http://http://www.kentucky.com/287/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2009 Kentucky.com Mark Story 60 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:46:17 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench interactive-ops@herald-leader.com http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1029774.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1029774.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:44 EST
There is no head coach at any level of football with more "buzz" attached to his name right now than the New Orleans Saints' head man.

Which is of local interest because I've heard scuttlebutt for years that Payton tried to get in the mix to become University of Kentucky head coach before Rich Brooks was hired.

Guy Morriss vacated the UK job after the 2002 season to become head coach at Baylor. At that time, Payton was the offensive coordinator with the New York Giants.

However, then-Giants head man Jim Fassel had stripped his young assistant of play-calling responsibilities mid-season. Payton was looking to get out of Gotham.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1027653.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1027653.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:30 EST
Arthur Zulu, Sam Houston State's 6-foot-8 center, was going up for what he thought was an uncontested second-half layup.

Yet before Zulu could get the ball to the rim, Bledsoe, UK's bouncy 6-foot-1 freshman guard, soared in from behind and pinned the ball between the rim and the backboard.

Where it stayed.

Rupp Arena roared.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1022935.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1022935.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:30 EST
Ghosts of Gardner-Webb hung heavy in Rupp Arena Monday night. Massive underdog Miami (Ohio), fresh off a loss to Towson, had ridden blistering three-point shooting to a 70-70 standoff with mighty Kentucky.

As the game clock ticked toward zero, Wall the lavishly hyped UK freshman point guard playing in his first "real" college basketball game raced down court with the basketball.

"I was kind of nervous," Wall would say later. "Under six seconds to go. I knew I had to try to make a play."

When the clock dropped under two seconds, the 6-foot-4 North Carolina product rose from the floor just left of the lane and launched a 15-footer.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1020567.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1020567.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:24 EST
My countdown ended with Christian Laettner breaking the hearts of the Unforgettables in the epic 1992 NCAA Tournament game with Duke.

We did this countdown as well as our earlier listing of the 25 most memorable UK football games since 1983 to promote the Blasts From The Past section of Kentucky Sports.com. There, you can read for free all Herald-Leader game stories since the 1983 football season and the '83-84 men's basketball season.

Below, in one place, is my complete list of the 25 most memorable men's hoops games with a bonus: the five games that just missed making the list.

No. 25. UK 76, Louisville 75Dec. 12, 1987; Rupp Arena ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1012771.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1012771.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:28 EST
21. Mike Hartline: It sure sounds that if the injured (knee ligament) Kentucky starting quarterback holds up this week in practice, he will get the call when UK goes for bowl eligibility Saturday at Vanderbilt.

20. Rich Brooks on Mike Hartline playing Saturday: "He has to do the things our offense requires without hobbling around and favoring his knee."

19. Rich Brooks on replacement QB Morgan Newton's improvement: "I think the Morgan Newton you saw (vs. Eastern Kentucky) was light years from the Morgan Newton you saw in the Auburn game."

18. UK's starting quarterback quandary: It's asking an awful lot of a quarterback to come back after missing four games and win the contest that may determine the outcome of the season.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1010470.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1010470.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:28 EST
The Kentucky head man found himself in the stomach-churning position of playing Eastern Kentucky without his starting quarterback (Mike Hartline), his best running back (Derrick Locke) and, in a surprise, his best wide receiver/all-around player (Randall Cobb).

Yet UK handled outmanned but plucky EKU 37-12 thanks, in no small part, to a breakout day from its kiddie corps.

In his fourth start in place of the injured Hartline, true freshman Morgan Newton had his best game as a collegian. The 6-foot-4, 217-pound Carmel, Ind., product completed 20 of 29 passes for 187 yards and the first two touchdown passes of his Wildcat career.

Getting expanded playing time at wide receiver because of a thumb injury to Cobb, true freshman La'Rod King continued a late-season emergence. The 6-4, 190-pounder from North Hardin had career bests with four catches and 41 yards receiving.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1010381.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1010381.html Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:31 EST
Yet as the official tip-off of the Kentucky basketball season approaches, he feels an old longing.

"I miss basketball a lot," the former UK point guard said last week. "My whole life, my identity has been 'a guy who plays sports.' Now, I'm looking for something to fill that void."

Porter could still be wearing the Kentucky blue and white, of course, could be a senior on the current UK basketball roster.

But last spring, after a difficult junior year under Billy Gillispie and shortly before Porter and wife Bryana were to become parents for the first time, the guard told new Kentucky coach John Calipari he would not return for his final season.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1007291.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1007291.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:41 EST
That may as well be the slogan for Kentucky Wildcats basketball 2009-10.

After what have been, by UK's regal historical standards, four straight mediocre seasons, the arrival of a charismatic new coach and a lavishly hyped influx of new players has the Kingdom of the Blue on fire with anticipation.

What I call "Buzz Teams" squads around which a fevered level of pre-season excitement form are hardly unique in UK basketball history.

Let's use our "Buzz Evaluator" to examine how this year's Cats compare to other hyped teams from UK's modern history.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1007345.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1007345.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:19 EST
One team from the commonwealth made the Final Four but it was not a squad from our state's signature sport, men's hoops.

The Louisville women lost to mighty Connecticut in the national title game.

Three of the commonwealth's men's basketball programs did win games in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and none of them were the University of Kentucky.

Louisville, Western Kentucky and Morehead State all won in last season's Large Waltz. In what turned out to be the final year of Billy Gillispie's brief coaching reign, UK went to the NIT.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1007694.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1007694.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:28 EST
If Kentucky college football had a similar exercise, it might be called The One Degree of Dean Hood.

