Courtside with the Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky freshman John Wall, who must sit out Monday’s exhibition game against Campbellville doesn’t look torn up about it.

Wall just appeared on the court as his teammates warmed up. Wearing a gray UK sweatsuit, Wall had a broad smile on his face as he munched a cookie or a snack chip of some type (hard to tell). He and UK’s other freshman point guard, Eric Bledsoe, exchanged smiles and a brief converation before Bledsoe resumed shooting.

Wall will be eligible to play in the second exhibition against Clarion on Friday. Then he must sit out UK’s opener against Morehead State.

Wall must sit out two games — and make good on $787.58 in recruiting expenses paid by his AAU coach, Brian Clifton, who was also a FIBA agent at the time — as punishment for associating with Clifton.

Kentucky big man Patrick Patterson was among eight players named to the coaches’ All-Southeastern Conference pre-season first team. Freshman John Wall made the second team.

Here’s the list of players who made each team:

FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC       Pos         Ht           Wt          Cl            Hometown

Devan Downey, South Carolina#               G             5-9          175         Sr.           Chester, S.C.

Tasmin Mitchell, LSU#    F              6-7          235         Sr.           Denham Springs, La.

A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt    C             6-11       250         Jr.           Sydney, Australia

Patrick Patterson, Kentucky#     F              6-9          235         Jr.           Huntington, W.Va.

Tyler Smith, Tennessee#              G/F        6-7          215         Sr.           Pulaski, Tenn.

Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State#            F              6-9          230         Sr.           Brownsville, Tenn.

Michael Washington, Arkansas  F              6-9          239         Sr.           McGehee, Ark.

Terrico White, Ole Miss#              G             6-5          211         So.          Memphis, Tenn.

SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC Pos         Ht           Wt          Cl            Hometown

Dominique Archie, South Carolina            F              6-7          200         Sr.           Augusta, Ga.

Wayne Chism, Tennessee            F/C         6-9          246         Sr.           Jackson, Tenn.

JaMychal Green, Alabama           F              6-9          220         So.          Montgomery, Ala.

DeWayne Reed, Auburn               G             6-1          175         Sr.           Houston, Texas

Trey Thompkins, Georgia             F              6-10       247         So.          Lithonia, Ga.

Alex Tyus, Florida             F              6-8          220         Jr.           St. Louis, Mo.

John Wall, Kentucky       G             6-4          195         Fr.           Raleigh, N.C.

Chris Warren, Ole Miss  G             5-10       165         Jr.           Orlando, Fla

Kentucky big man Patrick Patterson was named to The Associated Press pre-season All-American team, the wire service announced Monday.

Other members of the team were Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody, Duke’s Kyle Singler and Kansas teammates Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins.

When the media arrived for Sunday’s interviews, reporters saw a player or manager wearing a blue T-shirt that had three large words printed on the back:

Coal

Cats

Calipari

That alliterative sequence surely would not please critics of UK’s approval last week of a project to build a new dorm for the team and call it Wildcat Coal Lodge. About 30 protesters had to shout to make their voices heard at a UK Board of Trustees meeting last week. Most trustees left the room while the protesters tried to convey their objections.

The protesters said that the burning of coal was damaging to the environment in multiple ways and a symbol of the past.

After the protesters were removed from the board room, the trustees returned and approved the name. Booster Joe Craft collected $7 million in pledges for the construction of the new lodge. But the money was contingent on the name Wildcat Coal Lodge being used.

As for the coal t-shirts, UK spokesman John Hayden said they were a gift from IMG, the radio and television rights holder for UK football and basketball. The shirts were distributed to the students who attended a recent practice opened only to students.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari said Sunday that he did not make the decision on what games heralded freshman John Wall must sit out as part of the punishment for having some recruiting expenses paid by an agent.

In announcing Wall’s punishment Friday night, UK said the freshman would sit out Monday’s exhibition game against Cambellsville and the season opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13.

Calipari said that “they” told him what games Wall would miss. The UK coach did not identify who “they” were.

Were “they” the NCAA staff? UK’s athletic administration?

As part of the punishment, the NCAA ordered Wall to pay back $787.58. That payment would go to a charity, the Lexington Hope Center, which  UK said would help pay for thanksgiving meals for the homeless.

Calipari said he did not know how long Wall would have to make the payment or how many recruiting trips the $787.58 represented.

UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy said that Wall must make the $787.58 payment before he can compete in Friday’s exhibition game against Clarion. Peevy said that UK’s compliance officer, Sandy Bell, had advised Wall to save his Pell Grant money in anticipation of having to make such a payment. So Wall would have no difficulty making the payment.
When asked if Wall’s punishment was fair, Calipari noted that a judgment had been made. “It’s behind us,” he said.

Wall was not made available for interviews.

With heralded freshman John Wall sitting out Monday’s exhibition against Campbellsville, Kentucky may start sophomore Darius Miller at point guard, Coach John Calipari said on Sunday.

When asked who would backup another freshman, Eric Bledsoe, at the point, Calipari said it would be Miller.

“Or he may start,” Calipari said of Miller, a former Kentucky Mr. Basketball from Mason County.

Miller has played the wing almost exclusively for UK. But Calipari said he had noticed that Miller’s play improved when he had the ball.

“He’s like Tyreke Evans,” Calipari said, referring to the star freshman he had last season at Memphis. “When you put the ball in his hands, he’s much better.”

Miller said he had not played much point guard during practices, but he sounded confident of playing the position in an emergency.

The expected starter, freshman John Wall, will sit out the Campbellsville exhibition as part of his penalty for having an agent, his AAU Coach Brian Clifton, pay for some expenses during the recruiting process.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari just tweeted that freshman John Wall has been cleared to play this season. But Wall will have to sit out two games and repay expenses in order to regain full eligibility.

Wall will miss UK’s first exhibition game against Campbellsville on Monday and also the season opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13, Calipari said in a tweet.

The University of Kentucky planned to stage an open practice Sunday in Louisville’s Freedom Hall. It’s been cancelled.

The Kentucky Exposition Center announced the cancellation and declined to explain.

UK Coach John Calipari issued a statement several hours after the announcement.

“We originally planned a practice at Freedom Hall on Sunday afternoon to give our guys a chance to practice in an arena that we will compete in later this season,” Calipari said. “The passion of our Kentucky fans in Louisville made it impossible for the word not to get out about the practice at Freedom Hall. Due to the publicity created by several media outlets, we will no longer be able to conduct a preseason practice off campus this weekend. We will schedule an open practice at Freedom Hall and make sure all our fans in Louisville know about it.”

NCAA rules prohibit schools from publicizing a pre-season practice. Such open practices can be publicized during the season.

So why was the practice cancelled?

Perhaps UK feared that the publicity surrounding the practice could be viewed as a possible rules violation.

The University of Louisville could have blocked the practice. U of L’s women’s team has an exhibition game Sunday afternoon against Northern Kentucky University. By contract, that game gives U of L the rights to Freedom Hall the entire day and night.

But U of L did not block the UK practice. “Louisville had nothing to do with this,” U of L spokesman Kenny Klein said.

Here’s another possible factor. The Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center has a crowded schedule of events on Sunday. There’s the Kentucky Flea Market in the West Wing. There’s a Kenny Woods Gun & Knife Show in the West Hall. There’s an International Construction and Utility Equipment Expo. And the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park has its Halloween Fright Fest from noon until 8 p.m.

Concerns about crowd control led to a request that UK move its practice from 6 to 7.  Instead, UK decided to cancel the practice.

UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy said the cancellation led to angry calls to the school. But UK wanted to get the word out on the cancellation to prevent fans from going to Freedom Hall expecting to see the Wildcats practice, he said.

I just had a pleasant conversation with Tywanna Patterson, the mother of Kentucky  big man Patrick Patterson. She asked that a clarification be made about the game story on UK’s Blue-White Game.

Patterson did not drive his vehicle, a Lincoln Mark LT, to the game.

His parents did buy him the Lincoln Mark LT. The truck was “a gift for all his hard work,” his mother said.

The car remains in Huntington. Patterson’s parents intended the car as a Christmas present, she said.

Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson and John Wall are among 50 players named to a pre-season watch list for the Naismith Award, one of the trophies recognizing a college basketball player of the year.

Patterson, an all-Southeastern Conference player last season, bypassed the NBA draft to return for his junior season. Wall is a freshman many project as the first pick in the 2010 NBA draft.

Patterson and Wall are among eight SEC players named to the watch list. The others are Devan Downey of South Carolina, Tasmin Mitchell of LSU, A.J. Ogilvy of Vanderbilt, Tyler Smith of Tennessee, Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State and Terrico White of Ole Miss.

In late February, the Atlanta Tipoff Club will release a list of top 30 candidates for the award. Four finalists will be announced in March.