The Big Blue Lowdown

Even if you don’t play video games, you have to admit that today’s games have become ridiculously true to life in their portrayal of sporting events.

For anyone who is a fan of college basketball, this year’s college basketball 2010 for Playstation 3 is not to be missed.

While you’re out shopping this Black Friday, consider a gift that will give you the chance to lead the Cats to victory any time you want.

You’ll even get to hear the BBL’s favorite NCAA hoops play by guy, Gus Johnson,...

For those who didn’t see it, Kentucky’s overtime tilt with Stanford on Thanksgiving night was an instant classic.

While the BBL certainly has questions about UK’s overall performance, given the youth and inexperience on the roster, this team’s ability to perform in the clutch is nothing short of uncanny.

We’ll break it down in tomorrow’s newsletter, but for now, enjoy the clutchness of John Wall with your Thanksgiving turkey.

As the Cats get ready for Cleveland State tonight, we thought we’d share some great highlights from UK’s game over the weekend vs. Rider.

Trust us if you didn’t see it live. There were a lot of plays worthy of the highlight reel.

Tonight, the Cats will face a step up in competition level. Cleveland State returns three starters from a team that took out Wake Forest in last year’s NCAA tourney, including PG Norris Cole, who is averaging 21 ppg and shooting nearly 60% from the field.

The BBL...

The UK hoops team put on quite a performance against Rider Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena. Here are the high points.

The BBL believes UK’s main vulnerability at this point is giving up the 3-point shot. Rider was the first team UK has played who shot poorly from outside the arc. The result was a 30 point pasting.

Kentucky’s team speed and athleticism is seemingly unmatched in college basketball. If you don’t make shots to equalize the ability of John Wall and Eric Bledsoe to get out on the...

The Kentucky Wildcats at this point in the season are truly a “work in progress.”

The BBL continues to be enamored with the play of Eric Bledsoe and John Wall. Both play completely out of control most of the time and don’t have the slightest clue how to play defense. But what they offer is absurd athletic talent and an ability to completely mesmerize on any given play. In 3 games the frosh guards are putting on a show statistically. Wall is averaging 20 points and 6 assists and Bledsoe...

After the Cats pulled their best Houdini act to beat Miami of Ohio Monday night, Kentucky fans can be forgiven for thinking to themselves “oh no, not again.” After all, it was a hallmark of the Tubby Smith and Billy Gillispie eras for UK to play down to their competition in non-conference games at Rupp Arena (Penn State, Western Kentucky, Gardner-Webb, San Diego, VMI).

But after a week’s worth of college hoops, it looks like Kentucky isn’t the only “powerhouse” program to begin the year in...

If Monday night’s tilt vs. Miami of Ohio was any indication, year one under John Calipari is going to be one hell of a ride for Kentucky basketball.

In his official debut, John Wall hit a buzzer beating fadeaway jumper to hold off the Redhawks in an electric 72-70 victory that featured 6 ties and 8 lead changes. The Cats had to come back from as many as 18 to pull it off, while Miami refused to go away, hitting 15-26 from behind the 3-point arc.

Here is our quick take:

Shooting - As...

No John Wall? No problem.

Kentucky ushered in the John Calipari regime Friday night with a no-nonsense domination of Morehead State, showing off its impressive stable of young talent in the process. With superstar-t0-be John Wall sitting out a one-game suspension, the Cats turned to Eric Bledsoe…and he did not disappoint.

Bledsoe dropped 24 points in a 37-minute debut, and wowed the crowd with circus shots and a head-spinning display of open court ball handling.

Meanwhile, UK shuffled...

When was the last time as a UK basketball fan you woke up with a spring in your step? Today is the start of a whole new era. The John Calipari era.

It’s been so long since the BBL was this excited for a Kentucky basketball season. So we had to create our own poem.

‘Twas the Day of the New Season, and nary a worry or concern,

Calipari and his Cats are freakishly athletic with speed to burn.

There is Bledsoe and Miller and the gigantic Big Cuz,

And gifted creatures like Patterson and Orton...

Dick Vitale had nothing but good things to say about Kentucky’s chances this year in an ESPN national conference call earlier this week.

Here are some of the better quotes, courtesy of Larry Vaught from the Danville-Advocate Messenger.

“I will tell you one thing. It’s not a handicap to have a lineup with John Wall.”

“DeMarcus Cousins and those kids are talented. With motivation and inspiration, they will really create some noise. They are too talented, will be well coached, have depth and...

One of our favorite all-time Wildcat heroes, Chuck Hayes, is making quite a name for himself in the NBA.

With the Houston Rockets missing Yao Ming, Chuck has logged the bulk of the minutes available at center, despite his 6-6 frame. The results? Coaches and players are raving.

Check out the recent quotes on Hayes’ performance so far this season (for the record, he’s averaging 7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists):

“He’s incredible,” Rockets Coach Rick Adelman said. “You watch...

There is no other way to put it. Last season, the SEC was down.

But though we admit a certain amount of bias, the BBL thinks the struggles were overblown. If the last place team in the conference could take out the Big 12 champs (Arkansas over Oklahoma) while another sub-.500 team could defeat the Pac Ten champs (Florida over Washington), it stands to reason that the SEC wasn’t *that* bad.

More than anything else, the SEC was victimized by a perceived lack of quality precipitated by two...

Kentucky finished up its two-game preseason over the weekend with a 117-52 victory over out-manned Clarion University.

The win featured strong performances from two of the Cats’ diaper dandies, DeMarcus Cousins (20 points) and John Wall (27 points), who was making his UK debut after returning from suspension.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 4 in the AP preseason poll, officially begin the season Friday vs. Morehead State.

Meanwhile, here are the primary takeaways of the two exhibition games:

...

As the Cats get ready to play their second exhibition this Friday vs. Clarion, we here at the BBL are brimming with excitement.

So we’d like to take a moment to share some more oldies from the YouTube vault.

Here’s hoping that this year’s Cats add many more classic highlights to the mix.

With creatures like Bledsoe, Wall and Patrick Patterson, there’s no reason to expect otherwise.

The quality is low, but we bring you a nice bootleg clip of Eric Bledsoe showing what he brings to the table in this ridiculous block during the exhibition vs Campbellsville Monday night. Click the image below to see the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWRjTTMusP0

Bledsoe’s outrageous vertical leap, reported to be more than 40 inches, is on display here, big time. This guy is 6-0.

While John Wall, with his already epic list of YouTube highlights, is expected to get the bulk of the...