Kentucky Wildcats try to go 2-0 against Tennessee for the Week and Rick Pitino has another Melt Down
After the Kentucky women’s team knocked off Tennessee on Thursday night, there is only one thing left to do for the men; beat the dirty snitches. The Vols lost at Mississippi State on Thursday night 62-58. They dropped to 8-8 but are still dangerous in their gym. Like I said earlier this week, Tennessee fans would love nothing more to beat the #2 team in the country as a bit of pay back for the loss on the football field that has further crashed Derrick Dooley’s program. This game has upset written all over it, especially if the Wildcats come out slow and lethargic like they have in recent games.
Headlines:
– Are you in the mood for a Twitter nerd fight? Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones got into a Twitter brawl with the Courier-Journal’s Kentucky beat writer Kyle Tucker. Tucker’s jabs and responses were left up for all to see, but Jones deleted all of the evidence on his end of the feud. Luckily, our pal Glen Logan at A Sea of Blue did some crack detective work and retrieved the entire interaction. Read it here if you like. I hate to see blue on blue crime, but there is clearly a side to take here. What are your thoughts?
– Not to be outdone by Wildcat media infighting, the Louisville Cardinals had a media smack down of their own starring none other than Rick Pitino himself. Louisville beat writer C.L. Brown of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote an article about how difficult Pitino’s practices are and how they take a toll on his players. He interviewed former Cardinal coach Denny Crum and former player Preston Knowles who confirmed C.L.’s thoughts. Today in a press conference, Rick Went off on Brown and told him that his article “hurt recruiting”. Pitino also called C.L. a liar and then he admitted that he didn’t even read the article. The Louisville media was quick to come to Brown’s defense, taking to Twitter to voice their displeasure with the basketball coach.
I find this all a little strange. The Louisville media pretty much gave Pitino a pass during the Sypher incident and treated it with kid gloves in their coverage. Now Pitino has become public enemy #1 to them and they are coming out with guns blazing. Pitino’s team has seemed to turn on him, his fans have turned on him and now the media that he once kept in his pocket has turned on him. Things are tough right now for the Godfather of The Ville. Below is the video of the incident. The outburst doesn’t come until near the end but you can tell that Rick was on edge the entire time and was looking to be defensive.
And afterward there was apparently yelling in the hallway done by Pitino directed at Brown. Rick has gone overboard.
– Congrats to former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith for defeating Indiana in Bloomington last night. I have always liked Tubby, but the fact of the matter is that he was not a good fit for Kentucky. I always cheer for him and the Gophers. Tubby needs a banner in Rupp Arena. The man did win a title there.
– John Clay reports that Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes could play against Kentucky on Saturday.
– Here is a link to John Calipari talking about Anthony Davis breaking the shot blocking record at Kentucky and the game against Tennessee on Saturday. And of course coach Cal expects tomorrow to be an all out war in Knoxville and I tend to agree John Calipari stated that the difference between Auburn and Tennessee is that the Vols can shoot the three ball well. Again, thanks to John Clay for the video.
– And finally, to the relief of Paul Jordan, Jeff Fisher will not coach the Miami Dolphins. The longtime NFL coaching veteran is set to take the reigns in St. Louis.