Thursday's News & Results

It didn't take long for the first coaching change this year. Dan Monson resigned from Minnesota on Thursday after starting the season 2-5. Minnesota got of to a 2-0 start, but have lost 5 in a row including losses to Marist and Montana. Most people forget that it was Monson who took Gonzaga to the elite 8, not Mark Few, but he couldn't duplicate his success at Minnesota.

Top 25:

Portland St. 51
(22) Gonzaga 69

Other Scores:

Arkansas 64
Missouri 86 - Forced 24 turnovers, and beat a good team to go to 8-0

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Charleston 80
Charleston Southern 84 OT

Berea College 63
Chattanooga 97

Wednesday's Results

Top 25:

Robert Morris 53
(2) Pittsburgh 67

(3) Ohio St. 89 - Hit 13 3's, but played UNC's style of game.
(7) North Carolina 98 - Offense is amazing with so many options.

McNeese St. 57
(10) LSU 91

Idaho 66
(13) Washington 87 - Another team that is hard to read, due to easy schedule; Play at Gonzaga Dec. 9th.

Arkansas St. 60
(14) Memphis 86 - Play at Tennessee and at Arizona later this month.

Mo. Kansas City 55
(17) Wichita St. 85 - Big game at Syracuse on Saturday.

Oregon 57 - Moves them to 6-0; easy schedule could mean undefeated non-conference.
(18) Georgetown 50 - 2 home losses in 2 weeks (Old Dominion was the other one); Face Duke Saturday.

(19) Butler 60 - Easier time with Valpo than Marquette had.
Valparaiso 47

Sacred Heart 46
(20) UConn 89 - No way to know how good they really are due to pathetic schedule.

(24) Nevada 86 - 3-0 on the road (Oregon St., Santa Clara, LA Lafayette).
LA Lafayette 74

(25) Virginia 59
Purdue 61 - Went 2-1 in Maui, and this win should give them confidence going into conference play.

Other Scores:

Michigan St. 58 - 0-2 vs. ACC this year (lost 62-60 to Maryland).
Boston College 65 - Got back to above .500; Could have at tough time at UMass on Saturday.

Wake Forest 58
Air Force 94 - Another blow out on a power conference team.

Kansas St. 48 - Bennett at 7'3'' was overrated in high school, and his 10 pts in 6 games is proving it.
California 78

Clemson 90 - Win brings them to 8-0.
Minnesota 68 - 5th straight loss to go to 2-5.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Miami (OH) 53
Xavier 68

Hawaii 59
Santa Clara 68

Prairie View A&M 54
Houston 101

This year's offense vs. last year's

I thought it would be interesting to compare some offensive stats from this year and last year through the first 6 games. UK was 5-1 through 6 with wins over South Dakota St., Lipscomb, West Virginia, Liberty, and High Point. The loss came to Iowa.

FG's
2005: 161/363 = 44.4%
2006: 155/327 = 47.4%

3 Pt. FG's
2005: 53/129 = 41.1%
2006: 36/100 = 36.0%

FT's
2005: 62/104 = 59.6%
2006: 85/119 = 71.4%

Assists
2005: 101 = 63% of FG's
2006: 93 = 60% of FG's

What does all this mean? First off I think that this year's schedule has been more difficult with Top 25 teams UCLA and Memphis, plus Miami (OH), DePaul, and maybe even Charleston are better than any of the easy teams we played last year. You also have to remember that Morris wasn't playing at this time last year.

FG's - Shooting much better this year mainly because we're taking more inside shots. Last year's team was shooting 3's 35.5% of the time, while this year's is only taking 3's 30.1% of the time.

3 Pt. FG's - Last year's team was more guard oriented, and they had to make 3's to compete. Against Charleston UK put out a lineup at one time with Morris, Stevenson, and Thomas all in, and it actually worked pretty well. If we continue to push the ball inside, the 3's will start to open up more, and shoot better.

FT's - Shooting 12% points higher, and attempting more. Free throws could actually help UK win games this year, not cause us to lose them.

Assists - Rondo was an assist machine when he wanted to be, but Bradley isn't the same type of player. I have noticed that this year's big men pass the ball pretty well to each other. When Hayes and Daniels were here, they always looked for each other, and it created lots of easy shots.

Tuesday's Results

Top 25:

Long Beach St. 58
(1) UCLA 88 - I doubt they lose a game before conference play.

Southern 27
(4) Florida 83 - Have it easy until Dec. 23 vs. Ohio St.

Dartmouth 32
(5) Kansas 83

Louisiana Monroe 61
(6)Alabama 75 - Closer game than you would expect.

Indiana 51
(11) Duke 54 - Allowed Indiana to come back and almost win. I'm still not buying into the hype.

Florida St. 66
(12) Wisconsin 81

UNLV 75
(16) Arizona 89

Penn St. 73
(21) Georgia Tech 77 - Another closer than expected game.

(23) Maryland 72 - Illinois is not as good as the past few years, but it's still a hard place to play.
Illinois 66

Other Scores:

Miami (FL) 59
Northwestern 61 - Neither team will make the NCAA tournament.

Furman 70
Vanderbilt 62 - Vandy struggling with a 1-3 record; only win vs. Elon.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Miss. Valley St. 39
USC 63

UMass 72
Savannah St. 49

Eastern Kentucky 70 - Good win on the road for the OVC.
James Madison 66

UK 77 Charleston 61

Kentucky came out of the gate slowly, but the defense got the Cats going and propelled them to a 16 point win. UK didn't take the lead until the 7:35 mark when Perry Stevenson scored to make it 12-11. Kentucky kept the offense going and ended the half with a 27-15 lead. UK scored 50 in the 2nd half and ended up with an easy win.

Here are some of the positives:

Morris: 17 pts., 8 reb.
Crawford: 15 pts., 5 reb., 2 ast.
Stevenson: 14 pts. 7-7 FG
Meeks: 6 pts., 3 reb., 5 ast.
Team: 48% FG, 32% Def. FG, 17 ast.

