Category: Sports

The KSR Friday Night Pick ‘em

Posted on December 2, 2015 by in Sports

KSRStarting this very evening, I’ll be running a new feature where the KSR staff takes some of the weekend’s best games and makes their picks for the world to consume. The picks will serve as part preview of the weekend, part battle for supreme bragging rights and the right to use Will Lentz as a footstool at the KSR compound. I’ll give you my thoughts on the games and picks in this space, and we’ll track the crew’s success as Kate inevitably kicks all our asses. And, if I can think of a good way to involve our loyal readers without me having to read and track 35,000 picks in the comments or through email, we might put a KSR prize you’ll never receive on the line. We’ll see. For now, enjoy the product of literally minutes of frantic research on my part.

Texas A&M (12-4, 1-1) At #1 Texas (16-0, 2-0)

The top team in the nation meets one of its most bitter rivals in what I wish would be the first loss of the season for the Longhorns. A rivalry game against an A&M team that is decent could potentially spell trouble. What it will probably spell is a game that’s closer than it should be for a while before the talent up and down Texas’ roster proves too much for Billy Clyde’s former employer. The Horns are a unanimous choice from the writers, as well, and who am I to shirk convention?

#5 Syracuse (16-1, 3-1) At #9 West Virginia (13-2, 4-1)

By far the toughest game of the weekend to pick. One was a trendy Final Four pick in the early season, the other came by surprise to storm into the top five. Both teams are talented and the coaching matchup is a push, because how could I choose between Mr Whitefolks and Clark Griswold? Typically I like the home team in games like this, but the Syracuse zone is tough and will cause West Virginia problems, which is why I’m taking the Orange.

#23 Ole Miss (13-3, 1-1) At #10 Tennessee (13-2, 1-0)

There’s a cute little story brewing down in Knoxville, now isn’t there? The 78 basketball fans in Vol Nation are rocking, and the last time I saw this kind of rally around someone named Skyler, she was pulling dollar bills out of people’s mouths with her boobies. Yes, the fairytale is one that warms your heart and that the sentimentalist in you hopes can continue forever. And the truth is, it can go on forever. Or, at least, until Ole Miss and their stable of guards invade Thompson-Boling and remind the Vols that you can only last so long with six scholarship players. The fun’s over.

Georgia Tech

#18 Georgia Tech (12-4, 1-2) At #13 North Carolina (12-5, 1-1)

North Carolina came into the season as some people’s Final Four pick. Georgia Tech came into the season with major sleeper potential, as their roster is full of quality talent. Georgia Tech has been pretty much what people expected. Carolina has not. The Heels got spanked Wednesday night against Clemson, and have been terrible on the road this year. However, this game isn’t on the road, and I feel like Carolina will bounce back well in their own gym, even though I hate them. Heels take this one.

Louisville (12-5, 3-1) At #20 Pittsburgh (14-2, 4-0)

Another member of the ‘please beat someone to help Kentucky’s RPI’ club is evil Louisville. Of course, Kentucky’s RPI doesn’t have a hefty wager with a friend that the Cards won’t make the NCAA tournament. I do have one of those wagers and, luckily for me, I expect Rufio Siva and the gang to continue to prove me right in Pittsburgh tomorrow. The Cards have beaten no one of consequence and missed their best shot at it Monday against Villanova, instead looking destined for a .500 or below finish in the conference and the NIT. I’m gonna be rich.

Vanderbilt (13-3, 2-0) At South Carolina (11-5, 2-0)

Two of Kentucky’s SEC East brethren meet in Columbia and one side will suffer their first conference loss. If the game were in Vandy’s space station gym, I’d like their chances against a depleted South Carolina squad. However, with the game on planet Earth, I expect Devan Downey to have something like 115 and South Carolina to beat the giant Aussie and potentially make him one shade pastier, if that’s possible.

Notre Dame (14-3, 3-1) At Cincinnati (11-6, 2-3)

Cincy turned heads early in the year with their near triumph in Maui and a win over UConn. Now, that win over UConn doesn’t look quite as good and the Bearcats have lost three of four against the likes of St. Johns and Seton Hall. Cincy has Lance Stephenson, but Notre Dame still has Luke Harangody. Born Ready…meet created in a lab and hungry…for…your..brains. Irish win on the road.

