non-Party like its 1999 : UK vs Austin “Let’s Go” Peay

You could tell by the way the arena lazily filled up before tip, you could tell in the near silence in the arena from the fans, you could tell it by the players energy and lack of enthusiasm. What you could tell is that the in between game just was one everyone wanted to get past us and move on. People were possibly contemplating holiday recipes or perhaps making travel plans, whatever they were doing it wasn’t cheering for their team. Very few times have I ever seen a crowd not get up for the 2001: Space Oddessy version of the big flag turn at half court. What do you call that deal anyway? After a complete spin there was still a good percentage of folks sitting on their butts. One person who wasnt was the Boogey man as he was spotted gyrating in the ERupption Zone this game in another throwback jersey. Another rare creature spotted was DeAndre Liggins who for the most part came in and looked fresh and focused to play. He seemed to have a good energy to his play and the fact that he had a great rebound and put back that excited the crowd louder than any other moment in the evening. His assist to Cousins was a beauty too. You can tell people are pulling for this young man and I for one am not in the closet over it. I have liked him from the beginning but last years retard for a coach about ruined a talented athletes career.That atmosphere set what was possibly one of the most boring wins in history, and you know we have 1998 of those already so that says something. We dominated them in the paint, they couldn’t hit a basket to save their lives and we seriously outrebounded them to where I was asking if something was wrong with APeay. We however allowed them to shoot well early in the game and it seemed as if there was a five minute stall on starting for the cats.I am simply amazed at how in tune this team is to each other. We should call this team the alley-cats because they have so many beautiful ally-oops and dunks. The one from Bledsoe, to Wall, to Patterson was the proof that AP was simply outmanned. I am not for certain but I don’t think either of those three guys had a defender on him during that play. The other nice dunk was in fact a “tigger” sighting. I don’t know how Eric Bledsoe can jump so high but he definitely needs to continue training as he skied over both teams to put back a miss with a thundering dunk. He was also the man in charge and got fancy with the behind the back pass to Patterson who took care of the ball and scored. It was great to see Darius starting to sync a bit more with the offense. With the combo of him, Dodson and Bledsoe we will not need a definitive outside shooter this season, My highlight was having my Grace with me as we got to get a new cheerleading uniform for this game! She is having a blast at the games this year and I have caught her watching the game and following it. What the most fun is she now claps for the cats when the crowd roars.

She is picking up on what she needs for the rest of her life as a wildcat! I really enjoyed a nice game in Rupp with my Girls and hope we might be able to get in one more this season all together. Our attention inevitably turns to the number 2000, not the next opponent but the next win. I hope that this team can come out and not play so flat against what appears to be another sleeper. Glad to have the pics back again.

Carolina pics are up please scroll down to see

Hoosier Daddy: the Kentucky Wildcats is who

Slow style of play from IU and the hoosiers hanging in there like a hair on a biscuit in the first half of the annual "rivalry" game. Its still a game till the second half starts then UK showed IU exactly what a (soon to be) great basketball team can do. What can you say other than UK didn’t act like a bunch of freshmen like they are supposed to be doing right now. If anything veterans Harris and Darius Miller are reacting like freshmen and like MOST freshmen in the NCAA they are watching from the bench. DeMarcus and his antics showed up again. This time he simply used the ball to pick up a kid. No worries he set him back down and appropriately acted as if he had done nothing. He didn’t get the foul he deserved but he did get to ride the pine for a while to make sure nothing is made out of it. Give the guy a break; he is a sasquatch without the hair. He is huge. Until you have stood next to him its hard to imagine a nearly 7 foot giant that has arms bigger than most peoples legs. I think he and Orton are seriously playing outside of their physical capabilities. They haven’t adjusted to the agility and finesse that is required to play with the best down low. I think that describes the foul situation pretty well. Big Cuz had only 16 minutes but managed 8 rebs and 14 pts while catching 4 fouls. A very solid effort from the guy who may be the man to go to when he is able to manage his psyche while playing on a high level.

