REVENGE

Kansas lost two more freshmen as Ben McLemore and Jamari Traylor have been declared partial qualifiers by the NCAA. Throw in freshman Braeden Anderson who was declared a partial qualifier earlier this year, and the Morris twins and Shelby along with several others who left the team, we can label this years game REVENGE for the stomping they gave us a few years ago.

Normally I wouldn’t kick a sleeping dog but that loss has rankled me for years. Talk about good advertising, I say we beat them by 30+, in the garden no less.

BBR’s Week 2 Top 25

Couple of good games this weekend mixed the top 25 up a little with the Pac10 and the MAC doing most of the mixing. The MAC and the WAC came real close to pulling upsets over the Big 10 and the Pac 10. The biggest losers this week Notre Dame and the Big 10.

Being off Kentucky didn’t pick up any votes in the AP which doesn’t mean anything since the AP has never matched what fans manage to see every weekend with what writers don’t watch.

In the Coaches poll Kentucky got 9 votes which would rank us 6th in the SEC and 38th in the nation.

1 Florida 2-0
2 Texas 2-0
3 USC 2-0
4 Alabama 2-0
5 Brigham Young 2-0
6 Penn State 2-0
7 Mississippi 1-0
8 California 2-0
9 Boise State 2-0
10 Ohio State 1-1
11 LSU 2-0
12 Oklahoma 1-1
13 Virginia Tech 1-1
14 Cincinnati 2-0
15 TCU 1-0
16 Miami (FL) 1-0
17 Georgia Tech 2-0
18 Utah 2-0 405
19 Nebraska 2-0
20 Oklahoma State 1-1
21 Houston 2-0
22 Kansas 2-0
23 Georgia 1-1
24 Notre Dame 1-1
25 Michigan 2-0

BBR’s Week 1 Top 25

In an attempt to give you a unbiased by the media blue view of how good teams are we proudly give you our week 1 top 25 rankings.

Our rankings in no way suggest that some of these teams deserve to be ranked #1 or in the top 25 since at least one of them won against a Charleston Pastry team and others against programs desperate for money and short on top 150 talent.

BBR’s hats go off to Alabama, California, Miami (Fl), Boise St, BYU and Cincinnati for winning against quality opponents. A special hat tip to the WAC and the MWC for electing to play top tier teams and to William & Mary and Richmond for wins over ACC teams.

1 Florida 1-0
2 Texas 1-0
3 USC 1-0
4 California 1-0
5 Oklahoma State 1-0
6 Alabama 1-0
7 Penn State 1-0
8 Mississippi 1-0
9 Brigham Young 1-0
10 Ohio State 1-0
11 LSU 1-0
12 Boise State 1-0
13 Georgia Tech 1-0
14 Virginia Tech 0-1
15 Oklahoma 0-1
16 TCU 0-0
17 Utah 1-0
18 Miami (FL) 1-0
19 Cincinnati 1-0
20 Notre Dame 1-0
21 Nebraska 1-0
22 Georgia 0-1
23 North Carolina 1-0
24 Kansas 1-0
25 Missouri 1-0

USA Today Poll

USA Today has released there preseason top 25. The Cats got 9 votes and are ranked 42 in the nation.

What shouldn’t surprise anyone is that there are no Big East teams ranked to start the season. Cincinnati, Pittsburg, W. Va, Rutgers and S. Florida all got votes. Its hard to see anyone besides Cincinnati or W. Virginia making a climb in to the top 25 due to the strength of their non-conference schedules.

The MWC and the WAC have four teams in the top 25 and a fifth Nevada got a few votes. Its easier to see some of them staying in the top 25 since they have teams that stand a fair chance of winning games against the BCS teams on their non-conference schedules.