Negatives:

Allowed 19 second chance points; Committed 20 turnovers; Perry shot 3-10 (I have no problem with Perry's 7 points, I just wish he would shoot a better %)

UK vs. Charleston

Kentucky hosts the College of Charleston on Tuesday night, and hopes to recover from the beating they to against Memphis. Many fans are already down on this year's team mainly due to the 2nd half in the Memphis game. I think that the majority of the fan base would be ok with the close loss vs. UCLA, if UK would have beaten Memphis. However, they weren't able to do that, and we have to move on.

This will be a big week for Kentucky basketball mainly because of Saturday's game at North Carolina. First UK has to take care of Charleston. It should be a win, but it won't be as easy as many people expect it to be. Bobby Cremins has taken over in Charleston, and he will always put out a competitive team. Kentucky better make sure they can stop senior guard Dontaye Draper who is averaging 21.4 pts, although he stands just 5'11''. Our guards are big, and should have an advantage, but Bradley has been beaten off the dribble consistently. Jasper would have a huge size advantage versus Draper, but I like using Jasper's height to guard bigger players. I would rather have Crawford defend a guard, and let Jasper guard a forward.

Here is Charleston's results so far:

@ Georgia St. W 72-66
neutral vs. Villanova L 81-68
neutral vs. Va. Commonwealth L71-59
neutral vs. Middle Tennessee W 64-56
vs. UNC Wilmington W 91-70

I'm predicting a Kentucky win 73-61.

Monday's Results

Top 25:

Holy Cross 64
(15) Syracuse 72 - Face their first quality opponent in (17) Wichita St. on Saturday.

Ball St. 54
(18) Georgetown 69

Ark. Little Rock 35
(9) Texas A&M 75 - Still don't know if they're for real yet.

(8) Marqette 65 - Give them credit for playing a Mid-Major on the road.
Valparaiso 62

Other Scores:

Tennessee 77 - Another big name team going on the road vs. a Mid-Major.
LA Lafayette 67

Michigan 67
N.C. St. 74

Coppin St. 77
Missouri 98 - 7-0 with an easy shedule, but they were losing these kinds of games under Quinn Snyder. Whole new style for the Tigers.

New Top 25

Florida has fallen from number 1 in both polls due to their loss to Kansas. The AP has UCLA number 1, and the Coaches have Ohio St on top. Both are deserving of the ranking, due to their dominant play so far. The Mid-Major conferences are well represented in the AP with (17) Wichita St., (19) Butler, (22) Gonzaga, and (24) Nevada. Kentucky, Tennessee, and Boston College all dropped out of the rankings, but UK could jump back in with a win at North Carolina on Saturday. Kentucky's season wouldn't be ruined with a loss to UNC, but a win would really bring them back into the discussion of top 10.

This year's Final 4 will be very hard to get to, as if it isn't usually. Florida, UCLA, and Ohio St., all have very good teams already. Kansas and North Carolina could also jump any of these 3 teams if their talent continues to develop. I will be very surprised if we see another Final 4 like last year where all 4 teams were looked over at the beginning of the season. But, in college basketball you never know what's going to happen.

Sunday's Results

Top 25:

Albany 55
(18) UConn 86

Other Scores:

Virginia Tech 64
Southern Illinois 69 - Two wins in a row vs. power conference opponents.

Wyoming 76
Colorado 73

West Virginia 64
Arkansas 71 - Won the tournament in Orlando; dangerous SEC team.

Montana 72 - Snapped a 4 game losing streak.
Minnesota 65 - 4 losses in a row (Iowa St., Marist, SIU, Montana).

Idaho 51
Gonzaga 76 - Should be ranked after beating UNC, even with the loss to Butler.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

UNC Wilmington 70
Charleston 91 - UK's next opponent.

Top 4

It's almost impossible to correctly rank teams in college basketball, but I'll give it a shot from what I've seen so far.

1. Florida (6-1) - They've only played one really good team (Kansas) and they lost, but I still say they're the best in the country. Of course some of their ranking comes from last year's success, but they do have the same players as last year. They face Ohio St. on December 23, and then they'll move into a pretty difficult conference.

2. UCLA (4-0) - Last year's runner-up is off to a great start. They really commit to defense, but are able to run up and down the court too. Their defense should help them to a Pac-10 title. They have some cupcakes coming up after winning the Maui Invitational, but do play Texas A&M on December 9.

3. Ohio St. (6-0) - Have dominated their early season opponents, but they haven't faced any top competition yet. That will change when they go to North Carolina on Wednesday. They also have a trip to Florida before they start their conference schedule. Everybody knows Ohio St. is loaded with talent, and adding Oden will help even more. I don't think Oden will dominate as soon as he starts playing, but he will contribute.

4. North Carolina (4-1) - Another team that's just loaded with young talent. The loss to Gonzaga does raise some questions. I think their biggest problem will be defense, but their size gives them so many possibilities on offense. They get to host Ohio St. and Kentucky this week before going into a pretty easy stretch on their schedule.

Next 4:

Kansas
Alabama
Marquette
Pittsburgh

Saturday's Results

Another big name lost tonight, and this time it was number 1. Florida got knocked off by Kansas 82-80 in overtime. Most people will talk about how great Kansas is now, but Florida gave the Jayhawks alot of help. Florida played worse than I've seen them in 2 years. Some of the credit does of course have to go to Kansas for causing Florida problems, but it looked at times like the Gators just didn't want to try. The defense was allowing way too many easy shots, and the offense was stagnant. Florida usually plays great team basketball, but it looked like too many individuals were wanting to be heroes tonight.

This won't hurt Florida in the long run, but it will help Kansas. The Big 12 is going to be down for the most part. Kansas has a good chance to win the conference. Texas is very young, but talented, and Texas A&M hasn't proven anything yet. Their schedule picks up when they visit LSU and UCLA.

Top 25 Scores:

(10) Kansas 82 OT
(1) Florida 80

(24) Wichita St. 57 - Another daily Mid-Major upset.
(6) LSU 53 - No excuse for a loss like this when you're leading at home by 8 at halftime.

