This morning, we released our top 11 list of the best things to happen in UK athletics this past year. Of course, we realistic and we know that not everything was rosy for UK this year. That’s why we also made a Top 10 list of the WORST things that happened from June 20, 2007 to today.

Top 10 Worse Things that happened in UK Athletics in the Past Year:

1.Mr. Wildcat passes away, but his spirit always lives on. Mike Lyden, UK’s swimming and diving coach, passes away a short time later

2.Gardner Webb, Houston, San Diego. Nuff said.

3.UK fails to overcome history, loses to Tennessee in 4 OT at home in football.

You might question why this is so high, since it seems like UK will never beat Tennessee in football. And that’s why I put it here. Close in 2006, even close in 2007. This loss was heartbreaking.

4.Basketball team has so many injuries throughout the year that it opens a rehab center at the Joe Craft Center.

Meeks… Patterson… Jasper… the list was endless. So we lumped them.

5.Despite having the best season in 3 decades, UK players are snubbed in the NFL draft, not going until the 4th round.

6.John Cohen leaves the UK baseball, deciding to take over as coach at Mississippi State.

7.Alex Legion transfers in-season. Derrick Jasper transfers once the year is over.

Legion was a shooter who could have helped if his mom wasn’t nuts. Jasper would have been starting point guard this season. Make excuses, but they aren’t good things.

8.After Billy Gillispie gets a commitment from an eighth-grader, everyone outside the state goes crazy and the NABC decides to strongly suggest stopping that practice. Gillispie complies.

9.After a promising summer, Scott Green bombs as a starting pitcher and the Cats still fall short of winning a NCAA regional

10. UK fails to advance out of the first round of the NCAA tournament in basketball.

That’s our bad list. Scroll down for the good list if this just isn’t your cup of tea. As always, disagree? You know what to do.

Really, just pick a media outlet… most are reporting it. Aol FanHouse is one of them, so there.

But Jasper went to the place everyone thought he would go. And hey, they may call it Lex Vegas, but it couldn’t hold a candle, entertainment-wise, to the real deal.

Let’s just hope Jasper doesn’t end up coming out of a Vegas casino with 3 strippers and a bottle of Jack. Or maybe you do hope that.

I guess UK Athletics wanted to sneak one in on a day where everyone is focused on the baseball team in Michigan.

But the official word that Jasper has seeked his release dropped about an hour ago. Well wishes Derrick, because I’m afraid everything that could have been said has been said.

No use in wasting thoughts, time and words on someone who has left. You did well and thanks for your time as a Wildcat. Good luck elsewhere.

And now, back to something I actually care about, UK baseball’s elimination game.

My first year of college, I fell in love with a tall, tanned, beautiful woman. Sat right next to me in English class. I thought, “no way I have a chance with a complete 10 like this”. But hey, the lucky day came where we were put in a group together and we started talking.

RECRUITING, RECRUITING, RECRUITING!

First off, Happy Birthday to UK Wildcat Country writer Kenny Colston. He’ll be at Keeneland today so go hang out with him if you can. On to the news:

1. Cats Sign Kevin Galloway

Junior College transfer Kevin Galloway has signed a Letter of Intent with the University of Kentucky. Coach Billy Gillispie announced this at a Thursday morning press conference. Galloway, a 6′6″ junior-to-be is from Sacramento, California and played his freshman year of college at Southern Cal before transferring to the College of Southern Idaho. At CSI (no, not the show on CBS), Galloway averaged 8.4 points and 4.1 rebounds a game as well as 8.6 assists a game, ranking him fourth in the nation. He led his team to a 30-2 record this past season.

Coach Gillispie had this to say about his newest Wildcat:

“I am really excited about Kevin. He is a multi-dimensional player. He is tall, long and athletic, and he has experience. His team was considered to be the best junior college team in the country last year, even though they suffered an upset in the regional. I think he is going to give us speed. He has the ability to pass the basketball and I think he will put stats up in a lot of different areas. He’s a good shooter. He’s probably not as confident as he needs to be, but that is one of the things he will continue to work on before he gets here. I think he will be a major addition to our team.”

