#22

the SEC is royally fucking this up! UK is scheduled to play tomorrow at 12:00, and then (if we win) again at 3:00 against MSU. The anti-UK element on ESPN (Gottlieb, et. al) said that this isn't a big deal-that AAU teams play 4x a day. That's the most ignorant bullshit I've ever heard, but it looks like barring a Co-Champion situation, we have to deal with this. unless BCG tells the players to get back on the bus and tells the SEC where they can stick it.

untrue, as per UK. we'll see how his shooting looks, though.

Apparently a Louisville Radio station is saying that Crawford has a wrist injury and won't play? Anyone else heard this? I swear, this season has been as bad as the Bengal's last year for injuries.

yeah, I agree. We'd survive the first round, and get a better seed than last year. Someone on ESPN has the Bracket listed right now so that we'd get Kansas State in the 1st, UNC in the 2nd, and that Georgetown would be the #2 seed in our region. I really, really hope it doesn't turn out that way.

I'm about 99.9% sure we (justifiably) get in

Pitino has turned into a piece of shit over the years, but what he did his last year at UK with Derek Anderson is one of the more noble things I've ever seen a college coach do. Pitino knew his job was safe, I guess, and that there was no scorched earth policy required to win the NCAAs that year, but still. You don't rush back your best player from a serious knee injury to help him get drafted higher in the NBA? I heard that DA was still their best player in practices, but Pitino refused to get this kid injured for life so that he could win back-to-back championships. That's pretty selfless, in my opinion. Can anyone think of more than 3 or 4 ncaa coaches that would sacrifice a national championship for the health of 1 player? Anyway, I've also been a big fan of Jules Camara (because he put up some truly legendary dunks IIRC), Chuck Hayes, Ravi Moss, Gerald Fitch, Anthony Epps, Tayshaun (who I always charged with under-achieving), and Patrick Sparks for his knowledge of the game. If Patterson stays even one more year, he'll go up on my list in a hurry. If Kelenna would have stayed his senior year after that [b]awful[/b] Michigan State game, he'd probably be my favorite. I also got to go with the home town boys John and Truett Demoisey (way, WAY before my time), but one was Rupp's first AA, and the other was close friends with Happy Chandler. How much more Kentucky can you get? Anyway, optimal situation for the cats tonight. Georgia (with 9 players) played a rough game last night that went into Overtime, so those guys are worn out. We match up well against them, and CBG and his staff watched the game live, and then went back to their hotel rooms and watched the tape of it.

I loved Heshimu Evans back in the day. Didn't he go to the same High School as Shagari Alleyne? [quote]Now we're guard-heavy and FAST.[/quote] I have to disagree, here. We aren't anything-"heavy." Ramel, Joe, Jasper, and Porter is not the deepest backcourt in the world, and we don't play very fast, either. The UT game was agonizingly slow, but that was CBG's strategy to beat a fast team (and it worked pretty well), If you look at the athletic, 6'6" passing guards that Gillespie is recruiting and bringing in, though, you can see that he is trying to build a stable of horses like Memphis has this year. I'm pretty excited for the future.

yeah...this is where I start to cheat a little in my analysis because of Patterson's Injury. For Centers and Forwards, I will look at their season averages compared to UK's last 3 games (ones without Patrick). [b]TAMU Frontcourt[/b]: Joseph Jones (f/c): 27.3 mpg, 13.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.1 spg, .8 blocks pg, 3.4 personal fouls, .552fg%, .781ft%, .400 3pt % Antanas Kavaliauskas©:28.4 mpg, 11.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg, .6 spg, .7 blocks pg, 3.1 personal fouls, .554fg%, .649ft%, .375 3pt% Marlon Pompey (f): 15.9 mpg, 3.5ppg, 2.8 rpg, .5 spg, .4 blocks pg, 2.5 personal fouls, .500fg%, .565ft%, .000 3pt% INTERESTING TO NOTE: Almost none of these guys who are still at Texas A&M have reached their averages from last year. This could be because they've added monster Center DeAndre Jordan, or it could be because BCG is no longer their coach. [b]UK Frontcourt[/b] (I just look at 2 guys because who knows what to make of the Coury/Stewart debacle. They add about 8ppg/4rpg/3 personal fouls per game combined, anyway): Perry Stevenson: 35.3mpg, 11ppg, 10rpg, 1 spg, 3 blocks pg, 2.6 personal fouls per game Ramon Harris: 34.3mpg, 9ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1 spg, .66blocks pg, 4.3 personal fouls per game OPINION: If Perry can continue to produce and Ramon can stay out of foul trouble, these guys should be serviceable for a Sweet 16 appearance. I thought we might get 1 win before I compiled this stuff, but I'm feeling pretty good about our chances, right now. TAMU was a 3 seed last year (if I recall correctly), and so they may not have had as hard of a tourney schedule early on as we will.

