Sunday's Scores

Happy New Year!!!

Top 25:

(14) Washington 74 - 2nd straight loss; 0-2 in Pac 10; Very big game on Thursday when they host Arizona.
(1) UCLA 96 - Proven they can grind it out or put up alot of points.

Dayton 51
(2) North Carolina 81 - Could have a dominant year in the ACC; Still play @ Arizona Jan. 27.

(4) Wisconsin 64 - 14-1 going into Big 10; Can't wait until vs. Ohio St. Jan. 9.
Georgia 54 - 3rd straight loss; Couldn't take advantage of media attention after beating Gonzaga, which isn't as impressive after the Zags lost 3 in a row.

San Jose St. 51
(5) Duke 70 - I don't think they're as good as UNC, but they look like they're going to be a solid 2nd place team in the ACC.

Georgia St. 57
(25) Clemson 67 - 14-0 heading into ACC play. Very tough conference schedule, but have put themselves in a great position when tournament time comes.

Saturday's Scores

Top 25:

UAB 70
(3) Florida 75 - This was much closer than it should have been; UAB is down this year compared to years past.

Coppin St. 54
(6) Ohio St. 91 - Continue to dominate poor teams, but still looking for a big win.

Stanford 75
(7) Arizona 89

Rhode Island 69
(9) Kansas 80

Florida A&M 51
(10) Pittsburgh 77

(12) UConn 71 - If the "Overrated" cheer was ever justified, it was today. UConn had no chance @ West Virginia. When the Huskies were struggling, Calhoun's adjustment was to argue every call instead of maybe trying to beat the 1-3-1 zone or stop the crisp WVU offense. This team probably isn't actually even a Top 25 team.
West Virginia 81

UTSA 47
(13) Oklahoma St. 84

(15) Butler 55 - They'll be the biggest game on their opponents' schedules the rest of the year; always makes it tough to win.
Wis. Milwaukee 50

Northern Iowa 63
(16) Wichita St. 59 - 3rd straight loss and 0-1 in conference with the next game @ SIU. Ranked way too high for what they've done this year. Should be on the fringe of the Top 25.

Savannah St. 51
(18) Marquette 69

Stony Brook 66
(19) Notre Dame 95

(20) Oregon 76 - Always a challenge to win @ your in-state rival; Stay unbeaten (13-0)
Oregon St. 73 - Have to win at home to have any chance on an NCAA bid.

E. Tenn. St. 88
(21) Tennessee 93 - Came close to a very bad loss, but held on.

(24) Nevada 82 - Huge win in Seattle before conference play.
Gonzaga 74 - 3 losses in a row and still play @ Virginia before conference play starts. Even if they don't win their conference tournament they'll still make the NCAA ,arring a meltdown in the WCC, due to their difficult schedule.

Other Scores:

Ohio 79
Cincinnati 66 - Rough 1st year for new coach Cronnin.

Va. Military 111
Penn St. 129 - Their previous season high was 80 points.

Eastern Kentucky 65
Kentucky 78 - Now at 10-3 vs. one of the hardest schedules this year, UK deserves to be ranked again.

Georgetown 67
Michigan 51 - Unable to win any of their 3 nonconference games vs. power conference teams (NC St., UCLA)

Kentucky's Opponents:

Ball St. 57
Indiana 71 - Pretty good team that is under the radar (8-3); could make alot of noise in the Big 10.

UNLV 78 - 12-2 with one loss @ Arizona.
Houston 62

LA Tech 50
Arkansas 80

N.C. Asheville 51
Louisville 66 - 5 straight wins they had to have after losing to Kentucky; @ Notre Dame on Wed. to open up conference play.

Miss. St. 59
George Mason 63

Ole Miss 56
Saint Louis 59

Charleston Southern 53
Auburn 69

Kentucky 78 Eastern Kentucky 65

Kentucky managed to get a 13 point win even though they didn't play nearly as well as they did vs. UMass last week. The biggest problem for UK today was allowing EKU to shoot 10-24 on 3's. However, some of these were shots that you usually wouldn't mind giving up, but they were still going in. Morris and Bradley both had big games, and the defense ended up giving up just 44% FG shooting. Here are some positives and negatives:

Perry - 7 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast - started off pretty bad, but shots started falling eventually.
Morris - 25 pts, 10 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk - continues to put up great numbers.
Bradley - 20 pts, 5 reb, 4 st, 5 stl, 3-7 3pt. - Bradley's offense has really improved lately and his hustle and leadership is rubbing off on the other veterans.
Jasper - 4 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast - Hit both his FG attempts.
Crawford - 13 pts, 4 reb, 3 TO, - Just 1-5 3 pt, but 5-7 on 2 pt fg.
Meeks - 5 pts in just 12 minutes - continues to find ways to score in limited action.
Stevenson - 2 reb, 2 TO in 4 minutes - Martin Newton complained about him not playing in the 2nd half, but he looked lost in the 1st half.
Thomas - 4 pts, 4 reb - No need for him to score, just do the little things.

Team - 51.8 FG %, 14-19 FT, 37 -26 reb. advantage

Friday's Scores

Top 25:

Lipscomb 58
(8) Alabama 80

Samford 45
(17) LSU

(23) Air Force 78
Santa Clara 48

Air Force plays a different style of basketball that you wouldn't think would blow out many teams, but look at some of the games they've won by at least 10 points.

Ark. Pine Bluff 81-45
@ Stanford 79-45
@ Colorado 84-46
vs. Texas Tech 67-53
Radford 83-59
Wake Forest 94-58
IUPU Ft. Wayne 78-66
Tex. Pan American 70-58
Colorado Coll. 82-31
Norfolk St. 70-47
vs. George Washington 66-52

Other Games:

Illinois 59
Xavier 65

Wake Forest 67
South Florida 75

Providence 62
Florida St. 92

St. John's 51
Hofstra 63

Kentucky's Opponents:

Jacksonville 73
South Carolina 80

Alabama A&M 47
Vanderbilt 86

Wright St. 55
Miss. Valley St. 54

Northwestern St. 67
DePaul 97

Radford 46
Charleston 68

Kennesaw St. 67
Chattanooga 83

Thursday's Results

Top 25:

Washington St. 52
(1) UCLA 55 - Might have been looking ahead to Washington on Sunday.

