andrew dodson

This past Saturday, Julie and I ventured out to Cove Spring Park for our engagement pictures.  We asked Kari McGrath to do our photos because she is amazing!  We’ve seen a few sneak peeks of our photos and we’re very excited about how they turned out.  We can’t wait to see the rest of them!

I took the Flip along and got some video of the day.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written about UK basketball.  I don’t think I’ve written a single post about the current season.  Better late than never.

What a frustrating season!  A season-opening loss to VMI, of all teams.  After an expected loss to North Carolina, the Cats sat at 0-2 and I wondered if we’d see a repeat of last season’s struggle to finish with an above .500 record.  Gillispie loaded the pre-conference schedule with cupcake teams, aside from Louisville and a decent West Virginia team.

UK started its SEC slate with an 11-4 record, proceeded to win five straight and earned a Top 25 ranking.  Then, the frustration commenced.  Over the next eleven games, UK would only win three of them.  One thing became very apparent during this stretch – Billy Gillispie’s stubborn nature.

Two things frustrate me the most about Gillispie.  First, whom he decides to play and when he decides to play them.  Certain players have had great games and barely touched the court in the next game.  Other players have played poorly and continued to log minutes in bunches.  Second, Gillispie refuses to ever consider playing a zone defense.  I am far from a basketball expert, but let me say this clearly – few teams, if any, in the NCAA can successfully play man-to-man defense for 40 minutes game after game.  It may work against Delaware State, but it does not work against North Carolina, Louisville, or many other teams that are much faster and stronger than UK.  I’m not asking for a zone for 40 minutes against these teams, but at the very least, give them a different look from time-to-time.  Who knows?  Maybe you shut them down for several minutes and you pull out a game or two that you shouldn’t have won because you were smart on the defensive end.

It doesn’t help that Gillispie’s stubbornness has been on full display to the media for the last few weeks.  In the fishbowl of Kentucky basketball, we don’t need a coach that is perceived to be a jerk.  Especially when he can be nice, fun and likeable when he wants.  No reason to be a jerk to people that are just doing their job.

With this said, I still say we give Gillispie one more year to get on the right track.  Patrick Patterson has already said he is coming back next year.  I would think we’d see Jodie Meeks back as well.  Patterson will get more help next year in the post with the additions of Matt Pilgrim and Daniel Orton.  Darius Miller will continue to mature and contribute.  There is plenty of talent on this team to win 20+ games.

I write this on the day that UK plays LSU in the second round of the SEC Tournament.  I am hoping the Cats can pull one out, continue to win and earn an NCAA birth.  Hoping.

Kige Ramsey shows how (not) to shoot a free throw.  I truly love this guy’s videos.  Keep ‘em comin’ Kige!

(ht: Kentucky Sports Radio)

Some people say the only guarantees in life are death and taxes.  I would say that snow on February 11th in Frankfort, Kentucky comes pretty close to a guarantee.  Nearly every year that I can remember (I’ve lived in Frankfort since I was about seven years old), there has been snow on the ground for my birthday.  The past few years have been hit-or-miss, but, this year, we have snow.

I’m a fan of snow, so I’ll take it!  We’re expected to get 2 to 4 inches tonight, and that’s just fine by me.  The more, the better.

I’ve had a productive and yet restful weekend.  Friday evening, I spent time setting up my home electronic drums (a hodgepodge of different pads & hardware).  My new Alesis Trigger came in, so I wanted to get started using it with the included BFD software.  It came with BFD Lite, but it is a really cool piece of software.  I’m planning to upgrade to the full version to get access to more higher-quality sounds.

Saturday, I sat in disappointment as the ‘Cats dropped a game to Louisville.  This team is going to set new lows for the program.  Don’t believe me?  Read this.

Saturday evening, the Josh Martin Band had a belated Christmas get-together, sans Doug (who had a family get-together of his own).  We had a good dinner and enjoyed each other’s company – without playing music – for a change.  It’s rare that we’re all together to hang out when we’re not playing music.  We did, however, have a “band meeting” to discuss some plans for 2008.  Perhaps the biggest news is that we might be adding a new member to the group, along with recording our next studio project.

Today was a great day at The Point.  Please go listen to the sermon if you get a chance.  Good stuff.  This afternoon, I spent some quality time on the media site, revamping the structure of the sermons page.  My humble attempt to mimic Desiring God’s sermon resource library.

Random Link:

• Slate has a good article on Joel Osteen.  My favorite quote from Joel – “I’m not called to explain every minute facet of Scripture or to expound on deep theological doctrines or disputes that don’t touch where people live.  My gift is to encourage, to challenge, and to inspire.”  Get out of the pulpit then!

