Regular Programming Will Resume Shortly

Hey thanks to all of you that have been pestering me relentlessly via email. Yes, I do plan to blog up the 2010-11 Kentucky basketball season. How could I do otherwise?

Fact is, I did not get to see the Canada exhibition games, missed the Pikeville game entirely and only saw a piece of the Dillard game online. (Nice suit, Dale!) So my early season prep has largely been of the "read up on all of the coverage that I can get online" variety. Would have loved to have seen them all from start to finish, of course, but circumstances conspired...

As for the opener against ETSU, my personal coverage was limited to viewing only the second half, at an undisclosed Texas location with some fellow UK alums. Okay, it was Bagpipes in Austin. Thanks to Brian and Darian, et al for your hospitality. If you're ever in the area, you should feel free to join the crew for any and all Kentucky games. I'd even give you a good food recommendation, but I was too stuffed from an early dinner to check out the menu there.

So my limited impressions of the Cats' victory over the Bucs are as follows: very pleased with Terrence Jones, first and foremost, and also highly encouraged by the team's 3-point accuracy. Mr. Jones had a pretty "loud" 25 points, and demonstrated a smoothness and confidence that surely belies his freshman status. He rarely hesitated on the offensive end-- and while not truly gunning the ball, or ignoring open teammates-- he seemed quite content to look for his own shot, whether by taking his man off the dribble, or by throwing a decent little ball fake to get up a quick jumper. I'm not ready to anoint him as a 20 ppg guy based on the competition, but I seriously liked the scorer's mentality that I saw from him. It's always nice when you can join the company of a guy like Cotton Nash in the UK annals, with Jones tying the Wildcat legend for second-most points in a Kentucky debut.

Better yet, UK managed a 50% rate from three, and wouldn't you have liked to have gone 13 for 26 against West by God Virginia last spring? In addition to Jones (who was 2 for 3), Miller, Knight, Liggins, and Lamb all tallied shots from beyond the arc. So it would appear that Coach Cal is not blowing smoke when he maintains that this squad will be a good-shooting group. I'm sure we would all take a 50% average for the season, if there were a way to have it spotted to this team right now. Shame it doesn't really work that way...

So thanks for catching back up with me here, and I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule as the season gets underway.

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.