On Thursday, Indiana University announced the end its series with Kentucky due to an inability to agree on the site of the annual game. Later on Thursday afternoon, UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart released a statement on the same subject which you can read below in its entirety:

"We are extremely disappointed in Indiana's decision to end our annual men's basketball series. We were under the impression that we were in continued negotiations with Indiana University on signing a two-year contract to play the annual game at neutral sites.

"After the NCAA Championships, both schools verbally agreed in principle to play for two years at neutral sites (December 8, 2012 and December 7 or 14, 2013) and agreed to revisit campus sites upon completion of the two-year deal. The public comments by Indiana prior to today over the last week led us to believe that our previous verbal agreement could be in jeopardy, but at no point did we ever have any mutual discussions with Indiana to end the series. 

"We were contacted by Indiana today shortly before 2 p.m. ET and informed that due to our desire to move to neutral sites they were moving on for the 2012-13 season and would revisit continuing the series at a later date.

"Our desire to play the series at a neutral site was due mainly to the success of the series from 1992-2006. It allowed the fans of both schools to enjoy the experience of one of the greatest rivalries every year.  Everyone that watched or attended those games said it was a great atmosphere for college basketball. We looked at this as an opportunity to recapture that atmosphere and unfortunately it ended today."

Around this time on Friday, the national champion Kentucky Wildcats will be getting ready to board a plan to Washington, D.C., to take President Barack Obama up on his offer to visit the White House. You won't be able to get a spot on the trip, but you will be able to follow along live.

ESPNU will be covering live UK's tour of the White House and meeting with the Commander-in-Chief. Andy Katz will be with the team in D.C. for the SportsCenterU Special: Kentucky at the White House, which begins at 5 p.m. on Friday. It will be simulcast on ESPN3 at this link.

Additionally, ESPNU will show a half-hour special, All Access: Kentucky at the White House next week, with the first episode airing on Friday, May 11, at 11:30 p.m.

I'm also happy to report that Cat Scratches as well as Eric Lindsey of CoachCal.com will be making the trip with the team. It's certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, but more importantly for you, we will be providing joint coverage of the event similar to what we did throughout the postseason. We will have Twitter updates, stories, video and a photo gallery from the White House visit, so stay tuned for that on Friday.

Until recently, the Kentucky baseball team didn't know what it felt like to have a bad week.

Before this past Sunday, the Wildcats had charged through the first 10 weeks of the season without dropping a weekend series. Improbably, six of those series wins had come in the gauntlet that is the Southeastern Conference, five against top-25 teams.

This past weekend, Vanderbilt put an end to that streak with Saturday and Sunday victories as UK hit the road for the fourth time in seven weeks. The Cats can no longer puff their chests out as the last SEC team with a series defeat, but they see the change as merely superficial. Accordingly, they don't plan on altering their approach.

"The message doesn't change," UK head coach Gary Henderson said. "Thursday's the biggest game of the year, then Friday will be the biggest game, then Saturday will be and the next series will be the biggest game of the year."

Henderson has espoused the mantra that each successive weekend represents the most important one of the season, and with No. 5 Florida coming to Cliff Hagan Stadium for a made-for-primetime series between a pair of conference contenders, it would be hard to argue with him right now.

UK has the challenge of rebounding from a three-loss week - the third came in a midweek game against Louisville - facing a team ranked first in the preseason. The Gators (33-12, 12-9 SEC) are headlined by defending SEC Player of the Year Mike Zunino, who leads the conference in slugging percentage, home runs and doubles, but the rest of the lineup is far from full of slouches. Even without Zunino's 12 home runs, the Gators have hit 44, more than every other SEC team, save for UK's 48. Moreover, the majority of those homers come from players that contributed to last year's team that advanced to the College World Series final.

"They've got real power in more than one guy, and when you've got that much experience and as many skills as they have, they're a tough club," Henderson said. "They've had some injury issues that have slowed them down a little bit, but they're getting past that. They're just a really talented, really experienced club."

Yes, UK - now in a three-way tie atop the SEC standings - comes into the difficult series on more of a sour note than any other this season, but the losses to Vanderbilt were not without silver linings. First, Taylor Rogers - who will pitch the opener against Florida on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU, turned in one of his best starts of the SEC season in picking up the win last Friday, which followed a resilient start the previous week in a losing effort vs. LSU.

"I think it's always important when a guy pitches well and gets some positive feedback with a 'W,' but more important than the 'W' itself was the way he went about his business and how he pitched," Henderson said. "I was really proud of him and he did a nice job. That's a tough environment down there."

Even in the two defeats, Henderson couldn't help but be encouraged.

On Saturday, UK managed to chase star freshman Tyler Beede after seven scoreless innings due to an escalating pitch count before wasting no time in rallying for three eighth-inning runs to tie the game. In the bottom of the frame, Vanderbilt mounted a two-rally that scored the decisive run when Cameron Flynn's diving effort to corral a fly ball came up empty. Henderson called it "a play we've made all year."

