Classic SEC Basketball

Mitch Barnhart has achieved his goal of getting UK football and basketball to the same level, as the Cats are now a sixth-place level program in both sports.  Plus he doesn't have to put up with Bruce Pearl.  It's just all win-win for the UK Athletic Department.  But hey, the Bat Cats were in Omaha to watch Tennessee win the College World Series last June.

Here are the latest rankings from Ken Pom, as the top four teams pull away from the pack:

1.  Auburn:  20-1

4.  Tennessee:  18-4

5.  Florida:  18-3

6.  Alabama:  19-3

21.  Mississippi:  16-6

22.  Kentucky:  15-6

33.  Mississippi St:  16-6

38.  Georgia:  15-7

50.  Vanderbilt:  16-5

78.  Louisiana St:  12-9

Kentucky is now 22 on Ken Pom:

3d in Offensive Efficiency (124.7)

89th in Defensive Efficiency (102.1)

201st in Luck

Here are UK's seasons in this decade:

2020:  25-6 (29th on Ken Pom) (no tournament)

2021:  9-16 (49th on Ken Pom) (missed the tournament)

2022:  26-8 (6th on Ken Pom) (eliminated in first round)

2023:  22-12 (27th on Ken Pom) (eliminated in second round)

2024:  23-10 (23d on Ken Pom) (eliminated in first round)

2025:  15-6 (22d on Ken Pom)

That's a total record of 120-58, for a winning percentage of .674, as UK continues its path to becoming the IU of the South.

Before Yesterday

Arkansas was 1-6 in SEC play, and had not scored more than 74 points against any SEC opponent.

Oh, Kentucky

Oh, Kentucky

Danville's Advocate-Messenger on the new 988 suicide-prevention hotline: Yea. Prestonsburg's Floyd County Chronicle on Martin's lack of financial transparency: Nay.

I'm a big fan of Elizabethtown's Ring Road exit off of the Western Kentucky Parkway, and I'm excited to see what becomes of this planned food-and-retail complex.

Paducah's hotels reportedly have been about 60-percent full this year.

UK's starting pay for regular employees is going up to $12.50 per hour.

Bad jobs news from Williamsburg. Good from Hebron.

Good for retired Professor Hagans who donated thousands of dollars in stock for Madisonville Community College's emergency fund for students. And good for this Henry County, not-the-Berrrys couple who donated hundreds of acres for a new wildlife preserve.

Turning to sports, here's a Norse-centric look back at the decade, and here's a preview of WKYT's Christmas-afternoon airing of Reggie Warford: Fight of His Life.

Oh, Kentucky

Tonight's the night to get our Lone Oak on at the McCracken County Public Library. (Pipe down, Reidland--you'll get your chance.)

I'm going to have to come up with a custom hashtag for my rock-solid, recurring observation about how great the meeting coverage is in contemporary newspaper journalism. Anyway, here's another perfect example, from Anthony Cloud in the Middlesboro Daily News from the Bell County Fiscal Court: "That tells me if there is a needle exchange in Middlesboro, a minimum of 100 people are going to drive through the tunnel out of Tennessee that wouldn’t have otherwise. They either, a. are high, (or) b. going to get high. To ignore that would be being naive."

And here's another, from Richard Burkard, in Madisonville's Messenger, on the Historic Planning Commission and the owner of a 90-year-old Chevy dealership and other downtown buildings and his desire to have those properties excluded from the town's historic district: "They take care of their own." (Maybe it'll be #RockSolidJournalismObservations.)

Auburn's fantastic Federal Grove is expanding. So's Kentucky State Police Post 4 - Elizabethtown.

Etown's Kentucky Cardinal Inn on U.S. 31W (East Dixie Avenue) is no more, however. It was nice (I almost forgot about #KentuckyForSale!) ...

Good Fred Petke feature in The Winchester Sun about a homegrown local police officer: "My dad always said if you need help, find a cop." (Mine, too.)

Kentucky's jail population climbed 76 percent from 2000 to 2015.

