The Leach Report
Click here for the daily radio showSaturday's Wildcat LinksFebruary 4th 2012 |
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GoUpstate.com: fans will be key if USC has a chance to upset Kentucky
post&courier: Horn wants USC to avoid facing KY's halfcourt defense
vaughtsviews: Lamb's humor is a good sign for the Cats
coachcal.com: Eloy Vargas working hard to stay ready
KSR: UK leads the nation in FG% defense
kentuckysports.com: UK men, women razz each other about who works harder
sea of blue analyzes UK's defense to this point
ESPN.com: Nerlens Noel plans to take at least 5 visits
FOOTBALL
kentuckysports.com: KY Pro FB Hall of Fame honors ex-Cats Trevathan, Neal
Tom's Take: Teague talk w/ Jimmy DykesFebruary 3rd 2012 |
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ESPN college basketball analyst (and one-time UK ass't coach) Jimmy Dykes joined us on the radio show today to talk about the Wildcats. He's thinking the play of point guard Marquis Teague might end up being the biggest key to the Cats' success in March.
"He doesn't have to be great but he has to be good," said Dykes, noting Calipari's track record for developing point guards bodes well. And Dykes likes what is seeing of late from the freshman from Indianapolis.
"He's slowed down. It's hard to get kids to slow down. (If they do) then speed becomes more useful for you," he explained. "I think he's made a lot of progress."
Dykes says on a scale of one to10, "I still think (Kentucky) is about a '7' right now--and that's good news because you don't want to peak at the end of January."
Friday's Wildcat LinksFebruary 3rd 2012 |
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espn.com: weekly straw poll has Davis 4th in Player of Year race
Post & Courier: Gators hold off South Carolina
SI.com: Cats top latest power rankings
kyforward.com: Davis on pace for historic rebounding number
kentucky.com: strong UK flavor in Jordan Classic game
ESPN.com: college BB roundtable writers weigh in on officiating
coachcal.com talks fans behind-the-scenes on a road trip
Winchester Sun: Teague talks about growing as a point guard
vaughts views: ESPN analyst sees MKG in Shabazz Muhammad
GoVols.com: Stokes pledges to win at RuppArena befores he leaves
kentucky.com: LSU's White apologizes for foul on Davis
ukathletics.com: UK WOMEN defeat Ole Miss 82-41
FOOTBALL
kentucky.com/Mark Story: faction & fiction on UK recruiting class
courier-journal: Towles eager to compete for starting job
mrSEC.com: Cats had 2nd-lowest percentage of in-state signees
Tom's Take: Towles role as a froshFebruary 2nd 2012 |
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Bill Ransdell. Tim Couch. Jared Lorenzen. Andre Woodson. Many of the most memorable University of Kentucky gridiron moments of the past three decades have come with a quarterback from a Kentucky high school at the helm. Hence, the excitement about Patrick Towles, who Joker Phillips called "the face" of the latest class of recruits for Big Blue. Today's Big Blue Nation Poll question on the Leach Report fan page on Facebook asks you to vote on Towles' role this fall--starter, backup or redshirt. From everything I've heard about Towles from people whose opinions I respect is that he would belong in the class with the guys mentioned above. But it's hard for me to see a true freshman starting his first game on the road at Louisville. Lorezen started as a frosh but he had been at UK for a year as a redshirt. We had Cats Illustated's Brett Dawson on the show today (he covered Towles' news conference yesterday) and he said Towles is planning to spend his spring break watching practices at UK, so Towles is committed to trying to win the job. I'm not counting him out and I can certainly see him getting on the field at some point but it's probably going to be determined most by how well Maxwell Smith plays. Great quarterbacks are usually great leaders and from all accounts, Towles scores high in that department so he's off to a good start.
