The last word on UK/Auburn, buying Tennessee, calling out Favre haters... it must be a Wednesday.

• Don't ever drive from Lexington to Auburn and back in less than 48 hours. I really didn't think that Auburn was that far away (sure, I could have looked up the distance on this interweb thing). 7.5 hours in the car on Sunday made me think otherwise. Next time, I'll fly to Atlanta and ride over. Also, I drove all that way and Kentucky just about pissed away a 19 point lead. I would tell you something about the crappy arena the Tigers play in, but I never went in. I sold my ticket for double what I paid and went to make sure a barstool at Mellow Mushroom didn't fly away during the game. It didn't.
• One win means #1. If UK beats Arkansas on Saturday, it's all but certain that they'll be the #1 team in the country come Monday. The thing people need to be most concerned with is the win against Arkansas. John Pelphrey (JYeary's twin brother) brings in a team that desperately needs a signature win. Pelphrey may need the win more than the Wildcats, as some speculate he's coaching for his job this season. All I'm saying is, the Cats need a win on Saturday before posting/saying, "We're #1!!!!" (I'm talking to you, random girl in a sorority at UK that I'm Facebook friends with who has that as her status.)
• Where are all the Brett Favre haters now? Seriously? Was there a holocaust I didn't hear about? The guy was a legitimate top QB this season. People were crushing him before the season, and now it's a Favre lovefest again. I, for one, love it. The haters have nothing to say. He's led his team to the NFC Finals and has played well all season. Get off his back. Why should anyone be told when they have to retire? Or who they can/can't play for? Favre was the man, is the man, and will be the man again next year if he wants to.
• Watch out for the Basketball Volunteers. This is not a reference to the creepy janitor who always happens to be at your kid's basketball practice. No, I'm talking about the #8 team in the country. Remember the team that suspended four players for getting arrested? That same team that beat then #1 Kansas. That same team that is undefeated in SEC play. That same team that kicked off its "best player," Tyler Smith (if you thought Smith was their best player, you don't know basketball). That same team is forgotten about in their own town because their football coach switched jobs. That same team comes to Lexington in just over a month, the same day that ESPN's GameDay is in town. That same team could be playing the #1 team in the country... again.
• If you are a man that wears a "Team Coco" shirt, be better. I get it, not everyone agrees with me about Conan O'Brien. Some people are going to side with unfunny millionaires, that's just life. But, men cannot wear shirts that say Coco on them under any circumstance. Also, COCO IS NOT CONAN O'BRIEN'S NICKNAME.

Yeah, it's a Wednesday.

Photo via Lexington Herald Leader.

I love bullet points.

• Clemson fans screwed up another postgame. First, there was this guy. If that wasn't embarrassing enough, Clemson fans rushed the court last night after beating North Carolina. At first glance, it doesn't seem that bad. North Carolina is a top program, Clemson is a football school (in the loosest use of the term). But, the Tigers were ranked last night going into their game with the Tar Heels, only six spots behind the Heels in the polls. Also, Clemson won the game by nineteen points. I could give Tigers fans a pass if they'd hit a bucket at the buzzer to win, but they were drilling UNC the whole game. Where's the excitement in rushing the court after a blowout? Hell, if I went to Clemson, I would have been back at a sorority house by halftime.
• Tennessee needs to wait and hire a coach after the 2010 season. Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton is about to screw things up really badly. He's getting shot down by anyone he talks to about being the head coach for the Vols. It's late in the process to try and go hire a guy, so you can't blame Hamilton. But, he shouldn't hire a coach just to hire a coach. Air Force's Troy Calhoun would be an absolute disaster of a hire. My solution for the Vols is to let Interim Coach Kippy Brown take the reins for this season. Maybe he's really good and you get a really cheap coach for a season. If not, there's not a big loss. UT could then go out in December and make a push for a top-tier coach like they deserve. I know one Vol fan (JYeary) who is renouncing his fandom if Calhoun is named Head Coach. That's a huge loss for the program.
• Speaking of the Vols, they have a basketball team! The Vols take the court for the first time since Sunday's dismantling of then #1 Kansas. This will be a big test for UT. It's easy to get pumped up when you're playing the #1 team in the country, not so much for playing unranked Auburn. This game will show the true Tennessee team. If they come out and beat Auburn handily, like they should, the Vols are for real. If they sleep-walk through the game because they're not playing a ranked opponent, go ahead and write them off.
• The Winter Olympics start next month. Seriously. I'm not joking.
• Carlos Beltran is an idiot. Lots of people have surgery that will require them to miss six weeks of work without telling their bosses. What's that? They don't? Oh, someone should inform Beltran of that. The Mets are an absolute joke.
• I can't understand how people feel badly for Conan O'Brien. Yes, I know this doesn't have to do with sports, but I had to say it. People act as if Conan is getting bullied around or something. First off, he's making millions of dollars. Secondly, if he gets fired, he's going to get millions of dollars for doing nothing but not being good at his job. Is Jay Leno an asshole? Of course he is, but everyone in the world has known that for twenty years, so why are people acting surprised? I just don't understand the sympathy for Conan. He's not getting ratings at his time slot, which means advertisers aren't giving money, so NBC is losing money. I'm pretty sure that most people who lose money for their company either get fired or get moved. It doesn't seem like a difficult decision.  But, some people will continue to feel sorry for millionaires.