In The Advocate-Messenger--home of the Class 4A #khsfb19 state runners-up Boyle County High Rebels--a Centre College professor cites an economist from Duke University in arguing on behalf of the U.S. racial wealth gap as more of a focus in conversation about slavery reparations. (He convinced me.)

The Democrats are coming to take the guns (well, "assault weapons" and "large-capacity ammunition-feeding devices") (and flavored vape products) away.

Christmas parades: Sharpsburg, Nov. 9; Owensboro, Nov. 23; Central City, Nov. 24; Lebanon and Louisville, Nov. 29;  Greensburg, Guthrie and Pikeville, Nov. 30; Boyce, Dawson Springs, Murray, Salem and Sebree, Dec. 1; Bardstown, Dec. 5; Clay, Fredonia, Harrodsburg, Hopkinsville, Irvine/Ravenna, London, Maysville, Monticello, Pineville, Richmond, Smiths Grove, Stanton and Trenton, Dec. 6; Arlington, Barbourville, Beattyville, Berea, Bloomfield, Bowling Green,  romley/Ludlow, Brownsville, Cadiz, Calvert City, Carlisle, Clinton, Columbia, Corbin, Cynthiana, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Grayson, Greenville, Hawesville, Henderson, Horse Cave, Inez, Lawrenceburg, Leitchfield, Lexington, Madisonville, Marion, Middlesboro, Morgantown, Munfordville, Murray, Owingsville, Paducah, Prestonsburg, Rabbit Hash, Raceland, Russell Springs, Salyersville, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Somerset, Trenton, Versailles, Whitley City and Winchester, Dec. 7; Auburn, Georgetown and New Haven, Dec. 8; Augusta, Burkesville, Burnside, Campbellsville, Cave City, Elkton, Franklin, Louisa, Mayfield, Providence, Williamsburg and Woodburn, Dec. 14, and Tollesboro, Dec. 15.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Covington and Fort Mitchell.

Harrodsburg is getting a new convenience store (in an old motorcycle shop); Madisonville, a new steakhouse (in an old steakhouse), and Columbia, a new lumber company (expanded from Indiana).

A refurb for Corbin's Sanders Café is afoot.

A re-treeing of downtown Frankfort is eyed.

Mostly positive reviews for Year 1 of motorized-scooter rentals in Louisville.

"A History of Native Americans in Kentucky," Thursday at the McCracken County Public Library, from WKU’s Kentucky Archaeological Survey (since 1995). 

Christmas parades: Sharpsburg, Nov. 9; Owensboro, Nov. 23; Lebanon and Louisville, Nov. 29; Pikeville, Nov. 30; Boyce, Dawson Springs and Murray, Dec. 1; Bardstown, Dec. 5; Fredonia, Harrodsburg, Hopkinsville, London, Monticello, Pineville and Trenton, Dec. 6; Barbourville, Berea, Bowling Green, Cadiz, Calvert City, Columbia, Corbin, Cynthiana, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Madisonville, Middlesboro, Murray, Owingsville, Paducah, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Trenton, Versailles and Whitley City, Dec. 7; Georgetown, Dec. 8; Cave City, Dec. 10; Burkesville, Burnside, Elkton and Williamsburg, Dec. 14, and Tollesboro, Dec. 15.

Oh, Kentucky

And now Nelson County has received a giant gift, too.

Restoring the African American cemeteries in and around Boyle County.

Taking the first step toward safer parks in Middlesboro.

Glasgow has hired its first female police chief.

Bringing Hazard together at GameStop.

Oh, Kentucky

Fifty years and 12 stories of affordable housing for 55-year-old-and-older residents of Newport.

After 54 years of hellos at Harlan County schools, it's so long to Billie Gray.

The 32nd Charles Logsdon Historic Downtown Walking Tour commences Thursday in Etown.

Starting on digital literacy early, in Louisville.

Martin County is getting together Saturday to clean up and celebrate.

"Of course, lots of cities have amphitheaters, but not every town with a population of about 3,500 builds a venue that holds 5,000." Deborah Kohl Kremer has a nice feature in Kentucky Monthly on plucky Beaver Dam and its amphitheater.

