The Time Is At Hand...

...and I have time on my mind. Perhaps that's due to the annual "fall back" of daylight savings last weekend. Lord knows an extra hour of sleep never hurt anybody. But more likely it's the heated anticipation of the very promising basketball season that lies ahead for us Kentucky fans and followers.

Not coincidentally, one of the more intriguing aspects of this season will rest upon the very concept of time itself. Specifically, playing time.

I would expect that any blue-blooded UK fan is going to have an opinion regarding playing time: Who's starting? Who's the sixth man? Who's buried at the end of the bench? Who should be seeing more of the court?

So consider one of Dan-O's favorite activities-- a little game of boxscore observation that I like to call "adding up the minutes."

The math is simple. A college basketball game runs two, 20-minute halves. (Barring overtime of course.) And with 5 players on the court at all times, that means John Calipari is going to have 200 minutes per game to divvy up amongst his players as he best sees fit.

Personally, I don't think there's any way that Patrick Patterson falls to much less than the 35 minute range. (Note: all estimates disregard the very real possibilities of injury and/or foul trouble. So just buckle up and play along.) Furthermore, Mr. John Wall should be putting in 35 minutes. Every. Single. Night. Basically those two guys figure to have one frontcourt and one backcourt spot on permanent lockdown for the entire season. November through (hopefully) April.

You give those two studs the occasional breather. Maybe you have to pull them for some specific tactical instruction-- again, only occasionally. They are by most accounts two singular talents, All-SEC if not All-American level projections.

Now personally, I think Eric Bledsoe is going to get the most minutes at the other guard spot. He's a freshman, like Wall, and he's going to be raw and learning throughout the season. But probably too good to keep off the floor much. And Sophomore Darius Miller is listed on my roster as a guard as well, although I think of him more as a "three". (He's 6-7/223). But I figure those guys are both good for 25-30 minutes per game in Coach Cal's system, given their skills and potential. In the spirit of this exercise, we will call it 27.5 per game for each of them.

Likewise, I figure the freshman tandem of Cousins and Orton (the poor man's Twin Towers?) are looking at 20-25 minutes a piece on the blocks. Perhaps this is optimistic. Maybe the DDMO won't fit their closer to 7-foot frames, or they have trouble adapting to the college competition. Cal has warned us that he won't be able to "hide" anybody in his system. But again, moving along, I'm going to pencil them each at 22.5 mpg.

Obviously, that's 6 players, and not all of them can start. We'll set that aside since Coach Bolus always said starting is overrated. So looking at my abacus, that would quickly get us to a total of 170 minutes out of Kentucky's 200 total.

Which is where it gets really interesting. You've only got a half hour, a mere sitcom's span of time remaining, to split between Hood/Harrellson/Liggins/Dodson, not to mention the team's two seniors, Ramon Harris and Perry Stevenson. (No offense intended to Mark Krebs.)

But think about it. Jon Hood was only Kentucky's prep Mr. Basketball last year. Dodson had 19 points to lead the team in the Campbellsville exhibition. Harrellson is allegedly shaping up to be a legitimate perimeter shooting threat. Stevenson would start for a LOT of D-1 teams. And so on.

Is it a nice problem to have, trying to split up 200 minutes amongst the available talent? You bet it is. And surely this little parlor game is not going to play out exactly as I've drawn it up.

There will be times where the rotation is overly tight against any given opponent due to matchups. I would also expect there will be blowouts where everybody gets in on the fun. Maybe a player or two comes down with the dreaded swine flu at some point.

Thus there are plenty of alternate scenarios to chew on, and I'm not sure what exactly we will be able to take away from an opponent the likes of Clarion. (Over/under on Patterson jams vs. John Calipari's alma mater: 6.)

We already know Bledsoe is probably out with an ankle injury for Friday night, and we also know that Wall is going to miss the opener vs. Morehead St. Plus, DeAndre Liggins tallied ZERO minutes against Campbellsville, apparently at Cal's discretion entirely-- and Cal has hinted that he is not ruling out further benchings of anyone on the roster, as necessary.

Which leads me to conclude that playing time figures to be a hot topic all the way through to spring time.

