Danny Tanner's Thursday News and Views

Its a big day ladies and gentlemen!!!! We are now less than 24 hours from the first UK basketball game of the season…..even if it is only a preseason contest. I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally have some real action to talk about and not just theoretical mumbo jumbo. Kentucky Sports Radio hopes to be your first stop for basketball coverage here on the net and will have lots of post-game analysis following the contest. The opponent is of course Lindsey Wilson (home of the twins from the “Man Show”) and television sets throughout the state will be tuned to basketball, rather than that silly football game. For those of you living outside the complicated regions where the game is being show, we will have a complete game review in which you can see the highs and lows from all the players and coaches. We will not have audio tomorrow due to a prior previous commitment, but beginning on Monday night, all the post-game reactions will be part of the coverage.

Also, we still need another contestant for the White Castle Challenge. If you are in the Lexington area on Saturday and think you can take on Hubby, let me hear from you at [email protected] to enter. For those of you going to the game, we are going to be set up in front of the stadium at the lot that faces Nicholasville Road and the contest is set to begin around 11:45 a.m. Stop by and you can meet the crew and watch Hubby do his thing…..it promises to be a good time.

Now onto the news and tidbits….

TIDBIT 1 For those of you that havent heard yet, Sheray Thomas was suspended for the two preseason games and one regular season game for an undisclosed violation of team rules. Speculation has run amok as to the actual reason for the suspension, but while I am not 100 percent sure of the cause, I do know that many of the wilder conspiracy theories are certainly not true. What we do know is that Thomas’s suspension means that WOOOOOOOOOO will be in the starting lineup, which makes me and all the citizens of the glorious nation of Poland happy to the very tips of our toes. Sheray’s suspension also reminds me of famous UK past citizen Rashad Carruth who (as legend goes) was so bad and not going to class, that Tubby Smith would send an assistant coach or even himself to go stand outside of class to make sure he attended. Sensing that Carruth would often leave after the coach left, Tubby then had someone stand outside class at all times during the class to make sure Rashad never left…..the Rashad-Tubby relationship was destined never to work. Unfortunately I knew it from the day that Rashad was at the McDonald’s All American Game and was asked what he was going to do at Kentucky and Rashad smiled (showing his gold grillz) and said, “I’m gonna shoot the three DAWG!!!!” It was never meant to be.

TIDBIT 2: The bulk of the information that has come in today suggests that John Lucas was apparently not on campus on Monday and the Intern’s friend must have spotted someone else instead. However what we now know IS TRUE (100 percent) is that Tubby spent Tuesday afternoon attending a Jai Lucas practice in Houston. Word from all parties is that Tubby is extremely confident about this recruitment and returned in a very jovial mood. It was stated today by a message board poster that if Lucas went elsewhere “the fans would turn on Matt Jones.” I hope this isnt true, as I have only said what I have been told on this from the beginning and all we are trying to do here is entertain and inform. Literally every source I have, including Jai himself, has led me to believe UK is the leader here. If I hear otherwise, I will let everyone know. But at this point a different decision would surprise me immensely.

TIDBIT 3: Marshall Moses is expecting that test score today to arrive. If so the visit will be scheduled and he will be in Lexington on Friday. As soon as we find out if that is taking place, we will let you know.

TIDBIT 4: All indications are that the last week of practice has been very impressive. The team has been crisp on running the offense and while the defense is not where the coaches want it at this time, the team is showing more offensive firepower than was present at this point last year. Most importantly, the coaches have been amazed with the effort and energy of the group, as the new conditioning programs are showing themselves. One person told me, “these guys are able to run for weeks now and unlike last year when the quality of practice disintergrated toward the end, now it is a full pace the entire time.” Thursday night will show a lot, but conditioning is one thing I most look forward to following.

TIDBIT 5: Members of the football team (who should not be lost in the hubub this weekend) are truly setting their sights on a “program building win” this weekend with Georgia. Many players are openly talking about making a statement as to how much work has been put into the program by pulling off a win over such a top opponent. While Georgia is not the normal Georgia, they still are a solid team, but this group believes they can pull off the upset. Everyone knows that a win here not only likely ensures a bowl game, but it probably ensures the return of the staff…..both things this group of players truly want to see happen.

Tomorrow will be a big day on here. We will have another player preview (Joe Crawford), news about the first show on Friday (including how to call in) and post-game coverage of the Lindsey Wilson shootout. Check in for all the latest and watch as we combine with Bill Keightley to truly bring sexy back.