Wall Responds To Coach Cal's Criticism of His Play

John Wall doesn't seem to be as happy as early on in the season. His body language is reflecting on that during the games.


John Wall doesn't look like he's smiling as much as he was earlier in the season.

Lex 18's Alan Cutler asked him if that was true and Wall agreed.

John Wall was called out by Cal after the Cats lost to South Carolina. Cal was trying to defend Patrick Patterson who was taking a lot of heat for his play, and at the time, he was critical of Wall.

"I don't know. He said I played awful," says John Wall.

"I didn't think I played that bad. I don't know what to expect. He's probably going to say I played bad today too so. I don't know. I just try not to listen to him and go out and play basketball and try and help my team win."

You could hear it in Walls voice that he was down. Cal's comments bothered him.

"Yeah, I think it's going to bother any player when he tells you that."

Wall is searching for answers. He's not sure why he's so unhappy.

"To be honest, I really haven't been having fun for the last two weeks. It's just being frustrated and things like that so, I just got to figure it out before we go further in league play."

Frustrated with how your playing, the team is playing, what is going on, is it just a lull in the season ?

"'Frustrated with everything. I don't know, one through twenty. Any ideas it is."

Wall looked as if the Cats lost two in a row by the lack of emotion he was showing.

Video Highlights From UK-Vandy Game

Kentucky Back on Track With Win Over Vanderbilt

Kentucky, (20-1) defeated Vanderbilt (16-4) today in a long 2 1/2 hour game, 85-72. At the time the game should of been over, there was still 8:00 minutes left in the 2nd. "The King" was there today, Lebron James sitting behind the UK bench and watched UK defeat #23 Vanderbilt. The Cats led most of the game, and fought to the end. DeMarcus Cousins was a beast and sliced through the Vandy defense getting And-1's left to right. He also got a Technical Foul at 9:06 in the 2nd, for arguing a bad call to a ref for calling goal tending. It was a HIGH fouling game, Orton fouling at around the 8:30 mark in the 2nd, and Cousins picked up his 4th just shortly after that. It doesn't end there. At the 5:50 mark, Patterson picks up his 4th foul. And then Wall picks up his 3rd just after Patterson's foul. Not a great day for Kentucky, fouling wise. But the Cats pulled it out today, so that's all that really matters.

1st Half UK 49 VU 34
2nd Half UK 36 VU 38
Final Score UK 85 VU 72

DE Farrington Huguenin Commits To Kentucky

Kentucky has received a verbal commitment from Farrington Huguenin, a defensive end prospect from Columbia, South Carolina. In his senior season, Huguenin led Dreher High with 121 tackles and 4 sacks. Huguenin had offers from Kentucky, South Carolina St, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central. Huguenin received some interest from South Carolina as well as some interest from Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia and Michigan State after an impressive showing at the Nike Combine last summer. He’s also a nephew of former NFL defensive lineman Gerald Perry. Huguenin is a 6′4″ and 240 lbs. Recruiting defensive linemen has been quite a common theme of the 2010 recruiting class of the Kentucky Wildcats. Huguenin is UK’s 22nd commitment of the 2010 class and the seventh recruit on the defensive line.

Insight on the Kentucky Basketball Uniforms

As we all know, Last year the Kentucky Men's Basketball program adopted new uniforms.

The uni's are modeled after the uniforms worn by the U.S. Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal in Beijing last summer. Nike spent 18 months working on the uniform, Tracy Teague (Nike’s global creative director) said.

“We wanted the uniform to be more than something teams wear with a number,” he said. “There’s a richness to the story behind every school and we wanted to bring that to life. We wanted to take the idea of using the uniform as a storytelling canvas and look at the position the basketball team holds in the state and what is important to people. In Kentucky, it’s basketball, bourbon and horse racing.”

Kentucky’s uniforms feature the square pattern of the jockey silks and the blue and white shade colors of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat.

"The uniform tops are also form fitting, which will make it more difficult for opponents to grab. If they're made of extra baggy material, guys are grabbing onto that," Teague said.

Biography On Scott Padgett (Former Kentucky Basketball Player)