Rutgers 48
(2) North Carolina 87

California 85
(7) Arizona 94 - Just Pac-10 play from here on out.

Detroit 43
(9) Kansas 63

Grambling St. 27
(11) Texas A&M 101 - Don't read too much into this blowout, Grambling hasn't beaten a div. 1 team all year.

(14) Washington 79 - Were probably lookin ahead to UCLA
USC 86 2OT - 10-3 is better than most would expect.

Rider 51
(19) Notre Dame 101 - Big surprise team at 11-1; I think the Big East is down & they have a great shot at being near the top.

Portland 49
(20) Oregon 76 - 11-0 heading into conference play. Schedule wasn't hard, but 2 ok wins @ G-Town and vs. Nebraska.

Miss. Valley St. 58
(17) LSU 92 - 3 losses, but to pretty good teams; Get UConn at home Jan. 6 to prove they are still capable of reaching another Final 4.

Tennessee Tech 77
(21) Tennessee 101 - Create so many problems with their style; it will be interesting to see if SEC teams have adjusted to it after a year.

Lama 62
(22) Memphis 87 - Have played a pretty hard non-conference shedule, but are now at the point where they could go a long time without losing.

(23) Air Force 66 - 12-1 with only loss to Duke.
Geo. Washington 52

Maine 69
(24) Nevada 89 - @ Gonzaga on Saturday will be tough, but a win would help a ton for getting a better seed.

Georgia 60 - After winning 7 straight (incuding blowing out Gonzaga), they've lost 2 in a row.
(25) Clemson 75 - 13-0 & 3-0 vs. SEC (South Carolina, Miss. St.)

Other Scores:

Duquesne 98
Boston College 93 OT - Bad loss to a team that came in a 3-7.

UNLV 74 - Handled Tech pretty easily while everybody drooled over how great Bobby Knight is.
Texas Tech 66

Oral Roberts 76 - 2 of their 6 wins vs. Kansas and Seton Hall.
Seton Hall 74

Purdue 70 - 2 of 3 losses have come to Mid-Major Indiana teams (Bulter)
Indiana St. 89

Kentucky's Opponents:

N.C. Asheville 51
South Carolina 71

San Francisco 63
Louisville 76

Colgate 39
Santa Clara 53

Yale 69
UMass 78

Let's Get Started Again

Basketball is back and going again, but it was a pretty light night. Conference play is getting closer (it's already here for some) and we'll find out if some of these teams that have been playing a bunch of nobodies (UConn) are for real or not.

Top 25:

Gardner-Webb 40
(4) Wisconsin 98

Coppin St. 41
(12) UConn 84 - 334th hardest schedule out of 336 according to Pomeroy Ratings. Calhoun should just admit that they're not playing anybody. Only 2 of the 11 teams they've played have winning records, and they combine for a 49-80 record, not to mention they haven't left home yet. Let's see what happens when they go to West Virginia on Saturday.

Wright St. 45
(17) LSU 71

Kentucky's Opponents:

Miss. Valley St. 59
Samford 64 OT

Miami (OH) 52
Cincinnati 60

Northeastern 41 - 4th Big East Opponent of the year; this was the closest they came to winning.
Louisville 61

Saturday's Results

This will be the last update for a few days due to holiday travel and the fact that there aren't going to be any games. I hope all of the Kentucky fans are able to enjoy Christmas after beating 2 rivals and not losing in the last 3 weeks.

Top 25:

Michigan 55
(1) UCLA 92 - While most people are talking about Flordia now, UCLA just destroyed a Michigan team that came in with just 1 loss.

Pacific 47
(4) Wisconsin 83 - Very dominate win, but will probably get passed by Florida in the rankings.

(3) Ohio St. 60 - There's no doubt that they are a good team, but they still have no really good win; the best might be over Cincinnati or Kent St.
(5) Florida 86 - This year's team finally proved something in a big way. If they continue to play like they did today, there could likely be a rematch in the title game with UCLA.

Dayton 54
(7) Pittsburgh 84 - I guess that the back to back losses fired this team up; beating a pretty good team by 30 is impressive.

(8) Wichita St. 56 - Back to back losses will hurt their seed come tournament time, and it is a bad way to enter into a tough Missouri Valley Conference. Should drop at least 10 spots in the rankings in my opinion.
USC 60

Coppin St. 49
(10) Alabama 99 - They are a different team now that they are at full strength again.

Boston College 66
(11) Kansas 84 - Big win at home; Can they stay this kind of team the rest of the year?

Louisiana Tech 52
(12) LSU 68 - A team with 3 losses should not be ranked this high right now.

MTSU 46
(18) Memphis 86

Mercer 64
(21) Oregon 84 - @ Oregon St. next Saturday will be a big game for the undefeated Ducks.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

California 62
DePaul 90

Miami (FL) 59
Louisville 82 - Maybe they should leave Caracter at home.

Fordham 56
Charleston 65

Utah St. 75
Santa Clara 77 OT

Nebraska 70
Houston 57 - Started 3-0, but now lost 5 of 7.

Friday's Results

Kentucky beat UMass 82-68 in a game that wasn't as close as most expected it to be. It was probably the best all around game UK's had all season with solid games from Morris, Jasper, Bradley, and Crawford. Perry also showed some good offense, but he couldn't stay out of foul trouble. This 4 game stretch vs. Indiana, Louisville, Santa Clara, and UMass may not be getting the media's attention, but look where UK is now at in some of the major computer polls:

Pomeroy: 30
Pomeroy RPI: 11
Sagarin: 24
Massey: 13
Greenfield: 25

The AP and Coaches polls can continue to rank teams like Syracuse in the top 25, but it means nothing. The selection committe doesn't even care about those polls. Kentucky is doing exactly what they needed to do after the loss to North Carolina, and at least the computers are starting to notice.

