Battle for First Place in the SEC: UK vs Vandy

I know what most UK fans are probably thinking about tomorrow's game- Vandy's pretty good, but, there's no way UK will lose 2 games in a row. Well, just ask the Texas Longhorns what happened to them in back to back games after being ranked #1. Vandy's more than pretty good. They are VERY good. The Commodores have won 11 in a row and are coming off a win over Tennessee. They're undefeated in the SEC, and the winner of this game tomorrow takes claim to 1st place in the conference with a head-to-head tiebreaker. They are probably the most underrated team in the country. Calipari has commented that he thinks Vandy will be the best team his team has faced so far this year and that they should be ranked in the top 10. It will be interesting to see how the Cats respond to Tuesday's loss in Columbia. Tomorrow's game is HUGE and a very big test for the Cats! Luckily it is at home in Rupp, where I don't think the Cats will lose this year.

It had to happen sometime. Time to move on for the Cats.

The first loss of the Calipari era took a lot longer to happen than almost anyone thought it would. Looking at the schedule before the season, I thought we would have two or three losses at this point with such a young team. If someone would have told me before the season that we would start out 19-0, I would have been thrilled and taken that record in a heartbeat!

Take a deep breath Cats fans, we're 19-1, not dropping out of the top 5, almost a lock at this point for a #1 seed, and will probably return to the #1 ranking before the season is over.

It would have been very special to have an undefeated season, however, that is A LOT of pressure on such a young team. I'm actually kind of relieved that the streak is over. A loss now is much easier to take than a loss in March! This team's goal is to win a National Championship, and no matter what the rankings will say next week, there is not a team with more talent. It is up to the Cats, themselves, of what they will accomplish this season. They are just too talented compared to the rest of the field, and the only way they can lose is if they beat themselves, as exhibited last night. As amazing of a performance that Devan Downey had (the only player in college basketball that will really challenge John Wall this year), the Cats still had the game won if they had rebounded better on the defensive end and converted on more open layups on transition.

The young cats are now humbled and will hopefully be more focused the rest of the season, each and every game. I think that you can learn all the same things in a win that you can in a loss and the Cats exhibited this in poor performances early on this season in games in which they were still able to come out with a win, however, a young team like this might have needed the loss. Silly plays, easy missed layups, and letting a smaller South Carolina team dominate the offensive boards lost this game.

With Downey being a neutralizer and somewhat containing Wall and Bledsoe, the Cats needed big production from their big guys. It looked like it was a huge mismatch for the Cats in the post. Demarcus Cousins had a big game offensively, but Patrick Patterson and Daniel Orton had their quietest games of the season and the smaller Gamecocks somehow grabbed 20 offensive rebounds. The Cats needed to know that they can't just rely on John Wall to take over and save the game every single time in the final minutes when they get down. They've known all season that their mistakes have put them in jeopardy of losing games, but they've always relied on Wall to bail them out. Now, they know that a lack of focus can not just put a game on the line, but it can actually lose a game, especially on the road in the SEC. My hope is that the Cats will start to have that killer instinct and put teams away at the 10 minute mark, instead of the 2 minute mark. Give them all the credit in the world for being clutch in every close game but one this season, but their talent needs to start taking over way before the game is in jeopardy.

One thing's for certain: I would not want to be Vanderbilt on Saturday. Coach Cal will have this team as focused and hungry as they've ever been in these last 11 regular season games. We will be #1 again this year. You can count on that.

Downey vs. Wall

As we celebrate the Cats #1 ranking today, take a minute to watch this week's segment of "This is Kentucky Basketball" featuring the Hoops for Haiti telethon.



As awesome as being ranked #1 is, the effort that this team gave to raise all that money is even more awesome. The more I watch this video, the more I love this team.

I am also pleased to announce that I was able to get 8 tickets to the ESPN College Gameday show. I logged on and tried to get tickets right at 10am, and of course, the server was down. At 10:12, I was able to get my tickets and the lower arena was ALREADY sold out. Big Blue Nation never ceases to amaze me. I wasn't sure if Rupp would be able to completely fill up or not, and there ARE still tickets left, but the fact that the whole lower arena was gone in 12 minutes tells me that it should be a packed house by the 13th. One thing is definitely certain: whatever the previous attendance of the show was, it's probably going to be about tripled at Rupp. I hope ESPN is prepared for this!