Scott Anthony Padgett was born on April 19, 1976, in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a graduate of St. Xavier High School located in Louisville, Kentucky.He chose to play college basketball at the University of Kentucky under both former UK Coaches Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith.
Freshman Season
Padgett saw limited action in his freshman year in 1994-95 that included seven future NBA stars Wayne Turner , Tony Delk, Rodrick Rhodes, Walter McCarty, Jeff Sheppard, Mark Pope and Antoine Walker. After his freshman season, he had academic problems andwas ruled ineligible for the following season. Padgett quit basketball to go work three jobs and for a lawn mowing service.
Sophomore Season
That would not stop Scott's dream of playing Kentucky Basketball as he was reinstated the second half of the 1996-97 season where he played along future pros Ron Mercer, Derek Anderson, Nazr Mohammed and Jamaal Magloire. Their season would come up short of repeating as the National Champions when they lost to the Arizona Wildcats in the National Championship game. He was named to the All-NCAA Final Four Team.
Junior Season
In 1997-98 Scott Padgett earned the starting power forward job in the rotation under first-year UK Head Coach Tubby Smith. This was a break out year for Padgett with the highlight of his season coming when he hit a go-ahead three pointer to cap a 17 point comeback in the Elite 8 vs Duke. UK would go on to win the National Title that year and Padgett will forever be known as part of the "Comeback Cats" for the way UK clawed their way back all year to win games. Awards Padgett earned his Junior Season were First Team All-American (Wooden), All-NCAA Final Four Team, All-NCAA Regional Team, Second Team All-SEC (Coaches), Third Team All-SEC (AP), All-SEC Tournament and Academic All-SEC.
Senior Season
Padgett set a career milestone in his senior season making the 1,000 point club for the Cats. The highlight of his senior season would be in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament vs Kansas as he scored 29 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Padgett was also named to the All-NCAA Regional Team, was First Team All-SEC (Coaches) and Second Team All-SEC (AP) and Academic All-SEC. He also earned the SEC MVP award of the 1999 SEC Tournament.
Professional Basketball Career
Scott Padgett would be the 28th Overall Pick in the 1st Round of the 1999 NBA Draft. Scott Padgett played eight seasons in the NBA for four different NBA teams (Utah Jazz 1999-2003, Houston Rockets 2003-2005, 2006-2007, New Jersey Nets 2005-2006, and the Memphis Grizzlies 2007). He was mostly a back up in the NBA. The highlight of his career came January 21, 2005 while playing with the Houston Rockets, he hit a game winning buzzer beater three point shot to beat the New York Knicks to win the game 92-91. Scott Padgett played one season with CB Granada in the ACB, Spanish Basketball League before retiring from basketball in 2007.
Personal Life/Career After Basketball
Scott Padgett was born to Will and Linda Padgett. He married his wife Cynthia and has three kids, Logan, Lucas, and Layla. Padgett returned to Louisville after his basketball career in 2007 to co-host on The Dave and Scott show with former UofL QB Dave Ragone. Scott Padgett also owns his own franchise of the chain store Popcorn Station out of Louisville. In 2009, Scott Padgett was hired as an assistant strength coach to be on John Calipari's coaching staff in his first year at Kentucky along with former college teammate Tony Delk. Calipari was interested in getting Padgett and Delk a start to their coaching career much in the same way as he started his coaching career in Kansas. Something Calipari does with alumni a lot at his previous coaching destinations.

How Kentucky Got the Colors Blue & White

The University of Kentucky named Blue and White their offical colors in 1892. Before they did so, they had agreed on white and a light yellow color prior to a prior to the Kentucky-Centre College football game on December 19, 1891.

The particular shade of blue was finally chosen by a student who asked, "What color blue?" Then Richard C. Stoll pulled off his necktie, and the rest is history.

Gameday: Vanderbilt at Kentucky

Tomorrow (Jan. 30, 2010), The #1 Kentucky Wildcats (19-1) will take on the (#23 A/P) (#21 Coaches) Vanderbilt Commodores (16-3) in Lexington, Kentucky at Rupp Arena. You can find the game on ESPN. Many excpect it will be a close game. Some on the other hand, think it's 'just another game'. How do you think the game will turn out?

A little info on tomorrow's game:

Last meating, Vanderbilt defeated Kentucky 77-64 in Nashville, Tenn.

Ovearall record, UK leads 131-43.

SEC Records: UK 4-1, Vandy 5-0.

Scoring leaders are, UK: John Wall (17.1 ppg) Vandy: Jeffery Taylor (14.1 ppg)

Calipari on Vanderbilt:

"You can't worry about one guy; every guy that they have can shoot threes, can bounce the ball and pass the ball. It's like my UMass teams. Everybody is a basketball player and they are physically tough. You are not going to punk them. You aren't walking into the gym saying, `Let's throw an elbow and knock somebody down. Knock them out for introductions.' That's not happening. None of that stuff is working in this game. They are a veteran team and they are tough."

Patterson on Vanderbilt game:

"Yesterday everybody was practicing hard. The teammates were out here early taking shots and more focused. We definitely will have a better effort. Vanderbilt has a good winning streak; they are doing well right now and have an extremely tough team. (A.J.) Ogilvy is a tremendous basketball player. He is very strong down low. He can post the ball, and he can also run. He has improved so much on the jump shot. Last year he was able to drive the ball from the perimeter. He can do so much as a big man. We know what type of team they have and we want to do whatever we can to win the game. We are going to bring our `A' game and play our hearts out."

President Obama Calls Kentucky

President Obama called the University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Program and thanks them for doing 'Hoops for Haiti'. He said he was honored to speak to the #1 team in the Country, but his main purpose was to thank them for raising a little bit more than $1 million for the earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12.

"I'm still nervous and shocked about it right now," Wall said minutes after President Obama called the Wildcats to commend their efforts for their 'Hoops for Haiti' last week.

South Carolina Fan Says DeMarcus Cousins Struck Him After Loss

After Kentucky's Tuesday night loss to South Carolina, a television reporter in Columbia S.C., says that DeMarcus Cousins struck a USC fan after South Carolina's upset over #1 Kentucky.

Bob Shields (a worker for a T.V. station in Coulmbia) said that after South Carolina's 68-62 upset over Kentucky, a fan bumped Cousins who he said, Cousins “popped the kid a couple of times in the cheek.”

Neither school confirmed the alleged incident, though. South Carolina spokesman Steve Fink said that he was aware of the incident but that no one in South Carolina's athletic department had discussed it.

“None of our people have brought it up at all, to be honest with you,” Fink said.

The SouthEastern Conference rules state that fans aren't allowed to rush down onto the court during, or after a game. Thus, South Carolina was fined $25,000 for their students rushing down onto the court after the upset.

Biography on Patrick Patterson (Current Kentucky Basketball Player as of 2009-10)

Patrick Patterson was born on March 14, 1989, in Washington, D.C. The 6'8", 235 lb. McDonald's All-American power forward grew up in Hunington W.V., and helped lead his Hunington High School to three-straight state championships.