Sunday's game had a similar feel, as another pitcher with a bright professional future in Kevin Ziomek handcuffed the UK offense before leaving earlier than he would have liked due a pitch count climbing past 100. Once again, the Cats tied the game in the eighth on an RBI groundout by J.T. Riddle, only for Vandy to undo UK's chances with a grand slam and five runs in the bottom half off closer Trevor Gott, who was facing just his second batter in two weeks.

"We pitched, except for the eighth inning on Sunday, extremely well out of the bullpen all weekend," Henderson said. "You're talking 1-1 going into the eighth on the road, you're happy about what you've done to that point, now you've got to close it out and you got to pitch well for 27 outs and we didn't do that. As a whole this year, we have. Those are some of the positives that you take out of the weekend."

As they have all season, the Wildcats have relied on freshman to carry a heavy load, most notably Austin Cousino and A.J. Reed, who have batted first and third in the UK lineup for the majority of the year. The two combined for just two hits in 16 at-bats in the two losses, indicative of their importance to the team.

Concern over Cousino - who has gone hitless in back-to-back games just once all season - should be minimal, but Reed is a slightly different story. Since his batting averaged peaked at .386 following a sweep of South Carolina, he has seen it dip to .302. During the 23-game stretch, he has just 21 hits and 11 RBI in 89 at-bats after tallying 27 hits and 28 RBI in his first 21 games.  

For most newcomers, hitting a midseason wall is close to inevitable, but Henderson sees a light at the end of the tunnel. He expects to see strides out of Reed and his fellow freshman beginning this weekend.

"I think we're almost past it, I really do," Henderson said. "I guess this week will be the determining factor whether we're still in the middle of it or whether we're over the hump so to speak. I think they're almost getting that second shot that you usually see and the knowledge that we're going to get to play a little bit more is good for those guys and their mental health."

Handling failure isn't something that concerns Henderson much when it comes to his "very consistent group of kids," as he calls his team. The Cats may not have experienced the sting of a series loss before, but they know what it takes to get past it.

"We're either the last club or the second-to-last club in the country to lose a weekend series," Henderson said. "They don't give you any awards for that, but I think it just speaks to how the kids have handled it. They've done a good job. We've got enough experience and enough leadership to not go over the edge because you lost a series."

University of Kentucky sophomore Trevor Gott and junior Luke Maile were named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Watch List Tuesday.

Making the 60-man watch list puts the Wildcat duo in contention for the most prestigious award in college baseball. USA Baseball has honored the top amateur baseball player in the country with the Golden Spikes Award since 1978.

He had started to drift off during the sixth round of the draft. He was nearing a dream-like state when his dream finally came true and his phone rang with a team official on the other end.

"Want to be a Seahawk?" the man on the phone asked.

"Yes, sir," was all Guy could reply.

The NFL draft is hardly the last chance college football players have to make their professional dreams come true. In the 24 hours that follow every draft, a frenzy of rookie free-agent signings happen - and several Kentucky players were part of that mad dash to snatch up less-heralded talent this year.

Along with the Wildcats' two draft picks - safety Winston Guy to the Seattle Seahawks with the 181st pick and linebacker Danny Trevathan to the Denver Broncos with the 188th pick, both in the sixth round - five former UK players have signed rookie free-agent contracts.

University of Kentucky's Eric Quigley, who has set the school record for most wins in a season (47 and counting), has been named the Southeastern Conference Tennis Player of the Year by league coaches.

Quigley is the second player in UK history to earn the title, joining former UK All-American Jesse Witten (2005).

The sixth-ranked University of Kentucky men's tennis team, which won the Southeastern Conference regular-season title with an undefeated record in league play, has received an at-large selection into the NCAA Tennis Tournament, the NCAA announced Tuesday.

The University of Kentucky basketball team is headed to the White House, by invitation of President Obama, and the Wildcats had better hurry up and pack. Word of the invitation came Tuesday -- with the visit scheduled for Friday.

UK's players and coach John Calipari will be honored by the president at 4:50 p.m. Friday for winning this year's NCAA championship, the program's eighth.

University of Kentucky senior and National Champion Eloy Vargas will conduct five area youth basketball camps during the month of May.

Vargas, who helped the University of Kentucky men's basketball program capture its eighth national championship earlier in the month, will hold five camps in as many days May 14-18. The Nation of Blue Championship Camp featuring Eloy Vargas will tip off on Monday, May 14 at Belfry High School. Each camp will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

UK women's basketball coach Matthew Mitchell said he was the program's spokesman this year because he sees himself as a teacher first and a coach second. But Mitchell didn't know that he would be among those honored as a teacher who made a difference.

Mitchell was presiding over the recognition ceremony at the UK Student Center when one of his players, senior guard Keyla Snowden, walked in to surprise him, representing the team.