You really can get so much accomplished with bullet points.

I'm a little beat from seething/texting/twittering all day yesterday (and from that 30 minutes on the Gazelle) to think in story form today.  So I'm Claying in.

Yoda posted part I of his Lexington trip over at STF.

The short-handed Volunteers basketball squad kicks off SEC play tonight at Auburn.  The Vols are a 14 point home favorite in this game.  You can expect more full court pressure from Bruce Pearl in this one that in either of the Vols last two wins (Charlotte and Kansas) but it will take another hot-shooting day to win big.  I like the Vols, but not by 15.  Next up for the War Eagles, a visit by the 17-0 Wildcats.  Yeesh.  Thank you very much Mike Slive.

Gonzaga takes on St. Mary's out west tonight on the deuce.  Let me know how that one finishes.

I had never heard of TJ Simers until last night, when he blew up Lane Kiffin's first USC presser, but I like him now.  What?  I have a soft spot for funny grumpy crumudgeons, and I hope to become one someday very soon.

From Simer's article:

I asked for clarification from The Kid because if he hadn't talked to Orgeron how did he know if the reports were inaccurate? Later, of course, we would find out they were not inaccurate. At that point it was like talking to one of my daughters, caught doing something wrong and when challenged and having nothing to say, it never stopped them from trying to double-talk their way out of it.

Ed Orgeron admitted at the least, being an unethical douchebag, and at the most, cheating.

Go here for more zingers like this: "Jeff Lebo’s team must take on Bruce Pearl and Tennessee, in Knoxville, to boot. Game is at 7 on ESPN2. Not sure if there will be much crowd there, however. Isn’t the Tennessee student body on its way to Los Angeles to lynch Lane Kiffin?"

ZING!

This is funny. "...me too"

Last thing, If you're a Vols fan, you should be following @wesrucker.  Guy's got quotes for days.

Loyal readers, I do believe you're about to get an SD first.  A day after a Kentucky basketball game, a huge college football coaching change, Big Mac admitting to steroid use, and an NBA game that evacuated the stands mid-game, we're breaking out the Wide Open Wednesday tag to talk about hockey for a minute.  Now stay with me, because this is actually a good story.

Last night in the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning game, NHL poster boy Alex Ovechkin threw off the gloves to go to battle with Steve Downie.  As the two are about to get down with it Ovechkin's teammate Matt Bradley skates in and starts laying the thunder to Downie.  It was actually pretty exciting for hockey.

Is this acceptable?  Do you step in and fight for one of your guys?  Normally I'd say there's no call for that.  Your boy gets himself into a one-on-one scuffle and he should get himself out of it.  But this wasn't a normal situation.  Ovechkin is the face of the NHL and by far the Capitals best player.  You can't have him getting into a scrape and breaking his hand on the other guy's face.  When your best player is getting ready to throw down you can't let him take a black eye and a broken nose because you can't go a game without him.