Note to Bobby Knight: I recommend you don't even show up. Knight wasn't in Clemson this weekend. Maybe I'm just a conspiracy theorist, or maybe if he didn't show up to a couple of Gameday shows it wouldn't make him look like a coward when the only one he missed was in Rupp...

News and Notes

• Another Cat won SEC Freshman of the Week (I know- shocker, right?). This week it was Demarcus Cousins. UK has already set an all-time season record for 10 SEC weekly awards this season- and there's still 12 conference games left.
• Calipari became the first coach in history to coach three different schools to a #1 ranking.
• The Downey vs. Wall/Bledsoe matchup tomorrow night is one that we have waited for since the start of the season. This game features, in my opinion, the three best point guards in the nation...all on the court at the same time. It should be a very entertaining game and very tough atmosphere for the Cats on the road.
• Downey is averaging 35 ppg in SEC play and the Gamecocks are coming off a heartbreaking loss at Florida, but big man Dominique Archie will be sidelined. The Cats will need to push it down low. Downey could be good enough to contain UK's guards, but Patterson, Cousins, and Orton will need to have big games if the Cats want to improve to 20-0.
• Seth Davis picked the Cats to lose this game a month ago to be our first loss. Hopefully the Cats prove him wrong, again.

Cats back in rightful place

At Big Blue Madness, Coach John Calipari's "Domination Proclamation of the Big Blue Nation" promised that he would bring the Cats "back to their rightful place atop the mountain of College Basketball". Three months later, and about ten months since Kentucky was eliminated from the NIT, they now stand alone as the only remaining undefeated team and will be ranked #1 in the country tomorrow in both polls, likely a unanimous pick. It will be the first time the Cats have been ranked atop of the polls since 2003, and after the last few years, #1 has never felt so good!

Many rolled their eyes at Coach Cal's pledge in November that when this team comes together and plays as a team that they would be "unbreakable and unbeatable", but after their 31 point win over Arkansas to improve to 19-0, nobody is laughing anymore. Just a regular win would have given the Cats' a #1 ranking, but Saturday's dominating performance made them a no doubt #1. Conversations around the college basketball world have changed from "When will they loose a game?" to "WILL they loose a game?" We're almost into the month of February, and with a few more consistent performances like Saturday, the conversations will start to begin about this team's place in history as possibly the greatest college basketball team, ever.

Earlier in the week, ESPN's Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon had a serious conversation about who would win if the Cats faced the NBA's New Jersey Nets. They actually both agreed that John Wall would easily be the best player on the court. NBA scouts have also tabbed backup point guard, Eric Bledsoe, as the 2nd best point guard in the country and a possible lottery pick behind his teammate, Wall. Like most of Calipari's teams, this one is very talented, but greatness didn't happen right away, either. Veterans were learning a new offense and freshman were adjusting to the college game, as they barely escaped teams like Miami of Ohio and Sam Houston State, but still managed to keep winning while learning to play together. The same team that gave up 15 three pointers against Miami in November, including 8 from some guy named Nick Winbush, limited one of the best shooters in the nation (Arkansas' Rontei Clark) to only 2 of 9 shooting behind the arc.

A team that was thought to have a relatively weak bench (at least compared to the production from their starters), saw scoring from 12 of 13 players on Saturday, including 18 points from Darius Miller and electrifying sparks off the bench from Daniel Orton, Perry Stevenson, Josh Harrelson, and DeAndre Liggins. Liggins, who hadn't appeared in the Cats' first nine games of the season for disciplinary reasons, is now proving to be a key player off the bench along with Daniel Orton. Both Orton and Liggins look poised to take over next season in much bigger roles, that is, if they can earn a spot in the starting lineup after Calipari probably signs another #1 recruiting class.

The progression of Liggins, a former McDonald's All American who would probably start on any other team in the country, has adjusted his attitude to become a key part of the Cats' success this season. Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe, and Patterson make this team the best team in the country this season, but players like Liggins, Orton, Miller, Harris, Harrelson, and Stevenson could all contribute to this team achieving their ultimate goal and becoming one of the best teams in history if they step up more consistently and take off the pressure of the aforementioned more consistent top scorers.

