NEW ORLEANS — Finally, genuine NCAA Tournament electricity came to the Crescent City.

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By LARRY VAUGHT
NEW ORLEANS — Kentucky hasn’t won the national championship yet, but the Wildcats certainly are playing like a championship team.
The Wildcats broke away from a 19-19 tie with Wake Forest here Saturday night with one of their most impressive performances of the season to win 90-60 and advance to the NCAA Sweet [...]
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NEW ORLEANS — Wake Forest forward Al-Farouq Aminu couldn’t fathom a faster player than his teammate, point guard Ishmael Smith.

“I think ‘Ish’ might be the fastest person I’ve ever seen in real life,” he said on Friday.

Kentucky point guard John Wall, certainly no cartoon figure although his exploits this season tested the bounds of credulity, might give Aminu a new perspective on speed when the teams play in the NCAA Tournament second round Saturday night.

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It took a while but the SEC finally has a win in the 2010 NCAA tournament.  Kentucky rolled to a 100-71 win over East Tennessee State in the East Regional tonight.

The Wildcats shot 51% from the field and hit 15-of-33 from three-point range.  Eric Bledsoe put on a shooting exhibition.  The freshman gunner connected on 9-of-11 overall and 8-of-9 from behind the arc.

Patrick Patterson added 22 and John Wall chipped in 17 for UK.

The win was the first for the SEC today… following losses by Florida and Vanderbilt.  If Tennessee can avoid an upset by San Diego State tonight, the league could possibly wind up with a pair of teams in the Sweet Sixteen.

Kentucky was expected to reach that level anyway, but now the Volunteers’ path has been made easier.  Ohio upset #3 Georgetown this evening.  So what started off as a bad day, might actually lead to a decent showing in the Sweet Sixteen.  If Tennessee can avoid that upset.

Mississippi State fans waiting for a league response to the un-called lane violation in Sunday’s SEC title game probably shouldn’t hold their breath.

SEC spokesman Craig Pinkerton told Kyle Veazey of The Jackson Clarion-Ledger that the league will not comment on any communication “it may or may not have” with a coach about a specific call. 

Rick Stansbury also won’t say whether he’s heard from the league regarding the no-call (or regarding his comments about the no-call).

As I’ve said on many occasions, I’m not a conspiracy theorist.  I don’t think the officials intentionally ignored the lane violation(s) because the violators were wearing Kentucky blue.  I simply think they blew the call.

And that’s exactly what the league should say.  “We missed it.”  “We normally don’t eye the three-point arc part of the rule too closely.”  “In that situation, even our officials watched the ball and took their eyes off of Eric Bledsoe’s feet.”  Anything is better than silence.

Keeping quiet and hoping the issue will go away on its own is no way to deal with such a controversial non-call.  It only makes the conspiracy theorists dig in with more tenacity. 

It also leaves one of the SEC’s 12 member institutions feeling like it got the shaft. 

That’s not good.  Or right.

So here’s hoping the league simply says, “We blew it.”  But as I alluded to earlier… I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

All of you thinking that Kentucky’s roster will undergo a seismic shift this offseason might want to think again.  According to John Calipari, at least.

Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show yesterday, Calipari said that John Wall “wants to stay.  We’ll have to talk about it afterward.”

Is that simply a recruiting ploy?  “Lexington is so great, no one wants to leave!”

Calipari could be making that comment even though he knows full well that Wall will jet for the NBA — and MILLIONS of dollars — when push comes to shove.

That comment shines a positive light on his program and it makes Wall even more popular amongst Wildcat fans.  If that’s possible.

Or perhaps Wall really does want to stay.  In which case Calipari should tell him what he risks by not leaving early and taking the cash.  One knee injury and everything could go poof for the one of the coolest young talents I’ve ever seen.

Regardless of what Calipari is saying now or what Wall might say in the future, it’s hard to believe that the young man won’t leave early for the money of the pros.

But you can bet there are a lot of Cat fans today hoping and praying that rumors of an NBA lockout come to fruition.  In that case, Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, the Professor, Mary Ann and the rest might all be back for another season of SEC dominance.

Sorry, Kentucky fans.  It doesn’t look like this one’s going away.

Yesterday, we told you that a mini-furor had arisen regarding Eric Bledsoe’s missed free throw at the end of regulation in the SEC tournament finals… the miss that led to DeMarcus Cousins’ eventual game-tying lay-up.

