Kentucky Begins the Basketball Gauntlet

Kentucky  basketball starts a tough three game stretch on Thursday night when they face St. John’s in the SEC/Big East Challenge. Here are UK’s next three opponents and their records:

St. John’s- Record: 4-3; Wins: William and Mary, Lehigh, UMBC and St. Francis; Losses: Texas A&M, Arizona and Northeastern; Game Location: Rupp Arena

North Carolina- Record: 5-1; Wins: Michigan State, UNC Asheville, Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee State, South Carolina; Losses: UNLV; Game Location: Rupp Arena

Indiana- Record: 6-0; Wins: Stoney Brook, Chattanooga, Evansville, Savannah State, Garnder Webb, Butler; Losses: none; GameLocation: Bloomington Indiana

After this stretch the games get a little easier and then the game against Louisville before SEC play starts. These next three games will say a lot about this team. St. John’s isn’t very good but they have a lot of athletes. UNC may have lost and Harrison Barnes is hobbled, but they have plenty of leadership and talent. Indiana is riding high because they are 6-0 but they started off like that last season. They have yet to play anybody. Butler doesn’t count, they are awful.

This should be a fun week in basketball.

Headlines:

-The players on Kentucky’s football team love Joker Phillips. They don’t care what the fans say or think; and they shouldn’t.

-Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine has been fired and Jim Boeheim may be next because he opened his big fat mouth before he knew any of the facts.

-In case you missed it, Kentucky is officially #1 in basketball. Let’s see how this young team handles the pressure of being #1 along with the killer stretch they are about to encounter. I would love it if the Cats were #1 when they beat down the Dirty Birds on December 31st. And it will be a beat down, Louisville is not good.

-UNC dropped to #5. Way to mess up the #1 vs. #2 game, jerks. Louisville is the worst #6 team I have ever seen. I watched them struggle to beat Ohio by 5. Not Ohio State, the Ohio Bobcats. They will lose at least one game in the next week when they face Long Beach State, Vanderbilt and Memphis. They may lose all three games I just mentioned.

-In case you missed this: BOOM.

The Anthony Davis one is nice, but MKG’s was #3 on Sportscenter’s top ten yesterday and may be the dunk of the year.

-The NBA is still trying to figure out whether or not to keep the one and done rule or extend it to two years in college for a rookie. I think we all know what Cal wants.

-Speaking of Cal, check out my article on Cal’s twitter contraversey on Sunday. I think I was right on the money with my analysis.

See ya later BBN. I’ll be back at midnight when I look at how Charlie Strong’s success at Louisville has hurt Joker Phillips.