Larry Brown Sports

Rooting for injuries is never a classy thing to do, but it’s safe to say there are very few Louisville fans who are weeping over the fact that Kentucky has lost freshman Nerlens Noel for the remainder of the season.

Noel, who was averaging over 10 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game, suffered a season-ending knee injury during a loss to Florida on Feb. 12. The Wildcats are now in danger of missing the NCAA tournament, which a cartoon in the Courier Journal reminded everyone of on Wednesday. Via The Cardinal Connect:

Erin Calipari, the 26-year-old daughter of Kentucky coach John Calipari, was apparently offended by the drawing. She decided to come up with a cartoon of her own after seeing it, which she posted on Twitter:

Read The Rest of the Story…

John Calipari had very little to smile about during No. 7 Kentucky’s stunning loss to unranked Notre Dame on Thursday night. His Wildcats managed only 50 points and were dominated by the Fighting Irish from start to finish. In fact, Calipari seemed so frustrated at times that we would even dare say he was “not impressed.”

This past Halloween, a number of people (including this US women’s soccer star) spent time trying to perfect the face that US gymast McKayla Maroney made famous at the London Olympics. As you can see from the photo above that Jon Hale shared with us on Twitter, Kentucky’s performance on Thursday night resulted in Calipari nailing the expression without even trying.

I bet even McKayla would be impressed.

Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari ripped into Duke’s players for flopping during Tuesday’s game between the teams.

Duke senior forward Ryan Kelly was trying for a put-back right before halftime when he flopped on his back in an attempt to draw a call. The call from the officials did not come, but the call out from Calipari certainly did.

“They’re flopping all over the place,” Calipari told halftime interviewer Andy Katz. “In the NBA, they’d all be suspended.”

Calipari also complained about the foul trouble his team was in.

Duke is notorious for its flopping, and their acting is one of the reasons people hate them so much. The good news is at least Dick Vitale didn’t cover for the Blue Devils like he did last year.

Video of the Ryan Kelly flop is below:

Read The Rest of the Story…

In a developing story that should surprise literally no one, ESPN’s new “All-Access Kentucky” show has caused a stir among college basketball coaches, analysts and fans. The new reality show, which has aired two episodes, documents Kentucky’s preparation for an upcoming season in which they will defend their NCAA title. But is it fair?

Kentucky coach John Calipari says he agreed to the show because he wanted to try to disspel the negative perception that accompanies one-and-done players. At Southeastern Conference Basketball Media Day on Thursday, Florida coach Billy Donovan said the show is a distraction and possibly a recruiting tool.

“I wouldn’t want the disruption of our guys knowing there is something going on right now and how that would impact what we need to get done,” Donovan said according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “… I do think if you are using it as a recruiting tool, I don’t think that’s right. … I wouldn’t do it as a recruiting tool because you are in practice with players who are in our program right now, you are practicing with your guys.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

Kentucky won the national championship in college basketball last season and is the program that will be most strongly represented at the NBA Draft. They have two players expected to go in the top five (and possibly top three), and four others expected to be drafted as well.

Coach John Calipari took a moment on Tuesday to brag about that fact. He sent the following tweet:

I want to apologize to all the recruits this week. I’m spending the majority of my time answering questions from NBA teams about my six guys

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) June 26, 2012

Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, Darius Miller, and Marquis Teague are all expected to be selected on Thursday. That’s half of Kentucky’s team. What’s the point? If you’re a high school basketball player and your dream is to play in the NBA, going to Kentucky with John Calipari is a good idea.

Oh, and once again, Calipari is using Twitter to brag about something.

Photo: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

With the way things are going now for John Calipari compared to the way they went when he coached in the NBA, he would be insane to go back. Calipari just won a national championship with Kentucky, and what do you know he may not end up vacating it. If that’s not a milestone reached then I don’t know what is. Still, the Knicks are in need of a coach so Calipari’s name has been discussed on several occasions. Charles Barkley says we can stop talking about it because Coach Cal would never drink enough Jack Daniels for that to happen.

“Let me tell you something, he’s never going to be drunk enough to take that Knicks job,” Barkley told WFAN’s Boomer and Carton on Thursday. “That would be career suicide. I’m a big, big John Calipari fan, but he’s not gonna take that job — ’cause that ain’t a good job.”

Barkley is a known Knick hater, and he made sure to add in that the Knicks “stink” and that they are only playing well now because they’re well-rested after quitting on Mike D’Antoni. We may not agree with many of the things Charles says and does, but it’s tough to argue with this one. Knicks fans who are banking on Calipari being their coach next year need to snap back into reality.

Kentucky’s basketball team has gone on a tour throughout the state to celebrate the national championship they won last week. At their stop in Pikeville, coach John Calipari was awarded a key to the city. The only problem is the plaque commemorating the honor was filled with mistakes.

In the second line, there is an “e” missing from “the,” and in the last line, there is an apostrophe in “it’s” where one doesn’t belong.

Who can really blame the folks from Pikeville? They were probably too busy celebrating the championship to have time to proofread a silly plaque anyhow.

H/T Deadspin