A Halloween Nightmare

No, I'm not referring to the football game vs. Mississippi State, painful though it was.

Instead, consider this scenario, dateline Lexington:

BLUE DEFEATS WHITE 55-48

Ramon Harris netted 15 points for the Blue team yesterday afternoon in Memorial Coliseum, leading all scorers in UK's intrasquad scrimmage. Harris also chipped in seven rebounds in a very sloppy pre-season effort attended by approximately 4500 fans and students.

Head Coach Billy Gillispie lauded Harris' toughness in getting to the glass, noting, "Ramon picked up a lot of those baskets on putbacks and second effort plays. He was really a fighter today, very gritty in the paint." The Cats will need plenty of production from Harris this season after the departures of Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks to the NBA.

There was little buzz leading up to the scrimmage, with most fans focused on UK's so-called "blackout" at Commonwealth Stadium last night vs. MSU. It seemed the majority of Big Blue fans preferred the tailgating scene rather than taking an early season look at Gillispie's squad. Most prognosticators have UK's hoops team penciled in towards the bottom of the SEC East.

Perry Stevenson and Josh Harrellson battled to a draw opposite one another in the post, netting 10 points each for the blue and white squads respectively. Both seemed a bit sluggish, perhaps due to the added bulk they were instructed to pack on during the summer. "Yeah, Coach had us focused on the weight room quite a bit this offseason," said Harrellson, "Personally, I hope to be pushing 280 by December. And believe me, I need every bit of it going up against (Matt) Pilgrim in practice."

Gillispie seemed especially impressed with the play of the White team's lead guard Landon Slone. "Landon was all over the place, scrapping for loose balls, taking charges. He does everything we ask of him, and I really look for him to see a lot of playing time, not just early, but in conference play as well." Slone did manage four points, three steals and three assists to go along with his 7 turnovers.

Many have wondered where the scoring might come from this season, noting it will be difficult to replace the nearly automatic 40 points or so per game that Meeks and Patterson tallied. Gillispie seemed to look largely to the backcourt, where true freshman Jon Hood appeared to be aggressive in taking the ball to the basket, and Darius Miller displayed a variety of drives and pull-up jumpers out of several disorganized-looking offensive sets.

The team also seemed notably lacking in athleticism without its NBA-bound stars, not to mention the transfer of long, lightning-quick DeAndre Liggins. The 6-6/202 sophomore to-be is sitting out this season as per NCAA regulations concerning his jump back to his home state of Illinois, where he will be playing for a different set of Wildcats, at Northwestern.

Michael Porter had 12 points for the white squad on 4 of 14 shooting from the three-point line.

Jack O'Lantern photo courtesy of "Riv"on Flickr.

Louisville: A "Trapalry Game"

Something does feel a little different about the U of L game this year.

I have read plenty of commentary regarding the lack of sex appeal for '09, with reasons ranging from "it's not the opener anymore" to "no high-profile quarterbacks" to "uh, the Cards really stink". Taking a slightly longer view, certainly Bobby Petrino's departure has brought down the temperature on this face-off, which I have always looked forward to with ketchup-like anticipation ever since it was resurrected in the early 90's.

Now, there's no getting around the fact that Louisville is a rival. The online dictionary indicates that the origin of that term goes back to describing one who uses a stream (i.e. river?) in common with another. Although I don't suppose, given my present suburban existence, that I have a whole lot of concern about my neighbor's water usage-- what this does tell me is that the root of these things is proximity. I won't bore you with how many miles it is from Commonwealth to Papa John's, but I am sure ESPN will throw up a map, or maybe a cute little graph during the game broadcast which will paint it very nicely.

So the two largest state schools play each other annually now, the pads usually pop pretty good, and they give out a sweet trophy to the winner. And we all understand that they are close enough physically, and have more than enough history (across all sports), to hate each other with a righteous hate. It's often a surprising game, and it has seen more than its share of trash talk, not to mention blowouts, thunderstorms, and heroic performances.

And yet, I cannot get around the fact that this one-- this year-- doesn't quite fit under the typical rivalry/border war/backyard brawl kind of designation.

No.

From a Kentucky perspective, it has an added nuance, a different feel....for all the world....it seems like a trap game, too.