Turning to sports, disc-golf season is underway in Lawrenceburg; Summit's Armco Park Iron Ore Hiking Trail, which "includes part of the brick road from the original Route 60 that went from Ashland to Lexington" (!), opened Saturday, but--too bad, so sad--you missed canoeing or kayaking the Woodbury-to-Aberdeen Green River Ramble.

Also, Danville's Advocate-Messenger lost its sports editor of three years to the Norton Center for the Arts, and the new person is an eager University of Louisville Cardinal alum who lives in Bullitt County and has been working on an assembly line.

Rest in peace, Rev. Dr. Hobgood, a Transylvania and College of the Bible product, former pastor of several Kentucky congregations and 2003-05 general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) "whose leadership in a transitional time called us to faithfulness in our witness as a pro-reconciling anti-racist Church."

Oh, Kentucky

It's showtime again at Louisa's Garden Theater.

"All of a sudden everybody was excited about recreation in Mayfield and Graves County." Fun, comprehensive report from Shelley Byrne in The Mayfield Messenger. Makes me want to go there.

Picking and bowing all summer long in Floyd County.

Seeking boots-on-the-ground input from southeastern Kentucky's "Promise Neighborhood."

Hiring in Madisonville (595 available jobs as of Friday).

Ah, Paducah:

-- Nate Crawford at Forward Kentucky: "He followed that up with the comment that '… when Paducah enacted that ordinance, the signal was sent out across not just Kentucky, but across the country that this is an LGBT-friendly city.' Which, obviously, he saw as a bad thing."

-- The San Francisco Chronicle: "Paducah council weighing religious liberty, civil rights."

-- The Paducah Sun: "Tebow to visit Paducah for night of worship."

Rest in peace, Jim Burton (1955-2019), Madisonville native, Hilltopper and globetrotting Southern Baptist journalist who didn't "want to be remembered only as that guy with ALS."

Oh, Kentucky

Where have all the barn owls gone? Long time passing.

Cat parades: Franklin (Favorite), May 23.

Ebb tide at Newport on the Levee, but, perhaps, flow is afoot.

Kentucky for sale:

Turning to sports, the prospect of Chad Johnson's appearance actually bothers me more than that of Michael Vick's. Also, the Kentucky Derby horse race is reportedly scheduled to take place Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Oh, Kentucky

About HB46, the effort to "Amend KRS 158.195 to require each public elementary and secondary school to display the national motto in a prominent location in the school." It received first reading in Kentucky's senate yesterday.

Good jobs news from Pike County (involving solar panels, a TEDx event and a Democrat running for governor).

Fourth "sickout" in two weeks for Jefferson County schools.

Who was your favorite teacher, in Henderson County?

Turning to sports, ...

Happy 50th, KFC in Middlesboro!

Oh, Kentucky

Clarence Glover Court!

Will twin bridges both survive, or be tolled? Hearings coming up https://t.co/KLO6EjnITl pic.twitter.com/7o68cYyGZ5

— The Gleaner (@TheGleanerNews) January 4, 2019

Beware of bears in Dwale.

Unemployment is highest in Magoffin, lowest in Woodford and below 10 percent in all 120 Kentucky counties.

Bad jobs news for Pikeville/good for Morehead.

The sale of Marion's hospital is complete, and The Crittenden Press reports that the deal stipulates that 36 services must continue to be offered locally for at least three years.