Choosing Kentucky over Duke, Florida, Virginia, Wake Forest and West Virginia, Patrick Patterson was recruited by Tubby Smith and came to the University of Kentucky where he averaged 16.4 pts a game, along with 7.7 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and 0.8 steals in his first season (2006-07).

In his sophomore season (2007-08), he averaged 17.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, and 0.6 steals. He and Jodie Meeks were the duo that season, as they were UK’s main high scorers. Ending the season, he decided to enter his name in the NBA Draft on April 18, 2009. However, it wouldn’t last one before he withdrew and returned to play at Kentucky on May 8th, 2009.

His Junior year (2009-10), former Memphis Tigers head coach John Calipari replaced Billy Gillispie (who had replaced Tubby Smith in 2006) and brought in a lot of talented players. Patterson has been averging 15.4 points per game this season and he also has a chance of graduating this year, so most likely he won’t be coming back. However, he has had some thought on returning but it’s not for sure. Patterson has had a big impact on the program the past three years, espescially when UK hasn’t been doing too well.

Biography on John Wall (Current Kentucky Basketball Player as of 2009-10)

John Wall was born on September 6, 1990, in Raleigh, North Carolina. In his High School Career, (Word of God Christian Academy) he was a fifth-year senior and was considered by most as the best point guard in his class (2009). Rivals.com had rated him #1, and Scout.com had rated him #2. Wall led his team to the North Carolina Class 1A state championship against United Faith Christian Academy, but they were defeated 56-53 by a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, by Ian Miller.

Wall committed to the University of Kentucky on May 19, 2009. Since he came to UK, he has been a major factor for why the Cats have only lost one game (As of Jan. 28). Wall has made a couple buzzer-beater shots to win against teams such as Miami (OH). He made the game winning shot with .5 seconds left on the clock to win, 72-70. He finished that game with 19 pts, 2 rebs, and 3 stl’s. “The Great Wall of Kentucky” is what he is often called, is projected to be the #1 pick of the 2010 NBA Draft. Calipari won’t hear of it that Wall returns to play a sophomore season at UK.

"I joke about coming back, and like you say, he tells me, no," Wall said.

Calipari told Patrick he'd wrestle with Wall rather than let him return for a second season at Kentucky.

"Coach might," Wall said. "He might pull my eye out. You never know."

So why we still have him, Cat fans, enjoy...because it won't last long.

Biography on Derek Anderson (Former Kentucky Basketball Player)

Derek Lamont Anderson was born on July 18, 1974, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a graduate out of Doss High School located in Louisville, KY. In his college basketball career, he played at Ohio State University, and at the University of Kentucky. In 1996, he helped get Kentucky their 6th National Championship with a team that would have nine future NBA Stars. He later graduated at UK in 1997.

He was first selected by the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers as the 13th overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. He would play for the Cavs from 1997 to 1999, before playing for the Los Angeles Clippers. There he would remain for just one season and in 2000 he went to the San Antonio Spurs where he also played just one season. In his NBA career, he had a lot of injuries which prevented him from playing a lot of games. In Anderson’s 2004-05 season, he only played 8 out of 42 games for the Portland Trail Blazers, and missed similar numbers of games in his previous seasons. He would later play for the Houston Rockets (2005-06), the Miami Heat (2006), and the Charlotte Bobcats (2006-08).

South Carolina Upsets Over Kentucky In Recent Years

Let's take a look back at some of the games the University of South Carolina has one some games that we really thought UK was going to win.

February 15th, 2005: #3 UK goes into the Colonial Center with Chuck Hayes and Kelenna Azubuike and get upset 73-61.

March 11th, 2006: After beating South Carolina twice in the regular season, the Gamecocks defeat UK 65-61 in the SEC Tournament Semi-Finals.

October 4th, 2007: South Carolina Football defeats 5-0 #7 ranked UK 38-23 at Williams-Brice Stadium.

October 11th, 2008: UK Football blows a half-time lead to USC and lose 24-17 at Commonwealth Stadium.

January 31st, 2009: Devan Downey hits a game-winning basket over Kentucky to win 78-77 at Rupp Arena.

February 25th, 2009: South Carolina completes a season sweep over Kentucky for the first time since 1997 with a 77-59 victory at the Colonial Center.

October 10th, 2009: South Carolina comes back and beats Kentucky by two points at Williams-Brice Stadium as UK Starting QB Mike Hartline gets injured and a controversial call made by UK to go for it on 4th Down late in the game rather than kicking the field goal and lose 28-26. That field goal would have been the difference in the game.

January 26th, 2010: South Carolina knocks off #1 ranked Kentucky 68-62 at the Colonial Center to get their first win over a #1 ranked team in school history.

South Carolina got their's today though. The SEC slapped the University of South Carolina with a $25,000 fine for the students rushing the court right after the upset victory last night over Kentucky. Devan Downey has to now face the Rupp Arena crowd one last time before he graduates. Hopefully UK will get revenge on him and the Gamecocks, snapping their 3-game losing streak to them. Just hope that the result of the game won't be the same as last year's game at Rupp Arena.