Thursday's Wildcat LinksFebruary 2nd 2012 |
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espn.com's Jason King would pick Davis as player of the year
yahoo.com/Pat Forde: when Davis is on, everyone else is playing for 2nd
KSR: Nerlens Noel reclassifying to class of 2012
kentucky.com: Vol players question officiating
KSR College compares the stats of Calipari-coached point guards
coachcal.com: Cal gets inspiration from friend and former coach George Raveling
FOOTBALL
vaughts views: Taylor, Henderson give class a late boost
kentucky.com: Joker Phillips says evaluation matters more than stars
C-J/Tucker: DC Minter evaluates new defensive recruits
Wednesday's Wildcat LinksFebruary 1st 2012 |
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ESPN.com: highlights of UK's rout of UT
Sea of Blue says Cats were "much the best" v. Vols
GoVols.com: Teague says Cats want to be "the aggressor"
CBS Sports: Vols' coach says Davis is the difference
C-J/Bozich: no computer love for the Cats
FOOTBALL
kentucky.com: Rivals analyst has praise for Cats' recruiting class
bleed blue ky: UK going down to the wire on 2 key prospects
photo by Victoria Graff
Tom's Take: Cat stats from Ken PomJanuary 31st 2012 |
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Stats guru Ken Pomeroy has developed his own matrix for picking a national college basketball player-of-the-year, based as you might expect on deeply-crushed individual numbers as well as team success. He's trying to identify the "player that means the most to a very good team" and right now, he has Kansas' Thomas Robinson as the top of his list. Next is Jared Sullinger of Ohio State, Michigan State's Draymon Green, Virginia's Mike Scott and UK's Anthony Davis. No other Cats are ranked in the top 10. "The award is purely statistical," he said.
During his appearance on my "Leach Report" radio show, we talked about the statistical profile of Kentucky's team. First, only the Cats and Michigan State rank in the national top 10 of points-per-possession on both offense AND defense. Pomeroy says UK's two-point shot defense (opponents hitting just 39 percent of those shots inside the arc going into the Tennessee game) is probably the most impressive UK stat.
I asked Pomeroy to pick out a particularly crucial stat in targeting national championship contenders and he cited offensive rebounding percentage. "One thing for elite teams is offensive rebound percentage," he said, because it enables a team to survive a bad shooting night. Kentucky ranks a respectable 21st nationally in that stat right now.
Tuesday's Wildcat LinksJanuary 31st 2012 |
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GoVols.com: coach Martin says Vols are better than when they last met UK
CBS New York/Rothstein: Cats not getting attention they deserve
kentucky.com: MKG, Stokes counted on to key fast starts
kentucky.com/Sidelines: Calipari wants officials to crack down on physical play
vaughts views: LSU coach tion will handle disciplinary action v. White
thepostgame.com: former NFL star mentors future Cat Cauley
mrSEC.com: road wins are hard to come by
facebook.com (ESPN): votefor Darius Miller for dunk of the year
FOOTBALL
espn.com: future UK QB Towles felt he was "under the radar"
Tom's Take: Katz on the CatsJanuary 30th 2012 |
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Who would get your vote today for SEC Player of the Year? We put that question to ESPN ace college basketball reporter Andy Katz on today's "Leach Report" radio show and he said he would lean to Anthony Davis over Miss State's Arnett Moultrie. Katz also said if he had to pick only one team that is most likely to make it to the Final Four, he'd pick Kentucky, because of the defensive presence of Davis. "No other team has that" and that can make the difference in March. Katz thinks Marquis Teague is the player whose improvement is most crucial to the Wildcats' long term success but it may not be as big an issue as some think, because there "are not a lot of elite point guards this season, so you can maybe get away with that."
We also talked with the Courier-Journal's UK beat writer, Kyle Tucker today and he wondered what the Cats will look like when they hit on all cylinders. "They haven't fully played to their potential and they're (already) elite on both ends of the court," Tucker said.
photo by Victoria Graff
Monday's Wildcat LinksJanuary 30th 2012 |
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espn.com: Cats in "beast mode" right now
ky kernel: national media jumping on the UK bandwagon
SI.com's Andy Glockner thinks Ohio State may be the nation's best team
KSR: Miller shines in sixth man role
all ky hoops says Calipari was checking out a top 2014 target last night
sporting news/DeCourcy: report says Sidney will not return to Miss State next year
WOMEN
ukathletics.com: UK women roll past Alabama
FOOTBALL
espn.com: Cobb, Trevathan among top recruiting steals
photo by Victoria Graff
Tom's Take: TJ = all the way?January 29th 2012 |
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Saturday at LSU, we got to see what Kentucky can look like when Terrence Jones plays like the first-team All-American he was touted to be this season.
It's not like Kentucky needs 27 points every time out from TJ in order to make a championship run. But if the Wildcats get the kind of sustained attacking mindset that we saw in action Saturday at LSU from number three, Kentucky's chances of getting title number eight increase significantly.
"Terrence was a man among boys," is how LSU coach Trent Johnson described it. With a couple of offensive rebound baskets and a half dozen free throws a game, Jones would get halfway to a 20-point game every night out. He did that and much more against the Tigers but the thing I liked most about Jones' performance is that nothing seemed forced. He dominated the play by letting the game come to him.