How about Maurice (don’t call him Cheeks) Creek? What a freshman phenom. His 17 point first half, and our ability to foul away from the ball, kept IU into the game through the first half. Man o Man, in that second half, to see blue Jesus and his disciple Bledsoe so in sync brings a smile to my face. Walls 8 assists are a direct catalyst to the scoring we saw Bledsoe hitting; 4-5 from beyond the arc showed exactly how good Wall is in finding open people on the floor. He looks but doesn’t look and is impossible to read as a defender. His crisp passing has every UK player on alert so as not to be the kid JW breaks his nose with a strong pass. Pat just has that ability to be the guy night in, night out. Its almost as if he doesn’t exist minus his huge presence on the floor and his superior rebounding qualities. Those 15-20 points a night are worth something too, right? I still say we are missing two half players. One half is Darius Millers dark side where he isn’t afraid to be aggressive and the other is the sharp-shooting side of Darnell D. If either half shows up in any game we seriously have 6 super threats to guard.

Good signs abound especially once again in the latter half of the game: our team is acting like a bunch of veterans (minus Cuz) and not letting things get away from us. Cuz playing aggressive and NOT fouling out, Patrick proving again he is unstoppable and Bledsoe and Darnell hitting 3s. And the best sign of the game was DeAndre Liggins. I know some of the folks who follow this have told me they are ready for him to leave. I feel just the opposite, I want him to stay and learn under Cal (who else could do well with this kid?) and prosper as his own man. He got a raw deal with Billy G and it seems he didn’t do anything to improve the situation this season but it appears he is staying strong, proud, and ready to be a contributor to this team. His speed alone makes him valuable to us but lets hope he has picked up on some things from the two frosh guards. Good for you DeAndre Liggins I wish I could shake your hand and tell you way to hang in there and keep doing the right things and good results will occur. Congrats to the coach for being the first since Rupp to have such success in the beginning of the season. I can see us going well into SEC play with no losses. However Rupp’s first loss in the 31-32 season? Georgia, the first SEC team we will play. I can too see another not so rosy scenario where we win everything but to TN and FL. YUCK and F….

IU vs. UK wasn’t a super exciting game but it was once again entertaining meaning that we are having FUN again! I think that is really all us UK fans have been wanting. We have finally gotten over our bland brand of basketball and have some excitement again!

In between musings: the state of things that dont really matter.

UNC fan who lives in the real world. Every other person and their brother has read this story but I will link it anyway. He apparently recognizes what we do about wall and understands how sacred this game really is to us. This shows the difference in UNC fans and Duck(I mean Dook) fans. UNC has class in victory and defeat and you have to respect that. I would hope if the shoe were on the other foot we would be as gracious.
http://www.sbnation.com/2009/12/7/1188752/the-basketball-cathedral-kentuckys?login=1260235707

Where’s the Boogie man?
Darren Moscoe better known to UK fans as the boogie man in section 18/19 who is gyrating dancing machine has been missing after his initial presence of the season in one of the first games. I actually have video of his performance in what looked to be like an authentic Rick Robey warm up. I hope he is well and we get to see more of his great energy this season.

Liggens wearing a jersey. For the first time this season I have noticed that Liggins was wearing a jersey under his warm-ups. Previously he has worn bulkier shirts underneath. This time like the rest of the team it was clearly visible under his top. Could it be just hopeful wishing on his part by at least fully dressing for what has been the biggest hyped game of his young career at UK? I have heard everything regarding rumors on this issue this season. Some were pretty interesting while some were just right distasteful. I think the good news coming from this from my perspective is in question form. Would you rather have DeAndre Liggins playing time as a distraction or perhaps an injury or starter being a ball hog or perhaps our stars getting in trouble using fake IDs to get into a club where all the patrons and staff know you? I will take this distraction any day and good for Cal putting everybody in their place and telling them to mind their own business. UPDATE: Lil Lig got 40 seconds of PT baby! This means that he has not been institutionally disciplined which simply means that it’s a “team” issue and not a violation worthy of investigation (at least that what most of us where hoping for).

During halftime of the NC game I got to shake hands with and congratulate Randall Cobb for having a great season this year and I have to say I was pretty numb to not have at least asked to get my picture with the guy.

Sprowl, my long time friend, roommate and co-worker that went to UK when I did came to the game with me on Saturday for the UNC smashing party and I couldn’t have been thrilled more to have him there right in the middle of it. SO thrilled I guess I owe him an apology for talking so damn much during the game; I am pretty sure he knows the difference in PP and the rest is that PP is an NBA player playing college ball and I don’t have to repeat telling him that again… I am sure he knows that Buffalo Trace is partly responsible for that.

How exciting that the Monster Mash will be in house and on the broadcast for the highly anticipated win 2000. What great memories he created for us blue bloods in the early 90s when throwing the entire program on his shoulders and bringing us out of the dark and back into the glory.