Kentucky Tastes Defeat

The NCAA has no more undefeated teams this season, as Kentucky goes down to South Carolina for their first defeat of the UK season, losing by a score of 68-62. The refs made a lot of bad calls, and that's what mostly won the game for USC. Not only that, but a lot of UK players had a few wide open lay-up shots, and failed to make them, such as Darnell Dodson. A wide open lay-up bounced off the back of the iron and he missed it. Devan Downey just tore the Cats up, play after play just making lay-ups and he got a lot of And-1's that were really questionable. S. Carolina gets their first win over a #1 team (Kentucky) in the school history. To make the UK fans feel better, UK isn't the only team feeling defeat, as they did after all remain the only undefeated team for a week or so. Looking around the country, UK is no different then the other top 5 teams now, as every team has a loss or more.

1st Half UK 29 USC 26
2nd Half UK 33 USC 42
Final Score UK 62 USC 68

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson 35 mins,8 rebs, 2 blk's and 5 pts
DeMarcus Cousins, 34 mins, 12 rebs,1 stl, 3 blks, and 27 pts
Darius Miller, 14 mins, 1 reb, and 1 ast
Eric Bledsoe, 31 mins, 2 rebs, 5 ast's, and 4 pts
John Wall, 38 mins, 4 rebs, 2 ast's, 1 stl, and 19 pts

Bench

Perry Stevenson, 3 mins
Ramon Harris, 4 mins, and 2 rebs
Darnell Dodson, 21 mins, 2 rebs, 2 stl's, and 5 pts
DeAndre Liggins, 12 mins, 3 rebs, and 1 ast
Daniel Orton, 8 mins, 4 rebs, 1 stl, and 2 pts

Totals, 13 Oreb's, 38 rebs, 9 ast's, 5 stl's, 5 blks and 62 pts

South Carolina Gamecocks

Starters

Sam Muldrow, 37 mins, 11 rebs, 1 stl, 5 blks, and 9 pts
Austin Steed, 20 mins, 6 rebs, 1 nlk, and 4 pts
Devan Downey, 38 mins, 5 rebs, 3 ast's, 2 stl's, and 30 pts
B Raley-Ross, 36 mins, 5 rebs, 2 ast's, 2 stl's, and 17 pts
Lakeem Jackson, 25 mins, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk and 2 pts

Bench

Evaldas Baniulis, 2 mins
Ramon Galloway, 10 mins, 1 reb, and 2 pts
Johndre Jefferson, 17 mins, 8 rebs, 1 stl, 1 blk, and 4 pts
Stephen Spinella, 15 mins, 2 rebs, and 1 stl

Totals, 16 Oreb's, 40 rebs, 6 ast's, 7 stl's, 8 blk's, and 68 pts

Biography on John Calipari (Current Kentucky Basketball Coach)

John Calipari was born on February 10, 1959 in Moon Township, PA. He lettered two years at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington before transferring to Clarion University. He then graduated there with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing.

From 1982-85, Calipari was an assistant coach at the University of Kansas. He then went to the University of Pittsburgh as an assistant from 1985-88. After Pittsburgh, he left and went to coach at the Massachusetts minutemen from 1988-96. Then at 1996, he left the minutemen and went to the NBA, for the New Jersey Nets where he was a Executive VP of basketball operations. During the 1999-2000 season, Calipari was an assitant coach at the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, before moving to his next coaching job at NCAA's Memphis Tigers.

In his first 17 seasons as a college basketball head coach, Calipari's record is 441-139. His college teams have made eleven NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the Sweet Sixteen seven times, the Elite Eight five times, the Final Four two times, and the championship game once, which was at Memphis.

After Billy Gillispie was dismissed as the head coach at UK, Kentucky was in desperate need of a new coach. Not just any coach, but a coach who would restore Kentucky to glory. On On March 30, 2009, multiple sources said that Calipari had agreed to become the next University of Kentucky Men's Basketball coach. At 9:45 a.m. on April 1, 2009 the University of Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart officialy introduced John Calipari as the new coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

Biography on Billy Gillispie (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Billy Clyde Gillispie was born November 7, 1959 in Abilene, Texas. He grew up in Graford, Texas, a small populated town. As a kid, he worked by delivering newspapers of copies of The Fort Worth Press. At Graford High School, Gillispie was a outstanding point guard there, and later went to Ranger College, playing basketball and baseball for them from 1978-1980. After that he transfered to Sam Houston State University, and worked as a student assistant for their basketball team.

After coaching at college schools, UTEP and Texas A&M, on April 6, 2007, Gillispie was named the offical head coach at the University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Program. He made a lot of recruit waves from five different classes and most striking, an 8th grader, Michael Avery who would be in the class of 2012.

Gillispie's first year as the coach of UK, got off to a bad start. His Wildcats got routed 84-68 by unranked Gardner-Webb in Rupp Arena in the second game of the year. Gillispie improved his team by SEC play, and achieved a 12-4 SEC Conference record.

At the end of the 2008-09 season, Kentucky didn't make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in years. Instead, they went on to gain a #4 seed in the NIT Tournament defeating UNLV and Creigton in the opening and second rounds before losing to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. Kentucky finished the year with a record of 22-14 overall, tieing for the second-most losses ever in the program's history.

He finished at UK with a overall record of 40-27.

