Good morning BBN. I have to admit that things don’ look good for the Wildcats in the SEC East, but we are not totally down and out. But to get there, it is going to require probably an 8-0 record the rest of the way to catch the Gators in the East. Of of this morning, Kentucky has 4 losses and the Gators have 2. If Kentucky beats the Gators at Rupp, Kentucky has to hope for Florida to lose one of the ffollowing games to tie and two to pass the Gators: @ SC, vs Tennessee, @ LSU, vs Georgia, vs Alabama and @ Vandy. Realistically, I would say that the Tennessee, Alabama and Vandy game offer the best chance for that second loss and Georgia and South Carolina could be upsets.
Tennessee is second in the East and have three losses. Kentucky has two games left against them and can move ahead of the Vols by sweeping them, pure and simple. Kentucky is tied with all the other teams in the East with 4 losses already, so they control their destiny there against virtually everyone else.
So it’s not over yet. Refuse to lose.
Congrats to former Wildcat Tim Masthay as he earned a Super Bowl ring in his rookie season with the Green Bay Packers. Masthay becomes the second Wildcat to win a ring in the last four seasons. Jared Lorenzen won a ring with the New York Giants in 2008 while Jacob Tamme missed out out on a ring last year with Indianapolis.
The number 16 UK Hoops squad will put their seven game winning streak on the line tonight versus the Tennessee Lady Vols. The game will be a nationally covered showdown on ESPN2 at 9PM tonight. The game will be part of the “Big Monday” showdown” on the deuce. Look for Memorial Coliseum to be rocking tonight.
Tuesday night’s game represents the return of Bruce Pearl to coaching after his Mike Slive mandated SEC suspension. Mike DeCourcy has this game listed as one of his top matchups of the week ahead:
"Bruce Pearl, Tennessee, at John Calipari, Kentucky, Tuesday at 9 p.m., ESPN. They built their dislike for one another when Calipari was at Memphis and Pearl often tried to raid the city for players. Calipari’s move to SEC East power Kentucky didn’t figure to change that, and it hasn’t. This one has the added juice of serving as Pearl’s return from an eight-game league suspension, during which his team went 5-3. Properly motivated, Tennessee is a handful for any team in the country. Will Pearl do that for them?"
Word is that Kentucky is very close to announcing a long term contract extension for UK AD Mitch Barnhart. It’s an interesting move as it appears this will be on of UK President Lee Todd’s last big acts as President. It’s an interesting move as you would think this be left up to the new incoming President, but it appears that Barnhart has been at least looking at other schools (Kansas) recently.
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