Sunday Afternoon Roundup

The Derby Festival Classic was played last night. DeAndre Jordan had an impressive showing as well. He hasn't ruled out coming to UK quite yet.

Texas A&M signee DeAndre Jordan was the Gold MVP. The center had 18 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes. He sat out Friday night's skill competitions with the stomach flu.

The center received one of the loudest ovations during the pre-game introductions -- mostly from hopeful University of Kentucky fans. Jordan has hedged recently on his commitment to Texas A&M since former Aggies coach Billy Gillispie left for UK.

"I'm happy that people like me up here," Jordan said. "This is one of my last high school games with some guys who are really highly respected. It was real fun here. I can't say anything right now. I'm committed to A&M right now. So I can't really say that I'm coming to Kentucky."

Jordan scored six points early as the Gold team had a 12-9 lead. But the Black team turned the game into a rout with 13 unanswered points in the second quarter to go ahead 30-17.

Steffphon Pettigrew recieved another honor today as the Courier-Journal released the voting for the All-State team.

Elizabethtown High School's Steffphon Pettigrew was named Mr. Basketball and Scott County's Rebecca Gray captured Miss Basketball honors last week.

Now the state's two top high school basketball players have been honored again. Pettigrew and Gray were the top vote-getters on The Courier-Journal's All-State teams.

You can view the whole list here.

Billy Gillispie is very serious about having Darius Miller play for the Wildcats to the point where probably Assistant Coach Jeremy Cox will be living in Maysville for a while.

"Coach made it in today and watched Darius in open gym," Mason County coach Chris O'Hearn said. "We sat and talked and watched for about an hour and a half. He said Darius is one of their top priorities, especially for the '08 class."

The 6-foot-6 Miller led the Royals in points (19.0 per game), rebounds (7.7), assists (3.5), steals (2.3) and blocked shots (2.1) this past season.

Considered one of the top candidates for Mr. Basketball next season, Miller is ranked No. 24 in the nation by Scout.com. He's ranked No. 38 by Rivals.com and No. 39 by the Hoop Scoop.

Gillispie gave the impression that he and his staff were "going to do everything they can to get (Miller)," O'Hearn said.

How do some of UK's recruits feel about Coach Gillispie? Take a look.

Jordan wouldn't say what his future holds, but UK signee A.J. Stewart said he told Jordan he'd like to see him come to Lexington.

"I told him we want him, and I let him know it'd be cool to be on the same team," Stewart said. "But I don't want to pressure anybody into a decision. He's a big boy. He'll make up his own mind."

Steve Wright of South Laurel, who coached the Black team to victory, said there was a buzz surrounding Jordan all week.

"There was a lot of talk of what he's going to do, how it might be kind of up in the air where he'll end up," Wright said. "I hope so."

Stewart, a 6-foot-8 forward from Jacksonville, Fla., and Morakinyo "Mike" Williams, a 6-foot-11 center from Falls Church, Va., were the only UK signees in the Derby Classic.

But there's a chance Steffphon Pettigrew, Kentucky's Mr. Basketball, might join them. Pettigrew, who won the three-point shooting contest at halftime last night, said Gillispie is coming to Elizabethtown today to watch him play pick-up ball.

Pettigrew has scholarship offers from Duquesne, St. Louis, Xavier and Western Kentucky, but he's waiting to gauge UK's interest in him.

Stewart, who had only four points but won the halftime dunk contest last night, said Gillispie's system might suit his game better than Tubby Smith's.

"Coach Gillispie is gonna get up and down the court a lot more," he said. "That's gonna be a lot more fun to watch, and it's gonna be better for me. I like to run."

Williams, a thick-bodied 260-pounder who muscled his way to nine points and seven rebounds, said he likes what he's heard from Gillispie.

"He really wants to work you hard, and I'm ready for that," he said. "I want to work hard and get better."

Is Dan Issel looking to return to Kentucky?

