Play some tough D, shoot the ball with confidence and this game should be ours.

Let’s Go ‘Cats!!

Although UK Coach John Calipari expressed as recently as Tuesday his reservations about returning to the Maui Invitational, Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart gushed about the experience the fan base had in Hawaii Thanksgiving week.

“You literally had people talking to you, ‘I planned for four years to come’ and ‘We cashed in all our Frequent Flyer miles to come back,’ ” Barnhart said.

He noted that UK fans travel far and wide to watch the Wildcats play.

But when asked if the trip to Maui held a special place in a fan’s itinerary, Barnhart’s eyes widened and he said with a smile, “I think they really enjoyed that (trip to Maui) based on what they said. They REALLY enjoyed that.”

Dubbing UK’s appearance in the BBVA Compass Bowl as “Operation Thank You,” Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart said the school hoped its fans would buy tickets to give children, military veterans and senior citizens in the Birmingham area.

Barnhart acknowledged that tickets sales might not be brisk for the Jan. 8 bowl in which Kentucky plays Pittsburgh.

“The date’s a little more difficult” when compared to UK’s bowl trips the past four years. “We’ve sold a few thousand tickets so far, which is good.”

“Operation Thank You” was intended to “show the players this is not about them,” Barnhart said. “This is about the (Birmingham) community.”

One woman recently bought 40 tickets for an organization named “Wounded Warriors.”

In previous bowls, UK might have thought game organizers should grateful to have Kentucky’s team, Barnhart said. “This time, it’s a privilege to be there.”

Winning will be important, too, Barnhart said. A bowl victory makes the off-season “immensely better,” he said.

John Pelphrey, one of UK’s “Unforgettables,” embraced his Arkansas team’s 71-62 victory over Seton Hall Wednesday night.

Asked if he could blockout this return to his home state, Pelphrey said, “I’d like to sit here and tell you I don’t think about it. But when you walk into the building, moments of time flash back.”

Pelphrey called the game in Freedom Hall “very humbling.”

And, he added, “the task at hand becomes even more valuable to me. I want to do well. This was the first win in state (for Pelphrey) as a head coach.”

A moment later, Pelphrey added, “It’s not about me. I had my time and my day.”

University of Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart said the men’s basketball program should continue the tradition of playing a game in Louisville each season.

“We want to continue to play over here,” Barnhart said before the Cats played Notre Dame. He noted the many alumni that live in the Louisville area and the potentially rich recruiting ground.

Earlier this week, the Kentucky State Fair Board said it paid between $10,000 and $12,000 to re-paint the Freedom Hall court blue. Spokesman Edward Brown said part of the reason was to try to entice UK to play more than one regular-season game in Freedom Hall each season.

“I haven’t had that conversation,” Barnhart said with a smile. ” . . . We do have an arena back in Lexington. We have to make sure we play enough games there.”

UK owed it to the students and city of Lexington play its home games in Rupp Arena, he said.

Last season, UK Coach John Calipari floated the idea of playing several games in Louisville as a recruiting tool. At the time, Barnhart said flatly that one game in Louisville each season was enough.

When asked if he still believed that, Barnhart said, “I think that’s probably accurate.”

But Barnhart seemed a bit more open to the idea of more than one game, if only because he did not want to rule out any possibility.

“I don’t want to pin ourselves in a corner,” he said.

Kentucky’s men’s basketball program will continue to play an annual game in Louisville if athletic…

I just ran into Patrick Whitmer, the public address announcer at Rupp Arena for Kentucky home games. He will be doing the P.A. duties in Freedom Hall tonight when UK plays Notre Dame and Arkansas faces Seton Hall.

Whitmer said that organizers of the SEC-Big East Invitational told him to be neutral in his announcements. So there will be no references to “The greatest tradition in the history of college basketball!!!!!!” Nor will Whitmer exclaim, “Three by Knight!!!!!!”

What a mouthful.

Anyway, I will be attending the Big East/SEC Invitational tonight in Rupp Arena West Freedom Hall here in Louisville as the Arkansas Razorbacks take on the Seton Hall Pirates in the first game, and the Kentucky Wildcats battle the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the nightcap.

Naturally, this open game thread may be used for either game if you like, as I plan on posting it in time for both, but the real game of interest to us Kentucky fans is the nightcap.  Here are the particulars, via UKAthletics.com:

Notre Dame @ Kentucky
Game Notes	Kentucky Game Notes | Notre Dame Game Notes
Date & Time	Weds., Dec. 8, 9:30 p.m. ET
Coverage	TV: ESPN Radio: BBSN GameTracker Online Audio Text Updates
Location	Freedom Hall Louisville, Ky.

After an unpleasant visit to the North Carolina Tar Heels last weekend on Tobacco Road, the chastened ‘Cats of Kentucky need to rediscover the winner’s circle versus the Little Green Leprechauns of Notre Dame.

The South Bend Celtics have known nothing but victory so far this season, but the competition hasn’t been up to the quality of the Bluegrass State Felines.  That’s going to result in a culture clash, where a seasoned Notre Dame bumps up against the youngest, quickest, most athletic team they’ve seen this year.

Here’s what I hope to see:

• A track meet.  Notre Dame is playing at a lower pace than last year, and Kentucky needs to find a way to get this game as up-tempo as they can, consistent with their thin bench.  Speaking of the bench, we need
• Another bench player.  Last weekend, the Wildcats managed to play only six Wildcats as many as ten minutes.  In as much foul trouble as Kentucky has been in so far, we need to have at least eight playing ten minutes or more.
• Better defensive pressure.  UK did not put enough pressure on Carolina’s turnover-prone guards, and that’s a big reason why we lost.
• Less fouling.  UK has to find a way to play better defense without a prodigious number of whistles.
• Keep lighting it up.  Good shooting cures a lot of ills.

Here’s what I don’t want to see:

• Notre Dame dominating the offensive glass.  That’s a sure loser for UK.  Kentucky needs to continue to be competitive there.
• A parade to the free throw line for Notre Dame.  That’s how the Tar Heels won.
• Lack of defensive intensity.  That’s how the Connecticut Huskies won.
• Lack of Terrence Jones.  That’s also how the Tar Heels won.

Let’s get this done.  Go ‘Cats!

As you probably read earlier, Kentucky has signed on to tip off the college basketball season in…

Here’s a chart comparing John Wall’s first seven games at Kentucky to Brandon Knight’s first seven games at UK. If you remember, Wall sat out Kentucky’s first game last year as part of his punishment for receiving extra benefits while an amateur. You will also notice, that Wall played 13 more minutes than Knight to this point, but took 23 fewer shots. Wall had 30 more assists, but two fewer turnovers than Knight at this point. And Brandon has had a harder time getting to the foul line. Wall had taken nearly twice as many free throws by this point. That’s the main reason why Wall had scored 11 more points.

