2010 Armed Forces Bowl Thursday, December 30 Noon Eastern Southern Methodist Mustangs (7-6, 6-2 CUSA, 1st Place West, 2nd Place Overall) vs. Army Black Knights (6-6) As an interesting kickoff to the preview, both these teams have already faced an offensive clone of their opponent and lost: SMU lost @ triple-option Navy 21-28 in Week [...]
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Nicolas impressed by Prime Yalta Rally Former Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Nicolas Vouilloz says he will be fighting fit when he returns to the series on Rallye Monte-Carlo next month, despite not having driven in anger since finishing third on the legendary event back in January. Vouilloz, who claimed the IRC title in 2008 for [...] Flagworld.com >> News
BY BEN MEYER-ABBOTT bmeyer-abbott@suntimes.com — The Blackhawks got some good news Wednesday when wingers Patrick Kane and Fernando Pisani and center Dave Bolland all participated in the morning skate and seem to be on the road to recover from… Inside the Blackhawks
It’s hard to keep a purple-handed gunslinger down. And for the record, that thing is just gross—major props to Pam Oliver for not running in horror at the site of Favre’s grotesquely discolored hand.
Looks like the shoulder injury that led to Favre’s purple hand, thanks to a vicious hit from the Bills’ Arthur Moats, won’t keep the 41-year-old Vikes QB from going on the injured reserve list after an ultrasound revealed no nerve damage in his neck and shoulder.
Get this—not only will Favre stay off IR, but if coach Leslie Frazier has his way, he may start Monday night against the Bears.
It’s a Festivus miracle!
Frazier apparently isn’t worried about Favre, his shoulder, or his gnarly looking right hand…
“I don’t see that as being part of the equation at this point,” Frazier said. “It looks like there’s a chance that we’re going to be able to get him back at some point. Hopefully this week.”
Prepare yourself people, especially those of you who care little for Favre and his theatrics. Whether or not this is Frazier being coy and messing with the Bears ability to game plan is unknown at this time, but rest assured the media coverage, even if it’s one quarter that of Favre’s annual retirement dance, will be nauseating at best.
“Obviously, Michigan State should win going away,” Calhoun said as a smiling (and wincing) Spartans Coach Tom Izzo sat nearby. “Tommy has one of the best teams I’ve seen in 20 or 30 years.” Calhoun did not mention experience – nor a favorite’s role – in a needling salute to Kentucky.
“John (Calipari) has got more talent than the Celtics,” the UConn coach said. “The rest of us scrap for the pieces.” (Jerry Tipton, Herald-Leader)
Kentucky to face Oklahoma today in Maui Invitational
The sky and the water are the brightest blue here in basketball paradise. The teams and coaches assembled for the Maui Invitational are first-rate, as usual. And yet University of Kentucky coach John Calipari sounded uncertain on Sunday whether his No. 12 Wildcats are in the right place at the right time. “If I’ve got a veteran team … this is a great tournament to go in,” Calipari said. “If you have a young team, it’s hard. I don’t know what we’ll look like. The hardest thing in this tournament is you’re going to learn, and does it knock you for a loop? We could be knocked for a loop.” (Brett Dawson, Courier-Journal)
Experience critical in challenging event
Kentucky comes in as arguably the youngest team (Oklahoma could give the Cats a run for their money in that area), which means Calipari is bound and determined to see what his inexperienced club can do under unique conditions. The Cats already survived a dangerous opener to the road trip, blowing out capable mid-major Portland on its home turf before jetting to the island. (Matt May, Cats Pause)
Maybe Kentucky just caught lightning in a bottle last season. Maybe it was all just a fluke. There were all sorts of conspiracy theories out there for how lowly Kentucky managed to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight for the first time ever. The players for ninth-ranked UK heard all of the pre-season questions and went a long way toward answering them Sunday with an 81-76 win over No. 12 Notre Dame at Memorial Coliseum. (Jennifer Smith, Lexington Herald-Leader)
(AP photo/Ed Reinke)
Ex-UK receiver Stevie Johnson has last laugh against Bengals
The Joker buffaloed Batman and Robin. Steve Johnson, the third-year receiver out of Kentucky, caught a career-high three touchdown passes Sunday to rally the Buffalo Bills over the Cincinnati Bengals, 49-31. All three of his scores came in Buffalo’s 35-0 second half. As if to add “POW! BAM!” to his first touchdown, Johnson lifted his jersey to reveal a message scrawled on his shirt: “Why so serious?” (Mark Maloney, Lexington Herald-Leader)
Ex-Lexington Catholic teammates stage tug-of-war at Memorial
Thing was, even though Novosel ended up with a career-high 21 points, Notre Dame never got closer. “I would rather have had zero points and won the game,” the former Lexington Catholic standout said afterward. Snowden scored 17. “But honestly,” said Notre Dame’s Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, “I really thought that 4 won the game for them.” That No. 4 would be Snowden, herself a former Lexington Catholic standout. “I think UK won the game for UK,” said Snowden. (John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader.)