There's also the point that Downie is known as a bit of a snake.  He's even been known to check one of his own players because, get this, the guy wouldn't participate in a hazing ritual.  For shame!

If you grew up watching the NBA in the 90's you might remember a team named the Chicago Bulls and you might remember a couple of guys named Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley.  Any time Jordan got into a minor scrape, and with Jordan's star power and famous mouth that was frequent, you saw Oakley step in front of Michael and get in the guy's face.  Why?  Well, I've always felt Oakley had either a clause in his contract or Jordan was paying him off to step in there.  In reality, Charles realized the Bulls couldn't afford to have Jordan get hurt or suspended.  I'm sure he wanted to protect a friend, but mostly they needed Jordan to win ball games.

That's exactly what Bradley did last night in Tampa.  He knows the Caps can't win games with Ovechkin hurt or suspended (do they even suspend people for fighting in hockey?).  That's why he stepped up and starting raining blows on Downey, and I, for one, couldn't appreciate that sense of team any more.

Hat tip to the Washington Post for the picture and summary.

How pumped is Mark McGwire right now? The guy admits doing steroids, surprising no one, and is expecting to be in the news for days (if not weeks). Then, Lane Kiffin bolts Tennessee for USC. Guess where McGwire played college baseball? You guessed it! USC! Wonder if McGwire ponied up some of the cash for Kiffin's buyout to get his name out of the news? It's not out of the question. People are acting as if Kiffin is a terrorist or something. Everyone needs to calm down. Kiffin didn't do anything wrong.

• Nothing any college coach does should surprise you. It's the nature of the beast. Coaches leave all the time with years left on their contracts. In the same regard, coaches are often fired with years left on their contract. It's just a wild profession. We all look up to these guys as if they have it made, but I don't know anyone with 100,000 people watching while they try and work. Kiffin isn't the first, or last, guy to bail on a contract. Don't make him the martyr for a flawed system.
• USC is a better job than Tennessee. It's easier to win in the Pac-10, there's no question. Tennessee has Florida, Georgia and Alabama on the schedule every year. USC has Notre Dame and UCLA. Who would you rather play on your way to the National Title game? Not only is the schedule great, but the school is mere miles from the beach which I hear recruits enjoy. Plus, USC has Matt Barkley at QB for the next two seasons (if not three). At the same position, UT has a lot of questions marks. USC is the only premier school in their region. Tennessee is one of a handful of schools in the Southeast that consider themselves premier. Recruiting battles are a lot easier to win at USC than they are at UT.
• If you burned something last night because a football coach left, you need a hobby. Seriously? He's a guy who led your team to a 7-6 record last season? I'd be more pissed about his dad leaving than anything.
• USC is Lane Kiffin's dream job. All of us have jobs that we would take no matter what, no matter when. Well, Kiffin just happened to be offered his after only one year at Tennessee. Whether he wants to admit it or not, Lane Kiffin wants to be Pete Carroll. He talks and acts like Pete. He will run USC just like Carroll did. Also, if you are saying that you wouldn't take your dream job and leave people at your old job high and dry, you're kidding yourself.
• If Tennessee is as good a job as USC, they should have no problem hiring a new coach. UT fans keep asking how Kiffin could leave Tennessee? Aren't you saying that your job is a great job when you ask that question? If the UT job is so great, coaches will be coming out of the woodwork to take it.
• Kiffin, like Carroll, will leave USC for the NFL. No matter how much Pete Carroll won at USC, he could never shake how bad he was in the NFL. There's a reason he was rumored for NFL jobs every offseason. When Kiffin starts winning at USC, you'll hear the same rumors. Coaches are ego-maniacs, it's part of the deal. They are wired to hate failure. Lane Kiffin will probably be back in the NFL before he turns 40.

For the record, Chris Petersen is a fool if he doesn't take the Tennessee job. Boise State may be ranked in the top-5 next season, but they're still not ever playing in a BCS Title Game. If Petersen doesn't take it, I vote for Grubby. Make JYeary the recruiting coordinator. Hell, even I'd go down there and coach the WRs or something. And yes, I look great in orange.

