Josh Harrellson

Kentucky senior Josh Harrellson took time to answer a few questions as he was signing autographs during a visit to Strode Station Elementary School Thursday morning in Winchester. Harrellson was on the first of a three-city stop of the “Jorts Tour” and was planning to visit Berea and Richmond later Thursday. What are your thoughts on next year’s team? What if Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and DeAndre Liggins decide to stay in the NBA Draft? “Kentucky is going to be a great basketball team next year.

NEWARK, N.J. - Kentucky coach John Calipari admitted he was so mad at senior center Josh Harrellson back after a preseason game that he almost threw him off the team. “And I went to mass and I thought better of it and thought and said, ‘You are going to condition for 30 minutes before every practice and then you are going to practice or you can quit,’” said Calipari here Friday night. Calipari — and Kentucky fans — is glad he didn’t do more to Harrellson after the center posted a Twitter message wondering why the coach didn’t praise him more.

HARRODSBURG — If Kentucky senior center Josh Harrellson is right, Kentucky won’t have any trouble challenging for a national championship again next year after losing in the Final Four this season. “I think they are going to be very good with a lot of talent. I think if everybody stays, they will be preseason top five,” Harrellson said Monday during an autograph signing at Harrodsburg Mailing & Shipping Center. “With the talent coming in, they are going to be a very deep team next year.

Kentucky may never have had a player improve more dramatically in one season than what Josh Harrellson did during UK’s Final Four run. The senior center even jokes he went from “zero to hero” with his play. After barely playing the two previous seasons under coaches Billy Gillispie and John Calipari, Harrellson averaged 7.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 28.5 minutes per game to fill a major void the Wildcats had after Enes Kanter was declared ineligible for the season. So when Harrellson was at Mercer County Elementary School in Harrodsburg last week, I asked him if Eloy Vargas, Jon Hood or Stacey Poole Jr. — who all played limited roles at best during UK’s 29-9 season — could be next year’s Josh Harrellson and emerge as a major contributor.

It's not a season-ending injury, but the wrist injury that former Kentucky standout Josh Harrellson suffered early in his first NBA season has left him really “depressed about it” according to his father, Doug Harrellson. The New York Knicks rookie had surgery Monday on his right wrist and faces about a six-week recovery. He was hurt during an awkward fall at the end of the first overtime of Saturday night's 119-114 double-overtime loss to Denver. Coach Mike D'Antoni said it was a “freaky” injury.

TAMPA - For Josh Harrellson, the four stitches he needed above his eye to close a cut were more like a badge of honor than a bother. The Kentucky senior center continued his remarkable postseason play with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting, eight rebounds and one blocked shot to help UK (27-8) beat West Virginia 71-63 and advance in the NCAA Tournament. Harrellson said the stitches came after his blocked shot when he took an inadvertent elbow. “It was an accident, and it happens in basketball games,” said Harrellson.

The Big Blue All-Stars lost to the Villains 152-149 in overtime Monday night at Rupp Arena. The cast of former Kentucky players included Rajon Rondo, Brandon Knight, Josh Harrellson, Keith Bogans, DeMarcus Cousins, Chuck Hayes, Enes Kanter and others. The Villains were coached by former Duke star Christian Laettner. The Big Blue team was led by former Kentucky standout Rex Chapman.

LEXINGTON - Doug Harrellson already knows what coming back to Rupp Arena on Tuesday night is going to be like for him and his family. “It is going to be very emotional. I am going to be very emotional. I am going to be so proud and so happy for him,” he said. That’s because his son, Kentucky center Josh Harrellson, will be playing his final home game that night and will be the only senior the Wildcats will be honor during the always-emotional pregame ceremony.

LEXINGTON - Brandon Knight has always garnered respect from his teammates. Since returning from Maui, Knight has elevated his status as the team’s floor general, earning the freshman even more praise from the Wildcats. “My teammates have always respected me, even more so, now,” Knight said after he scored 22 points, dished out four assists, collected a steal and didn’t have a turnover in the Wildcats’ 86-62 rout over Pennsylvania on Monday night at Rupp Arena.

Before No. 1 Ohio State routed George Mason 98-66 Sunday in the most lopsided game in this year’s NCAA tournament, Florida players gave Kentucky a realistic chance to knock off the top-ranked Buckeyes. Kentucky and Ohio State play Friday in an East Regional semifinal in Newark, N.J. Florida lost 93-75 to visiting Ohio State on Nov. 16. The Gators went 1-2 against Kentucky, with both teams winning at home and UK bouncing the Gators 70-54 just over a week ago in the Southeastern Conference Tournament title game in Atlanta.

