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.