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.