Kentucky Wildcats recruit Malik Newman drops 50

With no Kentucky Wildcats basketball game for another week, John Calipari hit the recruiting trail yesterday.  His stop was to Mississippi where he checked out the #3 player in the 2015 class per Rivals, Malik Newman,  Newman did not disappoint as he dropped 50 points in front of Coach Cal and that was just part of a huge day for him.  

"Newman scored 50 points — 32 in the first half — in front of the UK coaches to lead his Callaway (Miss.) squad to an 85-69 victory over Provine High in the championship game of the Pepsi Holiday Tournament in Jackson, Miss. Kansas Coach Bill Self and Mississippi State Coach Rick Ray were also expected to attend Monday night’s game. Earlier in the day, Newman scored 40 points in just 17 minutes of a blowout victory. Newman was named the tournament’s MVP."

Here is video of a local TV station account of the game.  Even though Bill Self was in attendance, guess which college coach got the air time?

Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

When Rick Pitino says anything even remotely nice towards the Kentucky Wildcats or their fan base, Louisville fans are on the defensive rather quickly.  Such is the case with Pitino’s comment that about 6000 UK fans got into the Yum! Center on Saturday.  We all know that Cardinal fans LOVE to argue about attendance figures and they did not dissapoint here.

"Louisville coach Rick Pitino appeared on “The Terry Meiners Show” on WHAS on Monday and said how there were about 6,000 UK fans in the Yum! Center on Saturday, just as he had predicted. Pitino is prone to hyperbole, but there’s no way that 6,000 Wildcats fans were there. That would be more than one out of every four people. There’s just no way. I understand Pitino’s frustrations, but I think an excessive statement like that slights the U of L fans who were there going bananas for the Cards. I think it was the loudest I’ve heard the arena in my three seasons here."

Based on scientific data like “I think it was the loudest”, you have to consider that Ricky P was dissing the Cardinal fans, right?

Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s face it. After the win over Louisville, the 40-0 talk is going to be deafening. To be honest, I’m not a fan of it. I am of the thought that it is good for a team to get a bad game out of their system, much like the 2012 Kentucky Wildcats did. However, I thought UK played a pretty bad game in parts versus Louisville and look what happened. But here is one good reason to root for 40-0, at least in my opinion. A lot of Kentucky Wildcats fans are going to get a March Madness bonus.

"In July, a customer at the William Hill sportsbook requested odds on Kentucky going undefeated. The book obliged and gave coach John Calipari’s team a 50-to-1 chance to win every game, including the NCAA tournament. Five months later, the top-ranked Wildcats are 13-0 and William Hill is staring at a six-figure liability that keeps growing. “It’s pretty good six figures, too,” William Hill director of trading Nick Bogdanovich said of the liability on the popular prop bet. “They keep betting it.” Kentucky defeated No. 4 Louisville 58-50 on the road Saturday, the Cardinals being the biggest challenge remaining on the Wildcats’ regular-season schedule. They’re expected to be solid favorites in their remaining 18 games and are outright favorites to win the national championship at multiple Vegas sportsbooks. But Kentucky is still an underdog to complete the first undefeated season since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers. Entering the week, William Hill has Kentucky at plus-450 to run the table. You can bet “No,” Kentucky doesn’t finish undefeated at minus-650, meaning you’d have to wager $650 to win $100. Before the Louisville game, 95 percent of wagers were on “Yes.”"