SPORTS HEADLINES 11/14/12

Join Todd Hamilton for Sports Tonight this evening at 5:08 on Newstalk 95.3 FM/1230 AM WHOP and worldwide at whopam.com. Among topics this evening include high school basketball, as the three local public school coaches were at the Rotary Club on Tuesday, with comments from the event.

Heritage Christian Academy has a boy-girl basketball doubleheader Thursday night against Pleasant View Christian, with coverage of both games beginning at 5:50 on Newstalk 95.3 FM/1230 AM WHOP.

Hoppers Baseball: According to a Facebook post by coach Grayson Crawford Tuesday, the roster for the 2013 Hoptown Hoppers team is complete. Crawford mentioned among the returning players will be Kyle Barbee, Matt McGowan, Jason McDonald and Brad Sevenish. The Hoppers are the defending Ohio Valley League champions.

College Basketball

Despite a late flurry, defending national champion Kentucky could not rally against Duke in the Georgia Dome Tuesday night, falling to the Blue Devils 75-68.  Wildcats coach John Calipari says Duke made the Cats pay for their mistakes:

Duke coach Mike Kryzewski says this game was a good test for his club:

Alex Poythress led the Wildcats with 20 points, with Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley-Stein each adding 16. Kentucky goes to 1-1 on the season and will host Lafayette Friday night with pre game coverage at 4:30 on Lite 98.7.

Elsewhere: Western Kentucky used an 18-1 run to defeat Austin Peay 74-54 in the opening round of the Cancun Challenge. Jamal Crook had 16 points, with George Fant adding 15 points and 14 rebounds. Austin Peay was led by AJ Lynch’s 15 points. Both teams are 1-1 on the season with WKU to host Western Carolina Saturday night, while Austin Peay travels to DePaul.

LSU improved to 2-0 on the season with a 73-48 win over McNeese State. Former Christian County standout Anthony Hickey had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in 23 minutes for the Tigers.

Women’s basketball: Top ranked Baylor routed 6th ranked Kentucky 85-51 to win its 42nd game in a row. A’dia Mathies led Kentucky with 12 points, Bria Goss added 11.

Six players between Kentucky and Louisville were named to the Naismith Award watch list Tuesday. Freshmen Nerlens Noel, Archie Goodwin and Alex Poythress were named from Kentucky, while Louisville had Peyton Siva, Gourgi Dieng and Chane Behanan. Also on the watch list was Murray State’s Isaiah Cannan. The award for the nation’s top player will be presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club next April.

College Football: The Big East Conference announced Tuesday it will split into divisions for football beginning with the 2013 season. There will be two six team divisions with Louisville, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida and Rutgers in the East division.

West division teams will be Boise State, Houston, Memphis, San Diego State, SMU and Temple. There will be a Big East championship game with the two division leaders at the end of the season.

Tennessee Vols junior defensive lineman Daniel Hood calls coach Derek Dooley one of the most important people in his life. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Hood as saying the uncertainty about Dooley’s future could bring a distraction to the team.

Meanwhile, quarterback Tyler Bray says he believes Dooley will coach the last two games of the season, even if his future is uncertain. As we reported Tuesday, Dooley said he met with athletics director Dave Hart Sunday and nothing was mentioned about firing Dooley. Tennessee plays Vanderbilt on Saturday.