The Big Blue Lowdown

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...

A recurring theme seems to fit this Kentucky basketball team in SEC play-it wasn't pretty, but a win is a win.  That was certainly true in Rupp Arena on Saturday as the Wildcats withstood a tremendous effort by Alabama to claim a 77-71 win.  Give the Tide credit-they had a great shooting performance for the game including 5-of-7 from three but, more importantly, it seemed every time UK was about to make a run, Alabama came up with a big shot to snuff it out.  It was great free throw shooting...

For the first time in several games, the Kentucky Wildcats were clicking on all cylinders last night in a 86-63 thrashing of Arkansas.  It was a glorious thing to see on ESPN last night as the Cats seemed intent from the opening tip to shake off the offensive woes that have plagued the team recently.  Arkansas wanted to push the tempo, and UK showed why that isn't such a great idea as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back.

The star of the game had to be Anthony Davis who...

The Kentucky Wildcats overcame a poor shooting effort and a gritty performance to pull away to a 69-62 win over Louisvlle on Saturday. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was an absolute beast for the Cats with 24 points and 19 rebounds while Anthony Davis had a huge second half to help the Wildcats pull away from the Cardinals in the second half after U of L fought back to force a 40-40 tie with 15 minutes to play.

The Wildcats actually led by 13 with 10 seconds to play, but a pair of late threes by...

So the game we have all been waiting for is finally here-the filthy Cards will visit Rupp Arena on Saturday for a game featuring two coaches who clearly disdain each other, two of the most historic programs in all of college basketball, and two teams ranked in the top 5. Whether Louisville actually deserves that ranking is a matter of much discussion, but nevertheless, that's where we stand now.

Before we talk about recent developments with the Cats and look ahead to Saturday, let me...

Anthony Davis came within an eyelash of a triple-double, the team defense was ferocious and UK dominated St. John's at Rupp Arena Thursday night.

Many worried the Cats would overlook the Red Storm with UNC coming to town in two days. Not so.

Davis scored 15 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and had eight of a school-record 18 blocks, as the Cats rolled 81-59.

Terrence Jones exploded for 26 points and Doron Lamb dropped 16, and UK proved that there would be no letdown after it took over the...

After spending the last few days traveling for Thanksgiving, it's nice to be back and, oh what a day to blog about the UK Wildcats!  While I know this is a basketball blog, let me send out some props to the UK football team (and yes, even Joker Phillips) for FINALLY ending The Streak against the Tennessee Volunteers.  While the 10-7 win wasn't pretty, does it really matter?  Any win against Tennessee is wonderful, and yesterday's was one of the all-time moments for this UK fan as I nearly...

This one was never close. The Wildcats took care of Radford in short order, scoring the game's first 14 points and building a 31-point lead by halftime on their way to a 48-point thrashing of Rupp Arena's latest sacrificial lamb.

Despite the inferiority of the opponent, the Wildcats showed a number of extremely positive signs. For one, freshman PG Marquis Teague put together a solid overall performance, turning the ball over only twice while notching five assists to go along with 13 points...

Although they received a much tougher test than anyone expected, the UK Wildcats withstood a stout challenge from Old Dominion this afternoon in a 62-52 win that ran the Cats' record to 4-0 on the year and claimed the Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament championship.  Give ODU credit-they played the Wildcats tough, but in reality most of Kentucky's struggles were of the self-inflicted variety.  UK struggled offensively against the ODU zone defense, which, given how the Cats looked against ODU, I...

Kentucky blasted Penn State 85-47 in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament in Connecticut. Doron Lamb led another balanced UK attacks with 26 points.

Probably the most surprising, and welcome, signed for UK, was the emergence of freshman Kyle Wiltjer who dropped 19 points and also demonstrated a complete game, showing his ability to see the floor and distribute the ball from in the paint.

Terrence Jones chipped in a stat sheet stuffer game with 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists.  ...

It wasn't always a thing of beauty, but Kentucky beat a decent Kansas team 75-65 tonight in Madison Square Garden in New York.  While the Cats slugged though the first half, good defense and a few timely threes by Doron Lamb allowed the Wildcats to break open a tie game at the half and build as much as a 17 point lead on several occasions in the second half.  The game was not as close as the score would indicate.

On a side note, congratulations to Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski who passed...

It's hard to comprehend tonights' beat down of Morehouse College.  Of course it was expected to be lopsided, but who would have ever expected the Cats to take a 74-13 lead-at intermission!  I've seen some dominating performances by UK over the years (see UK vs Tennessee in the SEC tournament in 1993) but I don't think I have ever seen a team on the college level lead by 63-6 in the first half. 

Another amazing statistic is that the UK starters were a perfect 24-24 from the field during the...

The Blue-White scrimmage is in the books and one word comes to mind-WOW!  This team is good-really good, with the chance to be great.

It's early and certainly one doesn't want to read too much into a intra-squad scrimmage, but here's a few random thoughts on the action tonight.

1.  This team is deep, fast, and relentless.  While previous teams under coach Cal have been deep down to seven players, this team has a long bench.  That bodes well for tournament play and, given their desire to...

No reason not to say it at this point. This Kentucky team can win the national title.

It may not. For all we know, UK could go down Sunday to North Carolina and few would be surprised. But even if this edition of Kentucky basketball doesn't make the Final Four, it will go down in UK lore as a team to remember. And quite possibly, the cast of characters in this drama will go down as legends.

Brandon Knight's game-winning basket with five seconds to go lifted Kentucky over top seeded Ohio...