Auburn 63
(7) Wisconsin 77

Texas Southern 44
(8) Alabama 74

Davidson 47
(9) Duke 75 - Might have some trouble vs. Indiana this week.

Idaho St. 44
(11) Texas A&M 74 - The cupcakes are getting stale.

(17) Syracuse 81 - Why do they never play anybody before January?
Canisius 71

(21) Nevada 78 - If they keep this non-conference dominance up, they have a chance at a pretty good seed in March.
Santa Clara 70

Rhode Island 68
(23) Boston College 86 - Broke 2 game losing streak (Providence & Rhode Island).

Other Scores:

Illinois St. 78
St. John's 65 - Big East bottom dwellers are very weak this year.

George Mason 56
Creighton 58

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Miami (OH) 57 - Will be competing for conference title.
Rutgers 44

Miss. Valley St. 77
Northern Arizona 104

Chattanooga 79
Praire View A&M 66

UMass 100
Jacksonville St. 69

Eastern Kentucky 73
North Carolina Asheville 54

Houston 78
St. Louis 81

Friday's Results

Friday was a big day for the Mid-Majors as Butler beat Gonzaga to win the NIT. George Mason's success proved that Mid-Majors can go deep into the tournament, this early success will more than likely earn them even more tournament births. The bubble teams from power conferences better watch out come March.

Top 25:

Western Kentucky 68
(1) Florida 101 - WKU isn't a bad team; Kansas better watch out.

(2) North Carolina 101 - Hansbrough and Wright dominated the Vols.
(22) Tennessee 87 - Hit 15 3's, but shot just 38.4% and allowed 55.6%.

Florida St. 66
(3) Pittsburgh 88 - 20 pt. half-time lead to easily handle FSU.

Youngstown St. 57
(4) Ohio St. 91 - I'm ready to see them against some real competition.

(7) Wisconsin 64
Missouri St. 66 - Held a 13 pt. half-time lead, then lost the lead, but managed to fight to the end and come out on top.

Ball St. 46
(10) Kansas 64 - I doubt they stay within 10 of Florida tomorrow.

Eastern Washington 83 - Led by 1 at the break.
(16) Washington 90 - Another all offense Pac-10 team.

High Point 63
(25) Maryland 81

Other Scores:

Gonzaga 71
Butler 79 - What a surprise preseason NIT champion.

Oklahoma St. 66
Auburn 65

Rutgers 72
Bradley 101 - 1 of 2 Big East teams to lose to a Mid-Major.

Minnesota 53 - Not much chance of having Big 10 success when you can't beat the Mid-Majors.
Southern Illinois 69 - 2nd MVC team to beat a Big-10 team (MO St. over Wisc.)

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Miami (OH) 49 - led by 7 at the break, but couldn't hold on.
Illinois 51

Towson 56
Chattanooga 55

Louisville 64 - 2nd Big East team to lose to a Mid-Major
Dayton 68

Thanksgiving Games

Not a whole lot of basketball for today. There has been one good game already though. Arkansas beat Southern Illinois in overtime by holding the Salukies scoreless in the extra period. Both of these teams are really physical and will probably face a similar type team if they make it to the NCAA tournament. They are both typical 7-9 seeds. No ranked teams are playing today, but tomorrow will get more action. (23) Gonzaga will face Butler for the NIT championship and (2) North Carolina will play (21) Tennessee. The Vols can hand with UNC if they try to run, but I think that North Carolina will have to much on the inside for UT to handle.

Look for the next update to be Friday night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday's Results

Some good games featuring ranked teams tonight. A pretty big surprise with Gonzaga beating North Carolina, but I thought that Gonzaga would be a tough matchup. Butler also upset Tennessee to make it a Butler vs. Gonzaga final in the NIT (I'm sure this isn't what ESPN was hoping for). UCLA continued their good play to capture the Maui Invitational with a win against Georgia Tech.

Top 25 Scores:

Gonzaga 82 - I usually think they're all hype, but not this year.
(2) North Carolina 74

(5) UCLA 88 - I would have them Final 4 if the tournament was today.
(19) Georgia Tech 73 - Good showing in Maui for this young group despite loss.

(20) Kentucky 63 - Will fall out of Top 25 even though lost to higher ranked opponents.
(12) Memphis 80 - The 2nd half meltdown vs. Georgia Tech helped them to dominate in today's 2nd half.

(14) Georgetown 73
Fairfield 60

Samford 57
(15) Arizona

Charlotte 67
(17) Syracuse 79

Butler 56 - Kept Tennessee from playing the run and gun game.
(22) Tennessee - 25% FG, 25% 3's, 55% FT

(23) Boston College 64 - bad loss to a team that lost to Brown by 10.
Providence 73

Other Scores:

Not any big upsets with unranked teams, but it was a rough day for the ACC and SEC. The ACC's only winner was Virginia (vs. N.C. Asheville) the other 3 lost. The SEC's only winner was Mississippi (vs. Tenn. Tech), the other 2 lost.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Miss. Valley St. 66
Central Arkansas 64

DePaul 73
Purdue 81

St. Francis (NY) 49
UMass 63

Grambling St. 61
Houston 96

Kentucky 63 Memphis 80

It was a rough day for Kentucky basketball. UK was demolished by Memphis 80-63 and fell to 3-2 on the year. A 1-2 trip to Maui is not what anybody had in mind. Yes, they were ranked lower than both teams that beat them, but I figured they would win at least one of the 2 games. I said before they game that Memphis is dangerous when they're hitting their 3's and it showed today.

I felt during the 1st half that UK should easily have a lead, but they couldn't stop the 3 point shooting. In the 2nd half the UK offense went dead and the defense stayed dead. UK was one and done on too many possessions and Memphis went down and got EASY baskets. Dribble penetration killed UK today as it has in both of their losses. When a player can get right by the man guarding him, it creates an automatic 5-4 advantage. Usually UK didn't know who should help, so there ended being to men helping which left 3 guys open underneath. I don't claim to know all of the principles of Tubby's defense, but I hope that he is really able to teach these guys how to play defense. Most of them are great athletes and should be able to stop their man.

