Jerry Tipton covers Kentucky basketball for the Lexington Herald-Leader, which means there are few journalists in the country whose work is more closely scrutinized by its readers.

And many of those readers think Tipton goes out of his way to make Kentucky basketball look bad. Here's what the Kentucky hoops blog A Sea of Blue said recently, which is representative of what I've heard a lot of Kentucky fans say about Tipton's reporting:

Jerry Tipton, as always, takes the negative view. I swear, sometimes he amazes me -- it looks as though he believes any article he writes that is the least bit complimentary to Kentucky or one of its players is some kind of puff piece. I respect Jerry's apparent effort to avoid looking like a homer, but sometimes, I think you can take that just a little too far.

That kind of criticism of Tipton has been around for a long time, but it reached a fever pitch when Tipton interviewed the parents of two Kentucky recruits and, in the eyes of some, tried to make coach Billy Gillispie look bad during the interviews.

So many readers were so angry that the editor of the paper, Linda Austin, felt the need to respond.

Eighth grader Michael Avery knows he want to play for the University of Kentucky. The 6-4 guard from Encino, CA has decided to go ahead an commit to the Wildcats and is pretty excited about it.

"We're very flattered and excited that Michael will have the opportunity to one day play at Kentucky," (father) Howard Avery said. "After going through the thought process and talking to a lot of people, when you have a program like Kentucky wanting you, there's not any better. They have a coach that appreciates what my son can offer. What else can you look for?"

Now comes the hard part: picking your high school.

Avery still is undecided about where he wants to go after middle school. He may go to Encino's Crespi Carmelite in the fall or Culver Academy in Indiana (which, because of a visit, is where UK coach Billy Gillispie discovered him). You can't just rush a decision like that.

Avery is the first player from the Class of (gulp) 2012 to have already committed to college. Two players from the Class of '11 have committed (Ryan Boatwright to USC; Aaron Ross to Arkansas). The fact that these kids were born in the mid-1990s makes me feel older than dirt.

(Hat tip: Lance McAlister)

It has been 30 years since Kentucky's Jack "Goose" Givens scored 41 points against Duke in the 1978 NCAA Tournament Championship game. The Wildcats needed every one of those points, winning the game 94-88. Givens hit 18 of 27 shots and grabbed eight rebounds to become the tournament's most outstanding player and giving the Wildcats their fifth National Championship.

He scored Kentucky's final 16 points to end the first half.

Now you youngin's need to realize that there was no three-point line back then ... so scoring that many points is simply amazing.

Possibly one of the dumber tips received. A pet site unveiled their top 5 mascots for the NCAA Tournament. They chose 3 bulldogs and 2 wildcats. Wow. Totally original. And this was selected by the site editors. Choosing the same mascots 5 times.

Actually, that still wasn't enough. They had an honorable mention list of 13 more teams. Two more bulldogs and 3 wildcats made that list. The other 8 teams all had some sort of cat or dog for a mascot.

Aside from the pure repetitiveness of the choices, it's hard not to notice the lack of any birds. Cardinals, ducks, owls, eagles and hawks all excluded. Apparently birds are not that popular.

With the damage suffered to the Georgia Dome by severe weather during the end of the Alabama-Mississippi State game last night, the Southeastern Conference has decided to move the tournament to Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Early Saturday morning, SEC director of communications, DeWayne Peevy, told ESPN.com by phone from Atlanta that Georgia and Kentucky would play at noon Saturday in a makeup of the postponed quarterfinal on the campus of Georgia Tech at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum, instead of the storm-damaged Georgia Dome. The first semifinal pitting Tennessee and Arkansas would take place at 6 p.m. while the second semifinal between the winner of Kentucky-Georgia and Mississippi State will tip at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Alexander Memorial Coliseum holds just over 9,000 people so the league is limiting attendance to just the players' families, cheeleaders, bands and the normal credentialed people. There will be refunds for people who held tickets to the semifinals and beyond.

Word is that the SEC wanted to just name co-champions by having the Kentucky-Georgia game on Saturday and both semifinals on Sunday. However, the NCAA told the conference that not having a conference championship game would force the committee to take away its automatic qualifier.

Well, the SEC did what it had to complete the Alabama-Mississippi St. game in the wake of the tornado that ripped through Atlanta and put a beating on the Georgia Dome (MSU won 69-67 in OT if you care). Playing the late Georgia-Kentucky game, though, wasn't going to happen. Not with more bad weather still on the way, and the Georgia Dome getting all shook-up.

The SEC has announced the postponement of the game -- to the disgruntlement of typically insane fans.

Two brothers from Kentucky planned to stick it out until the end.

"We aren't going to leave without seeing Kentucky," Dave Uhlman said.

His brother, Phil, added, "Wind, rain, a tornado - it doesn't matter."

Brilliant.

