NERLENS PICKS CATS!!

Calipari 2.37 - Cats Revenge Loss To UNC, March To 14th Final Four

And Now, For The Saddest Photo You'll See Today (Part II)

Poor FreEnes. NCAA Officially Banishes Kanter To Closet Across Hall.

The Madness is Almost Here

An aerial view from Memorial Coliseum.

PANDA WATCH. At last count, there were approximately 3,200 tents surrounding Memorial Coliseum. Of those, approximately 3,184 had cornhole boards. Plans are to overthrow Wildcat Lodge by sometime Friday afternoon.

Television crews are everywhere......to watch people sit in camping chairs. It's a time of year like no other, mostly because it only happens once a year. But this year, it's most likely infested with swine flu.

Vouchers have already been given out to the first group of campers and more will be given out Friday at a time specified later. If you can snag a voucher, head back down Saturday and get in line for your tickets to put on Ebay.

If you haven't seen the photo gallery from Memorial, click here.

Go Cats.

The experts are weighing in...

I bet you have been thinking to yourself, "I wonder what Bow Wow thinks of all this?"



You're welcome.

Afternoon Links

You're contract was only for $30 million. April Fool's!

Larry Vaught says the hiring of John Calipari might just help in bringing "the big two" back next year. It's also no lock any of the Memphis guys come east to Lexington.

Matt Jones at KSR lets us know how the scholarship situation breaks down for the 2009-2010 season.

John Clay shows us the Calipari contract and signature (for all the haters.) He's also doing a live chat tonight at 8:00 pm.

Not only did Jon Hood win Mr. Basketball yesterday, he also texted John Wall, letting him know where he thought Wall should go to school.

Xavier Henry and DeMarcus Cousins play in the McDonald's All-American game tonight at 8:00pm on ESPN.

Excuse me Coach Cal, can you pass the Kool-Aid?

Well, that went well. John Calipari was announced as the new coach this morning at a press conference at the Craft Center. He was flagged by the two happiest men on the planet in Dr. Lee Todd and AD Mitch Barnhart. What started as a train wreck last week officially ended in the biggest schmoozefest in 20 years. And to tell you the truth, everything feels right again in the universe.

The only thing Kentucky fans want in their lifetime is to be catered to and have their ego stroked. He mentioned the great tradition, the banners, named a minimum of ten former UK greats, talked about how he'd always wanted to coach here, gave a shout-out to Mr. Wildcat, and gave Alan Cutler hell. John Calipari passed the UK fan test with flying colors this morning. Finally, we have a car salesman leading the UK basketball program again. Mitch Barnhart and Lee Todd should be given as much credit today as they got crap last week. If this marriage doesn't work out, the person to blame is the person staring at you in the morror. This hire was as much about reuniting the UK fan base as it was hiring a basketball coach.

I've been away from the computer for most of the past two afternoons and should be back in Lexington today.

Late Night Updates

Well hello there Rick

Jon Hood has been named Mr. Basketball in Kentucky for 2009. He was excited to hear John Calipari was UK's new coach.

Konner Tucker, the Juco PG from Texas has de-committed from UK. He was Gillispie's most recent signing.

Xavier Henry will consider UK, but Kansas has very strong ties.

John Wall will consider UK, but Kansas, Duke, Miami, and Baylor are still in the running.

And props to Bob and Tiffany, senior officials in our Northern Kentucky Bureau, for alerting me what every UK fan is now thinking.

Also...

Interested in the history of Calipari and Pitino? ESPN's Marty Dobrow lays it out for us.

OMG!! ESPN!! LOL!!

John Calipari sent a text to ESPN's Andy Katz this evening:

"I am accepting the UK job! Go Big Blue, coach Cal"

How about that for being comfortable with the "extras" that come with being the UK coach?

Live Blogs

A couple of live blogs are on tap for tonight.

John Clay will be on at 8.

KSR will have one at 10. Good luck with this one, since they have been slammed and their servers are struggling to keep up. You can go to coveritlive.com and register for a free account and get to it that way.

See you there. But right now, all I want to do is....dance.

Michael Jackson - New Music - More Music Videos

Wow Clay. Didn't know you were that kind of a dancer. TheBigBooyah, on the other hand, prefers to rock it like this.

The Real Winner in all of this is.................

The Door! Never in my life have I been more intrigued by rusted out piece of metal. Maybe only when I was a child trying to sleigh ride down a hill. If you think the John Calipari coming to Kentucky story had legs, see what all this guy's been up to. He has a Facebook group now, a few Deadspin features, an AOL feature, and even a t-shirt! As long as he doesn't pull a Billy Donovan, PANDA WATCH 2009 concludes here. :-(

OFFICIAL! Calipari moves to Lexington -- brings wife too

John Calipari will be the next coach of Kentucky. He leaves Beirut Memphis to take over the winningest program in college basketball history. What a difference 48 hours makes. Louisville was on top of the basketball world as the overall #1 seed, then lost. Now Kentucky basketball will dominate the headlines going into the 2009 Final Four. I'm guessing somewhere T-Will is dancing, much like he was 48 hours ago. Let's go.

CBS Sports
Yahoo Sports
FoxSports.com
LEX 18
Sporting News
CatsPause - The Cats have done well in Memphis in 2009.

Quick, someone change Wikipedia! My guess is it would be an awesome site to see the cars driving into Bluegrass Airport from a bird's perspective tonight. Memphis had 12 people outside his house to convince him to stay. Kentucky fans scrambling to get to the airport will be similar to watching a group of moths fly toward an open flame. Wrecks are happening all over the great city of Lexington as we speak.

