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Ready or not, we've joined the Twitter Nation. You can access it by going to www.twitter.com and searching for "WPSD_Sports".
We want to use this tool as a way to get you guys information as quickly as we get it, but we also want to use it in a way that helps you. Do you want links to stories as soon as they are posted on the web? Do you want to know what we'll have in our sportscasts each night? Do you want to send us questions to ask people we are interviewing? Do you want scores as soon as we get them? Much like Burger King, we'll do it your way.
Any suggestions...feel free to post them below.
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When we caught wind of the "basketball divorce" between Murray State coach Billy Kennedy and redshirt freshman guard Matt Fraliex, I was surprised...but not stunned.
It never appeared Fraliex earned Kennedy's full confidence. Kennedy redshirted the Caldwell County alum last year, giving him a year to get stronger, quicker, and most importantly better. That's a move that happens in every program in the country. If Fraliex wasn't going to be able to contribute as a true freshman, there's no reason to burn a year of eligibility by sitting on the bench.
I had hopes of him coming in and being a zone-buster for the Racers this year. A kid that could play for 10 to 12 minutes a night...and bring a three-point threat off the bench when Tyler Holloway left the game.
In his first college game, Fraliex scored 13 points against Lyon College...admittedly against a non-Division I team. After not playing at Arkansas State, Fraliex scored 8 against Western Kentucky, 2 against Indiana State and 12 against St. Catherine. Four games played, 35 points.
In the final 26 games of the season, Fraliex scored just 30 points.
I remember asking Kennedy about Fraliex's early season success back in November. Even then, he was obviously guarded in his praise..almost giving me the sense that while Fraliex's offensive production was nice, nobody should get used to it.
The reason...Fraliex was about to become a fixture on the bench.
Billy Kennedy likes defense. Heck, he loves defense. I get the feeling he'd die a happy man if he could win every game 50-45. He's also never been shy of expressing his disappointment in his guys who couldn't play defense to his liking. Fraliex was by no means the only one. But, ultimately, I think that's why he played so sparingly this year...Kennedy considered him a defensive liability.
Down the stretch, Murray State had guards dropping like flies to season-ending injuries...yet after December 6th, Fraliex played at least 10 minutes in a game just twice...games Murray won by a combined 44 points.
The bottom line...Matt Fraliex doesn't fit Billy Kennedy's system. That's fine. I'm just not sure why Kennedy is just figuring this out. Fraliex was as good of a high school shooter as you could find, but he was never a defensive stopper. Maybe Kennedy thought Fraliex would eventually grow into that role. Maybe after two years, he realized that would never happen.
Matt Fraliex can play basketball. He just can't play Billy Kennedy's brand of basketball up to Kennedy's standards. If he wants to play again, which is seemingly up in the air right now, somebody will give him a shot on some level. He's too good of a shooter, and too good of a kid to get turned down...IF he wants to play somewhere else.
These type of basketball divorces happen all the time. I just hope both parties end up being better for it.
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Come talk opening day baseball by clicking here.
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Tonight at 7:30pm, we'll have our first-ever WPSD Sports live chat.
We'll talk about anything your heart desires in the world of sports. See you then.
For what it's worth...we've just received word, John Calipari is practicing with his new UK team tonight. We'll try to get more information for you on that tonight at 10. 
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In what seemed like one giant April Fool's Day joke on me, I had to go to no less than three major fast-food establishments tonight before I could find ONE that had a milkshake machine that was actually working. Seriously? I'm just trying to help shorten my life span with a little artery-clogging milkshake, yet I couldn't get anybody to help me out. Brutal.
With petty complaints out of the way, have you heard UK hired a new basketball coach? Honestly, is there anyone in this state that HASN'T heard about John Calipari's arrival in Lexington?
So now that the news is finally official, how are you feeling about Coach Cal taking over the UK program?
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Update: Friday 2:28pm
The question is now answered. Gillispie is gone...and my afternoon just got a whole lot more busy. We expect to carry the UK news conference at 3:30pm live on wpsdlocal6.com. We'll have you covered all day long on this thing, both on the air and on the web.
Update: Friday 1:55pm
The Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting Gillispie was at President Todd's mansion for 18 minutes this afternoon for the highly anticipated meeting that had been talked about for two days. Obviously, the big question now is...now what???
Update: Friday 12:01pm
WYMT.com is reporting Coach Gillispie will meet with UK officials this afternoon. At least the ball is finally rolling on this thing. Hopefully we'll have an aswer one way or the other this afternoon.
Stay tuned.
