Entries from May 2010 ↓

In noting Billy Donovan’s birthday on Sunday, I said that he was on a short list of coaches who won NCAA Tournament championships before age 45.

Well, readers were quick to add two coaches to that list.

Don Haskins led Texas Western to the 1966 title at age 36 and Denny Crum led Louisville to the 1980 title at age 43.

My apologies.

With the NCAA investigating Eric Bledsoe’s high school years, observers will be tempted to link Kentucky to any supposed wrongdoing.

To refute such linkage, Bledsoe’s coach at Parker High School in Birmingham, Ala., wanted to remind people that he was no UK fan. In fact, he complained publicly when Bledsoe committed to the Cats. The coach, Maurice Ford, wanted Bledsoe to go to a program that would install him as its point guard as a freshman. At UK, Bledsoe was destined to watch John Wall run the team this past season.

“If you kept up with the story, you know I was against him coming to Kentucky to play with John Wall,” Ford said. “So how could I be shopping him to Kentucky when I was against him coming to Kentucky. What sense does that make?

“I was on record stating I did not want him coming to Kentucky to play back-seat fiddle to John Wall. Why would I shop him to a school I didn’t want him to go to? What sense does that make?”

In a statement released Saturday afternoon, the University of Kentucky noted that the NCAA Eligibility Center cleared basketball player Eric Bledsoe.

The inference is that UK felt secure in playing Bledsoe this past season.

A story in the New York Times Saturday reported that the NCAA is investigating Bledsoe’s time as a  high school student and player in Birmingham, Ala. In particular, the NCAA is looking into questions about Bledsoe’s academic transcript and whether a high school coach paid the rent for the player and his mother.

Those questions cast a cloud on Bledsoe’s eligibility this past season. If he were to be ruled ineligible, UK might have to forfeit victories. Such a mass forfeiture would remove UK’s distinction as the first program to reach 2,000 victories.

UK’s statement sounded similar to what the University of Memphis said when questions arose about the eligibility of Derrick Rose.

After being ruled eligible, Rose was subsequently ruled ineligible after the season. That reversal led the NCAA to order Memphis to forfeit its record 38 victories and a Final Four appearance in 2007-08.

Here is UK’s statement:

“Often high profile student-athletes are selected for an extensive prospective student-athlete (PSA) review.

“Eric Bledsoe participated in the normal academic review process and also an extensive PSA review by the NCAA Eligibility Center and was cleared academically.”

Spokesman DeWayne Peevy just called to say he will be releasing a statement later Saturday afternoon that gives the University of Kentucky’s reaction to the New York Times story about basketball player Eric Bledsoe.

The Times reported that the NCAA is investigating Bledsoe’s background in Birmingham, Ala. That investigation includes questions about Bledsoe’s academic transcript and into the contention that Bledsoe’s high school coach, Maurice Ford, paid the rent for the UK player and his mother.

On Friday, UK officially announced its game against Portland.

UK will play Portland on Nov. 19 as a warmup en route to the Maui Invitational, which will be played on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the following week.

UK has never played a game in the state of Oregon.

The game will be played in the Rose Garden, home arena of the NBA Portland Trailblazers. The game is part of a three-game deal that will have Portland returning games to UK in 2012 and 2013, UK announced.

“When I arrived at Kentucky and first looked at the schedule, we immediately started talking about the possibility of breaking up our trip to Maui by playing a game on the West Coast,” UK Coach John Calipari said  in the news release. “Portland gives us the opportunity to play in a great basketball city with a great venue, and more importantly, gives Terrence Jones a chance to go home and play in front of his family and friends.”

Jones, an incoming freshman, is a native of Portland.

In its release, UK offered fans travel information.

Fans interested in the roundtrip air charter with the UK men’s basketball team and coaching staff via Delta Air Lines from Lexington to Portland to Maui should contact Total Sports Travel at 1-888-367-8781 or send an email to: info@totalSportsTravel.com.

Fans that have already bought the package to fly with the team to Maui will be contacted by Total Sports Travel, UK said.

Tickets for the Portland game will g on sale July 30 at 1 p.m. EDT, UK announced. Those tickets will be available at all Safeway/TicketsWest outlets by calling 877.789.ROSE (7673), at ComcastTIX.com or in-person at the Rose Quarter Box Office (M-F 10a-5p local time). Ticket prices will range from $12 to $50.

Tickets are also available by calling the U of Portland Box Office at (503) 943-7525. Season tickets for the 2010-11 season cost $195 for Upper Level Reserved and $280 for Lower Level Reserved, while flex packs are $75.

Kenny Payne reportedly was to be paid $400,000 and $425,000, respectively, over the next two years, plus performance bonuses, to stay as an assistant coach at Oregon.

But he decided to walk away from that contract to become an assistant at Kentucky. In an interview with The Register-Guard, Payne called that decision “bittersweet” and “very tough.”