Morris had a good game with 18 pts., 8 reb., and just 1 foul. He got tired in the 2nd half, but that's to be expected from a big man who played 35 minutes. He was having to fight against 2 men every time down the court, and his shots quit dropping and his defense suffered. Other than Morris, I thought that most of the Cats played out of control on offense, and lost all energy on defense in the 2nd half. Memphis made more difficult deep shots in the 1st half, but got easy dunks in the 2nd. I'm sure fatigue played some factor in UK's bad play in the 2nd half, but you can't blame all of the defensive break downs on that.

Next game is against the College of Charleston on next Tuesday, and they at North Carolina on December 2nd. It's not time to panic, because there are lots of young players on the team, and they will get better. The offense has shown that it can put up points, and Morris has shown a much more developed offensive game. They just have to play smarter on defense and force more difficult shots.

More on the UK vs. UCLA Game

After studying the box score and reflecting on the game here are some positives and negatives on each player:

Perry:
Positives = 5 reb. is about all I can find.
Negatives = 0 pts.; 0-5 FG; no FT's; has to be more consistent, and get 7-10 pts. a game.

Stevenson:
Positives = 10 pts.; 3-3 FG; 4-6 FT
Negatives = Has to learn to play defense other than just blocking shots.

Morris:
Positives = 11 pts.; ran the court better; becoming a consistent scorer.
Negatives = Defense; just 4 reb.

Bradley:
Positives = Came back in 2nd half to play much better (until the end).
Negatives = Gets beaten off the dribble too often; turnovers (but his attitude will help him bounce back).

Crawford:
Positives = 16 pts.; 3-6 on 3's; 5 ast.
Negatives = Come out of the gate looking for others, not just trying to score.

Porter:
Positives = 5 pts. in 12 min.; 3 reb.; played some good defense.
Negatives = ?

Jasper:
Positives = 12 pts.; 9 reb; 4 ast; 3 stl; 8-12 FT's; Took over the game.
Negatives = If he develops an outside shot, watch out.

Orbzut:
Positives = 0 fouls.
Negatives = 0 everything else, but played just 2 minutes, this wasn't his kind of game.

Meeks:
Positives: Very aggressive on offense.
Negatives: Defense; Look for others on offense.

Thomas:
Positives: Might be our best on ball defender; seems more confident.
Negatives: 2 pts, 2 reb, interior defense sometimes in question.

Overall:
Positives: 14 asts. on 22 FG; Continue to shoot 3's well (40%); 18-25 FT - Free throw shooting will help us win games & we get there alot more often; fought back and never gave up.

Negatives: Defense - UCLA shot just 45%, but they were 59% on 2's; Way to many wide open layups inside; 16 TOs.;

Tomorrow's game vs. Memphis is huge. A win would mean that we beat a top 20 team and play with the number 5 team. A loss would put us at 3-2, with a 1-2 trip to Maui. I think that we are very capable of beating Memphis, but they are very athletic, and can get hot from outside. If they're not making 3's, UK should win pretty easily. The defense has got to be tough, and not give up so many easy baskets.

UCLA 73 UK 68 & The Rest of Tuesday's Action

What a night it was in Maui. In the first game Memphis jumped out on Georgia Tech, and looked like they were going to easily dominate the game. Georgia Tech decided to play defense and everything started coming together. Tech ended up with a 92-85 win, outscoring Memphis 62-39 in the 2nd half.

In the second game UCLA got off to a great start. Kentucky couldn't make a stop on defense, and they couldn't hit a thing on offense, but then came the Derrick Jasper show. Jasper took UK from a 26-9 deficit to a 8 point margin at halftime. He did everything; score, pass, rebound, and play great defense. The other freshmen fed off of his energy and carried the rest of the team.

Kentucky kept up the momentum in the 2nd half, and Morris, Crawford, and Bradley all started to contribute. But UCLA managed to get the ball inside with ease, and could not be stopped. Kentucky still had chances down the stretch, but had some late game turnovers that led to easy UCLA baskets.

I wanted to win just as much as any UK fan, but I do have to say I was impressed with the comeback, and I think it will build to the future. I know we all expect to win every game, as I did tonight, but UCLA is ranked 5th and made it to the championship game last year. UK proved they can play with the best, now they just have to keep improving, and play with more consistency.

In other Top 25 action:

Prairie View A&M 33
(1) Florida 94 - These kinds of games are RPI killers.

(5) UCLA 73 - Play defense like not other Pac-10 team
(20) Kentucky 68 - A win vs. Memphis could do wonders for their confidence.

Delaware St. 52
(7) Wisconsin 64

(13) Marquette 73 - Were able to close it out pretty easily the last few minutes.
(9) Duke - Don't believe everything you hear from a certain announcer; this team will not be top 10 come March.

Tennessee St. 54
(10) Kansas 89 - I see them losing by 10+ vs. Florida

(19) Georgia Tech 92 - vs. UCLA next
(12) Memphis 85 - vs. Kentucky next

UC Irvine 64
(21) Nevada 83

Other Scores:

Miss. St. 66
Clemson 69

Vanderbilt 78
Wake Forest 88

Purdue 74 - I see them improving quite a bit from last year.
Oklahoma 71 - NIT?

Texas Tech 53
Air Force 67 - Good bounce back after Duke loss.

Kansas St. 54 - People who thought Huggins would have immediate success are out of touch with reality.
New Mexico 78

Jackson St. 71
Rutgers 70 - Bad loss for Big East.

Wofford 91
Cincinnati 90 - Another bad loss for Big East.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Chattanooga 70
Ball St. 55

Ill. Chicago 61
Miami (OH) 72

Monday's Results

No Top 25 upsets today, but there were some good games. I was actually very impressed with Duke, who I picked to lose against Air Force. Duke's offense was just about unstoppable with easy 3's and wide open layups. They new that Air Force was a dangerous team, and didn't underestimate them.

