John Clay’s notes: Win over UK should put LSU in tourney

Random notes:

▪ Best guess: If LSU beats Kentucky on Saturday in Rupp Arena, the Tigers are in the NCAA Tournament. A win would make them 19-12 overall and 12-6 in the SEC. They will have swept Kentucky. They have Ben Simmons. Texas A&M, UK, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are getting in the NCAA Tournament. LSU could be the fifth.

▪ Give it up for Tom Crean. His Indiana Hoosiers were 16-20 in the Big Ten over the last two seasons. They were lit up 94-74 at Duke way back on Dec. 2. Yet Crean’s club pulled it all back together and clinched the Big Ten title outright with an 81-78 win at Iowa on Tuesday night.

▪ It should be noted that Indiana won the title without James Blackmon Jr., perhaps Crean’s best scorer. The son of former UK star James Blackmon Sr., has been out since early January after injuring his ACL.

▪ Probably in the minority, but I think Rick Pitino will be the coach at Louisville next season.

▪ Not sure I’ve ever seen a team not shoot a free throw in the first half and shoot 32 free throws in the second half. That’s what Kentucky did Tuesday night in Gainesville.

▪ Florida made just 16 of 37 free throws on Tuesday night for 43.2 percent. That’s the lowest free throw percentage by a Kentucky opponent that shot at least 20 free throws in a game in the John Calipari era. The previous low was owned by UNC-Asheville, which made 10 of 21 free throws for just 47.6 percent on Nov. 8, 2013.

▪ Here’s what Pat Dooley wrote in the Gainesville Sun, “When the construction workers begin renovating the inside of the O’Connell Center in a couple of weeks, they had better bring a few dump trucks full of Lysol. They’ll need it to rid the place of the smell left behind at the free-throw lines by the last Florida team to play in the place.”

▪ Florida’s NCAA chances are cooked, by the way, unless the Gators can somehow win the SEC Tournament.

▪ Vanderbilt’s court-storming after the Commodores’ win over then 16th-ranked and seven-loss Kentucky is the most recent example that court-storming has jumped the shark. It also cost the school $100,000. (I do like the way Vanderbilt is playing heading into the postseason.)

▪ Congrats to former UK associate athletics director Scott Stricklin, now the athletic director at Mississippi State, who received the 2015-16 Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year Award from the National Association of College Directors of Athletics on Wednesday.

▪ Am actually a little surprised that Mike Krzyzewski didn’t sit guard Grayson Allen at least for just a few minutes at the start of Duke’s next game after the guard intentionally tripped a Florida State player last week, the second time in a month Allen had tripped an opponent. Coach K had a chance to make a point and he passed. Guess the point he wanted to make was that he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. He’s Coach K.

▪ By the way, even John Feinstein thought Coach K should have suspended Allen. “What I think should have happened was Mike Krzyzewski should have suspended him,” Feinstein told the Comcast Sports Network. “Because it would have been the best thing for the kid and for Duke.”

▪ The Ivy League is moving to eliminate tackling at football practices, which might be the first step toward eliminating football altogether.

▪ Since football is still around, however, President Obama welcomed Alabama back to the White House on Tuesday as national champions for the fourth time during his administration. The president joked, “You can call me ‘O-bama.’ You like that?”

▪ Joey Votto got two hits in the Reds’ exhibition opener on Tuesday in Arizona. Baseball has begun.

▪ Happy Birthday to former Louisville basketball coach Denny Crum, winner of two NCAA titles, who turned 79 Wednesday.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 6:57 PM with the headline "John Clay’s notes: Win over UK should put LSU in tourney."