The student congregation last night outside the building hosting the departing Lane Kiffin's final press conference toddleresque squirmfest was estimated at between 500-1000.  According to this morning's KNS, the crowd, while burning Lane Train t-shirts and shouting obscenities, never got unruly.

"The crowd was very manageable," UT Police Department Capt. Keith Lambert said. "We asked them to move and they moved, so you can't say they were an unruly crowd."

It's good to see that the current Volunteer student body, while upset, are still able to conduct themselves somewhat amicably.  Which is more than I can say for the populations of Ohio State, West F. Virginia, or Michigan State (after wins, even).  Not to mention a few UT alumni I know.  No word if those associates had anything to do with any of the foulness painted on The Rock last night.

Hell, even the media is getting in on it.  WVLT's Mark packer is calling him a "snake" and GoVolsXtra.com's Mike Strange insinuates he's either a wolf or a pig, I'm not sure which, but both probably fit.

I'm sure at some point we'll get a list of potential new(er? est?) coaches from our own J. Yeary, but until then, we can expect more tempered grumbling and douchebag-calling from Big Orange Country. Stay tuned, this could get interesting.

Image via govolsxtra.com

Billy Donovan's Gators showed some mettle in an 89-77 loss to Kentucky tonight.  The Gators trailed at the half by the score 38-31 and got down by as much as 13 early in the second half.  Kenny Boyton and Erving Walker led the Gators back to a one point deficit with 4:47 left in the game.

In the end it wasn't enough.  Kentucky finished the game on a 15-4 run to improve to 17-0 on the season.  Eric Bledsoe continued over from the first half to lead the Cats with 25 points on the night.  John Wall padded the stats with some late free throws and a later three and finished with 19.  The big guys all chipped in with Patterson having 15 and 7, DeMarcus Cousins having 13 and 5 in limited minutes, and Daniel Orton contributing 2 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 huge blocks.

Florida made 5 three pointers in the second half, many from well beyond the line.  The Gators couldn't get enough of the deep shots to fall down the stretch and Kentucky got some big shots to fall from Darius Miller and Darnell Dodson.

A lot of talk over the last few days has centered around DeAndre Liggins recent good play, but Liggins did not see major minutes tonight.  When he was in the game he played fairly good defense; however, DeAndre does not contribute any aggressiveness on offense. 

A couple of parting shots on the announcing tonight.  Overall, it wasn't horrible (for a Vitale called game).  We did get a case of Jimmy Dykesesque repeating as "John Wall has a 43 inch vertical" was said at least 4 times.  The other major problem with the broadcast tonight was Dick Vitale saying on multiple occasions that "the three point line is the great equalizer in the game today." 

Okay, I understand that a team making a lot of three's is important, but I have a major problem with how Dicky V (and other announcers) say this.  All of the older announcers say things like this.  The bottom line is that the NCAA implemented the three point line in 1986.  It has been nearly 25 years since this change was made.  Can we drop the "in the game today" talk when discussing how a team's three point shooting can help them get back in a game already?  I mean seriously, the three point line has been in the NCAA longer than several of my good friends have been alive! 

Alright, mini-rant ends here.  Overall, a pretty exciting game for UK and Florida fans but it ends in good fashion for Cats fans.  A twelve point win on the road against a team that was ranked a couple of weeks ago is a good sign that this young team is making strides in the right direction.  Florida hosts LSU Saturday while Kentucky travels to Auburn to try to extend their perfect record to 18-0.

How about a hand for Lane Kiffin? That was some rebuilding job huh?

Look, I'm not faulting good ol' Lane for making the move from Knoxville to Los Angeles. He's leaving one elite program  for another, one where he has a history. It makes sense. And coaches leave all the time to take new jobs- nothing new about that. But for Kiffin, who announced his entrance to the SEC with a string of barbs toward the power programs, who had Vols fans rejoicing about the energy he brought, who talked more than any 7-6 coach ever should, his quick exit is decidedly fitting. A guy who promised to have the Vols competing with Florida and Alabama again is now on his way out of town, having barely spent a full calendar year there. For a guy who claimed to embrace the Vol nation, he sure was quick to jump on another offer the second it came his way.