#11 Georgetown (13-2, 4-1) At #4 Villanova (15-1, 4-0)

If I were to include a fourth team in the group with Texas, Kansas and Kentucky, it would be Villanova. They’re a flukie loss to Temple away from being undefeated, and Scottie Reynolds just got done putting 30 on the filthy Cards in the second half Monday night. Georgetown can be like watching paint dry, so I’m picking Villanova in the name of entertainment if nothing else. Another one the staff will unanimously have to eat it for if we’re wrong.

 
Minnesota At Indiana

Minnesota (12-5, 3-2) At Indiana (7-9, 1-3)

Outside of a three-game losing streak early in the season, Tubby’s troops have been respectably solid this year. On the other side, Indiana is terrible. Not good. At all. Picking the Hoosiers in any game this year would fall under, “things that are a bad idea under any curcumstances,” along with assless chaps and clear liquor from plastic bottles. That said, I’m still taking them. What can I say? I shirk convention.

#15 UConn (11-5, 2-3) At Michigan (9-7, 3-2)

UConn looks less and less impressive the more I see of them, and they really haven’t registered a win over a good team all year. However, John Beilein’s brand of wacky-ball hasn’t taken hold up north, and he’s basically the other guy Michigan poached from West Virginia who hasn’t delivered, but lucky for him no one cares. I don’t think Michigan is good enough to beat UConn, even at home, but it’s awfully tempting to take them anyway because the Huskies have been so unimpressive. Still, I feel like I should take UConn, and since BTI is taking the Wolverines, I know I’m right.

See the writers’ picks below, and have a good time enjoying one of the best weekends of the NFL season. Or, if you’re a Bengals fan like me and can’t stomach thinking about NFL football, enjoy a weekend full of college basketball that didn’t matter before the writing of this post but now matters a great deal.

 

A&M/Texas Cuse/WVU Miss/Tenn GT/UNC Ville/Pitt Vandy/USC ND/Cincy Gtown/Nova Uconn/Mich Minn/Ind
Matt Texas WVU Tenn UNC Pitt USC Cincy Nova UConn Minn
Beisner Texas WVU Miss UNC Pitt Vandy Cincy Nova UConn Minn
BTI Texas Cuse Miss UNC Pitt USC Cincy Nova Mich Minn
Intern Texas WVU Miss UNC Pitt Vandy Cincy Nova UConn Minn
Drew Texas WVU Miss UNC Pitt Vandy Cincy Nova UConn Minn
Dustin Texas WVU Miss UNC L-Ville Vandy Cincy Nova UConn Ind
Kate Texas WVU Miss GT Pitt USC ND Nova UConn Minn
Lentz Texas WVU Miss UNC L-Ville USC ND Nova Mich Ind
Johns Texas WVU Miss UNC L-Ville USC ND Nova UConn Ind
Barker Texas Cuse Miss UNC Pitt Vandy Cincy Nova UConn Ind
Hunter Texas Cuse Miss UNC Pitt USC ND Nova UConn Ind
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Logan Gihring’s Tuesday News And Views

Posted on September 10, 2015 by in Sports

Logan Gihrings

Hello, friends. How are you? Have you heard the story about the high school football player who hung up his pads for to join the cheerleading squad? No? Well let me tell you about him. Logan Gihring, a junior at Interstate 35 High School in Iowa, quit the Road Runners football team to become a cheerleader. His reasons are pretty simple, too. “Well, girls, for one,” he said. “And you don’t have a coach yelling at you every five seconds.” Gihring’s mother says she was worried about her son’s safety because the town is full of camouflage, pickup trucks, and hunters. Whatever that means.

“I’m having a blast. It’s awesome.”

Okay, moving on…

– The big news around UK land is the insane amount of NBA players training on campus this week. Most of the Oklahoma City roster is already in Lexington and Russell Westbrook is set to join the group on Tuesday. OKC guys already on campus include Kevin Durant, James Harden, James Harden’s beard, Thabo Sefelosha, Nick Collison, and Cole Aldrich. Members from the Boston Celtics are also training at UK and Derrick Rose will be landing in Lexington Tuesday afternoon. The amount of talent in the Joe Craft Center this week is ridiculous.