2. Travis Ford Takes OSU Job

Looks like all those rumors about Coach Gillispie interviewing with OSU were totally false. Who knew? I did. I said yesterday that there was no way he would leave Kentucky for OSU. This is a good fit for Travis Ford. He will do well down there but I hope they give him a little more time than they gave Sean Sutton. Two years of mediocrity and he got the boot. After hearing the news, I couldn’t help to wander if Okie State wants to be Kentucky or something. I don’t disagree that striving to be the winningest program in college basketball history isn’t a bad thing, but come on. First, they took Leonard Hamilton as their head coach after he was an assistant at Kentucky for eight years. Then, four years later after he was forced out at Kentucky for cheating, the Cowboys hired Eddie Sutton. When Eddie retired, they gave the reigns to former Cats guard Seasn Sutton. Now former UK guard Travis Ford is the head coach making the reign of UK disciples even longer. Good Luck Travis.

3. Derrick Jasper Still Undecided

No real news about Jasper’s decision on whether to transfer or not but it has been conformed by Coach Gillispie that he, in fact, is looking into it as a result of being homesick. I look for a decision to come within the next week or so. Also, look for another player to possibly transfer out soon. Stay tuned…

4. Fantasy Draft For Blue/White Game

It was announced yesterday that the football Cats will have a draft to split the team up for the Blue/White Game on Saturday in Commonwealth Stadium. The two coordinators, Joker Phillips and Steve Brown will alternate selections to build their teams for the game. The draft will make both teams competitive and make the game more real.

“It should be a relatively close game, I would think. It will be interesting to see how it plays out,” Coach Rich Brooks said. “It gives you a more competitive game and a better evaluation of your players in a more competitive situation than we’ve been able to do in past years.”

The Blue/White Game is scheduled for Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m. at Commonwealth Stadium.
-Admission and parking are free.
-Stadium entrances for the game include gates 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11. Gates open at 11:30 a.m.
-Concession stands and the Nike Team Shops will be open on the stadium concourse.
-Game programs will be on sale for $1, with proceeds benefiting the K-Association letterwinners organization.
-The game will be a radio broadcast on the Big Blue Sports Network.
-Fans may renew their 2008 season tickets at the game. UK ticket-office personnel will be available to accept renewals from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the ticket booth outside Gate 4 of the stadium.

Little did we know how wrong we would be when we announced this morning there wouldn’t be a lot of news and notes. Oops!

1. Former UK Player Travis Ford and current (or now former I guess) UMass coach Ford is rumored to be the successor to Sean Sutton at Oklahoma State. As you may know Ford was in the running for the LSU job and the Providence job before backing out of both. Could this have been why?

Either way, it’s another former UK player at a Big Six school, joining John Phelphrey at Arkansas. Keep the line flowing boys! Who’s next? Wayne Turner?

2. Nothing official, but rumor has it that Derrick Jasper WILL be transferring. Sad news. Do I have anything official? Of course not and neither does anyone else. But as a student you talk to people and they talk back. The reason why Jasper wants to (and most likely will transfer) is homesickness. You can take the boy out of California, but you can’t take the California out of the boy.

3. New twist to the spring game–a draft! That’s right, coordinators Joker Philips and Steve Brown will draft each member of the roster into two teams. Philips has the first pick–who would you take? If it was me, I’d take a defensive player. Trevard Lindley, Braxton Kelley and Jeremy Jarmon all come to mind. Also, head coach Rich Brooks said he will name a first-string starter after the spring game.

4. Lastly, Kevin Galloway is the only letter of intent coming in today. With the news of Jasper leaving and rumor of DeAndre Liggins not being able to qualify academically, this is a big signing. What would be even better was if the Cats could grab a big man. We here at Wildcat Country just don’t see that happening and see this recruiting class as a wrap. You heard it here first.

And lastly, tomorrow’s my birthday and I’m going to Keeneland… so let’s hope all this interesting stuff holds off until Friday.

