Shout out to the Colonels!

Let me give a much deserved shout out to my Alma Matter: the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. The EKU Men's Basketball team has had a very impressive start (definitely more impressive than a certain school 65 miles west of Lexington), and if you get the chance, you should go see them play.

After losing Adam Leonard a few years ago and now losing Mike Rose last year, the Colonels were not expected to do much in the OVC this year. Especially since OVC Defending Champion, Morehead State, returned all key players from their NCAA Tournament team from last year. It also didn't look good for the Colonels when Murray State opened up at #12 California and only lost by 5 points.

But the Colonels have started off with a 7-3 record, including a pair of hard fought 11 point losses at Pittsburgh and at Maryland. The Colonels also fought hard on the road in a 2 point loss to Murray State on the road. EKU is undefeated at home, including a 14 point win over Isiah Thomas' Florida International squad. Justin Stommes has led the way so far for the Colonels with 15.1 ppg. Make no mistake, the Colonels have withstood the departures of key players over the last few years and will remain a contender for an OVC Championship this spring in Nashville. The Colonels will try to defeat the Ohio Bobcats for the 2nd straight year in Athens on Saturday.

College Hoops is Officially Here!

It feels so great to be able to sit in the comfort of my home and watch some college basketball on ESPN U in high definition. Sorry Rob Bromley and the Big Blue Network, but I will not miss you once games start to matter and the Cats are playing on CBS and ESPN. It's currently halftime of the infamous 2K Sports Classic tournament opener (the same one in which Gardner Webb officially ended the Billy Gillispie honeymoon in his second game as UK's coach 2 years ago).

Tonight's most intriguing game is featuring the defending National Champion, North Carolina Tar Heels, and a Florida International team led by Isiah Thomas in his first game as a college head coach (who will visit fabulous Richmond, KY on November 28th to face EKU in Alumni Coliseum). Internet rumors all around have been claiming that UNC played a "secret scrimmage" on Sunday against Vanderbilt and lost by double digits. It's no rumor that the scrimmage occurred, that is a fact. But it's against NCAA violations to sell tickets to these scrimmages or publicize them in any way. We will never really know what the official results were, but word on the street is that the Commodores won comfortably. The Tar Heels have looked okay so far tonight with a 16 point lead at halftime, but they're nowhere near where they were a year ago and quite frankly I don't think they're anywhere near Calipari's Cats. Nonetheless, they should pick up a game on us tonight in the race to 2,000 victories.

As the week concludes and gets closer to the Cats' regular season opener against Morehead State on Friday, I will give you an official Wildcat Wrap preview of the much improved Southeastern Conference. I'll specifically break down the SEC East (the best division in all of college basketball this season) and I will break down the top 25 polls and give you my most overrated and underrated teams.