John Wall was shown in replays to have crossed inside the three-point arc before Bledsoe’s shot hit the rim.  That’s a type of lane violation, though most folks I’ve talked to have never seen that particular part of the rule called.



But a check of the videotape shows THREE potential violations on the play:

1)  Bledsoe stepped over the free throw line before his shot hit the rim — lane violation

2)  Wall stepped inside the three-point arc before Bledsoe’s shot hit the rim — lane violation

3)  Darnell Dodson also stepped inside the three-point arc before Bledsoe’s shot hit the rim — lane violation



Even if you — like me — give the refs a pass on the three-point arc stuff, that still leaves a rather obvious violation by the shooter himself.

During a press conference yesterday, Rick Stansbury made it clear that he’s not happy about that.  “It’s a very obvious lane violation.  Both guys in that lane line up outside the 3-point line.” 

Leery of a potential fine from the league, Stansbury added, “I’m not talking about officiating, I’m talking about the play.”

Oh.

Stansbury did some research on the rule and after doing so, felt even more convinced that his team was jobbed.

“I’m just amazed in that situation, game on the line, you know he’s going to miss the free throw (intentionally), two officials watching it — we’re not talking about a foot.  We’re talking about eight feet.”

Kyle Veazey of The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports that the rule appears to be pretty clear: a teammate of the free throw shooter can’t enter the arc until the shot hits the rim.  The shooter has to wait for the ball to hit the rim, too.

According to Stansbury, the fact that State’s Dee Bost also entered inside the three-point arc would make no difference.  In his view, the offensive player entered first, so the play should have been blown dead.

Stansbury said that his anger was limited to what happened on Sunday and not tied to State’s first game with Kentucky.  You might remember that MSU saw 10 calls go against them in the final eight minutes of their loss to the Wildcats in Starkville.  UK had no calls go against them in those closing minutes.  Cups and water bottles were tossed by fans, etc, etc.

“The first game, I put behind me.  I’m not a guy who cries over spilled milk very often.  This was a hard pill to swallow because this was not a judgement call.”



Personally, I wonder if the three-point arc part of the lane violation rule will now get more attention from referees and the media.  Most folks hadn’t heard of this issue prior to Sunday.  Even Stansbury had to do a little research on the subject.

In 2001, something called a “tuck rule” helped launch the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl title.  At the time, it was thought to be a tidbit in the rule book that would surely be tossed out after the season.  Well, it wasn’t thrown out.  And now you see a “tuck rule” call in a dozen football games each year.

The same could happen in this situation.

But dropping the Dodson/Wall part of the equation, the referees did clearly miss Bledsoe stepping over the line.  In that situation, I think it’s probably natural that their eyes went from his feet to the ball.  And he did stay in his stance for split-second or two before charging forward.

Of course, that won’t change the perception that SEC officials looked the other way. 

Sorry Cat fans.  I’m not a conspiracy guy, but the refs blew this one.  That means the folks in the tin foil hats now have some ammunition in their ray guns.

Let the conspiracy theories begin.

In case you missed it, ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb was the first person to point out a missed call on THE play at the end of regulation in yesterday’s SEC tournament championship game.

With Eric Bledsoe at the line and 4.9 seconds on the clock, Kentucky trailed Mississippi State 64-62.  Watch the video and you’ll see that when Bledsoe releases his shot, John Wall immediately starts forward and crosses the three-point line before the foul shot hits the rim.  By rule — though I’ve never seen it called — that’s illegal. 

Not only have I never seen that type of lane violation called — which actually isn’t a lane violation as much as a three-point arc violation — I didn’t know it was a rule.

The refs didn’t call it, the foul shot clanged out and 4.8 seconds later DeMarcus Cousins hit the game-tying lay-up.




As you might imagine, discussion of this play has lit up the MSU and Kentucky messageboards.  And it’s also generating posts at websites that suggest the fix was in.

You can see here the typical response from Wildcat fans: “Screw Gottlieb (for telling the truth)” and “Boo-hoo, they didn’t call it so it didn’t happen.”

Now, reverse things.  If MSU had had someone cross the three-point line before the ball hit the rim, it would be Bulldog fans saying so what and UK fans crying into their John Calipari Maker’s Mark.

At any rate, I don’t buy conspiracy theories, but the video shows what the video shows.  Question is, when’s the last time to you saw this rule enforced? 