AP Top 25 NCAA Men's Basketball Poll

*** As of Jan. 25 ***

1. Kentucky 19-0
2. Kansas 18-1
3. Villanova 18-1
4. Syracuse 19-1
5. Michigan State 17-3
6. Texas 17-2
7. Georgetown 15-3
8. Duke 16-3
9. West Virginia 15-3
10. Purdue 16-3
11. Kansas State 16-3
12. Brigham Young 20-1
13. Gonzaga 16-3
14. Tennessee 15-3
15. Temple 17-3
16. Wisconsin 16-4
17. Pittsburgh 15-4
18. Mississippi 15-4
19. Connecticut 13-6
20. Ohio State 14-6
21. Vanderbilt 15-3
22. Georgia Tech 14-5
23. New Mexico 18-3
24. Baylor 15-3
25. UAB 17-2

Biography on Orlando (Tubby) Smith (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Orlando (Tubby) Smith was born on June 30, 1951 in Scotland, Maryland. He was the sixth of 17 children. He got his nickname when he was young, because he liked to stay in the tub where he, and his brothers and sisters were bathed.

Smith enrolled at High Point University and graduated in 1973. He played under three different coaches at High Point and was an all-conference performer as a senior.

Smith began his coaching career coaching at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland. He amassed a 46-36 record there. He then went to Hoke County High School in Raeford North Carolina where he got a 28-18 record in two seasons.

His first head coaching job would come at the University of Kentucky, becoming the 20th head coach on May 12, 1997. He coached the Cats to their seventh National Title in 1998, including a come from behind win over Duke in the Elite Eight. He also achieved a perfect 16-0 SEC Conference record in 2003, five SEC regular season championships, and five SEC Tournament titles.

As the years went on, fans thought his recruiting was getting really bad, and they decided it was time for him to go. On March 22, 2007 he resigned as UK head coach and went on to coach at Minnesota.

Smith led the Cats to an overall record of 263–83 record for a winning percentage of .760. In his 10 seasons with Kentucky, he averaged over 26 wins per season.

Biography on Rick Pitino (Former UK Head Coach)

Rick Pitino was born on September 18, 1952, in New York, New York. The Italian American grew up in the Village of Bayville and in High School was the captain of the St. Dominic High School basketball team. He went to college at UMass from 1970-74, and was an outstanding point guard for the minutemen.

Pitino’s first Head Coaching job came at Boston University in 1978. He led the team to the NCAA Tournament for he first time in 24 years.

He then left Boston University and went to the New York Nicks (NBA team) and became an assistant coach under Hubie Brown. He then left and became the head coach at Providence in 1985. The team went 11-20 before Pitino came, and in two years he got them to the Final Four.

After spending two years coaching in the NBA, Pitino came back to college level and became the head coach at Kentucky in 1989. The once legendary Kentucky basketball program was falling to pieces. The program was suffering from a major recruitment scandal that was brought on by former UK head coach Eddie Sutton that left UK on NCAA Probation. Pitino quickly restored Kentucky’s reputation and led them to the Final Four in 1993. Then three years later, Rick Pitino would get Kentucky’s 6th National title (1996), Kentucky’s first NCAA Title in 18 years. Pitino left UK after the 1997 season and returned to the NBA again, but returned to coach another college team which would be Louisville in 2001. Pitino finished at UK with a record of 104-28

Biography on Eddie Sutton (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Eddie Sutton was born on March 12, 1936 in Bucklin, Kansas. Sutton played for Oklahoma A&M until his senior year of 1957-58 under coach Henry Iba.

His coaching career began in 1967 in Twin Falls, Idaho at the College of Southern Idaho, a community college. He left them in 1969 to coach at the Creighton Blue Jays.

He coached 36 years of Division 1 College Basketball total, coaching at Arkansas, Creighton, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, and The University of San Francisco. He led two different schools to the Final Four, and was the first coach to take four different schools to the NCAA Tournament.

He coached at UK from 1985-1989 and led the Cats to the Elite Eight of the 1986 NCAA Tournament. He didn’t last long at UK, on the 1988-89 season, he lacked talent in his starting lineup and UK finished with a losing record of 13-19, the team’s first full season losing record since 1927. After the 1988-89 season ended, the NCAA announced that its investigation into the basketball program had found the UK guilty of violating numerous NCAA rules. He finished at UK with a 88-39 overall record at UK.

Sutton then returned to Oklahoma State in 1990, and rebuilt the program, as well as his reputation for coaching getting the school to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in awhile.

He finished with an overall record of 888-341.

Biography on Joe B. Hall (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Joe Beasman Hall, better known as Joe B. Hall, was born on November 30, 1928 in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Joe B. Hall went to college at the University of Kentucky and played on the 1948 National Title team under Coach Rupp. His coaching career began at Shepherdsville KY High School in 1956. He then went on to Regis College in Denver where he coached for five years with a record of 57-50. He then went to Central Missouri State for one season, getting a 19-6 record before returning to UK on July, 1st as an assistant coach for Rupp.

He coached at the University of Kentucky Wildcat’s Men’s basketball team from 1972 to 1985. Coach Hall won UK their fifth Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship in 1978, and was SEC coach of the year on four different occasions. Along with the 1978 title, he also guided UK to a runner-up finish against the UCLA Bruins in the 1975 NCAA Tournament, a Final Four appearance in the 1984 Tournament, and one NIT Championship in 1976. His record at UK was 297 - 100, and 373-156 over his whole career.

Coach Hall is one of only three men to both play on a championship team (1948 – Kentucky) and coach a team to a championship (1978 – Kentucky). The only other two men to achieve this were Bob Knight and Dean Smith.

Joe Hall currently co-hosts a popular radio show along with former Louisville coach, Denny Crum.

Looking Back on Adolph Rupp's Life (Biography)

Adolph Frederick Rupp was born on September 2, 1901 in Halstead Kansas. Little did he know that someday, he would be the coach of the greatest teams in college basketball, the Kentucky Wildcats. He first became interested in the sport of basketball when he was six, when Halstead High School won two Kansas state high school titles. Later, after growing to 6-foot-2, Rupp was a star on his Halstead High School team, averaging over 19 points a game in both his junior and senior years. He went to school at Kansas and actually played on the Jayhawk’s team as a reserve from 1919-1923.

