It’s a little quiet today, but here are a few stray notes for a spring Monday.- Another week has passed and we are still waiting on NBA Draft decisions by Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb and DeAndre Liggins. The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft is next Tuesday (April 24), so word could come at any day.Jones and Knight are both projected lottery picks according to most experts and their standing in the draft improved just a bit more when North Carolina swing man Harrison Barnes opted to return to Chapel Hill, N.C., for his sophomore season. Barnes was a near lock to be a top-five pick, so Knight and Jones can expect to be drafted another spot higher if they enter. Although Barnes’ decision to return does improve the stock of other draftees, his return also indicates the uncertainty that the looming lockout has injected into this process.Last week, it was also announced that a mass draft workout would be held on May 7-8 in New Jersey. Underclassmen that declare for the draft have until May 8 to opt to return to school, provided they do not hire agents, so keep that in mind.- It’s unclear whether or not Joe Lunardi’s projections include Knight and Jones, but ESPN’s “Bracketologist” projects UK to be a No. 1 seed in next year’s NCAA Tournament along with North Carolina, Ohio State and Texas.- Many of you may not be the biggest NBA fans, but there was some very entertaining basketball the past couple days in the opening round of the playoffs and a number of former Wildcats figured into the drama.
– Rajon Rondo (10 points, nine assists, nine rebounds) helped his Boston Celtics complete an 87-85 comeback win over the New York Knicks- Nazr Mohammed played quality defensive minutes in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win over the Denver Nuggets- Jodie Meeks of the Philadelphia 76ers scored nine points in a 97-89 loss to the Miami Heat- Keith Bogans and the Chicago Bulls notched a 104-99 win over the Indiana Pacers
– It turns out that these players aren’t the ones in the NBA Playoffs with UK ties. John Clay had an interesting note on his blog this afternoon about Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel:
Turns out the Pacers interim coach is Frank Vogel, who was a student manager under Pitino at UK. Vogel was a transfer from Juniata College in Huntington, Pa., who also played on the junior varsity at Kentucky. He also graduated from UK
When Rick Pitino left for the Boston Celtics in 1997, Vogel went along as his head video coordinator and had positions with the Sixers, Lakers and Wizards before earning an opportunity with the Pacers in January.Brett Dawson, now with the Courier-Journal in Louisville, wrote a feature on Vogel when he was a student reporter with the Kentucky Kernel in the 1990s.- The No. 13 men’s tennis team closed out regular-season play with a thrilling come-from-behind victory against No. 29 Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. With the win, UK nailed down the No. 3 seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, which begins this week in Gainesville, Fla.With the third seed, UK received a first-round bye and will face the winner of South Carolina and Auburn on Friday. Kentucky has played and won a number of close matches all season and will look to continue its success in post-season play. – After being swept at the hands of Georgia last weekend, UK softball got back on track with four wins this past week over Marshall and Tennessee Tech. There’s another busy week ahead as UK will host Eastern Kentucky and Louisville before traveling to play South Carolina.Midweek games at this point in the season lose their luster a bit as conference play heats up, but this week’s showdown against archrival Louisville is an exception. Coach Rachel Lawson has guided UK to unprecedented success in recent years, but the Wildcats have dropped eight straight against the Cardinals, with the last win coming in 2007. There will be plenty on the line on Wednesday in Lexington when the two get together.- It was another rough weekend for UK baseball in Oxford, Miss., as the Wildcats were swept in three more close games to send them to 2-13 in SEC play, last in the conference. However, 15 games remain in conference play.The goal remains to qualify for the SEC Tournament and UK must finish eighth or higher to do so. If the season ended today, Auburn would be the final team to make it to Hoover, Ala., and the Tigers are five games in front of UK at 7-8. As always in the SEC, the road is tough. In their final five conference series, the Wildcats will face No. 21 Arkansas, LSU, No. 4 Vanderbilt, Georgia and No. 5 Florida. Time remains for the Wildcats to turn it around, but the hole is getting deeper and deeper.
– Only a couple of spring football practices remain, meaning the annual Blue/White Game is coming up. Full details on Saturday’s 3 p.m. game at Commonwealth Stadium can be found here, but one important detail to note: Because of some injuries and depth chart concern at certain positions, the coaching staff has decided to make the Blue/White Game offense vs. defense instead of a standard game format. Details on the scoring system will be released later this week.
