Kentucky Wildcats 5 for Wednesday: Cats can move into second place tie in SEC East tonight
By Paul Jordan
Now it gets interesting., Thanks to Tennessee’s win over Vanderbilt last night, Kentucky can move into a second place tie in the SEC East by beating Arkansas tonight. And as we all know, that second place seed in the SEC Tournament would mean that Kentucky would only have to win three games instead of four games to take home the SEC Tournament. Georgia can join the logjam for second place by knocking off Florida on Thursday night. That game got a lot more interesting considering that the status of Chandler Parsons for Thursday is still up in the air.
Assuming Kentucky wins over Arkansas and the big assumption that Georgia knocks off Florida, it would get really interesting. Kentucky would trail Florida by two games and still have a game with Florida at Rupp. If Kentucky can beat Florida on Saturday, the Cats would trail the Gators by one game and Florida would still have to play Alabama and at Vandy. Are we grasping at straws? Kind of, especially since the Gators have won five in a row but not having Parsons does make them vulnerable. But as for now, there is still a chance and that is all you can ask for down the stretch.
Another day, another faux controversy regarding our beloved Kentucky Wildcats. This time, it is being fanned by Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier Jornal. As we mentioned a couple of days ago, one of the organizers of the Kentucky Derby Basketball Classic was holding out hope that one of the Kentucky recruits would have a change of heart and blow off either the McDonald’s All American Game or the Jordan Basketball Classic. No offense to the KDBC, but that event ranks third or so in All Star game hierarchy but Bozich is attempting to turn this into Kentucky’s recruits thumbing their nose at Kentucky’s fans and disrespecting the state of Kentucky.
As always, I am not going to send hits on this article, but A Sea of Blue runs down the faux controversy and chimes in with their two cents on the matter.
One thing to look for tonight is evidence of the strained relationship between Arkansas coach John Pelphery and Marshawn Powell. I’m really not sure what the root of the problem is, but Powell is refusing to speak about it which indicates the problem may be deeper than just a minor rift. Bad news for Pelphery who has found himself on the hotseat in Arkansas this year. Pelphery has a major recruiting class coming in 2011, and you hope that he gets a chance to coach them.
More bad news for Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl as the official NCAA allegations against him are expected to be released by Tennessee perhaps as soon as today. According to Gary Parrish, Pearl will be charged with unethical conduct and you get the feeling that the worst is yet to come for Pearly by the NCAA. True, Mike Slive suspended Pearl for eight games, but new NCAA head Mark Emmert is said to be taking a hard stand on coaches who lie to the NCAA. Parrish pointed out that Dez Bryant was suspended a year for lying to the NCAA. To be honest, I really don’t see a scenario where Pearl is coaching at NCAA next season.
Kentucky’s spring football practice does not start until March 30, but that does not stop ESPN’s Chris Lowe from taking a look a the Wildcats and giving us a few things to anticipate for the Spring:
"Moving to the 3-4: Rick Minter came aboard as Kentucky’s new defensive coordinator prior to the bowl game last December and will continue the transition from the 4-3 to the 3-4 this spring. The Wildcats still need to recruit to this defense, in particular find a bigger nose guard, before going full scale to the 3-4. But Minter would like to create a hybrid position where he can take a linebacker and play him some at end, thus giving the Wildcats more flexibility. Kentucky isn’t short on talent at linebacker, and junior Ridge Wilson could be a candidate for that hybrid role. Newton’s law: Mike Hartline’s eligibility has run out, and Ryan Mossakowski is transferring. That leaves Morgan Newton as the Wildcats’ quarterback of record. Heading into his junior season, he needs a big spring with the focus clearly being on becoming a more consistent passer, while also establishing himself as a leader. He needs to prove it to the coaches. But more importantly, he needs to prove it to his teammates that he’s the guy to lead this team. Finding the end zone: Randall Cobb and Chris Matthews combined for 22 touchdowns last season, but they’re now gone. Derrick Locke, when healthy, was one of the more dangerous breakaway threats in the SEC at running back. He’s also gone. The good news is that Kentucky returns four offensive line starters, but one of the priorities this spring will be identifying guys who can get the ball into the end zone, which is where Raymond Sanders, Brandon Gainer, CoShik Williams and La’Rod King all come in. Getting junior receiver Gene McCaskill back will help, too. He missed all of last season after tearing his ACL in preseason practice."
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