Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State invited to College Basketball Invitational

Two more Kentucky D-1 schools are still playing basketball. My Alma Matter, Eastern Kentucky, is going for their first ever postseason win in school history at home against Charleston (who beat North Carolina- if that means anything this year). Morehead State, a team that should be in the NIT, also has a home game with Colorado State. I've laughed at bigger schools like Cincinnati that have played in this tournament in the past few years, but it's a very good thing for small schools like EKU that win 20 games and are deserving of a chance at some form of postseason play. EKU and Morehead could have quite the advantage in this tournament on their home courts because unlike some of the teams from bigger conferences, this tournament actually means something to them and their fans.

The field also includes Oregon State from the PAC 10 and St. Louis-the biggest NIT snub in the country. The Billicans finished 4th (behind Temple, Richmond, and Xavier) in a very good A-10 this year and were even on the NCAA bubble for most of the season. I'd say that both Morehead, St. Louis, and several other teams in this tournament are more deserving of playing in the NIT than a barely over .500 North Carolina team. I can't believe I did this...but in honor of my Colonels making the CBI, I actually filled out a CBI Bracket. Here's my picks:

• EKU over Charleston in round 1.
• EKU over VCU to advance to the Final Four!
• Morehead over Colorado State at home
• Morehead over Oregon State on the road.
• Final Four of Princeton, Morehead, St. Louis, and EKU.
• EKU falls to St. Louis, Morehead defeats Princeton.
• 2010 CBI Champs: Morehead State wins 2 games to 1 in a three game series with St. Louis.

(Although I am really hoping for it to end with a 3 game series between EKU and Morehead- that would actually be really cool)

St. Louis is probably the best team, but Morehead will want it more and will have a nice home court advantage. Nobody in St. Louis will care and the Eagles will bring Kentucky another basketball championship!

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.

What a Weekend for the Big Blue...and oh yeah, WHO DEY!

FRIDAY: KENTUCKY 75, MOREHEAD STATE 59

What a weekend it was for Kentucky sports fans. It all started on Friday night when the Calipari era officially began with a solid 16 point win against an NCAA tournament team that returned four starters and an NBA Draft prospect. They did it without John Wall, and once again, Eric Bledsoe played fantastic at the point and even made the #1 play on Sportscenter. Eric Bledsoe is about the best back-up point guard I've seen since Wayne Turner backed up Tony Delk in 1996. I can't wait to see these two guys play together for the first time tomorrow night against Miami University. If Bledsoe sticks around, this kid is going to be very special. He set a new record for the most points for a UK freshman in thier first game ever with 24 points. Kentucky basketball is back in every way imaginable.

Morehead had the talent to pull another Gardner Webb or VMI, but those days are over. This was a game the Cats could have lost in the past two years playing nervous and mentally stressed from the mind games and coaching tactics of their former coach. This year, you can sense that everyone is just having fun and playing loose, and letting their talent simply take over. They know that the pressure and expectations are as high as they possibly could be, but it's just not bothering them in any way. The expectations of having to win every game is not anything new to Calipari's teams. At Memphis, his teams were expected to win every conference game, and they did. They were circled on every team's calendar in Conference USA as the biggest game of the year. Things are obviously no different at Kentucky. And not once, after UofL, Cincinnati, Marquette, Depaul, and South Florida left the league, did Memphis ever get beat by an inferior team in the conference. Not even a solid UAB or Houston team ever walked away with a victory over Memphis during that stretch, even though those same two teams were good enough to beat a Kentucky team filled with 4 and 5 star recruits in 2007.

It was also great to see Patterson stepping up and scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds after struggling in two exhibition games. He must have seen that I picked Jarvis Varnardo over him in my 1st Team All-SEC selections. If true, I actually feel like I had an impact on his play for motivating Patrick to prove me wrong! You know when he recently said that KSR was his most visited website, he was actually probably confused and meant to say that it was Wildcat Wrap.

SATURDAY: KENTUCKY 24, VANDY 13

For the fourth straight year, Kentucky football will be playing in a bowl game. That statement has never been made in the history of this program until Saturday when the Cats reached bowl eligibility for the fourth straight year with a win at Commonwealth Stadium Southwest. There was a sea of blue in Nashville to watch the Cats make history against the Commodores. With a

couple of big but attainable wins over Georgia and Tennessee, the Cats could even be playing in a very large and meaningful bowl game. If they're able to win one of the last two, the Peach Bowl is a likely destination on New Years Eve for the Cats in Atlanta. If they win both, it's possible that they could be packing their bags for Tampa for the Outback Bowl against Penn State or Iowa. To even be in this position is impressive with everything that this team has gone through. They went through a brutal 3 week stretch early on against Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina and came out of the first five games with a 2-3 record.

