Entries from December 2010 ↓

The Bluegrass Sports Commission named Kentucky center Josh Harrellson as its Most Valuable Player of the UK-Louisville basketball game Friday. Harrellson scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as Kentucky won 78-63.

“The Bluegrass Sports Commission is proud to name Josh Harrellson as the first-ever recipient of this award,” said BSC Executive Director Terry Johnson. “Both teams played a hard fought game today, but we can think of nobody more deserving to receive this honor.”

The Bluegrass Sports Commission plans to honor the MVP of the UK-U of L game each season.

Louisville fans brought anti-Kentucky signs to the game on Friday. But U of L monitored the visual displays.

Mark Haggard, a security supervisor the KFC Yum Center, said that his crew had removed seven signs they felt crossed crossed the line of good taste. This was an hour before tip off.

“Anything that’s offensive to either team” would be removed, Haggard.

Among the signs that got cleared were:

– UK Coach John Calipari in a wizard’s hat and a message that read, “I made two Final Fours disappear.”

– U of L Coach Rick Pitino’s face on the body of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies. Beside him was Calipari’s face on the Mini Me character.

– A tote board that counted UK’s five first-round draft picks, zero national championships and 2.1 grade-point average under Calipari.

– The message, “Enes Kant save you.”

The newly elected mayors of Lexington and Louisville plan to sit together at Friday’s Kentucky-Louisville game.

Future Louisville mayor Greg Fischer invited newly elected Lexington major Jim Gray to sit with him in the YUM! Center as a way to signal a new cooperative relationship between the two cities.

According to a news release, the majors will talk about ways their cities can work together to create jobs, improve their hometowns and help improve the Commonwealth while also rooting for their hometown teams.

“Greg and I will be rooting for different teams on Friday, but as businessmen we’ll be united in building a stronger economy and bringing good jobs to Kentucky,” Gray said in a news release.

Added Fischer: “Louisville and Lexington have much more in common than different. I look forward to starting a fresh, strong relationship between Kentucky’s two largest cities, the economic engines of the state.”

The two mayors also made a friendly wager. If UK wins, Fischer agreed to set a stuffed Wildcat on his new office desk his first weekas Louisville mayor. He will also host Gray this spring at Churchill Downs.

If U of L wins, Gray agreed to set a Cardinal on his desk and host Fischer at Keeneland this spring.

When Rick Pitino coached Kentucky, UK fans enjoyed the pressing, pressure defense his teams used.

How the grabbing and holding is being done by Louisville, a fact UK must deal with in Friday’s game at U of L.

“The biggest thing is you’ve got to be ready,” UK Coach John Calipari said. “The intensity of the game will be crazy. You better be ready (for Louisville to) grab, hold.”

When asked how he wanted the UK players to react to U of L’s physical play, Calipari said, “Be strong. Be tough with the ball. . . . You’ve got to know, they’re playing. This is not for ‘fun-sies’”

UK players may respond with puzzlement. “Why is he going so hard?” Calipari said of possible questions his players will ask.

The UK coach has an answer ready.

“He wants to win,” Calipari said of the hypothetical Louisville player.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari anticipated a three-point blitz from Louisville on Friday.

“In all likelihood, they’ll shoot 30 thress,” he said Thursday. “If they make them, it’s been a great start. Let’s go. Who’s next?”

Kentucky must be prepared to deal with an early onslaught of three-pointers or Louisville missing a lot of shots in the opening minutes.

Either way, Calipari said the Cats must stick to the task at hand for 40 minutes.

Interestingly, Calipari used the word “contested” to describe the three-point shots he anticipated from Louisville.

“If they make the first six contested threes, OK,” Calipari said. “I mean, OK. It’s 18-4. Keep playing. They’re not going to make every shot.

“Or they could come out and miss the first eight. We lead. It’s going to be a 40-minute game.”

A Kentucky-Louisville game stirs emotions. But Kentucky Coach John Calipari said Thursday he hopes the passion doesn’t overflow into nastiness when the teams play Friday.

“The passion and emotion of a tough, hard-nosed competition is one thing,” Calipari said. “But when it moves beyond that” it detracts from the game.

“This should be a vicious, clean, with everybody trying hard and trying to win,” Calipari said.

As he did on his radio call-in show earlier in the week, Calipari said he hoped there wouldn’t be a repeat of last season’s game in which the camera caught him exchanging harsh words with a U of L player and UK big man DeMarcus Cousins flirted with an ejection when he shot a forearm into the head area of a Louisville player.

“When the game’s over, I hope everybody says, ‘That’s basketball,’ ” Calipari said. “That was the ‘funnest’ game I’ve seen all year.”

According to notes prepared for the media by the University of Louisville, Mike Stuart is one of the referees assigned to the Kentucky-Louisville game on Friday.

Stuart was the referee who slapped two technical fouls on Calipari during UK’s game against Mississippi Valley State.

Other referees assigned to the UK-U of L game are Jim Burr and Michael Stephens.

Stuart and Stephens worked Kentucky’s game at Mississippi State last season. That was the game that saw 10 fouls called against Mississippi State and none against UK in the final eight minutes (the last three minutes of the second half and five minutes of overtime). During that time, UK rallied to a victory.

Coppin State will play without its leading scorer, guard Michael Harper, at Kentucky. Harper contracted food poisoning sometime Monday or Tuesday.

Harper is averaging 15.3 points per game. He also leads the team with 14 teams.

When asked how much it would hurt Coppin State to play without Harper, Athletic Director Derrick Ramsey said, “A bunch.”

The Southeastern Conference named Kentucky guard Doron Lamb as its Player of the Week for last week and teammate Brandon Knight as its Freshman of the Week.

Lamb scored 32 points in leading UK to a win over Winthrop. That marked the most points ever scored in a game by a UK freshman.

Lamb made 11 of 12 shots, including seven of eight three-point attempts. His seven three-pointers equalled the most by a SEC player this season.

Knight scored 21 points, grabbed five rebounds and got credit for two assists in a win over Winthrop. That marked his fifth 20-point game of the season.

The last time one program swept the SEC’s weekly awards was Nov. 23, 2009.

The SEC named Patrick Patterson of UK its Player of that Week and John Wall its Freshman of the Week.