UK's 'odd couple' fed off each other

As an incoming freshman, Joe Crawford expected a roommate befitting his status. Maybe one of his fellow McDonald's All-Americans, Rajon Rondo or Randolph Morris. In a telephone conversation earlier this month, his mother, Sylvia, remembered the surprise of walking in her son's room at Wildcat Lodge and seeing ... Ramel Bradley?

Bradley knew who would walk through the door and had his defensive shields in place.

"Being a McDonald's All-American, he might be a little cocky ... ," Bradley recalled. "I just had that attitude, coming from New York, I felt, I don't care what you are, who you are or where you come from. I'm from New York."

The first impression Bradley made? "Just live," Crawford said. "It would be difficult for me, but that's what he feeds off. All the time. He's a live dude."

From that potentially rocky soil quickly grew a friendship of disparate personalities but kindred spirits. The alien world of Kentucky helped bond the big-city guys. Like a marriage of attracting opposites, Bradley and Crawford complemented each another. Each supported the other as roommates as freshmen and seniors, as soul mates through all four years.

Bradley's effervescence helped by "taking some of the stress of me," Crawford said. "He keeps my mind off basketball. Just by being there for me, going somewhere, talk and laugh. Whatever."

Crawford, quiet and deliberate, soothed Bradley's racing mind.

"Just to have another point of view ... helped me make the right decisions," Bradley said. "All kind of things. College is a big step. Just missing my family or missing my city or going through things in the classroom. So many things you need someone to relate to and help you through any type of situation."

At a Friday news conference, UK Coach Billy Gillispie suggested Bradley and Crawford aren't as different as it may seem.

"No. 1, each has great character qualities as a human being," he said. "Willing to work. Sacrifice. Commit. Prepare. Compete. All the components you need for a successful life."

Gillispie likened Crawford to the athletic world's prototypical strong, silent type. "Like Jimmy Brown," the UK coach said. "He took 15 seconds to get up, then he'd run over you again. I think Joe has a little bit of that in him."

Gillispie felt the need to note Crawford's competitiveness as something unappreciated, while there was no mystery about Bradley.

"What you see with Ramel is what you get," the UK coach added.

Besides the nickname "Smooth," Bradley might be most noted for the diamond-shaped hand gesture he flashes (much less often under Gillispie) that he borrowed from rapper Jay-Z.

As Senior Day arrives, what better salute to a friend than Crawford stepping out of character and making the gesture.

"I tell him I'll do it," Crawford said with a smile. "But I never think of it when I'm out there."

To which Bradley lit up in his trademark smile. "Joe does it," he said. "He just doesn't do it on the court."

Patterson surgery

If Patrick Patterson undergoes surgery to repair the stress fracture in his left ankle, he should expect a complete recovery within two months.

Dr. Steven Weinfeld, an ankle and foot specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said such surgeries are "pretty straight forward" repairs. Doctors insert screws and/or plates to stabilize the bone and promote healing.

Patterson sustained a stress fracture on the medial malleolus bone of his left ankle. An X-ray revealed the fracture on Feb. 29.

Weinfeld, who has not examined Patterson, said complications can occur in such surgeries. But there's only a small chance of a reversal because of infection. In about "3 to 5 percent" of cases, the surgery fails, Weinfeld said. Then doctors use another procedure such as a bone graft to fix the fracture.

Viewer discretion

Endless NCAA Tournament speculation, led by the various forms of ESPN, could be a distraction for "bubble" teams like Kentucky and Florida. But not for Florida forward Dan Werner.

"Personally, I don't watch that stuff," he said. "I'd rather watch hunting shows."

Strength of schedules

When Florida Coach Billy Donovan spoke of the hardening process teams must undergo, it raised a question: Did the Gators suffer from a weak non-conference schedule? Going into this weekend, only Auburn (No. 107) had a worse strength-of-schedule rating than Florida's No. 87.

"I don't think so," said Donovan, who noted non-conference games against Florida State and Ohio State. "And then maybe with the way our SEC schedule started. We went on the road (and) beat Alabama. And then you start the (SEC) season 5-1. ... It wasn't like we went into the league and our non-conference schedule gave us a bad start."

By the way, UK's schedule was rated the 12th-toughest, and that's with the watering-down effect of dropping Massachusetts.

Real sports

Those who get HBO can watch Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl talk on Monday about the low point of his career. As an Iowa assistant in 1989, he secretly tape-recorded a phone conversation he had with prospect Deon Thomas. Pearl became a pariah in the coaching profession when he claimed the tape included Thomas confirming that Illinois gave him $80,000 and a Chevy Blazer. Pearl turned the tape over to the NCAA. Subsequently, the NCAA cleared Thomas and Illinois of any wrongdoing.

Here's an excerpt from Pearl's conversation with HBO.

HBO: "Why'd you do it?"

