TWO THOUSAND!

(Photos Courtesy of ukathletics.com, kentucky.com, and the CatsPause)

Tonight was one of those nights that will forever be remembered in Bluegrass basketball lore. The game, if you could call it that, was almost secondary to the event that took place tonight, a celebration of Kentucky basketball, past and present. A statement, that we're back and stronger than ever before. If we had reached 2,000 wins in almost any other fashion, it would not have been the same. The fact that we reached it on such a high note, with a 12-0 team, after so much turmoil the last several years as well, makes this 2,000th win that much more special and redeeming.
If we had let UNC catch up to us, I seriously doubt much of a big deal would have been made about 2,000 at all if UK had been the 2nd team to do it. It was so great to see all the former players, Coach Rupp's son, Joe B., and Mrs. Keightly all so happy and proud of this tradition, this program, and this 2010 team. What really got to me was the love and compassion shown by Patrick Patterson to Mrs. Keightly.

And let's be honest with ourselves, as good as we thought we could be, nobody expected this. Words can not describe what a special night for such a special team and season this was. It's been a long time since we've had this kind of feeling about a basketball season, and we deserve this! The players deserve it more than anyone, who have gone through so much adversity the last few years, and we, the greatest fans in the nation deserve it as well! Don't take this for granted, Big Blue Nation! Cherish every moment!

UK Women's Hoops Improves to 10-0, beats Louisville by 34

(Photo Courtesy of ukathletics.com)

If you didn't already know, Matthew Mitchell's UK's Women's Hoops team is also undefeated, with a 10-0 record. Today, they beat defending National Runner-Up, Louisville, by 34 points! Hopefully, today's game was a preview of what we can expect on January 2nd when the men play. These girls are for real, however, and deserve some attention. This Louisville team has had a few early losses and hasn't been performing at the level they did last March, but nonetheless, a 34 point win over a Final Four team from a year ago is very, very impressive. It will be interesting to see how high they can go up in the polls and how they do in the SEC. It's a shame that the Lady Vols don't come to Lexington this year, a game that would bring a lot of excitement and attention to the UK Women's team. They deserve it.

Be sure to check back with me later in the week for coverage of the 2,000th win that I hope to be attending tomorrow night vs. Drexel at Rupp Arena. Also, someone else who deserves some recognition is John Wall. In summer school, John earned a 4.0 GPA and just finished up this semester with a 3.4 GPA. He has so far been the example of what every major D-1 player should be, on and off the court at UK. If he wanted to, he could do the bare minimum to just stay eligible, drop out of classes when the season is over, and go straight to the NBA and make millions. Instead, Wall has plans of coming back to Lexington for summer classes each summer during the NBA off-season until he graduates. Something tells me Bob Knight won't have anything to say about this.

Congratulations Coach Brooks: SEC Coach of the Year!

Despite having the least amount of returning starters from 2008 in the entire conference, an unexpected loss of All-SEC Defensive End Jeremy Jarmon, only three healthy games from All-American CB Trevard Lindlay, both starting cornerbacks injured and unable to play against South Carolina, and then Mike Hartline getting knocked out of that same game in Columbia after a stellar first half against the Gamecocks, the Cats' season looked to be spiraling out of control loss after loss and injury after injury. And I haven't even mentioned the injuries of Randall Cobb, Derrick Locke, and Micah Johnson which sidelined each player for at least one game.

True Freshman third string Quarterback, Morgan Newton, was literally thrown out to the wolves when he made his first career start and first ever college appearance on the road at Auburn. Somehow, someway....the Cats left with a win, and continued to finish 5-2 with a true Freshman third string Quarterback. Michigan was 5-7 with a true freshman quarterback, Southern Cal was 8-4, and Kentucky played a tougher schedule than each of those teams and faced more injuries, but managed to be 5-2 with road wins over Auburn and Georgia, despite starting a third sting Freshman Quarterback and numerous other injuries throughout the season.

The above reasons make Rich Brooks the obvious choice for every SEC coach of the year award. Today, he was awarded the honor by Collegefootballnews.com, who also placed Derrick Locke on the 1st Team All-SEC team as a return man. Look for Coach Brooks to be in the running for his second career National Coach of the Year Award next season, if he is successfully able to replace his offensive line and his playmakers stay healthy. Those two things could mean ten or more wins for the Cats next year.

Even though Hartline could be healthy by the time the Cats face Clemson in the Music City Bowl on December 27th, Coach Brooks as well as Joker Phillips have indicated that Newton will most likely be the guy and stay the starting quarterback going into next season. Newton should emerge as a star playing with Sophomore sensation, Randall Cobb, in the next two seasons.