IS Wall All that? Add the other two games not listed below and I have to agree with John Clay of the Herald leader. He says so and the “survey says” yes:

through their first six games

John Wall, UK 18.5 7.8 4.0 55.6
Cal coached players:
Tyreke Evans, Memphis 16.2 3.8 3.5 44.9
Derrick Rose, Memphis 17.0 4.3 2.8 50.0
UK freshmen:
Patrick Patterson, 2007-08 (15.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg)
Jamal Mashburn, 1990-91 (14.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
Chris Mills, 1988-89 (12.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
Rex Chapman, 1986-87 (16.3 ppg, 3.3 apg)

UK vs. UCONN: heavyweight bout in the Garden

So is it that surprising now after 8 (some) hard fought games that we would go to anyone other than “JW” as some in the media is now putting it so as not to get tired saying his name? Perhaps they aren’t saying so much to prevent them from getting tired of it as they are for everyone else’s benefit. Is there another way to say John Wall is the man? The savior? The messiah? God? Okay I will take Blue Jesus. I like that one better for some reason.

Post game Cal spoke of riding JW at the end of the game. I don’t think he was just talking about the team. I think when he said his collective “we” he meant all of us who bleed blue. While its true the fortunes of this team ride heavily on Wall lets be honest and just all admit we are smitten. How many years has it been since you have loved a cat more than this guy? I hear some folks in the back talking about a skinny kid named Chapman? Wasn’t he also knicknamed the savior? It feels good to let someone inside our hearts to warm it up with basketball fire that hasn’t really been felt around here for many years or some would say 11 to be exact.

When he had his first spurt of the game it led to a 12-0 UK lead and many people shaking their heads at the Garden that maybe just maybe this guy is actually better than we currently think he is? That first run was what this team should be all about, taking the ball away and taking it up court fast and to the rim. When you are this much more talented than your opponents and don’t make stupid mistakes you can just look them in the eye and tell them you are taking it to the rim and they aren’t going to stop you. I think that describes John Wall in the open court with the ball in his hand, “stop me if you can”. Just like most of the great heavyweight title fights that the Madison Square Garden has hosted this wasnt over in the first round. As a matter of fact this bout would go the distance. All UCONN could do is call time outs to stop him and it sort of worked, and sort of worked well. After UK dominated and got a burst out of their system they sit back and let their opponent push them around for a while.

All UK could do is get out of the way of the husky rebounders it seemed on each play. The cats were manhandled on the inside especially on the offensive end where second chance points were non-existent because we were being whipped that bad on the boards and as a matter of fact being doubled up. All in all the first half wasn’t that great for UK and if it weren’t for our two workhorses we would have been in much worse position than down by 6 at half. Jerome Dyson’s experience and poise shown through as he ended up putting 17 on Kentucky (13 in the 1st half) and proving to a lot of folks out there that he is for real a great guard. He is the only reason UCONN made a stand against our early run and took the lead.

The second half belong to two freshmen, Cousins and “JW”. Cousins 7 rebounds and 10 points with only one foul in a solid second half gave us room to spread and let the blue baby do his thing. The turnovers are nothing new to this team especially Wall but he had half of the teams total to himself while he was busy dismantling a solid experienced backcourt. The offfensive effort by Dyson and Kemba Walker who had a solid game himself made UCONN a competitor throughout. Kentucky’s shooting could do nothing but improve from an anemic first half. Solid efforts by Harris on the defensive end and Dodson solidifying the shooting range threat really show how this team can be diverse in its efforts each night out. UConn didn’t slow down in the second half and shot the same % I just think we really clamped down and stayed aggressive after the ball forcing 8 more turnovers 5 of which were steals. I believe the lack of aggressiveness on both ends of the court by Darius Miller for the cats is the real catalyst for our grinding slow to a near stop during the first half. He didn’t show up to play in the 2nd half either compared with what he is capable of.

Overall the cats are making real strides in simple things like composure and poise when something needs to go our way. We outscored a team in the second half this time as Carolina did a good job outplaying us in the 2nd half of that game. With this win can we start to assume the pieces of this puzzle are coming together this early in the season? I am not for certain but I am trying to visualize a team that’s had a tougher week of basketball than what the cats are currently being tested under? Could a sleeper/trap game be in our future? Would it be a bad thing if we did get caught up? I say so. I want to be 14-0 when that team from up the road comes into town on Jan 2nd. Do I think we are capable? Yes. Will we make it to that mark. Yes.

