UNDERTHEBRIDGE

I just saw this a second ago while looking up something on Bill Keightley. Pretty sad thing to hear about.

While he might not have had as huge expectations on his shoulders as I predicted than, he is still making the choice I expected. Good luck to the kid. I hope him the best just as I did with Lofton years ago.

Haha, I was pretty certain I'd have heard something about this already today if it had been true so I wasn't worried. Still, considering all day i've avoided any April Fool's jokes, this was appreciated.

Man, this completely took me off guard. How many times can you randomly be looking at sports on yahoo.com and see a story about your favorite team's Equipment Manager passing away. Few men have ever touched an entire fan base like this guy did. Really, might have been the most recognizable person of the University of Kentucky. Crushed. RIP Mr. Wildcat.

Then does this call into question his motives for being such a "great promoter" for the program? Is he really just trying to promote himself for something bigger and better, and it just so happens that the program he is currently with benefits? I mean, if UT isn't where he wants to end up, then it would be assumed he is only looking to take the wagon half way, he has no intention of finishing the trip. Obviously, all coaching is as much a part of self promotion as much as team achievement, but I cannot see at this juncture that Pearl will arrive at a national championship until he does what Memphis has done and recruits so much talent that they can forget all even sense of a game plan and simply attempt to win it all on pure talent alone.

I sit behind the visiting team's bench at UK games occassionally and this year I was fortunate enought to be there for the UT game. Orange and red don't really look good together.

I can't even call the Memphis win necessarily a big one because I find Calipari about as bad at times. Coaches like Roy Williams, Coach K, Pitino, Howland recently, even Billy D, really get what its about to have a team that can run and gun, but also be able to slow down at times, take a breath, run the offense, and let the game come to them. Calipari I find only to be so so. If it weren't for his one season at UMass I'd write him off completely. I guess if Pearl wins in a year or two I'll eat crow, but for now I feel pretty safe.

I'm confused, what would have changed one of these two getting the vote if it had been unfair or biased? I can only assume you mean Novosel would have gotten the vote, but considering the grand total of Zero Lex Cath girls to have ever recieved Miss Basketball, I don't see a problem there. Then look at the city the girls you named versus Novosel is from and I see Louisville being a bigger bonus. Novosel has more hype I guess would be the final arguement, but I would think Reid had just as much if not more and I think Gibbs might be going to the best program of the three so who knows.... In all honesty, Gibbs deserved the award in the end for leading her team to the championship. All three girls really were one girl shows for their teams in the end. Novosel might have had the best supporting player in Green, however this year Green was very inconsistent. I don't know what the head to head was for Fern Creek and Butler if they played at all, but I also know that Lex Cath played Butler in December and beat them pretty soundly.

By the way, what is the over/under on the amount of times Pearl tans each week? Or is it just spray tanning once a week? Just curious.

No doubt my favorite cinderella story (so to speak) in the NCAA tournament in awhile, just got eliminated. Loved watching Brazelton. Wish I had seen a lot more of Western this year. I see no reason for this team to hang their heads. They went up against UCLA and looked every bit as capable of playing with them. In the end, UCLA's height seemed to be their undoing. Love is a talent like few you get to see.

I find little organization to his chaos. It wins games, don't get me wrong. He has athletes that can play the game. But it seems like they are playing a pickup game out there most the time. I never see a period of time where they have a half court game plan of any sort. Superior teams in terms of stars can win games against teams they have more talent than. However, when the talent level suddenly becomes equal and the coaching adjustments are called into play, I'm not sure Pearl is the guy I would want on my bench. People can throw out the Memphis win but frankly, I don't find Memphis and Calipari to be much different from UT and Pearl.

The guy has really given a shot of life to a once lukewarm program. He recruits athletes who love to run and gun. He sets up a chaotic style of basketball that thrives on turnovers and fastbreak points. The guy has done well for himself it seems everywhere he goes. However, I still remain unimpressed by his ingame coaching abilities. Heck even his game plan coming into games seems to lack any change. He seems to want to come into every game throwing punches and expects this plan to work. Tonight for instance he ran up against a team that took the punches. Countered well. Survived the initial onslaught with a lead actually, and then seemed to adjust and exploit Tennessee's over pursuit and overzelousness of every possession. His game plan can beat teams that might be mediocre or aren't playing well. But if a team can find their rhythm, make adjustments to the run and gun style, and get UT out of their own rhythm, he seems unable to really find a way to adjust. Maybe im off base here. It wouldn't be the first time, this just is an idea I've begun to arrive at the past year.

