Calipari's DR team has historic run, falls short of Olympics

The John Calipari coached Dominican Republic squad fell one game short of their goal of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics and finished third in the FIBA Americas Tournament.  Their fate was sealed in a loss to Brazil on Saturday, but the team rebounded for the bronze medal yesterday.  Despite the setback, this was the first bronze medal ever for the DR and they will have one last chance to make the Olympics later in a world qualifier game, and the details of that will be determined later.   The important thing for Kentucky fans is that John Calipari will arrive back in the states and will hit the recruiting trail almost immediately.

Everyone has a “bucket list”, even the ESPN staff.   And the worldwide leader recently had an article where their college basketball writers named the one venue which was on their “bucket list”.  Rupp Arena was named by a couple of writers.  Joe Lunardi had it as his second choice, and Stephen Bardo had this to say: 

Rupp Arena tops my wish list. I was born in Kentucky and raised in nearby southern Illinois, so Wildcats basketball was by far the most popular college team of my childhood. Growing up watching the Jack “Goose” Givens era and now the way coach John Calipari has it rockin’ again, a visit to Rupp would bring it full circle for me. Hearing 24,000 fans live and die on every play would be special.

We all know that John Calipari is busy working on the 2012 class but part of the “Kentucky effect” is that recruits are choosing Kentucky even before the staff can get to them.  Such is the case with 2014’s Cliff Alexander.  Alexander, who hails from the Chicago area, is one of the top post players in the 2014 class and he had this to say about Kentucky despite not even being contacted by the UK staff yet:

“The have a great basketball program. I like the players they produce, and I love how the coaching staff can get players to the league.”

“I really want to go to Kentucky.  It’s my favorite school right now.”

The Kentucky football team is 2-0 and hate week against Louisville officially starts now.  Kentucky is a 7.5 point favorite over the Cardinals, who lost to the Sun Belt’s Florida International on Friday night.  We will have tons on the matchup on the site this week, but for now, Bleed Blue Kentucky has a preview of the Cardinal’s offense. 

Kentucky’s win over Central Michigan may not have been a work of art, but a few Wildcats got recognized for their efforts.  Danny Trevathan was named Honorable Mention Linebacker of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards for his game.  Trevathan had 13 tackles, 3 of them for a loss, and his firs career interception.  Trevathan sits atop the SEC with 26 tackles followed by Winston Guy with 23.

UK Punter Ryan Tydlacka was honorable mention Punter of the Week for the second week in a row for his 49.3  yard per punt average and he pinned the Chippewas within their 20 once.  Joe Mansour also got the Honorable Mention Kickoff Specialist for the second week in a row.  Of Mansour’s nine kickoffs on the season, four have been touchbacks.

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