Top 25:

(2) North Carolina 69
Saint Louis 48

(8) Wichita St. 68 - They probably aren't a top 10 team, but they did fight back from 14 down at the half to only lose by 3.
New Mexico 71

(13) Texas A&M 87
Auburn 58

Evansville 65
(16) Butler 76

Weber St. 51
(17) Washington 80

Morgan St. 57
(19) Marquette 77

Hofstra 60
(23) Syracuse 85 - I won't be reporting on their scores much longer.

(25) Nevada 73 - Gonzaga has a must win when they play Nevada next Sat.
Akron 71

Other Scores:

Georgia 69 - Just when everybody was ready to crown Georgia the SEC champs, they prove they aren't quite as good as they looked against Gonzaga.
Georgia Tech 78

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Indiana 86
IUPUI 57

Houston 72
Creighton 80

Thursday's Results

Top 25:

(6) Duke 61 - Won 7 straight since losing to Marquette.
(22) Gonzaga 54 - Difficult schedule, but have now lost 4 games ( Butler, Wash. St., Georgia, Duke) and 2 in a row. Still play Nevada and @ Virginia before conference play.

(7) Pittsburgh 89 - 2nd straight loss; Things are more difficult when you actually play good competition.
(15) Oklahoma St. 95 2OT - Will end up at 14-1 heading into conference play, and probably 15-1 heading into Kansas on Jan. 10.

Army 47
(20) Notre Dame 88

Other Scores:

Appalachian St. 87 - Big surprise to win the San Juan Shootout.
Vanderbilt 79 OT

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

King 50
Chattanooga 91

Charlotte 46
Houston 68

Charleston 82
Western Carolina 75

Wednesday's Results

I know it's a day late, but here are Wednesday's major scores.

Top 25:

(18) Memphis 71
(9) Arizona 79 - The loss at Virginia a month ago means nothing anymore.

Pepperdine 66
(14) UConn 88

Stetson 67
(5) Florida 88 - Will not be at full strenght vs. Ohio St. this weekend.

(10) Alabama 82 - Good non-conference road win.
N.C. State 75

(12) LSU 72 - I doubt most people expected them to already have 3 losses.
(17) Washington 88 - First real big win this year.

Other Scores:

Binghamton 79
Miami (FL) 74 - Very bad loss for a team from the ACC.

Virginia 70 - Maybe they peaked on Nov. 12 vs. Arizona.
Utah 94

Arkansas 76
Texas 80 - Big game at Tennessee on Saturday; Just 2 losses this year.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Eastern Kentucky 82
Tenn.-Martin 69

Western Michigan 69
Indiana 77

Savannah St. 45
Louisville 71

UC Irvine 53
DePaul 65

Miami (OH) 54
Dayton 56

Central Arkansas 51
Miss. Valley St. 66

Tuesday's Scores

Top 25:

Sam Houston 61
(1) UCLA 75

Florida Atl. 52
(2) North Carolina 105

Iowa St. 56
(3) Ohio St. 75 - This was close in the 2nd half, but Ohio St. ended up easily pulling away.

Kent St. 72
(6) Duke 79 - Another not so impressive home win, but they are winning so you can't say too much yet.

Kennesaw St. 65
(8) Wichita St. 74 - Their high ranking is going to cause them to play "to not lose" sometimes.

Winston-Salem 43
(11) Kansas

Oakland 62
(19) Marquette 80

Portland 69
(20) Notre Dame 86

Drexel 84 - 2 straight road wins vs. Big East schools (Villanova).
(23) Syracuse 79 - I've been saying for weeks that they're overrated. This is their 2nd home loss (Wichita St.)

Other Scores:

Illinois 73 - Only 2 losses to Maryland & Arizona
Missouri 70 - A win would have been nice, but they are so much improved.

Appalacian St. 80 - Good win in San Juan Shootout.
Virginia 69 - Terrible loss to a team that already had 3 losses to ACC teams.

Tennessee Tech 66 - Always impressive to see an OVC team get a win vs. the Big 10.
Northwestern 65

Kentucky 74 Santa Clara 60

Randolph Morris was the story for Kentucky tonight in their 14 point win over Santa Clara. Morris finished with 23 pts, 13 reb, 2 blks, 2 stls, and 2 ast. He ran the court on offense and defense and carried the Cats through the 1st half. It's great to see him bounce back after Saturday's game.

Field goal shooting was just at 41% for UK, but they held Santa Clara to 36% and out rebounded them by 3. Once again some of this game wasn't pretty, but an ok team by 14.

More on the stats later.

UK's Last 4 Non-Conference Games

After playing 2 huge rivals the last 2 Saturdays, most UK fans probably think that they can relax during the next 4 games before conference play starts. However these 4 teams are better than you might think and they will give Kentucky some problems. Now I still expect a win in all 4 games, but the opponents shouldn't be taken lightly. The good thing about playing these kinds of teams is that it will help UK's rpi more than playing a bunch of nobodies.

Dec. 19 - Santa Clara (8-3)
Wins = Holy Names, Utah, San Jose St., Hawaii, Alabama St., @ Pacific, Eastern Washington, @ Stanford
Losses = @ California, Nevada, @ Missouri St.

None of their losses are bad and wins vs. Utah and @ Stanford are pretty impressive.

Dec. 22 - UMass (9-2)
Wins = Dartmouth, Oakland, Northeastern, St. Francis NY, @ Jacksonville St., @ Savannah St., @ Boston U, Central Conn., @ Louisville
Losses = @ Pittsburgh, Boston College

Another team that has 2 "quality" losses (I hate that term). Their win at Louisville I'm sure got the attention of the UK players if they needed any help.

Dec. 29 - Eastern Kentucky (7-3)
Wins = Asbury, East Tenn. St, Kenyon, @ NC Asheville, @ James Madison, Murray St, @ Eastern Illinois
Losses = @ Ohio St., @ Western Kentucky, Austin Peay

Not as good as the 2 previous teams, but probably an upper level OVC team that is familiar with UK.