ESPN's Jay Bilas was talking about balanced scoring teams on the "Gameday" show and mentioned Florida's two national title teams as ones where "go-to guy was the open guy." Kentucky is similar with its even distribution of shots but as the competition gets better and the action becomes more halfcourt-oriented in March, it's going to be imperative that Kentucky get scoring from its best scorers. Jones is one of those guys and Doron Lamb is probably the next best pure offensive talent (and they need him to pick up his game sometime soon).
If the Cats aren't getting scoring from Jones and Lamb, it's easier to see them hitting a pothole on the road to New Orleans for the Final Four.
"You want your shooters taking those shots, you want your drivers driving," John Calipari said in his pregame interview on the UK IMG network at LSU. " We've got to get a little better in the post, where we can throw it in there and create fouls--and then make free throws." Calipari says that can "demoralize" an opponent.
If opponents want to devote extra attention to Davis to prevent lobs, that should only open things up for a big-time scorer like Jones. That makes opponents have to counter that punch and then all of sudden Davis' evolving offensive game steps up. You saw that Saturday. Davis had one field goal attempt in the first half but got many more opportunities after the break when Jones took control of the paint.
"That's a pretty good basketball team. They'll probably be back in New Orleans twice," coach Johnson said. "John (Calipari) doesn't get enough credit for how hard his teams play and guard. It's hard to get a group of guys who are McDonald's All-Americans to compete and play hard like that."
Sunday's Wildcat LinksJanuary 29th 2012 |
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coachcal.com: postgame VIDEO interviews w/ Cal, players
kentucky.com/John Clay: opponents running out of tricks for UK
nola.com: Hoptown native Hickey has long day v. Big Blue
sea of blue recaps the Kentucky win at LSU
ukathletics.com: Cats approach potential in win over LSU
Shreveport Times: Johnson says they beat us "every which way but loose"
kentucky.com: Calipari wants more from Miller
kentucky.com/Jerry Tipton: CM Newton on TV exposure and crowds
FOOTBALL
espn.com: Facebook, Twitter changing landscape of recruiting
photo by Victoria Graff
Saturday's Wildcat LinksJanuary 28th 2012 |
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nola.com: VIDEO of LSU's Anthony Hickey talking about playing v. UK
theadvocate.com: no looking back for LSU
LSUreveille.com: student paper calls for a return of Deaf Dome--for atleast today
KSR: Calipari press conference notes
Nation of Blue calls on fans to boost Jones' spirits
vaughts views: LSU's Turner impressed by how players feel about Calipari
mrSEC.com proposes an 18-game schedule for basketball
vaughts views: draft analyst talks about Teague, Lamb
WOMEN
kentucky.com: Mathies named to Wooden Award watch list
Tom's Take: Goose Givens on the CatsJanuary 27th 2012 |
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"They win the right way."
And what Jack "Goose" Givens meant was how this Kentucky basketball team wins first with its defense. On today's "Leach Report" radio show, Givens said that's how it was for the 1978 national title team which he helped lead. "We were a defensive-minded team first and this team is the same way." Givens says we would like to see the Cats become "more proficient" on offense between now and tournament time because there will be nights when the opponents make shots even they are well-defended and Kentucky will have to "outscore" them.
We also talked with former LSU coach Dale Brown, who raved about the play of Christian County product Anthony Hickey at LSU. And ESPN's Carter Blackburn said Hickey gives the Tigers a "toughness they didn't have the last couple of years."
Blackburn says one of his big questions about the Cats is whose game will improve the most between now and March, like Brandon Knight's did last season. He said Jones is "the obvious candidate" and "if he does, watch out."