Update: Now official, as Florida has issued a release.

Brett McMurphy of AOL FanHouse is reporting that Urban Meyer is stepping down as Florida’s football coach.

He says there will be a press conference tonight.

Gator Updates claims there will be a press conference at 5 p.m.

Get ready for the Charlie Strong to Florida rumors. The Louisville coach was defensive coordinator at UF before finally getting his head coaching shot at U of L. Ironically, Strong was named co-Big East Coach of the Year today with UConn’s Randy Edsall.

More of John Calipari’s meeting with the media yesterday to talk about tonight’s game with Notre Dame.

Urban Meyer Resigns

Kentucky leads the series with Notre Dame 41-18. The Cats have a 23-9 record against the Irish at Freedom Hall. In fact, Notre Dame has lost 10 straight games in the building, including the last seven against Lousiville.

Notre Dame’s last win at Freedom Hall came on Dec. 27, 1980 when Digger Phelps’ team beat Joe B. Hall’s Cats 67-61.

Three of the last four games Notre Dame has played at Freedom Hall have gone into overtime. Last year, Mike Brey’s club lost 91-89 to Louisville in double overtime. In 2009, Louisville beat Notre Dame 87-73 in overtime. In 2006, Louisville beat the Irish 89-86 in overtime.

Here are the last 15 meetings between the Cats and the Irish:

Go here to check out my comprehensive preview of tonights renewal of one of UK’s oldest rivalries.

Go ‘Cats!

Tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in my home town of Louisville at the former home of the Louisville Cardinals (and now Rupp Arena West), Freedom Hall.  Of course, yours truly and the missus will be at the event enjoying the evening.  For that reason, Ken will be doing the postmortem tonight.

Those of us who have been around a few years (some may read as “old”) remember the day when there was a genuine rivalry between Kentucky and Notre Dame.  For those of you who don’t remember that rivalry, I’d like to refresh your memory by referring you here and here.  Those two links are to Jon Scott’s site, BigBlueNation.net, which have not just one but two rivalry pages about Notre Dame.

Let’s take a look at how these two teams compare, record wise, this year:

Kentucky, so far, has played a much, much tougher schedule including more games away from home.  But the Irish have defeated their only RPI top 50 opponent, while Kentucky has lost 2 of their three games versus the RPI top 50, but does have one big win versus the highly ranked Washington Huskies.

Moving on to roster changes, let’s see what has happened to the Notre Dame roster between last year and this:

Of course, we all are aware of the loss of Luke Harangody, who led the Irish in scoring and rebounding for a couple of years, but also notable is Tory Jackson, who was the straw that stirred the Irish cocktail last year, dishing out over 5 assists per game.

Not much to say here.  Eric Atkins was a Rivals.com 4* recruit out of high school and is playing major reserve minutes in his first year, even starting one game.

Unlike Kentucky, Notre Dame’s roster is chock full of juniors and seniors, and that fact will matter against Kentucky.  The Irish are not as talented, but they are vastly more experienced and every single one of these players with the exception of the freshmen have been playing in coach Mike Brey’s system for years.

The Four Factors to Winning

The Four Factors for this game look like this:

As you can see, this chart favors Notre Dame, slightly.  They get to the line more often and rebound the ball offensively better than Kentucky, at least when we consider the numbers strictly.  Kentucky shoots a little better and both teams take good care of the ball

What this chart does not tell you is that ND has done all it’s damage versus weak teams.  The toughest team Notre Dame has played was the Wisconsin Badgers on a neutral floor, and they won that low-scoring affair 58-51.  Notre Dame did also beat a pretty good Georgia Bulldogs team on a neutral court in overtime, so if you want a pretty good idea of where this team is, look at that particular game.  That game was a foul fest heavily in favor of the Fighting Irish, just like the UNC-Kentucky game was.  The Dawgs’ athleticism forced the Irish into 20% turnovers, an uncharacteristically high number for the normally circumspect Irish.

Overall Game Analysis

This game pits solid, mature Division I players against NBA-talented freshmen, something Kentucky will see a lot this year.  Mike Brey’s squad is a solid offensive club with mostly the same strengths and weaknesses as Kentucky, except that UK is stronger defensively.

But one thing they do a lot better than Kentucky is get to the line and shoot free throws.  As we all know by now, that is the most efficient way to score in basketball, and Kentucky must find a way to minimize the impact of that statistic, either by getting a high percentage of offensive rebounds, or shooting a very high eFG%.

One of the things we have seen so far this year from John Calipari is that he is not pressuring as much on defense as he did last year, and consequently, UK is not producing turnovers at a very high rate.  Notre Dame does not really pressure much on defense, being more of a club that tries to beat you with offensive efficiency. 

It will be instructive to see if Calipari tries to attack Notre Dame’s ballhandling like Georgia did.  It didn’t quite work out for Georgia, and with Kentucky’s thin bench, I don’t think I’d bet on that approach.

Overall, Kentucky will have to win this basketball game by doing what it has done all season — taking care of the ball, doing a good job on the offensive glass, and hitting shots. Kentucky is an improving defensive club, and if they continue to improve, it will mean good things versus the Irish.

USA Today has comprehensive report on just exactly what college football coaches made in 2010.

I’ve broken it down SEC coaches by total compensation, by cost of each win, and by cost of each SEC win.

We were told this might be a possiblity.  If Wannstedt coaches the bowl game, which he has reportedly been given the opportunity to do, his team will most likely be pumped to send him out a winner.

Liveblog: Kentucky-Notre Dame basketball

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Will experience be enough for Notre Dame against Kentucky? asks Tim Noie of the South Bend Tribune.
• Noie gives five reasons why Notre Dame has climbed quickly.
• UK men still adjusting to college terrain, writes Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Freedom Hall colors itself blue, writes Tipton.
• DeAndre Liggins finally hitting his stride at Kentucky, writes Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune.
• My column says the Cats seem to go as Terrence Jones goes.
• Notre Dame trying to boost its resume, writes Tony Krausz of the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette.
• Kentucky basketball daily-double is a winner for Louisville, says Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal.
• Wildcat Coal Lodge to be smaller, more expensive, reports Cheryl Truman of the Herald-Leader.
• Joker Phillips continues reshaping his coaching staff, reports Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader.

• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger looks at possible UK staff replacements.
• Pittsburgh leaves Dave Wannstedt out in the cold, writes Matt Hinton of Yahoo Sports.
• Wannstedt resigns, but will stay at Pitt, reports Paul Ziese of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Jennifer Smith of the H-L reports on the UK women’s rout of Tennessee Tech.
• Calipari says team will get better, reports Will Graves of the AP.
• Veteran Notre Dame a big challenge for the Cats, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.
• B.W. Jones of the Kentucky Kernel profiles UK strength coach Rock Oliver.
• Basketball team learning to battle through adversity, writes Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches.
• Doron Lamb is a good fit for the Cats, says Luke Winn of sportsillustrated.com.
• Kentucky marks its territory in Louisville, says Diamond Leung of espn.com.
• North Carolina game was a wake-up call for Terrence Jones, writes Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Kentucky trounces Tennessee Tech, reports T.J. Walker of the Kernel.
• Joker Phillips shaking things up, says Kent Spencer of WTVQ.
• Terrence Jones wants to change, says Alan Cutler of WLEX-TV.
• Antoine Walker joins the Idaho Stampede, reports All Kentucky Hoops.
• A Sea of Blue looks at the possible form of the Enes Kanter appeal.
• Josh Harris talks with Bleed Blue Kentucky.
• Straitpinkie previews Kentucky vs. Notre Dame.
• Todd Kirby of Nation of Blue wonders whatever happened to Michael Chandler?
• Wildcat Blue Nation previews the enemy that is Notre Dame.

(AP photo/David Goldman)

SEC links for Wednesday:

• Three-pointer gives Georgia win over Georgia Tech, reports Carroll Rogers of the AJC.
• Ware makes seven threes in win over Yellow Jackets, writes Roger Clarkson of the Athens Banner-Herald.
• Bulldogs’ win big help to hoped-for breakthrough season, writes Seth Emerson of the Macon Telegraph.
• Arkansas prepared for Seton Hall tonight at Freedom Hall, writes Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News.
• Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean reports that Vanderbilt faces a tough road test tonight at Missouri.
• Tennessee is set to welcome transfer Jeronne Maymon, reports Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
• Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel compares Cameron Newton’s season with Tim Tebow’s Heisman season.
• Cecil Newton should be barred from the Heisman Trophy ceremony, writes Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News.
• BCS title game won’t feature much defense, writes Joe Medley of the Anniston Star.

• John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that Tennessee suffers from a lack of acclaim, but not promise.
• Gene Stallings humbled by Hall of Fame induction, reports Don Kausler, Jr. of the Birmingham News.
• Lobbying effort helped deliver Gator Bowl bid to Mississippi State, reports Brad Locke of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal.
• Gator made the simple choice by picking MSU, writes David Miller of the Columbus Dispatch.
• Georgia native eager to face Georgia in Liberty Bowl, writes Iliana Limon of the Orlando Sentinel.

Click here to watch all five installments of Coach Cal’s Mailbag at FoxSports.com.  Cal answers questions about LeBron James, his recruiting philosophy, championship rings, the passing of his mother, what keeps him going, and many other topics.  Simply click which installment you would like to watch, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.  Check it out.

And below this post, don’t forget to read Glenn’s outstanding analysis of the ongoing Enes Kanter saga.

Before UK played UNC Asheville in Freedom Hall last season, John Calipari lobbied for several games in Louisville each season. Such a schedule would help recruiting, the UK coach said. Later Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart noted that season-ticket holders in Rupp Arena were a priority.
When asked Tuesday about more games in Louisville each season, Calipari said, “You know what? I haven’t spent any time thinking of it.”

Before Tuesday’s practice, UK freshman Terrence Jones talked to the media  about his 3-of-17 showing in last Saturday’s loss at North Carolina.

Here is the first 6:33 of UK head coach John Calipari talking to the media before Tuesday’s practice. The Cats play Notre Dame at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday in Freedom Hall.

The Kentucky State Fair Board paid for the re-painting of the court in Freedom Hall, according to a public relations person with the Kentucky Exposition Center.

Edward Brown said the Fair Board paid “in the neighborhood” of $10,000 to $12,000 to switch the court from University of Louisville red with a Cardinal logo at center court to University of Kentucky blue with an interlocking “U” and “K” at center court.

“It’s been in the works for some time,” Brown said. “It didn’t just occur in the last couple weeks.”

UK will be part of a double-header in Freedom Hall Wednesday night. The Cats play Notre Dame in the nightcap. Arkansas plays Seton Hall in the first game.

The games are part of the Southeastern Conference-Big East series.

The change to UK colors had produced “quite a bit of positive interest,” Brown said. “No one said, ‘Oh, no, I can’t believe they put that in there’ or ‘Shame on them’ kind of thing.”

The court trimmed in blue contrasts with the red seats in Freedom Hall’s lower seating sections, Brown said.

But there are no plans to change the color of the seats.

“No, that won’t happen,” Brown said. “Those seats are just a couple years old. They’ll stay as is.”

It didn’t take long for Kentucky Coach Joker Phillips to get the ball rolling on changes to his coaching staff for next season.

Phillips was non-committal when asked about potential staff changes during his Monday press conference, but on Tuesday morning UK spokesman Tony Neely confirmed a couple of shakeups to Phillips’ staff.

-First, running backs coach Larry Brinson and safeties coach Chris Thurmond are no longer on staff.

-Secondly, a new defensive assistant coach will be hired, and that coach will serve as co-defensive coordinator with Steve Brown.

Two assistant coaching positions were posted on UK’s web site on Tuesday. Jobs must remain posted for seven days before an official hire can be made.

John Calipari and his Cats will meet with the media this afternoon, starting at 2:15 p.m., to talk about Wednesday’s game against Notre Dame.

I plan to have video, etc., after the talking is done.

Kentucky has the reputation, rightfully earned in my mind, as the most storied basketball program in the nation.  The Enes Kanter saga with its Byzantine complexity and massive ramifications for the future of this year’s Kentucky Wildcats team is just the latest in a long line of great stories that, whatever the outcome, will forever be woven into the tapestry of the most interesting college men’s basketball program in America.

Enes Kanter has alternatively become a rallying cry and a cautionary tale. “Free Enes”is on the lips of almost every Kentucky fan in America, while at the same time, foreign players considering the possibility of playing for American NCAA-controlled universities must be thinking that this avenue is being forever closed, or at best very tightly restricted, before their very eyes.

The Case For Enes Kanter’s Eligibility

This has been discussed at length in comment threads, but these diverse opinions need to be tied together into one coherent whole.  That’s what we’ll attempt to do here.

The biggest and best argument for Enes Kanter’s reinstatement has always been that the NCAA has previously allowed athletes who accepted money from agents, shoe companies, and other third parties in return for playing basketball to repay that money and accept a game penalty.  These decisions have been almost universally based on the idea that it was never the student athlete’s intent to “professionalize” himself.