Later, he became the coach of the Kentucky Wildcats from 1930 to 1972. He actually recruited more than 80% of his players from the state of Kentucky. He amassed 876 wins (3rd best of all-time) and 190 losses, and a 82.2% winning percentage (2nd of all-time). He won four NCAA titles at UK (1948, ’49, ’51, ’58), one NIT Title, appeared in 20 NCAA tournaments, six Final Four appearances, and won 27 SEC regular season titles.

Rupp was later forced into retirement in March 1972 after reaching the age of 70, which at the time was the age of retirement for all UK employees.

He later died in Lexington Ky, on December 10, 1977 (age 76).

Will Wall Go to the NBA Next Year? Wall - "I really have no choice"

John Calipari is insisting that John Wall will go pro next year.

"I joke about coming back, and like you say, he tells me, no," Wall said.

Calipari told Patrick he'd wrestle with Wall rather than let him return for a second season at Kentucky.

"Coach might," Wall said. "He might pull my eye out. You never know."

Wall, after making a fast-break layup while being fouled during the Arkansas game, turned to photographers and flexed his biceps.

"I'm getting stronger so I can fight through and get three-point plays," he said.

Wildcats Are Ready to Take the No.1 Spot From Texas

Any old Saturday win would likely place the Cats on top of the AP poll for the first time since 2003. And that "any old" Saturday win was against Arkansas, 101-70.

"I think we would have smashed anyone today. That's not arrogance, but that's as good as we've played for the first 20 minutes. We would have beaten a lot of teams today." Calipari said.

"They have a chance to be the best team in college basketball this year." said Pelphrey.

Coach Cal and his young Cats all agree that being No. 1 is great in the regular season, but they're playing for a No. 1 seed in the tournament.

"It's not a big deal to be No. 1 if you don't finish the season No.1," said Darius Miller, who led the Cats at 18 points (a career-high.). "I think everybody dreams about playing for a No.1 team. I think that motivated us today."

Kentucky scored the game's first 10 points, stretched the lead to 30 by halftime, then added the first 14 points to the second half against Arkansas.

"To be No.1 and undefeated is great, but we want to stay humble and hungry," said freshman John Wall. "It seems like we get a 16- or 17-point lead and let up. Today we said, 'Don't let up.' "

Kentucky Remains Undefeated And Prove Their Point That Indeed, They Are #1

Cats win 101-70 in a ALL Kentucky game. The Hogs couldn't get it together and therefore, Kentucky came out determined and able to overcome Arkansas. Following a Texas loss, putting the Cats in the spotlight for the #1 position. Proving their point, UK comes out and dominates and not only did UK snatch the #1 position from Texas with Texas only losing one game, the Longhorns lose yet ANOTHER game following the UK game.

1st half UK 57 Arkansas 27

2nd half UK 44 Arkansas 43

Final Score UK 101 Arkansas 70

Starters

P. Patterson 29 mins, 7 rebs, 1 blk, 9 pts

D. Cousins, 17 mins, 5 OREB'S, 14 rebs, 1 ast, 2 stl's, 16 pts

D. Miller, 26 mins, 5 rebs, 4 ast's, 2 stl's, 18 pts

E. Bledsoe, 29 mins, 1 OREB, 7 rebs, 6 ast's, 1 blk, 10 pts

J. Wall, 26 mins, 3 rebs, 2 OREB'S, 7 ast's, 3 stl's, 2 blks, 16 pts

Bench

P. Stevenson, 11 mins, 2 rebs, 6 pts

R. Harris, 14 mins, 3 OREB'S, 5 rebs, 3 pts

D. Dodson, 7 mins, 6 pts

M. Krebs, 4 mins

J. Harrellson, 5 mins, 1 OREB, 4 rebs, 4 pts

D. Liggins, 12 mins, 1 reb, 1 stl, 4 pts

J. Hood, 7 mins, 1 OREB, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 pts

D. Orton, 13 mins, 3 OREB's, 5 rebs, 1 stl, 4 blk's, 6 pts

Totals, 19 OREB's, 54 rebs, 19 ast's, 9 stl's, 9 blk's

John Wall Makes Sports Illustrated

John Wall made Sports Illustrated not to long ago, and the cover is only available in the SouthEast.

While Wall is projected to be the #1 pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, he's not totally sure about his future.

“I want to go undefeated,” Wall said. “That’s not going to be an easy thing. That’s going to be tough. I’m not saying we’re going to do it or it’s going to be easy, but that’s a goal that I have.”

2010 Projected NBA Pick For Patterson, Wall and Cousins

NCAA Men's College Basketball Rankings As of Jan. 17

***As of January 17***

1) Texas 17-0
2) Kentucky 18-0
3) Kansas 16-1
4) Villanova 15-1
5) Syracuse 17-1
6) Purdue 14-3
7) Michigan State 15-3
8) Duke 14-2
9) Tennessee 14-2
10) West Virginia 13-3
11) Georgetown 13-2
12) North Carolina 12-6
13) Kansas State 15-2
13) Wisconsin 14-4
15) Connecticut 11-5
16) Pittsburgh 15-2
17) Gonzaga 14-3
18) Brigham Young 18-1
19) Temple 15-3
20) Georgia Tech 13-4
21) Mississippi 13-4
22) Baylor 14-2
23) Miami (FL) 15-3
24) Clemson 15-3
25) Florida State 14-4

Cats Explain the Reason Why They Keep Losing Leads

I think we have all shared the same frusterating experience when Kentucky jumps out to a big lead early, than blows it. As predictable as it might seem, it usually has to happen at some point...particularly late in the 1st, or usually most of the 2nd half. Previously, Kentucky jumped out to a big lead in Alabama against Auburn. Of course, Kentucky had a huge lead as much as 19, but the Tigers came back to tie it at 60 all. But eventually UK pulled it out by 5.