Bliss in the Bluegrass: UK vs. UNC 32nd edition

The two royal families of basketball met in Rupp on Saturday afternoon for a game fit for a king. I have to admit that bliss is a light term compared to the way it felt on Saturday afternoon as my team, the team with decades more tradition than the “new” winning program in basketball, was once again (insert “finally”) flexing some muscle. Dare I say that its been 6 years since we were even talked about in the same realm of the other final 4 contenders, should I further dare to say its been 10 since we were really that good. This is Kentucky, the place where absences from final fours gets you shown to the door after 20 win seasons each year, the same Kentucky where the NIT gets you put out on your BUTT. There is a lot of talk lately about what is it really that a Kentucky fan “wants” or expects and I am going to venture a guess here. I think we, just like young girls in high school, want to be invited to the dance by someone who wants us. I guess you could compare my analogy to all the late talk about being relevant. Being relevant is however, well, relative. You know a concept of interpretation as to whom it is you that you are relative, and how relevant you actually are. Being wanted means that without you it was boring and no fun, not only did you want to go to the dance really bad, someone else thought you would be a good partner to dance with and wanted you to be there enjoying the same thing. I guess I am beating around the bush saying that without KY in the national picture recently there have been other teams enjoying a level of success at our expense that was unheard of. They had successes in recruiting, pre-season, non-conference, conference and of course tourney play. Saturday afternoon, in front of more people than ever before witnessed a game in Rupp Arena (24468), we learned that once again we like to dance with the big kids and on some level they missed dancing with us while we weren’t dancing so well. What they may have forgotten is that once we start learning to dance again we may soon be the Belle of the Ball.

What we can clearly see from the outset (and from every other person’s opinion) Kentucky goes as John Wall goes. While this is a pretty accurate statement I feel that this team would still be okay without him. The fear-theory, early on, that the two best point guards in the nation playing together would create some issues may have some teeth to it. I will say it differently however as it was alluded to by Bledsoe himself, after the 68-66 Kentucky victory over Carolina on Saturday. He wouldn’t be making some of his mistakes that have currently dogged him as he has turned the ball over by trying to operate “around” Wall or be “having to throw the ball to John”. It’s hard to tiptoe around a sleeping giant and not have some sort of fear of disturbing him. With Wall clearly the superior athlete in this scenario I can see how young Bledsoe can make a couple of rookie mistakes based on being in the shadow of the future superstar. Does anyone remember the best debut of a KY freshman ever? I do it was nearly a month ago and the young man was casting his own shadow on the court of Rupp against a 09 tournament team. The Bledsoe we saw that night was without fear of involving a player better than him at his own position. The one we saw on Saturday was a more mature version of the same player contributing in a very different manner than in his debut. He is the kid who had a bad game until it was his turn to shine. He never let down his aggressive nature on either sideo fo the ball although he had a piddly game admittedly even to his own standards up to the point of the game where he bailed us out with his free throws like a Wall-St. investment bank .

For the folks that know me they know I have seen Kentucky-Carolina before as well as Kentucky-Duke in person. Those who I have gotten to bore over and over with my stories of getting to see the 96-98 championship run live and in person will tell you that I am fond of those teams for a lot of reasons. I have the same level of admiration for this team as I did those. I am honestly giddy still from getting to sit 5 feet from the sidelines at this game and get to witness these two storied programs clash in our house. I told folks all week that it would likely be that I won’t get much sleep before the game and it held true. I recall seeing 2:30AM and still being wide awake from the anticipation of what was to come. Boy was I ever right in that anticipation. Kentucky-Carolina 2009 edition did not fail to mesmerize this basketball fan.
The 9-2 start from the Tarheels was starting to reel and even as Kentucky answered with two baskets in the next couple of minutes it was as if the wildcats of previous seasons were in the game letting a good team be better. The 28-2 run everyone is talking about really should be shortened to a 24-2 as the “run” started as sloppy as the first 5 minutes but we were lucky to get a couple of rebounds off misses. However you want to cue the run it was probably the most fun I have ever had watching a basketball game. Maybe it was the Tarheels, maybe it was the seat location or maybe it was we saw shades of the past in a big run against a good team. I pick the latter. Remember when the cats used to go on big runs? Well unless you’re at least 20 years old you probably don’t as we haven’t had a team since the 90s do that. Now the big question is can we replicate that type of play. Two huge things stick out in this game for me. The first was that our 28-2 run could have been much better. Really? Yes, really. I am sorry to say but the reason was that one player wasn’t on the same page as the others. I won’t embarrass him by saying his name but his jersey number is 15. Smack dab in the middle of our run and after hitting an impossible looking rainbow of a jump shot Cuz shut us down in less than 30 seconds. Breaking it down: fouled on a miss, miss the FT, fouled on a miss, miss the FT, miss the 2nd FT, miss a jumper then foul the Carolina man who got the rebound. The score never changed during this time but it certainly should have in our favor.

