Kentucky Wildcats Farmer's Almanac for Saturday(1/29/11)

Richie could not be with us today but he left his seal of approval for the news today.

It has been what feels like it has been a month since the Wildcats last win over South Carolina but it is finally game day! As we all know the Cats will take on the Dawgs on ESPN at 4 PM at home. The Cats had a rough outing that lead to the 77-70 loss to Georgia but the Cats are back in Rupp and things will be different. The players are determined to seek revenge and try to stay in the top of the SEC East standings.

Preparing for today’s game has been different for all of the team. Some prepare mentally with photos of the enemy in the locker room for others it is just Cal’s new method of swallowing the whistle at practice. Coach Cal is encouraging rough play in practice because he believes his team would not tough enough to defeat Georgia a few weeks ago. Cal is letting them play street ball in practice and not calling fouls to teach the team out to play rough.

“He doesn’t care how you get the ball,” said Josh Harrellson. “There’s no fouls, you can run people over so it’s definitely getting us in the right mindset to play.”

Cal’s approached worked for the South Carolina game and how’s it will continue to work throughout the season. One thing I worry about is will the players draw more fouls in games running this style of practice but only time will tell with this squad.

This week has been another slumber party at the Calipari house, as Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown has been staying. Brown has been attending practice this week to help give another eye to Cal’s practices and help the team improve. He will be on hand for today’s game but some wonder if he does the “Y” I honestly doubt he will he coached at Kansas and is a Carolina guy at heart so I just don’t see it. One player who seems to have taken advantage of Brown’s presents is Harrellson.

“He’ll even stop drills like Coach Cal does and put his imput in,” he added. “It’s great having a legendary coach here building us and helping us out.”

As most of you know Cal got his start coaching under Brown at Kansas, so he respects him highly and has invited all players of the team to seek advice from the Hall of Famer.

So what does today’s game mean? Well if the Cats win they will extend their home winning streak to 29 games if you include the NIT win over at Memorial Coliseum(If you are like me you forget the bad memories of having to play in the NIT). Why is this important? The Cats are second on the home win streak to dark forces of Duke who holds a 31 game home streak. Duke takes on NC State next at home on 2/5 so this is something to keep an eye on.

Now yesterday I mentioned that Anthony Davis would be playing in the McDonald’s All-American game. Well its looks like future Cats Michael Gilchrist and Marquis Teague will also be joining him. This will be the first time that the Cats have three commits to play in the game since 2004 when Rajon Rondo, Joe Crawford and Randolph Morris did it.

Now I know everyone will be watching the game but if you get the chance flip over to the NFL Network and take a look at the Under Armour Senior and take a look at former football Cat Derrick Locke. Locke has played great in practice this week and has increased his draft stock tremendous amounts. He is the only Wildcat to play on the team this year and will be representing the South team.

Last night was a huge night for former Wildcat Demarcus Cousins as he led his team to a 100-95 win over the Lakers. Big Cuz had a season high double-double night with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Some of the press said that Cousins was a wasted pick with his play this season but I believe he has shown last night he is going to be a beast in the league. He even was blessed to be interviewed post game but the biggest sell out in journalism Jim Gray the clip is below.

One last thing before we go I want to remind you to go vote for John Wall and have him represent Kentucky in the skills challenge. Click Uncle Sam and he will send you to the poll.

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