This is the first, and most important prong in an eligibility restoration debate — were the actions by the player an “intent to professionalize?”  It is hard to know the exact reasoning behind the decision by the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement staff to declare Kanter permanently ineligible, because they didn’t release their reasoning, only their conclusion.

The NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement staff’s conclusion read thus:

“Enes took advantage of an opportunity to play at the highest level available to him, but the consequences of receiving payments above his actual expenses is not compatible with the collegiate model of sports that our members have developed,” said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs.

So does this mean that Kanter flunked the test of “intent to professionalize?”  On what basis?  Was it that he took too much money, or more the fact of where the money came from, or both?  We don’t really know, so that’s why a discussion of this case is so very difficult other than in the abstract.  We do not know exactly what one thing, or combination of things, made the committee reach its conclusion, or what particular test Kanter flunked that Renardo Sidney and Josh Selby passed.

Regardless, the appeal to the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee will be based on the following arguments, no matter what:

• Kanter did not intend to professionalize himself.  He could not have signed a contract due to FIBA age requirements for most of his tenure with Fenerbahçe Ülker, and when he was offered a contract to play, apparently turned it down.
• Kanter’s parents applied any moneys in excess of expenses to young Enes’ education, or sequestered it in a separate account for appropriate disposition according to their perception of NCAA rules.
• The money Kanter took in excess benefits was comparatively trivial, especially considering most of it was used for education, a defined exception in the bylaws, even if the execution was flawed.  In other words, there was an intent to educate, not to professionalize, and neither Enes nor his family used that money for any other purpose.

In addition there is the news that Kentucky will try to introduce new evidenceinto the Kanter matter.  The new information first has to go back to the reinstatement staff, and if their new ruling is unfavorable, on to the reinstatement committee.  Regarding this new information, we might anticipate these additional arguments, based on reports we have seen:

• Young Kanter, due to his status as a minor, was not aware that the money he received was in excess of “actual and necessary expenses.”  The logic of this is that his family was handling the finances, and it is rational to think that Enes would not be aware of how much money was needed for actual and necessary expenses since he wasn’t paying the bills.  In other words, this is a partial Cam Newton scenario. 

  As anecdotal evidence of how this might work, I recall in my youth having a paper route, the proceeds of which were to be applied to my college education.  I never had any idea how much money I made, because it was handled 100% by my parents.

  The fundamental basis of the Newton ruling was ignorance on the part of Cam, and just as importantly, Auburn, about the activities of Cam’s father, Cecil Newton.  If Cam had known and did not alert the NCAA to his father’s activities (a tall order, no doubt), or if Auburn had been aware of his activities and not reported them, he would have been declared ineligible.

  Kanter’s situation is not exactly analogous, but there is a similarity in terms of intent.  If young Kanter did not really know how much money he was receiving as far as necessary and actual expenses were concerned, he could have reasonably believed that he and his family were acting fully within the NCAA bylaws.  This would seem to mitigate any inappropriate actions by his parents, just as it did in the Newton case, especially since Kanter’s parents were apparently acting guilelessly.

  In addition, the NCAA takes into consideration knowledge of the NCAA legislation at the time of the violation.  It seems very easy to argue that the Kanter’s understanding of the bylaws would be far less than those of the parents of Cam Newton, Renardo Sidney or Josh Selby simply due to the fact that those worthies grew up in the AAU and High School ranks, where what is allowed and not allowed is force-fed to prospects from an early age.

• There is no substantive difference between earning money in the United States as an amateur and earning money in Europe as an amateur.  It seems that the staff decision may have been at least partially based on the fact that the source of income was a professional team in the sport that Kanter was trying to play in the U.S. as an amateur.  Money is money, and as far as rendering a decision on amateurism is concerned, drawing a crooked line between a professional team and third parties with direct ties to professional teams could be said to be a distinction without a difference.

It’s important to note that I have no idea if all this is right or not vis-a-vis UK’s intentions.  It is also important to note that there are defensible counter-arguments to every single one of these, no matter how convincing they may sound.  It is possible that the amount of money in question is the primary concern, and if that is so, there really isn’t much to be done to overcome that perception. 

$33,000 may not sound like that much, but compared to Sidney and Selby, it is several orders of magnitude greater.  Yes, I know all about the $20k that the Kanters spent on education, but since that was done outside the rules, it is easy to see that the committee may not be willing to just forget about that fact.

Unfortunately, as Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal wrote recently, it is hard to know what ball to keep our eyes on.  We really don’t know the rationale of the reinstatement staff, and what specific facts they used to differentiate the Kanter case from other cases like Sidney and Selby, among many others.  Hopefully, UK has a much better idea than we do, because in the end, if the Kanters and UK cannot resolve those concerns via prior precedent or new information, the Committee on Reinstatement is likely to reach the same conclusion the staff did, which is permanent ineligibility.

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Kentucky floor installed at Freedom Hall, reports Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Badgoneblog has a picture of the floor. (Hat tip All Kentucky Hoops)
• Jason Jordan of ESPN tweets that Shabazz Muhammad and Rodney Purvis will visit UK together.
• Looking ahead, Indiana believes it can beat Kentucky, reports Pete DiPrimio of the Ft. Wayne News Sentinel. (Hat tip Spam’s Wildcat Page)
• Terrence Jones vs. Tyrone Nash will be battle of similar styles, writes Jerry Tipton of the H-L.
• Kentucky provides the first of two Notre Dame tests, writes Brian Hamilton of Chicago Breaking Sports.
• Irish needs Nash’s versatility, writes Hamilton for the Chicago Tribune.
• Cats say lesser bowl is not a letdown, reports Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader.
• Kentucky is dreaming of bowls beyond goals, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.
• Mark Story of the H-L says back off the Mike Hartline bashing.

• Victoria Dunlap’s knee injury is not serious, reports Jennifer Smith of the H-L.
• Daniel Orton injures his knee, reports Tim Povtak of AOL FanHouse. (Hat tip Nation of Blue)
• Jodie Meeks is giving the Sixers a new look, writes Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer. (Hat tip Walter’s Wildcat World)
• Tom Leach says UK let the North Carolina game slip from its grasp.
• Ken Howlett of A Sea of Blue looks at what went wrong in Chapel Hill.
• Randy Sanders likes the potential of the 2011 UK offense, writes Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• Ryan Clark of the Kentucky Enquirer thinks the BBVA Compass Bowl is a great thing.
• Kentucky looking to build its NCAA resume, writes Ira Combs for Kentucky Sports Network.
• The Cats Pause has some UK-Pittsburgh bowl information.
• Kentucky Sports Radio asks if Kentucky fans can accept the BBVA Compass Bowl?
• UK signee Anthony Davis scores 36 over weekend in prep game, reports Bob Narang of the Chicago Tribune.
• Bleed Blue Kentucky reviews the UK football offense on its 2010 performance.
• Doron Lamb is UK’s sixth starter, writes Wildcat Blue Nation.

