Seth made reference to it in his last post so I thought I would begin to tally the results with only three games left this year.  As of now, myself and Seth are tied with a whopping 14 out of 31 correct picks.  Kenny, our fearless leader can be eliminated from competition although he is only one game back with 13 of 31 correct.  He and Seth have the same picks for the final three games while I differ in one game.

FIESTA BOWL

Everyone here thinks Texas will take care of the Buckeyes and lobby for a few AP National Championship votes because, after all, they did beat Oklahoma this year (stupid BCS).

GMAC BOWL

This will be the deciding game in this year’s UKWC Bowl Pick Challenge.  Seth and Kenny both agree that Ball State will get their 13th win of the season while I argue that Tulsa will be out to avenge their loss to ECU in the Conference USA Championship and prove that they should have gone to Memphis to lose to the Cats. 

BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Everyone here agrees that Florida will become the second school to win two BCS Titles.  In doing so, they will join LSU as the only other school to win two BCS Championships, further solidifying the fact that the SEC is the best football conference in the country! (Of course, if Oklahoma wins, it would be their 2nd BCS title)

Here’s to the Golden Hurricane, bring home the victory for me!

Here are some random thoughts for your enjoyment.

* How about that Liberty Bowl? Seriously, if I told you that one out of three SEC teams that played bowl games on Friday would lose, raise your hand if you would have said Alabama. I picked Kentucky in the bowl picks contest because Kenny and Derrick did and I didn’t want to look like a Herald-Leader writer. It was the worst possible situation going into the game. Mike Hartline was starting and Randall Cobb wasn’t there to catch his passes. The defense was going up against an extremely athletic quarterback, the one thing that has plagued Kentucky defenses since the dawn of time. Then the game started, the bad guys jumped out 16-3 and Trevard Lindley got hurt. Did you think the good guys would win? If you said yes, you are a filthy liar. Whatever Rich Brooks said to the guys worked. You can downplay the season all you want, but when you get the 2009 Michael McCambridge College Football Encyclopedia, it will look like this on one page.

KENTUCKY

2006 – Music City Bowl Champions
2007 – Music City Bowl Champions
2008 – Liberty Bowl Champions

* As for basketball, it’s time to start crushing. I hated for the guys to lose to Louisville on a 30-footer by Edgar Sosa, especially when they had come back from seven down in the final minute. They deserved better than that. But at the same time, it shouldn’t have come down to that. The defense shouldn’t have given up so many open threes. Granted, Louisville has gotten those kinds of looks all season long because of their ability to take guys off the dribble. Only difference is that the shots went in against us and they threw up bricks against Minnesota and UNLV. However, the way they got those open shots was actually the result of poor defensive planning. There was absolutely no need for Kentucky to double team Earl Clark when he took it to the rack. Perry Stevenson held him in check the entire game. He didn’t need help, especially considering how passively Clark plays most of the time. Instead, the doubles came and Clark found open guys because he’s a good passer. And unlike the rest of the season, the shots went in all day long.

* Even though the Louisville game was very upsetting, I’m going to channel my inner Mr. T and offer my prediction for the SEC slate: My prediction? Pain. That’s what I predict. I’ve seen every SEC team this year. Excluding Kentucky, here’s how I rank them.

1. Arkansas
2. Tennessee
3. Vanderbilt
4. LSU
5. South Carolina
6. Florida
7. Alabama
8. Mississippi State
9. Georgia
10. Auburn
11. Ole Miss (now that everybody on that team is injured, otherwise they’d be at around 5)

The opening three games will tell us everything we need to know about Kentucky for the rest of the season. Vandy is first, and that game is Saturday. Kevin Stallings is a brilliant game coach, but I’d like to believe he has a beatdown coming from Kentucky in the near future. Time will tell if this will be the team to do it, but I know one thing – nobody on that team can guard Patrick Patterson. Other than Jarvis Varnado, I don’t think any one player in the league can guard Patrick Patterson. For as much grief as I have given Louisville this season, they do play good defense. Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina and Arkansas use similar defensive styles, but of those teams, I feel that only South Carolina plays defense with the same kind of intensity. A lot of that has to do with Devan Downey, who I say is the best defensive guard in the country. Unlike last season (and barring injury), I don’t see a game remaining on the schedule where there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance for a win. No SEC team scares me.

* With that in mind, one thing has to happen. That fifth guy needs to emerge. In Porter, Meeks, Stevenson and Patterson, you have four guys that will probably remain in the rotation for the rest of the season. As the last few games have shown, Mike Porter is actually serviceable when there is somebody else on the court to handle main ball handling duties. When he has to shoulder that responsibility, the offense stagnates. Somebody has to play small forward/point forward well enough to keep that job for the rest of the season. Every candidate has his own problems, and I don’t feel like going into detail on those. It looked like it was going to be Kevin Galloway yesterday, but for reasons only Billy Gillispie, Kevin Galloway and God know, it wasn’t. I have no idea why Galloway got taken out yesterday when he did. Usually there’s a reason. If somebody could tell me what that is, there would be much appreciation. When the fifth guy emerges to play the 3 spot, this team will reach its full potential, which is scary good.

* I loved how the football seniors kept making huge plays in the second half. David Jones ran back the opening kickoff. Tony Dixon had one of his best games ever from an all-purpose standpoint. Ventrell Jenkins had the game-winning fumble return. Braxton Kelley, Johnny Williams and Myron Pryor all made big plays on defense. Tim Masthay was his usual awesome self in the punting game. All these guys made the most of their last game, and I’m proud of them.

I’m out of thoughts. I’ll be back with more basketball stuff tomorrow.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, hoping my basketball predictions are better than my football bowl picks.

What a way to lose a rivalry game.  That’s all I can say about yesterday’s game.  It just goes to show that the game takes a full 40 minutes of effort and I think our guys proved that.  With less than a minute remaining, U of L had thought the game was over and began talking to the crowd and celebrating.  Francisco Garcia was playing cheerleader, a good role for him I might add, and T-Wont was puckering up those gigantic lips for a little yapping with the fans.  Someone forgot to tell the Cats it was over though.  With a little assistance from Earl Clark (how is that guy a future lottery pick?) (maybe a scratch off at best) the Cats scratched their way to four points in 10 seconds to tie the game.  Then the most obsurd of things happened.  Edgar Sosa actually made a big shot!  Even as he was taking the shot I figured the game was going into overtime because, after all, it was Sosa taking that shot. 

I firmly believe that had Sosa’s heave not gone in, Kentucky would have probably pulled out the win.  The main reason was because the Cats had all of the momentum.  Louisville thought the game was over and it showed in the last minute.  It takes a lot for these guys to get in the right mindset to play at such a high level and the Cards had slipped out of that mindset a little early.  I don’t think they would have regained it if the game had gone to overtime.  Add to that the fact that Earl Clark had fouled out and the Cats would have had even more of an advantage. 

The killer for the Cats yesterday, as it has been all season, was turnovers.  21 turnovers against anybody will normally get you beat.  Shockingly, Michael Porter accounted for none of them, thus solidifying his place in the starting lineup for now.  It seemed like Jodie Meeks was trying to hard to make things happen early in the game and it showed when he was a walking turnover in the first couple of minutes.  He settled down a little later in the game and led all scorers with 28 points, including 7 in the last minute or so. 

Patrick Patterson had yet another solid game, scoring 22 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.  I cant help to think how much better this team would be if there was a third threat offensively.  It would take a lot of pressure off of Patrick and Jodie, but could also get the other guys better shots.  There are several guys on this team that could step into that role but none have been consistent enough thus far.  Perry Stevenson would be the most obvious because defending two big guys really is tough to do but he hasn’t returned to his end of the season form from a year ago.  I still think Darius Miller can be the third guy but he has no confidence in himself right now.  Finally, any of the three lead guards, Porter, Liggins, or Galloway could fill this role but none have played two games at the same level as of yet.

The big game is upon us, now only a couple hours away, and I can’t help but think what this game could mean for our young Cats if they could go into Freedom Hall and leave with a victory over Louisville. 

First off, a win could boost an already building confidence in these guys that they can win anywhere against anyone.  Louisville was a top 5 preseason team.  I feel that they can still regain that ranking if they can gain some leadership and shoot better from outside.  As of now, they are not a top 5 caliber team.  The Cats need to jump on them early and never let up.  Its been proven by their three losses, the Cards can go on long stretches without any resemblence of an offense.  If the Cats can prevent such a stretch from happening to them, I like their chances.  Patterson must touch the ball every trip down the floor.  Samuels hasn’t proved he can guard a player of his size yet and we all know Patterson is probably better than all of them.  Look for Pat to have a big game today.

Second, if Louisville does get things turned around in conference play, which I expect them to do, a win against them on the road will definitely look good on the Cats resume when March comes around.  I just hope UL doesn’t get it turned around today! 

After going over a year since they were last ranked in the top 25, the Cats could easily enter the polls with a win over the Cards today.  A win over a ranked team on the road is always eye catching.  Add to that the fact that they have won 11 of their last 12 and 6 in a row, and a top 25 ranking becomes more of a possibility with a win.  The icing on the cake is that the game is on CBS after the NFL playoff game and doesn’t have a lot of competition at the 4:30 timeslot.  That means many of the poll voters will be able to see the game.  Just don’t fall on your faces Cats!

With 2008 coming to a close, I’ve been forced to reflect on everything the year has brought. Which brings to me to the year in review for UK and it’s athletic squads.

And in my reflections, I had one reoccurring theme — disappointment.

Can me a fair weather fan. Call me a Louisville fan. Call me whatever you want. But as we walk down memory lane, think of the present, not the optimisic future that many UK teams possess. We’re talking about the past/present. Oh and, on a technical basis, UK’s Music City Bowl win over Florida State isn’t included. It was played on Dec. 31, 2007. Sorry.

Just think, despite a great conference run, the basketball team was bounced out of the NCAA tournament quickly and for the first time in a long time, no one was quite sure the Cats would even make the tournament. Patrick Patterson’s injury worries the Big Blue Nation.

After storming out to another quick and forceful start, the baseball team falls apart in conference play. They stumble in the SEC tournament and miss out on another regional. The program building coach jets for alma mater and SEC foe Mississippi State. Many top recruits sign pro contracts instead of coming to Lexington, but a good class is still landed.

Women’s basketball semi-salvages a piss-poor season with a deep NIT run fueled by the opporunity to host week in and week out. But with only a few recruits, two of which are transfers and must sit out, there isn’t much hope for the next season.

And the softball and tennis teams struggle as always.

When fall starts, the football team stumbles mightily at the end with a 2-6 record and zero wins of note. Injuries and woeful offense make fans uneasy. On the basketball front, it’s clear UK is a two-man show and VMI decides to add itself to the list of recent Cat killers.

And the marquee win? A decent West Virginia team. The key loss, a five-pointer to a ranked Miami team that is respectable. The ugly? North Carolina, without it’s best player, showing UK has much farther it has to go until it’s elite again.

Oh and the volleyball team chokes away a share of the SEC crown and once again exits quickly out of the NCAA tournament.

Look at all that. Disappointing. It’s safe to say I’m ready to see 2008 end, as UK athletics is a shell of what we all thought it to be.

That’s why Mitch Barnhart is correct in his plan to return UK to prominence in all sports, as soon as possible.

2009 will probably be a good start. A win over East Carolina on Jan. 2 is the perfect time to start.

Since we’re only a few hours from today’s basketball tip-off, I’ll leave you with a quick link of the bowl preview I did for the UWIRE and CBS College Sports.

It also has a link to a story I did this season on Moncell Allen.

Enjoy.

With the unofficial midseason break known as Christmas now in the past, its time to look at some of the things I will be expecting from the basketball Cats for the rest of this year. 

First, Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson could both break the 1000 point mark for their UK careers by the end of the season.  Meeks is currently 100th on the list with 689 career points.  Using only the remaining regular season games and not the SEC tournament or NCAA tournament, Jodie needs to average 17 points per game to hit the 1000 point mark.  Patterson currently ranks 107th all-time with 639 points.  His task is a little taller than Meeks’ but he needs to average 20 per game to reach the 1000 point club.  This brings up a good question:  Where would these guys be if injuries hadn’t hindered their play last season?  I think its safe to say that if these two stars were healthy all of last season, they would be knocking on the 1000 point club’s door already if they hadnt already got there, especially Meeks. 

This brings up something to look forward to if the stars align.  If Patrick Patterson remains at Kentucky for two more years and graduates in 2011 and remains healthy for the remainder of his career in Lexington, he has a chance to break the scoring record at Kentucky.  I know its a long shot to see all of the above to happen but stranger things have happen. 

Next, how long will it be before Kevin Galloway is averaging 20+ minutes a game?  Its obviuos that he is becoming more familiar with playing Division-1 basketball with every game.  He has started the last four games for the Cats and in each game the Cats have gotten off to good starts as a result of Galloway’s play.  He only has 10 points this season but he also has 16 assists including 8 in his last two games.  He is more of a true point guard than Porter or Liggins in that he doesn’t look for his shot when he is in.  If it’s open he will take it but he doesn’t try to create on his own.  He is more concerned with creating opportunities for his teammates.  The best part is that he will only get better as the season goes on. 

Now, with New Year’s coming in less than a week, I’ve decided to put together a wish list for the rest of this basketball season.

1. The most important item is to beat Louisville on January 4th.  This is important, not only because it is Louisville, but because it will continue to build the confidence of this team and prove that they can beat a ranked team on the road, something they couldn’t do last year.  It might also get them back in the Top-25 rankings, a place they haven’t been since the Gardner-Webb fiasco last season. 

2. Win or share the SEC Regular Season Championship.  The conference is down this season compared to some of the other major conferences so winning or claiming a share in the regular season title is a neccessity if this team wants a good seed going into March. 

3. Return to glory and win the SEC Tournament in Tampa.  Last year was a bad experience all around for this team.  From having their game delayed because of a tornado hitting the Georgia Dome to playing in Georgia Tech’s empty arena, these guys were glad to leave Atlanta after their overtime loss to Georgia.  This year, the tournament is in Tampa so it will be a fresh start for this team.  Winning the SEC Tournament will once again improve their seed in the NCAA Tournament.

4. Finally, the last thing I wish for this team is to advance past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 when Patrick Sparks’ heroics almost beat Michigan State in Austin.  To get this done, the team has to do all of the above to secure themselves a good seed in the tournament.  The higher the seed, the less likely the chance is that they will play a top 5 seed in the first or second round.  Winning two games in the tournament will build confidence for these guys and possibly carry them to more wins in March.  We’ve seen recently how they play when they have confidence.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, this year. We here at UKWC surely did. But the gift-giving is (mostly) over and with only one week until UK’s AutoZone Liberty Bowl matchup, we have to take a break from basketball for a moment (because it’s just Florida Atlantic) and see what exactly our football team is doing.

So starting today and every morning up until the bowl game on Jan. 2, we’ll tackle an issue facing the football team before they go against the East Carolina Pirates. Today’s issue? The offense.

If you think about it, is there a bigger issue?

Let’s say the already doubtful Randall Cobb doesn’t play. That would mean UK’s top three offensive threats won’t play since Derrick Locke and Dicky Lyons Jr. haven’t since the field since early in the season. What does that leave UK with? An unknown Mike Hartline and talent but unsure levels of production from Alfonso Smith and Tony Dixon.

Looking at Hartline first, there is really no way to tell what will happen. The sophomore saw spot duty in the Tennessee game after being benched in the middle of the year. He didn’t look bad, but honestly, Hartline never looked awful. The problem is that with inexperienced wide receivers, Hartline’s solid, but never good play is exposed. Teams drop back in coverage, creating a near-impossible chance of completing anything. If Skip Holtz watches any tape, this will be easy to scheme against defensively.

Hartline reminds me of Louisville QB Hunter Cantwell. If he has good receivers, the kid looks All-SEC. If there’s inexperience, it’s ugly. Exhibit A is the entire season. Not his fault though. I