Almost Heaven: Cats Stopped Short of Indy

Only one college basketball fanbase gets to end its season on a happy note. And as the flaming family room furniture lighting up Morgantown attests, that fanbase for 2010, much to our disappointment, will not be the Big Blue Nation.

So I guess y'all are going to have to find a good Butler blog to read for the next week or so. (Too soon?)

Unfortunately, as witnessed, UK turned up absolutely cold at the Carrier Dome this evening. You really can't expect to beat a Big East champion team when you miss your first TWENTY three-point attempts, let alone giving up another dozen or so points from the charity stripe.

But what really drives me crazy is the little things, like wondering if UK would have been better off playing against the Mountaineers' normal starting PG, Tuck Bryant (out with a broken foot). Instead, we get Joel Mazzulla, and the guy seemingly has the game of his young life. Unbelievable. Well, maybe not as unbelievable as holding WVU to zero two-point field goals in the first half, and still going into the locker room with a deficit, but still.

UK actually equaled its defensive effort from Thursday vs. Cornell in only giving up 8 buckets in the first twenty minutes, but the difference of course was that all of the 'Eers baskets were of the three-point variety. Just strange, I tell you. Strange as one of those extra breast pockets on a Greg Anthony suit. WVU is not supposed to be killing people from outside, but that was how it went tonight.

In the second half, Kentucky gave up too many easy baskets for its comeback to be effective. Mazzulla was seen blowing past Wall and Bledsoe on far too many occasions for wide open lay-ups, and I hate to say it about a guy who scored 19 points and grabbed 9 boards-- but I say it with sincerity, and of course with all due respect: John Wall had a pretty bad game.

Brilliant as ever in the open court, Wall did turn it over 5 times and was only 4 for 8 from the free throw line. From treyville, he made just 1 0f 5. Now, I'm not fitting the young superstar with horns, mind you. Just sayin' it was not his best game. I kind of noticed it more on defense; despite the 4 steals, he just seemed to get beat off the dribble way more often than usual. Plus, some of the quick possessions (i.e. bad shots) were ill-advised when UK was trying to regain control. Hey, it happens, and that guy can still play for my team anytime.

Bob Huggins' team rode the momentum of all those early threes into the second half and really had UK struggling against their 1-3-1. I honestly need to look at this one again (if I can make myself) to figure out where UK was breaking down on the attack. Certainly, there were times when the Cats simply settled for jumpers, and that of course did them no favors with a trip to Indianapolis on the line.

But hey, West Virginia absolutely deserved the victory tonight. They outplayed and outshot UK. Period. It was death by the long-range sword. And in closing, let me just say that I miss this '09-10 team already. Who knows what next year's roster might look like? Undoubtedly, there will be some beloved teammates moving on.....but we will have plenty of time to talk about that later.

So congrats to the Kentucky Wildcats on a great season, and to West Virginia for winning the regional. Now let's all root against the Dookies.

For Cats, It's One More to the Final Four

Kentucky outlasted Cornell Thursday night, pulling away for a seventeen point differential in the end, 62-45.

Gotta be brief, but I first want to give the Big Red some credit for having a great season and keeping the game competitive. I certainly could have done without their 7-footer trying to throw a saddle on DeMarcus and riding him to the ground, but for the most part I thought the Ivy Leaguers played clean, hard-nosed basketball and did their school proud.

As per my policy, I am leaving the refs out of it.

The way Kentucky put the "D" on Cornell in this Sweet 16 matchup, they really just had no chance. Funny thing is, with UK's defense, there are times when you almost want to talk about them like a separate unit. As in football--where the offense and defense are made up of 11 different players, with different coordinators for each side of the ball.

I submit that at times, the Cats can put on a defensive performance worthy of it's own nickname. No, I am not going to try to put a witty tag on them myself...the point is, like when Cornell was still sitting on 16 points for the entire first half-- you know they were up against a college basketball version of the Wrecking Crew, or the Purple People Eaters. A game-altering, championship level defense. Media darling Ryan Wittman was turned into a complete non-factor when UK cranked it up.