SEC links for Tuesday:

• Arkansas preparing for its trip to Freedom Hall, writes Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News.
• Tennessee basketball ranked No. 2 in RPI, reports Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• If Georgia Tech wants to alter perceptions, it must beat Georgia tonight, writes Jeff Schultz of AJC.
• Jackets-Bulldogs eye bragging rights tonight, writes Roger Clarkson of the Athens Banner-Herald.
• Playing in BCS is anti-climatic after winning SEC, writes Mickey Griffin of the Montgomery Advertiser.
• Tennessee sells out its Music City Bowl allotment, reports Andrew Gribble of the News-Sentinel.
• Vanderbilt closes in on its list of football coaching finalists, reports Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• Urban Meyer not changing offensive coordinators at Florida, reports Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun.
• Meyer explains why he voted Oregon No. 1 in coaches’ poll, reports David Jones of Florida Today.
• Former Georgia quarterback is transferring to LSU, reports David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

• Michigan State to face Alabama in Capital One Bowl after storybook season, reports Michael Casagrande of the Anniston Star.
• Michigan’s Robinson a dual threat for Mississippi State to defend, writes Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger.
• LSU’s players can’t wait to play in Jerry Jones’ stadium, reports Glenn Guilbeau of the Shreveport Times.
• Penn State’s Paterno says he’s hoping for rain for game with Florida, writes Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post.
• Broyles Award winner Gus Malzahn keeps pointing to his prep roots, reports Jim Harris of Arkansas Sports 360.

Kentucky junior receiver Randall Cobb and Danny Trevathan were both named to the Associated Press All-SEC first team.

Cobb had a league-leading 79 receptions for 955 yards and seven touchdowns. He ranks second in the nation in all-purpose yardage and was named to the first team as a receiver and all-purpose player.

Trevathan led the league in tackles with 130 and was also third in the nation in tackles for loss with 16.

Daily randoms for Monday:

ON TAP – Not much on tap today as far as UK sports. We should get John Calipari and the Cats on Tuesday to preview Wednesday night’s game with Notre Dame in Freedom Hall. Arkansas meets Seton Hall in the first game of that SEC/Big East Invitational doubleheader. Don’t expect any updates on Enes Kanter today.

The big game tonight is the Jets-Patriots showdown on Monday Night Football, 8:30, ESPN. Jackie MacMullan on Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan.

Speaking of MNF, a RIP to Dandy Don Meredith, who has died at age 72. With so many games on television now, it’s hard to comprehend what rock stars Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford were during Monday Night Football’s heyday. Meredith was the irreverent foil to Howard Cosell. One of his best moments came in 1972 when the ABC cameras caught a Houston Oilers’ fan flipping the camerman the bird. Quipped Meredith quickly, “We’re No. 1 in the nation.”

There are no SEC basketball games tonight. Georgia meets Georgia Tech on Tuesday.

ESPN THINKS UK HAS CHANCE ON KANTER – ESPN.com blogger Eamonn Brennan thinks that the Cameron Newton ruling gives UK a much better chance of getting Enes Kanter eligible. Writes Brennan:

The Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement could have decided — and this is just a guess — that Kanter knew about the professional-level benefits he received as an ostensible amateur in Turkey, that his family wasn’t the only entity pulling the purse strings. If that’s not the case, if Kanter didn’t know how much money his family was receiving from Fenerbahce, then the NCAA appears to have backed itself into an intractable corner. That’s the distinction the NCAA has created, and that’s the one it will need to solve almost immediately.

I like Eamonn, but I’m not buying it. There’s no proof (yet) that the Newtons received money. There is proof (apparently) that the Kanters received money. That’s the difference.

CORRECTIONS – Experienced a brain cramp in this morning’s column and said Arkansas was going to the Cotton Bowl, even though I said that two SEC teams were in BCS bowls. Arkansas is going to the Sugar Bowl. Also said Pittsburgh beat Louisville at Papa John’s. The game was at Pittsburgh. I’m blaming it all on Delta, which delayed my Saturday night flight in Atlanta to the point where we didn’t arrive back into Lexington until 1:30 a.m., two-and-a-half hours behind schedule. But then that I guess was better than the C-J’s Rick Bozich, who got stuck in Raleigh, or our own Jerry Tipton, who got stuck in Charlotte.

UK HOOPS HAS A FLAT – Have to admit was surprised by the way Louisville thrashed the UK women 78-52. Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader has the game story from the Yum Center. Meanwhile, Mark Story of the H-L writes that the Kentucky women got a taste of the other side of revenge. Louisville beat Kentucky at its own game, blogs Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches. As for the U of L side, Eric Crawford says the Lady Cardinals gave people a reason to watch. And Jody Demling has the UK-U of L game story for the C-J.

KENTUCKY’S BOWL – Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader sets up the Kentucky-Pittsburgh match-up in Birmingham on Jan. 8:

Pitt managed to clinch a share of the Big East championship with a 28-10 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. Its most impressive outing of the season came in a 45-14 win at Syracuse on Oct. 16, and the Panthers also handled Louisville 20-3 on Oct. 30. UConn won the Big East automatic BCS Bowl bid by winning at South Florida on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Brett Dawson reports that Joker Phillips wants more than a bowl game for the Cats next season.

Click here for info on Pittsburgh Panthers football.

LOUISVILLE’S BOWL – The Cards return to bowlville for the first time since 2006. It’s an old C-USA matchup against Southern Miss in the Beef O’Brady Bowl in St. Petersburg. C.L. Brown of the Courier-Journal has the story:

“The Cards spent the past three seasons, as senior Doug Beaumont put it, “bored” at home during bowl play. They were picked last in the Big East preseason media poll and expected to finish a fourth straight season without a bowl appearance. That’s why the bowl trip is particularly rewarding.

“It means more this year just on what all we went through as a team,” (Justin) Burke said. “And as a senior group to have a chance to go to a bowl and get a winning season for this program would be very special for all of us.”

BCS TITLE GAME – This is the fifth straight year that an SEC team has played in the title game. The SEC has won the four previous games. Florida won in 2006, LSU in 2007, Florida in 2008 and Alabama last season.

Auburn is ready for the big stage, reports Jay G. Tate of the Montgomery Advertiser. Auburn-Oregon figures to be a nightmare for defensive coordinators, writes Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News.

