Well, we have had a memorable UK/UL Football game to start the year off right, and now we do what we do in Kentucky best. Slide a little basketball into every crack and crevice of the football season. And this week may lead to some interesting discussions and some of the usual haterade that we get served from time to time by our friends in the world of sport.
Eric Bledsoe findings. This was already covered earlier today, so I won’t add much. MY gut feeling here is that there is nothing to see, but you never know in these matters, and should anything occur, even though it will probably have no bearing whatsoever on us here, we will hear the Calipari haters and the “cheater” claims for months to come. Prepare yourself.
Enes Kanter eligibility. Coach Cal stated last week that we might be hearing some more on this within a couple weeks, and Friday would be a nice day to get this all behind us. However, there are a couple of PAC-10 assistant coaches who were claiming that there were two major issues with Kanter’s eligibility concerning his play in Turkey. I don’t have sources on this, I simply have looked into every story I can find on this issue. Again, this is my gut take on this, but I believe that Enes will be looking at a 1-4 game suspension and ultimately getting to play this year.
While not UK related, but something that will have an effect on UK. It appears that Louisville is now the leader for the services of Chane Behanan, Tony Wroten, Quincy Miller, and Deuce Bello. Anyone care to guess how big the fireworks could be for the UK/UL Basketball game this year? Behanan is expected to announce this year and be the first domino to fall for Rick Pitino’s squad.
While with Cal you NEVER know what is going to happen in a particular week, I expect that this week should be a fairly quiet one for the Basketball Cats. And to be honest, that could be a good thing for everyone. Football needs another week and a really big win against Western Ky. to continue the Joker Phillips love fest. There are a few things I would like to see Coach Cal start making progress on though.
Rupp Arena renovation/replacement. Coach needs to start putting on the full court press on the Rupp Arena Project. It could be his crowning acheivement after he wins a couple more NCAA Championships and would be a real boost to the fanbase that is clamoring for more season ticket availability. We NEED a 35-40K seating availability in whatever facility we have. The Kentucky fans will support their team at that level. We could easily double the amount of season ticket holders that we have now.
Help the women’s team get a better facility for themselves. They either need to be able to move into Rupp, or get their own facility. Matthew Mitchell is the real deal folks, he will make UK a champion in Women’s Basketball, but he needs the financial help to do it. Last year I took 10 kids, my wife, and myself to a women’s game for less than $100. And that included the trip to the concession stand. The women need a price bump for ticket cost. $7.50 is not too much to ask. They also need a premier facility to play in to get premier recruits. Coach Cal can help facilitate this. And he is just the man for the job. He drew a crowd at the football game in Louisville for crying out loud.
As I said, a thin week in the world of Basketball at UK, so enjoy basking in the glow of Kentucky Fried Cardinal for now and don’t fret, it is September, the slow weeks won’t last much longer.
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