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.