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By LARRY VAUGHT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When opponents focus on stopping DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson inside, Eric Bledsoe knows his job is simple — make 3-point shots.
He did here Saturday, too, as he went 5-for-8 from 3-point range and had 17 points in a 74-45 victory over Tennessee that puts Kentucky into Sunday’s Southeastern Conference [...]
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By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — John Calipari only hopes his young Kentucky Wildcats’ first postseason game delivered the message he’s been trying to send — tournament time requires more intensity and desire than the regular season.
John Wall had 23 points, including seven straight in the second half to give the Wildcats [...]
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Ever notice how the fans of a school always feel that their coach is the most deserving of Coach of the Year honors?  Or that fans of a school feel that their players are most deserving of postseason laurels?

Well, not every player and coach can take home a gold trophy when the season’s complete.  And personally, I’ve never really understood why folks care so much about MVPs and All-Conference teams.

Still, in the last two weeks I’ve heard tell of at least five — yes FIVE — SEC East Division coaches that “deserved” to win Coach of the Year honors in the league.

Last week, Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggested that UGA’s Mark Fox be honored.

A friend of mine covering the Florida-Tennessee basketball game two weeks ago told me that someone on press row told him that Billy Donovan should be the SEC’s COTY.

Vanderbilt and Tennessee fans have already emailed me to say: a) Why is everyone complaining that Kevin Stallings won the award? and b) Why didn’t Bruce Pearl win it?  You can do the math as to which fans said what.

Now, folks in Lexington are upset that John Calipari didn’t get the award.  DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall said they didn’t even know who Stallings is.

As I’ve previously stated on this site, I believe that any of those last three coaches mentioned could have easily laid claim to the COTY prize.  And I don’t disagree with CBS’ Gary Parrish who suggested the other league coaches didn’t vote for Pearl or Calipari because they simply don’t like them.

But just to throw a little water on all the “how could our coach not win it” nonsense, let’s look at some of the reasons those five SEC East Division coaches might not have won: 



John Calipari

Pros:  Recruited a stellar cast of freshmen and then led UK to a 29-2 regular season record.  He did a fabulous job of keeping a team of young egos together.

Cons:  Easily had the best talent in the league.  He should have had a great year.  His own players were aiming for an undefeated season.  The All-SEC team reads like a UK roster.  The award goes to Coach of the Year, not Recruiter of the Year.



Bruce Pearl

Pros:  Pearl had to abandon his usual style of play due to a major off-court issue (four players arrested on New Year’s Day) and numerous injuries.  He used a variety of line-ups to somehow lead UT to an 11-5 conference record and upset wins over Kentucky and Kansas.

Cons:  Who recruited the four players who were arrested on New Year’s Day?  Oh, yeah.  So you could say Pearl had to clean up a mess that was partially his own creation.



Billy Donovan

Pros:  Well, to be honest, I have no idea how anyone could push Billy D for COTY this season.  I guess he got as much out of a thin backcourt as could have been expected.  Maybe?

Cons:  The Gators lost their final three games when all they likely needed was one win to wrap up an NCAA bid.  And UF’s guard depth was hurt when Nick Calathes — who Donovan couldn’t get along with — left for a Greek professional league early.



Mark Fox

Pros:  Georgia was a tougher team — at home at least — than most folks expected.  UGA upset Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida in Athens.  Fox gave Bulldog fans reason to be optimistic about the future.

Cons:  Georgia finished the season 13-16, 5-11 in the SEC.  End of argument.



Kevin Stallings

Pros:  Vanderbilt overachieved.  Picked for third in the East, the Commodores hung close to league champion Kentucky for much of the season.  The surprisingly consistent ‘Dores finished 12-4 in league play and were unexpectedly physical in doing so.

Cons:  I can’t think of any.  Really.  There are no glaring holes.  Nothing that could really be spun as a reason not to give Stallings the prize.



I know, I know, I’ve just ticked off four different fanbases.  And Vandy fans will probably be mad because I wasn’t glowing enough in my praise of Stallings.

But again, I think any of those top three guys could have won the award.  Plus, I don’t really understand folks’ fascination with these types of honors anyway. 

And I’d be willing to bet that if Kentucky wins the national title, Calipari probably won’t be thinking about the SEC’s Coach of the Year award when he’s up on a ladder cutting down a net.