Christmas18 parades: Owensboro, Nov. 17; Ashland, Nov. 20; Brownsville, Nov. 24; Cumberland and Fredonia, Nov. 30; Arlington, Barbourville, Berea, Cadiz, Calvert City, Carlisle, Clinton, Columbia, Hawesville, Jenkins, Lawrenceburg, Leitchfield, Lewisport, Madisonville, Marion, Murray, Paducah, Somerset and Whitley City, Dec. 1; Bowling Green, Dawson Springs (great play-by-play here on the planning and execution from the local Progress), Glasgow and Salyersville, Dec. 2; Lexington, Dec. 4; Bardstown and Greenup, Dec. 6; Frankfort, Maysville, Monticello, Perryville, Richmond and Smiths Grove, Dec. 7; Benton, Elkton, Eubank, Harlan, Hopkinsville, Horse Cave, Loretto, Louisa, Middlesboro, Munfordville, Quality, Pikeville, Prestonsburg and Stamping Ground, Dec. 8; Grayson, Dec. 11; Whitesburg, Dec. 14; Burnside, La Center, Manchester, Neon and Rabbit Hash, Dec. 15.

Oh, Kentucky

Cumberland County Retired Teachers donated 35 bags of supplies for students and teachers of Burkesville, KY. pic.twitter.com/37SoZZRVVU

— Sherry Radford (@sherryberry54) August 9, 2018

The allegedly promised Adair County oil boom that wasn't.

The Mayfield boom reportedly is a real thing, however.

Alexandria's County Market is getting out before its narrowing window shuts.

Bus-driver shortage in Warren County.

Veterans Telehealth comes to the Evarts Public Library.

The TV grid and some comics leave the Middlesboro Daily News.

Assessing Year 1 for Etown's Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

"An unpleasant ... necessary story" of Logan County's lynching history, well told by Wes Swietek in Bowling Green's Daily News.

Oh, Kentucky

Cave City can hardly wait for Karst Beach and Boo Boo Playground.

Christmas parades: Bowling Green, Dec. 1, and Hopkinsville, Dec. 8.

Kentucky Opera Night at Louisville City FC is scheduled for June 30.

Corbin's third-annual Burger Week begins Monday. 

Are food trucks and restauranteurs getting too close for comfort in Owensboro?

Dalton Godbey for WBKO 13 looks at Prints of Peace, a jobs-training program for teen-agers, launched by Broadway United Methodist Church and the Bowling Green Housing Authority.

The senior center in Liberty is offering painting classes on Thursday afternoons, and its instructor hails its cognitive and social-skills benefits, per Zach Johnson in The Casey County News.

Hiking trails have come to Hazard, and Buckhorn,  Leatherwood, Viper and other Perry County communities are up next, reports Destiny Caldwell in The Hazard Herald.

Checking in on the vice-presidential campaign of Matt Bevin of Shelburne, New Hampshire, ...

Alliance Coal needed new warehouse space, so a spec building constructed by Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development in 2003 has a new owner.

Good jobs news from Bardstown, Florence and Franklin.

Rest in peace, Ronny Smith, publisher of Beauty of 3/Pinnacle VIEW Magazine, park ranger at Cumberland Gap National Park and volunteer photographer at Middlesboro ARH.

Oh, Kentucky

A naked man in his 60s riding a moped.
A topless woman in her 40s shooting a Super Soaker.
The usual https://t.co/DKUaCzIAGU — @ALTONPHOTO

— Nate Chute (@nchute) July 30, 2017

The Sons of Confederate Veterans are appealing to march with their favorite flag in Paducah's (U.S.) Veterans Day Parade.

What's HUD doing for Kentucky? Working to improve access to affordable, quality and fair housing, extend broadband connectivity to low-income Americans, etc., says the field-office director in a road show.

If you missed the free black-lung screenings at the Sleep Inn in Middlesboro yesterday, NIOSH will be at the Harlan Walmart and Evarts later this week.

Hoptown elegy.

"There's so much more inside people like him than they ever gave him credit for."

Jail gardens like this one at the Clay County Detention Center seem to be all over the place now.

It really is great that there's a reporter at the Cynthiana Democrat who brings in breakfast for everyone in the place once a week.

The Hart County News-Herald also is hiring.

Elliott Pratt of The Bowling Green Daily News delivers an enjoyable update on doings with Kenny Perry.

Not endless ... but one more week in Louisville.