I want to honor this long awaited run that Kentucky fans have been waiting on for 10 years now by breaking it down. I hope this is easly enough to follow from the 2-9 score at 16:30 to go in the half:
John Wall dunk
Orton steal
Orton block
Wall layup
UNC turnover
Miller jumper
Miller steal
Patterson jumper
UNC turnover
Miller – 3 assist to wall
UNC jumper by Drew
Patterson layup assist by miller
Cousins Jumper assist to harris
(Big CUZ breakdown for about 40 seconds)
Dodson steal, miss a 3 and get his own rebound, hit a 3 assist to wall
Wall layup and one
Patterson 2 FTs

Playing not to lose almost cost us the game in the second half although UNC never rallied back. The play of Tyler Zeller kept them in the game in addition to the three timely 3 pointers that they made. For Zeller to not be as physically intimidating as our bigs he sure carries a good game especially around the rim. Our 12 turnovers for the half is unacceptable and unfortunately mostly on Wall and Bledso. Thank goodness Eric Bledsoe has practiced his free throws. With a sub-par first half he bounced back like tigger again and held his composure and didn’t allow himself to bring his play down. Cousins can learn a lot from this kid. With our gaurds the fast breaks are getting freakish as even though someone may be assigned to guard them they hardly have enough time to find them by the time they are streaking to the basket. Our points off turnovers really disappeared in the 2nd half indicating that our defense lapsed and we were indeed playing not to lose.

Earshots:
cal to Bledsoe while Wall was MIA - "Eric control the game!"
Roy Williams to his entire team " SOMEBODY STOP THE EASY PASS" Well there you have it folks my take on the Carolina game. For what its worth I have heard Rupp louder but I haven’t seen many times when the cotton tops and blue-hairs all get up and down the whole game. The fan participation was much better than I have ever seen. It was so much fun I cant say I have ever been more entertained by a game of basketball in my life. Lets hope this win sets us up for a very successful rest of the season.

Carolina prep: games 6 & 7

Okay folks sorry for the delay. I have been working on some personal items of mine that require a lot of writing to finish. I am going to sum up the Stanford a& UNC Asheville games as periods of growth that have included growing pains. Putting themselves in difficult positions and being able to pull it out has shown very valuable as both the coaches and team have discussed following both of those two games.
Notables from Stanford: good effort by Cousins with 13 pts but fouling out overshadowed a good performance and took a weapon from the team. His emotions were something that were questioned during his recruitment so we cant pretend we didnt know what we were getting. Once he gets a little more time under his belt and some things go his way I believe he is going to play HUGE in the SEC season. P-square getting another double-double and Bledsoe showing back up with 13 pts & 4 rebounds & assists. John Wall doing what he does best as a scoring machine while still getting 5 assists. Ramon coming on strong with 7 pts & 7 rebs getting solid minutes. Darius’ resurrection with 13 made him look like a go to guy coming in the following months.

Notables from UNCA: Demarcus playing like superman again is the highlight of the game. 24 pts & 10 rebounds show that when he isn’t crying like a baby he will be in the running for superman. PP got another double-double but got robbed by the official scorers. Go back and watch the game and see if he didn’t have at lease 10 rebs. Miller putting in solid minutes and nailing 3 – 3s. Darnell breaking out of the riding the pine funk that has had him missing in action over a couple of games was good to see with 15 pts including 3 – 3s. Bledsoe was a silent partner again putting up decent numbers in several categories: 7 pts, 5 assists, and 3 steals. While John Wall wasn’t throwing up huge numbers he was 6 for 9 with 12 pts and 14 HUGE assists while still bringing down 4 rebounds and 6 steals. I will say a smaller point total wasn’t the big story as the all around play that this guy gives us is incredible.

Alright the baby blue Tarheels are next. I have some good lines for this one so it should be interested. Did I mention I don’t like watching on TV anymore? What a big cuz I am being…