Here’s the greatest fear of a Kentucky basketball fan:

Two-minutes to go in a game.  UK trails someone in the NCAA tournament by two.  DeMarcus Cousins is called for a foul and flips out.  A headband flies, a curse is muttered… and a technical is called.  The other team hits their free throws and pulls away.  Season over.

Many Wildcat fans have fretted over their team’s “immature” behavior at times this year.  Some have even referred to what they termed “thuggish behavior” in emails to Lexington sportswriters.

John Calipari has repeatedly said that things would be better by this time of year.  And now he wants his team to prove that it has grown up a bit.

Coach Cal had a sports psychologist talk to his team this week about how a person should deal with temporary setbacks.

“There’s only one thing that can affect us in any of these tournaments,” Calipari said yesterday.  “And that is us.”

Cousins heard the message.  “I believe that was for me,” he said.

Cousins earned it.  On Sunday he did not warm up with his teammates before the second half of UK’s game with Florida.  Instead, he sat on the bench as one coach after another came by to speak with him.

Florida made a nice second-half run to get back in the game, by the way.

Cousins — in my view — has actually been the Player of the Year in the SEC.  He’s banged away inside and dominated against players much more experienced than himself.  But his short fuse continues to be a big concern.

Kentucky is as talented as any team in America.  So was Calipari’s Memphis club in 2008.  All season, the great fear for that team had been that its poor foul-shooting would prove costly at crunch time in an important game.  As it turned out, that game was the national title game against Kansas.

History has repeated itself in part this season.  UK has one flaw that its fans are most worried about.  Just as in 2008, Calipari has said don’t worry, something else will cost us, not that.  Perhaps he’s feeling a bit of deja vu, too, because his comments yesterday seem to show a bigger concern form the coach regarding this team’s immaturity.

Personally, I believe UK’s coach has done a bang-up job of keeping such a young team of all-stars together to this point.  It might be his best job to date, in fact. 

But as Calipari now seems to be acknowledging, all of the good from a 29-2 regular season can be undone in the tourney if the young Cats can’t better keep their cool.

By LARRY VAUGHT
He played high school basketball with current NBA star O.J Mayo and he’s playing now with John Wall, the likely No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA draft. He was recruited by many of the nation’s best college coaches, played two years for Billy Gillispie and is finishing his first — and likely [...]
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Junior forward Patrick Patterson will jump through a paper hoop and participate in Kentucky’s Senior Day ceremony on Sunday. Whether he’ll head out the door for good after this season remains unknown.

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I’ll admit that I did not expect John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats to steamroll through the SEC the way his Memphis clubs used to slice through Conference USA.

Currently they sit at 13-2 in league play… not an undefeated season by any means, but still a little better record-wise than I would have predicted.

I’m not surprised by the Cats’ talent.  We knew going into the season that Calipari had put together a recruiting class for the ages.

I’m also not surprised that Coach Cal has been able to keep all of the egos in check.  He’s done that at previous stops, effectively mixing one-and-done youth with veterans.

No, what surprises me most about this Kentucky team has been its willingness to play defense.  Look around the SEC each year and you’ll find that the youngest teams normally are the worst in the league defensively.

Players make their names in high school by scoring.  Most aren’t ready to exert as much energy on the defensive end as they are on the offensive end when they arrive at college.

To me, that’s what makes Calipari a Coach of the Year candidate even though he’s been coaching the most talented team in the SEC.  He’s still done a great job getting all that young talent to buy into his defensive desires.

Before the season, all the talk surrounded John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and the dribble-drive offense.  Now, with another championship in their pockets, the talk is all about defense. 

That’s the most surprising thing about this Kentucky club.  And that’s what I believe Calipari deserves the most credit for.  (Never end a sentence in a preposition, kids.)

Kentucky’s got another one.  With their 80-68 win at Georgia last night, UK wrapped up a share of their 44th SEC regular season championship.

Need I point out that no one else even comes close to that mark?  Didn’t think so.

The Wildcats can wrap up sole possession of the crown with a win on Senior Night Sunday against Florida (or with a Vanderbilt loss to Carolina Saturday).  If the Cats lose and the Commodores win, Vandy would tie UK for the championship.

Georgia hung with Kentucky for much of the first half, but a 12-point surge early in the second half put the Wildcats ahead to stay and allowed them to coast to the finish line.