Oh, Kentucky

Rest in peace, the Rev. Dr. Coffman, a graduate of Russellville High at age 16; pastor of Christian churches in Daysville, Bethlehem, Cerulean, Madisonville, Middlesboro, Greenville, Bowling Green, Paducah and Guthrie; prolific Logan County historian; Kiwanis and Boy Scouts leader, and proud Vanderbilt grad who celebrated his 95th birthday earlier this year by showing his gold.

It's Unity Festival day at the Islamic Center of Bowling Green.

Kentucky for sale (but not tree today): "Native Americans and early American settlers, especially those in the Kentucky territory, roasted and ground the seeds to brew a coffee-like beverage (albeit no caffeine), hence the common name ..."

Northern Kentucky University sold one of its radio signals to the local operators of Dry Ridge's Classic Country 106.7 WNKR, and the price was $4 million cash and $1.3 million in advertising time.

It's a sellers' housing market in Lexington.

Kentucky beekeepers want to narrow the Kentucky Proud needle.

Good jobs news from Louisville.

Kentucky's unemployment up slightly last month https://t.co/Upt4kGC3Ks pic.twitter.com/xBoe9liw0q

— WHOP AM/FM (@WHOPradio) July 20, 2017

NASA warns to choose our eclipse glasses wisely.

Do the state corrections departments rules around prisoners and books violate the First and 14th amendments?

Speaking of reading, it's going to be interesting to check out this as a counterpoint to this.

Oh, Kentucky

Harness racing today at the Graves County Fair. pic.twitter.com/aqNx0VQLD9

— Ryan Hermens (@ryanhermens) June 7, 2017

Tyler Eschberger in The Middlesboro Daily News has an intriguing story about a man's visit to the local country club to spur investment and interest in making a movie about the town's integrated Little League baseball team in 1953. Ron Schmidt is quoted: "So we make a movie with a Kentucky story, that not only shows kids, but it shows Middlesboro and it shows the beauty and culture of Appalachia…can we all hit a home run? Can you do that? Can you help bring hope to our kids?" Indeed, I would be interested in watching a movie based on Tyler Eschberger's story about Ron Schmidt's 2017 trip to the Middlesboro Country Club to talk about the 1953 story.

Meanwhile, here's a very dark and sad story about demons, healing, sickness, confession, redemption, relapse, justice and everything else in The Casey County News. Prayers for the pastor, the flock, the church, the police, the reporters and everyone around it.

Now back to happy--thanks to Adam Black in Ashland's Daily Independent: "When we first got married, I told her we would never move to Kentucky. Now look, we have opened a restaurant and live right down the road."

NKU's Vegy Vida for kids has been voted among the "Best University Startups 2017."

Appalshop scores among the "100 people, organizations, and movements that are shaping the future of culture."

Louisville comes in at No. 4 among the "Top Ten Worst Trucking Chokepoints in America."

Good jobs news from Bowling Green, Danville and Morganfield ("Leave the emotional garbage at home, you'll get your feelings hurt because we are realist. We are here to work not babysit the emotionally needed folks or put up with excuses. If you've got what it takes, we'd love to talk to you about joining our team.")

Says Kentucky's state climatologist: "For the average person it can be difficult sometimes to see, or maybe to convince yourself, that climate can be changing. But within the scientific community, people that spend their careers studying these things, there’s really a growing consensus that our climate is changing and that human activity is making an impact on that."

The city of Hartford is selling its recycling equipment and tearing down the building where it was used to turn into scrap metal for the practice of student welders. (Also, there will be no movies on the square this summer.)

Madisonville's skate park is open! And it's free to get into our ATV park all year. And we're having a Santa Race next month. So, boom.

Oh, Kentucky

An HP exclusive from Mother's Day at Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park:

You've got until June 30 to submit your proposal for reopening the old "Arby's Island" Western Kentucky Parkway convenience center at Beaver Dam.

A 50-cent-per-hour raise is on the table for Pulaski County workers.

Valvoline HQ has opened grandly in Lexington.

SpanTech, a conveyor manufacturer in Glasgow, has worked with the state to launch an apprentice program for high-school juniors.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Bowling Green): "Treat our nation’s drug epidemic as a health crisis and less as a ‘lock-‘em-up-and-throw-away-the-key’ problem."

