Calipari unveils his new Cats in a 74-38 win

Darnell Dodson continued to impress tonight as he led the Cats with 19 points and 6 rebounds. It also looked as if the Cats were led by an All-American point guard and his name was not John Wall. Eric Bledsoe dominated on both ends of the court with a number of steals, blocks, assists, and points. It's amazing to think that this guy isn't our starting point guard and that our starting point guard and best player, didn't even play.

Daniel Orton also played very tough tonight. It's also amazing to think that he will be coming off the bench this year. All of the newcomers, even without Wall, looked like the best recruiting class in the nation as they scored 46 of the first 62 points and 26 of the first 40 rebounds in the game and led the Cats to a 43-11 lead three minutes into the 2nd half (yes, that's correct...the score was 43-11 with 17 minutes to go in the SECOND half).

Not only did Orton play very well, but he played very hard nosed and passionately, with a purpose. Daniel is a guy that could be here for four years and the love affair that this fan base will have for him will run very deep. This is what Daniel wrote today as his facebook status getting ready for the game:

"First game tonight.....yea im nervous but ready. A lots going through my
head right now. Going over the plays, my post moves, and what coach has
been talking about. Main thing i cant stop thinkin about my mom. I know
my mother wanted to see this day its somethin ive been thinkin bout all day.
I know i'll be playing for her tonight..."

Big Blue Nation, we are going to love this kid, on and off the court. As much as he and Cousins dominated an undersized Campbellsville squad down low in the 1st half, most of the second half the Cats focused on improving the outside game. They weren't worried about scoring 100 points, but improving in other areas and focusing on defense, perimeter play, and learning the dribble drive offense according to Patrick Patterson in a post game interview.

But from the 17 minute mark on in the 2nd half, it had became more clear that these Cats aren't quite ready to be crowned National Champs just yet. Possibly they were a little sluggish with the big lead, possibly their conditioning is not yet where it needs to be with just two weeks of regular practices. But they're just not quite ready to be mentioned in the same sentence as the 1996 Cats, for right now anyway. There is a lot of work to be done, but there is without a doubt the talent there to accomplish everything that that the 96 Cats did and dominate in that very same fashion. The 1st half was a glimpse of what we could expect and the 2nd half was a realization that this is a young, inexperienced team learning a new offense. A team that come around March, could be nearly unbeatable, but could have some hick-ups along the way.