Inside the Hall: It’s year two of the Billy Gillispie era in Lexington. What has Gillispie done well since arriving at UK and what can he improve upon moving forward?

John Clay: Since arriving here, Gillispie has given the impression that he’s going for it. He’s not holding back. He’s recruiting eighth graders. He’s hiring assistants (Tracy Webster) who will bring him recruits (Darius Miller). He’s taking advantage of an NCAA loophole to move Midnight Madness to a week before official practice begins. He’s paying Daniel Orton’s father, within the rules, in hopes of getting that recruit (he did). The one thing that has undercut the confidence fans have in him is the unexpected losses – to Gardner-Webb last year, to VMI this year. Kentucky is not supposed to lose to those teams.

ITH: One of the problems so far for Kentucky this season seems to be an inability to get the ball inside to Patrick Patterson. Is this problem a result of teams focusing on stopping Patterson or Kentucky’s lack of leadership in the backcourt?

JC: I’d say more lack of leadership, and ball-handling skills, more than anything else. This team has a definite point guard problem. Starter Michael Porter can’t avoid turning the ball over. Asking him to run the offense is a stretch of his skills. DeAndre Liggins, while hardly smooth, has played better, but with his trademark stubbornness, Gillispie has yet to put the freshman in the starting lineup. Even beyond point guard, this is not a team of handlers. The smalls turn it over. The bigs turn it over.

ITH: Another big storyline early in the season is the DeAndre Liggins saga out in Las Vegas. Was this an isolated incident or do questions still linger about the relationship between the freshman guard and Gillispie?

JC: So far, anyway, Gillispie seems to be one of those I’m-going-to-do-it-my-way coaches. When Liggins refused to enter the second half of the Kansas State game in Vegas, most felt the freshman would (a) leave, (b) be booted from the team, or (c) be glued to the bench. Instead, he played 27 minutes the next night against West Virginia. Liggins has played well enough since then to deserve a promotion to the starting lineup, but that hasn’t come. Perhaps it’s a punishment for the Las Vegas incident. I don’t think there’s any real friction between Liggins and Gillispie. I don’t expect him to leave.

ITH: Besides Patterson or Jodie Meeks, who is the player most important to the success of UK and why?

JC: That’s a tough one. Obviously, the point guard role needs to be resolved and the turnover problem fixed. But freshman Darius Miller needs to step up and provide a third scoring option behind Meeks and Patterson. Miller has excellent ability. He’s shown poise, is a good passer, and can take the ball to the basket. But he’s been way too timid for Gillispie’s taste thus far. In the last game, against Mississippi Valley, Gillispie called for Miller to go into the game, but when the freshman passed the head coach on his way to the scorer’s table, Billy G. called him back and sent him to the end of the bench. It’s a Billy G. trick from last year. If the player doesn’t show the proper enthusiasm for going in the game, he doesn’t go in the game.

ITH: With both programs being somewhat down recently, has the UK-IU rivalry lost any of its luster? Or is it still a game that the fans in Lexington circle on their calender each year?

JC: I don’t think the fans circle it like they once did. It would help if both program were at a high level at the same time. That hasn’t been the case in recent years. Plus, when UK dominated the SEC, games against Louisville and Indiana gained importance. But with Florida winning titles, and Tennessee on the rise, the Cats have their hands full inside the league.

ITH: Finish this sentence: By season’s end, Kentucky will be a team that…

JC: . . . plays hard, plays good defense, and plays just well enough to lose to the better teams on its schedule.

Inside the Hall: The first thing that comes to mind when you think about Kentucky basketball this season is the change to Billy Gillispie. How is Billy changing the program from the way it was run under Tubby Smith?

John Clay: Gillispie appears to be a tougher and more demanding coach. He ran a “Boot Camp” before the start of drills, he runs full practices the day of games, and he has already benched a couple of players for transgressions. Freshman A.J. Stewart sat the bench the entire game against Stony Brook, then was brought out during the post-game press conference to tell the media he had fallen asleep during a team meeting. Tubby certainly would not have made Stewart face the media as he often did not allow his freshman to speak to the media until at least the second semester. And Tubby probably would not have told the media why the player sat the bench.

ITH: Alex Legion recently announced he was leaving the program and his status now appears to be up in the air. There are rumblings that defections may occur at Kentucky. Do these rumblings have any legs?

JC: I predict we’ll see one, maybe two over the Christmas break. Some if it is just the natural fallout when a coach inherits players he didn’t recruit, and vice versa. But Gillispie isn’t for everybody. And I think the players are finding that out.

ITH: Patrick Patterson is Kentucky’s best player so far. What are the strengths and weaknesses of his game? How does he match up with D.J. White?

JC: Patterson is very active, with explosive jumping ability and excellent hands. He has a very good knack around the basket. There have been times this year when it appeared that if Patterson didn’t get the rebound, Kentucky didn’t get the rebound. The irony is that UK desperately needed a forward just like Patterson the past few years. Now it has one, but doesn’t have a center. Patterson’s weakness could be foul trouble. He fouled out Saturday against North Carolina, but has logged a lot of minutes. So far, he’s been as good, if not better than advertised. I think he should match up well with White, though D.J. may be able to push him around a bit.

ITH: One of the keys to being successful against Indiana is containing Eric Gordon. Not many teams have been able to answer the challenge thus far. How will Kentucky game plan against Gordon and who will draw the assignment of defending him?

JC: Not sure who will get the Gordon assignment. Won’t be Crawford. He’s not a good defender. Could be Bradley, though often Ramel gets caught up in that game of trying to one-up his opponent. Michael Porter may be UK’s most fundamentally sound backcourt defender, but he can’t match Gordon’s quickness. In other words, this isn’t a good matchup for the Cats. Meeks probably would have been the best answer, but he won’t play.

ITH: Joe Crawford started slowly this season. Is he working his way into living up to his potential? Do you get the sense he’s looking forward to playing against his brother, Jordan?

JC: I think he is looking forward to playing against his brother. He’s starting to play better, but shows too many signs of the old Joe. Too many undisciplined drives to the basket. He began the year in Gillispie’s doghouse, but seems to be in better favor with the coach than originally.

ITH: What’s the future of the Indiana/Kentucky series? Kelvin Sampson recently said he is interested in keeping it going. Is Kentucky interested in keeping it going — and playing at the RCA Dome and Freedom Hall again?

JC: I think Kentucky is interested in keeping it going, but Gillispie is a wild card. His history suggests that he’s not crazy about tough non-conference schedules. But I haven’t heard any talk that UK wants to discontinue the series.

ITH: Final question. Fill in the blank. Indiana wins the game if … Kentucky wins the game if…

JC: Indiana wins the game if it plays up to its capabilities. Kentucky wins the game if plays beyond its capabilities.