A Halloween Nightmare

No, I'm not referring to the football game vs. Mississippi State, painful though it was.

Instead, consider this scenario, dateline Lexington:

BLUE DEFEATS WHITE 55-48

Ramon Harris netted 15 points for the Blue team yesterday afternoon in Memorial Coliseum, leading all scorers in UK's intrasquad scrimmage. Harris also chipped in seven rebounds in a very sloppy pre-season effort attended by approximately 4500 fans and students.

Head Coach Billy Gillispie lauded Harris' toughness in getting to the glass, noting, "Ramon picked up a lot of those baskets on putbacks and second effort plays. He was really a fighter today, very gritty in the paint." The Cats will need plenty of production from Harris this season after the departures of Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks to the NBA.

There was little buzz leading up to the scrimmage, with most fans focused on UK's so-called "blackout" at Commonwealth Stadium last night vs. MSU. It seemed the majority of Big Blue fans preferred the tailgating scene rather than taking an early season look at Gillispie's squad. Most prognosticators have UK's hoops team penciled in towards the bottom of the SEC East.

Perry Stevenson and Josh Harrellson battled to a draw opposite one another in the post, netting 10 points each for the blue and white squads respectively. Both seemed a bit sluggish, perhaps due to the added bulk they were instructed to pack on during the summer. "Yeah, Coach had us focused on the weight room quite a bit this offseason," said Harrellson, "Personally, I hope to be pushing 280 by December. And believe me, I need every bit of it going up against (Matt) Pilgrim in practice."

Gillispie seemed especially impressed with the play of the White team's lead guard Landon Slone. "Landon was all over the place, scrapping for loose balls, taking charges. He does everything we ask of him, and I really look for him to see a lot of playing time, not just early, but in conference play as well." Slone did manage four points, three steals and three assists to go along with his 7 turnovers.

Many have wondered where the scoring might come from this season, noting it will be difficult to replace the nearly automatic 40 points or so per game that Meeks and Patterson tallied. Gillispie seemed to look largely to the backcourt, where true freshman Jon Hood appeared to be aggressive in taking the ball to the basket, and Darius Miller displayed a variety of drives and pull-up jumpers out of several disorganized-looking offensive sets.

The team also seemed notably lacking in athleticism without its NBA-bound stars, not to mention the transfer of long, lightning-quick DeAndre Liggins. The 6-6/202 sophomore to-be is sitting out this season as per NCAA regulations concerning his jump back to his home state of Illinois, where he will be playing for a different set of Wildcats, at Northwestern.

Michael Porter had 12 points for the white squad on 4 of 14 shooting from the three-point line.

Jack O'Lantern photo courtesy of "Riv"on Flickr.