Early Season Thriller

I kind of like the idea of an overtime game in November for this UK team. Credit to Stanford for playing a very smart 45 minutes, with the game obviously much closer than the final, 8-point differential would indicate. So yeah, call me crazy, but I truly prefer a close one in this Cancun final rather than a Big Blue blowout. Keeps 'em humble.

The idea with these early tournaments is after all, to get players comfortable with one another, and in Kentucky's case, with the new coach and system. Well, the Cats looked anything but comfortable throughout most of this game. A lot of that was due to a very effective zone by the Cardinal, which UK had tremendous difficulty in solving. The early foul trouble for Patrick Patterson also contributed to the Wildcats falling behind in the first half.

In fact, if Landry Fields had not cooled off considerably in the second frame, UK could well have been looking at its first loss of the season. But taken along with the Miami game, at least Cal's Cats are learning how to pull out some close ones. Big props to Ramon Harris for coming up with some crucial boards and loose balls down the stretch, along with Bledsoe's 3-point dagger late, and of course Wall's clutch free throws to even send the game to OT.

I didn't think either of these matchups south of the border would get my heart going, but I truly had some jitters tonight that are normally reserved for games a little further down the schedule.