Being a much more recent sports-phrase phenomenon, all that means is there could be a tendency in any particular game for the favorite to overlook its opponent. I don't think I ever heard Keith Jackson utter the words, but clearly Louisville comes in to the Governor's Cup battle more lightly regarded than it has in quite some time. And subsequently, the Cats could find themselves in a trap.

Of course, being a UK football fan I will likely never get used to being the overdog.

But I realize that on paper Coach Brooks' team would seem to have the advantage in depth, momentum, and even the home field this season. So it is on Brooks and his staff to make sure the Big Blue comes out well-prepared and properly motivated.

Don't even THINK about top-ranked Florida visiting Lexington the following weekend. Tebow, like heaven, can wait.

Many are speculating that this might even be a must-win for Steve Kragthorpe, although I would expect U of L AD Tom Jurich to look at this season and Krag's tenure as a whole when making any personnel decisions. Suffice it to say that the Cardinals will view this contest as a great opportunity to make a statement for their coach and their program. They should be awfully hungry, and the Cards do have enough skill players to be dangerous.

Question is whether UK will respond with the proper intensity that this combination trap/rivalry game will require. I believe a legitimate, hard-nosed, thoughtful effort from the Cats should bring a victory with a margin of a couple of touchdowns. Respect the trapalry game.

Randall Cobb, Football Player

So yeah, I enjoy a little grid action around here, too.

And like most followers of Kentucky athletics, I came away fairly impressed by UK's 42-0 win over Miami (OH) in the season opener last weekend. Mike Hartline showed improvement, and the promise that perhaps he could get outside of that "just manage the game" box that he had seemingly been placed in. The defense? Well, it's pretty hard to find too many flaws in a shutout.

But what I loved most about the victory had to be the performance of Randall Cobb. The Alcoa, TN product was seemingly everywhere and always a threat to score when the Cats had the ball.

Mr. Cobb of course spent quite a bit of time under center last season, but looks to be logging all of his reps at receiver this fall. His speed, good hands, and savvy return moves should be keeping Steve Kragthorpe sleepless this week. (Cobb also returns kicks.)

Heck, Cobb's parents even had enough of a sense of humor to name him after a 70's actor and boxing legend. Jokes, people.

Cobb is listed as 5'11" and 188, but he plays awfully big. He caught a pretty (so pretty) 27-yard TD toss from Hartline to start the Cats rolling, and also ran for an 11-yard score on a direct snap from center vs. the RedHawks. The dreaded sophomore slump phenomenon must not apply to this young man. He looks like a game-breaker.

Football of course is a game of specialists, but Cobb has already demonstrated quite a wide set of skills in his brief Kentucky football career. I certainly look forward to seeing more of him this fall.

How Thorny Will Rose Allegations Be for UK?

(Forgive the bad pun, I'm a little rusty.)

So I'm trying to watch some NBA action when my heart literally sank upon seeing the crawler: "NCAA alleges major infractions at Memphis for 20007-08 season." I was initially hoping that perhaps it would be involving Tigers football. Or baseball. Or anything but men's basketball.

No such luck of course....although that women's golf program must really be a bunch of renegades (!)

Naturally, I sprang to the interwebz to see what could be found. I'll admit I feared the worst.

Apparently, the main (or key) NCAA allegation concerns whether Derrick Rose cheated on his SAT exam. Per the early indications from Memphis's internal investigation, he has denied it. I would expect plenty of details to emerge later, and I would be very interested to see how Mr. Rose's score improved, when and where he took the test, etc.

Will there be shades of the Sutton-era Eric Manuel ACT fiasco? Somebody try to pull the old switcheroo?

Let me get this clear before commenting further...

Cheating: not cool.

I hate cheating, and cheaters in general. I hate BEING cheated. Nobody likes a cheater.

So it should go without saying that I want Kentucky to run a squeaky clean program. Period. I want it like that glassware you pull from the dishwasher when you use Calgon and it doesn't even show any streaks. No improprieties. No taint.

But we don't have very many facts yet. Certainly the NCAA report itself does not appear to name Coach Cal personally. It's way too early to paint a clear picture of how this will all shake out, and apparently his presence has been requested at a June 6th hearing before the committee.