And honestly, I felt like the team did not play anywhere near its best game offensively. John Wall looked pretty bad early in the game, IMO. The guys were only 2 for 16 from three. Tons of missed free throws. And still a seventeen point win? Yikes.

So now it's a Saturday matchup vs. the second-seeded Mountaineers of West (By God) Virginia...Robert Huggins and his Beasts of the Big East are all that remains between Kentucky and a trip to the Final Four.

Competitions In Which Cornell is Likely to Defeat UK

• CHESS: this one immediately came to mind. Probably a cliche, but the game of chess is of course strictly cerebral, and requires no athletic ability whatsoever. However, I would personally envision Patrick Patterson as a super smooth bishop, moving diagonally in space, and John Wall would make an awesome attacking knight. Bruce Pearl? Definitely a queen. Hey-o!

• JEOPARDY: I bet those Ivy Leaguers could really give the Cats a run for their money on this popular syndicated game show. Alex Trebek: "Oooh, sorry DeMarcus, but you forgot to phrase your answer in the form of a question. Darnell, you control the board."

• WORLD OF WARCRAFT: I just can't see anybody on the Kentucky team really being into this kind of "alternate world" stuff. Sure, maybe some of them might play Call of Duty 4 or Metal Gear Solid for kicks, but let's face it, if you are a UK basketball player, you're like that Dos Equis guy...you live vicariously through yourself.
  

• MONOPOLY: Possibly the most classic board game ever, I figure the Cornell players break this time-killer out on those long bus trips to Brown and Princeton in lieu of playing spades like all the cool people.
  

• WOMEN'S HOOPS: Uh, no. Scratch that. The Kentucky ladies have been kicking tail all season long and have now advanced themselves to the Sweet 16 of the women's bracket. (Congratulations.) The lady Cornellians, meanwhile, were 7-20 on the year.

• ROWING: Just seems like something in which all those northeast schools would truly excel. In fact, their website shows that Cornell has both heavyweight AND lightweight rowing teams, so there you go. (Apparently, no middleweights in the sport of rowing. Hmmm.) But I'd honestly pay some good money to watch Daniel Orton trying to fit into one of those skinny little boats. Wouldn't you?

• SUDOKU: Edge would once again have to go to the Big Red here. And you can guarantee that Cal would be complaining that our guys picked up all their bad habits in the summer AAU sudoku leagues, and they think they "puzzle" ice cream. But Cal would also be chasing that 5-star junior from Brooklyn who's been flashing some mad logic skills and recently narrowed down his list to four, with Syracuse as the front-runner.
  

• TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Probably one of those games where the script would be flipped so that Cornell would land a top seed, and UK would be UK garnering a #12, coming from the lightly-regarded SEC. (It's a football conference, for crying out loud. As we're constantly reminded.)
  

• SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: Self-explanatory.
  

• RUBIK'S CUBE: This is one game where the Cats' propensity for letting up on the gas could really come back and haunt them. I mean, you get those first couple of sides done and think you can coast, and then BAM! Cornell's got it solved and you're knocked out of the Sweet 16. Bummer.
  

• STEEPLECHASE: You'd think Kentucky would have the advantage in the heart of equine country, but the fact is, both freshman members of UK's starting backcourt have a documented and near-crippling fear of horses. In fact, Eric Bledsoe was actually once bitten by a crazed gelding at the Alabama state fair. True story.

• TWISTER: I don't know....something just tells me those Cornell guys are really, really flexible.

UK Squeaks Into Sweet 16 By A Hair

If this is what Cal means by "landing the plane", then this team looks ready for the challenge of a shorter runway, or maybe even an aircraft carrier. What a fine manifestation of basketball that was in the first two rounds for Kentucky.

That's how you put away lower seeds, Dorothy. You eviscerate them. With prejudice.

ETSU: not really surprising. Should have beaten them pretty good, and the Cats did just that. Wake Forest: slightly different story.