The SEC has to figure out how to squeeze in the Kentucky-Georgia game and the game that the winner would have to play later that day against Mississippi State. Apparently the plan might be to play the game first thing in the morning and have the winner come back that night to play.

Totally unfair to Kentucky and Georgia, but they have no real choice. With the selection made on Sunday, the SEC has to have a winner declared by then. The SEC and other conferences that have championship games on Sunday leave no wiggle room. Granted, no one exactly expects a natural disaster.

Here is an interview that Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie had on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

He was asked about the pressure and expectations of coaching at a place at Kentucky. At the 2:30 mark, he says this:

"I can't think of one coach in Ameri- ... well, maybe there's one coach or a few coaches that wouldn't want that challenge."

That had to be a shot at Florida coach Billy Donovan. Maybe shot is a strong word, but it is still a dig at the Gators coach. As you may know, Donovan was the frontrunner for the Kentucky job and bowed out ... which gave Gillispie the shot.

Gillispie has rewarded the Wildcats with a dramatic turnaround midseason, a 12-4 SEC mark, a share of the SEC Coach of the Year award and a likely trip to the NCAA tournament.

In Donovan's defense, he had his own challenge. Building a basketball program at a football school and winning back-to-back championships is quite a feat. You cannot blame him for not wanting to leave that.

Odd coaches make for odd sound-bytes. Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl was discussing his team and their first SEC Championship since 1967 when it was postulated by one reporter that Vol fans might outnumber Kentucky fans in Atlanta for the first time ever.

But Coach Bruce Pearl recoiled from the suggestion that this week's SEC Tournament may show how Tennessee fans have surpassed Kentucky supporters in quantity or quality.

"No, no, we have not," he said interrupting a questioner on the league's coaches teleconference Monday. "Absolutely not.

"Because spring break for people in Kentucky is the SEC Tournament."

He's got a point. It's nicknamed "Catlanta" for a reason -- Kentucky has had great success there, and you can count on a sea of blue in the stands, every year, no matter how down and out the 'Cats may be.

"The problem is you have to give a three-day guarantee at the hotel. We've not been very successful. So our fans -- and they have every right to be -- are a little skeptical."

Surely not this year, Bruce? The Vols are 28-3 overall with a 14-2 conference record. Their three losses are to tourney-bound teams. They are clear favorites to the win the SEC tournament and are still in the hunt for a #1 seed in the Big Dance.

Skeptical? The bandwagon ought to be loaded up, the bags packed, and the champagne chilling in the cooler. C'mon, Vol fans... show your support!

The two-time defending national champs are unlikely to go dancing this year.

Florida's streak of 9 straight NCAA tournament wins is likely to come to an ignomious end after losing to Kentucky in legendary Rupp Arena. Like so many of the Gators' losses this year, Florida got off to a great start with a big lead, only to allow Kentucky to come roaring back and take a lead of their own. The Gators made it interesting in the final moments but in the end it was Kentucky 75, Florida 70.

With that loss Florida is 8-8 in conference play and 21-10 overall. It's hard to get in the tourney without a winning conference record, but sometimes what happens in the out-of-conference schedule can make the difference... not in this case. Florida owns no quality road wins, no quality neutral site wins, and played a cupcake-heavy schedule in the preseason.

Florida's best wins came over Kentucky and Vanderbilt. They had numerous opportunities which slipped away in the final seconds, including close losses to Vanderbilt the second time the two teams played, and a heartbreaking ly close loss to Tennessee in the O'Dome earlier in the week. Close losses though they may be, they're still losses.

Florida is now off the bubble. Their only opportunity to return to the NCAAs is to make an appearance in the finals of the SEC Tournament. It's quite a blow to Gator fans, who are accustomed to their teams competing for all the marbles.

Kentucky fell to the Volunteers Sunday in a heartbreaker, losing 63-60 in Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.

Tennessee is the class of the SEC. SEC fans know it. You know it. I know it. There's little argument over who's number one in the conference which spawned college basketball's two-time defending national champions, and the only real question for the Vols is whether they get a #1 or #2 seed in the Big Dance. Tennessee was supposed to beat the Wildcats, and they did, and it wasn't due to faulty officiating or luck or anything else. They're simply better. Maybe only by a skosh this day, but better.

Could Kentucky have won with their injured freshman center on the floor? Maybe. Probably. But he didn't play. Injuries are part of the game, and all programs deal with them at one time or another.

At 16-11, Kentucky's hopes for an NCAA tournament berth are all but dead. They could win their final two games of the season -- at South Carolina and vs. Florida -- and still have a resume which doesn't cut the mustard with the selection committee. At this point, it will likely take at least two wins in the SEC tournament to even be considered, and at 21-11 they could still be on the wrong side of the bubble. In all likelihood, it will take a tournament championship to make it back to the Big Dance, and that means facing the Vols yet again.