And that my friends, is why SEC fans are laughing today. All of his bravado, all of his comments, all of his "energy"....and yet all Knoxville has to show for it is a 7-6 record, an embarrassingly lopsided bowl loss, and now, another coaching search. Given the class and maturity he showed throughout his tenure at UT, I can't say I'm surprised. Lane has always been all about Lane, and it's safe to say his smug smile won't be missed by many around the South, including Tennessee.

Yes, you read that correctly. I don't think UT fans should be that upset today. All of the talk about Kiffin energizing and turning around the program this season was a little shocking to me. I mean, they went from 5-7 to 7-5 in the regular season. Is that an improvement? Yes. But that's hardly a dramatic turnaround, and to be fair,  he didn't exactly inherit a bare cupboard, going to a roster with more than its share of high school All-Americans who had underachieved in their college careers. Now there's something to be said for getting a roster to play to their potential. QB Jonathan Crompton and RB Monterio Hardesty, inconsistent at best during their careers, both showed tremendous improvements under Kiffin's watch. But the name of the game is winning, and in the end,  the whopping two game improvement simply did not impress me much.

Now Kiffin could recruit- no question. He had some top notch athletes ready to hit campus this fall. But he also had the nasty habit of collecting secondary violations related to his recruiting. One or two- no big deal. It happens everywhere. But Kiffin collected at least seven between December 2008 and January 2010. So I don't think it's a stretch to think that the longer he spent there, the more headlines he would have made for the wrong reasons. (Of course, Kiffin would have probably found those violations and recurring NCAA investigations to be a compliment, as he stated last month). And considering Kiffin learned under Pete Carroll at USC, who's had his share of..ahem...questionable recruiting tactics...it's not unrealistic to think Kiffin may have eventually had the Vols headed down a dangerous path.

So I think I speak for all SEC fans when I tell Kiffin good riddance. He talked a real great game, but barely stuck around long enough to even try to back it up. As an SEC fan, I hope Tennessee gets someone good, but also someone who understands the SEC. We don't mind trash talk, outsized egos and energetic personalities, but you have to earn them. The SEC is better when Tennessee is good- even a Gator fan like myself can admit this. So let's hope they get this one right.

In the meantime, I hope USC knows what they've gotten themselves into.

It's halftime of the Kentucky - Florida game and it's been a good one.  Kentucky weathered an opening run against Florida and took a 38-31 lead into halftime. 

The first half began with Florida jumping out to a 7-0 lead as UK missed several bunnies in close and Florida took their opportunities in the open court.  Kentucky's missed shots inside were so bad that Coach John Calipari said in the half time interview "we missed 10 one footers."  When asked what he told the team, Cal replied with his usual witticism, "I told them please make it or dunk it!  That's some good coaching huh?"  Well done coach.

Florida was lead in the first half by Alex Tyus with 9 points.  Tyus made the first two threes of his career in the first half.  Combine that with the banked three pointer in the final minute and Florida has to feel good about being within single digits at the half.

For Kentucky, John Wall made a couple of impressive pull up 17-footers and Eric Bledsoe had a monster first half.  Bledsoe scored 15 points on 6-7 shooting and knocked down two foul shots.  Wall had 8 in the first half and Patrick Patterson added 7 points. 

One of the biggest influences in the first half was the inside play of Daniel Orton.  DeMarcus Cousins missed several inside shots (1-6 shooting at the half) and Orton came in to snag 7 rebounds and block three shots (all in the same sequence) in the first half, helping Kentucky to dominate the paint on the defensive end.

The second half is coming up.  We'll see if Kentucky continues to press and try to wear down Florida.  Florida will need to improve their shot selection and improve on their first half 3-13 performance from the three point line if they are going to knock off the #2 team in the nation at home.  We'll be back with postgame coverage after the second half.

Also of note tonight, Purdue falls at home by the score of 70-66 to Ohio State despite Robbie Hummel's big 35 point night.  Kid was on fire in the first half.

Breaking news tonight is that Lane Kiffin will be leaving the University of Tennessee to fill Pete Carroll's vacant spot at Southern Cal.  We'll have more in the coming days with reactions, predictions, and coverage of UT's coaching search.