We’re a little over a month into the 2011-12 season and most teams have played somewhere in the range of eight to ten games. That’s enough time to get a decent sense as to teams’ potential for the rest of the season, rather than relying on little more than preseason guesswork and conjecture. At the…
Despite minor setback, Kentucky is now favored by Vegas to win it all
Athlon Sports puts Terrence Jones on the cover; picks Final Four of UK, UNC, Ohio State, Syracuse
Here is today’s college basketball question from Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier Journal: Is there anybody out there who is NOT going to pick Kentucky and North Carolina to make the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans next season? Athlon put UK sophomore forward Terrence Jones on the cover of one of its regional…
Kyle Macy had the goods in every department
Wherever it is that old basketball coaches go when they die, Adolph Rupp is there now, wearing his brown suit, sipping his smooth bourbon and cussing his cruel fate. Here he is, five seasons retired and a month removed from this earth; and there they are, the Kentucky Wildcats, a superb team but not his team at all.…
1958: The Fiddlin’ Five make sweet music
This is a story about a brash young man who had the misfortune to run into the Old Master of tournament basketball, Adolph Rupp of Kentucky. The brash young man was John Castellani of Seattle, a fast-talking, sharp-dressing 32-year-old. On the coaching level, it was no contest. Since 1952-53, when Kentucky was obliged to cancel…
The New York Times discusses John Calipari’s “500” wins
The University of Hawaii won a men’s volleyball championship in 2002. Or did it? Coach John Calipari earned his 500th college basketball victory last season. Or did he? For dozens of universities across collegiate sports, for the players who competed, for the officials who whistled fouls and for the fans who paid for tickets, those…
Kentucky basketball again leads nation in attendance
College basketball attendance across the three divisions has decreased slightly to 32.8 million. The NCAA announced Tuesday that it still ranks No. 5 all-time. Division I schools drew 27.6 million fans, an increase of more than 86,000 over the previous season. Kentucky led the nation in average home attendance for the 15th time in 16…
Kentucky Wildcats of 1996 among most memorable teams
From the photo archives of Sports Illustrated comes a story in, you guessed it, photos: “If UNLV’s ’91 team (somehow) isn’t considered the best college team of the last two decades, then these Wildcats are. UK was loaded with NBA talent, headed by Tony Delk, Antoine Walker, Derek Anderson, Ron Mercer and Walter McCarty. The…
Brandon Knight, Josh Harrellson named to CBS Sports NCAA All-tournament Team
Brandon Knight named to first team. Josh Harrellson was named to the second team: “The season now quickly fading from our site, we wanted to extend our coverage out as long as possible. So, approximately 40 hours removed from the end of the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball Division I tournament, here’s the First and Second…
Final Four run caps satisfying season at Kentucky
John Calipari doesn’t expect it to take 13 years to get Kentucky back to the Final Four. The coach would prefer next spring, though it’s unclear who will be along for the ride. The program’s first trip to the national semifinals in more than a decade might have been too good for its own good. …
Harrellson’s storybook season ends sadly, but Jorts made his mark
The Jorts joyride was a blast. Josh Harrellson and his feel-good, farewell tour with Kentucky basketball rolled through Tampa and Newark and became one of the major national story lines of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. How could you not find inspiration in the tale of a guy going from 6-foot-10 afterthought in 2010 to one…