– Jarrod Polson will be working out with Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, and Russell Westbrook. Only at Kentucky.

– 2012 small forward T.J. Warren cut Kentucky from his final list of schools. He’s down to North Carolina, N.C. State, Florida, and Georgetown. Warren was originally scheduled to attend Big Blue Madness but on Monday we learned that he cancelled his trip to Lexington for a visit to North Carolina’s Midnight Madness. Good luck, .

Mitch McGary

– We also got some bad news from Warren’s Brewster Academy teammate, Mitch McGary. McGary cancelled his remaining visits, ruining any hope of getting him in Lexington for Big Blue Madness. Evan Daniels, a recruiting analyst so fly the FAA regulates his swagger, is reporting that Michigan has emerged as McGary’s favorite. The 5-star center is also very high on the Dukies. I think it’s time we give up on this one. His AAU coach loves the Wolverines and his parents love the Blue Devils. Plus he says he’d love to team up withPlumlee at Duke. One of those schools will likely win out. I’ve said since Day 1 that thishas Duke written all over him. He just fits that mold.

– To the surprise of absolutely no one, Terrence Jones was one of 50 named to the John R. Wooden Award preseason watch list. The preseason list is selected by college basketball media members based on the student-athlete’s individual performance last season. Other notable names on the list are Louisville’s Peyton Siva and Vanderbilt’s Festus Ezeli, Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins. Damn, Vanderbilt is going to be good. Louisville, not so much.

– Jeff Sheppard, my favorite hall monitor at Rick Pitino’s basketball camp, announced the current confirmed rosters for the Big Blue All-Stars tour. The games will feature some form of a roster combination from the following players: Brandon Knight, DeAndre Liggins, Josh Harrellson, Chuck Hayes, Jodie Meeks, and Eric Bledsoe. The former Cats will be joined by Kenneth Faried and Shelvin Mack at all five stops. Sheppard is also looking to add DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo to the roster for some of the games. These games will be the most lopsided basketball contests in the history of the sport. James Naismith just rolled over in his grave.

– Speaking of DeMarcus Cousins, I’m happy to announce that he and our good buddy Andrew Rogers are alive after surviving a fire over the weekend. The Lexington Fire Department was called to the home those two are staying in after a fire erupted in the laundry room. DeMarcus blamed Andrew. Andrew blamed DeMarcus. I blame the NBA lockout.

Big Blue Madness fast

– Champions Classic tickets went fast, like Big Blue Madness fast, during Monday’s pre-sale. If you missed out, don’t panic just yet. Tickets will go on sale again Thursday at 10:00 AM on Ticketmaster. That gives you two days to practice clicking and memorizing your credit card information. I don’t want to hear any excuses Thursday afternoon.

– Tickets for the Blue-White game also go on sale Thursday. The scrimmage is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26. Tickets are $10 and they can be purchased at the Rupp Arena ticket office. All seating is reserved (not general admission) so get on it early.

– Breaking Bad. I’m not going to tell you again. Nothing else in the history of television compares. I mean that.

– Lots of Twitter chatter going on right now about West Virginia joining the SEC. We’ve heard it all before. Wake me up when the deal is done.

– Let’s talk about football. I know, it’s hard, but it has to be done. Joker Phillips met with the media Monday in his weekly presser to fill us all in on how things are going after the LSU game and what to expect this week. Our favorite news of the day came when Joker said they will try Bookie Cobbins at multiple positions in practice this week. He will get a lot of looks at receiver and as a run-first quarterback. While I love the idea of Mr. YMCMB seeing the field this season, it’s tough to justify abandoning his redshirt status five games into the season when the season is pretty much over anyway. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to see him out there keeping it 100 against South Carolina on Saturday. Is it time for the Legend of Cobbins?

– Joker also turned heads when he said Mike Hartline, not Randall Cobb, is the biggest loss on offense from last season. I was #TeamHartline last season, but really? REALLY? Cobb is arguably Kentucky’s best offensive weapon ever. Ever. I don’t know what Joker put in his Corn Flakes Monday morning but I want in.

– When asked about Ryan Mossakowski, Joker declined comment. Yeah, you messed up on that one, Coach. Mossakowski is killing it in JUCO.

Kentucky is currently a 21-point underdog at South Carolina. It’s sad but we’ve switched from a philosophy of hoping to win to hoping to cover the spread.

