Jordan-Hare Stadium (87,451)
Overall: 5-2 SEC: 2-2 XM: NA Sirius: NA	LIVE TV: SEC Network [Dave Neal, play-by-play; Andre Ware, color analyst; Cara Capuano, sideline reporter]	Overall: 5-3 SEC: 2-3 XM: 199 Sirius: 215

	Georgia at Florida 2:30 p.m. CT Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (80,000)
Overall: 4-3 SEC: 3-2 XM: 144 Sirius: 123	LIVE TV: CBS Sports [Vern Lundquist, play-by-play; Gary Danielson, color analyst; Tracy Wolfson, sideline reporter]	Overall: 7-0 SEC: 5-0 XM: 200 Sirius: 217

	Mississippi State at Kentucky 7 p.m. ET Lexington, Ky. Commonwealth Stadium (67,942)
Overall: 3-5 SEC: 1-3 XM: NA Sirius: NA	LIVE TV: FSN [Bob Rathbun, play-by-play; Dave Archer, color analyst; Jenn Hildreth, sideline reporter]]	Overall: 4-3 SEC: 1-3 XM: 200 Sirius: 217

	Eastern Michigan at Arkansas 6 p.m. CT Fayetteville, Ark. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (72,000)
Overall: 0-7	LIVE TV: ESPNU [Eric Collins, play-by-play; Brock Huard , color analyst]	Overall: 3-4 SEC: 1-4 XM: 244 Sirius: NA

	Georgia Tech at Vanderbilt 6:30 p.m. CT Nashville, Tenn. Vanderbilt Stadium (39,773)
Overall: 7-1 XM: 190 Sirius: NA	LIVE TV: CSS [Doug Bell, play-by-play; Chris Doering, color analyst]	Overall: 2-6 SEC: 0-5 XM: 141 Sirius: 121

	South Carolina at Tennessee 7:45 p.m. CT Knoxville, Tenn. Neyland Stadium (100,011)
Overall: 6-2 SEC: 3-2 XM: NA Sirius: NA	LIVE TV: ESPN [Brad Nessler, play-by-play; Todd Blackledge, color analyst; Erin Andrews, sidelines]	Overall: 3-4 SEC: 1-2 XM: 199 Sirius: 215

	Tulane at LSU 7 p.m. CT Baton Rouge, La. Tiger Stadium (92,400)
Overall: 2-5	LIVE TV: Institutional PPV	Overall:6-1 SEC: 4-1 XM: 201 Sirius: 216

Video: Calipari after Blue/White Scrimmage

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Breaking News: Adreian Payne headed to MSU

According to WHIO-TV, Adreian Payne has chose Michigan St over West Virgina, Kentucky and Arizona. We wish Adreian Payne the best of luck in his basketball career..

Reports: Ohio star center Adreian Payne commits to MSU
Jefferson star Payne picks Michigan State

Here's the WHIO-TV article that broke the story.. Local Basketball Star Going To Michigan State

DAYTON, Ohio -- It was decision time for Adreian Payne, the Jefferson High School basketball star who had offers from coaches all over the country!

Payne said he is headed to Michigan State. "I felt very comfortable on campus when I went there to visit," said Payne during a live interview with ESPNU from our WHIO-TV studio.

Adreian already eliminated the hometown team a few weeks ago.

He is rated by most scouting services as one of the top 20 high school players in the country, and one of the top five centers in the U.S.

Payne played on the same championship AAU Team as Flyers recruit Juwan Staten the last few summers. He also had Kansas in his final five, but decided not to make a visit.

Payne said, " It was a tough decision. I would like to thank my coach, my family, the Jefferson Township Schools and the Jefferson Township community."

Payne also gave a special thank-you to his grandmother for supporting his decision to go to Michigan State.

Blue/White Thoughts: Still work to be done

Bigbluemist
WT Executive Moderator

We saw a style of basketball last night that hasn't been seen in these parts since 1997. Granted it was a team scrimmage but you can see talent and depth at every position.