"I think we get complacent," Orton said. "It's something we've struggled with. We really have to work on is getting a lead and then maintaining the lead or even expanding on that lead. We need to try to blow teams out."

"I think we get a little too cocky," John Wall added. "We think we've got the game won and we don't keep fighting and trying to punish a team like coach wants us to, like his teams in the past would keep going."

Does Coach Cal notice this?

"Oh yeah, Cal notices," Bledsoe said with a laugh. "Don't nothing pass his eyes."

Kentucky Defeats the Auburn Tigers 72-67

Kentucky, almost giving a win away down in Alabama against the Auburn Tigers. Kentucky went into the half, confident with a 39-26 lead, but as most could of predicted The Tigers cam back and kept with in 6 for most of the second of the half. Kentucky able to pull it out in the end, and remains perfect at 18-0.

1st Half - UK 39 - AUB 26
2nd Half - UK 33 - AUB 41
Final - UK 72 - AUB 67

Starters

P. Patterson, 36 mins, 5 rebs, 3 asts, 12 pts
D. Cousins, 30 mins, 11 rebs, 3 asts, 1 stl, 4 blks, 16 pts
D. Miller, 19 mins, 2 rebs, 2 blks, 3 pts
E. Bledsoe, 38 mins, 2 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls, 13 pts
J. Wall, 35 mins, 2 rebs, 4 asts, 1 stl, 13 pts

Bench

P. Stevenson, 6 mins, 2 rebs, 2 stl, 4 pts
R. Harris, 6 mins
D. Dodson, 9 mins, 1 reb, 3 pts
D. Liggins, 14 mins, 3 rebs, 5 pts
D. Orton, 7 mins, 3 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 pts

Didn't Play

J. Harrellson
M. Krebs
J. Hood

UK Ends 6-Year Losing Streak To Florida On The Road

The Kentucky Wildcats head into the "Swamp" and get a huge road win over the Florida Gators ending a six year losing streak on the road to Florida. The Cats started the game off shaky with Florida starting off on a 7-0 run to begin the game. It wouldn't take long for the Cats to get settled in thanks to Eric Bledsoe who stole the show with a career-high 25 points. Daniel Orton showed tremendous effort on defense with 3 blocks in a row in the first half and ending the game with 4 blocks. Patterson and Cousins had usual solid games keeping the Gators off the boards tonight out rebounding them 38-32. John Wall kept the game in control running the floor with his highlight reel dunks and layups, as well as leading the team with 6 assists. The final score of this one was 89-77. UK continues their road trip to Auburn, Alabama to face the 9-7 Auburn Tigers.

1st Half UK 38 UF 31

2nd Half UK 51 UF 46

Final UK 89 UF 77

Starters

Patrick Patterson 37 mins, 15 pts, 7 rebs, 2 stls, 1 blk

DeMarcus Cousins 23 mins, 13 pts, 5 rebs

Darius Miller 26 mins, 9 ptsm 4 rebs, 2 asts

Eric Bledsoe 37 mins, 25 pts, 7 rebs, 5 asts, 3 stls

John Wall 35 mins, 19 pts, 4 rebs, 6 asts, 1 blk

Bench

Perry Stevenson 5 mins

Ramon Harris 5 mins, 1 reb

Darnell Dodson 9 mins, 6 pts, 1 reb

DeAndre Liggins 6 mins

Daniel Orton 17 mins, 9 rebs, 1 stl, 4 blks

Did Not Play

Jon Hood

Mark Krebs

Josh Harrellson

Cats Land A New DE/ATH Prospect

Joker Phillips and his new staff landed Terrell Combs, a 3-star DE/ATH out of Bryan Station High School in Lexington, Kentucky. He is a mid-year transfer out of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Combs will not have to sit out any games and will be able to play immediately. He has 3 years left of eligibility. Terrell is 6'2 weighing in at 252 lbs. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds.

Video Highlights of The UK-UGA Game

Kentucky Holds Off Georgia In SEC Opener

UK gets its first conference victory in a hard fought match vs an under rated Georgia Bulldogs team hot off a victory over #17 Georgia Tech. The Cats trailed at half time but 2nd Half heroics from DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Liggins kept the Cats in the game. Eric Bledsoe had a solid game for the Cats today but it was a huge test as the Cats struggled to the Bulldogs in their SEC Home Opener. Kentucky was able to pull a way late in the 2nd Half with a 76-68 win as UGA's front court consisting Albert Jackson, Chris Barnes and Jeremy Price all fouled out. It proved to be a test for the Cats as they faced an even matched front court based on height with a 6'11 Albert Jackson and 6'9 Trey Thompkins. The Wildcats go on the road on Tuesday night in Gainsville, Florida to take on Billy Donovan's Florida Gators in what will be UK's biggest road test of the season.