Jan. 3 - Houston (4-3)
Wins = @ Rhode Island, Monmouth, Grambling, Prairie View
Losses = @ St. Louis, @ Va. Commonwealth, @ Arizona

Average 97 pts. their wins, but just 75 in their losses, and allow 90 in losses. Should be an uptempo game in Lexington, but UK is able to handle that.

Monday's Results

Top 25

(15) Oklahoma St. 77 - Not a bad loss; vs. Pitt on Thursday.
Tennessee 79 - This run of 4 games vs. good teams is almost over and the Vols are 3-0 during the run with wins over Memphis, Western Kentucky, and now Okla. St.

Other Scores:

Missouri St. 50 - ranked 27th in this week's AP poll
Saint Louis 51

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

McNeese St. 45
Miss. Valley St. 76

Charleston 70
Coastal Carolina 49

Davidson 92
Chattanooga 80

Eastern Kentucky 73
Eastern Illinois 57

Useless Polls

I've never had much faith in the AP or Coaches Polls, but they are beginning to make less sense than ever. It's obvious that many voters aren't basing their rankings on this year's play. Look at some of these numbers:

(5) Florida 9-2

Wins = Samford, North Fl, Jacksonville, Chattanooga, Prairie View, Western Kentucky, Southern, Providence, Florida A&M
Losses = Kansas, Florida St.

They have maybe one quality win over WKU, and are 0-1 on the road. Their ranking is obviously this high due to last year's success and returing those players.

(7) Pittsburgh 10-1

Wins = W. Mich., Deleware St., Northeastern, UMass, Oakland, Florida St., Robert Morris, Aurburn, Duquesne, Buffalo
Loss = Wisconsin

Only one loss, but they were beaten by 14 against their only ranked opponent.

(13) Texas A&M 9-2

Wins = Prairie View, Lamar, LA Tech, St. Louis, Idaho St., Ark. Little Rock, Pacific, Fordham, Jacksonville
Losses = LSU, UCLA

Their losses aren't bad, but they have beaten NOBODY!!!

(14) UConn 9-0

Wins = Quinnipiac, Cent. Ark., Fairfield, Mississippi, Albany, Sacred Heart, Texas Southern, Northeastern, St. Mary's
Losses = None

I guess it's hard not to rank an undefeated team, but they've only played 1 team from a power conference. They also haven't left home yet.

(23) Syracuse 9-2

Wins = St. Francis NY, Penn, UTEP, Northeastern, Charlotte, Canisius, Holy Cross, Colgate, Baylor
Losses = Wichita St., Oklahoma St.

Another team with ok losses (even though 1 was at home, and the other in New York City) that hasn't beaten anybody.

Sunday's Results

Top 25:

St. Mary's 73
(14) UConn 89 - I've complained about many schedules, but I their hardest opponent so far has been Mississippi. UConn will be 11-0 heading into conference play, but they do have to play LSU in January. If they lose that game and struggle at all in the Big East, I think they should be a bubble team. They might actually be really good, but how could you tell?

MD Eastern Shore 46
(8) Wichita St. 102

(5) Florida 72 - Their rating is almost completely due to what they did last year. They're 6 places ahead of the next 2 loss team (Kansas), which beat Florida.
Florida A&M 57

Idaho St. 55
(22) Oregon 84

(12) LSU 60 - This road win would be more impressive if Oregon St. didn't have 3 other home losses.
Oregon St. 53

Houston 62
(10) Arizona 87 - vs. Memphis on Wed. should be a good indicator of how good they really are.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Southern Illinois 47
Indiana 57 - Should get some credit for beating a good mid-major.

Saturday's Results

Top 25:

Oakland 53
(1) UCLA 74 - Will stay in this spot for at least a few more weeks.

(2) Pittsburgh 75 - This shouldn't be much of a surprise after winning by just 3 at Buffalo.
(7) Wisconsin 89 - Back to back Saturday wins vs. Marquette and Pittsburgh.

N.C. Asheville 62
(3) North Carolina 93

(9) Alabama 77
Southern Miss. 64

Jacksonville 58
(13) Texas A&M 97 - Still hard to read this team, because they've lost to the 2 good teams they played, but beaten everybody else.

(16) Gonzaga 83 - This looked more like the teams of the past few years that play no defense.
Georgia 96 - Move to 7-1 after impressive victory.

Portland St. 73
(17) Washington 105

Purdue 65 - I still think they're one of the most improved teams.
(18) Butler 68 - Good chance to lose very few more games the rest of the season.

MD Baltimore Cty. 46
(20) Marquette 68 - Very easy schedule for rest of non-conference will help the little slide they were on.

(4) Ohio St. 72 - With Oden they might be the best team in the country. I think they would have won at UNC if they wouldn't have tried to run with them.
Cincinnati 50 - They couldn't compete in this game, but we'll learn much more about them vs. NC St., Miami (OH), Ohio, and Memphis in next 4 games.

Elon 63
(21) Notre Dame 94

Baylor 71
(23) Syracuse 94

Pacific 53
(25) Nevada 60

Other Games:

Texas Tech 71 - Good win at a tough place to play.
Arkansas 56 - Surprised by this loss.

Bradley 76
Iowa St. 66

Western Kentucky 79
Tennessee 93 - I think this team is really improving.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

DePaul 89
Rhode Island 81

Oral Roberts 72
Chattanooga 76

Santa Clara 62
Stanford 46

Kentucky 61 Louisville 49

It was a very important win for Kentucky today at Louisville. Great play by Jodie Meeks who ended up with 18pts on 4-7 3's. Orbzut and Thomas also gave valuable minutes and hit some big shots, and I thought Bradley played a great 2nd half.

Louisville has to be pretty worried at this point. They have talent and they could come alive at any time, but they haven't even shown hints of it yet. They shot 3-24 on 3's and didn't even manage to break 50 points. When Pitino was at Kentucky he wasn't able to have great success until he got players that could have bad shooting nights and still win. For years UK won and lost by the 3. Not until they had players who could contribute in multiple ways did they really contend for a national championship.

