BBL: Wall, Patterson, UK hoops and many more links

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Content provided by John Clay’s Sidelines.

(H-L photo/Joseph Rey Au)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader reports on a record-setting Senior Day for UK Hoops: “He was even more pleased with the show his No. 16 Kentucky team put on for the season-record 7,742 that showed up on Sunday for Senior Day. What the fans saw was a 71-50 drilling of South Carolina, a team that had beaten UK by eight points in January.”

A Sea of Blue tackles the issue of Patrick Patterson and Senior Day: “I think he should get to do the senior stuff on senior day. Just because he didn’t go to UK for four years doesn’t mean he should be penalized for it. He is getting a degree and deserves to get the recognition. He has meant a lot to the University of Kentucky. Not many athletes of his caliber even get a degree much less do it in three years. I think he should get to do it. Now of course there is still the question of whether he comes back, but honestly … he doesn’t need to.”

ESPN’s Andy Katz says UK has locked up a No. 1 seed: “John Wall’s block on the perimeter against Vandy was another example of the type of defensive play that the Wildcats are making at opportune times. Patrick Patterson’s baseline jumper against Mississippi State was another example of the type of offensive play the Wildcats are making late in games to win.”

My column on how the UK women finished unbeaten at home: “That says something right there. If you’re going to be a program that matters, you have to have the ear of your fan base. You ask them to come out, they come out. Kentucky’s women basketball fans responded. They came out. Their team said right back at ya. They turned crowd pleasers. They drove. They spun. They kept the ball away from South Carolina’s 6-foot-5 freshman Kelly Bone. They took off in transition.”

UK target Terrence Jones attended the Washington-UCLA game, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)

Matt Moore of Pro Basketball Talk on Calipari’s development of NBA players: “Coach John Calipari of Memphis has produced two top-two players out of the last two drafts, and likely the last two Rookie of the Year award winners. He’s likely to have three of his players in the top ten this year (John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson). And if you need any further proof of Calipari’s ability to develop pros, you should take a look at Antonio Anderson.”

Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch on the John Wall-Evan Turner debate: “Justice would be served if Kentucky point guard John Wall was voted college basketball’s player of the year. But there would be no injustice if Wall came in second.”

Andy Hutchins of Sporting News Blog on Wall: “No one has slept on John Wall. College basketball’s flashiest freshman has delivered on his hype, with speed and shooting, defense and leadership. He seems more mature than previous freshman point guards under John Calipari, more reliable than Derrick Rose and more polished than Tyreke Evans. It doesn’t hurt that he’s got NBA talent to dish to, but Wall has been the catalyst for Big Blue, and he’s going to be the reason Kentucky wins or loses the NCAA Tournament.”

(H-L photo/Joseph Rey Au)

Michael Grant of the Courier-Journal on UK’s win over South Carolina: “UK opened the game with a 9-1 burst and never looked back. Its two seniors, Amani Franklin and Lydia Watkins, were both in the starting lineup. Franklin scored the game’s first points on a jumper. Watkins, normally a reserve, had two buckets during the 9-1 spurt. The lead mushroomed to 18 points in the first half and 22 in the second.”

Nick Craddock of the Kentucky Kernel on the UK women’s win: “The noise generated by the sixth-largest crowd in school history could easily have been mistaken for a capacity crowd at Rupp Arena, while the unblemished home record is the first since 1980-81, and only the second in school history. ‘It was awesome, especially being that it was Senior Day, and that me and Lydia (Watkins) were able to finish the season at home undefeated,’ said Franklin, the self-admitted “cry baby,” who couldn’t keep her emotions in check during the pregame ceremony honoring the seniors.”

Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal writes that the great Wall still stands tall: “But if you needed a reminder of Wall’s importance to the Wildcats, it only takes a minute to remember. In fact, the last minute of UK’s 58-56 win at Vanderbilt is plenty. With the game tied, Wall drove straight down the lane – something he’s not doing nearly enough as the season goes on, it seems – lost it momentarily, got it back under the basket and went up and put the ball in to give UK a 56-54 lead with 40 seconds left.”