As of this posting, there has been no comment from UK's administration or from Coach Calipari.

Now, having said all that-- despite my previously stated distaste for cheating-- I also try to give people the benefit of the doubt. And it's always wise to hear both sides of the story and weigh all the evidence before delivering any verdicts. So I would expect the NCAA to do a thorough job of investigating this situation, and I would expect the University of Memphis to do the same.

Everyone deserves their day in court, and I hope this entire episode results in a fair and impartial hearing for everyone involved. Justice should be served.

In the meantime, the haters will hate on. Kentucky will take a lot of heat. Rivals and critics will do their thing. Pat Forde was already taking a swipe on the four letter network's site. Not unexpected.

As it relates to UK and Coach Cal, I can say that I do feel better knowing that Memphis was supposedly notified of the allegations back in January, and they still made every effort possible to keep Calipari when Kentucky became interested. That tells me something.

More importantly, UK's Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart gave multiple reassurances that he and Sandy Bell in compliance had done their homework prior to extending a job offer to Coach Cal. They felt absolutely comfortable with the hire.

Still, there's no denying this is a thorny situation.

Delk, Padgett Return to UK

John Calipari continues to press all the right buttons during his honeymoon period as UK's new basketball coach. With the announcement that both Scott Padgett and Tony Delk will be re-joining the program in administrative/coaching roles (albeit not yet clearly defined), Coach Cal certainly stays on a hot streak. This seems like a great move by Calipari and it stands to benefit everyone involved.

Unfortunatlely, it has been understood that former players had felt more than a bit of a cold shoulder under former coach Billy Gillispie's brief tenure. In fact, at least a couple of past UK stars went out of their way to openly criticize Gillispie during the team's tailspin last February (most notably Kenny Walker and Mike Casey). Calipari has wasted no time in starting to mend some fences, and I expect him to continue to create an environment that former UK players would find to be open, warm, and welcoming.

Although it will be difficult to judge the impact of this move until we learn more about the exact responsibilities that Tony and Scott will have, it does seem fair to say that Cal has continued to honor the Kentucky basketball tradition by bringing them on board. It is encouraging to see an effort by the new coach to reach out to these Wildcats and provide some assistance as they get along with their post-playing careers.

I don't think it would be any great stretch to consider these two young men to be amongst the finest to wear the UK blue. Without recounting all of their career statistics and accolades-- not to mention championships-- both Delk and Padgett exhibited great basketball IQs as college stars and while playing in the NBA. (I personally saw Scott play quite a bit as a Houston Rocket, though never really enough IMHO, under Jeff Van Gundy.)

Pure coaches-in-training? Well, again, that will remain to be seen-- yet there is little doubt that both of these guys should have much to offer in terms of experience at the college and professional levels, and they also strike me as the kind of guys who would have great work ethic and find ways to contribute to the program off the court.

I figure nobody would want for Kentucky basketball to excel as much as the guys who actually wore the uniform, and they will also have that unique background to draw upon when counseling players on the current roster. UK lost so much with the passing of Bill Keightley last year, and while it would be unfair to expect either of these guys to fill the shoes of Mr. Wildcat (understand: there will never be another like him), it never hurts to have people around your program that really "get it", that know what it's all about. Delk and Padgett lived in the Lodge. They had lockers at Rupp.

Additionally, I gather that Calipari gets a real kick out of assisting people who are entering the coaching profession. He's the kind of guy that has climbed the ladder to great heights, but left it there for others to use, rather than pulling the ladder up behind him. I took it as a positive that he was pushing former assistant Tony Barbee for the Memphis job upon his own departure. Obviously, that scenario did not play out, but I do admire that kind of perspective from Coach Cal.

From my view, there just doesn't seem to be any downside to this kind of move right now. The return of Tony Delk and Scott Padgett to the Blue Grass looks like just another reason be excited again about Kentucky basketball.

An Open Letter to John Calipari

Dear Coach Cal,

Welcome to Big Blue Nation! We're all very excited to have you aboard. I can't tell you how long it's been since we've won a national championship. Oh, who am I kidding...of course I can. 1998. Looks like you've got some work to do!