Yes, this team is very talented, but the coaching job that John Calipari has done this season is very under appreciated. He has molded a team of 6 newcomers and 7 returning players to create one heartbeat. He's taught an 18 year old kid on the cover of Sports Illustrated how to keep his focus and stay humble. He demands perfection of his team and in his standards, they're only about 10-9, not 19-0. Calipari's high demand and high standards is exactly why he hasn't let them slip up in 19 games and may not let them slip up all season. He's minimized the roles and playing time of starters on last years team, but they've accepted and embraced their new roles and are having a blast, more fun then they ever did playing 30 minutes a game on an NIT team. From Wall, to Patterson, to Liggins, to Stevenson, and all the way down to Mark Krebs, every player is just thrilled to be a part of this team. It's not easy making so many talented players happy and satisfied while playing so well together, which is why this has so far been one of the best coaching jobs the game has seen.

The Cats have remained undefeated longer than any team since Illinois in 2005. That team also probably deserved some consideration as one of the best team's college basketball has seen, but will never be remembered as one of the greatest teams because they didn't win the National Championship game against North Carolina. Especially for a Kentucky team, winning it all is what will ultimately define this team's success. The Cats could very well lose at South Carolina on Tuesday, a game that Seth Davis picked about a month ago to be the Cats' first loss of the season. Winning on the road at Vandy is always tough too, and ESPN's College Gameday comes to town on February 13th along with Bruce Pearl's Volunteers. Plenty of challenges await the Cats. It's not inconceivable to think this team could be 40-0 National Champions, but it's also very possible they could lose a game soon, or two, or maybe even three. Either way, if they want to be compared with the '96 Cats as possibly the best team in history, they need to win the big one in April. Coming from the NIT to #1 in 10 months has been a very wild ride, but there's still a long ways to go, so buckle up...and enjoy the craziest ride Kentucky basketball has ever had!

P.S.- Just a reminder to everyone that College Gameday tickets for the 13th go on sale tomorrow at 10 AM on Ticketmaster! Tickets are free with a shipping and handling fee, and as many as 8 can be purchased by one person. Let's pack the house!

Pelphrey's Hogs stand in Cats way of #1 Ranking

With a win today vs. Arkansas, UK moves up to the #1 spot in the rankings for the first time since 2003. The key to the win is stopping, or at least containing, the 3-point shooting of Rontei Clark. We saw what Miami of Ohio and a few other sharp shooting teams were able to do against the Cats early on this season. We will see just how much their three point defense has improved today against one of the best outside shooters in the nation. Ronei's weakness, however, is his speed and defense which should be greatly taken advantage of and exploited by John Wall and Eric Bledsoe. If the Cats play their way, up and down the court at a fast pace, the Hogs' only hope is an unbelievable shooting performance by Clark.

However, don't judge Arkansas too much by their 8-10 overall record. They have had an additional 15.8 ppg from Marshawn Powell since he and additional players have returned from suspension and have put together impressive performances in a 9 point loss to Texas, a 2 point loss at Mississippi State, a 12 point win over Alabama, and a 5 point loss against Florida. Today should be no different as Wildcat Legend, John Pelphrey, takes his talented team into Rupp Arena.

Kentucky Basketball raises over $1 Million for Haiti Earthquake relief

There have been many great moments in the first 18 games of John Calipari's first season at Kentucky. It has been a season full of highlight reels, book signings, S.I. cover shots, milestone victories, and John Wall dance videos posted all over YouTube. The remarkable comeback of Kentucky basketball has been a wild and fun ride since last April. This incredible run has included 18 wins in 18 tries and a #2 national ranking after missing the NCAA Tournament last March, but possibly no win was more meaningful than the battle that was won on Sunday. The victory that was won on Sunday wasn't in Rupp Arena, nor was it in a hostile environment on the road. It was won through the telephone lines all accross this great Commonwealth.

"There have been many days since I took this job that I have been humbled and honored to be your coach," Coach Calipari said. "But none moreso than Sunday when your outpouring of support for our brothers and sisters in Haiti was displayed in full sight of the nation."

Coach Calipari had this idea just a few days ago after the disaster in Haiti occured and has come up with over $1 million in 24 hours. The players, our great fans, Ashley Judd, Lebron James, and Tubby Smith- yes, TUBBY SMITH, amongst many others were influential in the success of "Hoops for Haiti". Thank you to everyone for the support of this great project. The Commonwealth was represented very well today and should be commended for their efforts.