Wake was a power conference team, had legitimate talent, and had won a lot of games this season. Yeah, quite a few people had picked Texas over them in the opening round, and the Deacs needed some extra time to advance, but not in my wildest dreams did I think that Saturday game would be such a rout.

First off, let me summarize the "electric postseason atmosphere" of New Orleans Arena as I experienced it this weekend. I think I can sum it up for you in one word: Eh.

The lower section was filled, of course. And yes, the crowd was predominantly made up of Big Blue fans. But man, there was plenty of space available. So much space, in fact, that Mrs. Whisperer and I took advantage of some empty seats much closer to the court, very near the tunnel where the team entered and exited-- and very close to the always effervescent CD, a fellow alum who recently relocated to Beaumont.

(The original upper level tickets won't even make a great souvenir, as they get printed so far in advance that they are unable to show which teams will be playing. Nice hologram, though. And yes, I'll keep 'em.)

So we did our share of yelling and clapping at the appropriate times, and there was a steady buzz of support for the Cats, but the place just was not exactly cracklin'. Even the ODU-Baylor game, which was much tighter, did not have that intense, hold-your-breath kind of frenzy that you expect in a tournament climate. Perhaps everyone was completely spent after hanging out too long at Pat O-Brien's.

But we could see Ashley from where we were sitting, and we could also see the life draining out from the Wake Forest team as UK opened up the margin-- and the triple XL can of you-know-what-- all over their entire squad and its ACC pedigree.

A magnum opus by the Cats, really. You've read all about the statistics and the reaction and the press conferences by now.... and I'd describe the Bledsoe jam for you if I had gotten a great view of it, but you would only accuse me of further dunk envy. (Guilty.) I've only watched it about 3 or 4 times online.

Instead I'll tell you how cool it was to see the guys leaving the court triumphantly. (Warning: more crappy cell phone pics to come.) I was even in a pretty good position to catch Boogie's sweaty headband as he tossed it into the crowd, but it went to some guy about 8 feet away from me who apparently judged the wind direction and angle of descent better than I did. I also spied Brandon giving Coach Cal a high five on his way off the court. CORRECTION: he now also claims to have given high fives to several team members as well. Whatever. If they win the Kentucky's 8th championship, he'll probably be telling people 20 years from now that he was the walk-on who earned a scholarship.

But perhaps one of the things I'll take away most from the weekend is how, as many have mentioned, the Big Blue Nation seems like a family. No, not dysfunctional and inbred. You know what I mean. There were the ubiquitous C-A-T-S cheers on the walk back to the French quarter. Other UK fans asking about your thoughts on the game, or whether you were going to Syracuse (I wish.) Fist bumps from people you've never met from places like Mercer county. I don't know, just the way sports brings people together in a good way and all that rot. It was just cool.

So naturally, we wound up on Bourbon Street to celebrate. And more strangers were telling us that they had seen some of the guys on the team out there the day before. It was raining pretty good in The Big Easy on Saturday night, but I can't say it bothered me. As we headed back to the hotel, we left our man CD with his hard-earned Jagermeister hat on backwards (don't ask) and a smile on everyone's face.

Of course, there was the one hater (there's always at least one) who spotted my UK gear and just had to ask me a smart-alecky question. I just tried to roll with it....probably a sore loser Wake Forest fan...

Loser: "So how much money did you guys have to pay John Wall to get him to come to Kentucky?"

WW: (very slight pause) "I have no idea, but he's worth every penny."

So that's pretty much my take on the Cats in "Blue Orleans." Thanks so much for reading. And I'll leave you with one last snap (since I know you really care), of my delicious Sunday morning breakfast, courtesy of the beignet capitol of the world...you've got to admit, that's more than enough powdered sugar for a Sweet Sixteen.

Oh My!

It's finally time! Can you feel it? Got your bracket ready?

Well, I'm pretty geeked for the Madness, but I would not expect a very suspenseful Thursday evening for the Cats. Just too big of a talent gap for ETSU to overcome, I would imagine. Yes, it could be close early, like plenty of #1 vs. #16 matchups start...but eventually the depth will show, UK will settle in, and the final margin will be healthy.