USA Today Poll

1. Florida (53) 0-0 1,466

2. Texas (4) 0-0 1,386
3. Oklahoma (1) 0-0 1,358
4. USC (1) 0-0 1,321
5. Alabama 0-0 1,134
6. Ohio State 0-0 1,126
7. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,020
8. Penn State 0-0 988
9. LSU 0-0 917
10. Mississippi 0-0 889
11. Oklahoma State 0-0 861
12. California 0-0 711
13. Georgia 0-0 707
14. Oregon 0-0 694
15. Georgia Tech 0-0 559
16. Boise State 0-0 542
17. TCU 0-0 461
18. Utah 0-0 404
19. Florida State 0-0 371
20. North Carolina 0-0 293
21. Iowa 0-0 257
22. Nebraska 0-0 236
23. Notre Dame 0-0 194
24. Brigham Young 0-0 178
25. Oregon State 0-0 165

Others Receiving Votes: Kansas 138, Michigan State 136, Texas Tech 114, Cincinnati 90, Pittsburgh 64, West Virginia 55, Rutgers 51, Miami (FL) 46, Missouri 44, Illinois 38, Clemson 30, South Carolina 18, UCLA 14, Auburn 12, South Florida 11, Nevada 11, Kentucky 9, North Carolina State 7, Wisconsin 6, Arkansas 6, Northwestern 5, Southern Miss 4, Wake Forest 4, Arizona 3, Boston College 3, CENTRL MICHIGAN 3, East Carolina 3, Colorado 2, Maryland 2, Navy 2, Tennessee 2, TROY 1, Minnesota 1, Michigan 1, Houston 1.

Successful Juco Class Could be a Key to the Season

This could be the most successful Juco class of football players that UK has had since they have been tapping into the ranks. They are being counted on by many to bolster us on the defensive side of the ball, as well as at the WR spot. Both Chris Matthews and DeQuin Evans are in the Top 20 of all Juco’s and Crawford ranks in the Top 100. Here is a rundown of the kids.

2009- 2-4 Stars From the JUCO RANKS!

Chris Matthews WR 6-5 210 4 STAR ****
Mark Crawford DT 6-1 305 3 STAR ***
DeQuin Evans DE 6-2 275 4 STAR ****

 
Chris Matthews is the highest rated juco signed by UK this year and perhaps ever. He has a measured skill set that exceeds anything we’ve seen in the Juco Ranks for some time. I don’t think it will take a long time for him to develop, since unlike Stevie Johnson, he is not coming into a great receiving corps to start the season.

Has great hands, and just outruns people catching the football. He is going to make the UK QB job much easier. Caught 80 balls last year and is the second rated Juco WR by Rivals, behind Halo Carpenter…., AND, from a raw athletic standpoint…, How many 6’5 210lb receivers will UK have this year who run 4.4 forties?

My hunch is that Matthews locks down one wide spot, and will be very good in short order. Randall Cobb will play the slot, and the other WR spot goes to Lanxter.

We received an interesting quote  from Los Angeles Harbor College Coach Brett Peabody about Chris, “Chris is probably the best junior-college wide receiver in the country,” Peabody said. “He lives up to the saying that ‘big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games.’ He can beat you short, he can beat you deep, he can beat you across the middle.”

==============================================================
Mark Crawford was one of the nation’s top 100 junior college prospects at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College after making 41 tackles and getting 6.5 quarterback sacks last year. He only played two years of high school football in Indianapolis, one reason he redshirted his first year at Coffeyville. Certainly UK is not taking this Juco out of desperation like they were a few years ago when they were coming through the probation.

By all accounts Crawford is looking good and making strides at the DT position: “I am adjusting real well. It is a new experience with coach Petri teaching me how to play better and teaching me stuff I never knew in junior high or high school.”

==============================================================
 DeQuin Evans: Defensive Ends are sorely needed, a known fact, and “DE”, as I’ll be calling Dequin Evans, needs to hit the ground running. Watch him on film and you see what amounts to a man among boys. Now granted that wasn’t SEC competition, but the film says a lot about what type of player we are getting. Simply stated, I don’t think we have seen a Defensive Juco player who looked any better than DE did on film.

