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!"

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.