PANDA WATCH 2009

***6:19 pm UPDATE***
Just spoke to Clay. He will be eating at Wah Mei from the local Chinese restaurant. On the other hand, I'm still on a heavy diet of chewy Sweet Tarts and Red Bull. This may be why the latest posts have been quick, not thought out, and nervous sounding.

It ain't over yet.

News Channel 3 WREG continues to say that Calipari is wavering on his decision to come to UK.

We're not out of the woods yet!

***5:12 pm UPDATE***
With all due respect to former Coach Joe B. Hall, if he was the guy on behalf of UK to give the final recruiting pitch to Calipari, I don't like our chances. Somebody get Nazr on the phone fast!

***5:22 pm UPDATE***
Matt Jones says UK has given Calipari a deadline for tonight. Finally. He might not come, but at least someone at UK is starting to put the hammer down.

***5:36 pm UPDATE***
AP reporting UK has sent a private jet to Memphis scheduled to land at 5:15 CDT. I'm guessing a pilot will have the ultimate say-so whether or not we have a new coach on board. You wonder why I named this PANDA WATCH 2009??

***5:50 pm UPDATE***
Al Cowlings Someone arrived at John Calipari's house in a white Ford Bronco multiple SUV's to escort Johnny C. to the airport. Now if we just knew if he was gonna get on the plane or not. Commercial Appeal reporting same.

***6:10 pm UPDATE***
Of all the people I've met in my life, the two people I've known to have ever worked for the Bluegrass Airport have come back to give me inside info. They have confirmed planes fly into and out of the Bluegrass Airport, some privately chartered. My source also tells me the privately chartered plane will be bringing "The Door" with them. You're welcome.

Could this be it?

The CBS affiliate in Memphis, News Channel 3, is reporting Cal has made the decision, is coming to UK, and is at his home now explaining to staff how rich he is going to be.

Official yet? No, but at least it is something on this terribly quiet day.

*** 1:55 pm UPDATE ***

MyFox Memphis once again has a live feed outside the UofM athletics office. --EDIT the feed is now outside Cal's gated house.

No one else (ESPN, CBS, WKYT) is saying anything, so this is still very much up in the air.

***2:48 pm UPDATE ***

WKYT is confirming the report. So is the Courier-Journal. It is starting to grow legs.

Bozich is saying Cal is calling former UK coaches. And he plans on calling Eddie Sutton? Uh-oh.

News Channel 3 has their own live feed of Cal's house. MyFox Memphis is back to "the door". -- Thanks to reader "Tiffany" for the scoop.

***3:55 pm UPDATE ***

ESPN and CBS Sports have finally updated their pages, but they aren't saying the deal is done yet. They are saying the Cal is still meeting with his staff and coaches and still hasn't told the schools of his decision. Sounds like they are slow with the info.

*** 4:05 pm UPDATE ***

News Channel 3, on its live web feed, reported that Cal has backtracked from his decision to come to UK and is now undecided on what he will do. They are also reporting Joe B Hall says the report of Cal calling him to say he was coming to UK is false.

***4:56 pm UPDATE***

If it's taking Calipari this long to decide, he's not coming. Either you will or won't. I bet Memphis keeps sweetening their end of the deal. It's all a big negotiation play. (Strictly my paranoid opinion)

PANDA WATCH 2009

The latest updates are saying ya boy Calipari is driving around Memphis trying to decide what he's going to do. The longer this drags out, the grayer my hair gets.

***UPDATE***
Courier-Journal says the decision is sometime this afternoon. Arizona offered him as well. He said, "No thanks."

Who are your top 13?

I am trying to ignore the anxiety I am feeling on not hearing any news. Matt Jones at KSR says the holdup hinges upon what UK will do with BCG's committments. According to Jones, Calipari isn't too impressed with them, and that only 1 is close to UK-level talent. That is surprising, because that should include Orton, Hood, and GJ.

So, let's discuss the 13 scholarship spots that UK has to offer and who should get them. NCAA rules view scholarships as a yearly renewable offer. In other words, just because you got a scholarship last year, you aren't guaranteed one this year.

My 13, in no particular order, are:

1. Pat Pat
2. Jodie Meeks
3. John Wall
4. DeMarcus Cousins
5. Xavier Henry
6. Daniel Orton
7. Darius Miller
8. John Hood
9. Ramon Harris
10. Harrelson/Pilgrim (one of the two)
11. Perry Stevenson
12. Liggins/Vilarino (one of the two)
13. Kevin Galloway

Those that don't make the list that currently have scholarships are given the choice to walk on.

Disagree with me in the comments section.

Who is this guy?

This guy looks vaguely familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Seems like he has had something to do with UK sports, but it has been so long ago I can't really remember.

The only thing out of the ordinary about this video is his reaction to whether Calipari has called Gillispie. BCG asks not to answer the question. You'd think BCG wouldn't have much to say on it, and a simple, "No, why would he call me?", would be fine. His reaction, however, makes you wonder if he has been called.

As Monday winds down, here's where we stand:

Andy Katz says an 8-year/$35 million contract is very close to being signed.

Reports of Memphis millionaires going to Calipari's house tonight for one last ditch effort.

Larry Vaught and LEX 18 are confirming from multiple sources Calipari has been hired by UK. (see below)

Nothing from ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, SI involving confirmation of hiring. Each saying its very close though.

Wikipedia, on the other hand, said John Calipari was the UK coach. Good enough for me!
(I think its been updated now to say otherwise)

Time for Debbie Downer

Mark Story has an open letter to Lee Todd. You wanna hire John Calipari, really?

Another video here. Funny stuff. Anyone else think they are much funnier when the cast can't keep a straight face?