The first thing that comes to mind after watching this game is a quote from Jay Bilas about Ramel Bradley in last nights DePaul game .
“He’s not necessarily a pass first point guard.”
I would like to add that I’m not sure he’s even a catch first point guard.
At least Duke lost to Wildcat killer Marquette as well.
You weren’t expecting a pre-game writeup early in the day were you? Good, ’cause some people have to work you know. Damn, get off my back already. According to bodog, the Cats are +4 1/2. To be honest I would have thought that it would have been around 7, so it seems like Vegas is giving Tubby and the team a slight bit of respect. Again, just my opinion.
You already know all about the history and championships between these two teams so I won’t regurgitate that same story again here. I’m sure UCLA will come in to the game with its taser’s set to stun so lets hope the Big Blue that started out fast last night shows up again.
Here’s an idea I’ve been throwing around lately. Come back here after the game win or lose (win) and in the comments write what you think will be the Herald Leader headline in tomorrow’s paper regarding the game. There may even be a prize if more than a couple of people respond. The HL is almost always good for a cheesy rhyming headline. See you after the game.
So I made it back in time to live blog this game. I’m surprised myself. I’ve got my beverage of choice, do you? Here we go.
9:05 - The Duke/Air Force game just finished up making the tip five minutes late. Screw you Duke. There, that felt good.
9:06 - The game isn’t in HD. Screw you again Duke. They got the HD cameras for the night. Seriously ESPN if you’re going to have two HD networks don’t you think you could spring for a couple extra cameras?
9:08 - Cats shoot out to an 8-0 lead. Nice.
9:10 - Tubby sporting a not-so-Hawaiian shirt but still but looking better than some of those Dawhares scorched camel brown jackets.
9:15 - After coming out and looking extremely smooth and effective, DePaul battles back to trail 18-14 at the first tv break.
9:17 - Woo checks in scores on first possession. Good night for Woo; if he does nothing else for the rest of the night.
9:20 - First defense of Tubby tonight by Jay Bilas after showing that Kentucky lost 5 games at home last season. “Tubby is not a good coach, he is a great coach.” Also, Woo just threw one down. Woo 4 points 0 turnovers.
9:33 - So, they just showed a commercial for Avodart. A prostate medication. It says women shouldn’t even handle the medicine since it can cause birth defects. Thanks doc. Cats 33 - DePaul 25.
9:35 - Jay Bilas regarding Ramel Bradley. “He’s not necessarily a pass first point guard.” Really, I never noticed.
9:36 - DePaul’s Wesley Green’s father is in prison in Florida on “drug related issues”. This seems like something that should be in the pop-up video edition of the the game.
9:40 - UK 34 - DePaul 31 Bobby Perry and Randolph just had a couple of powder puffs smacked away. Where are those freshmen?
9:42 - With this lineup on the floor consisting of four returning players we look and play exactly like last years team. Slow, sloppy, no urgency. Right now it seems like we will be seeing a lot of freshmen playing time.
9:46 - I know they will never say, but what do you think Sheray got suspended for? You know you’re curious as well. 41-36 Cats.
9:50 - Halftime. Kentucky 43 - DePaul 38. Such a strong start then to let it trickle away. I would have loved to see them keep the heat on throughout. We’ll see how the second half goes. Back in a few.
John Clay is also live blogging court side as opposed to my couch side analysis.
2nd half
10:08 - First score of the half is Joe Crawford with a layup. He’s been quiet.
10:12 - UK 47 - DePaul 46. Randolph Morris foul. Where are the freshmen?
10:16 - DePaul takes a short one point lead off the Randolph Morris foul. Then trade baskets back and forth. 50 - 49 DePaul.
10:18 - From the ESPN ticker. Jason LaRue has been traded by the Reds to the Royals for a PTBNL. So long, “Country Boy Can Survive“.
10:26 - Ramel taking control of the game a little bit. 59-52 Cats. Randolph looks comatose. His personality reminds me of Marvin Stone. It seems like he doesn’t even care to try sometimes. No emotion.
10:39 - A little more comfortable off a turnover and easy layup, 71-62 Cats. 7-1 UK run.
10:41 - “You don’t have to have your feet on the ground to travel” -Bilafucius
10:49 - Just noticed Randolph had a mouth guard in. Must be to keep him from getting his teeth chipped by the other players jock when they dunk on him.
10:53 - Ok, ok. Morris probably didn’t deserve that. He put together a string of good plays the last few minutes.
10:55 - 1:30 to go. UK 82 DePaul 76. Sloppy pass from Bobby Perry turns it over. 82-77. Ramel fouls after free throw and they give it to Randolph. His 4th.
10:59 - 53.2 to go 82-77 UK. My drink is empty and my hands are sweaty. The Cats are killing clock.
11:03 - UK 87 - DePaul 81 Final. Much like our bowling football team UK allowed DePaul to score a season high point total. But also like the football team, we got the W. Speaking of W, Woo wasn’t a liability tonight for a change. I think that wraps it up from my end tonight. See you tomorrow.
Well, well, well, I know you are all surprised that I could grace the pages of firetubby.com again but it’s time for some pre-game action. Kentucky is -6.5 if you would like to contact your local friendly bookie. Hmm, wonder what a parlay between this game and taking the points vs Tennessee this weekend would pay. Hmmm indeed.
Well, I’m really not coming up with anything else clever to say right now so lets leave it here for now. Wait I’ve got an idea. It seems like the cool thing to do nowadays is to do a live blog during the game. Maybe I’ll try that tonight since I’m coming to you from COURT SIDE in MAUI. Well at least it will seem like it since we have ESPN2 in HD here in Lexington. Thanks Insight. So I’ll see you cool kids with laptops on their couches back here at 9pm.
Thanks goes to my family members “Roger Harden” and “Big Floppin’ Rob Lock” for bringing this to my attention and scanning it in.
It was kind of a shock to me anyway. In the debut of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll the Cats are ranked 22nd in the nation.
Incidentally, Tennessee and their great saviour (who could be the special guest at your next family barbecue for only $5,001) check in two spots below UK at number 24. I was starting to get a little depressed today until I saw this poll. I thought this seasons forecast, (much like today’s weather) was going to be “90% chance of rain, and then thunderstorms, man“. But i’ve found a spring (possibly March?) flower.
The Blue/White game was this past weekend. For some post-public-practice analysis, check out A Sea of Blue, Brett Dawson’s Blog, and KSR. And be sure to review Part the First for info about Shagari, Preston and Ravi. After the jump, uh, everybody else who’s gone.
Sorry this post is so long, but I do have 5 people to talk about.
Since we have started picking up our posting, we thought we should overwhelm ourselves. Our beautiful new firerich.com site is now online. It features our new member to the “fire-UK-coach?” team, Hefty Lefty, who is eager to take apart all the igronant naysaying going on about the team and Coach Rich Brooks. We hope you, the Internet-Enabled Wildcat Fan, will join us for the fun there.
Since we’re closing in on the Blue/White game on Saturday, I thought we would take a quick overview at the players who either graduated or are no longer playing with the team this year. Join us, after the jump.
There has been some excellent coverage of Big Blue Madness around the internets (even some from our very own Gimel Martinez) so I though I would bring that high quality reporting down a notch to show you how it looked from my seat alllllll the way up in row Z in the upper arena.
Below are a couple for you to check out and click here to view the full set.
Player Intros
Scott Rigot kicked back and some recruits in the first row.
Bobby’s dunk prop was this kid who kept trying to kick it to the corner for the open 3
Check out the rest if you feel like it.
Oh, and it is so hard to not get pleasure from other people’s pain sometimes.