Live from Anaheim
Written by: Todd Rosiak
Anaheim, Calif. -- First and foremost, an injury update from the Kentucky side.
Coach Billy Gillispie said in his news conference that it's "very, very doubtful" that guard Jodie Meeks (hip flexor) will play on Thursday against MU.
Judging by the way Meeks was moving around during the Wildcats' open practice, Gillispie wasn't trying to be cute. Meeks did nothing other than shoot three-pointers, really, and was moving very gingerly. When he ran -- which wasn't often -- it was with a noticeable hitch in his gait.
"I mean, he told me last week he wanted to try to play, and he's been trying to play," said Gillispie when asked about Meeks' status. "I would say he is very, very doubtful. He's moving around better than he has been in a long time. Does that mean he's going to be able to play? He's been a long ways from being able to play. So I would doubt he's going to be able to do anything."
Clearly, Kentucky has done well in Meeks' absence; he's missed 19 of the Wildcats' 19 games because of a stress fracture in his pelvis and then the hip flexor. Nevertheless, if he's not out there it robs the Wildcats of another one of their best perimeter shooters, leaving Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley as the two primary threats.
-- MU clearly had the biggest fan contingent in the morning practice sessions, and a handful were quite vocal in their support.
Kentucky and Cornell had next to no one in the stands watching them prior to when MU hit the court.
As far as work, MU did nothing up-and-down in the Honda Center, choosing instead to do individual work and some shooting drills. The Golden Eagles did go through a full practice at a local high school.
-- Gillispie said he hadn't talked to Buzz Williams, his former assistant at Texas A&M and current MU assistant, since it became known Kentucky and MU would be facing off.
I asked him what makes Williams such a good recruiter. Williams was Gillispie's primary recruiter at A&M for two years, and since arriving at MU last July he's landed three Texas prospects for the Golden Eagles, including one of the state's top juniors.
"He is a tenacious guy," said Gillispie. He obviously enjoys it. He is very, very well-organized. His tenacity is probably unmatched. He just goes after it. Everyone likes him. If they don't start out liking him, he forces them to like him. And that's a great quality to be able to have.
"And he just goes after it hard. And he's not only a good recruiter, he's a very, very good basketball coach. He does whatever it takes to help your team win, whether it's academics or whether it's taking care of stuff in the office or whatever. He is not just a recruiter; he is a total basketball coach and a guy that gives you the best chance to win over a long haul.
"He's something else."
-- Gillispie wasn't giving up much in the afternoon news conference, but he was effusive in his praise for the way MU plays.
"What really amazes me is their consistency with their effort, and they really played well together," he said. "They pass the basketball really well. But their effort is consistent. I really do appreciate that kind of thing. They've won most of their games this year. The ones they haven't won, they've been right there and had a chance to win them.
"But it's all about they play hard every single time, and as a coach that's what I appreciate the most."
-- Coach Tom Crean joked about being dry as well prior to heading up onto the dais, and it turned out he wasn't kidding.
There was a good deal of talk about the Final Four team, how it affected recruiting, and also about being a member of the Big East.
Crean did have one good line about the few remaining links on the staff to that Final Four team, though.
"The only people that were around (are) our security director, Leonard Hardison, our doctor, Darin Maccoux, and our priest, Father Kelly," he said. "But Father Kelly has been around since basketball was invented, so he's seen a lot of games. Al McGuire, the whole thing."
-- One of the prevailing themes was how Kentucky was viewing itself, and being viewed as, the underdog.
That viewpoint earned a couple of interesting quotes, including one from Dominic James.
"Each team has its own edge, and I know what ours is. And our focus is to get this win in March," he said. "If they want to call Kentucky the underdog, then hey, that's them. I mean, Kentucky? I've never heard of Kentucky being the underdog. They're one of the most prestigious schools in basketball."
-- One of the better quotes on Wednesday was Kentucky forward Perry Stevenson.
First, he was asked about the similarities between Kentucky and MU.
"They definitely remind us a lot of us," he said. "I guess the only difference is that they have a higher seed and different uniforms. And they're nice uniforms. We're trying not to let it distract us."
Then he was asked about the high expectations at Kentucky.
"Seven championships in six years. That's the expectations they have for us," he said. "We just try to honor that with how we play. It's Kentucky basketball."
-- The mood in the locker room prior to practice -- the only time all season that MU's locker room has been open -- was loose.
There wasn't much media around, though. Aside from yours truly, there's only one other Milwaukee media outlet (a TV station) that made the trip that I'm aware of.
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