Top 25 Scores:

San Francisco 60
(4) Ohio St. 82 - Enough of the cupcakes, let's see what they do next week vs. UNC.

Xavier 56
(8) Alabama 63 - 1 pt. lead at the half.

Air Force 56
(9) Duke 71

Oklahoma 65
(12) Memphis 77 - Game played at a frantic pace, but took awhile for offense to click.

Texas Tech 72
(13) Marquette 87 - get their chance at Duke next.

Purdue 61
(19) Georgia Tech 79 - Close game for about 30 minutes, but Purdue disappeared.

DePaul 81
(20) Kentucky 87

Winthrop 60
(25) Maryland 71

Other Scores:

Villanova 89
Iowa 60

Kentucky's Non-Conference Opponents:

Kenyon College 52
Eastern Kentucky 63

Santa Clara 48
California 73

Kentucky 87 DePaul 81

Kentucky managed to survive a determined DePaul team in Maui to advance to the semi-finals. Once again UK got off to a great start, but the defense wasn't able to keep DePaul down.

Positives: The offense was by far the best it's been all season shooting 57.1% on field goals and 40% on 3's. UK also shot 17-21 on free throws, and that has been a problem in the last few seasons. Perry and Woo showed much more offense than the last 2 games. The seniors contributed 21 pts. which is much better than last games 5. Morris was great with 20 pts., 9 reb., and just 3 fouls. Bradley had 16 pts, and Crawford had 13 pts., 4 reb., and 5 ast.

Negatives: Defense! Too many starters (Bradley & Crawford) were beat off the dribble. There were stretches where DePaul seemed to score at will. A switch to a zone didn't help either, as it exposed our weak interior defense. I'm sure Tubby is disappointed in the defense, but happy with the win.

Tomorrow's game will more than likely be against UCLA who is playing Chaminade, by far the worst team in the tournament. The defense will have to step up, because I don't think that we will be able to score as easily against the Bruins. No matter the outcome of the next game, Kentucky will face another Top 25 team in either Memphis or Georgia Tech on Wednesday. Both of those teams are extremely athletic, but looked very confused on both sides of the ball today.

A Big Week for Basketball

What a great week for college baskteball this is going to be. There's almost nothing as good as being able to watch baskeball from the afternoon to after midnight.

The new Top 25 is out, and a couple of top 10 teams fell quite a bit. Kasas fell from 3 to 10 after it's loss to Oral Roberts. We'll see how they stack up against the big boys when they take on Florida on Saturday. Georgetown also fell from 8 to 14 with their loss to Old Dominion. Boston College went from 14 to 23 and Texas and Creighton both dropped out of the AP poll. Maryland got in at 25 after beating St. John's and Michigan St., they probably deserve to be higher than this. Kentucky went up 2 places to 20, but is just the 4th highest ranked team in Maui this week. (5) UCLA, (12) Memphis, and (19) Georgia Tech are all ahead of the Cats, but there is a good chance that UK will face 2 of those teams, they just need to first take care of DePaul.

Playing in Maui is great exposure for Kentucky and they have a chance to make some noise. ESPN goes crazy of this tournament like no other, and you can bet that they'll promoting it and showing highlights on every SportsCenter.

For my upset of the night, I'm picking Air Force to win at Duke. Air Force is the kind of disciplined team that can really bother Duke. If they don't get caught up in the whole "Duke Experience," they have a great shot tonight. Duke lost lots of talent and experience from last year's team.

Look for lots of updates this week.

Sunday's Results

This is going to be a great week for college basketball with all of the tournaments and other big matchups. Sunday is also featuring many Top 25 teams.

Top 25 Scores:

Gardner-Webb 50
(2) North Carolina 103

Towson 61
(3) Kansas 87

Oakland 55
(4) Pittsburgh 66 - Trailed by 4 at half.

Louisiana Monroe 57
(7) LSU 88

Old Dominion 75
(8) Georgetown 62 - Led by 4 at half; Won @ Vandy in tough environment, then lose at home.

Southern 39
(9) Wisconsin 92

Iowa 60
(10) Alabama 72

St. Louis 33
(12) Texas A&M 69

New Mexico St. 87
(15) Arizona 102 - Have scored 90, 101, and 102 in their 3 games.

Sacramento St. 74
(17) Washington 83

Mississippi 59
(21) UConn 77

Coppin St. 65
(25) Tennessee 99

Other Games:

Miami (FL) 67 - 2nd straight loss to a Mid-Major.
Cleveland St. 78

Villanova 66
Xavier 71 - Not exactly a typical Mid-Major, but still a quality win.

Oregon St. 41 - Lost last 2 games by a total of 72 points.
Hawaii 85 - Began game on a 25-o run.

UTSA 48
Gonzaga 92 - Just wanted to point out that I think this might actually be on of the best Gonzaga teams. I also think they'll win the NIT this week.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Chicago St. 69
Indiana 90

UMass 79
Northeastern 56

Saturday Scores

Top 25:

(1) Florida 93
Chattanooga 44 - UK's December 5th opponent.

UMass 68
(4) Pittsburgh 85

Louisiana Tech 59
(12) Texas A&M 75 - It's still weird seeing A&M ranked this high in basketball.

Eastern Michigan 62
(16) Marquette 95

(20) Creighton 61
Nebraska 73

Fairfield 49
(21) UConn 74 - Just led by 8 at the half.

Ark. Pine Bluff 63
(24) Nevada 82

Other Scores:

Fair. Dickinson 76
Seton Hall 71 - Maybe this year the "experts" won't automatically crown the Big East as the best conference like they did last year.

Brown 51
Providence 41 - Bad night for the Big East.

Wichita St. 72
George Mason 66 - From Final 4 to losing in their home opener, but no shame in losing to a MVC team anymore.

Portland St. 71
Arizona St. 67 - Another home non-conference loss for the Pac. 10. Read below for more.

