Content provided by Jerry Tipton on UK basketball.

Kentucky made history at the NBA Draft by becoming the first college team to produce five first-round picks.

In perhaps bit of runaway hyperbole, UK Coach John Calipari has suggested it was the beset day in Kentucky basketball history.

Radio host Dan Patrick questioned whether a NBA Draft could be the best day for a program that has won seven national championships and has more victories than any other Division I program.

“Depends on your frame of reference,” said Calipari, who appeared on Patrick’s show Friday.

Calipari went on to note that four players had graduated and that UK was in a “players-first program” that had seen the NBA Draft fulfill dreams.

“I’m going to encourage it,” Calipari told Patrick. “. . . I like coaching the best. That’s why I like goingn on a radio show with you. I like talking to the best.”

Later, Patrick asked Calipari a pointed question: Which would the UK coach prefer: a national championship or a night like the NBA Draft?”

Calipari avoided a direct answer. He said he’d won both. Then he said that having multiple first-rounders would lead to a national championship eventually.

If it seems to you that the University of Florida athletic program is getting stronger and stronger each year… you’re right.

Florida has placed a school-record 14 teams in the top 10 nationally for 2009-2010.  In doing so, the Gators have locked themselves in for the #2 slot in this year’s Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings.  That’s UF’s highest finish ever, besting a second-place tie in 1997-98.

According to The Gainesville Sun, Florida is the only program in the nation to finish among the top 10 of the Directors’ Cup standings in each of the last 27 years.

Athletic director Jeremy Foley sees no signs of a let-up.

“Looking to be among the teams in the hunt at the end is the goal of all our student-athletes and coaches.  We are so fortunate that they compete so hard and represent the University of Florida so well.  We look forward to the future as the Gators continue to work toward more success.”

More success?  I’m sure fans across the SEC are happy to hear that.


Here’s the current top 10 in the Directors’ Cup race, with only a few baseball points still left to be awarded:

1.  Stanford (Pac-10)
2.  Florida (SEC)
3.  Virginia (ACC)
4.  UCLA (Pac-10)
5.  Texas A&M (Big 12)
6.  Ohio State (Big Ten)
7.  Florida State (ACC)
8.  California (Pac-10)
9.  North Carolina (ACC)
10.  Duke (ACC)


Other SEC schools placed as follows:

13.  Tennessee
17.  Georgia
19.  LSU
25.  Alabama
28.  Kentucky
29.  Auburn
46.  Arkansas
47.  South Carolina
58.  Ole Miss
65.  Vanderbilt
112.  Mississippi State

Admiral Ackbar, anyone?

On Monday, the Ole Miss Mascot Selection Committee will allow UM students, staff, faculty, football season ticket holders and members of the alumni association to vote on Mississippi’s new on-field mascot.

Voters will be allowed to go to mascot.olemiss/edu and help narrow the field down to 11 choices.  The committee has received more than 1,000 submitted ideas since the decision was made to create a new on-field mascot for Rebel sporting events.

The main stipulation for entries: The new mascot must be tied to the university in some way “so people can connect with it.”

So I guess Admiral Ackbar is out.  Damn.

The secret is out. The world now knows who John Isner is.
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1.  Rick Pitino played a role in Alabama hiring Anthony Grant last year… he says he also turned down overtures from a Bama trustee asking if HE would be interested in the Tide’s job.

2.  Alabama’s Mikhail Torrance wasn’t picked in last night’s NBA draft.

3.  Tide running back Mark Ingram is up for an ESPY Award in the Best Male College Athlete category.

4.  UPDATE — The Gainesville Sun ranks Alabama #1 in its preseason Top 25.

5.  Arkansas’ Cortney Fortson and Michael Washington weren’t drafted last night, but Washington has been invited to join the New York Knicks’ summer league team.

6.  UA officials have told Hog fans to leave their vuvuzelas at home this fall.  “We do not allow noisemakers in the stadium.”

7.  Want to get to know the personal side of Bobby Petrino?  Oh.  Well, read this Q&A anyway.

8.  Turns out AT&T could pay about $1.8 million over the next decade (total) for the field naming rights at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.