PROOF WE WERE THERE SATURDAY

Press row at the Dean Dome on Saturday. Back row: 1-Dana O’Neil, espn; 2-Jerry Tipton, Herald-Leader; 3-John Clay, Herald-Leader; 4-Rick Bozich, Courier-Journal; 5-Brett Dawson, Courier-Journal; 6-Matt May, Cats Pause; 7-Aaron Smith, Kentucky Kernel; 8-Nick Craddock, Kentucky Kernel; 9-Jeff Goodman, Fox Sports; 10-Gary Parrish-CBS Sports; 11-Jon Akers, Basketball Times; 12-Jason King, Yahoo Sports.

The Kentucky Wildcats 75-73 road loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, while certainly not the end of the big blue world, has surprisingly been treated as a Gardner-Webb/VMI-like loss by many of the UK faithful.  Realizing the passion of Kentucky fans is one aspect of the program that makes it great, sometimes though, that passion blinds and skews ones thoughts on losses (as well as wins), and can have the unpleasant side effect of misdirected blame.

While pointing an accusatory finger at the officials (who, by the way, missed calls for both teams, with a few being egregious), John Calipari (why didn’t he recruit another big man?), and the NCAA (it’s their fault Enes Kanter received a salary) for the two-point defeat seemed a popular notion on the Internet and talk radio immediately following the hotly contested contest.  From my seat, though, accountability for the loss falls most directly onto the (playable) roster of each team.  More pointedly, to the size and talent of the men who make up the two rosters, as well as the breadth and depth of said roster. 

The phrase “bad match-up” has been bandied about often in the world of college basketball, most often during NCAA tournament time.  But, the dreaded “bad match-up” rose up and bit the ‘Cats Saturday, even if it was only a nip.  And it was a (bad) match-up the Big Blue Nation should have seen coming.

Follow me after the jump for my A to D reasons for UK’s loss to the Heels.

A) Talented size matters:

North Carolina, which boast two generously talented big men in 7-0 Tyler Zeller and 6-10 John Henson, came into the game with a decided edge in the paint (this, UK fans knew, or at should have known), but the Grand Canyon-deep & wide disparity wasn’t evident until after the game began.  And then, within minutes, UK fans should have thought, “This is gonna be worse than I thought.”  Making matters even more unpalatable, the combination of a hyped Tar Heel squad, and a hyped Tar Heel crowd, widened the already considerable gap in paint talent to an alarming degree.  The result, UNC scored 34 points in the paint to UK’s woeful 14.

But the discrepancies, unfortunately, do not stop there: UK missed 38 shots in the game … UK grabbed eight offensive rebounds, which is only 19.0% of their misses (that’s putrid, folks).  For comparisons sake — The next lowest percentage of misses snagged by the ‘Cats this year is 33.3% in the UConn loss.  The ‘Cats did do a credible job of rebounding Carolina’s misses, though, limiting the Heels to only nine offensive rebounds on 34 missed shots.  But, the ugly side of the coin tells us the ‘Cats allowed the Heels to better capitalize on the few offensive rebounds they were able to grab, by outscoring UK 11-5 in second chance points.

The bottom line: UNC’s Zeller and Henson combined to make 13-23 shots, score 40 points, grab 23 rebounds, and block eight shots (6-8 Harrison Barnes was magnificent in the first half, making 4-5 shots, 3-4 three-pointers, and scoring 12 points): UK’s Terrence Jones, Josh Harrellson, and Eloy Vargas made 5-21 shots, scored 13 points, corralled 15 rebounds, and blocked one shot.  A mismatch of thunderous proportions.

B) Terrence Jones played like the freshman he is:

Kentucky freshman Terrence Jones, the ‘Cats best big man, simply had a bad game.  It was apparent after Jones missed his first few shots (he eventually missed his first five tries) that he looked uncomfortable being guarded by the 6-10 Henson.  Unable to get clean looks, Jones began pressing and was noticeably bothered by the bigger, nearly as quick Carolina forward.

The result, a 3-17 (0-3 trey tries) shooting performance, good for only nine points for the 20.7 points per game scorer.  And on a day when rebounding was at a premium for the ‘Cats, Jones grabbed only six in 28 minutes of play (he averages 10+ boards per game).

Does Jones deserved to be berated for his less-than-stellar outing?  Of course not.  He is, after all, a freshman, playing in his first true road game, in front of his first hostile crowd (unless one counts the UDub idiots in Maui), against a more experienced, bigger player in Henson.  Jones will learn from his experience, and probably become a better player because of it.

C) The benches: 

This one is easy — UK played six players at least 10 minutes; UNC played eight players at least 10 minutes.  UNC played one player more than 30 minutes, UK played four players more than 30 minutes.

This will be a concern for UK all season (against deep opponents), unless someone (Jon Hood?) earns meaningful playing time in practice.

D) The slowdown:

With 10 minutes remaining in the game, and UK clinging to a four point lead (60-56), the ’Cats began to milk the clock on each possession.  Calipari did this to limit UNC’s offensive possessions, because the ‘Cats were quickly being handicapped with serious foul trouble — At the time, Jones, Harrellson, Brandon Knight, Eloy Vargas, DeAndre Liggins all had three fouls.

Now, one can debate the effectiveness of such a ploy (I don’t like it), but a strong argument can be made that without slowing down the pace, UK would have lost more players, sooner, to the bench due to disqualification (Jones, Harrellson, and Knight all eventually fouled out).  But, the numbers tell us UK was ineffective offensively during the slowdown stretch, scoring only 7-points (and making zero shots from the floor) between 9:55 and :55 of the second half, after scoring 63 points the first 30:03 of the game.

The upside of the loss (if there is such a thing) is the fact that UK had all of the above aspects of the game working against them, and still only lost by two-points, on the road, against a quality opponent.  And one of the primary reasons for UK staying in the lead, or close to the lead (for the entirety of the game), was the play of Doron Lamb.  Lamb looked to be doing his best Tony Delk impersonation for most of the contest, making trifectas (3-4), driving to the hole, making free throws (7-8), and valuing the basketball (one turnover in 32 minutes).  Without Lamb’s 24 points, the game would have been over long before the final horn.

Another positive to come out of the game was the play of Josh Harrellson.  In 21 minutes of play, Harrellson scored four points (2-2 from the floor), and grabbed seven rebounds (four big offensive boards).  Not overly impressive numbers taken alone (save the offensive rebounding number), but Harrellson displayed an aggressiveness not often seen out of the Missouri native, perhaps because he knew Zeller and Henson provided UK with a very real challenge … a challenge he was largely responsible for answering.  Whatever the reason, if Harrellson continues to play with a (blue) chip on his shoulder, it can only mean good things for the ‘Cats as they go forward.