California 79 - Not a home loss, but the non-conference trend continues.
San Diego St. 86

Miami (FL) 57 - I hope people remember games like these when they're trying to fill up the field of 65 with ACC teams.
Buffalo 60

Air Force 84 - Won by 34 at Stanford and now this; play at Duke on Monday.
Colorado 46

Winthrop 74
Miss. St. 63 - Looks like the SEC isn't immune to the Mid-Major bug either.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Northwestern St. 87
Louisville 100 - UL trailed by 11 at the half.

Monmouth 80
Houston 89

Utah 72
Santa Clara 83

Charleston 59
VCU 71

Pac-10 Troubles:

The Pac-10 already has 8 non-conference losses, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. All but 2 of these losses have been at home. Here are the teams involved:

Northern Arizona 75
Arizona St. 71

Portland St. 71
Arizona St. 67

Arizona 90
Virginia 93

California 79
San Diego St. 86

SE Louisiana 65
Oregon St. 63

Nevada 75
Oregon St. 47

South Carolina 80
Southern California 87

Air Force 79
Stanford 45

Friday's Results

Top 25:

Northeastern 52
(4) Pittsburgh 78

Eastern Kentucky 45
(5) Ohio St. 74

Nicholls St. 42
(7) LSU 96

Middle Tennessee St. 62
(10) Alabama 71

Lamar 60
(12) Texas A&M 94

(19) Texas 77
St. John's 76 - St. John's had a chance at the buzzer, but fell short.

Central Arkansas 59
(21) Connecticut 88

Miss. Valley St. 56
(22) Kentucky 79

Other Games:

Michigan St. 60 - A blown shot clock call kept them from having a chance to tie the game.
Maryland 62 - Will probably crack the Top 25 next week.

Stony Brook 59
Penn St. 51 - I doubt the Big 10 was very happy about this.

UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

Indiana St. 66
Indiana 73

Florida A&M 33
Miami (OH) 52 - These guys can play defense; only allowed 11 first half points.

Eastern Illinois 41
DePaul 71

UMass 65
Oakland 56

Charleston 68
Villanova 81

Kentucky 79 Miss. Valley St. 56

(22) Kentucky beat Miss. Valley St. easily tonight, and looked like a different team than they did against Miami (OH). UK came out pressing and running, and took an early 15-0 lead. There were once again times of sloppiness and defensive breakdowns, but that is going to happen early in the season.

Morris came out demanding the ball in the post and finished with 18 pts., 9 reb., and 2 blks. Bradley was on fire with 21 pts. (5-7 3 pts.), 5 ast., and just 2 turnovers. Stevenson had 4 blocks and 8 points, and Meeks had 13 pts.

The big dissapointments were Perry (who had 2 fouls with 17 minutes left), Thomas, and Woo. The 3 seniors combined for 5 pts., 6 reb., 5 ast., and shot 1-8 from the field. They have got to do more if they want to finish out their careers with a Final 4.

I'll have more comments later.

Here are some early Top 25 scores:

Northeastern 52
(4) Pittsburgh 78

Eastern Kentucky 45
(5) Ohio St. 74

Middle Tennessee St. 62
(10) Alabama 71

(19) Texas 77
St. John's 76

Miss. Valley St. 56
(22) Kentucky 79

Kentucky vs. Mississippi Valley State

Mississippi Valley St. is coming to Rupp tonight, and probably stay close to UK like Miami did 2 nights ago. However, I think this game will be much easier for Kentucky. Miss. Valley St. 0-2, and haven't been close to winning either of their first 2 games. Here are their results so far:

at Creighton L 42-78
at Mississippi L 49-72

If Kentucky is able to get off to a good start, this should be over by the 10 minute mark. But, it seems like the Cats have a tough time coming out on fire against sub-par opponents. Look for the ball go into Morris much more in the 1st half. Last game the guards weren't trying to get the ball to Morris, but he wasn't demanding the ball enough either. I think Tubby has probably pointed that out as well.

Tonight will be the season debut of Sheray Thomas also. Sheray needs to get off to a good start this year, or I'm afraid that he will lose all confidence and will be a non-factor throughout the year. He has got to play well for UK to have a really successful season. With Morris's foul troubles, Stevenson's youth, Woo's inconsistent play, and Carter's injury, Thomas has got to produce. I hope that Tubby brings Sheray off the bench, and rewards Stevenson with another start.

My prediction for tonight: UK 84 Miss. Valley St. 59

Thursday's Results

Michigan St. was able to beat (19) Texas in one of the biggest games of the early season. It was a great game, but was also typical of early season basketball. Both teams are so inexperienced that there never was a good flow to the game. Michigan St. was able to slow it down and make Texas play in the halfcourt.

Top 25 Scores:

Jacksonville 61
(1) Florida 90

UNCG 48
(11) Duke 75

Jackson St. 69 - Have played at Alabama, Georgia Tech, Illinois, & Memphis in the last week.
(13) Memphis 111 - Play in Maui next week.

(19) Texas 61
Michigan St. 63

Georgia St. 74
(23) Georgia Tech 103 - Play in Maui next week.

Other Games:

Maryland 92 - Faces Michigan St. on Friday
St. John's 60

Maui Thoughts:

I know that Kentucky plays against Miss. Valley St. tomorrow night, but that game should be much easier than Wednesday's game. I'm more concerned about next week at the Maui Invitaional. UK opens against DePaul, who has looked awful so far in 2 losses to Bradley and Northwestern. If they win, they'll likely play (6) UCLA who opens with Chaminade.

On the other side of the bracket is (13) Memphis, (23) Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, and Purdue. No matter what the outcome is of the UCLA game, we will face a very good team in likely either Memphis or Georgia Tech. Memphis lost quite a bit of their team from last year, but they'll be quick and very athletic. Georgia Tech had a great recruiting class, and I think they'll be one of the best teams in the ACC. I'd love to go 3-0 and win the tournament, but 2-1 would be pretty impressive too.

I've linked the bracket on the right side of the page.

Tonight's Big Game

Tonight has one of the bigger games of the year with (18) Texas against Michigan St. Texas is young but very talented, and you never know what to expect from Michigan St. early in the season. I expect the Spartans to make it a slow, physical game, while Texas is going to want to run (the Longhorns are averaging 97.5 ppg). I think the Texas youth will win out tonight. The winner will face either St. John's or Maryland tomorrow.

