Ben Bailey's Tuesday Notes

by:Matt Jones03/08/10
benbaily Today was one of those day. It seems that as soon as I lieave for Middlesboro, the internet starts exploding. Today was one of those days due to a bogus rumor from a person who after facing the heat of criticism, backed off his original comment. Another day, another internet war has come and gone. So lets celebrate by giving props to Old Dominion's most popular alum, Ben Bailey, the host of the great "Cash Cab." If you didnt see tonight, Old Dominion punched its NCAA Tournament ticket and my guess is that they were partly spurred on by the greatness that is their alum's television show. When I first heard the idea (people in a cab answer questions and are on a game show), I thought "this is so stupid that we would do it on KSR." But after watching, I realized that it is stupid and brilliant at the same time...exactly what we strive for here. Bailey is the chrome domed comedian host and for some reason, when the show is on, I am hooked. Check it out sometime, if not for your own entertainment, in honor of the ODU basketball team, heading to the Big Dance. Some notes: --- ESPN's annoying college basketball "analyst" Doug Gottlieb reported tonight that Rod Strickland could be headed for Depaul as an assistant under the new head coach to be hired. Many have wondered why Strickland would make such a move, comparing just the program strength of Kentucky and Depaul. However two factors need to be remembered...first, Strickland is a Depaul alum and a move would allow him to be the top recruiting assistant, a role held by Orlando Antigua at UK. While it is certainly not for sure that the move will happen, if it does, those special pulls will likely be the best explanation of the decision. --- Two UK football notes from The Cats Pause, which reports two position changes. Moncell Allen will move from Running Back to Fullback next year, in hopes of replacing John Connor at the position. And Will...I mean Matt Lentz will move from Safety to Linebacker, where the coaches hope his bulked up size will make him more effective than what we have seen at Safety. Yes, I know its March and all we really care about is basketball, but for you football folks, the TCP news is something to chew on. --- Rumors of commitments came from every direction and added up to a day of excitement. However as of now, there are no commitments to report and nothing concrete has occurred. UK is juggling a lot of recruits and a lot of decisions in both 2010 and 2011 classes will take place in the next little bit. The ones to watch immediately are Enes Kanter, Brandon Knight, CJ Leslie and Terrence Jones. All have seen some media outlet report that they will pull the trigger within the next two weeks. The law of averages suggest that at least ONE of them will do it. The guess here is Knight will decide very soon and from there the dominoes fall. Suffice to say, the refresh button should be hit often over the next two weeks. --- Josh Selby told the Shiver that he has not eliminated any schools from his list, contrary to internet reports that suggested UK was out. So status quo at this point. The Knoxville News Sentinel is reporting late that Josh Selby will make his decison on April 17 at the Jordan Classic. So you have some time to get comfortable. --- Tonight John Calipari talked about his idea of having a mega-barnstorming tour with former UK players joining the Seniors and traveling not just around the state, but around the world. That sounds like an amazing idea and the players I know would love it. I think there is some question about whether the graduating Seniors could do it as the NCAA bans the schools from having anything to do with Barnstorming, a rule I learned about when we ran it a couple of years ago. But for the older guys, such a team would be amazing and a great advertisement for UK basketball. --- I am listening to this terrible Easton Corbin song, "I'm a Little More Country Than That" an absurd amount right now and I dont even like it (it is catchy). It confirms Tomlin (CM Tomlin to the CBS crowd)'s view that all country songs have themes that are either (a) we like to party dont you know, (b) I love you but I am still tough although you can make me soft or (c) I am so country, dont ya know and you city folks dont get it. He is right. --- Boogie and Darius Miller showed up in Mason County tonight for the 10th Region Championship game. Madness ensued. --- Wofford made the Tournament for the first time, beating Buzz Peterson and Appalachian State in a game we live blogged for a bit. We struggled all night to find an attractive Wofford student. I am not giving up...if you have any with pictures, email me. We dont want to trash Wofford any more unless we have to. --- I dont usually do fraternity updates on here, but I have to say that the story of an SAE at UK wrapping a kid in toilet paper and then someone setting it on fire is bizzare. I have no clue what happened, but if there is a stranger allegation, I havent seen it. It makes those on the KSR crew glad that most of us were in a fraternity full of dorks. I know that shocks everyone, but it was true. --- The scene in Nashville is going to be surreal. I expect one of the biggest UK crowds ever and TONS of people who arrive and hang out without tickets. If you have the ability to go and arent planning on doing it, change your plans. It will be worth it. Our SEC TOURNAMENT COVERAGE will be different than we have ever done it before. Running journal entries by the writers throughout and reports from me, live from the games. I think it should be very good and I hope you will make this your stop to follow all four days of action. More all day.... ---

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