It's probably more a matter of how interested these guys will be from the outset. Hopefully, they take to heart Coach Cal's admonitions about the "first five minutes" being so crucial, at the start of both halves. (Don't you love his Jeannine Edwards interviews? Tell me there's not some chemistry there.)

Anyway, why let the Buccaneers hang around at all? It's a given that East Tennessee will be playing with fully adrenalized, nothing to lose, shock the world abandon. So I say to the starters, especially to John, Big Cuz, and Patrick: Get your work in early, don't let them hang around, and let's see plenty of Perry Stevenson and Josh Harrellson in the second half.

And while they don't give any style points in the tournament, it'd be nice to hear at least one of those patented Dick Enberg exclamations before the final buzzer. You know the one. So rather than predicting a final score, I'm going to predict that Mr. Enberg will blurt it out after one of those furious John Wall drives to the basket, where J. morphs into a spinning, smoothed-out Tasmanian Devil wearing high tops.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to pace yourselves. It's another full slate of games on Friday.

Busting the East Bracket

Letting the dust settle a bit, I guess I don't have too many gripes about the path that has been laid out for the Wildcats. Getting to a Final Four is never going to be easy, and you have to like the fact that UK did get a number one seed, which was well-deserved. The oft-cited statistical probability is significant, when earning a #1 seed as opposed to a #2-- it greatly increases a team's likelihood of making it to the last weekend of the season.

Now personally, I wanted to see the Cats come through Houston so that I could check out a regional here in my own back yard. Instead, it will be the Puke Blue Devils coming through the Lone Star State (barring an upset). Whether that particular seeding was fair or not, I will leave for others to argue. Certainly the #2 seed there in the South (Villanova) would seem to have easier path for the first couple rounds-- vs. UK likely having to play a more "name brand" opponent in the Wake Forest/Texas winner.

Now, I do think Bob Huggins will use the classic "we were snubbed" motivational tool to get his West Virginia team fired up. They are obviously a very talented (strong, even rugged?) group and I have seen them several times this year. Their bigs are a lot to handle. But I'd be wary of looking too far ahead, as perhaps Temple or Wisconsin would provide a very good test in the Sweet 16. (See?! I'm already guilty of looking ahead myself!)

The point is, I don't get too much out of complaining over the bracket that Kentucky is up against this year. UK has always had more than its share of haters-- in the conference, in the media, and yeah, probably on the selection committee. But I do feel like this is a special team and it has Final Four talent, no matter how inexperienced. So let's just talk about East Tennessee State for now, and then after that, we can see who's next.

Cats Look to Use SEC Title as Springboard

Heckuva weekend, Brownie.....must have been truly insane to be a UK fan in Nashville these past few days.....Lord knows there were plenty of them there to testify to it.

So I really don't know where to start, but I suppose the Cousins putback would be the most logical place. That particular play goes right up there on the burned-into-your-memory list of last second heroics in the Kentucky pantheon. (A la the Brassow tip, the Nazr runner, the Padgett three, etc). What a testament to the nimble feet and the basketball savvy of Big Cuz, to weasel in there and flip that thing up off the backboard.

The fact that he did it to Mississippi State, well, I'm gonna have to consider that poetic. You think DeMarcus is still getting texts and phone calls from Starkville? I reckon the Bulldogs must have done some serious offending of the basketball deities to lose a game like that. Oh, man! The old miss the second free throw on purpose trick!? How many times does that even work? One out of ten? Ouch.

Cuz certainly had to earn his keep all afternoon long versus Jarvis "Please tell me he is graduating" Varnado. (If not graduating, then at least tell me he's used all his eligibility). But you also have to credit Bledsoe for "making" the perfect miss-- and J. Wall for getting up a prayer/heave just to give UK a chance. That was one of those plays that makes you wonder once again if this team is working with just a little extra pixie dust this season. Or if you want to go with "Cat" terminology, let's say that I hope they are saving another life or two for the Big Dance.