Throughout the summer I heard how UL's freshmen were so great and would easily handle UK at home. However, Meeks managed to out score the entire UL freshmen class 18-8.

UK's freshmen ended up with: 30 pts, 11 reb, 4 ast.

UL's freshmen had: 8 pts, 12 reb, 0 ast.

According to Rivals rankings the 22nd ranked player, Clark had 0 pts, 2 reb, in 3 minuts and the 25th ranked player Caracter had 0 pts, 2 reb, 3 turnovers, and 5 fouls in 8 minutes.

I'll review all of the Kentucky players later today.

Thursday's Results

This has been one of the worst weeks in College Basketball history. Friday is even worse with just 4 games being played. However, everything gets back to normal on Saturday including (2) Pittsburgh @ (7) Wisconsin, Purdue @ (18) Butler, (4) Ohio St. @ Cincinnati, and of course Kentucky @ Louisville.

Top 25:

Austin Peay 63
(19) Memphis 88

Other Games:

Oakland 57
Arkansas 91

Wheaton (IL) 39
Northwestern 41 - I thought this was a little league score when I first saw it.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Chattanooga 60
Charleston 62

Wednesday's Scores

It's been a pretty boring week in college basketball so far with most teams not playing due to final exams. Kentucky has a very important game vs. Louisville coming up this weekend. Louisville lost tonight to a good UMass team, so you know the Cards will be really up for the game against UK. This game is just as important as the one vs. Indiana last Saturday. If UK wins, they have a good shot at not losing again for another month (even though we do host UMass on Dec. 22) and enter conference play at 11-3.

Top 25:

Wisc. Milwaukee 49
(7) Wisconsin 68

Norfolk St. 47
(24) Air Force 70

Other Scores:

Xavier 57 - Lost 2 in a row (Creighton).
Cincinnati 67 - Big win after losing to Wofford last month.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Wake Forest 63 - 3rd straight loss (Air Force, Georgia).
DePaul 78 - Only road win vs. Chaminade, but beat Kansas at home.

UMass 72 - Only 2 losses came to Pittsburgh and Boston College.
Louisville 68 - They'll be fired up to make a statement on Saturday vs. UK.

Monday's Results

The new Top 25 came out on Monday and UCLA stayed number 1 in both and will probably not have much trouble staying unbeaten for maybe the rest of the month. Their next 5 games are all at home, so the games vs. Washington St. and Washington should be win. I expect they will lose when they start going on the road in January. Notre Dame, Oregon, and Air Force cracked the Top 25, and somehow Syracuse stayed ranked even though they've lost their only 2 games against good teams. Their best win is probably against Pennsylvania. Their next 4 games are at home and against lower level teams. However Pittsburgh will come to town after that and welcome Syracuse to the Big East.

Top 25 Scores:

Bethune-Cookman 64
(22) Oregon 92 - rest of the non-conference schedule is pretty easy.

Other Games:

Mississippi St. 70
Miami (FL) 52 - First loss at home and fall to 6-4

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Eastern Washington 68
Santa Clara 91

Sunday's Results

There were just 2 top 25 teams in action today, but both of them got upset.

Top 25:

(23) Maryland 62 - Lost 2 of 3 after starting 8-0.
Boston College 73

(9) LSU 75
Texas 76 - Good bounce back win after loss to Gonzaga last week.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Oakland 46
Miami (OH) 72

Bellarmine 64
Louisville 76

Saturday's Results

Kentucky beat Indiana today 59-54 in a big game for both teams. It wasn't pretty, but UK got the result they had to have. I'll have much more about this game later.

Top 25:

(6) Texas A&M 62
(1) UCLA 65

(2) Pittsburgh 70 - Are they just another overrated team who hasn't played anybody?
Buffalo 67

High Point 69
(3) North Carolina 94

Alabama St. 58
(4) Alabama 92

Cleveland St. 57
(5) Ohio St. 78

George Mason 53
(7) Duke 69

(10) Wichita St. 83
Wyoming 69

Toledo 58
(12) Kansas 68

(13) Washington 77 - Another team that had been feasting on "cupcakes"
(18) Gonzaga 97 - Earlier loss to Washington St. really motivated them.

(14) Arizona 69
San Diego St. 48

(15) Butler 64 - Beat Indiana & Notre Dame, but not Indiana St.
Indiana St. 72

Mississippi 70
(16) Memphis 82

UNLV 58
(20) Nevada 49

Colgate 52
(21) Syracuse 79 - Easy schedule means they start winning again.

(22) Oklahoma St. 75
Ball St. 56

(11) Wisconsin 70 - Really good win after OT victory vs. Winthrop.
(17) Marquette 66 - Lost 2 of 3 after 8-0 start.

(24) Xavier 67
Creighton 73 - Huge win for profile come tournament time.

(25) Georgia Tech 64 - 2nd straight loss (Miami).
Vanderbilt 73 - 4-3 after 1-3 start.

Other Scores:

Missouri 62 - 1st road game after 8-0 start.
Purdue 79 - One of the most improved teams in the country.

Drexel 81
Villanova 76 - Shouldn't lose this game at home.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

DePaul 57
UAB 58

St. Joseph's 64
Louisville 74

Santa Clara 67
Pacific 49

UMass 79
Cent. Conn. St. 66

Austin Peay 59
Eastern Kentucky 57

Thursday's Results

Top 25:

(4) Alabama 85
Notre Dame 99 - 7-1 with a 2 pt. loss to Butler that doesn't look too bad anymore.