Making up the loss of a Jeremy Jarmon may be a daunting task,  therefore this makes it even more important that someone from our stable of players at the Defensive End position step up and make a big splash there. DE  has all the tools. Evans (6-2, 275) is rated the No. 15 junior college prospect in the nation by Rivals.com, as well as one of our 4 Star athletes. He was a teammate of Chris Matthews. Did I mention he ran a 4.6 forty according to Scout…That is truly smoking for a man his size! GBB!!!

World Champions

Congratulations to Darius Miller and the USA U19 team for winning the U10 world championship for the first time since 1991.

Darius Miller had 8 points and 3 steals in the 88-80 win over Greece. He averaged 5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks (5th in his position in blocks), 1.6 steals (3rd in his position in steals), 1.3 assists and shot 73% from the field while playing 14.4 min. a game. Playing like that against teams in a world competition shows how dependable he is going to be for the Cats.

Jamie Dixon had this team primed to win and even surrendering big leads a couple of times during the last two games didn’t faze the team a bit. Dixon had the kids playing the way you have to play to beat the European champions. Dixon “This team was unique in terms of US teams, in that it was best suited for international play. We may not have had as many name guys as other (US) teams but it really was suited, and I think we selected guys who were suited to the international style of play.” Thinking like that shows that we have learned to compete on the world stage again. These kids were fundamentally sound in their skills rather than being flashy.

A panel of accredited media representatives covering the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship selected the MVP and the All-Star Five of the Tournament. The All-Star Five of the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship featured Taylor (Kansas / Jersey City, N.J.) and Gordon Hayward (Butler / Brownsburg, Ind.) of the USA, Toni Prostran (Croatia), Nikos Pappas (Greece), and Mario Delas (Croatia), who was also selected MVP of the championship.

Things I learned from the games. Darius Miller is going to have a good year. Washington St. and Butler are probably going to be real good teams if their representatives in the games are any example of their teams. Toni Prostran (Croatia), Nikos Pappas (Greece) are possible future NBA players. Mario Delas (Croatia) who was selected MVP of the championship is a future NBA player. World basketball is worth watching if ESPN can get their foot in the door with FIBA for telecast rights. Jamie Dixon is a smart coach and is one of the best coaches in the county and I hope coaches the USA again.

For the betterment of the sport.

For the betterment of the sport the NCAA needs to look at increasing the scholarship limit to 15. Not to make sure we have a better team next year but for the simple reason that if there are 15 on a team like Kansas, NC, Duke or Kentucky its entirely possible that the number 14 or 15 player might decide to play for a team like Butler, Gonzaga or Nevada rather than sitting behind a stream of one and I’m out of hears.

I’m looking at this from a guys point of view sorry lady’s. But come on if a guy could increase his stable to 15 from 13 does anyone think Britney Spears is gonna stay around as number 15 when she could contribute to another team.

Increasing the stable err scholarship limit to 15 will defiantly help the sport to grow stronger besides I’d really like to see a major underdog win the NC before I go on to the big court in the sky.

UK GETS THEIR MAN

The “highest profile” coach in the country finally met up with the school with the greatest need, at least in our fans minds. This only happens every decade or so nationally, and has every reason to be called a “Grand Slam”. Most of us will tell you that the last great basketball era we had here at UK was during Rick Pitino’s heyday, and we are headed back in that direction in my humble opinion.

Yes, John Calipari is every bit the coach Rick Pitino is, and the fact that he changed his offensive philosophy recently, shows he is flexible as well. He is a great recruiter securing what is being called the number #1 class this year…He plays with the best, and he will be able to get the best at UK. He did it at Memphis and he will do it here and do it better. UK goes from now being an NIT calibre team this year, to a potential final four next; such will be the stockpile of talent here once “CAL” gets settled in.

“ You can now put Kentucky with NC, Kansas, Duke, all the elite from this point forward” Andy Katz ESPN.com

UK called a news conference for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to formally introduce Calipari, who has been with Memphis for 9 seasons. Calipari also becomes the highest-paid coach in college basketball.

