Yahoo! Mash Invites

Hey guys and gals. I know many of you Kentucky fans belong to MySpace, Facebook and the like. Well, Yahoo is getting into the social network game with their experiment called Mash. If you’re interested and would like an invite, let me know your email address and I’ll get one over to you ASAP.

Big Blue Madness Tickets

The event that everyone has been waiting For! Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness!

Big Blue Madness tickets will be available for sale starting at 7am, Sept. 29. Tickets will be free, but there is a fee if you choose to get them online. (There is a limit of four tickets per person.)

I expect these to be snatched up fast, so don’t miss out.

Aftermath Linkage

First off…congratulations to the Kentucky football team on the huge win. I had a feeling (like many) that they would pull it off and they did.

Brett Dawson had a chance to briefly speak with coach Gillispie after his booth appearance during yesterday’s football game. Brett noted that he felt Gillispie was genuinely excited, and pumped by the prospect of his first UK-UL basketball game next January.

I had the chance to see the booth interview yesterday and he came off well.

There’s a little rundown from the official hiring of Tracy Webster.

I started from scratch at the high school level, went to the Division II level where everything is done by volunteers,” Webster said by phone last night. “I worked my way up to a mid-major at Ball State, then to Purdue, which is a higher level, then to Illinois, which is as high or higher than that. And now to coach at Kentucky? I think that’s a dream.”

Also noted in the story, Jerrance Howard, who is on Gillispie’s staff in an administrative position, has interviewed for Webster’s old job at Illinois.

Rivals.com has been doing their countdown of the Top 64 teams. Coming in at No. 28 is Kentucky. They provide a breakdown, which includes probable starters, backcourt, frontcourt, offense, defense and outlook.

A couple of reads

Mike DeCourcy has an article where he talked with Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie and brought up a subject many have been wanting to know.

“Style of play”….which is said to have touched a nerve, but we did learn a little.

On offense, Gillispie wants his teams to average one shot or more per possession. That means taking care of the basketball and gathering offensive rebounds.

On defense, he wants to limit opponents to one shot or none on each possession. That requires picking up steals, forcing errors and grabbing every available rebound.

Sometimes, based on your personnel, that’s going to be a little faster,” Gillispie says. “Sometimes it’s going to be a little bit slower.”

You can check out the entire article here.

Also, Rivals.com’s Jerry Meyer opens the mailbag. He answers a question on Kentucky’s 2008 class ranking, after the addition of Darius Miller.

Hump Links for Today

Hiring Complete
Kentucky officially announces the hiring of Tracy Webster, who will join coach Billy Gillispie’s staff as his third and final assistant.

I’m extremely happy that we were able to hire Tracy Webster,” said Gillispie. “I’ve known him and observed him for a long time. He gets along with everyone. The players he has recruited over the years speak highly of him, because he develops relationships.”

No. 1
Rick Bolus put out his new rankings of the top player’s in Kentucky. Scott County’s Bud Mackey beat out recent UK pickup Darius Miller for the No 1 spot.

Mackey has committed to IU.

Darius Miller Sightings
Those looking to check out Kentucky’s recent pickup Darius Miller, will have many chances.

Here are a couple links on what others are saying on landing Darius Miller.

• A Royal coup for Cats
• Billy Gillispie Scores…With A Little Help

Open Practice?
Jerry Tipton wonders if coach Gillispie will re-open the doors and allow reporters to attend practice.

Featured
Over at Wildcats Thunder Blog, we learn that Billy Gillispie is featured in the September issue of “Basketball Times”.

Back in the Day
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a YouTube video of Chuck Hayes giving a tour the Wildcat Lodge.

Tidbits
Aaron’s UK Blog links to a couple of little nuggets. We find updates on UK recruits Rotnei Clark and Willie Warren. Also an update on Greg Monroe.

Darius Miller commits to Kentucky

Kentucky and Billy Gillispie have landed a huge one for the class of 2008, as in Darius Miller. Miller gave coach Gillispie a call and committed. He is said to have picked Kentucky over Louisville.

Now, of course this comes after the news of the expected hiring of Tracy Webster, who was recruiting Miller hard at Illinois.

Way to go!

Billy Gillispie and Kentucky to Hire Third Assistant

Finally a third assistant and it’s not Alvin Brooks.

According to the Courier-Journal: Illinois assistant coach Tracy Webster is to resign the position and is expected to join Gillispie’s staff.

Webster has close contact with recruit Darius Miller, this may indeed play a major role in Kentucky landing him. I remember a while back the talk was Gillispie waiting to hire someone who could possibly bring in a recruit. Hmm…makes you wonder.

Hump Links Edition

Forever Ashley
Over at Wildcats Thunder Blog, we learn that the one and only Ashley Judd, makes a fan’s favorites Hall of Fame list.

Preseason 40
Using his VBDI (Vitale Bald Dome Index), Dickie V has released his preseason Top 40 List. Kentucky made the list at No. 15.

• 15. Kentucky: Billy Gillispie will have this program firing on all cylinders. The addition of Patrick Patterson will help.

Before Kentucky
It’s less than 40 days until Big Blue Madness and A Sea of Blue, looks at some coaching statistics from Kentucky’s last four coaches.

Basketball Clinic
Coach Billy Gillispie and his staff will hold the “UK Basketball 101: A Clinic for Women” on Sept. 20.

The clinic is designed for women with all levels of basketball knowledge.

The cost of $50 includes a UK basketball T-shirt, a notebook, an autographed picture of Gillispie, snacks, drinks and a chance to win door prizes. Participants will also have the opportunity to tour the Craft Center, the $30 million practice facility where the Wildcats train.

That’s one good deal!

A Tiger
Angel Garcia, who Kentucky was trying to go after, commits to Memphis.

Surprising
On the heels of Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan, ArmchairGM gives their list of the “25 Most Surprising Sports Occurrences of the Last 25 Years”.

Making the list at No.8 was Kentucky’s awesome 31 point comeback, in beating LSU 99-95.

• 8 Kentucky 62, LSU 27 Usually, a 68-37 lead in the second half of a college basketball game is safe, and by usually I mean 15,999 out of 16,000 times (I’d say even more safe, but I didn’t feel like typing a bunch of zeros). Just don’t tell Rick Pitino and his ‘93-’94 Kentucky Wildcats. Over the final 15:34 of the game, Kentucky outscored LSU 62-27, including 9-0 in the final minute and a half, to win 99-95 and pull perhaps the greatest comeback in the history of basketball.

Oh how I remember that game. I was at my girlfriend’s (at the time) house, her dad and I were going completely frigging crazy and looking like a bunch of idiots.

One day in hell
Going out to the Michigan fans…One Kentucky fan, gives his day in Hell that happened on March 28th, 1992.

That’s one day we all would like to forget.

That completes this week’s edition of “Hump Links”. Until next time…Go Big Blue!

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