I was laying on my floor thinking about this today. BCG took the A&M Aggies to the Sweet 16 last year (and lost by 1 point to Memphis). How much better of a team did he have last year? Well, I decided to look at the Top 7 Players of each team (by minutes), and here is what I came up with (obviously unable to take things like defensive presence into mind): [u] GUARDS:[/u][b] TAMU[/b] Acie Law IV:34mpg. 18+ppg, 3.3 rpg, 5 apg, 3.6 topg, 1.1 steals, 2.4 personal fouls .500fg%; .778ft%; .4583pt% Josh Carter (g/f): 29mpg. 11.8ppg, 4 rpg, 4apg, 1.1topg, .7 steals, 2.0 personal fouls .492fg%; .778ft%; .500 3pt% Dominique Kirk: 30mpg. 7.2ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3apg, 1.1topg, .9 steals, 2.6 personal fouls .436 fg%; .690ft%; .390 3pt% Donald Sloan: 17.8mpg. 5.2ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.8apg. 1.2topg, .7 steals, 1.3 personal fouls .489fg%; .667ft%; .333 3pt% [b]UK[/b] Crawford and Bradley are averaging 16 and 17 ppg, respectively, and I think we actually have a better backcourt than last years TAMU team if Meeks comes back (unlikely). I'll post more of this witless insight later on.

I keep hoping we play some small ass school in the Tourney (like Butler, Drake, Davidson, San Diego U , etc.). I also hope we don't wind up with an 8 or a 9 seed, since that's instant death in the 2nd round.

Things are brighter than they were in Catland. The Baseball team has gone up to No. 9 in some national polls, being 10-0 and outscoring opponents 136-22 overall. Basketball has had 22 blocks in the last three games and has been dominant on defense. I'm not sure about the Sweet 16, but I fell really good about next year (even though we'll lose Crawford and Bradley). Think about these 2 kids under 4 years of BCG, though. Crawford went from looking hopeless at the beginning of the year (being a 6th man), to being the star of the team with 35 points tonight. and this there's this:

Kentucky came out with a great game plan, though. The NCAA Selection Committee has to be impressed with our performance in that one. I know I was. I am pumped about next year, though. Especially after seeing what Jasper, Harris, and Stevenson are capable of. These are guys who haven't played most of the year (Jasper only because he's been hurt, and Stevenson has been increasing his play lately). Their lines looked like this today, though: Harris had 12 points (4-5 FG, 1-1 3pt, 1-1 FT), 5 Rebounds, an assist, a block, and three steals in 40 minutes. Jasper had 9 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and a steal. Jason Kidd numbers. Stevenson had 13 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks. all three played excellent defense, as well In addition, we get both Jodie Meeks (who averaged about 9 ppg in 11 games this year) and Patrick Patterson (16 ppg, ~8 rebpg) BCG already has #45 ranked Darius Miller, a 6'6" Forward with as much potential as any one in the class, and #21 DeAndre Liggins, a 6'5" PG/F who draws comparisons to Scottie Pippen with his passing, and who coach has encouraged to take 300 shots a day until he gets on campus. #9 Scotty Hopson was at the UT game, and could very well commit to UK following the game today. Michael Porter has potential, too, and coach uses him quite a bit. Hopefully AJ Stewart, Mike Williams, Mark Coury (who also gets significant PT), or Jared Carter can turn themselves into serviceable inside guys, too. To paraphrase the color guy for Knoxville's radio station:"We better celebrate while we can, because Billy G is bringing his own guys in next year".

and DeMarcus Cousins, the #2 Center of 2009, signed up with UAB. Kentucky would have been his other choice.

Historically, this really sucks, but I don't think we drop out of the top 100 in the RPI, and who would have thought we'd be 6-3 in conference play after our OoC Losses to UAB, Gardner-Webb, and San Diego? [url="http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_357_Men.html"]http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_357_Men.html[/url] fuck it, bring on LSU. Hopefully we get to play UC in the NIT

Ugliest half of a game in UK's history. Let's hope we get it a little closer than 30 fucking points. Jesus Christ.

Beating Auburn without Meeks or Bradley (see sig) is going to be tough, especially if Crawford comes up lame.

2 Questions: 1.) How much of the low shooting % was just a cold night for WVU, and how much of it was UC's Defense? 2.) Did Huggins manage to stay classy?

Patterson will develop (maybe in this season) into the best PF that UK has seen in years. I have [b]never[/b] seen a player with such potential and such control of a game in his Freshman year. If he had any kind of supporting cast on the outside or in a center, he would be putting up Naismith and Wooden award numbers. If he leaves at the end of this season, he will still be one of my favorite all-times, simply because of his drive and the fact that he chose us over Florida and Duke. His dad said in an interview about 45 minutes ago that he isn't going anywhere and that he loves UK, however.

UK beats #3 UT, a team that had beaten Xavier, Ohio State, Vandy, and Gonzaga. Is our season turning around?

If Kelvin Sampson can make it through a year without getting in trouble w/ the NCAA.