Courtside with the Kentucky Wildcats
I’ve been asked to vote in all-SEC pre-season balloting. Here’s my ballot:
SEC champion: Tennessee
Eastern Division
Western Division
All-SEC team
The Southeastern Conference announced that 202 games involving member schools will be televised this coming season. A total of 87 out of 107 conference games will be televised.
The schedule is highlighted by 12 games on CBS, 47 games on one of the ESPN channels and 47 games on the leaguge’s regional network.
The 2008 SEC Tournament will once again have television coverage. All eight first and second round games and both semifinal games will all be featured on the league network, which is sponsored by Lincoln Financial Sports. The championship game will once again be televised on CBS at 1:00 p.m. (ET).
During the summer, UK basketball coach Billy Gillispie played in a charity golf event with Louisville Coach Rick Pitino.
Gillispie downplayed the suggestion that the two talked about the schools’ intense rivalry.
“We were trying to concentrate on making good shots because we were on the same team,” Gillispie said.
Gillispie noted that the programs will compete “like crazy” in recruiting and in games.
“We’ll have great respect for each other,” he said, “and we’ll go from there.”
During the UK Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon in Louisville this week, Billy Gillispie saluted the football team.
He noted how the football team’s success helps in basketball recruiting and how the football team serves as an example for other teams to follow.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I’m a big fan. I’ve really studied the team.”
Gillispie applauded the football team’s ability to come back from adversity, which he interpreted as a sign of “supreme confidence.”
More than once, Gillispie asked the audience to give the football team a round of applause.
Kentucky hit a home run with prospect Verdell Jones and his family on their recruiting visit last weekend. However, a commitment, should it come, will have to wait for careful deliberation and some comparison shopping, the player’s father said.
“It’s very rare in life you get to go to a situation and it’s better than advertised,” the prospect’s father, also named Verdell Jones, said Wednesday night. “The family thoroughly enjoyed the visit.”
But the prospect will visit Minnesota in November and consider such schools as Texas, Kansas, Illinois,New Mexico State and Georgia Tech before making a decision.
“You want to make sure it’s a — not perfect fit — but the right fit for your son,” the player’s father said. “We’re going to compare. It’s the same thing as when you shop. You have to compare. . . .
“We want to make a reasoned and informed decision.”
During an appearance before the Louisville chapter of the UK Alumni Association on Wednesday, new Knetucky coach Billy Gillispie noted how the players had gotten in better shape.
For instance, Ramel Bradley’s percentage of body fat dropped from 8 to 4.9 or 5.7 (he couldn’t remember which).
Joe Crawford’s weight dropped from 221 to 207, Derrick Jasper from 220 to 205, Jared Carter from 267 to the 250s.
“These guys weren’t on the Jenny Craig diet, I promise you,” he told the crowd.
College basketball demands a 24-hour commitment that includes the proper diet, the coach said.
Gillispie has set a goal of getting every player’s body fat between 4 and 8 percent.
The latest from the annual Greater Louisville UK Alumni Club luncheon at the Kentucky International Convention Center, featuring Coach Billy Gillispie:
Two UK Wildcats broke their noses in practice this week, expanding the list of the injured on coach Billy Gillispie’s squad.
Ramon Harris broke his nose two days ago, and Perry Stevenson broke his yesterday.
Before speaking at an alumni chapter tip-off luncheon in Louisville, Gillispie attributed the injuries to “a little bad luck.”
The coach said there are no immediate plans to red-shirt either of the players, as “it’s too early to tell unless it’s a season-ending injury.”
Going into pre-season practice, five Cats were injured: walk-on Mark Krebs , who was to be out six to eight weeks with a broken foot; center Jared Carter (shoulder) and guards Joe Crawford (knee), Derrick Jasper (knee) and Michael Porter (concussion).
Crawford is working on his conditioning, Gillispie said. Crawford has said he hoped to be at full speed by UK’s first exhibition game against Pikeville College on Oct. 31.
One of the best prospects I saw last summer was Trae Golden, a high school sophomore from Powder Springs, Ga.
I’m sure he could have visited UK’s Big Blue Madness. Instead, he attended a camp in Norcross, Ga., for high school freshmen and sophomores, his high school coach said.
Despite his youth, Golden has received several scholarship offers, including ones from UK, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Louisville.
He’s quick, strong, decisive and a good shooter.
Garrett Stutz, the 7-footer from Kansas City, visited UK’s Big Blue Madness with the expectation of discussing a scholarship offer.
Back home this week, he said that he spoke with the UK coaches during the visit. No offer was made.
UK coaches told him to let them know when he’s “serious” about the Cats, then there can be a serious scholarship discussion.
Stutz, a prospect who’s risen from nonentity to project, said he’s down to four schools: Wichita State, Marquette, SMU and UK.
He’s planning visits to SMU and Marquette in the next few weeks.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.