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Murray St. 66
Eastern Kentucky 72 OT

Michigan 62
Miami (OH) 56

Randolph Morris

Everybody is starting to notice how good a player Morris is now, and he has improved alot. However, I bet most people don't realize that this improvement started last year. In his 21 games played last year, Morris was in double figures for all but 4 of them and shot 60.8%. He also had at least 5 rebounds in all but 3 of them. Morris has always been a productive player when he's out there. He is a career 57.9% FG shooter. His main problem was that he couldn't stay out of foul trouble. This year he is staying on the court, and his numbers are even better:

Miami (OH) - 12 pts, 10 reb
MVST - 18 pts, 9 reb
DePaul - 20 pts, 9 reb
UCLA - 11 pts, 4 reb (foul trouble = just 21 minutes)
Memphis - 18 pts, 8 reb
Charleston - 17 pts, 8 reb
North Carolina - 23 pts, 7 reb
Chattanooga - 17 pts, 7 reb

Avg. = 17 pts, 7.75 reb., 63.6 FG%

Morris also already has 12 blocked shots compared to last year's 24, and 6 assist compated to last year's 7. He is improving in every part of his game.

Hopefully Randolph will start getting the credit from the national media that he deserves. If he keeps producing like this, they'll have no choice but to notice.

Wednesday's Results

Top 25:

Duquesne 56
(2) Pittsburgh 73

Providence 67
(7) Florida 85

Holy Cross 45
(7) Duke 57

Ball St. 41
(15) Butler 65

(16) Memphis 58 - When they shoot 29% FG & 18% 3's, they can get beaten by anybody.
Tennessee 76 - Impressive win, still have 3 big games in a row.

Northeastern 53
(19) UConn 81 - Please play somebody good!

Fordham 59
(23) Maryland 79

Other Scores:

Creighton 54 - Fall to 3-2; Will be hard to climb back into Top 25.
Dayton 60 - Wins over Louisville & Creighton; Should they be ranked?

N.C. State 60 - 2nd straight loss (Virginia) after 5-0 start.
West Virginia 71

Villanova 67 - 7-1 with only loss to (24) Xavier.
Oklahoma 51

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Chicago St. 56
DePaul 83

Western Illinois 40
Indiana 92

UMass 56
Boston University 54

Time to Prove You Belong

There are so many teams that are thought of as being pretty good, but they have no big wins to prove it. One quick example is Syracuse who 7-2, but lost both they're games to quality teams (Wichita St. & Okla. St.). Kentucky is another team that has had its chance to prove they are a Top 25 team, but have lost to UCLA, Memphis, & North Carolina. All those losses were to ranked teams, but you have to beat some big names too. UK has 2 games to prove they are for real vs. Indiana and @ Louisville, who played Arizona very close.

The team I want to focus on right now is Tennessee. They were a huge surprise last year, but are they capable of another season like that this year? Their losses are to Butler and North Carolina, which aren't bad losses, but they haven't beaten anybody really good either. These next 4 games will make a big impact on how they do the rest of the year:

vs. Memphis (6-1 Lost to Ga. Tech)
vs. Western Kentucky (7-1 Lost to Florida)
vs. Oklahoma St. (10-0)
vs. Texas (5-2 Lost to Mich. St. & Gonzaga)

Now all those games are at home, except the Ok. St. game which is in Nashville. I could see UT winning all of those games, but they could also lose all 4. The Vols also get to travel to Ohio St. in January for another chance to prove themselves if they aren't able to this time.

Tuesday's Results

Top 25

Cal St. Fullerton 54
(1) UCLA 78

(6) Texas A&M 52 - Lose 1st game vs. a legit team; Play UCLA on Sat.
(9) LSU 64 - This isn't an upset, but a good win.

(14) Arizona 72 - When they hit their shots their great, but still soft on defense.
Louisville 65 - Lots of young talent, but will they win big games this year?

Delaware St. 48
(17) Marquette 65

(18) Gonzaga 67 - Bigger upset than most would think.
Washington St. 77

(22) Oklahoma St. 72 - Move to 10-0.
(21) Syracuse 68 - Play 2nd quality team and lose for 2nd time.

Detroit 55
(24) Xavier 88

Other Scores

Northern Iowa 57 - Daily Mid-Major over Power Conference team.
Iowa 55

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Charleston 55
South Carolina 67

Miami (OH) 40
Illinois St. 64

Kentucky 79, Chattanooga 63

Kentucky beat Chatanooga by 16 in Louisville to give the Cats a 5-3 record. Kentucky led by 15 at the half and jumped out to a 25 point lead, but UTC was able to come back. The flow of the game was completely changed when Jasper was given a technical foul on a very questionable call. The lead got down to 9 with 4:15 left, but Crawford and Bradley made 2 straight 3's to give the Cats some more breathing room.

Morris once again had a very strong game, especially in the first half. The story of the night was how much better Bradley played at the 2 guard than at the point. He looked much more comfortable, he shot better, and even had 5 ast. and 6 reb. Crawford and Perry also both had strong games. Some of the problems were that UK committed 20 turnovers, and the bench scored just 3 points.

I liked Tubby's aggressive coaching style, it seemed to get the players more aggressive too. I also liked his lineup and substitutions. I was also really glad to see UK to start shooting well again from outside. When we have the inside-outside combination working, we are a very tough team to beat.

Starting Lineup:

Jasper
Bradley
Crawford
Perry
Morris

Subs:

Porter 14:33 (Jasper)
Stevenson 13:50 (Perry)
Carter 13:50 (Morris)
Meeks 12:20 (Bradley)
Thomas 9:13

Positives:

Bradley - 23 pts., 6/9 3's, 5 ast., 6 reb.
Crawford - 19 pts., 4/9 3's,
Morris - 17 pts., 7/10 FG, 7 reb., 4 blks.,
Perry - 17 pts., 7/8 FG, 3/3 3's, 7 reb. (4 offensive),
Jasper - 6 ast., 10 reb., 3 stl.
Team - 53% FG, 50% (13/26) 3's, +10 reb. margin, 18 ast., 7 blks.

Negatives:

Bradley - 4 to's
Jasper - 4 to's
Bench - 3 pts (1/13 FG)
Team - 20 to's, 46% FT's (This was a strong point earlier in the season)

Kentucky vs. Chattanooga

Kentucky plays its annual game in Louisville tonight against Chattanooga a team with a 4-3 record. However, 2 of those losses are by 1 point, and the other was at Florida. Kentucky should be able to win this one, but it might be harder than expected again. I know the Cats usually don't play as well in Louisville, but they really need to come out on fire to prove that they are still hungry for a good season. Tubby has hinted at a faster pace and possibly more lineup changes, so we'll see if that really happens. Hopefully this game can help us get our 3 point stroke back before we host Indiana.