Think UofL beating UT tonight changes anything? Personally I think UT's wide open, high octane offense, coupled with the fact Hopson won't have the ridiculous expectations on his shoulders to carry the program, and also Pearl's loose feel good atmosphere versus Billy G's boot camp esque style really makes it the choice over UK.

Beat a relatively good and at one time #1 team in the country UT team by 19 and they played poorly doing it. Scary what happens if they even make half the mistakes and bad decisions.

Lookin ugly. UT surprised me a bit with their game play early. I expected a bit slower gameplan with them really working on drives to the basket to get Padgett in foul trouble. After that I figured, Earl Clark and Tyler Smith match up head to head with the athletes/guards battling it out. As it turned out, UT ran a lot causing chaos both good and bad. Chism becomes a casualty of foul trouble early, Lofton doesn't find his shot, the team looks unorganized, UofL makes enough good plays when it mattered. I just don't think Pearl is a good game coach. He has the athletes and recruiting prowess. Sets up a pretty exciting style of basketball. He just doesn't impress me with in game decisions. Pitino, obviously does well. Good win UofL. I wouldn't hand UNC the region just yet.

What piece of Lofton's shot did smith get there? I saw a lot of hand, no ball.

No worries, I didn't take it as critical of Lex Cath. I was just stating my opinion of Lex Cath's speed. I agree long and aggressive also account for a lot of the Knight's defensive pressure.

Botkin has a bit more quickness than you might think. Tribble also isn't necessarily fast but does well guarding and pressuring other team's guards on defense. Finally, I'd say while he doesn't get a lot of play, and is totally out of control at times, Corvin, an occassional 4 or 5 for the Knights has speed. Was a star wide reciever for the school.

I'm gonna assume Mason Co. vs. Elliot is at the half???

Lexington Catholic just needs to keep playing their game. Team ball and tons of pressure. No game can be overlooked and I doubt the team will do that. Go Knights, good luck tomorrow.

I missed the game today so I don't know how bad in person it looked, but I'd give UHA a bit of a break. I saw Bryan Station get dismantled handling the Lex Cath pressure when these two played, and I am pretty certain Bryan Station is a better team than what I got to see. However, Lex Cath brings the pressure hard, and with their length, size, physicality, really get in team's heads. They can make good teams look bad at times. Still, find a team with a ball handler or two who can remain calm and not force things and I think Lex Cath can suffer some.

He played. Simple as that. He recieved inappropriate funds from the school because of hardships in paying the tuition therefore being a violation of KHSAA regulations. Therefore when the KHSAA lowered the hammer, they took away victories in which an athlete involved in the violations participated. Check the football wins/losses from the same time period, they got hit the worst. I went from playing for four seasons and having a total of 7 losses in my high school career to playing four seasons and having a total of 20+ losses after the KHSAA enforced everything.

I think the point is that, for Scott Co. the transfer of Dakotah is quite fortuitous as it gives them a very dominating front line, one that was already quite impressive before hand. While the program's prestige probably helps in the drawing process, it is lucky for them to have a player of that caliber land in their laps. Just as if Lex Cath, Dunbar, Madison Central, etc. were to have had him suddenly transfer there it would be quite lucky and by chance that they happened to land him.

That wouldn't be the case because Green was a starter and played in all games, as was the case for the rest of the starters. I believe and this is me just trying to remember since its been awhile but there was a freshman involved in Lex Cath's KHSAA violations who also played football at the school that year who was rarely used in both sports but did get some playing time occassionally, mainly in mop up situations, and that is where the forfeits came from in both sports. The student left the school after that year to go to another Lexington school.

Happy to see the Knights won today. I only got to catch this on the radio seeing as I was at work all day, but it sounded as if Lex Cath really brought the defense in the first half before wilting a bit in the second half. Still, this team has a lot of weapons you must contain and you have to do it the entire 32 minutes because one let up can mean a quick run.