Perhaps more importantly, UK got hot from outside for the first time in several weeks.  While UGA tried the zone approach, the Big Blue connected on eight three-point attempts… which made it one of Kentucky’s best shooting nights of the year.

The Wildcats were dominant on the defensive end, too, blocking a season-high 14 Bulldog shots.

“Fourteen blocks?” asked forward Jeremy Price.  “They’re the biggest team in the country.”

The third-ranked Cats also made an impression on Trey Thompkins.  “We’ve played some good teams in Tennessee and Vandy, but that team right there is talented at every position.”

“Their talent gets all the attention, but it takes away the fact that they’re the #1 defensive team in our league and the #1 rebounding team in the league,” said Georgia coach Mark Fox.  “They are winning a lot of games certainly because they have good players; they’re winning maybe more because they’re a very good defensive basketball team.”

I’m not sure how this loss will affect Fox’s Coach of the Year chances.  (And, yes, I kid.)

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Starting in April, Kentucky fans will be able to pick up a bottle of Commonwealth-made Maker’s Mark bourbon emblazoned with the likeness of UK basketball coach John Calipari right on the front.

Maker’s Mark puts out a limited edition bottle for Kentucky fans just about every year.  Last year it was then-football coach Rich Brooks’ face that appeared on the hooch bottles.

The bottles will sell for $49 a pop.  A portion of the proceeds (expected to be about $300,000) will be donated to a UK extension program that will bring the school’s symphony orchestra and students from the UK School of Music into public schools and communities throughout Kentucky.

That’s a fine cause.  And I’m no moralist so I have no problem with Kentucky raising money via alcohol.  I also have no problem with Calipari autographing bottles at an event in early April.  (For his part, Coach Cal said he doesn’t even drink bourbon.)

But I do believe that Kentucky officials are making an interesting choice to cozy up with Maker’s Mark.

Following the 1998 deaths of two Kentucky football players in an alcohol-related car wreck, UK pushed to retire one of college football’s most recognizable rivalry trophies — the Beer Barrel.  Tennessee officials agreed with their counterparts to the north and in 1999 the Wildcats and Vols stopped playing for the blue and orange keg that had gone to the winner of their annual football game for 74 seasons.

So what’s changed?

In 1999, Kentucky officials considered alcohol-related imagery to be a bad thing.

In 2010, the same university is taking $300,000 from a bourbon-maker and allowing its coach’s face to be plastered smack dab on several thousand bottles of booze.

Seems to me that the only difference between the 1999 decision and the 2010 decision are those 300,000 green bills. 

Is that really the message that UK wants to be sending?

Last week, John Calipari said that the two teams who had given Kentucky the toughest games this year — Vanderbilt and South Carolina — both used man-to-man defenses, not the zones that so many other schools are using against the Big Blue.

But Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl didn’t fall for the briar patch routine and used quite a bit of zone to lead the Vols past Cal’s Cats on Saturday.

But Calipari is sticking to his guns. 

“It’s funny, because everybody has the ‘This is how you play them.’  Yeah, you hold your nose and close your eyes and hope we can’t make any shots.  Yeah, that’s a good way to play.  If we make shots — if we go 5-for-22, which stinks — we win going away.”

But Kentucky didn’t go 5-for-22.  UK went 2-for-22.  In fact, Kentucky’s outside shooting has been pretty awful for a couple of weeks now.

So if Calipari believes he can lure opposing coaches into playing his team in straight up man-to-man, well, good luck.  Until Kentucky proves it can drop shots from outside, a rival coach would be foolish not to try and force the Wildcats to do just that.

Regardless of what UK’s coach pronounces.

After a couple of forgettable seasons, the Big Blue planet of University of Kentucky basketball seems to be spinning perfectly on its axis again.
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With some fans in the Bluegrass state worried about the “thuggish” behavior of some members of his team, John Calipari has opened up about his players’ ability to keep their composure.

The coach told the media Monday that he has spoken to his team about maintaining poise.  He said that an immature player can compound an error by dwelling on a mistake… and making another. 

“We have a lot of that on this team,” Calipari said.

He did say that his team will be calmer come tournament time, but the clock is ticking.  If UK’s players have had a hard time keeping cool since November, I find it hard to believe that they’ll make a quick personality switch in the next couple of weeks.

“By the time March rolls around, we’re going to have less and less of this, hopefully.  Or we’re not going to be the team we need to be.”