– When you gotta go, you gotta go…

That’s all for now. Tune in to Kentucky Sports Radio radio tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM on Talk Radio 1080.

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Philip Humber’s Sunday News And Views

Posted on August 1, 2015 by in Sports

Phillip Humber Player

Have you ever heard of Philip Humber? Yeah, me neither. You’re about to hear a lot about him over the next 24 hours. Philip Humber threw only the 21st perfect game in MLB history tonight. A perfect game hasn’t been thrown in nearly two years in Major League Baseball, but the drought ended at the hands of Humber against the Seattle Mariners in a 4-0 victory. The perfect game was described perfectly by Humber after the game when he simply said, “What just took place was just awesome.” Philip Humber entered the contest as a relatively unknown name in baseball. He was drafted as the 3rd overall pick in the 2004 draft by the New York Mets. Unfortunately Humber’s career got off to a slow start due to an elbow-ligament replacement surgery that sidelined him. In fact, Humber didn’t win a game in the majors until 2010. Now he has found his place in the history books as one of the few pitchers to achieve one of baseball’s greatest feats. When the game was finally over and perfection was achieved, Humber fell to his knees as his teammates raced toward him. The moment for Philip Humber was perfect in more than one way.

Now on to the Kentucky sports news from the day/evening…

The UK baseball team evened the 3-game home series with #1 ranked LSU in convincing fashion. The Wildcats used a hot start to pave the way to a 8-1 victory. Starting pitcher Jerad Grundy turned in one of the most impressive performances of the season, allowing just one run in six innings to pick up his first SEC win. Luke Maile added an 11th home run to his SEC-leading total on the season. The Cats and the Tigers will square off in what will surely be an exciting rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. in Cliff Hagan Stadium. More than just the series is on the line for the two teams, as the winner will not only take possession of the outright SEC lead, but possibly the top spot in the country as well.

Phillip Humber

The Blue/White scrimmage, despite the cool weather, left many fans with a sense of hope heading into the summer. Although not all was positive for the Cats on the day, many felt that the apparent change in play calling was one of the most exciting takeaways from the game. The coaching staff clearly has confidence in Maxwell Smith’s arm, as they drew up plenty of plays for him throughout the day. Smith finished with an impressive 45 pass attempts. Smith completed 29-45 throws for 353 yards and 2 TD’s. The down side might have been his two interceptions, but one was a tipped ball. The incompletions were not all Smith’s fault either, as eight of them were dropped balls. The coaching staff appears to have full confidence in Maxwell Smith following the spring season. Smith seems to have a better feel for the overall offense and settled into a rhythm as the game progressed, finding his targets on a variety of pass options.

The most exciting playmaker (yes, I said playmaker!) was Demarco Robinson. Robinson caught 9 passes for 146 yards and 2 TD’s. Maxwell Smith went to Robinson often and the two clearly have a nice chemistry building.

Perhaps the two biggest bright spots in the scrimmage, outside of individual performances, were the overall improved play of the wide receivers and the commitment by the coaching staff to involve the tight ends in the offense. The young offensive line might be in for a tough road in the SEC due to their lack in experience, but the solid pass protection allowed Smith to throw the ball as a primary option. The run protection/blocking was a different story, and probably proved to be one of the biggest negatives coming out of the scrimmage.

Despite the inclement weather, an estimated 4,500 fans made it out to Commonwealth Stadium for the Blue/White scrimmage. The following picture was taken moments before kick-off.

The UK men’s tennis team advanced to the SEC tournament finals by defeating Ole Miss 4-0 today. Kentucky will have a tough title match with #2 in the SEC ranked Georgia Bulldogs (4th in the nation) at 2 p.m. tomorrow. This marks the second consecutive SEC finals appearance for Kentucky and the third in school history. Good luck to the Wildcats as they look to sweep the major SEC championships by winning the tournament title to go along with the regular season title.

Nerlens Noel made the rounds in Lexington today while on his official visit. Apparently he even found time to stop by Henry Clay High School’s prom at the Hyatt Hotel.

In case you missed it, the Cincinnati Reds will be honoring the national championship Kentucky men’s basketball team on Tuesday night before their 7:10 p.m. game against the San Francisco Giants.

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