Update: Friday 8:50am
WHAS is back in the news breaking business. After "breaking" the Gillispie story last night, then pretty much wiping away all evidence they ever did the story in the first place from their website...today, the story is back. It looks a lot like once UK denied their story, they panicked a bit last night. But after a good night sleep, they opted to stick to their guns and run with it...which is really what they should have done in the first place.
We expect to hear something one way or the other today from UK. We'll keep you updated.
Update: Thursday 11:05pm
Several internet sites are saying UK sent WHAS a statement denying Gillispie had been fired, that no meetings had taken place between Gillispie and anyone from UK, and that no press conference had been scheduled. That may explain the sudden 180 from WHAS.
Update: Thursday 10:47pm
Interestingly enough, WHAS-TV seems to have backed off their original story. If you go to the link I gave you earlier, the story has been completely removed from their site. It was apparently removed at 11:35pm EDT, just after their newscast ended.
I don't know what caused them to back off it so quickly...especially after citing all of their "sources" within UK's athletic department.
So there you go.
Thursday 10:15pm
WHAS-TV in Louisville is reporting the UK coach has been relieved of his duties. Nothing on the record from any actual named sources, but you can read the story here.
We'll have the latest as soon as we hear anything.
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At this point, I don't see any way Billy Gillispie returns as Kentucky's basketball coach next year. If he does come back, there are a lot of people in the UK administration that owe him a HUGE apology for the way they have left him dangling in the breeze for the last two weeks.
I've never been one to call for someone's firing. In this case, I'm not really sure it's warranted. But it's obvious this whole situation has been mishandled to such a great degree, it's almost sad.
Ever since the SEC Tournament, when the heavy rumblings started about Gillispie's future, this mess has slowly spiraled out of control. Every day brought more questions. Would he quit? How many wins does he need to save his job? Would an NIT title be enough to save his job? It's almost as if Gillispie has been on trial for the last couple of weeks, with every news conference turning into his own cross-examination.
ESPN's Pat Forde said today if Gillispie is let go, it would NOT be because of wins and losses. It would be for Gillispie's "interpersonal communication" issues with UK fans, media and players. If that's actually the case, they should have just fired him after the SEC Tournament. It's not like the NIT really matters...one of the assistants could have easily covered things until the season team was over and UK could have started their search to replace Gillispie.
Instead, we've gotten a blanket "it's out of my hands" from Gillispie and absolutely nothing out of UK's administration, aside from the standard "we always evaluate each of our coaches at the end of the season." I just have to believe if Gillispie was coming back, somebody, ANYBODY in the athletic department would have given him a public vote of confidence. It hasn't happened.
History has shown Billy Gillispie can coach. The last two years have shown Lexington isn't exactly a comfort zone for him. There are few, if any, coaching jobs in the country that have brighter lights than Kentucky. Those lights have made Gillispie squirm quite a bit. It's just a shame Kentucky's administration has made him squirm, too, for as long as they have.
If the decision has been made to fire him, do it. If you're going to keep him, tell the world he's coming back. The quicker this soap opera ends, the quicker this basketball program can start working toward the future....no matter who is leading it.
How do you think UK has handled this situation?
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We will not be running the Bracket Magic contest that we have done for the last couple of years. I apologize for any inconvenience.
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For all intents and purposes, the disappointing season for UK and its fans is finally over. LSU's 67-58 win today will most likely send the Cats to the NIT next week. It seemed like every time Kentucky was getting close to making a run, LSU would hit a huge three to turn them away. LSU's 17 offensive rebounds certainly didn't help things for Kentucky.
While the school hasn't confirmed it, a Lexington television station is reporting Patrick Patterson is coming back next year. Jodie Meeks is still up in the air. And who knows what the future holds for Billy Gillispie.
What do you think about the future of the program and where will it go from here?
I also read an interesting article from Jerry Tipton at the Herald-Leader today. I don't know if Gillispie needs to go into full-blown "politician" mode in terms of shaking hands an kissing babies, but his public image is nothing short of abrasive at times. Remember the Jeanine Edwards run-in? Or the sequel? If you're 27-3, I think you've got a little more wiggle room to act like that. I've got to believe the benefit of the doubt shrinks considerably when you're the first coach in UK's post-probation era to miss the NCAA Tournament.
Thoughts?
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The big news out of Tampa today, Patrick Patterson says he's coming back for another season. Now can he lean on Jodie Meeks to get him to come back too?
The other story, of course, is UK knocking off Ole Miss and moving onto the quarterfinals against LSU Friday. They let the Tigers off the hook a couple weeks ago in Lexington.
What do you think? Can the Cats make a run in this tournament, or is it over tomorrow?
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For those interested...