Another Big Upset

Kansas was the unlucky Top 25 team tonight, going down 78-71 to Oral Roberts. Kansas might end up being great by the end of the year, but why is a team that has lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament 2 years in a row ranked 3rd? Mid-Majors have to get big wins early in the year, because they won't get to play any power conference teams later on. If this trend continues with all the upsets, Selection Sunday is going to be full of bubble teams.

Top 25 Scores:

Winthrop 66
(2) North Carolina 73 - UNC trailed by 8 at the half, but were able to avoind an upset.

Oral Roberts 78 - This could help come Selection Sunday.
(3) Kansas 71

BYU 69
(6) UCLA 82 - Could face UK in Maui

(8) Georgetown 86 - I thought Vandy would win; impressive win on the road.
Vanderbilt 70

Wis. Green Bay
(9) Wisconsin

Northern Arizona 79
(15) Arizona 101 - They have no trouble scoring, but will their defense hold against quality teams?

Northeastern 58
(18) Syracuse 81

Miami (OH) 46
(22) Kentucky 57 - This was closer than most would like, but it's better than losing.

(24)Nevada 75
Oregon St. 47 - Pac-10 is having trouble in non-conference games.

Other games:

Northwestern St. 76 - Were able to beat some power conference teams last year; play at Louisville on Saturday.
Oklahoma St. 79 - Lost to the same team last year.

Air Force 79
Stanford 45 - Did I mention that the Pac-10 is having some problems?

UK's Non-conference Opponents:

Chattanooga 70
East Tennessee St. 71

Some more comments on UK's win against Miami:

I thought that Miami scored way to easily in the first half. They shot 47.8% and 57.1% on 3's, most of which were wide open. But, Kentucky held them to 16% and 25% on 3's in the 2nd half. Defense was a problem for last year's team, hopefully that won't be the case this year.

Something else that impressed me was that when Kentucky took the lead with 1:11 left in the first half, they held it for the rest of the game. Miami was able to get within 2 points in the 2nd half, but never regain the lead.

Ramel Bradley turned the ball over 6 times, which is way too many, but the team only had a total of 12 turnovers, which is pretty good.

Thomas will be available for Friday's game, but I hope that Tubby starts Stevenson again. Sheray needs to prove that he can contribute in real games before he is inserted back into the starting lineup. He looked much more athletic at Big Blue Madness, let's hope that carries over to a good season. If he plays well, UK becomes a much more dangerous team.

UK 57 Miami 46

It wasn't a very pretty game, but UK ended up winning by 11. After a really rough start, they held a 4 point lead at the half. UK came out looking great to start the 2nd half before they went cold again.

There were many defensive mistakes, like leaving 3 point shooters wide open. All of the Kentucky freshmen are great athletes, but I don't think they understand the defense yet. Perry Stevenson was great with 7 blocks and 6 rebounds, Joe Crawford had 18 points, and Randolph Morris had 12 points (5-7 FGs) and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes. Bradley also had 12 points and 5 assists, but turned it over 6 times.

There was lots of inconsistent play on both sides of the ball, but I'm sure alot of that is due to it being so early. Even though the fans would like a blow out every game, this kind of close game will benefit the freshmen later on when they're in a pressure environment. I'm sure Tubby will use this game tape to teach, and hopefully the mistakes will be fixed. The next 2 games against Miss. Valley St. and DePaul will probably both be easier than tonight's game.

It's Time!

Tonight is UK's opening game vs. Miami (OH). I thought that UK looked impressive in both pre-season games, but how much does that translate into the regular season? Miami is coming off a 1 point loss to Wright St. on Saturday. This game will probably be ugly, and show lots of mistakes by both teams (like most early season games do). I think that in the end UK will end up with a 15 point win, 76-61.

Tubby has indicated that the starting line up will be:

Bradley
Crawford
Perry
Stevenson
Morris

I'll have a full review after the game.

I'm also going to start predicting an upset of the night. It will always consist of either a Top 25 team, or a team from a power conference. Tonight's upset is Vanderbilt over (8) Georgetown. Vandy actually beat them last year on the road, and Memorial Gym is not an easy place to play for anybody.

Tuesday's Results

Top 25:

North Florida 40
(1) Florida 86

Sacred Heart 81 - Trailed by just 5 at halftime.
(2) North Carolina 103 - They can put up alot of points, but can they stop anybody?

Delaware St. 50
(4) Pittsburgh 67

Detroit 45
(16) Marquette 87

Northern Iowa 61
(17) Washington 70

N.C. Wilmington 75
(25) Tennessee 87


Other Scores:

Wake Forest 86 OT
Bucknell 83 - This team beat Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament last year.

Western Kentucky 70 - WKU was down by 7 at halftime.
Georgia 67 - Shouldn't lose to a Mid-Major at home.

Colorado 65 - Embarrassed by a Mid-Major.
New Mexico 106 - Tough place to play at.

South Carolina 52 - Never even a close game.
UC Irvine 67


UK's Non-Conference Opponents:

DePaul 39 - Moves to 0-2. I'm not worried about them in Maui.
Northwestern 49

Indiana 55 - Not what Sampson needed early in his new job.
Butler 60 - They lost by 40 at Tulane last week.

Holy Names 51
Santa Clara 83

Three UK recruits make it official

Kentucky has now officialy signed Ramon Harris (6'6'' F), A.J. Stewart (6'7'' F), and Mike Williams (7'0'' C). There's tons of speculation on who else might or might not sign this week. I'm not going to get into all of that. Harris should be able to play after December 15 of this year if he is cleared by the NCAA.

A.J. Stewart will be in action on December 2, at Marshall County's Hoop Fest. Everyone needs to plan on making that trip to give him alot of support.

Another Upset

More Top 25 action meant another upset on Monday. This time it was Boston College who lost at home to Vermont 77-63. It was a 14 point game at halftime, and Vermont never looked back.