In terms of base salary, UK’s highest paid assistant last season was John Robic. He had a base salary of $220,000.

“Kentucky is Kentucky,” Payne said Wednesday in an interview with the Eugene-based newspaper. “It’s one of the most prestigious programs in the history of college basketball and it’s an honor for them to even look at me. . . .
“I hope that people here don’t hold that against me because I’m making that move. I’m doing so in hopes of learning and getting better at what I do and learning from a guy I respect and love and have a relationship with. Everybody says, ‘Kenny, it’s a no-brainer.’ But my heart is in Oregon and I’m torn.:

Payne said he reached his decision to accept the Kentucky job Tuesday night and met with Oregon coach Dana Altman on Wednesday.

Kentucky spokesman DeWayne Peevy said that no official announcement had been made on the hiring.

Rod Strickland’s DUI charge and subsequent move to non-coaching duties created an opening on UK’s staff this spring.

Louisville point guard Peyton Siva led Reach USA to a 70-69 victory over the Russia Peak All Stars in the last game of the Reach USA team’s tour of China.

Siva hit the winning layup over a 7-foot-4 Russian at the buzzer to win the game. He led the Reach USA team with 15 points and a whopping 14 rebounds. He also had four assists.

Kentucky big man Josh Harrellson chipped in 11 points and three rebounds. UK guard Jon Hood added four points.

Harrellson was the Reach USA team’s leading scorer on the tour. He averaged 13.1 points. He also averaged a team-high 9.2 rebounds.

Hood averaged 5.3 points and 2.9 assists per game.

Siva averaged 7.6 points and a team-high 5.4 assists.

Kentucky big man Josh Harrellson scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Reach USA team beat the Russian Peak All Stars 98-78 in the tour of China.

UK teammate Jon Hood contributed three points (one of three shooting), grabbed six rebounds and handed out five assists for the Reach USA team.

Louisville point guard Peyton Siva had 12 points and a team-high 11 assists.

Arkansas has decided not to roll over the coaching contract of former Kentucky player John Pelphrey. It’s a decision Pelphrey said Tuesday he understands and supports.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Pelphrey’s contract runs for four more seasons, through April 8, 2014. He had gotten one-year extensions after each of his first two seasons at Arkansas.
Pelphrey met with the media Tuesday to introduce new assistant coach Brett Nelson, the former Florida player. Before being asked about his contract, Pelphrey revealed that the deal would not be rolled over this year.
Pelphrey said that when he met with Athletic Director Jeff Long in March, he told Long he didn’t expect or want a contract extension because he didn’t feel it “was necessary at this point in time.”
The Razorbacks finished 14-18 last season, including 7-9 in the SEC. That was an improvement over their 2-14 SEC mark in 2009, but they were 1-7 in their final eight games last season, capped by a loss to Georgia in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
Pelphrey said suspensions and injuries “certainly played into us not having the type of year that we wanted.” He also said he feels secure in his job because of the support he’s received from Long and Chancellor David Gearhart.
Pelphrey has a 51-46 record at Arkansas, including 18-30 in the SEC.
“When John and I met after the season, we talked about every aspect of the program,” Long said Tuesday night in a statement. “We discussed the high expectations we both have for student-athlete success on and off the court. During the course of our review and discussion, John indicated that he didn’t expect an extension of his contract beyond the current agreement and reiterated his commitment to build the program to those high expectations.”

UK Athletics touted improvement in the team grade-point average for men’s basketball in the spring semester, according to a news release Tuesday afternoon.

UK did not reveal what the team grade-point average was in men’s basketball for the spring semester in its news release.

But at John Calipari’s website, coachcal.com, it was reported as 2.18. That marked an improvement from the 2.025 attained in the fall semester. That fall GPA was the lowest by any team sponsored by UK.

The UK released called the improvement in men’s basketball “a step in the right direction considering five underclassmen declared for the 2010 NBA Draft.”

On his webpage, Calipari said, “One of the issues we face in basketball is that with such a relatively small number of athletes, a bad semester from one or two kids can bring down the GPA significantly. A GPA just under 2.2 is not what we hoped for. But for the most part, every player improved from the fall semester and most finished strong.

“With all that was swirling for this team and all the scrutiny and pressure, our guys buckled down and did what they had to move our GPA in the right direction. But our improvement does show we are headed in the right direction and that our guys understand their priorities need to be in the classroom before they can turn their attention to the basketball court.”

On a subsequent tweet, Calipari said, “A GPA just under 2.2 is not what we hoped for. But for the most part, every player improved from the fall semester and most finished strong.”

UK did identify grade-point averages for some of its other teams. Overall, UK athletes had a cummulative grade-point average of 3.04 in the spring semester. That GPA met Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart’s goal of a 3.0 overall GPA in a semester.

The highest team GPAs in the spring semester were achieved by women’s cross country (3.49), softball (3.48) and women’s soccer (3.42). Thirteen of UK’s 22 teams averaged a 3.0 or better, according to the release.