It’s NOT Business, It’s PERSONAL!

Happy “SUPER TUESDAY” CatLand! Ya’ll ready to put that #1 ranking on the line @ 9 & defend it like NoCats Business?!
I’m so past ready! We deserve this ranking more than any other team in the country right now & I’m hoping that the Cats conduct a ROAD STYLE CLINIC to emphasize the point! It’s not just because we know they deserve it. NO, for me, this has become PERSONAL. 

As a Cat by birthright, I’m used to all the negativity & hatred for the Wildcats & Big Blue Nation. Like many of you, my skin is riddled w/wrinkles & cracks but tougher than leather.
I professed my love for this team last week & like w/any & all things I love, I defend w/a fiery passion. Yes, I’m reveling in the hatred & envy we are once again receiving, but there comes a point in time when Kudos & Props are due! In our case, it’s quickly becoming Long Past Due & I’m going to start tallying the fines of the naysayers, haters & wannabe’s.

I think the thing that irks me the most is this WEAK argument of Kentucky hasn’t played anyone—- Okay, it’s all well & fine to have that opinion, but quit tryin to pass it off as a legitimate fact! The numbers don’t work in this arguments favor & the key witness is the SOS of the other Top 5 teams. I won’t even go into the Kansas schedule, it doesn’t take a basketball expert to see that their schedule is the laughin stock of the NCAA world this season. Yet, here the ACC chumps over on that Nazi Network aka espn is taunting them as the rightful #1. Question? Since when does the ACC  fall in love with the Big 12????? I think I’ve solved that mystery….. and the answer falls within an old cliche—-> The Enemy of My Enemy is my Friend. Don’t look now but the BLINDING HATRED by the powers that be is becoming more & more brazen, obvious & forthright. The characteristics that we, as Cat Fans, have known existed for years are beginning to solidy themselves from Paranoia to FACT. When the upper ranks of the college bb world begin to make off handed comments & suttle observations, you then finally know that YES, YOU ARE NOT CRAZY! (Well most of us, Mark—it’s okay hon, we love ya & would never disown ya. Every Family has Weird Ducks & you’re one of the more livelier ones!) Coach Cal~ is aware of this too…you can catch it all the time in his jabs when playing Meet The Press. Who all has he gotten at now??? I’ve lost count. But to date, my fav. was the WWII remark directed at that Creepy Old Notre Dame Coach, Digger. <— who by the way, will never let it go that we were always better than him & his Irish. ( 4-12 is the record btw) Digger is just one of a gazillion examples. Now the problem is this….. for those younger whipper snappers (not just w/in the BBN) The motivation is totally lost in translation simply because they don’t know their History & tend to look at the more popular analysts as the Be All End All truth in the wide world of sports with the result being what we’ve known for years, PREJUDICED, BIASED, SENSATIONAL JOURNALISM not only passed off but ACCEPTED AS PURE FACT. It disgusts me to NO END! Of course, I’m smart enough to know that this is a never ending battle that the BBN will NEVER win, but at the same time I refuse to sit idly by & allow these Haters to rage on w/o giving them my .2 worth.

You know, before Cal~ came here, YES! I was one of the Nations biggest finger pointers in regards to his record. And the 1st to shout out the words CAMBY & CHEATER! Ain’t it funny when the NIKE is on the other foot, you begin to look around for the facts of the matter? And then POOF! You discover that you were indeed wrong! That’s part of being a typical fan. However, it has taught me to look & look again when hearing & reading the supposed NEWS in college basketball. And when it comes right down to it, overall, we are generally GUIDED to misinformation & sensitized to the point that it becomes ACCEPTED information!

Now ya’ll know I LUVTHOSECATS but have the mindset that a loss or two is always, always good for TOURNAMENT DANCING. For once in my FELINE 9 LIVES, I HUNGER for an UNDEFEATED SEASON! Not just for that Banner #8 but out of sheer damned SPITE & We’ll show you attitude! I hope that same attitude resonates w/our Cats & Continues to make its presence known w/command & authority. I happen to love Boogie’s opinion—- “Us Against The World.” That’s right CUZ! In the end, banner or not, that’s the way it’s always going to be.

So, I say take everything we can & give nothing back!
1 world is going to become 1 BIG BLUE NATION! LIKE IT OR NOT!!! LOVE US OR HATE US you can’t deny one thing…..
WE’RE BACK, WE’RE BAD, WE’RE THE TEAM YOU WISH YOU HAD!
GO CATS
GO CATS
GO BIG BLUE!

Path to the Mountain Top

If you are like me, and you probably are if you are reading this, you’ve wondered what this UK team would look like if they played a full forty minutes.  It’s really hard to ask a team to play a full forty minutes, by the way.  Most coaches would be doing back flips to get thirty full minutes of play.  As for this team, now we know.  It wasn’t really forty minutes, but it was as close to it as you can get.  And when they do, this team is unbeatable.  And when I say unbeatable, that includes the Nets as well.

 So now that we have that answer, the next big question is, what flipped the switch for this team?  What made them decide to finally keep the foot on the gas the entire game?  I contend that the answer lies square in the events that will happen when the polls come out on Monday.  Consider that this team was given a lot.  They were ranked third before they ever took their first dribble.  I’m not saying they didn’t deserve the ranking, or maybe a better way to put it is no one deserves their ranking, good or bad, when you have zip to back things up.  All UK had to do to maintain their ranking was to win.  And win they did.  Most nights, they put just enough effort in to get the wins.  The sum of the wins is impressive.  The wins themselves mostly were not.  Then something happened.  Losses by Kansas, then Texas happened.  These Cats decided they did want to be number one and I think they know that to be number one, you must play at another level.  What we found out yesterday is this team is scary good when they play the entire game.  They didn’t play a perfect game by any stretch.  They had 15 turnovers,  and shot 68% from the free throw line.  I’ll truly pity the team (after the final horn) that plays these Cats when they play the entire game AND play a perfect game.  I would probably even pity the Lakers.  I do not mean to knock the team for not playing a perfect game and actually my intent is to show that this team does not need to play a perfect game to destroy teams.  All they have to do is follow the game plan, dominate the boards (margin was 20) shoot a high percentage for the game (46%), shoot 30 percent from three, and defend like mad.  The rest tends to take care of itself. 

 When we talk about playing the entire game, we aren’t just talking about consecutive minutes or even stretches of minutes.  We are also talking about minutes by position.  We know what can happen when UK gets play from the 1,2,4 and 5.  The other question asked as been, what happens if UK also got production from the 3 as well.  Now we know.  Miller and his subs, in my mind, was the difference.  The Hogs chose to let UK’s wings have open looks and the wings responded in a dominating fashion.  Miller, Liggins, Harris; the three did not miss a beat as the lead swelled to 46.  This may continue to be the game plan, then again, I don’t think anyone will feel very good about using this game plan.  It can get you spanked.