Sidelines

Louisville 28th, UK 45th in Director's Cup

Updated with new stats. (See bottom of post.)

Remember when Mitch Barnhart, on the day of his hiring as Kentucky's athletics director, promised that UK would "own the state."

Didn't happen in 2006-07.

The U.S. Sports Academy Director's Cup ranks universities by their success in all sports. The rankings for 2006-07 are out and Louisville placed 28th, while Kentucky was 45th.

Here is the top 20:

• 1. Stanford
• 2. UCLA
• 3. North Carolina
• 4. Michigan
• 5. Southern California
• 6. Florida
• 7. Tennessee
• 8. Texas
• 9. California
• 10. Arizona State
• 11. Duke
• 12. Georgia
• 13. Virginia
• 14. Ohio State
• 15. Florida State
• 16. Wisconsin
• 17. LSU
• 18. Texas A&M
• 19. Auburn
• 20. Minnesota

Others of note

• 22. Notre Dame
• 28. Louisville
• 31. Arkansas
• 32. South Carolina
• 33. Vanderbilt
• 43. Alabama
• 45. Kentucky
• 49. Ole Miss
• 50. Indiana

Postscript: Alert reader Chris checks in with rankings over the past few years that paints UK's effort vs. Louisville in the Director's Cup in a little better light. Here they are:

UK

2001 - 37
2002 - 36
2003 - 50
2004 - 45
2005 - 35
2006 - 33
2007 - 45
Average - 40

UofL

1997 - 100
1998 - 142
1999 - 131
2000 - 174
2001 - 151
2002 - 157
2003 - 150
2004 - 106
2005 - 50
2006 - 54
2007 - 28
Average - 113

Bittersweet time for the baseball Cats

The Gainesville Sun reports  that Florida will name its new baseball coach today and it will NOT be UK coach John Cohen, the former Florida assistant feared to be near the top of Jeremy Foley's wish list. Instead, it will be Kevin O'Sullivan, assistant head coach at Clemson.

I had lunch with Mitch Barnhart last Friday, and though it was a casual, off-the-record meal, it's not talking out of school to say the UK athletics director was worried about Florida's possible interest in his baseball coach. It's not known whether the Gators ever spoke with Cohen, or whether Foley knew O'Sullivan was his target all along.

Thus it's sort of a bittersweet time for the baseball Cats.

Last year, Kentucky turned in a miraculous campaign, winning its first SEC title, playing host to an NCAA Regional. Cohen earned several National Coach of the Year honors. Then one year later, under the guidance of a brand new head coach, arch-rival Louisville goes the Cats one better, becoming the first school in history from this state to reach the College World Series. Louisville plays Rice at 2 p.m. on Friday to open CWS play.

UK and U of L split their two games this season. Louisville won 8-1 in Louisville on April 11. Kentucky won 9-5 in Lexington two weeks later. Cohen's Cats finished the year 34-19-1, but just 13-16-1 in the ultra-competitive SEC and failed to qualify for the conference tournament. (Not having star outfielder Colin Cowgill all season didn't help the Cat cause.) Meanwhile, Louisville is currently 46-22, and the Cards will be the beneficiaries of more national exposure the longer they remain the CWS.

That can't sit too well with Cohen and Company. What does sit well is that now that the Florida opening is filled, Cohen is still around.

C-J reporter/blogger kicked out of press box

Updated at 1:15 with new link.

Kudos to e-mailer Chris who brought this report to my attention concerning Courier-Journal reporter (and former Herald-Leader colleague) Brian Bennett being ejected from the press box at Patterson Stadium on Sunday because he was live-blogging during U of L's 20-2 win over Oklahoma State.

The NCAA claimed that it does not allow live-blogging during its championship events.

That's news to me, someone who has live-blogged during UK's games in the NCAA Basketball Tournament and during the Final Four the past two years. At no time was I presented with any regulations by the NCAA that prohibited live-blogging during its events.

If there is such a rule, it is an asinine one -- another in a long list of misguided NCAA rule-making. The Courier-Journal is in the business of reporting. That was what Bennett was doing during the Super Regional, posting periodic updates on the C-J website during Louisville's games, just as I do during UK football and basketball games. Just as some bloggers do from their couches at home while watching games, or TV shows, etc.

Does anyone actually believe that such reporting/commentary is the same as the immediacy of a television broadcast, etc.? Especially for a sport such as college baseball, you might think the NCAA would welcome all the coverage it could muster. From what I understand, the city of Louisville went nuts over the baseball Cards success, a fact that obviously helps the NCAA in promoting its events. The more coverage the better. Instead, the corporate spoil-sports in Indianapolis appear more interested in shooting themselves in the foot.

Links:

• Here is another account of the controversy. [E&P]
• Russ Brown's story. [Kentucky.com]
• Another blogger's perspective. [More Than Derby]

UK and U of L basketball tidbits

News and notes concerning UK hoops:

• Rivals.com final rankings place Patrick Patterson as the 17th best player in the nation. [Rivals]

• Prime target Darius Miller, the 6-foot-6 swing man from Mason County, is going on a European vacation. A working vacation. [News-Gazette]

• Billy Gillispie tells Lonnie Wheeler he's still feeling his way. [Cincinnati Post]

• Tubby Smith finally officially names his first Minnesota staff. [Golden Sports]

• Matt Mitchell announces his first UK women's basketball staff. [UK athletics]

• Kentucky not listed in Texas guard Willie Warren's final six report of six schools recruiting Texas guard Willie Warren. [Dallas Morning News]

• Louisville will play Purdue in the Wooden Tradition in Indianapolis next season. [AP]

• Big man Jeff Withey backs out of commitment to Louisville. [Arizona Daily Star]

Cats hot on trail of Greg Monroe

Basketball links:

• Kentucky listed in top 10 schools that have done the most work trying to get 6-10 senior-to-be superstar Greg Monroe.  (Note:  Billy Gillispie's name is misspelled in story). [Times-Picayune]

• Luke Winn on the patience of Patrick Patterson. [SportsIllustrated.com]

• Indiana big man Tyler Zeller has received a scholarship offer from Billy Gillispie. [Hickory Husker (subscription)]

• More Tyler Zeller information. [USA Today]

• Kevin Willard has much to do as the new head coach at Iona. [Journal-News]

• Tennessee receives commitment from Phillip Jurick, a 6-11 center, for 2008. [Chattanooga Times Free Press] [Tennessean]

How good is Reginald Delk?

