N-Secure's Thursday News and Views

Good morning, my beautiful blue brothers and sisters and welcome to your Thursday News and Views for October 21, 2010.  Like your usual Thursday morning post, these will be full of wit, amazing facts and a crossword puzzle, but, as an added bonus, it’s also free of Matt Jones.  Matt spent Wednesday evening continuing to out-kick his coverage like Glen Pakulak, this time at the Daniel Tosh show in Louisville, leaving you and I to sit here and wonder who is just settling in our relationshiop.  But, since you’ve decided to join me here, we’ll let you in on a little secret usually reserved for those paying us $9.99 (or waiting to drop $2 in the Wal-Mart discount DVD bin next week).  While most of the world ran out to see Jackass 3D on Friday, those with a more sophisticated taste in feature film anticipated the under-the-radar release of N-Secure, featuring David Alan Grie….I mean Washington, Vanessa Huxtable and…wait for it….John Calipari!  The film is described as “a no holds-barred thrilling drama mixed with murder, mayhem and manipulation among affluent professionals”, which I assume means it’s about college basketball.  Although, the movie poster would lead me to believe otherwise.  Nonetheless, Coach Cal makes a cameo appearance and sources say that the film inspired him to start his next book, tentatively called “Bouncing Back Again: Who the Hell Told Me To Be In That Movie?”.

Now, onto some UK news…

 – In case you haven’t been appropriately excited for basketball season with the Canada trip, UK Media Day or Big Blue Madness, Thursday is SEC Media Day in Alabama.  Coach Cal will take Darius Miller with him on the trip to meet with all the finest sportswriters in the south, where they will most likely be subjected to countless questions about Enes Kanter and the differences in last year’s team and this year’s squad.  Coach Cal will be up on the mic at 3:40 and Miller will speak at 4:00.  Matthew Mitchell and Pre-Season SEC Player of the Year Victoria Dunlap will also attend.  You can stream it live here. 

 – Speaking of Enes Kanter, we still have no news and the question is quickly catching “Any news on Lucas and Patterson?” as KSR’s most frequently asked comments question.  But, late on Wednesday, Coach Cal issued his final statement on Kanter until there is a ruling through his website.  Cal says that the NCAA has acted fair to this point and reiterates that he believes Kanter is an amateur and will be available.  The wait continues.

 – According to ESPN’s Andy Katz, conference commissioners voted 31-0 to recommend eliminating the July recruiting period.  This is a notion that Coach Cal has supported publicly for a long time and, if the Board of Directors approves this recommendation next Thursday, could become a reality in 2012.  Calipari’s support has been based on the notion that by doing away with this recruiting period, he has more time to develop the players currently on campus and, in theory, it would diminish the control that the traveling AAU programs have on players.  Some believe that this could have a serious effect on the mid-major schools, who seem to use the period to scout numerous prospects at once in an effort to find that “diamond in the rough” that slipped past the major programs.  But, with a unamimous vote, it seems like their commissioners do not agree.  Here is Katz’ story.

– On a non-UK note, the most talked about story in the Bluegrass basketball world on Wednesday was the news that “The Boys” have again let the city of Louisville know that they keep their pimp hand strong as Tom Jurich sanctioned WHAS, reportedly because of the way Terry Meiners had criticized the way the seating was handled at the new Rick Pitino House of Conspiring.  After Matt tweeted it out in the morning, it was later confirmed that Meiners would no longer be on U of L basketball broadcasts and The Rick Pitino Show would no longer feature Rick Pitino and would be now called “U of L Basketball Show” with Meiners replaced by Drew Deener.  Doing a bit of damage control, Rick said that, like he did with recruiting, he plans on taking a year off and it has nothing to do with a personal difference between he and Meiners, who he calls a friend.  He did acknowledge, however, that the school has some issues with what he has said on the air. 

 – Speaking of Pitino, Karen Sypher attempted to have her conviction overturned on Wednesday by filing motions to have the judge that presided over it removed.  Sypher claims that the judge, who her new legal team says served on the board of directors at U of L’s law schoo and invested in Stockyards Bank, a partner in the new arena.  Karen Sypher’s new attorney is James Faller of the U.S. Justice Watch and I know Matt Jones looks forward to seeing his bare torso sometime in the near future. 

 – And, speaking of Sypher and Pitino, the Rachel and Ross of Louisville found their way into Daniel Tosh’s set at the Palace Theater on Wednesday night.  Tosh took a shot at U of L and Pitino by saying, I had lunch at a nice little local restaurant today.  Then, I looked over and rick Pitino was banging this chick at the table next to me.  I guess Pitino thinks public sex will help recruiting.  He is 60 miles too far west for that.”  Boom.  Roasted.

 – On a football note, Kentucky is now looking toward finishing the back half of their schedule in a strong fashion, hopefully putting themselves in position for a New Year’s Day bowl game.  But, before moving on, the Cats earned some final praise for their first half efforts as Randall Cobb and Danny Trevathan were named First Half All-Americans.  Cobb was named to the first team for College Football News and the second team by Phil Steele.  Trevathan was put on the second and fourth teams.  Also, Cobb (wide receiver), Trevathan and Derrick Locke were named first team All-SEC by Steele and Cobb (kick returner) and Larry Warford were on the second team.  Mike Hartline and Chris Matthews were on the third team.

 – Also, as they were against South Carolina, it appears that Kentucky will be without a key player against Georgia.  Derrick Locke will most likely not be available for the game Saturday as he continues to recover from shoulder injuries suffered against Auburn.  Thanks to a strong effort from Mike Hartline, the Cats were able to knock off the Gamecocks, thanks to almost no support in the running game from anyone not named Randall Cobb.  Against the conference’s fourth-ranked rushing defense (SC was 9th), Kentucky will need a much better effort from Donald Russell and Raymond Sanders. 

 – Also, DeQuin Evans is now struggling through a shoulder injury on top of his ongoing ankle injury and the team is not sure if he will be available for the Georgia game.  Evans is in the middle of a very disappointing season, gathering only six tackles and one sack, but there’s no question that having a player of his size and talent against a big Georgia line would be a tremendous boost.  Let’s hope he’s a fast healer.

That’s it for now.  Stay tuned throughout the day as we continue to cover the program that actually has basketball and football related news surrounding it.  The fun gets going on Kentucky Sports Radio on 1080AM at 10.  Make sure you stick around.  See you in a few…