Here's the rest of the Top 25:

Georgia Southern 48
(12) Duke 72 - Duke led by just 6 at halftime, but held Ga. Southern to 16 2nd half points.

Vermont 77
(15) Boston College 63

Idaho St. 56 - OT
(16) Marquette 59 - This game was tied at the end of the 1st and 2nd halves.

Nicholls St. 74
(17) Washington 102

Miss. Valley St. 42 - UK's opponent on Friday
(19) Creighton 78

Jackson St. 70
(23) Georgia Tech 100

Fordham 43
(25) Tennessee 78 - UT led by 12 at halftime, but Fordham made it close at the end


Other Games:

Butler 71
Notre Dame 69 - Another Mid-Major beating a power conference team.

Northern Arizona 75 - This team just lost by 34 at Kansas
Arizona St. 71 - Non-Conference losses are becoming very common in the Pac-10.


Future UK Non-Conference Opponents:

East Tennessee St. 53
Eastern Kentucky 70

Houston 102 - OT
Rhode Island 99

Lafayette 66
Indiana 91

New Polls

The new AP and Coaches' Polls came out today.

Ohio St. managed to climb from 7 to 5 in the AP, while Arizona fell from 10th to 15th. UConn also fell 3 spaces from 18th to 21st, probably due to beating Quinnipiac by only 7 points. Everybody else remained about the same including Kentucky who stayed 22 in the AP and Coaches' Polls.

You can view the complete polls using the links to the right.

Carter Injured

UK's Jared Carter injured his shoulder Saturday during practice. They don't know how bad it is, but he will have an MRI on it this week. I hope Carter is fine, but it shouldn't make a big difference in Wednesday's game vs. Miami (OH). It would be nice for Carter to get some more game time experience in the early season, but that may not happen if he's hurt badly.

First Top 25 Upset

It didn't take long for a Top 25 team to get knocked off. Arizona (10) lost at Virginia 93-90. When is Arizona going to start playing defense again? They haven't in the last 2 years, and it looks like this year might be more of the same. I'm not sure why a team that was 21-13 last year, and lost some of its top players is ranked so high.

The rest of the Top 25 scores:

Western Michigan 67
(4) Pittsburgh 86

Kent St. 59
(7) Ohio St. 81

Mercer 48
(9) Wisconsin 72

(10) Arizona 90 - Already the 2nd non-conference loss for the Pac-10.
Virginia 93

Columbia 43
(12) Duke 86

Pepperdine 91
(17) Washinton 99

UTEP 69
(20) Syracuse 83

Saturday's Results

Some top 25 action:

Northern Arizona 57
(3) Kansas 91

Loyola Chicago 75
(7) Ohio St. 87

Hartford 59
(8) Georgetown 69 - Just a 4 point lead for G-Town at halftime.

Penn 60
(20) Syracuse 78

Other Notable Scores:

SE Louisiana 65 - Southland over the Pac-10 in Oregon
Oregon St. 63

UK's non-conference opponents:

Wright St. 57
Miami (OH) 56 - UK's first opponent

DePaul 58 - Not good for UK or the Big East
Bradley 78

Charleston 72
Georgia St. 66

Ohio Valley 85
Chattanooga 108

Dartmouth 61
UMass 98

Friday's Results

There were a bunch of top 25 teams in action tonight. Here are some scores:

Samford 54
(1) Florida 79

Virginia Military 69
(7) Ohio St. 107

Jackson St. 65
(11) Alabama 96

Praire View A&M 49
(13) Texas A&M 81

New Hampshire 47
(15) Boston College 86

Hillsdale 66
(16) Marquette 76 - Hillsdale actually led 36-32 at halftime.

Quinnipiac 46
(18) Connecticut 53 - UCONN led by 21 at halftime, but only scored 18 pts. in the 2nd half.

St. Francis (NY) 51
(20) Syracuse 83

(21) Texas 92
Chicago St. 66

Elon 49
(23) Georgia Tech 83

Alaska-Anchorage 62
(24) Nevada 85

Middle Tenn. St. 52
(25) Tennessee 83

Some other notable scores:

Wofford 88
N.C. State 92 - NC St. trailed by 9 at the half, but came back to win.

N.C. A&T 80
Missouri 101 - 1st game for new coach Mike Anderson. I think they'll do well in the Big 12 with his style of play.

Mount St. Mary's 42
West Virginia 50 - Much different team from what they've had the past few years.

Cornell 64
Northwestern 61 - Games like these hurt the Big 10's conference strength.

Southern Utah 76
Utah 73

S. Carolina St. 52
South Carolina 55 - You never know what you'll get from the Gamecocks.

Future UK non-conference opponents:

Miss. Valley St. 49
Mississippi 72

Asbury College 46
Eastern Kentucky 63

Thursday's Results

Thursday saw the first action by a top 25 team this year. Texas destroyed Alcorn St. 103-44. Freshman Kevin Durant (a former UK recruit) scored 20 in his debut.

Michigan St. scored 41 more points than they did last night, and beat Youngstown St. 86-61. MSU put 6 players in double figures after having only 2 get there the night before.

Friday is going to be a full night for college basketball with 11 ranked teams in action. It should be a pretty easy night for all 11.

UK Gets Recruit

I don't want to spend a ton of time talking about recruiting, but I do want to point out that A. J. Stewart signed a letter of intent to play at UK Wednesday. Ramon Harris is also about to sign with UK, and he could actually join the team after Christmas. Here's the full story: http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061109/SPT0104/611090320/1035/SPT

Updates

I've added some more links on the right of the page. I love to follow the computer rankings, but there are some out there that make no sense. I've linked the ones that I think are usually pretty accurate. Go to the College Basketball Rankings Comparison page if you want to see many more.

Wednesday's Results

A couple of big name schools played tonight, although neither are ranked. Maryland easily handled Vermont, winning 81-63, but Michigan State struggled offensively in their 45-34 win over Brown.

Let the Games Begin!

It's basketball season again, and that means it's the best time of the year in Kentucky. This season I'm going to use this blog to chronical UK and the rest of the NCAA.