John Wall is a STUD! He has a gear not seen at UK since Dwight Anderson but he plays under control and sees the floor so well.

Patterson is the heart and soul of this team. Did any of us see him being able to play facing the basket like he did last night?

Dobson and Hood were probably the 2 most consistent in hitting the three last night.

I could go on, but while there was alot of good, IMO these are the area's that UK will have to improve on as they go.

Interior defense. Again maybe b/c it was a scrimmage and they ran alot, but the few times there were 1/2 court sets I was not overly impressed with the defense of Orton or Cousins.
3 point shooting. Dobson was good. Hood was good. What if they are not hitting? I play a zone, sag it in, shade towards one of these two. I don't let Wall beat me off the dribble (but he might anyway) and dish/finish.
FT Shooting. How many times did guys go to the line and hit 1 or 2?
40 minutes of effort. I think this group is so talented and things in alot of game will come easy to them. While talented they are still young. They have not had to expend 40 minutes of effort and focus in most of the games they've played. Like it or not, it will take a few losses for them to learn this lesson. That isn't a bad thing. Even though many foolishly expect them to go undefeated.

There are so many positives, but like all teams they have some areas that have to be fine tuned as the season plays out.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Slideshow: UK's 2009 Blue/White Scrimmage

The NCAA and John Wall

Lwcat
WT Administrator

In this USAToday article titled Kentucky's Wall awaits decision, John Wall says he has been waiting for 5 months regarding his eligibility. Folks, this is ridiculous.....why in the world would it take this long to get the facts and make a decision?

Count me among those who has zero respect or trust for the NCAA! Too often, the NCAA has shown bias toward certain colleges and has made far too many unfair decisions regarding players and colleges. Recently, at UK....we saw a UK football player take an OTC supplement that unknown to him contained a banned substance. The UK player had taken the substance for only a couple of weeks and quit immediately when he found out it was not allowed by the NCAA. Then despite UK turning in this minor infraction, the NCAA (which, in fairness, should have only suspended the player for a game or two) decided to take away his entire season. Unbelievable!

Of course, we all know about Memphis which despite getting NCAA clearance to play Rose and not having a single person associated with Memphis involved in Rose's situation....saw the NCAA come down with an outrageous penalty that can cost Memphis it's entire great season. The NCAA ruling is being appealed, but I'm not optimistic. There are countless examples over the years of totally unfair and ridiculous rulings by the NCAA which seems to rarely ever show they have a heart!

Now, the Wall situation. We are all aware that a number of UK sources seem to feel that Wall, at the worst, might have to pay back some monies received and face a 3-4 game suspension. Hopefully, that is the worst! However, I'm looking at a situation that has drug on for 5 months with no decision....that makes be very uncomfortable. Will the NCAA rule before the season starts or will this drag into the season....perhaps far into the season?Will the penalty be light or will the NCAA level a very harsh penalty costing Wall much of his season or all of it? Bottom line, I don't trust the NCAA to be fair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IMO, the bloated NCAA rulebook should be tossed and replaced with a new smaller, more fair and reasonable rulebook, that is easily understood and takes into account that this is the 21st century. The current rulebook is bloated with ridiculous rules that are virtually unenforceable....such as holding schools responsible for students chanting or having signs encouraging a recruit to attend their school. Making this a secondary rules violation is beyond ridiculous!

Count me among those that remains very hopeful that Wall will soon be cleared to play for UK....but, also count me as being very worried about what the NCAA ruling might me. Again, I simply don't trust the NCAA to be fair!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

UK Basketball: Wildcat 'Coal' Lodge? Links

The Joe B. Hall Wildcat Lodge opened in 1978, would be replaced with a $7 million basketball players' dorm to be built nearby. The proposed name for the new building is Wildcat 'Coal' Lodge, which is leaving many fans upset.