Calipari’s concerns valid
If you think John Calipari is just blowing smoke when he talks about taking a young team into a tough spot like the Maui Invitational, just look at what happened this past week to North Carolina at one of those types of events. The Tar Heels suffered back-to-back upset losses to unranked teams in Minnesota and Vanderbilt. (Tom Leach)
John Calipari likes Maui now
Nobody travels like Kentucky.Blue is everywhere. Maui tournament officials wouldn’t release details of tickets sold by each team, etc., but Kentucky is the only team said to have sold out their packages. Tickets are purchased through schools, through the tournament and through outside agencies. Anyway, fans have a lot to do with teams coming here, which tournament chairman Dave Odom pointed out. And, no, Odom was never upset with Calipari’s comments. (Mike Anthony, Hartford Courant)
Maui Invitational loaded with talent again
Terrence Jones? He didn’t come up until someone asked, and even then the down-to-the-last-second recruiting duel wasn’t an issue. “Honestly, we could make a big deal out of it, but it’s just going to be a game where you have a lot of respect for their program,” Romar said as waves crashed about 50 yards away. “All the teams we have a chance to play here, all our guys are going to look forward to it.” (John Marshall, AP)
Cats’ Hoops fend off No. 12 Irish 81-76
A mid-November game had the atmosphere, environment and play of an NCAA tournament game as the No. 10 UK women’s basketball team held on to defeat No. 12 Notre Dame 81-76. Although UK (4-0) and Notre Dame (3-2) women’s basketball teams have never played each other before, the intensity surrounding the game made it seem like a bitter rivalry. Thanks to a hometown crowd of 6,794 and senior forward Victoria Dunlap the Cats ousted the Irish. (T.J. Walker, Kentucky Kernel)
What fluke? UK Hoops squash notion with statement win
Faced with an NCAA Tournament-like atmosphere in front of a near-packed house of 6,794 fans at Memorial Coliseum, the No. 9/10 Kentucky women’s basketball team made a pretty significant statement to the rest of college basketball with an 81-76 win over No. 12 Notre Dame: Last season was no fluke. And this year’s team, still very much a work in progress, could be just as good, if not better, than last year’s team by season’s end. (Eric Lindsey, Cat Scratches)
UConn’s Jim Calhoun favors Michigan State in Maui
Of the eight teams in the field, the No. 2 Spartans (2-0) have the strongest mix of experience and talent. While other coaches said the tournament would be a learning experience for their newcomers, Izzo was able to discuss seasoned players like senior guards Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, and junior forward Draymond Green. “Does anyone have any veteran players here?” Kentucky coach John Calipari jokingly asked the group. Izzo smiled slyly and raised his hand. (Shannon Shelton Miller, Detroit Free Press)
Michigan State the talk of the town at Maui Invitational
Led by all-Big Ten point guard Kalin Lucas, senior Durrell Summers and junior forward Draymond Green, Michigan State returns three starters and nine lettermen from the team that posted a 28-9 record last season and made its second consecutive trip to the Final Four. “I think experience does help,” Izzo said. “We’ve had four or five guys who have had Final Four experience, so they know what the big stage is like and playing in front of 75,000 people. And this is a big stage.” (Percy Allen, Seattle Times)
Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader: “Lexington Catholic loyalties will be tested on Sunday. That’s when Natalie Novosel’s No. 12 Notre Dame team comes to Lexington to take on Keyla Snowden’s No. 9 Kentucky team. Both were star guards on the Lady Knights’ teams that won back-to-back state championships and went an impressive 71-2 in a two-year span.”