UK Basketball Notes:

• The UK WOMEN'S hoops' team is also undefeated with a 9-0 record and hosts defending national runner-up Louisville at Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.

• Seth Davis has picked the Cats to be the last team to stay undefeated this year. He says they will stay unbeaten at 19-0 before getting upset in Columbia to South Carolina.
  
• Wildcat legend Jamaal Mashburn will be broadcasting the 2,000th win on ESPN U with Jimmy Dykes


• UK Athletics has announced that they WILL continue to sell eRUPPtion Zone tickets to the general public while the students are away on Christmas Break for only $5. Classy move by UK Athletics- they could make so much more money for those tickets if they wanted to.


• The tickets will be sold an hour and a half before gametime for all games during the break except, of course, the Louisville game. Something tells me there will be another campout for the 2,000 win game against Drexel (I wish work didn't prevent me from having much of a chance to get out there early enough to get tickets).

Last but not least, it's time to start to get into the holiday spirit!

Oh....... the weather outside is frightful, But the Cats are so delightful. And the Louisville fans should know. 10-O, 10-O, 10-O They’re showing no sign of stopping. Two thousand wins we’ll soon be topping. While beating every top-10 foe, 10-O, 10-O, 10-O The Louisville season is... dying, and their fans will...... allll start crying. But the record of the CATS, although, 10-O, 10-O, 10-O!

Previewing Carolina and Kentucky

(Photo Courtesy of Kansascity.com...yeah, I know, random huh?)

If you havn't heard yet, there's a pretty big basketball game tomorrow.

It's between college basketball's two winningest programs that are both chasing each other to be the first to 2,000 all-time wins this season. I'm not sure if it's actually Kentucky vs. North Carolina, or Kentucky vs. The World; however, because it seems like the Cats still have a lot of doubters and a lot to prove to the college basketball world, despite their #4 ranking, 7-0 record, and the fact that they are a 3 point favorite in this game.

Yes, it's the first really big and nationally hyped-up game for Calipari's young team this year. On a national stage, it's almost like this is the real beginning of the Calipari era. North Carolina has certainly played a much tougher schedule to this point, but I'm really not sure if they've look much better than the Cats. UK had close calls against Miami (OH) and Stanford, but the Cardinal could end up actually being a solid team this year out of the PAC 10, only time will tell, and I'm not sure if there's any team in the country that would beat that red hot Miami team by double digits on that given night. But what about Carolina's lackluster 1st half performance against Florida International? What about their 11 point win over Valparaiso and their seven point win over Nevada? Oh yeah, they also lost to a rebuilding Syracuse team by 16 points. And if you think UK's defense has been bad, they've given up 7 less points per game this season than UNC has. After the amount of players the Tar Heels lost from a year ago, it seems to me that they have just as much to prove as Kentucky does. They're a young team too, not as young, but still a young team.

I'm not doubting UNC is as talented of a team that Kentucky will face this year and maybe their biggest test, but I'm not more worried about UNC than I am about a handful of other teams such as UConn, Louisville, Tennessee, and even Florida after their suprising start of the season. Don't get me wrong, this is a HUGE game for both teams, but it's not the end of the world either way. We could win and have the best feeling in the world about this team, but then we play UConn at Madision Square Garden a few days later and could lose to the Huskies. We could also lose to UNC, but then redeem ourselves against UConn. If Kentucky just wins 2 of their next 3, they shouldn't fall too much at all in the rankings, if at all.

I see this game playing out in a couple of ways. If UNC shoots anywhere close to the way that a couple of teams have already shot against the Cats behind the arc, UK could get embarassed and lose by double digits. If UNC has a good shooting day, coupled with a productive game in the paint (which UK has not seen from anyone yet), it could be a long day. If both teams are on top of their game, I see the Cats winning by single digits with John Wall making a clutch play to end it, maybe in the final seconds. If UK plays to their full potential, plays stiffling defense, limits turnovers, plays under control, and doesn't let the hype of Rupp Arena get to them....I see UK winning by double digits. Remember though, this is the first really big game that these freshman have played at Rupp, and I'm not sure if they really know what to expect or not. The key is for them to stay focused and not get too hyped up or destracted from a few certain celebrities that could be in attendance. They don't need to be running up and down the court at 200 miles per hour either. UNC is too good of a team to do that against, and they will force too many turnovers.

