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GAME 22

LSU TIGERS
JANUARY 28, 2012 – 4:00 PM
PETE MARAVICH ASSEMBLY CENTER – BATON ROUGE, LA
TV – SEC NETWORK

KENTUCKY LEADS SERIES 80-24

PAST FIVE MEETINGS
1/15/2011: KENTUCKY 82 LSU 44
2/6/2010: KENTUCKY 81 LSU 55
3/13/2009: LSU 67 KENTUCKY 58**
2/28/2009: LSU 70 KENTUCKY 63
2/16/2008: KENTUCKY 67 LSU 63
** SEC TOURNAMENT

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1. Tonya Knight alleges assault and discrimination aginst hotel

In a story that can only be described as bizarre, Tonya Knight, the mother of former Kentucky guard Brandon Knight, is suing the Hyatt Regency hotel in Lexington, claiming that the hotel operations director Jeff Westin grabbed her by the arm and called her the “N Word” on January 7th. From what I gather, there seems to be some sour grapes between Knight and Westin as he would not let her sell her book Diary of a Basketball Mom in the hotel. This isn’t over by a long shot. Read the entire article here. 

2. Kentucky’s Women move to 6-0 in the SEC

The sixth ranked Lady Cats blew by Auburn last night in a 66-48 laugher. The Wildcats are now 6th in the country and sit atop the SEC in the rankings. It’s a great time to be a basketball fan for the University of Kentucky, regardless of gender both teams are great. Continue reading this post »

John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats have a clear cut path to the Final Four this season and the key to that path is by getting a number one seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Depending on what bracket Kentucky is placed in, they could end up playing their first weekends of the Tournament in Louisville/Nashville and the second weekend in friendly venues like Atlanta or St. Louis. Granted, we recall what happened to Kentucky with the NCAA seedings last season, and you can bet that John Calipari is dead set on dictating where his Wildcats will play, and not having the NCAA Selection Committee randomly decide for them.

To be able to put the location scenario in their own hands, I would think that Kentucky needs to secure one of the top two seeds overall in the tournament field.   How does Kentucky stand in this scenario? With 10 regular season games left, I took a look at the Wildcat’s tourney resume so far and what needs to happen to be able to get a favorable geographic seeding in the tourney.

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Led by junior guard A’dia Mathies, who scored a game-high 20 points, the UK women’s basketball team continued their best SEC start in school history as they defeated Auburn, 66-48. Continue reading this post »

Earlier tonight UK’s head man John Calipari went on one of my favorite shows, Pardon the Interruption and spent five minutes talking about a variety of topics.  He talked about Anthony Davis being the next Marcus Camby, and how this team needs to become more physical.  He also talked about why he said this team could stand to lose a game or two by getting beat physically.  He said he knows how the guys on the team are, and if they were to get beat a few times by an opponent who was physical and just beating them inside then his guys would say “no, thats enough of that” and they would immediately toughen up.  Calipari said he knows how competitive the guys on the team are and to lose a few games may do them good, but I really don’t expect to see him not push his guys to win every game even if a loss could help.

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This Kentucky basketball team has all the tools to be a high powered offense, and they are ranked 19th in the nation in scoring at 78.4 points per game.  Six UK players are averaging in double figures in scoring, and Wiltjer is averaging over 6 points per game in limited minutes.  Needless to say this UK team can be a nightmare for opposing defenses with so many weapons, but is that really why UK has been so successful so far this season?  The answer to that is not as simple as one might think, and it also shows why Calipari has been so successful since coming to UK three years ago.

Yes, Calipari is bringing in all kinds of talent, probably the most talent a team has brought in for three straight years since the UCLA dynasty under John Wooden, but if all he did was bring in great players and roll out the ball and say play like opposing fans claim, then there is no doubt he would have had at least one year so far where the team wasn’t very good.  Remember UNC two years ago?  The team that had 8 McDonald’s All Americans and finished the regular season 16-16 and ended with a loss in the NIT?  Why hasn’t that happened to Calipari if all he does is roll out the ball and say play?  The reason is simple, defense.

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Lady Cats to Face Auburn

Led by junior guard A’dia Mathies, the UK women’s basketball team look to continue their best SEC start in school history when they take on Auburn on tonight at 7 p.m. in Auburn Arena. Continue reading this post »

Most UK fans remember former Cat Sam Maxwell. He was a senior in 2009 and had a monster season that year that saw him tally 80 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and a whopping 6 interceptions. What fans may not remember is that Maxwell only had 58 total tackles and 1 interception in the three years prior to his breakout senior season. He came to Kentucky as a lowly two-star recruit out of Hartwell Georgia and didn’t attract much attention at first. He was primarily a special teams player for his first two seasons and saw some spot duty as Johnny Williams’ backup at strong-side linebacker on defense. Going into his senior season, Maxwell was basically thought of as a stopgap between Williams and whoever the next great linebacker would be. It’s hard to blame fans for not thinking much of him though. His presence was overshadowed by Wesley Woodyard, Braxton Kelley, Micah Johnson, and Williams and a promising young linebacker named Danny Trevathan. While most of us thought the strong-side linebacker would be a weak link in the defense that year, Maxwell ended the season as one of the best players on the entire team. So after he spent four seasons (including his redshirt year) in Lexington as an afterthought, he managed to use his last year to really shine.

The 2012 season should feature 16 seniors (by my count). Of those 16, eight are incumbent starters from the 2011 season, three saw extensive action on the field last year, and one is a walk-on special teamer. That leaves five players that have played sparingly enough to this point in their career to warrant consideration as a Sam Maxwell type player. Here are the top candidates:

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DeMarcus Cousins (Kings Center): Guess what DeMarcus did again? If you guessed that he put up another double-double, then you would be correct. DeMarcus put up 17 points and 15 boards in yet another embarrassing loss, this time to the Nuggets. The Kings are awful but Boogie is a legit All Star and the second best center, next to Dwight Howard, in the NBA. Point Blank. Period.

John Wall (Wizards Point Guard): Boogie’s former Kentucky team mate John Wall’s team is faring about as well as the Kings, which is not well at all. But they finally did get their third win of the season over the equally woeful Bobcats. The Wizards point guard did not have his best effort, finishing with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. That seems like a great stat line until you figure in the 7 turnovers that Wall also had. Despite that, he still had a decent game and his team got the W. Continue reading this post »

1. Is Special Season Slipping Away?

John Calipari is very pleased with his team but that’s not to say that he doesn’t have any criticisms. He is still disappointed in the lack of communication on the court and he is still waiting for his team to “kick in”. Cal said point black, “This year, we could be really special, and we’re not right now.” The Cats are still 20-1 and have shown flashes of brilliance (see Arkansas game) and has a will to win like no other team so far in the Calipari era. But they do have their flaws and complacency at times seems to be the main one. You can chock a lot of that up to youth, but the emergence of Darius Miller may eliminate much of that. Read the entire Lexington Herald Leader column here.    Continue reading this post »