But first things first, pull up a chair. Whoa, not that one! That was Bill Keightley's chair. Pick another one, please. You probably know about Mr. Wildcat already, but if not... well, let's just say there's going to be a bit of a learning curve here, but I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle.

Listen, Coach. One thing we want to get out of the way right up front: we have high expectations. Very high. Astronomically high. Kind of like what Oscar Wilde once said about his preference for finer things, "I have the simplest taste. I'm always satisfied with the best."

Yeah, we want banners hanging in Rupp. And we don't hang banners for just making the NCAA tournament, or even making the Sweet 16 like your most recent Memphis team. That's not a slam on the job you did; there's no shame in losing to that tough Mizzou squad this season, but I'm just sayin'. High expectations. Banners.

Also: don't be a jerk. You might have heard a little bit about the guy who you're replacing. Pretty good coach himself. Lots of potential. But you probably got the highlights from your new boss, Mitch Barnhart. The previous coach... well, let's just say he wasn't exactly a people person. In fact, you might even say he was the polar opposite of a people person. (Maybe he was a dog person?) But I hear you're great on the lecture circuit and love selling your program, so we'll just leave it at that. Play nice with others and things will be fine, really. No sense beating a dead horse.

And speaking of horses...man, can you recruit 'em or what?! Wow, Coach...two of the top four according to Rivals.com and the inside track on John Wall. Impressive. Just keep in mind, any student-athlete you want to bring to Kentucky will have to meet some standards. No, this isn't Princeton or anything, but we do have our minimums and we do expect our guys to be good citizens. Above all, we expect you to recruit hard but according to the rules (more on that later.)

And if I may offer just one piece of advice on the recruiting, it would really be nice if you could keep some productive Kentucky kids on the roster. They don't all have to be super-duperstars, but surely you can find a few contributors. See, the trick is in determining which 17 year old is going to turn into the next Scott Padgett and which is going to turn into the next Todd Tackett. (Sorry Todd, it was either going to be you or Brandon Stockton. I just needed an example here. No offense.)

In the meantime, you do have a nice young man by the name of Darius Miller on the roster. Kid's a player. Really grew a lot as a freshman. And Big Blue Nation adores him. A big reason why is because he is in fact a Kentuckian. Excuse me, a former Mr. Basketball in the Commonwealth. So yeah, we dig Darius, and other players like him. That's just the way we are. So please, we're begging you, don't let the Darius Millers or the Chris Loftons of the world slip away. Especially to Tennessee. Jeez!

By the way, great move in calling up Joe B. Hall, et al on Tuesday. That's some real thoughtfulness on your part. Honors the tradition, pays some respect to those who have gone before you, and demonstrates a willingness to listen and interact that will surely serve you well in Lexington. Loved it! We're all about the tradition, Coach. We jammed a 60 year old gym for an NIT game.

We also halfway filled our next opponent's gym, on one day's notice, for a game 400 miles away. But I digress....

If you'll allow me just one quick comment on strategy: push the ball, Coach. Run when you can. Not mindlessly, of course. Not just for running's sake. But take advantage when it's there. You'll have superior athletes (right? you will have superior athletes)-- so don't keep them on a chain. Let 'em go. I like what I've heard about your offensive philosophy, so again, I don't expect any problems here. Just be advised: we much prefer it when our teams are allowed to run.

Finally, and this is really simple... PLEASE, I'm begging you...keep it clean. I would imagine UK's compliance people have been going through your laundry like nobody's business over the last 72 hours. We know about the Camby thing. And we know you can't be with your players all the time and force them to make good decisions. But seriously, do your best to win honorably. You must. No man ever cheats that first doesn't cheat himself. Frame a copy of that horrible SI cover (you know the one) and keep it in your office as a reminder if you have to. Never again.

So again, welcome. Looking forward to getting to know you better. Can't wait to hear about how the roster situation will settle out. Do yourself a favor and check out the spring meet at Keeneland. I was always more of a fall man myself, but it's still very nice if you catch a good sunny day. Talk to you later!

Sincerely,
Wildcat Whisperer

P.S. Banners.