Bomani Jones' Monday News and Views

Its been a great weekend in the Bluegrass state, with basketball at the top of everyone's priority list, as it should be. The Cats won, CJ Leslie and Quincy Miller were here and the Vols took down #1 Kansas. Overall good times. However it is also the beginning of a new era. A longtime friend of Kentucky Sports Radio is our man Bomani Jones and beginning today, Bomani starts hosting a daily sports show on Sirius/XM radio from 7-10 am. The station is called "Hardcore Sports" and you can actually stream it online at Hardcoresportsradio.com every morning as part of your wakeup routine. I have said for a long time that Bomani is a huge talent and I thought it was only a matter of time before he went national, and that time has now come. More importantly to me however, he has been a great friend over the years and I cant wait to watch him knock it out of the park with this new endeavor. Lots of stuff to hit on, so we will make it rapid fire: --- The story after the Kentucky game was the play of Deandre Liggins, who gives Kentucky a crucial option off the bench in certain situations. There is an opening for Liggins to become a big time player for UK because he is the middle ground of two extremes right now at the Small Forward position. Darius Miller is an offensive threat, but can play tentative and has struggled all year on defense. Ramon Harris is potentially the best perimeter defender on the team, but gives you very little on offense. If Liggins can be a happy middle ground between the two, as he was on Saturday, his playing time will only rise. --- After the game, the media room was the place for all the hijinks. One longtime UK reporter (whose identity I will protect) farted on Alan Cutler just before Calipari began his press conference, causing Cutler and his moustache to turn as red as I have seen. The reporter immediately became the hit of the room and will be basking in that glory for some time. Also, if you saw the WKYT live shot from the game, I am told that I was in the background trying to give Cutler a "Boogie Noogie." I havent seen the video, so if you have it and get it on Youtube, let me know. --- Ashley Judd was the star of the show backstage as we all took our turn to go gaga over the movie star. I told my story on the podcast of my...well lets say "awkward" introduction to her, but besides that strange moment, having Judd there was actually quite interesting. She is clearly a fan and knows some of the media very well (Tom Leach and Larry Vaught in particular). In person she both looks a bit older, but also a bit hotter than she often comes across on television. I think if Courtney Cox reaches a negotation stalemate on "Cougartown", she could be a perfect choice with our man Josh Hopkins. I do give her a lot of credit, as she was friendly to everyone who approached her, spent some time in the Erruption Zone during the game and she listened to the Calipari press conference from start to finish. It was good to see her in the arena. --- Demarcus Cousins once again was the star of the postgame to me. When it comes to quotes, no one gives better comments and no one is more engaging than our man Boogie. After the game, he talked a lot about maintaining his composure as he gets Shaquille O Neal-like treatment from opposing players and is hacked on nearly every play. He came out in his Peter Parker glasses (which he now wears everywhere) and when I asked him about Edgar Sosa calling him a nutcase, he said it didnt bother him, adding "I would say that too if I had gotten stomped." --- And how about our man Jerry Tipton , whose first question to Boogie was "so how did it feel to get posterized?" The question drew an audible "ooooh" from the media surrounding him. Aww Jerry. --- Friday night, I went and saw 2011 recruit Quincy Miller at Lexington Christian High School, as he played against a team from West Virginia that featured four Division I recruits. The game was well played and intense and Miller's team lost at the end. However I was very impressed with Quincy both on and off the court. He plays a bit like Kevin Durant, long and thin, but able to shoot inside and out. He clearly loves Kentucky and all he can talk about is what a great atmosphere the program has at this point. He is a definite talent and UK fans will love him. --- On Saturday, CJ Leslie played his game at Lexington Catholic and the reviews were a bit more mixed. While you have to love the guy's ability, there were some issues with attitude and energy that were a bit troubling. We talk a lot about that on the podcast, so you can listen there to a bit of the game action. In general however the news from Leslie is positive as he said he felt like "part of the family" at UK as the decision-making process for him winds down. Give a listen to the podcast below or even better subscribe at the iTunes link. We appreciate all the subscriptions and those of you that listen. It really has been tremendous and the feedback is really great. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. More stuff all day... [podcast]/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lex-cath-show.mp3[/podcast]