And quickly looking back at Saturday, UK certainly beat the life out of the hated Vols. Kentucky pretty much initiated a full security threat orange lockdown on Bruce Pearl's squad and outright suffocated them defensively in the second half. Tennessee looked absolutely discombobulated by UK's intensity and I honestly think the defeat was bad enough for UT that it really hurt their NCAA tournament seeding. Not that I care.

So the semifinal was a lot easier than it should have been for Kentucky, if you think about it. And the final was as close as it gets, with State being a mere tenth of a second away from taking down the top-seeded Cats. Shoot, looking back to the Friday opener vs. Alabama-- a pretty tough win-- this little Nashville trip was quite the challenge for UK, and it should be a more than adequate preparatory course for the Dance.

The team made it clear that they were not interested in cutting down nets at the conference level, but I would have been tempted to get the scissors out after running that gauntlet. Of course, all that Coach Cal has been preaching lately is that it is "the next level" that he and the Wildcats are really interested in-- that the SEC was not exactly at the top of their "to do" list. But those three wins, and especially the final this afternoon, ought to make for a nice little momentum builder as the Cats get ready to invade New Orleans.

Kentucky Regular Season Awards

Ahead of tomorrow's SEC Tournament tipoff for the Cats, I figured I would hand out a few awards in honor of UK's tremendous 29-2 regular season.

The REAL Coach of the Year: Cal! (Duh.) All due respect to Kevin Stallings, and he had a great interview on Jim Rome's show today, but I really don't see how John Calipari got overlooked by his SEC coaching brethren on this one. Lil' bro and I had a brief discussion about this-- again, admittedly, Stallings is great and they do a nice job there at Vandy-- but come on now, in less than a year on the job, John Calipari just assembled a HUGE amount of incoming talent, installed a brand new system and coaching staff, won the conference, all but locked up a #1 seed, completely re-energized an entire fan base, dare I say an entire state, and oh by the way (wait for it.....wait for it....) beat Vandy twice in the process. Yes, you could say I'm bitter about it.

Enigma of the Year: Darius Miller. I don't want to say he underperformed, so we'll stick with the enigmatic label-- and I'll grant that he has shown some consistency down the stretch. However, a former Kentucky Mr. Basketball with his size and skills should be expected to completely lock up a starting spot, and we all shouldn't have to wonder what type of outing we're going to see from him on a night-to-night basis.

Overexposed Dance of the Year: Okay, so I'm a little tired of people flexing their arms and moving their fists back and forth. It was cute for a while, though, and I'm guessing the rest of the country is going to get caught up with it during the NCAA tournament.

Rupp Arena Visitor of the Year: Vitale? Um, no. And keep your LeBrons and Magics and Roethlisbergers, too. I'm sticking with my second favorite Ashland Tomcat, Miss Ashley. You'd like a picture, you say? Sure. Twist my arm.




Game of the Year*: Hmmm...well, it's always nice to thrash UNC, but that turned out to be pretty underwhelming given the Tar Heels' fall from grace. And beating Indiana anymore just seems like punking a first grader for his Pokemon cards. There were some good conference victories to consider, but I guess I would have to say the Louisville win is just about always the sweetest. All right, it was ugly this January. It was hard-fought. It looked like football at times. But when you beat an in-state rival like that, it just puts a little pep in your step. *Hopefully Kentucky's true game of the year comes in the postseason of course.

Headwear of the Year: (Tie) DeMarcus Cousins' headband, DeMarcus Cousins' bomber hat. One for work, the other for play. "Peter Parker Swag". Ha! That guy kills me.

Dunk of the Year: Could easily have just renamed this category the "John Wall Dunk of the Year." Tough call, actually. Really liked that breakaway at Georgia last week. But I suppose I'll take the left-handed tomahawk at IU's Assembly Hall in December. Oh man, I'm gonna miss that kid. I don't even want to think about it.

Villain of the Year: Bruce Pearl would be the obvious choice, and I thought about Downey too, but instead I'm giving this to the Mississippi State fans as a group. Y'all know what you did.