Also deserving of kudos is DeAndre Liggins for his four assists and zero turnovers, as well as a season-high six rebounds.  Darius Miller also crashed the boards, nabbing seven rebounds, his most since UK’s season opener.

Lastly, and thankfully, the ‘Cats do not have to fret over facing a team loaded with such talented size again this year … until tourney time, and hopefully by then, UK will have figured out a way to stop the opponents talented bigs from having career games.  Perhaps a call should be placed to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, for a 2-3 zone may hold the answer.

Thanks for reading, and Go ‘Cats!

Newton case opens door for UK, Kanter

The SEC named Tennessee forward Tobias Harris its Freshman of the Week for last week.

Harris scored a season-high 21 points and made a game-high in a victory over Middle Tennessee State.

Harris also made his two three-point shots.

He leads the Vols in scoring (16.7 ppg) while ranking second in rebounding (5.8 rpg).

The SEC named Festus Ezeli its Player of the Week.

UK Coach John Calipari just tweeted saying that the Cats will not hold an open practice in Freedom Hall prior to Wednesday’s game there against Notre Dame.

It became a tradition for Kentucky to hold an open practice before its annual game in Freeedom Hall. That won’t happen.

“Unfortunately, we cannot have an open practice in Louisville,” Calipari tweeted. “It’s a neutral event and the court isn’t available until Wednesday.”

The Kentucky Wildcats have reportedly accepted an invitation to play in the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama on January 8th, to play against the Pittsburgh Panthers.  This is the bowl most prognosticators had Kentucky headed to since the loss to Tennessee in Knoxville two Saturdays ago.  Getting to face 7-5 Pitt is not a bad thing, either.  Pittsburgh looks like a good team, but one that UK should be able to beat if they play well.

The BBVA Compass Bowl is the former PapaJohns.com bowl and is in its fifth year of existence, and has such worthies as South Carolina, East Carolina, Southern Mississippi and Cincinnati as alumni.  In other words, this is exactly the kind of bowl a team like UK could expect to find itself in after a 6-6 season.  At least it can no longer accurately be called the “Pizza Bowl.”

The good news is that this is UK’s fifth straight bowl, this bowl is not in the state of Tennessee for the first time since the streak began, and it is likely to be a lot warmer in Birmingham than in Tennessee.  It is also good news that the game is on a Saturday, and that should enable UK to bring a large crowd.  I’m seriously considering attending for two reasons — I’ve never been to a college bowl game, and I’ve never been to Alabama. 

The bad news is that Birmingham late in the bowl season is not exactly the destination most of us had in mind for the ‘Cats when the football season started.  But in the end, this is probably the sort of bow a 6-6 team deserves, especially one managing only two conference wins.

I’m sure everyone is disappointed in how the season ended.  Kentucky let three and arguably four SEC games slip through their fingers this year, and that turned what looked like a fairly promising season after the Louisville game into something of a disappointment, although it’s hard to be too disappointed about Kentucky football when it manages enough wins to get into a bowl, even an afterthought bowl like the BBVA Compass.

So that’s how it goes.  We’ll have more on this game soon, but in the meantime, here is an interview I did with a blog called Bowl Season just a few days ago.

The top five were easy again to fill in on my top 25 ballot this week for The Associated Press.

After that, it was a case of many coin flips and hopes for the best.

Note that the ballot was turned in prior to Texas playing Southern Cal.

1. Duke
2. Ohio State
3. Pittsburgh
4. Kansas State
5. Kansas
6. Connecticut
7. Michigan State
8. Syracuse
9. Illinois
10. Villanova
11. Texas
12. Georgetown
13. Missouri
14 San Diego State
15 Kentucky
16 Minnesota
17 Vanderbilt
18 Memphis
19 Purdue
20 Baylor
21 UNLV
22 Tennessee
23 Wichita State
24 North Carolina
25 Cleveland State

* If Texas loses to Southern Cal, move Texas down to No. 20 and move everyone up one.

Meeks, who entered the game averaging 7.3 points, made his second career start after replacing rookie Evan Turner, the No. 2 overall pick, in the starting lineup Friday night.

The University of Kentucky has accepted a bid to play Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham’s Legion Field on Jan. 8. The game will kick off at noon at be televised by ESPN.

It will mark the fifth-straight bowl bid for the UK program, who ended the season with a 24-14 loss at Tennessee.

The Panthers (7-5, 5-2 Big East) could be a formidable foe for the Wildcats depending on which team shows up. Pitt was ranked No. 15 in the preseason and were the favorites to win the Big East. But the Panthers stumbled at Utah 27-24 in the season opener and then were blown at home 31-3 by Miami (Fla.) three weeks later.

Pitt did have its moments and managed to clinch a share of the Big East championship with a 28-10 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. Its most impressive outing of the season came in a 45-14 win at Syracuse on Oct. 16, and the Panthers also handled Louisville 20-3 on Oct. 30. UConn won the Big East automatic BCS Bowl bid by winning at South Florida on Saturday.

Led by former Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins Coach Dave Wannstedt, the Panthers have plenty of NFL talent on its roster.

Sophomore tailback Dion Lewis won several National Freshman of the Year awards last season and ran for a career-high 261 yards and four touchdowns in Pitt’s 28-10 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. Lewis has 956 yards and 12 TD’s on the season while his backup, sophomore Ray Graham, has run for 832 yards and eight scores.

The Panthers also have one of the country’s most dangerous receivers at its disposal in Jon Baldwin, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior who is projected as a first-round pick in next spring’s NFL Draft.

Senior defensive end Jabaal Sheard was named one of six finalists last week for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award. Pitt’s other end, Greg Romeus, was the Big East Co-Defensive Player of the Year but is out for the season with a knee injury. The Panthers are ranked in the Top 20 of the FBS in three different categories: total defense (11^th), pass defense (17^th) and rushing defense (18^th).

3 Kentucky juniors to test NFL waters

The Associated Press is reporting that Pittsburgh has accepted a bid to play in the BBVA Compass Bowl on Jan. 8.

Nothing official on the Kentucky front as of yet, but the Wildcats have been widely speculated to be the SEC representative in the bowl, which will be played at Birmingham’s Legion Field.

We will have more when word becomes official

Kentucky Coach Joker Phillips had several major announcements following Sunday’s practice, according to UK spokesman Tony Neely.

First, sophomore running back Donald Russell has been granted a release and intends to transfer. Russell entered the season as the No. 2 back behind Derrick Locke but eventually fell behind freshman Raymond Sanders in the rotation.