Check out the following ESPN video:

Hoops for Haiti

Tweet of the Day- Michael Porter

Today's Tweet of the Day comes from former Cats PG, Michael Porter.

UKmp13: Hoping for a win in Florida tomorrow... thats a fun place to play. Woulda been better if I won there!! BTW... started writing my book a few weeks ago. Should give fans an in depth look at the last few years from my view and from other players
about 5 hours ago from web

Apparently, Michael Porter is writing a book...and I must say, as difficult as the last few seasons were to be a UK fan, I think the book will be very, very interesting and a great read! Those players went through a lot under the previous regime!

Weekend Wrap-up!

The Cats narrowly escaped the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday and are now one of only two undefeated teams in college basketball. It was a great week for the SEC as Georgia beat #17 Georgia Tech and a depleted Tennessee team shocked #1 Kansas. Purdue was also defeated which should give the Cats a #2 ranking this week behind the nation's only other undefeated team, Texas.

The UK women's hoops team is also rolling. After losing by one point in overtime, on the road against #8 Georgia, the Cats knocked off #16 Vanderbilt this weekend to improve to 15-2. Can somebody explain to me how this team is still not ranked? They ought to definately be ranked tomorrow!

And in football news, Joker Phillips is already making a big splash in his first week on the job as Head Coach. He has aleady made a few key staff changes and already has made a big impact on recruiting. He is saying all the right things, bringing new life and excitement to the program, and is gathering this fan base in a similar way that John Calipari did last summer. Say what you want about his play-calling the last few years with a young and inexperienced offense, but Joker has all the qualities of being a terrific Head Coach and is already impressing me on his first week at the job. I'll write more later this week on all the new changes, new staff, and incoming transfers and potential recruits that Joker is already bringing in, in just the first week on the job.


This weekend I was fortunate enough to see UK recruit C.J. Leslie and North Carolina's Word of God Academy (John Wall's old school) face Cincinnati Roger Bacon at Lexington Catholic on Saturday night. Roger Bacon pulled off the huge upset in a thriller which featured four or five lead changes in the last few minutes of the game but Leslie still impressed the Big Blue crowd, UK players, and Coach John Calipari whom were all in attendance. Leslie was the tallest guy on the floor for either team, but he didn't play like a big man at all. He is quick, explosive, a great shot blocker, and a great passer as well. He can play like a guard when asked to and should fit in very well in Calipari's Dribble Drive Offense. If he can improve his outside shot, he could be another Patrick Patterson next season. His game also reminds me some of Kevin Garnett. When asked about the likelihood of playing with his former high school teammate next season, John Wall, Leslie smiled and said that we would have to just wait and see and that Wall has been talking a lot to him about UK and luring him to come here.

You would think there would be no chance of Wall returning next season, but, who knows? With Leslie likely committing with the Cats, I wouldn't say that there isn't any chance at all of it being a possibility, even if it's a small chance.

I also got my first glimpse of the Bluegrass Stallions this afternoon. The Stallions feature a roster comprised of UK products Wayne Turner, Bobby Perry, Ravi Moss, Lukasz Obrzut, and Head Coach Kyle Macy, as well as EKU's Darnell Dials and Jason McLeish and also Justin Taylor of Georgetown College. Unfortunately, today was the last game for the ABA franchise at the Kentucky Horse Park Arena built for the upcoming World Equestrian Games. The facility is world class, but has become too expensive of a venue for the Stallions to rent out. I hope that this arena is still used for basketball in the future. It would be a great facility to host a high profile high school tournament, such as the one played this weekend at Lex Cath.

The Stallions will be playing the remainder of their home games in Lexington high school gyms and likely touring the Bluegrass region with games in the new civic centers in Corbin and Frankfort until they find a permanant home for hopefully a second season of basketball next year. The Stallions won today over a team from Louisville, by a score of 129-60. They play a very entertaining brand of basketball and it was great to see well known and adored ex-cats and other local players have the chance to stay around Lexington and play professionally. I hope they find a way to stay in town.

(Photos courtesy of highschoolhoop.com and the Bluegrass Stallions)

Introducing a new segment: Tweets of the Day!