Chattanooga's Results:

W Ohio Valley 108-85
L @ East Tn. St. 70-71 (OT)
L @ Florida 44-93
W Ball St. 70-55
L Towson 55-56
W Prairie View A&M 79-66
W Berea 97-63

Some Other Games Tonight:

(22) Oklahoma St. vs.
(21) Syracuse - Haven't beaten anybody any good; Leave home, but stay in state until Jan. 7.

(6) Texas A&M - Big game to prove they are for real (or not).
(9) LSU

(14) Arizona vs. - Should be lots of offense.
Louisville

Monday's Scores

Top 25:

USC 62 - Improved from last year, and should be great next year.
(5) Kansas 72

Winthrop 79 - Only 3 losses to UNC, Maryland, Wisconisn.
(12) Wisconsin 82 OT - Sat. @ Marquette should be good sign of how good they really are.

Southern Utah 72
(13) Washington 87 - Sat. @ Gonzaga will be first real test.

Marshall 59
(14) Memphis 78 - @ Tennessee on Wednesday.

Other Scores:

Pepperdine 78
Colorado 72 - This kind of loss hurts conference (Big 12) rankings

Top 25 Breakdown

The new polls are out and they both have UCLA at the top. I know that the polls don't mean much right now, but I wanted to break them down and see who the ranked teams have beaten and have lost to.

So here is the poll with quality wins all losses. If the team has no quality wins, I'll put their best win.

1. UCLA - W: (25) Ga. Tech, Kentucky
2. Pittsburgh - W: Florida St.
3. North Carolina - W: (5) Ohio St., Tenn. L: (18) Gonzaga
4. Alabama - W: (24) Xavier
5. Ohio St. - W: Kent St. L: (3) North Carolina
6. Texas A&M - W: St. Louis
7. Florida - W: Western Ky. L: (12) Kansas, Florida St.
7. Duke - W: Air Force, Indiana L: (17) Marquette
9. LSU - W: Tulane L: (10) Wichita St.
10. Wichita St. - W: (9) LSU, (21) Syracuse
11. Wisconsin - W: Florida St., L: Missouri St.
12. Kansas - W: (7) Florida L: Oral Roberts, DePaul
13. Washington - W: Northern Iowa
14. Arizona - W: Illinois L: Virginia
15. Butler - W: (18) Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Indiana
16. Memphis - W: Kentucky L: (25) Georgia Tech
17. Marquette - W: (7) Duke, Texas Tech L: North Dakota St.
18. Gonzaga - W: (3) North Carolina, Texas L: (15) Butler
19. UConn - W: Mississippi
20. Nevada - W: California
21. Syracuse - W: Pennsylvania L: (10) Wichita St.
22. Oklahoma St. - W: Auburn
23. Maryland - W: Michigan St., Illinois L: Notre Dame
24. Xavier - W: Villanova L: Alabama
25. Georgia Tech - W: (16) Memphis, Purdue L: (1) UCLA, Miami (FL)

Teams that might deserve to be ranked:

Clemson (9-0) - W: @Old Dominion, @Minnesota, @South Carolina, Mississippi St.
Western Kentucky (7-1) - W: @Georgia, UAB, L: (7) Florida
Missouri (9-0) - W: Arkansas
Purdue (6-1) - W: Oklahoma, DePaul, Virginia L: (25) Georgia Tech
Virginia (5-1) - W: (14) Arizona, N.C. St. L: @Purdue

One major question about the rankings:

Why is Wichita St. ranked 10 and LSU 9 when Wichita St. won at LSU, and at Syracuse and have no losses? LSU's best win is against Tulane!

Sunday's Games

Some more upsets in the Top 25 today. Florida suffered their 2nd loss, Maryland their 1st, and Georgia Tech their 2nd. Florida is not performing at the level they should right now, but they could easily turn it around in no time. Tonight they played without Brewer, but I still expected them to win at Florida St. It may be that they play better as the underdog, and they aren't as good at dealing with success. They have at least proved that they are beatable.

Top 25 Losses from Last Week:

(3) Ohio St. - L @ (7) North Carolina 89-98
(4) Florida - L @ Florida St. 66-70
(5) Kansas - L @ DePaul 57-64
(8) Marquette - L vs. North Dakota St. 60-64
(15) Syracuse - L vs. (17) Wichita St. 61-64
(18) Georgetown - L vs. Oregon 50-57, L @ (11) Duke 52-61
(21) Georgia Tech - L @ Miami (FL) 82-90
(23) Maryland - L vs. Notre Dame 74-81
(25) Virginia - L @ Purdue 59-61

Top 25 Scores:

UC Riverside 38
(1) UCLA 61

(2) Pittsburgh 74
Auburn 66

(4) Florida 66 - Should drop more after this loss than after the last one.
Florida St. 70

Texas Southern 55
(20) UConn 106 - 1st real competition is West Va. on Dec. 30; also at LSU Jan. 6.

(21) Georgia Tech 82 - Shot selection is hurting them.
Miami (FL) 90 - Good win, but losses to Buffalo, Cleveland St., and Northwestern will hurt them all season long.

Notre Dame 81
(23) Maryland 74

(24) Nevada 77 - 2-0 vs. Pac-10 (Oregon St.)
California 71

N.C. St. 62
(25) Virginia 67

Saturday's Scores

Top 25:

Valparaiso 58
(3) Ohio St. 78 - Oden = 14 pts, 10 reb, 5 blks in 23 minutes.

(5) Kansas 57 - This is why you don't automatically crown young teams the champion.
DePaul 64 - Great win to turn around a disappointing start of the season.

Tennessee St. 60
(6) Alabama 78 - Not talked about much, but continue to climb in the rankings.

