Terrence Jones “Gets It”

New Rupp Arena Design Hits the Mark

Unbelievable!  This design just approved by a 47 member committee in Lexington should make UK fans drool.  The design was built to give all UK fans a chance to experience Rupp Arena whether you have tickets or not.  TV’s are placed facing the outside so even fans on the street can experience what is the “Greatest Tradition in ALL of College Basketball”.  Metal bleechers will be replaced by chair back seats, a huge scoreboard placed above center court, new state of the art video and audio, a designed route from the Kentucky campus to the Arena all make for an experience that would be second to none in College Basketball!!  Couple the new arena, with the new state of the art practice facility, and Kentucky’s devoted fan base, it would be hard to see why any recruit would not want to be a part of the Kentucky tradition.

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/12/17/1997718/lexington-committee-oks-design.html

Don’t Drink the Haterade

The Haterade must have been of especially good vintage this week.  Terrence Jones got doused with a water cooler full.  UK fans took shots from Dickie V and King Rex on Twitter.  I fully expect the Cats to look like a pack of honey badgers vs the Mocs with ball hawking defense leading to easy hoops.  Honey badgers pass out when they are bitten by venomous snakes, then they go back and eat the snake.  Haterade only ticks them off.

Ashley Judd Loves Her Some Terrence

UK vs IU 2011: Rivalry Renewed

Fans and media outlets alike have been buzzing leading up to the 5:15 tilt between Indiana and Kentucky on Saturday.  Several prominent prognosticators have picked IU to upset the #1 ranked Cats.  The crowd should be ‘well-oiled’ given the combo of dead week and the late afternoon tip time.  It could well be the most hostile environment they will face all season.  There hasn’t been this much excitement around an IU basketball game since Robert Montgomery Knight patrolled the sidelines.    The potential for letdown is there coming off a huge victory against UNC.  All of this sounds like the ultimate trap game, right?

This is exactly the kind of challenge the young Cats need at this point in the season.  They have the chance to prove that the determination and maturity that they have shown to this point are here for the duration.  We know Kentucky is superior athletically.  A victory in Bloomington will prove they have the mettle to win in any environment.

 

From Dream to Reality…

As the University of Kentucky basketball team entered into the 2010-2011 basketball season, us fans had resigned to the fact that this was going to be a year that bridged the team that put 5 players into the first round of the NBA draft and a team that will have 4 of the top 11 players in the high school class of 2011.  No UK fan would have ever dreamed of making it to the final 4.  This year team might not have the star power but it sure epitomizes the word team.  Let’s hope we can now hang number 8 in Rupp…

Go Cats!

Kentucky Football Making Strides on the Recruiting Front

I know individual recruiting ranking in football don’t allways add up to success on the football field, but when looking at the average star ratings of whole teams it shows the type of talent a team has.  Kentucky over the past 5 years has seen an increase year after year in their cumulative star ratings.  We gone from an average star rating on the 2008 team of 2.38 to and average star rating of the 2011 team of 2.64.  Below shows you the comparison…

Average 5 Year Star Rating  (to include possible redshirts)

Time Frame	Ave. Rating
2007-2011	2.64
2006-2010	2.56
2005-2009	2.44
2004-2008	2.38
2003-2007	2.38
2002-2006	2.37

Average Star Rating By Year

Year	Ave. Rating
2011	2.96
2010	2.77
2009	2.69
2008	2.5
2007	2.31
2006	2.53
2005	2.15
2004	2.44
2003	2.48
2002	2.19

Dissecting the 2010-2011 Kentucky Basketball Team

I’ve put together another spreadsheet just like I did last year analyzing the 2010-2011 Kentucky Basketball team.  When you look at the talent on this team you see how very similiar it was to last year.  If you were to look at last year’s team and analyze the average star ranking compared to this year’s team you will actually see a slight increase in talent.   This year’s team high school star rating is 4.3 compared to last year’s team of 4.25.  4.25 was actually the average star rating for North Carolina’s 2008-2009 National Championship team.  As like last year, I’m not sure we have the experience that the 2008-2009 UNC team had, but we sure have the talent!

Ave Star Ranking	4.3
Top 10 Players	2
Top 25 Players	4
Top 50 Players	9
Top 75 Players	9

Player	Ranking	Class	Star Rating
Jon Hood	40	2009	4
Deandre Liggins	28	2008	4
Darius Miller	42	2008	4
Josh Harrelson		2007	3
Enes Kanter	3	2010	5
Brandon Knight	6	2010	5
Terrence Jones	13	2010	5
Doron Lamb	21	2010	5
Stacey Poole	33	2010	4
Eloy Vargas	26	2008	4

Who’s Ready for a Little UK Football?

Football season is right around the corner and it’s looking like this year is going to a fun one.  New Coach, New Defense and to top it all off basically a new SEC with 3 new coaches and 2 high profile teams on the verge of probation.

The question that remains for this season are
1.  Can we beat Tennessee?
2.  Can we beat Steve Spurrier?
3.  Can we beat Florida?

I think 2 of the 3 are highly possible with the the one being highly unlikely being that we are playing Floriday in the Swamp.  Who know’s though.  Florida lost a lot of key players last year and if the Joker Cats click it could be interesting.  The home football schedule leaves little to be desired with the only 3 real worth watching home games in Auburn, South Carolina and Georgia. 

My prediction for this year is 8 wins and 4 losses at Florida,  Auburn, Georgia, and at Mississippi State.

What say you?

Rick Pitino’s House…and it’s for sale!

Here is an inside look at Mr. Rick Pitino’s house in Louisville.  This house is  currently for sale so it looks like the Pitino’s are either downsizing or resizing.  You can decide for yourself…

http://glarmls.com/GLARReports/ListitLib/report_builder.aspx