All of us stay pretty busy here at Wildcat Wrap with full time jobs and graduate school, so I've decided to start a new segment that I'll try to do on a pretty regular basis. One that is quick, and to the point, and can be updated to the site on a daily basis. I will still provide full length articles several times a week, but I hope that by sharing "Tweets of the Day" each day we will keep you up to date on a daily basis what is going on around UK Athletics and the entire sports world.

I'm going to actually flash back to the last few days to start my first "Tweets of the Day" (a couple days late I guess) because the retirement of Rich Brooks and the formal announcement of Joker Phillips as head coach of Kentucky football yesterday sparked some good tweets that actually gave me the idea to do this.

With Coach Cal's 12 tweets a day, there should never be a dull segment and we hope to keep you up to date on what coaches and players are saying and thinking each and every day while saving you the time of having to make your own Twitter account. Without further ado, here are your first ever "Tweets of the (past few) day(s)"!

P.S. Since a lot happened the last few days, I am including more tweets than I would on a normal day.

UKCoachCalipari: It's been my distinct pleasure 2 get 2 know Coach Brooks during my time at UK. Click here for my video thank you 2 him. http://bit.ly/7ZxxFT
3:25 PM Jan 4th from TwitterBerry

danielorton33: Team Bowling night at southland tonight at 7:30!!!
6:06 PM Jan 4th from Echofon

UKcoachbrooks: Thanks to the coaches &players for 7 great years. Also thanks to the big blue nation.
6:58 PM Jan 4th from Echofon

UKcoachbrooks: Looking forward to joker taking over and seeing some games next season. Go cats!
8:26 PM Jan 5th from Echofon

UKcoachbrooks: Joker has a hiring press conf at 3 today. Great thing for Kentucky moving forward. I'm really excited for him. He has earned it.
1:39 PM Jan 6th from web

rcobb18: Just talked to the "NEW" ball coach! Coach Phillips is abt to drive this thing to the next level! Put ya seat belts on!!!!!
6:16 PM Jan 6th from UberTwitter

jokerphillips: I want to thank everyone for their support and I am very excited for the Wildcat Football team. I look forward to "Operation Win!"
6:26 PM Jan 6th from web

UKCoachCalipari: Congratulations to Coach Phillips. I’ll be here supporting him and his staff and we'll do whatever we can to help him continue to build on what Coach Brooks was able to get accomplished.
6:56 PM Jan 6th from TwitterBerry

rcobb18: OPERATION WIN! One thing on my mind.... I'm tryna enjoy this break but I got so much more on my mind!
about 23 hours ago from UberTwitter

UKCoachCalipari: Today ends Camp Cal. Time will tell how much we learned during the extra time together.
about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

Rich Brooks Announces his Retirement

It's official, Rich Brooks announced this morning that he is retiring as Head Football Coach at the University of Kentucky and leaving the program in the hands of Joker Phillips.

"I have decided that it's time for me to step away and turn this program over," Brooks said, "Hopefully it will not only be competitive but reach the heights that I failed to get to. That is my biggest regret is not having broken more of the streaks that needed to be broken. We did get quite a few of them. We did achieve some things, and I can't leave without saying thank you to a great group of players who dedicated themselves to coming here and making Kentucky football respectable on a yearly basis, to a great group of coaches who have really done so much for this program, not only on the field but off the field."

This time, he is certain that he will not coach again, however, he plans to stay close to the program and help it in any way that he can. Of some of the improvements that he would like to help with, he specifically mentioned the expansion of Commonwealth Stadium and a new weight room. He didn't go into too many specifics, but he said that he would help the program in any capacity that Joker wanted him to, but did not want to stand in Joker's way, either.

Nobody wanted him to go. Coach Brooks said that he received many text messages and phone calls from players, friends, and family urging him to stay. "None of them wanted me to give it up," Brooks said. "They all thought that I would miss it a lot, that I could come back and ride out on the white stallion next year and have victories over all those teams we hadn't beaten and everything would be wonderful."

When asked, what was it that made his mind go from 80% sure he wanted to retire to 100% sure, he replied, "I just felt that it was time to make the change," Brooks said. "The losses take their toll. It's very, very frustrating to be close to something and not be able to grab it. I didn't want my frustration to change the direction of the program. I think a younger person that has been through it can be a better position to take the program forward."