Rick Pitino has another Delk. This time it's Reginald Delk, nephew of former UK star Tony Delk, twin brother of Richard Delk, and former Mississippi State Bulldog who announced yesterday he is transferring to Louisville. (Richard is also transferring but will attend another school.)

Here are some notes on the 6-4 sophomore from Jackson, Tenn.:

• Reginald started all 35 MSU games and averaged 26.1 minutes per game.

• He averaged 8.9 points as a freshman and 9.5 points last season.

• He had five SEC games in which he scored 15-or-more points, including a high of 22 points at Georgia on Feb. 24.

• Delk made at least three three-pointers in six SEC games, including a high of six triples in that Georgia game.

• He made 35.4 percent of his three-pointers on the year.

• He ranked seventh in the SEC in three-point shooting in conference games only, at 38.2 percent

• Here is a Jackson Clarion-Ledger report. [Clarion-Ledger]

Billy G and more

Updated at 2:20 p.m.

Some links of interest:

• Jeff Goodman says Mitch Barnhart should have gone after Tom Izzo. [foxsports.com]

• Jai Lucas visiting Florida this weekend. [Gainesville Sun]

• Stewart Mandel ranks the top 10 active coaches. He puts Rick Pitino at No. 5 and Billy Gillispie at No. 10. [SportsIllustrated.com]

• UK is after Mason County's Darius Miller. [Kentucky.com]

• Here's a San Antonio writer who takes up for Billy G. [San Antonio News Express]

• Jason Brubaker gives his take on Gillispie. [Collegehoops.net]

• Garry Parrish speculates on just how the Billy G. hiring went down. [cbs.sportsline]

• John Pelphrey goes right to work at Arkansas. [Springdale Morning News]

• Jim Pinson is one Arkansas writer not wowed by Pelphrey. [Nashville News]

• Bill Donovan's comments on why his son stayed at Florida. [Rockville Herald]

• Steffphon Pettigrew is excited about the Derby Festival. [News Enterprise]

• How the local paper reported Preston Knowles' signing with Louisville. [Winchester Sun]

Willard headed to Iona

Louisville assistant Kevin Willard is about to get his first head coaching job, Pat Forde of espn.com reports. Willard has agreed to become the head coach at Iona, replacing the fired Jeff Ruland. Willard is the son of former UK assistant and current Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard. U of L coach Rick Pitino compares Willard to a young Billy Donovan. "He's got the same background and the same work ethic," said Pitino. Iona went 2-28 overall and 1-17 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this past season.

Louisville keeps on rolling

Louisville keeps on rolling. The Cards earned their fourth straight win and third straight Big East win with a 69-53 triumph at a rebuilding Cincinnati last night.

Some observations:

• The Cards appear much more comfortable in their roles than they did early in the year. Rick Pitino has settled into a starting rotation with Terrence Williams and Juan Palacios at the forwards, David Padgett at center and Brandon Jenkins and Edgar Sosa at the guards. The experimentation appears to be over.

• Padgett is playing very well. The center scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against the under-sized Bearccats. He's averaging 16.3 points per game over his last three games.

• Louisville scored the first 11 points of the game, the last 12 points of the first half, and made a key 7-0 run early in the second half.

• Terrence Williams never met a shot he didn't like, but did hit a big three with 1:25 left to kill any Cincinnati hope of a comeback.

• Williams had 13 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

• Mick Cronin is up against it this year at UC, but Pitino told the Bearcat crowd after the game that his former assistant will get the job done.

• The Cards are at Villanova on Saturday. It's a noon game, on ESPN2.

• Louisville is 16-6 overall and 6-2 in the Big East.

Brohm comes back

This is why Tom Jurich acted so quickly. To keep the momentum going. To keep Louisville in the national football conversation. And, ultimately, to keep Brian Brohm from turning pro.

The Louisville quarterback earned his latest standing ovation from Louisville fans this morning when he announced that he will return to U of L for his senior year.

Surely, Jurich's pre-planning for the eventuality of Bobby Petrino's exit, and quick hiring of new head coach Steve Kragthorpe, a former NFL quarterbacks coach with a strong background in offense, figured heavily in Brohm's decision. Surely the fact that Brohm's brother, Jeff, was talked out of taking the offensive coordinator's job at Alabama and into remaining at Louisville to be assistant head coach helped the younger Brohm pick one more year.

So expect Louisville to be loaded again in '07. True, Michael Bush is entering the pro ranks, but the Cards were basically 11-1 without Bush this season. Wideouts Harry Douglas and Mario Urrutia will be back. Running backs George Stripling and Anthony Allen will be back. Kragthorpe has retained a couple of key people from Petrino's staff -- Greg Nord and Mike Cassity.

Kudos, too, to Brohm for wanting to return. Yes, he could get hurt. Yes, he could be picked apart by the pro scouts next season. But unlike many other positions, quarterbacks who come out early for the NFL draft sometimes don't fare as well. They often end up with teams who force young quarterbacks into action before they are ready. Ask Tim Couch.