BLUEGRASSPREPS BOYS TOP 20
1. Holmes
2. Bryan Station
3. Jeffersontown
4. Scott County
5. Elliott County
6. Paul Dunbar
7. Eastern
8. Ballard
9. Christian County
10. Corbin
11. Shelby Valley
12. Male
13. Lexington Catholic
14. Mason County
15. Clark County
16. Anderson County
17. DuPont Manual
18. Seneca
19. Trinity
20. Madison Central
BLUEGRASSPREPS GIRLS TOP 20
1. Dupont Manual
2. Iroquois
3. Elizabethtown
4. Franklin-Simpson
5. Christian Academy- Louisville
6. Montgomery County
7. North Hardin
8. Lexington Christian
9. Mercy
10. Paul Dunbar
11. Lexington Catholic
12. Sacred Heart
13. Butler
14. Highlands
15. Henderson County
16. Lincoln County
17. Rowan County
18. Marshall County
19. Simon Kenton
20. Southwestern
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I'll be doing a running blog from tonight's Murray State-Tennessee State game starting at about 7:30pm. I hope you'll join in and send your thoughts as the Racers play at home for the first time since November. We'll see you tonight.
You can find the running blog here.
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We're in the process of trying to get hooked up with Mike Keith for a podcast in the next couple of days. If there are any questions you'd like me to ask him, shoot me an email at jbidwell@wpsdlocal6.com. I'll ask as many as time permits.
Not that any of you have cared about or noticed my absence, but now that my vacation is over I should be updating this much more frequently.
UPDATE: This afternoon actually turned out to be best for him, so it's already in the can. You can listen to it here. He said he'd be willing to do more in the future, so if you have anything for him, you can still send it along.
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Congratulations to Jamarielle and Tyrrell for their great seasons.
SIXTH ANNUAL ALL BLUEGRASSPREPS.COM TEAM
OFFENSE
QB - Mike Thomas, Elizabethtown
RB - Deuce Finch, Saint Xavier
RB - Tim Phillips, Trinity
RB - Miles Simpson, Simon Kenton
WR - Chris Gohman, Elizabethtown
TE - Daniel Vogelsang, Lexington Catholic
OL – Adam Dempsey, Highlands
OL - Seth Harvey, Saint Xavier
OL - Robbie Logan, Raceland
OL - Samuel Simpson, Henry Clay
OL – Larry Warford, Madison Central
P/K - Monte Merrick, Bell County
DEFENSE
DL – Mister Cobble, Central
DL – Trevor Foy, Saint Xavier
DL – Roy Philon, Bryan Station
DL - Kody Rosenhagen, Highlands
LB - Josh Carter, Fort Campbell
LB - Ichiro Chiba, Oldham County
LB - Jordan Whiting, Trinity
LB – Ridge Wilson, Central
DB – Courtney Dalcourt, Franklin-Simpson
DB - Justin Green, Male
DB – D. J. Hall, Saint Xavier
DB - Yante Williams, Owensboro
ATHLETES
ATH - Antonio Andrews, Fort Campbell
ATH - Jordan Aumiller, Boyle County
ATH - Tevin Barksdale, Bowling Green
ATH – Jamarielle Brown, Lone Oak
ATH - Austin Collinsworth, Highlands
ATH - Channing Fugate, Breathitt County
ATH – Shenard Holton, Warren East
ATH - Dominic Mainello, Beechwood
ATH - Zack McCarthy, Bullitt East
ATH - Scott Radcliff, Trinity
ATH - Chase Richardson, Johnson Central
ATH - Tyrrell Willis, Calloway County
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jordan Whiting, Trinity
COACH OF THE YEAR: Jeff Marksberry, Simon Kenton
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Hot off the presses.
1. Jeffersontown
2. Holmes
3. Scott County
4. Bryan Station
5. Elliott County
6. Dupont Manual
7. Paul Dunbar
8. Ballard
9. Shelby Valley
10. Christian County
11. Hazard
12. Corbin
13. Lexington Catholic
14. Eastern
15. Trinity
16. Clark County
17. Highlands
18. Pleasure Ridge Park
19. Fairdale
20. Owensboro
GIRLS TOP 20
1. Iroquois
2. Dupont Manual
3. Butler
4. Elizabethtown
5. Franklin-Simpson
6. Paul Dunbar
7. North Hardin
8. Montgomery County
9. Southwestern
10. Henderson County
11. Ohio County
12. Lexington Christian
13. Highlands
14. Lexington Catholic
15. Breathitt County
16. Johnson Central
17. Warren East
18. Marshall County
19. Nelson County
20. Lincoln County
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