The Big Blue Lowdown

Here’s some notes for Tuesday as we await the outcome of tonight’s opening round games in Dayton that will determine UK’s second round opponent in Louisville on Thursday…

• The Associated Press announced the winners of the Southeastern Conference post-season awards on Monday and Kentucky swept the top places on the list.  Anthony Davis was named the Player of the Year and the Newcomer of the Year while John Calipari was named the SEC Coach of the Year.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist joined Davis...

Random thoughts about Kentucky’s loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday in the SEC Champinship game…

1.  While disappointed that the Cats didn’t close the deal and keep momentum going by beating Vandy, the loss isn’t the end of the world.  As we all know, the 1996 Wildcats had a very similar path in the regular season-early season loss, undefeated SEC season, and then a loss to Mississippi State in the SEC finals.  That team steamrolled to the NCAA tournament.

2.  With that said, the loss is also a...

It wasn't always pretty, but the Kentucky Wildcats took haymaker after haymaker on Saturday afternoon but survived a major test by Florida to advance to the championship game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in New Orleans.  Five different Wildcats scored in double figures for Kentucky with Doron Lamb leading the way with 16 points.  Terrence Jones, Anthony Davis, and Marquis Teague had 15 points each and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 10.

Davis also had 12 rebounds for a...

It wasn’t pretty, but the Kentucky Wildcats survived a tough game against LSU by a score of 61-50 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament this afternoon.  UK fans overwhelmed the New Orleans Arena but had to breathe a collective sigh of relief after the Wildcats survived one of their worst performances of the year to move in to Saturday’s semifinal matchup with Flordida and improve to 31-1 overall.

Friday afternoon’s opener wasn’t without drama, however, as the Wildcats appeared to sleep...

It’s an unusual thing to go undefeated in conference play, and yet the Kentucky Wildcats accomplished that milestone again on Sunday with a 74-59 win at Florida.  Not only did UK complete the SEC season at 16-0, they also moved to 30-1 overall, the first time in school history that the Wildcats have recorded 30 regular season victories.

The win was a total team effort, but it wasn’t as easy as the margin of victory might suggest.  Florida’s last lead came with about 14 minutes left in the...

Now that the Cats have completed a 16-0 SEC season and won their 30^th game, it’s not too early to think a little about this team’s place from a historical context. In other words, how does the 2011-2012 Kentucky team stack up against the greatest teams of all time?

Ok, fine, I take that back. It's actually way too early to have this conversation. They still have a long road to pave if they want to be champions, and we cannot count on anything yet as a certainty. In fact, I could still see...

It was a thriller for most of the game, but the Kentucky Wildcats held off a determined Vanderbilt team by a score of 83-74 in Rupp Arena on Saturday.  The win runs UK's record to 28-1 overall and 14-0 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and, more importantly, clinches the SEC regular season championship. 

In what has become a broken record (albeit the good kind!) Anthony Davis was an absolute beast in dominating the game on both ends of the court and, in many national opinions, possibly...

It was every bit the test John Calipari has been wanting for his team - and more - yet the Kentucky Wildcats passed with flying colors as they overcame their largest halftime deficit of the year to defeat the Mississippi State Bulldogs 73-64 last night in Starkville, Mississippi.  Kentucky placed five players in double figures led by Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's 18 points and 10 rebounds.  Anthony Davis also had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Darius Miller had 12 and...

When SEC play began back last month, many fans circled tonight's game as one of perhaps three potential roadblocks to the Kentucky Wildcats running through the conference unbeaten.  The other two were Vanderbilt (a 69-63 win) and at Florida (March 4).  A road trip to Starkville is never easy, and frankly begs the question of why ANYONE would want to go to Starkville, Mississippi in the first place!  But I digress...

Tonight's game against Mississippi State does cause concern for the Cats...

Kentucky passed a huge road test Saturday, felling a game Vanderbilt squad which caught fire in the second half and pushed UK to the final buzzer.

Ultimately, this win was about too much Anthony Davis and a defensive effort that is, on a game-by-game basis, becoming legendary.

Make no mistake. There are still doubters. Many will tell you that Syracuse has been equally impressive in a tougher league. Never mind the fact that the SEC and Big East have split 20 head to head games this...

If there was any doubt as to who the best college basketball team in the country was, there isn't anymore after the Kentucky Wildcats ran the seventh-ranked Florida Gators out of Rupp Arena Tuesday night in a 78-58 rout.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, but the Wildcats used another balanced attack in overcoming a not-so-quick start against the Florida pressure defense.  Doron Lamb had another impressive outing in leading UK with 18 points while...

The Kentucky Wildcats put on a clinic at South Carolina and reaffirmed why they are the top-ranked team in the nation with an overwhelming 86-52 win on Saturday.  The devastation of the Gamecocks was so thorough that the outcome of the contest was never really in doubt past the 17:00 mark of the first half.  As Coach John Calipari stated after the game, "It didn't matter who we played today, someone was getting beat by 30."  While many may try to downplay the win due to the opponent, the...

The Kentucky Wildcats showed the nation why they are the #1 ranked team in the country last night with a thorough dismantling of the Tennessee Volunteers by a score of 69-44 at Rupp Arena.  Anthony "The Beast" Davis made yet another case to win the Wooden award for the best player in the nation by flirting yet again with a triple-double-18 points, 8 rebounds, 7 blocks, and three assists in just 30 minutes of play.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 16 points and 8 boards while Terrence Jones had...

The Kentucky Wildcats took a beating (literally) on the road at LSU on Saturday but delivered a knockout blow of their own where it counts-the scoreboard-as they pounded the Tigers 74-50.  UK got out to a 6-0 lead and, although LSU cut the lead to one late in the first half, never trailed as they methodically extended their lead in the second half.

More impressively, the Wildcats showed what coach John Calipari has said was missing-toughness-in overcoming the obvious game plan of the Tigers...