Pearl: "To right a wrong. Unfortunately, what I found out was that fans didn't want to know the truth. University presidents didn't want to know the truth. They just wanted it to go away."

HBO: "What was the toll it took on you personally, your family?"

Pearl: "It took a terrific toll on my family. It took a terrific toll on my kids and death threats to the house and it was very, very difficult."

HBO: "Knowing all that you know now, would you do it again?"

Pearl: "Yeah. I would do it again."

The entire conversation can be seen on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on at 10 p.m. Monday.

Bid or no bid?

Here's a conversation about Kentucky's chances for an NCAA Tournament bid with Jerry Palm, who runs the Web site Collegerpi.com.

Palm: "Kentucky needs to re-prove themselves without Patrick Patterson as a tournament-quality team. They didn't hurt themselves by playing Tennessee well on the road, so they're still in for now."

H-L: Are Kentucky and Florida in a play-in game on Sunday?

Palm: No. Florida needs it a lot more than Kentucky does, but beating Kentucky does not necessarily put Florida in, and losing to Florida does not necessarily put Kentucky out."

H-L: You have Kentucky in and Florida out of your bracket updated last week. Is there a key factor: Kentucky's better RPI (47 to 63) or better record in the last 10 (8-2 vs. 6-4)?

Palm: "Better performance in conference. Neither did anything notable out of conference."

H-L: Kentucky has a much stronger strength of schedule (12 to 87). On the other hand, Florida has no embarrassing home defeats unless you count LSU.

Palm: "I do."

H-L: Florida also had a slightly better road victory. The Gators beat No. 134 Alabama, while Kentucky's best road victory was against No. 144 Georgia.

Palm: "Which means neither has done anything."

Old man Pelphrey

Tubby and Donna Smith attended the Ole Miss-Arkansas game last week. It was Senior Night for the Rebels. Their youngest son, Brian, is a senior.

Smith traveled to Ole Miss after his Minnesota team practiced that day. Middle son Saul, an assistant on the Minnesota staff, took the team to Bloomington, Ind., for the next night's game against Indiana.

After the game, Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey talked about feeling old remembering Brian Smith as a little kid at practice when Tubby Smith was a UK assistant.

"It's hard for me to believe Brian Smith is a senior in college," Pelphrey said. "When I was a senior in college, I can still remember him being at practice with two older brothers.

"I guess I'm happy and proud for him, but a little shocked that I'm that old."

Best of show

In honor of the 75th anniversary of SEC basketball, columnist Pat Dooley of The Gainesville Sun formed a media panel to name the top 75 players in league history. He asked for the top 30 in order, then the remaining 45.

Dooley also asked the panelists to rate the SEC arenas in terms of facilities and home-court advantage. Next week, we'll share the results.

For this week, here's my ballot:

Top 10 players: 1. Pete Maravich, 2. Shaquille O'Neal, 3. Ralph Beard, 4. Bob Pettit, 5. Bernard King, 6. Cliff Hagan, 7. Frank Ramsey, 8. Charles Barkley, 9. Dan Issel, 10. Bailey Howell.

Other UK players in my top 30 were 12. Kevin Grevey, 17. Kyle Macy, 21. Jamal Mashburn, 22. Tayshaun Prince, 28. Kenny Walker, 29. Cotton Nash.

Gyms as facilities

1. Arkansas, 2. Tennessee, 3. Kentucky, 4. South Carolina, 5. Florida, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Mississippi State, 8. Vanderbilt, 9. Alabama, 10. Georgia, 11. Auburn, 12. LSU.

Gyms as home-court advantages

1. Florida, 2. Vanderbilt, 3. Tennessee, 4. Kentucky, 5. Arkansas, 6. Mississippi State, 7. Ole Miss, 8. Alabama, 9. Georgia, 10. LSU, 11. South Carolina, 12. Auburn.

Happy birthday

To Tom Leach. The voice of UK basketball and football turned 47 on Monday.

Leach "celebrated" his birthday by moderating the Billy Gillispie radio call-in show, then found time for a piece of cake while ferrying his son and daughter to activities.

Last week on his Web site, tomleachproductions.com, Leach spoke with ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. Here's an excerpt:

Leach: Going into Sunday's game with Florida, is Kentucky in?

Lunardi: "How good is this. At this moment, Kentucky is the last team in the field and Florida is the first team out and you've got the two teams playing each other in the regular-season finale. I don't know, in all my years of doing this, that that particular set of circumstances has fallen into place like this."

Leach: Does that make Sunday, in effect, a "play-in" game?

Lunardi: "The SEC Tournament is still on the horizon, so much could happen. But certainly the winner of this game is going to have an enormous leg up on the other, if it comes down to those (two) for the last team out of the SEC."

Besides Leach's Web site, the interview can be seen as a podcast on wlap.com.

Jerry Tipton covers UK basketball for the Herald-Leader. This article contains his opinions and observations. He can be reached at jtipton@herald-leader.com.