2008-09 UK Men’s Basketball Schedule

On August 2nd, the University of Kentucky announced it’s upcoming basketball schedule for the 2008-2009 season. There are a total of 13 (or more) games that will be televised. Read more

Bill Keightley Memorial Videos

I had the chance to attend the memorial for Bill “Mr. Wildcat” Keightley last night at 6 PM in Rupp Arena. There was a good show of fans and supporters, but the most amazing aspect was the amount of coaches and players there to pay their respects. Among the players were this past year’s team, as well as Kenny Walker, Jeff Sheppard, Jay Shidler, Kyle Macy, Dwayne Casey, Cameron Mills, Scott Pagent, and Walter McCarty as well as many many more. Beyond the players, there were many coaches who were good friends with Keightley that were present. Three of the five coaches and Keightley served under were there (Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Billy Gillispie, with Tubby Smith’s flight being delayed on his way to the service), as well as John Pelphrey (former player and current head coach of Arkansas), Billy Donovan (former assistant coach and current head coach of Florida), Rick Stansbury (native Kentuckian and current head coach of Mississippi State), and Jeff Morrow (head coach of a Kentucky high school basketball team). there were some great speeches given, but my favorite by far came from an unlikely source, Rick Pitino. Here is a video of the great speech Rick gave last night.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqTv8PA0Bd0]

It is easy to say that Bill Keightley impacted many people’s lives. He turned boys into leaders, nervous and youthful coaches into experienced veterans, and anyone he met into a friend. One of the overlooked things he did was not only prepare college athletes for pro sports, but people for whatever life they lead. There are doctors, real estate agents, firemen and more than all dawned a jersey during school.

To see all the speeches as well as the tribute video, you can CLICK HERE and view sections of the memorial that someone captured from TV last night and put up on Youtube. You can also stop by the news page on ESPN and on WKYT to view all the kind and thoughtful comments at both places.

Fight, for the Blue and White

This past Sunday was UK’s last game of the regular season. Since it also happen to be our last home game of the season, it was Senior Day! That’s right, UK fans everywhere gave a proper farewell to Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford at center court prior to the night’s game. Not only did the fans show their support, but a video played of Randolph Morris wishing them well, and their former teammate Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics presented them with their jerseys.

It is fair to say that the team wanted to return the appreciation to the fans and planned to end the season on a good note. Early in the game, Florida lead by 9 points while Kentucky was busy playing catch up. Once we caught up though, we took it all by storm. Around half time, the scores were very close with Kentucky leading by only 2 points. After a nice rest, they stormed back on the court and swept up the Gators by going on a 15-0 point run and getting the lead by a good margin. Near the end of the game, Florida was able to catch up some and make Kentucky earn the victory. Below is a quick clip I took from the sidelines of the fans getting into the game and ‘backseat’ reffing from their seats.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WEOMoqh6w8]

For some photos from court-side, check out our Senior Day set on our Flick page. For more stats on the game, be sure to check out the Box Score and Play-by-Play on the UK Athletics site. While you are over there, you can read their recap of the game for more detail on each play as well as more specifics about the stats of each player.

People Behind the Curtain

Although the Wizard of Oz was great and powerful, perhaps he misspoke when he said “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” With productions of the scale that take place in Rupp Arena, perhaps it is the ‘people behind the curtain’ who should be given the most attention (except for the event itself of course). When you go to an event keeping the video production in mind, it can seem almost daunting at the amount of well edited videos that are displayed on the LED screens. As a good example, take note of the eRUPPtion Montage I posted up yesterday. Numerous montages like that are made for nearly every event that happens at Rupp Arena (be it a basketball game, concert, truck pull, etc.).

Each event definitely has it’s fair share of video production, but compared to a UK Basketball game, all our other events fall short. Of course that should not discredit the amount of work that goes into each show at Rupp Arena, but is more to emphasizing the amount of video production that goes into a single basketball game. This past Sunday, during Senior Day for UK Basketball, I was able to step inside the video production room and take some photos and a short video. Below is a clip from during the game where there are many tasks being done without a hiccup by our experienced crew.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxtC5Jg_uwQ]

It is one thing to have to produce a bunch of videos for an event and play them in the right order. It is another thing entirely to have to capture and play video on-the-fly, switching between multiple cameras, and getting the best shot for a particular situation. On top of that, there are trivia, montages and replays that have to be done and inserted into the gaps during the game. Not only is this done once, but for every UK Basketball game, men and women. That is a total of twenty-five times just this season.

To get a better sense of being in the room and seeing all the action happen, as well as the many knobs, switches and buttons that I strategically avoided to prevent meltdown, have a look at the Video Production Room set on our Flickr page. There are quite a few shots there for you to feast your eyes on. Next time you attend an event at Rupp Arena, pay attention to the many elements that go into that show. Who knows, if you like the event a lot, maybe you can treat the video production crew to a hotdog from the concessions stand.