The American Medical Association reports that eight of the 10 U.S. counties experiencing the sharpest decline in life expectancy from 1980 to 2014 were in eastern Kentucky.

Meanwhile, one afternoon at Middlesboro Mall, ...

Oh, Kentucky

Time lapse of the front as it moved through Ashland a few minutes ago... @SimpleWeatherKY @Kentuckyweather #kywx pic.twitter.com/F0H2s8rFZi

— jcdrums (@howelljc) May 1, 2017

Coca-Cola consolidation is coming to Middlesboro.

The CEO of a company that makes a wearable video system has moved operations back to his native Kentucky.

Hiring in Paducah: planning director, pool manager, sports officials, etc.

Congrats to the Etown High junior who got a perfect score on the ACT, and I wonder how rare that is.

At WKU, per NBC: "Reparations for a 'debt that will never be paid.'"

In Louisville, per The New York Times: "On the verge of making redemptive history."

At Barren County Family Court, per The Courier-Journal: "I stand behind the law I have cited, the matter of conscience I addressed and the decision I have made."

More than $26,000 in federal money is available to expand food and shelter programs in Bell County, reports the Middlesboro Daily News; such funds previously have gone to Cooperative Christian Ministries and the Salvation Army in Middlesboro, Henderson Settlement in Frakes and Lighthouse Ministries Safehaven Shelter in Pineville.

What's next for the Boy Scouts' Wildcat Hollow camp in Logan County?

Hoptown is opening a new visitors center in anticipation of the eclipse.

Top 10 Kentucky high schools, according to U.S. News & World Report:

1. Louisville duPont Manual
2. Goshen North Oldham
3. Fort Thomas Highlands
4. Crestwood South Oldham
5. Fort Mitchell Beechwood
6. Glasgow
7. Louisville Brown
8. Lexington Henry Clay
9. Lexington Lafayette
10. Murray

Oh, Kentucky

Kentucky for sale:

Police arrested that guy who allegedly stabbed the Middlesboro sports writer and college professor.

West Kentucky Star's Facebook post about a bank's sponsorship of an Alabama concert in Mayfield turned into a conversation about the bank's marketing expenditures, a 1981 show by the band in Paducah and Mitch McConnell.

Meanwhile, RaeLynn's coming to Madisonville.

The Hartings of Leitchfield make a return appearance on Family Feud. “Everybody needs to watch this time,” Pastor Harting tells Matt Lasley of The Grayson County News-Gazette.  “That’s all I’ll say.”

It's #QuiltWeek! These are some of the awesome pieces of artwork you'll see at this year's show. pic.twitter.com/iN0pUD1hXR

— Brianna Clark WPSD (@bclark_WPSD) April 26, 2017

Good jobs news from The McConnell House in Wurtland.

The Kentucky Democratic Party's new executive director is a Frankfort coffeeshop operator and Bernie Sanders backer.

You can come out to a meeting this afternoon in the City of Manchester Council Room to speak your piece on the proposed Ramsey Ballpark renovations (or you can write to Frankfort in the next couple of weeks), but, if you intended to hear state Sen. C.B. Ramsey (R-Louisville/Morgantown) talk General Assembly at the Ohio County Senior Citizens Center, you're a day late and a pillow short, bub.

Also in sports, ...

Former Edmonson County Coach Charles Alexander Has Number Officially Retired In Ceremony:https://t.co/hVuSibq63C pic.twitter.com/lx1FpPPZVh

— The Edmonson Voice®™ (@edmonsonvoice) April 26, 2017

Anderson Co. softball player @Bailey_Curry11 is closing in on national HR record despite a ton of intentional walks. https://t.co/oI1DpNmrtJ pic.twitter.com/TFtvzxndZR

— John Herndon (@ANewsJPHerndon) April 26, 2017

The 64-team field is set for the KHSAA state fishing championship, May 12-13 in Gilbertsville.

The parks aren't, but Kentucky State Parks is moving.