More Jennifer Smith of the H-L: “Mitchell used to be a traditionalist, too. He’d aim to sign a great post player or a great power forward or a perfect point guard. But in three seasons of not always signing those players, his views have evolved. “I just wanted people who wanted to come to Kentucky and we’d figure the rest out,” he explained. “We’d figure out what position you play, what we’re going to do. That’s sort of what happened with a couple of those classes and now we’ve created a style out of those types of players and now we’re looking for those types of kids that can swing and play different positions.”
Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches: “No worries, though, Wildcat fans: Head coach Matthew Mitchell has found a quick cure in freshman do-it-all Maegan Conwright. The 5-foot-8 freshman guard out of Arlington, Texas, has played a significant role in her first two collegiate games, serving as a one-man band-aid for Mitchell’s injury-plagued team. Though she came in as the least heralded of UK’s five-player mega recruiting class, she’s made the largest contribution so far.”
Jerry Tipton of the H-L: “After the University of Kentucky battered Portland 79-48 in Friday night’s tuneup for the EA Sports Maui Invitational, Coach John Calipari assessed his team. “I do know we’re fast and athletic,” he said. “I do know we shoot it well. I do know we’re unselfish and will pass the ball. We’ve just got to get some guys a little tougher. When they get bumped, when they get bodied up, they shoot fadeaway hooks and stuff.”
Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal: “The zone has been a four-letter defense for most of John Calipari’s career, but the University of Kentucky basketball coach has added one to his playbook, and the Wildcats might employ it during this week’s Maui Invitational. Just don’t ask them to explain it. The Calzone, apparently, defies description. “It’s a funky – it’s not a traditional zone,” Calipari said. “It’s a little bit of a crazy, funky zone that we’re going to start using, that I’ll probably use over in Maui. It’s a combination of a couple different zones that we’re just going to throw at people and see what happens.”
Glenn Logan of A Sea of Blue: “The thing that’s so great about this team is how far they are ahead of last year, execution-wise. This year’s Wildcats are chock full of great passers, and the result is the kind of ball movement we didn’t see out of last year’s team until near the end of the SEC season. I really love the combination of good ball handling with the constant threat of dribble penetration from anywhere. It puts a ton of pressure on the man-to-man defense, and the solid midrange game these new guys bring make playing a matchup zone a dicey proposition against them. Last year, Kentucky had one, but never both.”
Chip Cosby of the H-L: “Freshman Donte Rumph is already well over the 300-pound mark, and the same goes for third-year sophomore Mister Cobble. Another freshman, end Nermin Delic, is already one of the strongest players on the team. Freshman Brice Laughlin stands 6-foot-3 and, while listed at 280 pounds, appears to be much closer to the 300-pound range. Ditto for Elliott Porter.”
Evan Hilbert of AOL FanHouse: “This year, or so it appears thus far, not only will Kentucky have the ability to bury 3-pointers, but it will be a weapon. Each starter last night, and extending to Doron Lamb and Jon Hood off the bench, is a confident shooter that can be a viable outside threat. Last night on the road against Portland, Kentucky was 8-18 from deep, a solid follow-up to their 13-26 performance in their opener. Both of which are a far cry from the season-ending loss to West Virginia last year in which Kentucky missed its first 20 shots from long range, albeit against much less stout defensive pressure.”
Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal: “Derrick Nix has some decisions to make, and he’ll do so while his Michigan State teammates play without him next week in the Maui Invitational. “Nix has got some personal issues and he is not suspended, we’ve just elected between him and I not to go to Maui,” Izzo said of the sophomore center from Detroit. “And he’s gonna have to figure out what those are and what he’s gonna do and what he wants to do.”
Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune: “During the second half, Jones loosened up and made some plays at both ends of the court. He followed a missed shot by a teammate with a two-hand flush, went baseline on Sikma for a rousing dunk and stuffed a post move by Portland backup Jasonn Hannibal. Jones was also blocked from behind by UP’s Kramer Knutson on a breakaway dunk attempt. “Terrence was OK, but I want him to be great,” Calipari said.”