Steve Moss of WKYT says other teams hit a Big Blue Wall: “UK coach John Calipari warned fans of his teams remaining regular season games: four of the last six are on the road and at three of the SEC’s toughest venues. The Cats, he said, might stumble along the way. After trips to Starkville and Nashville in the same week, even the most die-hard UK fan would have to admit that the coach was right, the wins over Mississippi State and Vandy were two of the most grueling in the past several years.”

Wildcat Blue Blog looks at 2010 UK basketball recruiting: “Granted, Calipari is expected a big 2011 class as well and may need to go with 11-12 scholarship players next year in order to pull in that big haul for 2011. Regardless, with Kentucky losing Stevenson, Krebs and Harris to graduation, and probably Wall, Patterson, and Cousins to the NBA, Calipari needs to nail down about 3-4 more players in 2010 to even get to that 11-12 scholarship level. Let’s take another look at the top players and see where they may be headed down the stretch. Of course, it’s unrealistic to expect Calipari to pull more than one or two of these five players, but a couple of these players, teamed with Pole can put Kentucky in the top 10 class rankings. As we have learned, Cal is definitely capable of more however.”

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger says UK showed why it could win it all: “If Kentucky plays the way it did the final three minutes of regulation at Mississippi State and the final six minutes at Vanderbilt, the Wildcats could easily win the national championship.”

Aaron’s UK Football Blog hears there could be a big name visiting UK.

Inner Circle gives its late February awards: “Person Who Knows Most About Basketball. UK Fans–The UK fans edged out John Calipari because UK fandom isn’t something that just comes and goes. We know our players, we know our plays, we know good basketball from bad basketball. It is in our genes. We win.

CBS Sportsline allowed UK superfan and CoachCal.com contributor Matt Jones to write on Louisville’s basketball coach: “The parallel career to Rick Pitino is that of Steve Spurrier in college football. Both men ruled their sports in the 1990s, went to chase understandable dreams of professional success and then returned to the college ranks at slightly less ideal situations than the ones they left before. Both assumed that the past glory would find them again and their respective fan bases at Louisville and South Carolina had national title dreams dancing in their heads. But now both seem as mere fragments of their former selves, creating momentary flashes of brilliance, but ultimately falling short of their past glory.”

Big Blue Lowdown on UK’s stretch run: “The Cats could very well lose another game or two before the Big Dance. But an SEC regular season championship would be wrapped up with two more victories. The Cats will start the quest to close out strong with a revenge game this Thursday vs. South Carolina at Rupp. Needless to say, the Gamecocks, a horrible road team as it is, will not have the element of surprise in this one and, barring a superhuman effort from Devan Downey, we like Kentucky to roll in this one.”

Cat Scratches reports that UK baseball and softball capped perfect weekend: “The UK athletics program could no wrong this weekend. At a combined 49-5 on the season, we already knew a few weeks ago that something special was brewing on the hardwood. But now baseball and softball? Talk about an athletics program hitting its stride. If you happened to get caught in the excitement of the basketball teams’ wins this weekend and didn’t hear about baseball and softball’s perfect weekends, let me catch you up.

Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald reports that a Cal protege is practicing patience at UMass: “Derek Kellogg’s struggles early in his coaching career aren’t unique. All the UMass coach must do to find solace is look at the record of his mentor, John Calipari, who went 27-32 in his first two seasons with the Minutemen during the late 1980s. Or Kellogg can check out Mike Krzyzewski’s 38-47 mark in his first three seasons at Duke in the early 1980s. Put in that perspective, Kellogg’s 22-35 mark in his first two seasons at UMass doesn’t look quite as bad.”

Wildcat-Den on UK’s statement in Nashville: “Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins thinks Kentucky made another statement during a win over Vanderbilt Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville. Kentucky survived a hostile environment and made another strong case for a No.1 seed heading into the final stretch of the regular season. The Wildcats are learning to win in a variety of ways, including the gut-wrenching way.”