Friday's Wlidcat LinksJanuary 27th 2012 |
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hoopspeak: UK's Davis is best defensive prospect since 80's
all KY hoops: ESPN's Bilas ranks Davis as nation's top big man
kentucky.com: LSU's Hickey has "brushed off" the chip on his shoulder about UK
vaughts views: draft analyst says Jones "still a lottery pick"
Winchester Sun: Darius Miller is taking care of business for UK
kentucky.com: Brandon Knight's mom suing Lexington hotel
Miami Herald: Brandon Knight says he wanted to stay but draft was best option
mrSEC.com: Ole Miss coach Kennedy earns kudos for staying quiet about schedule
photo by Victoria Graff
Thursday's Wildcat LinksJanuary 26th 2012 |
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kentucky.com: Cats will don new uniforms for Tennessee game
kentucky.com/John Clay: a vote against the new uniforms
beyond the arc: new uni's spawn love-hate reaction
kentucky.com: Calipari pushing Cats to be "special"
KSR: Wiltjer starting to make a move upward
vaughts views: parents of Wiltjer have no problems with their son's role
mrSEC.com: SEC might consider a 19-game schedule for basketball
espn.com: Lunardi's latest Bracketology has Cats in Atlanta region
FOOTBALL
CBS Sports: college football officials considering 7-win standard for bowl eligibility
Wednesday's Wildcat LinksJanuary 25th 2012 |
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Sea of Blue says Cats showed signs of growing up
coachcal.com: Calipari pushing UK to be "even better"
vaughts views: a lot to like about Cats' play at Georgia
kentucky.com/Mark Story says the UK women outdoing the men right now
CJ/Eric Crawford says Cats need to refine their killer instinct
sporting news/DeCourcy: big men will reign in 2012 NCAA Tourney
sporting news: rival SEC coaches protest "favorable" schedule for Kentucky
espn.com/Jason King: preseason All-America doesn't stack up w/ what is happening
espn.com/Brennan: student turnout declining for Duke basketball
Tuesday's Wildcat LInksJanuary 24th 2012 |
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Athens Daily Herald: former coach Durham says players are the key
kentucky.com: Calipari still longing for Cats to toughen up
vaughts views: Jones' numbers are improving
C-J/Tucker: Caldwell-Pope is a once-every-20-years player at UGA
mrSEC.com sees 6 SEC teams at most in NCAA
Sea of Blue says Missouri is playing the best of any team right now
vaughts views: VIDEO interview with Derek Willis' mother
kentucky.com: Amile Jefferson no longer in the picture for Kentucky
Tom'sTake: Hammond talks up DavisJanuary 23rd 2012 |
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Tom Hammond called SEC basketball on TV for 30 years so he was a very good frame of reference for finding a former star to whom we could compare Anthony Davis. On today's "Leach Report" radio show, I asked Tom who Davis reminded him of and he answered, "nobody. I don't think I've ever seen a player like him," going on to discuss Davis' unique combination of skills. Hammond is particularly impressed with Davis' "exquisite timing," and the freshman's on-court demeanor ("always on an even keel"). I also talked Tom to compare coach Cal to former UK coaches he's covered and you can hear the full interview on the podcast, which should be up soon here on the site. (By the way, check the Bluegrass Sports Award website for info on the February 15 event in Lexington that will include a well-deserved award for Tom).
We also talked with Cats Pause writer Matt May, who thinks "the season still comes down to Terrence Jones and Darius Miller" and whether or not they can develop the consistency of contributions the team needs from them.
Georgia radio voice Scott Howard joined the show and it didn't sound like he's expecting to call an upset tomorrow. "We can't seem to shoot the ball very well," Howard said of the Dogs' biggest issue to this point in the season.
Monday's Wildcat LinksJanuary 23rd 2012 |
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CBS Sports poll has Kentucky #1, Missouri #2
kentuckyrepost.com: ESPN's Gottlieb says Ohio State is #1
KSR writer wonders what's wrong with Terrence Jones
bleacherreport.com writer says Davis is "overrated" right now
vaughts views: Lamb talks about his shooting slump
Zagsblog: former Cat Harrelson suffers wrist injury
sactownroyalty.com: Chuck Hayes may return to Kings on Wednesday
KSR: writer from Connecticut chronicles first visit to Rupp Arena
WOMEN
kentucky.com: UK women stay perfect in SEC
kentucky.com: fan base building connection with UK Hoops
FOOTBALL
C-J/Demling: Cats pick up promising walk-on from Paducah
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Other links of interest
- Book review: West provides intriguing look into ABA team - Bowling Green Daily News
- SPORTS CALENDAR - Tuscaloosa News (subscription)
- Rick Bozich | Anthony Davis, rest of Kentucky basketball flirting with perfection - Louisville Courier-Journal
- Kentucky basketball beats South Carolina 86-52 - Louisville Courier-Journal
- Ky. Voices: Rupp plan deserves UK support - Lexington Herald Leader
- Former UK stars' Bowl memoirs - Lexington Herald Leader
- Pro Football Hall of Fame election decided in trenches - Cincinnati.com
- Steelers' Dermontti Dawson, Jack Butler make Hall of Fame - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
- Tyson Sets UK Freshman Record in 200-Meter Dash - UKAthletics
- Pistons rookie Knight breaks nose - Chicago Tribune
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