Indeed, one blow-up by DeMarcus Cousins or Eric Bledsoe during the NCAA tournament could be enough to scuttle an entire season’s worth of hard work.

Devan Downey, Wildcat Killer.

The SEC’s leading scorer is expecting a rude reception when he and his South Carolina teammates hit the floor at Rupp Arena tomorrow.  That’s because Downey has had a hand in Carolina’s three-game win streak over Kentucky.

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a not-too-warm welcome,” Downey said.  “I know it’s all in fun.  But I’ve gotten my share of hate mail and Facebook messages from Kentucky fans.”

When asked about the messages, Downey said, “If I tell you some of the stuff I’ve heard, you might lose your job for printing it in the paper.”

And with further prodding, he did finally admit that there were some “ugly and racial tones” in some of the messages.

See Mississippi State fans, I call it both ways.  Every SEC school has great fans.  And every SEC school has a few morons pulling for them as well.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari spoke of taking not one team, but two teams to Nashville for Saturday’s highly anticipated Southeastern Conference showdown with Vanderbilt.

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Good for DeMarcus Cousins… and I’ll tell you why in a minute.

Kentucky’s volatile freshman post player says he’s been getting text messages and voice mails on his cell phone from Mississippi State fans.  Not coincidentally, Cousins’ number has been circulated on MSU messageboards since the weekend.  It has also been posted around State’s campus.

This type of thing isn’t new.  LSU fans famously dialed up Tim Tebow a couple of years ago.  And it’s happened more often since.

But Cousins has found the proper way to turn the prank on its head.  And it doesn’t hurt that he’s got the history of the state of Mississippi on his side.

True or not, Cousins says that the messages from “a lot of Mississippi numbers” have used the “N-word” quite often.

“That’s just showing their ignorance.  It kind of made me mad at the beginning.  Now I’m answering the phone and having conversations with them.”

A few thoughts:

1.  This is a stupid prank and I hope stupid college kids are the only ones involved.  Though I know better.  Personally, I think I’d try to imagine what thousands of messages on my phone would be like… and that would keep me from annoying someone else in such a fashion.  Life’s too short.  Why mess with someone you don’t know?

2.  What better way to respond than to say the calls are racist?  I don’t doubt that some of them have been, but whether they were or not, why not reverse the prank?  Force the coaches at the offending school to have to explain to recruits why their fans are sending racist messages to opposing players.  If I were a black recruit, I don’t know that I’d be interested in playing for a school that’s tied to such moronic behavior.

3.  I’m an underdog kind of guy.  Normally, I’d be pulling for Mississippi State in tonight’s action simply because they’re the little guy.  Not now.  Just as I wanted Tebow to light up LSU a few years ago, I’d enjoy seeing Cousins get the last laugh tonight.

There are harmless pranks in the world.  Duke fans who rattle keys and chant one-liners at opponents are A-OK in my book… as long as they don’t take their insults too far.

But there are always some clowns who do take things to far.  You might remember the Arizona State fans who chanted “P-L-O” at former Arizona player Steve Kerr during a basketball game.  Kerr’s father had been murdered by the Palestine Liberation Organization while in Beirut.

For the life of me, I’ll never understand why some fans take things from good-natured fun to cruel, ugly, mean and annoying… but some do.  Not content to just enjoy the game and root for their team, they have to attack the players on the other squad.

We’ll see if Cousins gets some revenge tonight.

Back in October, if you’d mentioned the name DeAndre Liggins, many Kentucky fans would have said, “Why is he still on the team.”

As a player who never fit in under Billy Gillispie, Liggins was viewed as a disappointment, a bad attitude, and someone who should have been swept out during UK’s Cal-version last spring.

No more.

While the former hot-shot point guard prospect isn’t the player Big Blue Nation expected, he is someone that John Calipari has embraced.  And that’s made all the difference.

“It was a guy who recruited me,” Liggins said of Coach Cal’s hire.  “It was a guy I knew I could play for.”

Enter the new Liggins — a scrapper and a floor-diver.  “There’s no such thing as a 50-50 ball with DeAndre,” said Calipari.  “He gets them.”

Quite the turnaround for a guy many fans were ready to say “good riddance” too last April.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — At a roaring Rupp Arena on Saturday night, Eric Bledsoe and John Wall made the loud plays and DeAndre Liggins the quiet ones as No. 3 Kentucky silenced No. 12 Tennessee 73-62.

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