9.  Former President Bill Clinton is getting behind a Haiti aid program called “Razorback Relief.”

10.  Man I get tired of all the award watch lists.  At any rate, LSU’s Patrick Peterson and Kelvin Sheppard have made the list for the Nagurski Trophy.

11.  MSU’s Jarvis Varnado and Ole Miss’ Terrico White were both taken in the NBA draft’s second round.

12.  Defensive end Pernell McPhee is State’s new “quote box.”

13.  Juco transfer James Carmon figures to be an important reserve defensive tackle for the Bulldogs.

14.  This writer says things are getting back to normal in Gainesville.

15.  The addition of transferring guard Gerald Robinson Jr. has some folks mentioning Georgia basketball and Top 25 in the same sentence.

16.  Mark Richt will be taking three offensive players (two of them juniors) with him to SEC Media Days next month.

17.  If left tackle Trinton Sturdivant stays healthy, it could mean a shake-up for Georgia’s starting offensive line.

18.  John Wall passed Sam Bowie last night to become the highest-drafted NBA player from Kentucky.  (Very hard to believe that UK had never had a #1 overall pick.)

19.  Wall was emotional when his name was called first.  “When I saw my mom, it almost brought tears to my eyes.”

20.  The Wildcats made history as a program last night, too.
 
21.  Here’s a great look at what the drafted Cats can expect from their new pro homes.

22.  And with these salaries… they should be able to afford to buy some nice actual homes.

23.  This Birmingham writer believes DeMarcus Cousins will be “the next Moses Malone.”

24.  The future of South Carolina defensive line signee Kelcy Quarles is “up in the air” after he failed to make a qualifying score on this more recent standardized test.

25.  Tennessee’s Wayne Chism wasn’t drafted last night but he has reached a deal to join the New Jersey Nets’ summer league team.

26.  UT has had only six players drafted in the last 22 years and CJ Watson is the only former Vol currently in the NBA.

27.  Former Vol Andre Lott is glad to be back in Knoxville heading up Derek Dooley’s new character education program.  (Seems the coach is serious about having good players and good people on his team.)

28.  New defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox shares a coaching philosophy with Dooley.

29.  AJ Ogilvy received some bad information from his agent if he believed he might be a first-round pick in last night’s NBA draft.  After going unpicked, I’d bet he might just wind up back in Australia.

30.  For the record, Ogilvy says he ready to “take my game to Europe or wherever the next opportunity comes up.”

A.J. Johnson currently has three leaders.

The linebacker from Gainesville (Ga.) High School told VolNation.com he favors Florida, Tennessee and Clemson in no order because they’re recruiting him the hardest.

“I know for sure I will take officials to those schools,” he told the Web site. “I don’t know if I’ll tale anymore, after that I’ll make my commitment. Hopefully before my season ends.”

Johnson has also visited Auburn and Georgia Tech. He’s also received offers from Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, Southern Cal, North Carolina, Oklahoma State and Stanford.

North Carolina has received a commitment from offensive lineman Kiara Holts, an Under Armour All-American from Warren Central High School in Indianapolis.

Holts chose the Tar Heels over offers from Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Michigan, Penn State, Virginia Tech and many others.

Holts is the eighth commitment for North Carolina’s 2011 class. The Tar Heels continue a successful run in Indiana, where North Carolina found All-American James Hurst in the 2010 class.

Florida has received a commitment from linebacker Rahim Cassell from Lakewood (Calif.) High School.

Cassell chose Florida over offers from Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon State, Washington and Duke.

“I’m stoked,” Cassell told the Orlando Sentinel about choosing Florida. “They were my first choice all along, them and Oregon, but I was more leaning toward Florida all along.”

Cassell hasn’t visited Florida yet. That visit will likely occur next month. Instead, Cassell relied on information about Gainesville from former teammate Jesse Scroggins, who chose Southern Cal over Florida last summer.

“He just told me so many good things about when they went down there to visit that it just sounded perfect for me,” Cassell said. “I’m glad I got this done and committed to Florida (early). Coaches are starting to hit me up and trying to have me take all these unofficial visit and I can’t visit everywhere. I’m really happy that I committed.”

Cassell is the ninth commitment for Florida’s 2011 class.

If the 2010 NBA draft has come and gone and all five of Kentucky’s early entrants left pretty happy.  The state of Mississippi also had two players drafted.  Other than that, it was a quiet night in the Southeastern Conference.