If I had to pick an outcome out of the previous possibilities already given, I believe the Cats guard play will be the difference in the game. Everyone knows that UNC has a great frontcourt. Everyone knows that UK has a great frontcourt as well. Both teams are very talented and very deep down low. Both teams' big men must stay out of foul trouble as well, especially Demarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson for UK and Deon Thompson for UNC. It's obvious, however, that UNC's guards are not at the same level as Kentucky's. The Carolina kid, John Wall, will save the day once again in the final seconds of this one as Kentucky wins a thriller at Rupp.

Next up: Tar Heels

Let's be honest, as entertaining as tonight's game was against UNC Ashville...it was basically an exhibition for our great fans in Louisville.

And speaking of playing in Louisville, isn't it great? I love the inferior feeling it brings to all the Card fans, and it's very entertaining how much it irritates them. Most importantly, however, it's an opportunity for a lot of our fans in Louisville to be able to see the Cats play who normally could not. Growing up in Northern Kentucky, I attended the annual game in Cincinnati each year and loved it. As a kid, it was about the only chance I ever got to see the Cats. I wish they would bring back that game.

I don't know what is more immature, a few college freshman stomping on UofL's midcourt logo during a shootaround, or all the UofL fans whining about it? If you ask me, the Cardinal fans whining about it is much more immature. It's not their building. They do not own Freedom Hall. UK does not own Rupp either and the Cardinals could play at Rupp if they wanted to, but we all know that nobody would show up. Below is a video of Calipari speaking to the fans at practice last night of the possibility of playing multiple games there, including an SEC game. Now that UofL is moving into their new arena next year, Pitino will not be able to try to stop us anymore like he did by scheduling a game the same day as our Indiana game way after it was already scheduled several years ago, putting an end to what was a great neutral site location for that game.



Next up: the Cats host North Carolina in a battle between the nation's two winningest programs of all time. UK is six wins away from becoming the first program to 2,000 wins. The Tar Heels are ten wins away and looking to pick up a game on the Wildcats. This game marks the first real, high-intensity game in the Calipari era- and Rupp will be rockin!

On a side note, the Tar Heels could also be the Cats' next opponent on the gridiron. The bowl representatives would love for the two basketball heavyweights to settle things in football as well, and it could happen in the Music City Bowl.

Cardiac Cats Survive in Cancun!

Twelve years ago, Kentucky and Stanford last met in an epic overtime battle in which the 1998 "Comeback Cats" came back from a double digit deficit to defeat the Cardinal in the Final Four in San Antonio.

This time, the Cats and Cardinal met again even further south than the Alamo, in Cancun, Mexico. Scott Padgett made clutch shots in the '98 game. This time, he sat on the bench on John Calipari's coaching staff in another overtime thriller between the two schools. John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and Ramon Harris all made clutch plays down the stretch and Darius Miller added 10 points as the Cats outscored Stanford 10-2 in overtime to win it once again.

Patrick Patterson had limited playing time in the first half due to early foul trouble, but the Junior All-American came back and played strong in the second half while posting yet another double double, the 25th of his career, with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Demarcus Cousins had a solid 13 points and 3 blocks, but made a crucial freshman mistake late in the game that could have been costly for the Cats. Down by 2 at the line, Cousins missed the first free throw with about 10 seconds remaining on the clock. He then proceeded to miss the second free throw on purpose and tried to rebound it to get another shot to tie the game. This was foolish because if he had just made the free throw, Kentucky could foul immediately. Cousins was immediately pulled from the game and chewed out by Coach Cal on the sidelines. Even if Stanford made both free throws, it would be a three point game with plenty of time for UK to tie it up with a three. Now, Stanford could clinch the game if they could make both free throws.

Luckily for the Cats, they missed both free throws and Kentucky rebounded the ball still down by 2 with 9 seconds left. It was now time for John Wall to bail out his buddy Demarcus and take over to save the day for the Cats. He drove to the basket and was fouled with 2.4 seconds left. He nailed both free throws to tie the game up and finished the game with 24 points, including a perfect 8 for 8 from the line. Overtime belonged to the Cats as Eric Bledsoe stabbed the dagger on the Cardinal with a devastating NBA-range three pointer with 33 seconds left in OT to seal the deal for the Cats as they escaped Cancun with an unblemished 6-0 record, only seven wins away from becoming the nation's first program to reach 2,000 all-time victories.

Happy Thanksgiving! Go Cats! Let's FINALLY beat Tennessee!

(Photo's courtesy of bigbluehistory.net and the Associated Press)

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.