It was somewhat easy to forget amidst the controlled chaos that was the Clippers' 28-3 run to close Game 1 in FedEx Forum. But Bledsoe's hustle play along with several other moments from the second-year guard playing his first career playoff game, were essential to the 99-98 victory.

Or as Paul said about Bledsoe and the rest of his teammates efforts prior to Monday's practice at the arena, "Each one of those plays had to be made in order for us to have a chance to win."

Harden met with the Williamstown players on Monday and "was very impressed with their enthusiasm."

The Demons, who play in the 8th Region, haven't had a winning season since 2004-05, so Harden realizes the challenges ahead.

"It's going to be a building process, for sure," he said. "They've never had a strength or conditioning program, so we're going to introduce the players to that."

Chris Rusin walked from the Iowa Cubs' bullpen to the pitcher's mound Sunday, knowing the best thing he could do for his team was to work deep into the game.

But going deep as a batter?

"That one surprised me a little, too," the lefty said after a 2-1 Pacific Coast League victory against Cardinals affiliate Memphis at Principal Park

Bills receiver Stevie Johnson says the the groin surgery he underwent Tuesday in Philadelphia was a success.

Johnson tweeted the above picture he says after surgery, and the tweet read as follows:

"Thank Yall! Successful Op.  Still Pretty as Ever maybe a bit more from after the Surgery... Ha What?  RecoveryMode now."

With injury befalling Team USA, two recent Kentucky Wildcats are reportedly under consideration to be added to the Olympic roster for this summer's games in London.

Twenty finalists for the 12 spots on the final roster were announced in January, but five of those candidates have since been removed from contention, most recently Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard due to season-ending injuries. USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo announced plans to add one or two players to the preliminary roster and, according ESPN.com's Marc Stein, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins are both in contention:

"Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that Sacramento Kings power forward DeMarcus Cousins, Detroit Pistons center Greg Monroe and incoming Kentucky star Anthony Davis -- widely regarded as a lock to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the June draft -- are among the young big men under consideration to be among the late additions Colangelo mentioned."

With Howard out of commission due to a back injury, it stands to reason that Team USA would want to add a big man to help compensate for the loss of its primary center. Kevin Love, Chris Bosh, Tyson Chandler and Blake Griffin are the only players listed as forwards or centers among the remaining 15 finalists. Clearly, Cousins and Davis fit the bill, particularly considering that Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers, the most logical choice to replace Howard, already has announced plans to take the summer off.

 In his second year in the NBA, Cousins was among the most improved players in the league, averaging 19.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocks after the All-Star Break. UK fans need no reminder of the potential impact the 19-year old Davis could make with his defensive prowess. He set the NCAA freshman record with 186 blocked shots en route to national player of the year and Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors. The last player to play in the Olympics for Team USA before his first NBA season was Emeka Okafor of Connecticut in 2004. The last former Wildcat to play in the Olympics for Team USA was Tayshaun Prince in 2008.

Obviously, nothing is even close to official, and even if it were, being named a finalist is no guarantee of making the final roster for either Davis or Cousins. Nonetheless, simply having their names mentioned in connection with Team USA is an honor for two players 21 years or younger.

Link: U.S. likely to add to Olympic pool

The Kentucky men's tennis team will have a chance to add another chapter to an already memorable season beginning next week.

The Southeastern Conference champions received the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships and will play host to first and second round matches for the fourth consecutive season and Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.

The Wildcats (26-5) will face Radford (20-5) in the tournament's opening round, while familiar foes await in a potential second round matchup. Indiana (21-8) and Louisville (18-9) will play in the first round, with the winner advancing to play UK or Radford with a berth in the Sweet 16 at stake. All rounds beginning with the Sweet 16 will be played in Athens, Ga.

Earlier this season, UK won a 7-0 decision over the Hoosiers in Lexington. In last year's NCAA Tournament, UK defeated U of L in a memorable second round showdown between the two rivals. The Cats beat the Cardinals en route to the Elite Eight, the best finish in school history. This year, UK will be looking to advance to the first Final Four in Dennis Emery's three-decade tenure.

We'll have plenty more coverage leading up to and during UK's 2012 NCAA Tournament run, so stay tuned. In the mean time, check out the full release on UKathletics.com for more information.

This week, students throughout Kentucky are taking standardized tests as a part of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System. In support of the young test-takers during the week, men's basketball stars Anthony Davis and Darius Miller filmed a series of three short video messages with words of encouragement.

Davis and Miller emphasize the importance of tests while encouraging students to do the best they can by focusing, getting a good night's sleep and eating a healthy breakfast. It's a familiar message for anyone who has taken part in CATS testing before, but coming from a pair of NBA-bound national champions, it's sure to be heard loud and clear.

You can watch the video below or download the video file. Here is what Davis and Miller had to say to Kentucky students: