One Game Suspension

Senior LSU forward Malcolm White served a one game suspension today against Ark for his flagrant foul on Anthony Davis. I’ve always liked LSU coach Trent Johnson and hoped he would make a point that playground antics shouldn’t be tolerated. Sadly he didn’t do anything more than issue the one game, violation of team rules type suspension.

Would a multi game suspension of White have gotten the point across to players and coaches? Of course not, but unless someone does it (you hear that NCAA) the sport will continue to deteriorate. Don’t think the deterioration is going to happen? Watch the game and society in general for the next few years and we can sit around some day, listen to crappy music and drink a few beers while you tell me I’m right.

OK I’m making a bigger deal of it than it deserves, but even Custer was forced to make a stand. Unlike Custer’s stand, Johnson’s stand wouldn’t have been his last stand and might even have started a trend where coaches stand up for something they aren’t paid to do.

UK Fans

I previously wrote another article concerning fans versus Cal, but never published it.  However, after today’s article in the local paper I decided to write an article addressing what I feel have been condescending attitudes toward us UK fans.

It is true that we UK fans are difficult to please.  We are contrary, demand discipline  and perfection that we ourselves can’t and haven’t obtained.  I think some of us drink acid for breakfast and chase it down with day old cold coffee. We know our basketball better than most any fan base and perhaps better than any simply because we eat and breathe basketball more than any other fan base not to mention there are seemingly more of us.

From the ending of the college basketball season until the start of the new basketball season we scour every avenue available for one morsel of information about the latest recruit(s) or for information that will help our team during the next season.  That devotion has earned us the scorn and envy of coaches, announcers, prognosticators and certainly competing fan bases (all of whom have their own agendas) for perhaps 70 or 80 years.  We teach our young about UK basketball as much as any preacher tries to teach us about their particular firebrand of religion.  In the event of conflict between that religion and a UK basketball game well……uh…u….know!  Let me put it this way church coffers lose anytime UK is playing basketball.

We work hard and deserve our billing as a fan base and to that end coaches want to coach at UK, players want to play at UK, but they also dread the scorn of the tongue if they don’t “bring it” every game.  That can be a good thing or a bad thing.  If I remember correctly one coach called it Camelot, another left town in the middle of the night on big bird, another wanted to go back to Texas as soon as he ran into expectations head on while another wanted to come here.  All that is because of tradition.  Tradition of what?  Tradition of winning, but more than anything else because fans care and they care a lot.  We are willing to place coach and players (even announcers) alike on a pedestal for their accomplishments.  All that comes with a price much like a young lady being wined and dined by a rich man until she says she will wear his ring.  Biscuits and gravy won’t do folks for that young lady and mediocrity won’t do for the UK fan either.

Cal, I felt you talked down to us for two games in a row and even after the latest win made a quick reference to the play of Mr. Teague.  Well, coach you were right he did play better, but he did have some turnovers early on in the game.  I know, I know, he is only a freshmen and will improve so much that we will forget the growing pains of playing at UK and for you.  In the long run if he is the player all of us thinks he can be, especially character wise,  the love relationship will put him back on a pedestal.

Cal, I feel that we have been upfront all along with whom and what we are so I rest my case in that regard.

Now to Mr. John Clay…..John, sometimes I like your writing, but often I don’t.  I like directness for the most part and I do agree with you that fans should yell and scream all game long every game, but it isn’t going to happen.  Older fans simply won’t and many can’t yell that much.  They definitely won’t stand very often, but I am telling you right now it is their right to be the fan they want to be the way they want to be.  If old ladies want to knit and talk about everything other than basketball let them knit and talk.  If they don’t want to stand then let them sit.  They paid for their tickets not you or me.  If you want to stand and yell then YOU stand and yell all game long.  Go ahead and make the person behind you angry because they can’t see around you.

Certainly, there is protocol for every fan to observe.  Sitting is absolute and standing part time is optional unless you are in the student section.  Now as for crowd noise that comes when the team plays well.  We, as noted, are spoiled and after a time of superlative play become immune to ordinary play and yesterday was ordinary play in the first half.  I know, I know, they won and the game was physical, but shooting was poor no matter how you cut it during the first half aside from a few 3′s tickling the nets so why scream at the top of your lungs.

Made baskets, made free throws, blocked shots, etc.  cause noise and we had few of those to yell about during the first half.  Therefore, your article is a little off base in my opinion.  Yes we are who we are!  We know where to go for the “it” thing and that is UK basketball.  We decide what to do when we get there and not some sports writer trying to fill space.

Just my not so humble opinion!

catfan4life

 

 

 

 

Now, what is in store for an encore?

What a finish to a year, athletically speaking of course! The only thing that would have made the finish to the year better was to have put a beat down on IU, but that loss wasn’t all bad (more on that later)!

The last week to the football schedule was going to be a bummer. I mean (admit it) all of us thought UT was going to win the game especially when we found out our quarterback was hurt and Newton wasn’t back yet either. We thought things couldn’t get much worse than the season we had going than to lose at home against a lowly UT team with a dispirited fan base like ours. Think about it for a moment will you….here we sat thinking we can’t even get a break in a year that should be the year we break the string. Woe is me (us), but how things changed! Matt Roark (you know I always liked him, because he came to UK as a quarterback, but never had an opportunity to play as one and yet switched gears and stayed) played the game of his life in directing the unlikely win against the boys in yellow (er, orange). Yep they left town while Rocky Top was playing off key and totally out of tune. What a day it was in the bluegrass.

Next up was UNC. This truly was a great, great game full of expectations for the highly heralded and highly regarded boys dressed in baby blue. They deserved the billing they received. Let us face it they are a good team with almost unheard of talent at every position yet UK won the battle with our highly talented and youthful players.

Battle it was, volley after volley, block and block, knock for knock, plan for plan, inspire and perspire from both teams, coaches and benches until the final second was gone from the game clock. When the clock stopped UK had won. Fans could hold their collective heads high, but the players had the satisfaction of a game well played. Theirs would be a memory nobody could erase from their minds when they tell their grandchildren in the yet to come years of memory. They will be able to look back at some of the great NBA players and say they played against that guy.

The only burp to the fantastic finish of 2011 was a last second shot for a loss at hated IU. Yes, I feel UK should have won the game and I just hope they get the opportunity in the tourney, but for now it is a little bitter pill to swallow.

However, in the end of it all if I had to choose which game to win all year against any other single loss (during the season not tourney) it would be the Louisville game. I don’t care where it is played I want that game in the win column come New Years day.

Little Brother tries to usurp his authority all year long until a smack down happens and it happened yesterday on December 31st. I am told that after the game Rick wouldn’t even come to the press conference. Perhaps somebody should have offered him a lollipop if he would come out, but perhaps he was too upset even for a lollipop. Folks, I don’t know about you, but if you turn down a lollipop you are upset. Perhaps ashamed is a better word, or maybe embarrassed that you got your lunch eaten again and this time it had your best marbles in it. Shame for shame Ricky, you should have have taken your medicine. I know, I know, your soft question buddies from Loserville wouldn’t get all the questions, but perhaps that UK hating guy from the local Lexington paper would have asked a couple of questions to let you take shots at UK. I mean, come on Rick that should have been lollipop enough for you (maybe a pacifier would work better).

I hate it that I feel that way for and about Rick, but he shouldn’t have taken that job with little brother. He knew it too, but somehow convinced himself (for whatever reason) it would be OK.

Rick found out something 9 years ago that he should have already known. UK fans hate UL! It hasn’t always been that way. We used to live in a little harmony knowing they were there as long as they kept their mouth shut, but like little brothers often do they started running their collective mouths. Rick knew that as well. He had talked to the powers that be so Rick even though I feel sorry that you have come to this end in my mind you made your own bed. One day Rick (and I hope it is next season) you will have left UL and given me the opportunity to begin the forgiveness stage. I want to really bad because of #6. I don’t want to hate you forever because of that, but until you leave that job you are on my list.

I digressed didn’t I, but it was worth it, ha!

Now the question has to be asked again….we received a great belated present as UK fans so now what Cal? Yes we are incessant aren’t we Cal, but you knew that when you took the job, didn’t you!? Great expectations lie ahead for all of us giddy fans.

All of us went to bed last evening dreaming of #8 all night long. Seems fitting somehow after the finish to the year just ended. Insatiable fans we are, but that is what makes UK so special.

Fans teaching their children, great-grandchildren about the folklore of UK and living vicariously through the fine, talented young men keep UK #1 in the hearts of the Big Blue Nation.  I feel safe in saying that as long as Cal is coach at UK the school will be well represented in the big dance in March which only adds to the mystique of UK basketball.

Yes sir #8 is possible as early as this year! These young Cat’s are a joy to watch.  Thanks guys and Cal for the ride!  Go Cat’s!

How Do You Spell Spurrier?

Don’t you just love the way the mainstream press constantly takes a little dig at coach Calipari. In their minds he will always be remembered because one of his players at U Mass took improper benefits, read bling. Another took a test or did he and coach played him after the NCAA cleared him to play

Now South Carolina has basically admitted that 10 football players took improper benefits, playing played 4 ineligible players in 2009 and other assorted no no’s. Today they self imposed penalties on themselves before they visit the NCAA to discuss there fate. For playing ineligible players alone they should get games forfeited, if the NCAA is honest.
http://www.gogamecocks.com/2011/12/14/183812/ggf-usc-acknowledges-ncaa-violations.html

Just by looking at the numbers, 10 to 1, it seems like the old balls coach is 10 times dirtier than coach Calipari. It also looks like he was no more involved in what happened at South Carolina than coach Calipari was at U Mass and Memphis.

In the future when national media writers talk about Steve Spurrier, will they add a little comment about having had games forfeited, probably. Will they mean any thing by it, probably not. After all you can’t sully a honest mans name, unless its spelled Calipari. Now how do you spell Spurrier?

UK vs IU

I remember Rick Pitino saying if UK doesn’t lose to Vanderbilt in 96 the Cat’s wouldn’t have won the NCAA tourney that year.  I feel that statement was appropriate then and also now for the present team.

I do want to give credit to a good IU team.  I am surprised how good they are and that Zeller kid is the best of the Zeller kids.  I just hope he will be gone after this year, ha!

Having said that, IU had some extra friends in the game especially in the first half.  Pundits say bad officiating doesn’t win games for the other team, but that is a farce.  First of all every no call or bad call gives the other team a chance to score more points, but the larger thing is that it gives a club impetus to impose their will on the opponent.  Those same calls or lack of them allows the surging team to be loose.  They feel they can do no wrong and can’t miss shots.  That scene unfolded before our eyes today.  During the entire game especially in the first half officials allowed IU to mug UK on both ends of the court.  The lack of calls in UK’s favor were basically absent and IU got loose real loose so they win.  During the 2nd half the calls were better, but IU pushed the UK players with their free hand on every drive and were never called for it.

Now to tell the truth Jones forgot to show up for this game.  For some reason he just wasn’t there.  Miller was tentative and passed up some open shots to drive and miss.  During the 2nd half he improved and I feel if he makes the three with 2 minutes left UK wins that game.  It was obvious Wiltjer was really nervous and unsure of himself.  He passed up shots that he should have been ready to take.  He definitely will not be a one-and-done.  I like him and he will be a good player at UK.  Davis absence for most of the game was probably the deciding factor in the loss, but that will change.  I know that Teague will improve greatly and I was proud of the way he picked himself up and played a heady 2nd half.  If we have that same player in the 1st half UK wins the game.  Finally, if Doron Lamb doesn’t show up and play a hard game UK loses by 20.  Gillie-the-Kidd played well as usual and it is unreal how he plays so mature at his young age.

The good part is all of those things that went wrong today can make the team even better so like Ricky said in ’96 perhaps the loss will propel this team to a championship.  They won’t be #1 next week and don’t deserve it yet anyway, but I feel they will be there again.

My reasoning is that they will not face a more hostile crowd that they faced today.  They now know they have to listen to coach and that every shot won’t always go in for them.  I think UK may not lose another game this year.  I mean that because they will improve so much from that loss.  Let us understand those are young players starting for the Cat’s.  Three freshmen and two sophomores take the floor.  They have so much to learn and they will.  By the time March rolls around this team will be awesome.

Don’t get me wrong, because I am severely disappointed in the loss.  I never want UK lose, but sometimes every team loses a game they should win (yes UK should have won) and goes on to greatness.

Will this be one of those teams that rise from defeat determined to be the very best or will they fall into mediocrity?  They will become great, because of their youth, their drive to be better, their individual superb talent level, their learning how to win as a team and finally because of one of the best coaches in the land.

Revel in the win IU while you can.  You deserve the win, but in the end you are going to get run over by a superior team in March.  Hope to see you there in our bracket.

FREAKING WOW HUH!!!

FREAKING WOW HUH!!! (I promise….I am now sober). Random thoughts this mornin as I bask in the glory delivered from the witnessing one of the best games where we actually didn’t get the sh*t end of the stick for once……..

A team shoots what 60 some % from 3 pt. land and we prevail? What’s that tell ya? I know what it tells me…..poor guarding or virtually non-existent and we still pull out the W? Holy Smokes Batman—-this team won’t be a beast ….it already is a BEAST. Can some Cat please please tell me why we didn’t get a hand up in those mugs? Anyway……..

LAMB—- TALKED THE TALKED & WALKED THE WALK!

HEY HEY—— How bout Eloy’s quality minutes?! He is being forgotten by most——— so SHOWIN ELOY SOME LOVE HERE!!!

Patience and Poise was TopKnotch! It wasn’t in my house, but on the court it was exemplified! I thought we would NEVER get over that 7 pt. hump <------- on paper that was more like a 15 pt. mountain to climb! I will say it gave me confidence that only once unc increased it to 9. Battle of the heavyweights??? Every time we'd punch (see the LOB that was SUPPOSED to be non-existent) they had a CLUBBER LANG counter. D*mn! No, I would define this as the 2 RIGHTFUL POWERHOUSES of basketball demonstrating why we will be remembered in History while the others (including ucla, YES I believe it) are merely a footnote. It don't get much better than this folks.

I rarely say this--- but honestly, there was no winner. Of course the W has to be logged somewhere and it's PURRFECT that sits in OUR Column not theirs!

Newfound respect for Roy Williams. The Tipton jab will forever live on in UK lore. WTG Roy--- you have a much nicer way of sayin Jerry, you're an a**hole than we do!

Semi Kudos to Rupp---- the bluehairs show that they can indeed do their job, but there's a lot of work to do.... huh beavis you don't let up when we have the ball <---- YOU DO THIS EVERY POSSESSION. I know if I would've spent that kind of money for those tickets......I wouldn't have needed a seat, I would've needed a new pr. of vocal chords! Potential is there, but I have the better solution------ THANK RUPP a reno is coming---- move them blue hairs up into some luxury seating w/their full bar and stock monitors. (after all they pay the bills) and let the OBSESSED, MENTALLY QUESTIONABLE, Louder Loonies down around the court. Problem solved and everybody WINS! YAY!!!!

Team effort but hands down w/no question Kid-Gilchrist..... saved this game! Love me some Kid-Gilchrist!!!
Cal~ was savy in having Teague hug Davis (Can you imagine if that block hadn't happened......it would've set Teague back a good 5-6 games in confidence) Kid has heart and talent but he's got a LOT to learn yet. Patience is an optimal word here........ we have gotten spoiled here over the last couple of years and you know what........he's not bad, he's an excellent point guard -----just on a normal level than what we have been accustomed to. WALL KNIGHT and then there was Teague <------ Let's all show him some love. He will come along quite nicely. He is a great 2-3 yr. player but if Orton can get drafted....... I REALLY LOVE Teague's chances. I think it benefits us & him to stick around a couple of years.

Carolina played spectacular ---- us, great but Man <---- the weaknesses were exposed. That lack of offensive rebounding throughout the 1st half liked to destroyed my house. And here's the kicker that we all know........ WE STILL WON!

How wild that game totally flip flopped from what we were all calling?????!!!! GOD, I love college basketball! You never know what you're gonna get!

Prepare yourselves for part 2 in March/April ......the ncaa took notice yesterday and will go above and beyond to make sure we have another epic encounter. I just hope they have the commonsense to set it up for all the marbles. <---- I'm not holding my breath though and look for it to occur in the elite 8. TYPICAL nazi's at their best ------> we’ve all witnessed their hypocrisy and idiocy when it comes to putting those brackets together. Any takers that puke will once again get a high seed and the easiest road???????

Hey, Ohio St. still think your decimation of duke is relevant or worthy?! Take notes you jackasses there was a clinic in Lexington yesterday that you all should have attended. I promise you….. you ain’t hangin no double deficit loss on either powerhouse—- so get over yourselves—- no better yet, keep buyin that b.s. the media is sellin you—– it’s job security for someone and validates your BIG 10 Basketball as being Beast (laughing as I typed that!) But I’m here to be your DebbieDowner—– YOU AREN’T AS SCARY AS YOU LOOKED……… duke is NOT a top 5 team by no stretch of the imagination and there RANKED opponent wins came at the expense of Tennessee and Michigan——- still think you’re special. Oh you’re good, but you ain’t beast!

ONE STEP CLOSER TO EIGHT MY FELLOW FELINES, ONE STEP CLOSER!
WE WILL NOT BE DENIED!!!

& of course it’s fitting to end this ramble with…………………………………….

BOW TO THE BROW!

Instant Classic

Yesterday’s game, UK vs UNC is an instant classic.  Two great teams not giving an inch to the other and battling to the end in a game decided by one point is one for the ages.  That is doubly so with perennial powerhouses going at each other at high noon on Saturday.

The game was marked by every real basketball fan as a must watch.  Games like that have even the most seasoned writers and prognosticators scratching their head and stuttering a few unintelligible words trying to pick a winner.

Even though UNC lost to UNLV most people still picked them to beat the  talented youthful Cat’s.  Most people thought the home court win streak was going to end yesterday for the Cat’s.  All of the elements were there for an upset at the hands of the hated baby blue uniforms with a hated coach at the helm.

UNC has great, great talent with youth mixed into an already seasoned talented team with veterans running the show.  UNC had a revenge motive from the NCAA loss to UK last season.  They had a bounce back motive from the loss at UNLV.  They needed to beat UK to gain a game in the overall all time win column which I believe burns in Old Roy’s belly.  Two blue bloods going after each other, but UK was going down because of their youth and the talented front court from UNC.

However, don’t tell that to the precocious youth at UK.  Don’t tell Gillie-the Kidd he can’t get the job done who played like a man possessed all game long while rebounding from the foul plagued game against the quick St. John’s team.  Don’t tell that to Terrence Jones who put his game face on and brought his lunch with him.  Don’t tell the senior Darius Miller they were going to lose.  No sir, Darius does what a super talented senior does best, put the team on his shoulders and do something to steady the team be it a rebound, deflection or some points by willing the ball in the basket.

Don’t tell that to anyone off the bench.  Losing was not an option to the young UK team with 4 freshmen.   Don’t tell it to Davis who played a heady game.  He played like a veteran against a bigger older 7 foot opponent in the middle without fouling out.  He was tired, but with the game on the line he had the quickness and energy to block a 6′ 11” guy with long arms shooting from the side.   Henson wasn’t his man, but he did it anyway.

Those guys are coachable and they like each other.  They are becoming a feared team already in early December with a yet huge upside to them.  Coach drives them to be the best and is the reason they came to play for Cal. They know what he is going to do to and for them.  They know he is going to drive them to limits they never dreamed they could do, but in the end they will have a shot at the NBA.  They know he drives a hard bargain, but they also know he cares about them so they play together and win.

In the end, however, the question is how did UK win the game, really!

The answer has already been posted in another post or two so it shouldn’t be any surprise.  It was also spoken by Cal in the early part of practice.  The answer is speed.  The cartoon character Road-Runner can out run, out quick anybody that is until this brand of cat pastes him all over the floor and in the end gets stuffed into the basket along with the ball by one mister Davis.  Yesterday John Henson was the Road-Runner.

No team is ready for the length and quickness of this brand of Cat, nobody.  UNC found out yesterday and they are good, real good.

Instant Classic, you bet!

Is There A Curse?

Now that we are officially #1 we can turn our attention to other unimportant things till Wednesday.

We haven’t heard the name of former coach Tubby Smith here in a while. His best player Trevor Mbakwe is now out for the season or with luck might be back by the end of the year. It seems to be a annual thing up in gopher land since Tubby has been there. Every year the little gopher fans stick their heads up

and expect it to be the year Tubby takes them to the promised land. Every year something happens to them. A player is injured, kick off the team or thrown under the bus. Its a little early this year but the fans are checking their holes for a long winter.

Has Tubby been cursed to forever have problems? And better yet did the BBN do it? Naw Tubby did it himself.

Cat’s beat determined Portland

UK beat a very determined Portland team that refused to just wilt, but in the end they had no choice in the matter.  UK had superior talent and superior quickness for the 3 point barrage from Portland to equal a win for the visitors.

The season will become decidedly more difficult this week with two good teams coming to town.  UNC has been the #1 ranked team from the last of the previous campaign and rightly so in my opinion.  They lost last evening to a supposedly inferior team and if they played 10 times UNC would probably win 9 of them.

That loss by UNC can’t be good news for UK.  Roy and company will now have the proverbial monkey off of their backs and it is squarely on UK right now.  I would normally welcome the #1 ranking, but I would have preferred it to come after the UNC game if UK would be lucky or good enough to win.  I say lucky because I feel UNLV was more lucky than good, because UNC has everything a coach could want for a college team except 5 starting seniors with the same talent.  On the other hand, UK doesn’t have that.  Sure UK is extremely talented and extremely quick which saved them last night, but UNC has more depth and experience and now they also have a wounded ego to bring with them.

UK will have their work cut out for them and they had better not be overlooking Steve Lavin’s boys from the City.  Steve’s boys are young but very talented.  If UK brings their A game they should win that game, but it is a trap game.  I wish that game was on Wednesday instead of Thursday because of the youth on Cal’s team.

I like what I have been seeing in the growth of the team.  They are getting better and better each game.  They are becoming a team of extremely talented young men rather than just being extremely talented individuals.  The athleticism and length of the team disrupts every team they play and should (barring injuries) all year.

UK could lose 2 games this week split the games or win two.  I feel they can get two, but they need to grow even more this week before facing two good teams.   Don’t worry about Harrison Barnes not being in the lineup, because he will be there at full strength and I want it that way.  Even if he wasn’t there UNC has great talent to fill the spot.

One great sign from the Portland game was Darius Miller once again brought a great game with him.

We have been waiting for almost 8 months for this week.  I know I am excited so bring it on!

 

 

The LHL Goes Even Further (Revised)

After following up on some complaints I’m sure they received the LHL did the respectful thing about the post we talked about yesterday. They deleted the comments complaining about it and left the post up. I’d have to guess that it was a mistake but with all the negative and semi-negative things they have allowed Tipton to get away with who knows. Could it be possible as others have posted that it was really Jerry Tipton who posted it looking for nibbles to use in a story. Naw just kidding Jerry.

There must have been a glitch somewhere as the comments are back up. Sorry LHL. I was really beginning to enjoy myself at your expense.

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