Entries from March 2011 ↓

Lexington’s Jessie ClarkMiddle School is having UK Day/JORTS Day on Friday.

All students have been encouraged to wear a UK shirt and “Jorts” in honor of Kentucky player Josh Harrellson.

“We have been pumping it up this week by showing pictures of Josh on the morning news,” Sara Chaffin said in an email. “We are also reading a UK poem and showing highlights of the NCAA tournament on the morning news on Friday.”

NCAA president Mark Emmert acknowledged Thursday that he received threats from Kentucky fans after freshman Enes Kanter was ruled permanently ineligible in early January. As a result,(to be) bleeped.”

Emmert noted that the threats were not something he enjoyed receiving.

“I certainly appreciate passionate fans,” Emmert said. “The last thing you want is fans that are not passionate.

“But we have to be careful that (passion) doesn’t become an excuse for repugnant behavior.”

Butler became the first team from Indiana to advance to two straight Final Fours. That means such basketball powers as Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame have not.

“It does mean a lot,” center Matt Howard of the achievement. “It speaks volumes of how hard it is to do something like that. It takes a special group of guys and coaches. I feel fortunate to be sitting here (at a Final Four news podium).

“I know it’s not easy. You’ve got to feel fortunate. You have to have things go your way. Three of the four games (Butler has played in the tournament) we could have easily lost.”

Butler big man Matt Howard said his hometown of Connersville, Ind., had mounted a fund-raising campaign to help his family travel to Houston for the Final Four.

Howard was unsure of the details.

“My dad always hangs out at a local coffee shop,” Howard said. “It started there. They raised quite a bit.”

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas picked Connecticut to beat Kentucky in the national semifinals on Saturday and then beat Butler in the NCAA Tournament championship game on Monday night.

A caller to UK Coach John Calipari’s radio show Monday complained about Bilas picking Kentucky’s opponent in each game of this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Not true, Bilas said. He said he picked Kentucky to beat Princeton and West Virginia in its first two NCAA Tournament games, then lose to Ohio State.

In any case, Calipari defended Bilas on the show. The UK coach said he might not agree with everything Bilas said, but that the ESPN analyst’s commentary  was well considered.

Connecticut guard Kemba Walker was one of 10 players voted onto the John R. Wooden All-American team, it was announced Wednesday. No Kentucky players made the team.

Here is the 10-man Wooden team:

The website Bodog.com made Kentucky the favorite to win the Final Four. UConn was the second choice.

Here were the odds made by Bodog.com: Kentucky 7/5, UConn 9/4, Butler 13/4 and Virginia Commonwealth 9/2.

UK Coach John Calipari changed the starting lineup for the game against North Carolina.

DeAndre Liggins will start in place of Doron Lamb. It will be Liggins’ second straight since the Mississippi State game. He also started the game against Florida in the SEC Tournament, in part, because Lamb was coming off a sprained ankle.

Lamb has not shot well since the ankle sprain, making only nine of 23 shots in the last four games.

The referees assigned to the Kentucky-North Carolina game are Pat Driscoll, Randy McCall and Verne Harris.

Harris and McCall are most known for officiating games in the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences.

Driscoll is best known for working games in the Big East and Big Ten.

While sitting in the hotel lobby Sunday morning, I struck up a conversation with a ticket broker. Well, actually, he broke the ice by asking if I wanted to buy a ticket to the Kentucky-North Carolina game later in the day.

For any of the six lower arena seats he had available, he was asking $200 for tickets priced at $99 each. I declined.

When I noted how Kentucky fans are known for their passion and ability to fill arenas, he said he preferred UK fans over fans for North Carolina or Duke.

UK fans were friendlier and less arrogant, he said.