With not a lot of stuff happening today I’ve decided to cover some things that will be noteworthy in the upcoming days.

1. Derrick Jasper rumored to be looking into transferring to a school closer to home. I think this is total BS because Jasper has been with his teammates everytime I have seen them away from the basketball court. They were seen at Keeneland just last Saturday with possible recruit Ater Majok watching the ponies circle the track. (BTW, how sweet is it to be able to take a recruit to Keeneland for the spring meet on Bluegrass Stakes day. That is something these other schools can’t contend with. Nice work UK!) I’m not going to come out and say that DJ won’t leave but I will say that I highly doubt it. Two more (healthy) years under Gillispie will make him into a great player.

2. Billy Gillispie rumors to OSU will not stop. Here’s how I see the whole thing. If they were going to lure BCG away from us they would have already done it. THey have had over a week to do it since Self said thanks but no thanks. Gillispie isn’t going anywhere. He wants to stay here and build this program back to where it should be. OSU has accepted that, I only wish the fans and the media could do the same and quit bringing it up.

3. Barnstorming Tour Begins Friday. The tour begins in Hopkinsville at Christian County High School on Friday night and will last until May 10 at high schools across the Commonwealth. Here is the schedule:

April 18 — Christian County High School, Hopkinsville, Kentucky
April 23 — Perry County Central High School, Hazard, Kentucky
April 24 — Paducah Tilghman High School, Paducah, Kentucky
April 26 — East Jessamine High School, Nicholasville, Kentucky
April 30 — Allen County High School, Scottsville, Kentucky
May 1 — Boyd County High School, Ashland, Kentucky
May 2 — Scott High School, Florence, Kentucky
May 3 — Knox Central High School, Barbourville, Kentucky
May 9 — Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky
May 10 — North Bullitt High School, Shepherdsville, Kentucky

4. Derby Classic Saturday Night. The game features signees from UK, Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins, as well as current targets still being looked at, Ater Majok, Paul McCoy and Maurice Sutton. I wander if we can get any commitments during the game. How cool would that be? The festival committee has split the UK signees from the UL signess so be sure to root on the Black team on Saturday night. Here’s the rosters:

BLACK TEAM

Larry Drew (UNC) 5′11″, PG

Korie Luscious (Mich. ST) 5′11″, PG

Paul McCoy (Undecided) 6′0″, PG

Travis Releford (Kansas) 6′5″, G

Jerime Anderson (UCLA) 6′2″, G

DeAndre Liggins (Kentucky) 6′5″, G/F

Darius Miller (Kentucky) 6′6″, F

Chris Singleton (Florida St), 6′8″, PF
Howard Thompkins (Georgia) 6′9″, PF

Ater Majok (Undecided) 6′10″, PF/C

Tyler Zeller (UNC) 6′10″, PF/C

Maurice Sutton (Undecided) 6′10″, C

GOLD TEAM

Dashan Harris (Texas A&M) 6′1″, PG

Terrell Holloway (Xavier) 5′11″, PG

Mike Rosario (Rutgers) 6′2″, G

Ray Shipman (Florida) 6′5″, G/F

Jared Swopshire (Louisville) 6′7″, F

Luke Babbitt (Nevada) 6′8″, F

Yancy Gates (Cincinnati) 6′9″, PF/C

Emmanuel Negedu (Arizona) 6′6″, F

Terrence Jennings (Louisville) 6′10″, C

Jeff Withey (Arizona) 6′10″, C

Kenneth Kadji (Florida) 6′10″, C

Jody Demling wrote a nice article regarding Kentucky recruits this morning in The Courier-Journal. There are still plenty of targets out there that the Cats can use next season. Keep working hard Coach G.

5. Spring Football Game Saturday It’ll be the Blue versus the White on Saturday in Commonwaelth Stadium as spring football practice will come to and end with a scrimmage between the units. It’s a game that puts us fans in a strange predicament. Who do we root for? I guess we must root and cheer every down and every play. It should be a good workout. Kickoff is at 1PM Saturday. Be there!