And there you have it. Rich Brooks made the decision that he thought was best for Kentucky football. If he did what he really wanted to do, what was best for him, I think that he would have came back and rode that white stallion next year and be a part of that magical season that he envisions that Kentucky is very close to achieving. But Brooks felt that the youthfulness and positive energy of Joker Phillips was the best option for this program to succeed at reaching the next level and unselfishly passed the torch to Joker Phillips.

You will be dearly missed, Coach Brooks, and thank you very much for everything you've done for Kentucky football. Thank you for coming out of retirement and taking a job at a time that nobody else wanted it, going through the hard times, and building this program into something that Kentucky can be proud of. On the day that Kentucky finally beats the pesky Gators, Steve Spurrier, and our neighbors to the south in Knoxville, and finds themselves in the middle of an SEC Championship race, you deserve all the credit for the foundation that you built and left behind for the chance of our dreams becoming a reality some day. Thank You once again, Coach Brooks.

(Photos courtesy of Salem-news.com and NBC Sports Media)

The Softer Side of Demarcus Cousins

On the basketball court, Demarcus Cousins is a 270 pound beast. Off the court, he's a goober! He enjoys playing video games with 12 year old, Brad Calipari. His favorite cartoon you ask? That would be Dora the Explorer. His nickname? Boogie. Don't listen to those bitter Louisville fans, we love you Boogie!

The Day After

The day after perhaps the most physical battle of the UK-Louisville dream game, ever, I've had some time to digest everything that happened and here's what I think:

1. The Cousins play was way overblown and over exaggerated. How often do we see players get tangled up for a loose ball and a few kicks and shoves happen, both ways? It happens all the time, and is especially not uncommon in a rivalry game like this. And yes, Cousins took a knee to the head as well (as shown in the photo below). It was a good, physical game. If two other teams were playing and it wasn't involving Kentucky and a Calipari coached team, this would have been no big deal as far as the media is concerned. Period.


2. I believe that Louisville's players tried to instigate UK's young freshman and try to get them to lose their temper and control. From what I have heard and read from people at the game, Louisville's players were yelling obscenities, taunting UK's players and fans, and even crossing midcourt and purposely running through UK's layup lines before the game (which of course went unnoticed on CBS and the rest of the nation). For the most part, I think UK handled themselves very well.


3. I don't condone everything that UK did in the way that they handled themselves, but I do appreciate the fact that the incident with Cousins resulted because he was on the floor and fighting for a loose ball. I appreciate the physical game that he played, diving onto the floor for multiple loose balls, and grabbing 18 rebounds. Without that kind of physical play, UK losses this game. I also appreciate the fact that Cousins is physical on the court, and not off it, but I won't call out any other team in the state that has been involved in fights off the court recently.


4. Louisville fans need to move on. Instead of worrying about Kentucky and what we are doing 65 miles down the road, they should have some pride about their own team and realize there's still a lot to play for in the Big East and they have a team that can accomplish a lot. I attended the game last year at Freedom Hall and watched Edgar Sosa drain that shot to beat the Cats in the final seconds. I was surrounded by a sea of red Cardinal fans. But I walked out of Freedom Hall thinking that I might have seen one of the best UK/UofL games ever played. I took the loss with class and congratulated my UofL friends on the win. Why can't they act the same? .


5. It was a very sloppy game, by both teams. But in a game like this, all you can ask for is the "W" and Kentucky controlled their emotions enough to settle down and win this game. The Cats are now 15-0, their best start since the 1969-70 season.

The media will go out of their way to display UK's program in a negative image after even the smallest of incidents, like today's little scuffle between Cousins and Swopshire, but will let the actions of other coaches, players, and fans go unnoticed. The UK fans, by the way, couldn't have been classier, as there didn't seem to be a single reference to Karen Sypher the entire game. If a UK head coach was involved in a sex scandal, you better believe there would be chants in Freedom Hall as well as probably every student section in the SEC.

That's just the way it is though, and UK fans should probably just get accustomed from unfair treatment from the media and annoying, bitter rival fans. It also means one thing: the Cats are back! It has become "us against the world". And that's okay, says Coach Calipari, "We don't need anyone else. We have the Greatest Program in the World!"