1st Half UGA 35 UK 34
2nd Half UGA 33 UK 42
Final UK 76 UGA 68

Starters

DeMarcus Cousins 25 mins, 16 pts, 7 rebs, 1 ast, 3 stls, 2 blks
Patrick Patterson 37 mins, 17 pts, 6 rebs, 2 asts, 1 blk
Darius Miller 15 mins, 5 pts, 1 reb, 1 stl
John Wall 34 mins, 17 pts, 4 rebs, 5 asts, 1 stl
Eric Bledsoe 37 mins, 12 pts, 3 rebs, 1 ast, 3 stls

Bench

Darnell Dodson 11 mins, 2 rebs, 1 stl
Ramon Harris 10 mins, 2 rebs, 1 blk
Perry Stevenson 9 mins
Daniel Orton 8 mins, 3 pts, 3 rebs 1 blk
DeAndre Liggins 14 mins, 6 pts, 1 reb, 3 stls

Did Not Play
Josh Harrellson
Mark Krebs
Jon Hood

Joker Phillips Press Conference

Rewatch The Rich Brooks Retirement Press Conference Here

Rich Brooks Officially Retires

Today at 11 AM Rich Brooks made the official announcement to retire as the head football coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. The move to retire comes as no surprise as Brooks said after a loss to Clemson in the Music City Bowl that he was 80% sure he was not going to return as UK's football coach in 2010. The 68-year old Rich Brooks lead UK to a 39-47 record and going to four straight bowl games for the first time in school history. Offensive Coordinator Rich Brooks will become the next head coach of Kentucky Football. Rich Brooks will certainly be missed by many in the Commonwealth and will be remembered for all of the hard work and effort he put into rising UK Football from probation to where it is today.

Here is Coach Brooks on his decision to retire:

“I have decided that it is time for me to step away and turn this program over,” Brooks said. “My hope is that not only will it be competitive but reach the heights that I failed to achieve.”

Rich Brooks Press Conference Live Here

Rich Brooks Update

Coach Rich Brooks will be having a press conference at 11 AM to announce his decision regarding his future as UK's head football coach.

Rich Brooks Retirement Update

Coach Rich Brooks said yesterday at the Kentucky-Louisville game that he would be announcing his decision about his future as the UK Head Football Coach this week. An announcement could come as early as Monday. Brooks would not let out if he had made his decision yet and would go into detail as to what will factor into his decision. One would assume he would like one more shot at it this year to beat Tennessee, South Carolina, and get UK to a more respectable bowl game. Brooks met with UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart this past week in which Barnhart expressed that he would like Brooks to say one more year. Coach Brooks says he wants to return only if it's under the right circumstances. Barnhart says he trusts Brooks's decision to name Offensive Coordinator Joker Phillips as his successor but nothing is in writing that officially makes Joker Phillips the new UK Football coach if Rich Brooks were to step down.

Video Highlights From Yesterday's Game

John Calipari-Rick Pitino Post Game Presser

Kentucky Wins The Battle of The Bluegrass, Improve to 15-0

The Wildcats held off in-state rival, the Louisville Cardinals to get a 71-62 victory. Lots of fireworks early on in this one. It started off with Eric Bledsoe picking up a quick fould 8 seconds in the game upset with the fould call and Louisville's Reginald Delk. A little bit later, DeMarcus Cousins threw an elbow at Jared Swopshire of Louisville's face resulting in both receiving technical fouls. A low scoring first half. Both teams struggled to find consistency on the offensive side of the ball. Cousins and Patterson played a solid first half with highlight reel dunks to get the record-break Rupp Arena crowd into the game. It all picked up in the 2nd Half when Louisville shrunk UK's lead down and eventually held a one point lead temporarily. John Wall and Eric Bledsoe turned it on in the 2nd half with key big shots to keep UK in the game when Louisville went on a spurt that was short-lived. Wall continued to have cramps in his legs in this game. They hold on though and head into SEC Conference play undefeated. There next opponent will be the Georgia Bulldogs at Rupp Arena.

1st Half UK 27 UL 19

2nd Half UK 44 UL 43

Final UK 71 UL 62

Starters

Patrick Patterson: 38 mins, 17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

DeMarcus Cousins: 26 mins, 8 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal

Darius Miller: 8 mins, 2 rebounds

Eric Bledsoe: 30 mins, 12 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals

John Wall: 36 mins, 17 points, 1 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals

Bench

Perry Stevenson: 10 mins, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block

Ramon Harris: 23 mins 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

Darnell Dodson: 13 mins, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

DeAndre Liggins: 8 mins, 1 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

Daniel Orton: 1 steal, 2 blocks

Did Not Play

Mark Krebs

Josh Harrellson

Jon Hood

Gameday: Louisville at Kentucky

To kick off the New Year, the Wildcats will host Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals today (Saturday Jan, 2) 3:30 P.M. at Rupp Arena, Lexington Kentucky.

Kentucky, 14-0 (3rd ranked) 0-0 SEC.

Louisville, 10-3 (1-0 Big East).

UK leads series, 26-14.

Last Meeting, U of L Defeated UK 74-71 on Jan. 4, 2009 at Louisville.

Rich Brooks Update (#2)

Mitch Barnhart says he wants Rich Brooks to remain the UK Football Head Coach.

"I want him to be our football coach. I think he's good for Kentucky," said Barnhart."He's good for our players. And that's important."

Barnhart also said he doesn't know if Brook's heart really resides at UK being the Head Coach.

"I absolutely do not know that in any way, shape or form," he said. "I think Rich enjoys being a football coach. I can't speak to his feelings, but I wanted to make sure (he knows) that if he wants to come back, it's his. It's his job."