The Eastern Kentucky University head coach who will lead the Colonels into Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday to face Kentucky has direct ties to some of the biggest names in college football coaching.

Take Florida's Urban Meyer.

In the early 1980s, Meyer and Hood were star athletes at rival high schools in Ashtabula, Ohio. Hood was a tight end and middle linebacker for Harbor High, a public school. Meyer was a tailback and free safety for St. John's High, a Catholic school.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1003284.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1003284.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:42 EST
Not in a college basketball exhibition with a (very talented) major college team against an NAIA squad of uncertain pedigree.

Especially not when the major college program is in the first game of a brand-new coaching regime.

Ah, but making judgments out of games like Kentucky's 74-38 exhibition victory over Campbellsville is irresistible.

So let's not fight it.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1001074.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1001074.html Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:54 EST
In a game the Wildcats really needed, they had no luck stopping the attack of Meyer's old offensive coordinator.

With running back Anthony Dixon running around, through and over a shockingly porous Kentucky defensive front, Mississippi State hung a 31-24 defeat on UK Saturday in a chilled Commonwealth Stadium.

Dan Mullen, who called the plays for the Florida offense that hung 63 points on the Cats last season in The Swamp, is the new Mississippi State head man.

At MSU, he doesn't have a Tim Tebow or a fleet of sleek skill players surrounding him.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1000649.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/1000649.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:14 EST
It didn't help that injury had created instability at the quarterback position.

After that happened, the idea took shape of trying the team's best receiver at QB.

UK football with Randall Cobb in 2009?

Yes.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/998249.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/998249.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:45 EDT
Which is why the recruiting victory that Matthew Mitchell and Co. had in the Derby City last fall was especially sweet.

From the moment Iroquois High School star A'dia Mathies said no to Florida and hometown U of L and yes to UK in the early signing period, she says she started fielding the same question over and over and over in Jefferson County.

"It wasn't that people in Louisville gave me a lot of grief," Mathies said Thursday at Kentucky's women's basketball Media Day. "They just wanted to know why."

After Louisville which has beaten Kentucky five years in a row advanced to last season's national championship game, the questions for Mathies only increased.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/993422.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/993422.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:44 EDT
Yet rather than a vertical challenge, maybe UK football's greatest obstacle of geography is horizontal.

Since 2006, when the Rich Brooks era uptick in Kentucky's football fortunes commenced, UK is a most respectable 7-4 in contests against foes from the SEC West.

In the past four seasons, Kentucky has beaten every team in the West except for Alabama.

If the Cats can defeat Mississippi State on Halloween Night in Commonwealth Stadium, they will clinch their fourth-straight season with a winning record (all 2-1 marks) against the West.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/991280.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/991280.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:28 EST
Since the Mike Hartline injury, Kentucky is trying to play not two, but three quarterbacks.

So far, UK's three-headed quarterback platoon has managed to spit in the eye of pigskin convention.

"We've made some mistakes but we're 2-0 in that situation," said Kentucky tri-quarterback Will Fidler. "So you have to say it is going pretty well."

Kentucky beat Louisiana-Monroe by the deceptive score of 36-13 Saturday night before 68,203 chilled fans in Commonwealth Stadium. A Randall Cobb punt return touchdown and a Randall Burden TD off an interception (it was a good night for Randalls) helped Kentucky win decisively in a game in which it was outgained (377-330) by the visitors from the Sun Belt Conference.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/988287.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/988287.html Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:08 EDT
Who knows what kind of object that one wouldn't want to step on might be dropped along a sideline?

College football players wear cleats; having one's toes crushed by them sounds remarkably unpleasant.

What if it snows?

As you'll see, Morehead State head football coach Matt Ballard has thought of all this. Yet for the Eagles' homecoming game Saturday, he's going barefoot anyway.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/983769.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/983769.html Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:32 EDT
His challenge: Come up with the best word(s) to describe Randall Cobb and the dramatic impact the sophomore playmaker is having on the 2009 Kentucky football season.

The dynamic Cobb's fourth-quarter heroics have accounted for UK's two biggest wins of the season, Saturday's uplifting road victory at Auburn and last month's narrow home escape against Louisville.

Said Brooks: "A lot of you guys who write or speak for a living will be more eloquent and find the right adjective."

Given a quest, I conferred with a panel (of Jeffs) on the best description for Randall Cobb.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/981346.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/981346.html Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:03 EDT
I imagine it is a little like asking Hugh Hefner to pick the 25 most attractive playmates. You get an impressive list but you have a whole lot of beauty left over.

Over the last 26 seasons, UK has played far more than its share of truly epic college basketball games.

Starting today and running each day in the Herald-Leader and on Kentucky-Sports.com until Nov. 11, you will see the 25 Kentucky games I have chosen.

I'd say 90 percent of the schools that play NCAA basketball would kill for a list filled with the kind of games that didn't make my list of memorable Cats contests.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/979057.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/979057.html Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:28 EDT
Well, get ready. It appears the Cats have the guard play to crank things up.

At Kentucky basketball media day, 2009, one theme was persistent: John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, UK's two lavishly hyped freshman point guards, are about to take Kentucky basketball to warp speed.

Perry Stevenson reminisced about the first time he was on the court with Wall, the basketball prodigy some are touting for national college basketball player of the year before he's ever played in a real-life college basketball game .

"I don't even think I saw him he was moving too fast," Stevenson said.]]>