LEXINGTON - Will there ever be another undefeated team in college basketball? Kentucky went 38-2 and won the national title last year, but suffered a loss in December at Indiana. This year there are no major undefeated teams left in mid-January. Kentucky coach John Calipari said it will be "a very difficult thing" for any team to complete a perfect season. “One, you have to have a talented team. Two, you have to have some veterans on that team. And three, they have to be a mentally tough team that's really in tune with each other.

The divorce becomes final tonight. The core unit and top six players from a Kentucky team that won 40 games in 38 attempts last season will be nothing but a lasting memory and remembered for its “gr8ness” on the court. Even though the breakup of the defending national champion began almost immediately after the school captured its eighth national championship in April, speculation on the separation quickly turned into realization not even a month after the team left New Orleans with the coveted national championship trophy in hand.

Only in Kentucky do people wait in line for days to get tickets to Big Blue Madness, rather than seeking treatment for a broken arm. Only in Kentucky are basketball season tickets part of divorce settlements. Only in Kentucky will you find a fan base quite so passionate, quite so zealous. Those are the stories filmmakers Jason Epperson, Steve Bates, Lee Cruse and Tim Bates want to tell. In “The Sixth Man,” the producers hope to highlight the special breed of sports fandom only found in Kentucky, both the positives and the negatives.

John Calipari did everything he could at the Final Four to make it clear he was happy at Kentucky and not interested in going to the NBA. “The biggest takeaway (from the NBA) is they fired me. What I learned there was, in college it was always about movement, motion offense.  That was the '70s. Motion and passing, not knowing who is shooting. In the NBA it was all about spacing. There is motion, but it's more about the space of the court. So I was able to come back (to college)

Does John Calipari have to win a national championship to keep University of Kentucky fans happy? If you listen to some national media members, or even some in Kentucky, the answer is yes. But why? Calipari has a 98-14 record in three years at Kentucky going into Friday's NCAA Tournament South Regional semifinal matchup with Indiana. His first team went to the Elite Eight and was upset by West Virginia. Calipari somehow revitalized the Kentucky program from the depths of the Billy Gillispie debacle immediately by bringing in a recruiting class headed by John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.

It's not a season-ending injury, but the wrist injury that former Kentucky standout Josh Harrellson suffered early in his first NBA season has left him really “depressed about it” according to his father, Doug Harrellson. The New York Knicks rookie had surgery Monday on his right wrist and faces about a six-week recovery. He was hurt during an awkward fall at the end of the first overtime of Saturday night's 119-114 double-overtime loss to Denver. Coach Mike D'Antoni said it was a “freaky” injury.

Scout.com national recruiting analyst Evan Daniels was not overly surprised that 6-11 forward/center Willie Cauley, a top-30 prospect, gave his verbal commitment to Kentucky coach John Calipari late Sunday night. “It was a deal that many thought was down to Kentucky and Kansas State. Have to give credit to Calipari and (assistant coach) Orlando Antigua. They tracked him hard in July and made up ground on the talented big man,” said Daniels. The “tracked” him hard enough to get him away from home state Kansas State as well as Florida and Alabama, his other finalists.

LEXINGTON - John Calipari has a problem any coach in the country would love to have - his Kentucky team is progressing too quickly in preseason practice. “We are cutting back a little bit because I don't want us to get too far ahead. I don't want us to be playing like its December when it's October. Some of the practices we have cut short simply because they are getting done what I want them to get done. When they hit that spot, we just stop,” said the UK coach Tuesday on the eve of the Blue-White Game tonight at 7 in Rupp Arena.

The Big Blue All-Stars lost to the Villains 152-149 in overtime Monday night at Rupp Arena. The cast of former Kentucky players included Rajon Rondo, Brandon Knight, Josh Harrellson, Keith Bogans, DeMarcus Cousins, Chuck Hayes, Enes Kanter and others. The Villains were coached by former Duke star Christian Laettner. The Big Blue team was led by former Kentucky standout Rex Chapman.

What do you expect from Big Blue Madness? Anthony Davis: “I think it will be crazy. There will be family, friends there and the first time stepping on Rupp (Arena), I expect to be nervous. But I¿am going out there to have fun. I¿am not sure what I¿will do (during introductions). I am just going to freestyle whatever comes to mind. But I¿know it will be crazy.” Sam Malone: “I am really excited, but I am a little bit nervous. I have never been to Rupp before, so I am really excited.