They had one of the worst quarters you could ever imagine against Florida, but they battled back to make it a respectable final outcome. The next week, there were more than a few questionable calls that went in Alabama's favor that if not made, would have been a totally different game. The week after that, the Cats' led almost the entire game and Mike Hartline was playing his best game of his career. Then, he got hurt and the Cats let one slip away in a devastating 2 point loss to South Carolina. Just as Hartline had finally solidified himself as "the guy", he gets hurt and the Cats are forced to switch to a three quarterback rotation. Amazingly, the three headed quarterback of true freshman Morgan Newton, Will Fidler, and Randall Cobb each had a rushing touchdown and shocked a 5-1 Auburn team on the road. Morgan Newton would eventually emerge as the primary quarterback as a true freshman and has struggled at times like a true freshman in the SEC should struggle (remember when Matthew Stafford lost to UK and Vandy as a true freshman in 2006?).

But, in the end, Newton has won 2 out of 3 SEC games with the help of Randall Cobb doing just about everything except kicking field goals. Cobb and Derrick Locke combined for 144 rushing yards after the duo both sat out last week's game against EKU. Locke even completed a pass for a gain of 41 yards to Morgan Newton who was lined up as a receiver while Cobb was under center. Cobb made a reverse handoff to Locke, and then Locke found Newton wide open down field. On the very next play, Cobb was in the "Wildcobb" formation again and ran it 21 yards into the endzone to give the Cats a 7-0 lead. Plays like these are ones that need to be called more often from Joker Phillips for the next two years with Randall Cobb. If he's utilized to his full potential, he will emerge as college football's best player by his senior year.

Along with the heroics of Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke, Newton has stepped up when his number was called as a freshman quarterback and put UK in a position to possibly play in a very big bowl game. With the announcement that Hartline will have season ending surgery, Newton has the chance to do something that hasn't been done in Lexington in a very long time: beat Tennessee.

"It is a huge step and you can't downplay that in my mind because it's never happened," UK coach Rich Brooks said about reaching a fourth straight bowl game. "But at the same token we're not happy with where we are at this stage. We had a close one get away at South Carolina and we didn't play as well as we're capable against Mississippi State. We'd be looking a lot better right now if we had won one of those. Those were very tough losses but I'm proud of how the team has bounced back. Now we just want to climb the ladder a little higher."

Beating Georgia and Tennessee to cap off the regular season would certainly help the Cats climb up that SEC ladder that Coach Brooks keeps on talking about. In a few years, when Newton is a junior and Randall Cobb is a senior, hopefully the tandem will take this program to the unimaginable next level: the BCS.

"It's significant. We won't be satisfied with a 6-6 finish but we've taken one step from the bottom of the SEC to the middle of the pack and now we've got to build toward the top," senior defensive tackle Corey Peters said.

SUNDAY: BENGALS 18, STEELERS 12

(Photo courtesy of Cincinnati.com)

Last but certainly not least, I absolutely have to give a shout out to WHO DEY NATION! The Bengals completed the sweep today against the defending Super Bowl Champs, and it is in no way delusional now to start talking about the Lombardi trophy coming to Cincinnati. With games coming up against Oakland, Cleveland, and Detroit...the Bengals could be looking at a 10-2 record. Yes, 10-2, (could be 11-1 if not for the immaculate deflection in week 1 against Denver). They could also complete an undefeated season in the AFC North with a win against Cleveland. Then, if they're able to knock off Brett Favre and the Vikings, the Bengals could seriously win out.

News and Notes

• Be sure to check out tomorrow's edition of "Brown's Pick's" for this week's college football games (and maybe even a few basketball picks).
• A UofL basketball preview will also be appearing soon on the site.
• You can also expect NFL picks sometime soon, maybe this week.
• And at some point (maybe tomorrow evening), I will break down the College Hoops Top 25 and give you my most overrated and underrated teams.
• Then of course, Friday is GAMEDAY! A busy weekend may prevent me from the necessary coverage that should be given to the first regular season game of the Calipari era, but hopefully someone else can step up.
• Also, a BIG game for Bengals fans on Sunday! The Wildcat Wrap of the Vandy football game will also include a wrap up of the Bengals-Steelers game and will be posted either Sunday night or Monday morning.
• Next week we'll also start to cover the KHSAA State Football Playoffs.

A few other points of interest:

1. Every college basketball game I've watched so far, they have EXTENSIVELY talked about the Cats. It's great to be back!
2. UNC has now come within 2 games of UK in All-Time wins, however, the race to 2,000 still appears to be the Cats' race to lose.
3. The Cats were picked on the insanely premature edition of ESPN's Bracketology as a #1 seed facing an in-state team in the first round, the Murray State Racers.
4. Murray State only lost at 12th ranked California by just 5 points the other night. Way to go Racers, representing the state very well!
5. Last but not least, the Morehead game isn't going to be that easy...they're very good. I feel bad for Eastern as they appear to be well behind their other 2 in-state conference rivals this season.

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.

Wildcat Wrap x2, featuring John Wall's debut and a nice win in Commonwealth.