Comeback Player of the Year: DeAndre Liggins. Unanimously. Went from the deep, deep end of the bench-- for reasons still not entirely explained-- to becoming a valued contributor throughout conference play and an excellent energy guy. He makes the occasional three, plays well above average defense, and gets tons of loose balls. And for the longest time, I really thought he would be transferring elsewhere over the Christmas break. Nice job, Mr. Liggins.

Lovefest of the Year: ESPN's College Gameday visit to Rupp Arena prior to the Tennessee game. That was awesome. Really wish I could have been there. Jeez, even the reviled Digger Phelps got into the spirit of things. Just a cool event and a tour de force for the entire program. I was very, very proud of my alma mater that day. Sadly, it had nothing to do with academic achievement.

Cal-ism of the Year: "They think they poop ice cream" (referring to his freshman stars in particular).

Venue of the Year: The Moon Palace Resort in Cancun. Bizarre. Cracker box of a place, essentially a ballroom with chandeliers possibly in play. An open bar in the concession area. But hey, that turned out to be a good trip for Kentucky. Got a couple of wins, some good team bonding, fun trip for the boosters, and nobody got swine flu.

But speaking of venues, it's apparent that the one destination UK has on its mind this season is Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (And maybe they can take some hardware out of the Sommet Center in Nashville first.) Enjoy the tournament.

Wildcats Take Care of Business In Athens

Georgia's Dogs found themselves on the short end of an 80-68 final on their own senior night, largely due to UK turning up the defensive heat in the second half. Kentucky looked awfully good over a 10-minute or so stretch, especially when the turnovers were being converted into some nice fast breaks..... and this game featured several highlight reel dunks (from both teams).

Boogie Cousins definitely got down to business, handling the ball like a point guard on a couple of fast breaks himself, using a delicious little right-to-left move for a layup and also dropping a tasty dime for P-Pat.

Overall, a very "professional" type win for UK on the road, and a nice way for the Cats to begin what we all hope will be an undefeated month. What say we celebrate with a tune...

Georgia Is Surely on Calipari's Mind

I don't figure Coach Cal is going to be too distracted by the Maker's Mark commemorative bottle hoopla to have his UK team ready and rarin' to take on the Georgia Bulldogs Wednesday night. The worst-kept secret in the SEC might be this: 13-14 UGA is pretty darned good.

In addition to wins over Illinois, Tennessee and Florida, Mark Fox's squad also played a pretty competitive game in Rupp Arena back in January. Georgia was up by six late in the first half in Lexington, and was within two points with only 1:05 remaining in the game. So we shouldn't necessarily expect UK's trip to Athens to be a simple walk in the park.

The last thing UK needs at this time of the season is to drop another game, especially to a much less-heralded (albeit underrated) team the likes of Georgia. Consecutive losses would seriously jeopardize the Cats' chances at a 1-seed, not to mention raise an hysterical outcry from Big Blue Nation and the sports media in general. (Honestly, if I have to read another article about Kentucky's weak 3-point shooting, I'm going to have to choke somebody. Preferably a Kansas fan.)

But I would imagine that Cal, as usual, has it under control. He's already spun the loss in Knoxville effectively enough that I was nearly convinced that the Fiddlin' Five (v. 2.0) had actually pulled that one out. *Sigh*

Now.....I do like Calipari's idea of just a bit more playing time for Ramon Harris, if for no other reason than the fact he is a seasoned player and he also gives consistent effort, especially on the defensive end. If Ramon fails to make regularly make the outlandishly athletic play, you can at least usually count on him to make the smart play. UK just isn't going to win many games from that small forward (by committee) spot, but it can't afford to lose any either.

On paper, this should be UK's 28th "W" of the year, but obviously Calipari knows his team can ill-afford to count it as a hatched chicken. He's got to have his guys fired up from the start for this road game. Personally, I could do without another soaring Travis Leslie jam (which I am sure Big Cuz remembers quite well), and I think Trey Thompkins is also absolutely legit. The calendar now says March, and that means the old cliche rings more true than ever-- you have to take them one at a time.