First Round

1.  John Wall, PG, Kentucky — Washington Wizards

5.  DeMarcus Cousins, C, Kentucky — Sacramento Kings

14.  Patrick Patterson, PF, Kentucky — Houston Rockets

18.  Eric Bledsoe, PG, Kentucky — Oklahoma City Thunder 
(Sorry, meant to note that Bledsoe’s rights were traded to the Los Angeles Clippers after he was selected by the Thunder.  My bad.)

29.  Daniel Orton, C, Kentucky — Orlando Magic


Second Round

6 (36).  Terrico White, SG, Ole Miss — Detroit Pistons

11 (41).  Jarvis Varnado, PF, Mississippi State — Miami Heat


Other Notes:

1.  The night was a huge win for Kentucky.  No school in history had ever produced five first-rounders in one draft.

In addition, John Calipari rising to applaud each of his guys as they were selected guaranteed him more screen time than ESPN’s Stuart Scott (if only).  Yesterday’s draft should ensure two things:

A.  The Cats will continue to land the nation’s very best recruits.

B.  Those players will likely be of the one-and-done variety.  “If Cal can get four one-and-doners into the league, he can do it for me, too.”

So on one hand, UK fans can look forward to having a phenomenal team each and every year.  On the other, they’ll have to get used to becoming One-and-Done University.

It’s harder to make a connection with someone who’s only on campus for a few months — and it doesn’t say much for the academicians who still suggest basketball has anything to do with an education — but I’m guessing Kentucky fans will enjoy the wins regardless of how many line-up sheets they have to buy.

Winning’s the thing and there isn’t a fanbase in the conference that wouldn’t choose a Final Four team built with rent-a-players over an NCAA second-round team, we’ll say, built with juniors and seniors.


2.  While the SEC had seven players selected, here’s how the other BCS conferences made out :

ACC — 9
Big East — 11
Big Ten — 1 (ouch)
Big 12 — 10
Pac-10 — 2


3.  Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com (via SI.com) has ranked the top 30 prospects for next year’s draft.  Here are the SEC players he says to watch:

Number 6 overall — Jeff Taylor, SF, Vanderbilt, Jr

Number 12 overall — Enes Kanter, PF/C, Kentucky, Fr

Number 14 overall — Trey Thompkins, PF, Georgia, Jr

Number 20 overall — Travis Leslie, SF, Georgia, Jr

Number 30 overall — JaMychal Green, PF, Alabama, Jr

For those saying that Kentucky has only one one-and-doner on the list, remember, no one had Eric Bledsoe or Daniel Orton joining John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins as potential early exits at this time last year.


4.  ESPN’s Andy Katz caught up with Calipari last night.  The coach had flown back to the New York draft from Haiti where he’d been on a humanitarian mission.

Here’s what Katz has to say about Cal’s choice to go after one-and-done talent.

“Calipari shrugs off the criticism that he’s all about recruiting the one-and-done players.  He is.  And he knows it means he’s got a chance to be a title contender every year, but more importantly to be right back at the NBA draft every June.

“‘Everyone says you cannot win a national title because you’re too young,’ Calipari said.  ‘That may be the case, who knows?’”

Content provided by Garnet And Black Attack.

The Post and Courier – South Carolina found a way – Charleston SC – postandcourier.com
OMAHA, Neb. -The clutch hitting that had eluded South Carolina all night Thursday in a College World Series elimination game against Oklahoma finally appeared in the bottom of the 12th inning.

The Post and Courier – Clemson finding ways to win with singles – Charleston SC – postandcourier.com
OMAHA, Neb. — In two games, both wins, Clemson has 20 hits in this College World Series — 19 singles and one Kyle Parker triple.

Five questions with . . . Bobby Haney – College World Series – TheState.com
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Morris: Bragging rights on line again for USC, Clemson – College World Series – TheState.com
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Gamecocks stay alive, advance to face Tigers – College World Series – TheState.com
Brady Thomas’ single up the middle in the 12th inning drove in Jackie Bradley Jr. and gave the Gamecocks a thrilling 3-2 win over the Sooners Thursday night in a College World Series elimination game at Rosenblatt Stadium.