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Tubby vs. Pitino in Rupp? Why not?

Also: Bowl bonuses and recruiting flops

Mark Story

Nuggets to spice the eggnog:

■ This coming Saturday, a basketball event of special historical significance to University of Kentucky fans will take place in Phoenix of all places.

Rick Pitino and Louisville will face Tubby Smith and Minnesota in a matchup of former UK head coaches.

My thought: Wouldn't this historically rare meeting between ex-top Cats have just rocked if it was held in Rupp Arena?

Bill Owen, president and chief executive officer of the Lexington Center Corp., says he knows of no serious discussions about bringing Ricky P. vs. Tubby to Rupp.

Owen says that, by contract, for any team other than UK to play a regular-season game in Rupp Arena would require the approval of the University of Kentucky.

My guess is Sean Hannity would take a job in the Obama Administration before UK would agree to let Louisville play a home game in Rupp.

"If anybody proposed bringing that game here, I don't know about it," Owen said of the Smith-Pitino matchup. "So we never had any reason to even mention that to UK."

■ When sports teams tail off at the end of seasons, coaches sometimes feel compelled to point out that they are every bit as disappointed as angry fans.

Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks has 25,000 reasons to feel worse than any fan about UK's late-season swoon.

According to his contract, Brooks gets a $75,000 bonus if Kentucky makes a bowl game that pays the Southeastern Conference representative at least $2 million.

However, if the bowl pays under $2 million to the SEC team, Brooks gets "only" $50,000.

When UK was 6-3 after winning at Mississippi State, it appeared the Cats had a viable chance at the Outback Bowl ($3 million payout) or the Chick-fil-A Bowl ($2.4 million to the SEC team).

Instead, Kentucky lost its final three games. It ended up in the Liberty Bowl ($1.8 million payout).

Quicker than you can say "Lose at home to Vandy and lose every year to Tennessee," the UK head coach missed out on an extra $25,000.

■ According to his contract, the bowl trip to Memphis will earn Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart a $30,000 bonus.

■ For college football players, the best part about making a post-season game are the bowl gifts.

According to Liberty Bowl officials, this is what the Kentucky and East Carolina players will get on their trip to Memphis:

A camcorder/media player; a Fossil watch; a commemorative Auto Zone Liberty Bowl football; plus running shoes, sports sandals, a sports band (device that measures workout times etc. ...), and sunglasses, all from Nike.

■ A persistent problem for Kentucky football in 2008 was spotty play at wide receiver.

UK's pass-catching maladies this fall can be traced to the recruiting class of 2006.

That year, Kentucky signed five high school receivers: Markus Boswell, Terrance Jones, Michael Strickland, Darrell Stevens and LaShun Watson.

Of the five, the 6-foot-5 Watson, a multi-sport star from Greenville, Ga., who also had scholarship offers from SEC schools to play basketball, was considered the prize catch(er).

"The guy I am most excited about," UK offensive coordinator Joker Phillips said of Watson at the time.

As it turned out, this class of receivers that needed to be ready to step in this fall after the graduation of Keenan Burton et. al was a complete bust.

Boswell never got eligible at Kentucky. Strickland played only briefly in 2006. Stevens and Jones battled injuries, never made any on-the-field impact at UK and are no longer listed on the team's roster.

The prize of the class, meanwhile, is a college starter.

Just not at Kentucky. And not in football.

Watson had a late change of heart before reporting to UK and decided to play basketball in college. After two years at a Florida junior college, he is now a starting forward at South Alabama.

Going into USA's Saturday night meeting with Mississippi State, Watson was averaging 6.9 points and almost five rebounds for the Jaguars.

■ When it comes to men's college basketball, do you believe in comparative scores?

If so, consider:

Morehead State beat Murray State 79-74.

Murray State beat Western Kentucky 89-61.

Western Kentucky beat Louisville 68-54.

Louisville plays Kentucky on Jan. 4 in Freedom Hall.

U of L will be heavily favored to beat UK.

If the Cards win, then by the right of comparative scores, Morehead State can start printing up state championship T-shirts.

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