In the exhibition opener against Campbellsville, the Cats put together a dazzling first half performance but looked tired and sluggish in the 2nd half. This week, Coach Calipari addressed the conditioning issue with two-a-day practices beginning at 6:15am each day. It apparently worked after the Cats put together two fantastic halves of basketball in a 65 point win over Coach Cal's Alma Mater, Clarion. John Wall made his debut with an unselfish 27 points, 4 rebounds, and 9 assists. Wall could have scored a lot more if he wanted to, but he's a team player and his presence made everyone play better and that is why he's a favorite to win National Player of the Year as a freshman. Demarcus Cousins added 20 points, as he and Wall combined for 47 of the team's 117 total points.

Eric Bledsoe sat out for precautionary reasons after a minor ankle injury that occurred against Campbellsville. With Wall ineligible for the regular season opener against Morehead State, the Cats didn't want to risk anything with Bledsoe. As good as this team looks right now, we still haven't even seen our two best guards playing together and that will be quite a treat to watch in the second regular season game against Miami (Oh). Daniel Orton also left the game early with chest pains, but is listed as day-to-day.

The only other player who did not see action was DeAndre Liggins, who also didn't play against Campbellsville. One of the top point guards in the country from the class of 2008, Liggins started a significant number of games for the Cats last season and led them with 18 points in a loss to Miami (FL), but the guard seems to be in Coach Calipari's doghouse. Liggins, Stevenson, Harrelson, and Harris all started a lot of games last season and are having to earn their minutes this season. Everyone except Liggins have made the most of their opportunities and Stevenson has gotten back into the regular rotation of substitutes. Mark Krebs has also impressed in the limited time that he has seen.

We may not see another 65 point win this season, but with the incredible depth of this team it's safe to say that there will be many 30, 40, and even some 50 point wins against decent competition. Just think about this: four of our so called "mop up" players started games for us last season. Teams better start off well against Kentucky this year or it could be a very long day for them as very experienced former starters will come in later in the game and not make things any easier for them at all.

Not much can be said during exhibition play, but I will say this....this team's best player (John Wall) is better than anyone on the 1996 team, arguably the best college basketball team ever assembled. This team also has much more depth at the bottom of the roster than the 1996 team did. If this team wants to win a National Championship and be compared to the 1996 team, it all depends on how all the role players develop.

Who will become this year's Mark Pope? We know Wall, Cousins, and Patterson are going to be great just like Walker, McCarty and Delk were. We also know we're solid all the way down the roster. Mark Krebs is a lot better than Steve Massielo and a few others on that team. But it will be the guys that average 10-15 minutes a game that will make the difference. Guys like Jon Hood, Darnell Dodson, Josh Harrlelson, Daniel Orton, Darius Miller and Ramon Harris will determine where this team will stand in history. Those guys all have a long ways to go, but if they can contribute in a way like Mark Pope, Jeff Sheppard, and Anthony Epps did, than this team could go in the history books as one of the best. Unfortunately, the one thing that most of those guys lack is experience, which could be the difference of these 2 teams. But as Coach Cal says, "I'll take talent over experience any day of the week". At least when you're talking about this kind of talent, I think he might be right.

We've talked about the Cats' performance against John Calipari's alma mater, now lets talk about the football Cats and their performance over MY alma mater, Eastern Kentucky University.

WILDCAT WRAP

UK VS. EKU

Throughout the first half, it looked like the Colonels were about to put another scare on a Division 1 FBS team for the second time this season. With three minutes left in the 1st half, they only trailed the Cats by a score of 10-6. The Cats didn't come out as mad as I thought they would after losing to Mississippi State. They did march down the field in their first possession but then turned it over on downs when Coach Brooks elected to go for it on 4th and 1 in the EKU redzone. It also should be noted that they were without their two best players on offense, Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke, who usually account for about 90% of the Cats' total offense. The Colonels played with a lot of heart and passion, and at least in the first half, seemed to have wanted this game a lot more than some of the lackadaisical Wildcats.

However, the Wildcats came to play in the second half and wore down on the Colonels as the game went on. True Freshman QB Morgan Newton ended the day with 20 completed passes in 29 attempts for 187 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Newton threw his first career touchdown pass to tight end Maurice Grinter and later found Chris Matthews in the corner of the endzone. It was great to see Newton make some progress just before next week's SEC matchup with Vanderbilt. The future looks brighter than what some people may think, in my opinion. Mike Hartline is expected to possibly return and take over as the starting quarterback against Vandy. A win on Saturday in Nashville would make the Cats bowl eligible for the fourth straight year, with two games remaining with Georgia and Tennessee.

In the end, the game ended up exactly how I thought it would and how I hoped it would. EKU played tough and kept it close for a while in a pretty well played game by both teams. They showed a lot of heart and made me a very proud alum out there today. I honestly think Eastern might just be the 2nd best team in the state. I certainly think they would at least give UofL a very good game. If UK had committed the amount of turnovers that they did against UofL today, it could have been very close just as the UofL game ended up being. I also definately think Eastern looked better than two FBS schools on UK's schedule, Miami (Oh) and Louisiana Monroe. The Cats looked sluggish in the first half, but without their two best players on the field, ended up with a 37-12 victory and now find themselves one game away from bowl eligibility with three games remaining.