(7) North Carolina 75 - Were able to win without production from Hansbrough
Kentucky 63 - Morris dominated the inside, but outside shooting and turnovers cost them the game.

North Dakota St. 64
(8) Marquette 60 - This is more surprising than the Kansas loss to DePaul.

Pacific 62
(9) Texas A&M 74

(10) LSU
Tulane 67

(18) Georgetown 52 - 2 straight losses; should be out of rankings.
(11) Duke 61 - Came from 7 down at halftime.

Florida Intl. 63
(12) Wisconsin 79

Manhattan 59
(14) Memphis 77

(17) Wichita St. 64 - Another great win for the Mid-Majors.
(15) Syracuse 61 - Ranked too high due to easy schedule.

Illinois 72
(16) Arizona 84

Cleveland St. 45
(19) Butler 70

(22) Gonzaga 87 - Losing Morrison may have made them better.
Texas 77 - Another young team that will be up and down throughout.

Other Scores:

Georgia 87
Wake Forest 86

Clemson 74
South Carolina 53

UAB 59 - Able to beat their old C-USA rival.
Cincinnati 57

Arizona St. 63
Minnesota 66 - Win first game under new coach.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Miss. Valley St. 44
McNeese St. 61

Appalachian St. 68
Charleston 57

Berea 63
Chattanooga 97

Charlotte 57
Indiana 74

Sacramento St. 69
Louisville 99

Santa Clara 51
Missouri St. 78

Boston College 84
UMass 73

Eastern Kentucky 55
Western Kentucky 78

Houston 84
Va. Commonwealth 102

North Carolina 75 Kentucky 63

North Carolina easily handled Kentucky today despite a good performance by Randolph Morris and a terrible showing by Tyler Hansbrough. Morris finished with 21 points and held Hansbrough to 7 with only 2 FG's. But the rest of the Cats didn't show up. UK shot 3-16 on 3's and committed 22 turnovers. Besides Morris, nobody looked very good and Bradley and Thomas really had bad games. The defense was better, but UNC still hit 9-21 on 3's and had only 9 turnovers.

I support Tubby more than most, and I want him to succeed, but I have to admit that I don't understand some of his moves. For example why is Thomas playing ahead of Stevenson? You're not going to get much offense from either of them right now, but Stevenson's up-side is much higher. He is also a better rebounder and shot blocker than Thomas. The only positive for Sheray is that he is a better passer, but his turnovers are off-setting his assists.

Another example: In today's game UK started pressing toward the end and got within 9 after being down by 14. Bradley made 2 free throws with 3 minutes left and we took off the press. UNC was never threatened again. We also allowed them to run 30 seconds off the clock twice in the last 1:30 before we fouled them. We didn't start fouling until the 0:39 mark. If you're going to use that strategy, you have to start doing it sooner when you're trailing by 9 points.

The biggest problem, however is who to play at point guard? Bradley is just not made for that position right now. He may develop into it by the end of the season, but it's costing us right now. I don't want Bradley benched, but I would like to see him at 2 guard. Jasper and Porter could switch out at point, and Bradley and Meeks could rotate at the 2. I'm afraid that Crawford is going to have to play the 3 with Perry at the 4 and Morris at the 5. I know Crawford is better at the 2, but I believe a lineup with Jasper, Bradley, Crawford, Perry, and Morris is our best combination.

There is one more concern that I have with this team, and it is tempo. We have players in Jasper, Meeks, Crawford, and Bradley, who are wanting to push the tempo and probably thrive better in that invironment. However, our best player is Morris who is a perfect fit for a slow down half-court offense. I, unlike most fans, am in favor of keeping the tempo down, because I think that is Tubby's best chance at winning. Bradley and Crawford have got to learn to play half-court offense, or they should be replaced by the freshmen who have shown some good half-court skills.

Positives from today's game:

Morris: 21 pts, 10-11 FG, 7 reb, 3 blks
Perry: 12pts, 5-8 FG, 2-3 3pt, 6 reb
Crawford: 16 pts, 8 reb
Stevenson: 7 reb
Japer: 4 ast in 17 minutes
Team: +7 reb. advantage

Negatives:

Thomas: 1-4 FG, 3 to's
Crawford: 7 to's, 0-5 3pt
Bradley: 1-7 FG, 1-4 3pt, 3 ast in 35 minutes
Meeks: 1-6 FG
Team: 22 to's, 10-17 (58.8%) FT, 3-15 (20%) 3 pt.

Friday's Results

There wasn't much going on in college basketball on Friday, but there will be on Saturday. There are 13 games involving ranked teams including (17) Wichita St. at (15) Syracuse and (18) Georgetown at (11) Duke. Syracuse usually plays well at home, but Wichita St. will be trying to prove that they deserve their ranking. Duke will try to avenge last year's loss to Georgetown. Duke isn't as good as they've been the past few years, but I think they beat Georgetown in Cameron.

Of course, the big game for me tomorrow is Kentucky at (7) North Carolina. UNC is coming off an impressive win over Ohio St, and UK is trying to make up for it's poor showing in Maui. I've read lots of comments about how Kentucky has no chance to win, but that simply isn't true. They might not win, but if they play at the high level they're capable of they have a real shot. However, they also have a chance to get blown out if they come out flat, and let UNC do whatever they want to. This game is a great opportunity for UK to prove to its fanbase, and the rest of the country, that they can compete with anybody. A win would put them back in the Top 25 and it would help come tournament time.

I'll turn my attention to high school basketball on Saturday night with a visit to the HoopFest at Marshall Co. High School in Draffenville, Kentucky. There are 5 games in the final session featuring the always great Oak Hill, Kentucky commit A.J. Stewart's Jacksonville Arlington Country Day, and New American School (NY) that has 3 seven footers and UK recruit Teeng Akol. If you're anywhere near Western Kentucky you should really try to make it out to this event. Here's the official site with all of the details:

http://www.marshall.k12.ky.us/mchs/sports/hoopfest.htm

Top 25 Scores:

Northwestern St. 67
(8) Marquette 83

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Alabama St. 45
Santa Clara 71