Also, freshman defensive tackle Elliot Porter missed Sunday’s practice and is pondering his future. Porter was a late arrival at UK after originally signing at LSU.

And lastly, defensive tackle Mister Cobble, who missed the season due to academics, could possibly suit up for the bowl game provided he takes care of business in the classroom. Phillips said that since Cobble redshirted as a true freshman last year and has already lost his sophomore season, playing in the game wouldn’t have any effect on his eligibility clock.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Some UK-North Carolina notes from yesterday:

• Terrence Jones did not have a field goal in the second half.
• Jones missed the front end of two bonus situations, both in the first half.
• DeAndre Liggins did not score in the second half.
• Darius Miller scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half
• After scoring 13 points in first half, Brandon Knight score just two in second half.
• Doron Lamb score 11 in first half, 13 in the second half.
• Lamb scored 24 points, but his last field goal was at 9:56 of the second half. He scored just four points in final 7:43.
• Brandon Knight’s only points in 2H came with 12.3 seconds left.
• UNC’s Harrison Barnes did not score after the 4:30 mark of first half. Scored 8 of his 12 points in a 138-second span between 10:40 and 8:22 of the second half.
• Tyler Zeller was 10-of-10 from the foul line in final 4:19.
• Zeller scored 18 points in the second half.

• UNC’s John Henson did not have a field goal in the second half. He scored just one point in the second half, missing four of five free throws. He did not take a free throw in the final 3:03. Roy Williams did do a good job of keeping him out of harm’s way as far as free throw line was concerned.
• UK had four players foul out in the game. Looking back, I found that UK had three players foul out at Florida on 1-19-08. Jodie Meeks, Patrick Patterson and Perry Stevenson all fouled out.
• UK had two players foul out vs. Connecticut on 12-9-09 last season in New York. Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton both fouled out; Orton in just three minutes of action.
• UK had two players foul out at Vandy on 1-30-10 — Orton in 7 minutes, and Patterson in 30.
• Kentucky had three foul out vs. West Virginia in the Elite 8 — Liggins, Miller and John Wall.
• In the past few years, no UK player has taken as many as 17 shots, and made a few as three. Ramel Bradley was 4-of-17 vs. Georgia on 3-5-08. Joe Crawford was 4-of-17 vs. Vanderbilt on 1-20-07. Terrence Jones went 3-of-17 vs. North Carolina.
• Darius Miller played a season-high 34 minutes.
• Liggins still has just one offensive rebound in six games, covering 194 minutes.
• Lamb has made 12 of 21 shots, including five of eight 3s in last two games.
• Knight had six turnovers on Saturday. He has 24 assists and 33 turnovers so far.

This morning, I got up with a hangover.  Not a hangover from an excess of adult beverages, mind you, but a hangover from a game that the Kentucky Wildcats should have won.  Lounging around the house for a few hours massaging my badly bruised fandom seemed like the best recovery method other than a Bloody Mary, which I rejected on “not on vacation” grounds.  Ultimately, watching Charlie’s Angels (the movie) again was my cure, which was worth suffering through the weak storyline, predictable dialogue and lame humor if only to watch Cameron Diaz dance in her delicates, and Drew Barrymore roll down a big hill in the altogether.

With that now in the rear view, it seems time to put the nose to the proverbial grindstone and employ time-tested forensic techniques in order to determine exactly what went wrong in the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels.  I know, I know, we have gone over many of the more obvious problems in the game thread and postmortem, and rehashing those is not really productive.  Instead, it should behoove us to compare our perceptions against statistics to see how accurate they were.

So the first thing we will be doing is examining the Four Factors to Winning, and see what those tell us, after the jump.

The Four Factors look like this:

Now, I confess to being a bit surprised when I saw this.  For all the world, I thought we got killed on the offensive glass, but that simply was not so.  Yes, the Tar Heels did beat us on the offensive boards, but it was not the utter domination first impression suggested.  19%-23% is simply not a drubbing in any sense of the word.

Why did it look so bad?  Probably because there were a few more OR’s available to the Tar Heels, and it just felt like Kentucky was not getting the job done.  Another problem was that when UK did get an OR, they did not convert it, and the Tar Heels did.  The Heels more than doubled UK’s production in second-chance points, 11-5, despite only a 4% advantage in the OR% statistic.  In other words, they were much more efficient with their OR’s than UK.

No, the real culprit for this loss is pretty easy to see.  UNC more than doubled UK’s free throw rate percent, which means the number of free throws attempted per field goal attempt.  North Carolina shot more than half a free throw for every field goal attempt, or converted into a better number, shot a free throw slightly more than once for every two shots they took. Kentucky shot free throws only once for every three shots they put up.  Right there lies the roots of Kentucky’s defeat.  It was only as close as it was because Carolina was so ordinary in FT%, although they did shoot much better than they have been of late.

Another problem that Kentucky had was how well the Tar Heels took care of the basketball.  UNC had been turning the ball over at over 22% per game.  For instance, against the Vanderbilt Commodores, they turned the ball over on almost one possession in three.  Against Kentucky, their TO% was less than half that.

This is a continuing problem for Kentucky.  The ‘Cats simply are not forcing enough turnovers in games, and that speaks volumes about their defense.  Good teams, like the Duke Bllue Devils and the Ohio State Buckeyes are forcing around 25% or more turnovers versus their opponents.  If UK had forced Carolina into those kind of turnovers, they would have likely won the game based on their points off turnover production.  Smaller teams like Kentucky should be able to turn over bigger teams at a higher rate than this.

In the final analysis, the story of this game is a simple one.  Kentucky did not play defense well enough to win, and Carolina got to the line an excessive amount.  The offensive rebounding of UNC was a comparatively minor contributing factor.  Failure to turn over the vulnerable UNC ballhandlers was, in my opinion, a bigger factor than the OR% difference.  Fouls, ultimately, were what lost the game, both in terms of fouls to our big people and FTR%.

This is a good shooting, good ballhalding Kentucky team, but it has a long way to go defensively.  Depending on DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller for good defense on the primary scorers is fine, and it usually works, but the larger problem for this team is that they simply don’t get after it on defense enough.  Until they do, these kind of losses will keep cropping up.

Here’s my AP Top 25 ballot for the week of Dec. 6

1-Auburn

2-Oregon

3-TCU

4-Wisconsin

5-Stanford

6-Ohio State

7-Michigan State

8-Arkansas

9-Oklahoma

10-Virginia Tech

11-Boise State

12-LSU

13-Oklahoma State

14-Missouri

15-Nebraska

16-Alabama

17-Nevada

18-Texas A & M

19-Utah

20-South Carolina

21-Mississippi State

22-UConn

23-West Virginia

24-Hawaii

25-Florida State