If Billy Gillispie wants to add a Kentucky flavor to his coaching staff, what about ... Dan Issel?

The program's career scoring leader is looking to move back to Central Kentucky. He's interested in returning to coaching or working in broadcasting.

Issel's wife, Cheri, is from Central Kentucky and still has relatives in the area. He also has horse racing interests in Kentucky.

During a news conference Thursday, Gillispie agreed with the premise of how a coach familiar with Kentucky or the Southeastern Conference would make common sense.

"If the perfect guy is out there," he added. But not simply for the sake of adding such a person.

"At Kentucky, I think you should have the absolute best staff in the country," Gillispie said. "They're going to allow us to do that."

Jonathan Miller released his criminal justice platform. Jonathan Miller also took the chance to criticize the current governor.

Miller said Fletcher's signing of an emergency order this week to provide an extra $16.4 million for the state police, corrections department and Department of Juvenile Justice might violate a 2005 decision of the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Fletcher's order came after state lawmakers last month failed to make changes in a two-year budget approved last year.

Miller said Fletcher's actions "raise serious legal and constitutional questions."

He said his legal counsel and he are reviewing the Supreme Court decision and the governor's proposals "to determine our next course of action."

This article from the Jerusalem Post is rather interesting and while I post an excerpt, you should READ THE WHOLE THING!

VARIOUS JEWISH historical relics, such as ancient Hebrew manuscripts, incunabula and religious items, now grace the galleries and storehouses of museums worldwide, when their rightful place is here at home, in the Jewish state. Yet hardly anything is being done to retrieve them.

The Vatican, for example, is said to have the largest repository of Hebrew manuscripts in the world, accumulated over the centuries as a result of church-inspired pogroms and persecutions. These include early medieval copies of the works of Maimonides and Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, along with some of the earliest-known illuminated copies of the Bible.

These treasures are Jewish in content, in history and in origin, and many were ripped from the hands of their owners just moments before their massacre, forced conversion or expulsion. Why they should these stolen pieces of our heritage now sit abandoned in a Vatican basement rather than being returned to their rightful owners, the Jewish people? And how about the 14th century rimonim, the decorative silver ornaments known in English as finials which are placed on the wooden staves of a Torah scroll, that currently sit in the La Seu Cathedral in Spain's Palma de Majorca? What does it say about our sense of national pride that we allow these sacred religious objects to be displayed in a Catholic church?

According to Sen. Bayh, VA hospitals are not ready for brain injuries.

Here's a look at the Bill Self coaching tree.

KU coach Self in the last nine years has had seven former assistants become Div. I head coaches. They are: Billy Gillispie, Kentucky by way of UTEP and Texas A&M; Norm Roberts, St. John’s; John Phillips, Tulsa (now assistant AD); Barry Hinson, Missouri State; Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts; Rob Judson, formerly at Northern Illinois; and Tim Jankovich (Illinois State).

Gillispie, who recently left A&M for Kentucky, gets emotional when talking about Self.

“I’m the first to say I’ve been lucky and blessed. Totally, totally, totally lucky,” Gillispie told the Daily Oklahoman on Monday. “But this all happened because I got with coach (Self). The whole deal with everything is timing. We won a bunch of games together (at Tulsa and Illinois) and were able to have some opportunities. One thing led to another, but it all goes back to coach.”

The 47-year-old Gillispie, who is three years older than Self, still refers to him as “coach.”

“Yeah, that ‘coach’ stuff has got to stop,” Self said. “And make sure everybody knows he’s older than I am.”

All the major Democratic candidates for president will be addressing the National Jewish Democratic Council.

Jon Stewart and Lorne Michaels are in favor of YouTube. Here's more on the Jon Stewart comments.

Bruce Lunsford might be running for governor again but that doesn't mean that we haven't forgot what he did to us in 2003. No matter how many times he has apologized, I can't forgive him. I feel some guilt here too because I was out of state my freshman year. I transferred closer to hpme as a result because I didn't want to make that mistake again.