In what seemed like electing a new President or Governor, the University of Kentucky has hired a new coach for its basketball team – Billy Gillispie.  Initially surprised by the decision, I can now say I’m a fan.  I think he instantly won over the Kentucky faithful during his press conference/pep rally.  He displayed wit, humor, dedication, pride, humbleness.  I just think you can’t help but like the guy.  After reading up him for the past couple of days, I think we’ve got the right guy for the job.  Is it November yet?

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No official announcement yet, but UK has reportedly reached an agreement with Billy Donovan to become the next coach.

WLEX & The Cats Pause were both reporting this story on their websites this morning, but seems like mums the word now.  I guess we’re in “wait-and-see” mode until we hear an official announcement.

The Lexington Herald Leader’s Mark Story seems to agree with some of my thoughts from yesterday.  From some of what I’ve heard in the past 24 hours, I’ve grown slightly more confident in the possibility of landing Billy Donovan.  However, I think it’s still 50/50 at best.  We’ll see.

To make the UK basketball story more interesting, Randolph Morris signed with the New York Knicks today.

Names are already being tossed around as the next coach of the University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team.  Billy Donovan seems to be the fans’ top choice, while the media seems to think it’s unrealistic.  Other names include Tom Crean (Marquette), Rick Barnes (Texas), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Billy Gillespie (Texas A&M), Travis Ford (Massachusetts) and John Pelphrey (South Alabama).

This is my first experience of being a Kentucky fan during a coaching change.  I was a little too young to either know or care when Rick Pitino was hired.  So, it’s interesting to be a part of what – in Kentucky – is the equivalent to having a new President.

Personally, I would love to see Donovan as the next coach.  When I look at his situation, I see the possibility of Florida having a weak team next year if their stars turn pro.  On the flip side, if he became the coach at Kentucky, he would most likely land hot prospects Patterson and Lucas, and inherit a good team.  While Randolph Morris will likely turn pro, the rest of the lineup is in tact, with a solid freshman class becoming sophomores and having experience on their side.  There is also a rumor that Donovan has an “out” clause in his contract for one school – Kentucky.

It may be unrealistic for Donovan to leave a school where he may likely be the coach of back-to-back national champions in a couple of weeks.  If that’s the case, my pick is Tom Izzo.  He’s a big-name coach and has proven he can win – especially in March.  He would be high on my list if I were Mitch Barnhart.

Next on my list would be a tie between Mark Few and Travis Ford.  Few has proven he can put a mid-major on the map, and keep them there on a consistent basis.  Gonzaga has been a solid team under Few’s watch.  Kentucky would be a step up for him.  In Ford’s case, he’s proven he can win at any level – he made Campbellsville a tough opponent in the NAIA, took EKU to the Big Dance, and has turned UMass around to the point of making an appearance in this year’s NIT.  Being a former Wildcat only adds to his case for being a good choice as coach.  To top it off, he’s a young, up-and-coming coach and can build a program at UK, similar to Florida’s choice of hiring a young Billy Donovan several years ago.

Based on media reports, it seems the early front-runner is Marquette’s Tom Crean.  While Marquette has been a consistent winner with Crean as coach, I can’t say he has the aura of what Kentucky should be looking for.  I just have a feeling we’d have another Tubby-situation on our hands in several years – a solid, winning team, but not a team that’s a threat to win the title every year.  I’d say the same for Texas’s Rick Barnes.

The bottom of my list would be Pelphrey.  He’s still a young coach, and I believe he still has to prove himself worthy of being the coach at Kentucky.  If he can do with South Alabama what Few did with Gonzaga, I may give him more credibility.

The glory of the situation is the Kentucky has tradition on their side.  Being one of the premier programs in the country, they should be able to get the big name the fans want.  The question is whether or not Barnhart will go after the big name, or will the likes of a Crean or Barnes get the job?

Last September, I had the opportunity to go to Florida to assist in the clean-up efforts from hurricanes. It was an amazing experience, and while I never hoped to see devastation like that again, I also knew that’d I’d do it again if I got the chance.

Now that Katrina has done her damage, I’ve realized it would be nearly impossible for me to go down to help out. September is the busiest month of the year at CLS, and we’re short an employee for the month (maternity leave). Not only is September the busiest month of the year, but we’re expecting September 2005 to be the busiest month in CLS history.

Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about going to Louisiana to help out. It seems victims of Katrina are coming to us – right here in Kentucky. Crestwood will be extremely busy over the next (insert amount of time here). We’re hosting at least one family, and possibly more. Churches all over are partnering with the Red Cross and local businesses to find families homes, jobs, schools, transportation – the works. We still don’t know a lot of the details, but we know people will start arriving to Kentucky at some point this next week. I know that I’m planning on helping out as much as I can.

Kentucky Baptist Assemblies has also offered up two of their properties – Jonathan Creek & Cedarmore – as a place for victims to stay. The Josh Martin Band is scheduled to perform at both of these places in the coming month, but I’ve yet to hear if the events will still take place.

I’d love to hear how others are planning on reaching out to help victims. If you’ve got a story, please post a comment and let me know.