Now, maybe UK fans can rest easy this summer, knowing that next year when basketball season starts, UK will once again be AT THE PULSE of COLLEGE BASKETBALL, the head and not the tale, if you will, and the only back seat we take in college basketball will be the one we ride in to the FINAL FOUR…

Meeks an Oscar Robertson Candidate

The complete list of finalists:

DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh (Soph., Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Sherron Collins, Kansas (Jr., Chicago, Ill.)
Dante Cunningham, Villanova (Sr., Silver Spring, Md.)
Stephen Curry, Davidson (Jr., Charlotte, N.C.)
Tyreke Evans, Memphis (Fr., Chester, Pa.)
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma (Soph., Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina (Sr., Poplar Bluff, Mo.)
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame (Jr., Schererville, Ind.)
James Harden, Arizona state (Soph., Los Angeles, Calif.)
Ty Lawson, North Carolina (Jr., Clinton, Md.)
Jerel McNeal, Marquette (Sr., Chicago, Ill.)
Jodie Meeks, Kentucky (Jr., Norcross, Ga.)
Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut (Jr., Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania)
Jeff Teague, Wake Forest (Soph., Indianapolis, Ind.)
Evan Turner, Ohio State (Soph., Chicago, Ill.)

Latest Top 25

This weeks top 25. With a good week by LSU and a few losses by others the SEC could climb into the rankings

AP Top 25
1. Connecticut (67) 22-1 1,795
2. Oklahoma (3) 23-1 1,710
3. North Carolina (2) 21-2 1,672
4. Pittsburgh 21-2 1,583
5. Louisville 18-4 1,423
6. Duke 20-3 1,350
7. Wake Forest 18-3 1,242
8. Memphis 20-3 1,237
9. Michigan State 19-4 1,214
10. Marquette 20-3 1,137
11. UCLA 19-4 1,131
12. Clemson 19-3 1,097
13. Villanova 19-4 989
14. Xavier 20-3 893
15. Butler 21-2 762
16. Kansas 19-4 751
17. Missouri 20-4 395
18. Arizona State 18-5 389
19. Gonzaga 17-5 361
20. Purdue 17-6 353
21. Utah State 23-1 317
22. Illinois 19-5 303
23. Syracuse 18-6 280
24. Ohio State 17-5 216
25. Florida State 18-5 182
Others Receiving Votes
LSU 167, Washington 135, Texas 106, Florida 66, Minnesota 43, Dayton 31, California 16, Kansas State 8, West Virginia 8, South Carolina 7, Davidson 7, Miami (FL) 7, Utah 4, Arizona 4, San Diego State 2, Siena 2, Northeastern 2, Robert Morris 1, Boston College 1, Green Bay 1.
Dropped From Rankings
Texas 16, Minnesota 19, Washington 22.

ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. Connecticut (30) 22-1 774
2. Oklahoma (1) 23-1 735
3. North Carolina 21-2 711
4. Pittsburgh 21-2 689
5. Duke 20-3 604
6. UCLA 19-4 554
7. Louisville 18-4 553
8. Wake Forest 18-3 541
9. Michigan State 19-4 521
10. Memphis 20-3 486
11. Clemson 19-3 456
12. Marquette 20-3 446
13. Villanova 19-4 416
14. Xavier 20-3 375
15. Butler 21-2 346
16. Kansas 19-4 300
17. Utah State 23-1 258
18. Arizona State 18-5 214
19. Missouri 20-4 162
20. Illinois 19-5 143
21. Gonzaga 17-5 124
22. Syracuse 18-6 115
23. Purdue 17-6 114
24. Washington 17-6 86
25. Florida State 18-5 62
Others Receiving Votes
Ohio State 55, Texas 50, LSU 50, Dayton 34, Minnesota 30, Florida 26, Davidson 9, Utah 9, South Carolina 7, Saint Mary’s 5, Brigham Young 5, California 3, San Diego State 3, Penn State 2, UNLV 1, Arizona 1.
Dropped From Rankings
Texas 17, Minnesota 19.

Next Page »