The Big Blue Lowdown

This Kentucky team is quietly becoming a juggernaut. Regardless of what happens tomorrow in the SEC Tournament finals, UK could be a tough out for anyone in the NCAAs.

The margin for error is thin, but as we've heard so many times all year, Kentucky is probably the nation's best team 1 through 6. And the chemistry is actually getting better.

Through two games in the SEC tourney, the Cats have now beaten two teams that took them out in the regular season. In both games, UK got mostly...

Kentucky escaped the SEC Quarters with a nine-point win over a game Ole Miss team in Atlanta Friday behind a strong 19-point showing from Doron Lamb.

The 75-66 final score belies how close the game was. The bottom line is that Cal’s teams struggle with the rugged style employed by Ole Miss head coach and Bob Huggins disciple Andy Kennedy.

Despite the Cats’ struggles in this one, it keeps alive a recent and very positive trend—UK is now winning close games and doing it away from home. For...

Sunday’s victory over Tennessee was a gutty, inspirational win for the Cats. They showed a lot of heart coming back in the 2nd half after the abomination they put on display in the first.

I have to also eat some Serious Crow!

I was talking smack about Brandon Knight in the first half through text messages to other UK fans. In fact, he had played his worst half of hoops the entire season. Turning the ball over, forcing shots, no floor administration, etc. But in the 2nd half he was a man...

Due to my job being so busy in the last four months, I haven't been able to view the landscape of college hoops like I normally am able. But in the past 10 days I’ve been able to view a majority of the Top 25 teams either in person or through ESPN highlights and breakdowns.

This is what I know.

The ACC

Duke is not the best team in the ACC. Not by a long shot. UNC is that team, but they are young and lack great perimeter shooting. Duke has great perimeter shooting, but has no inside...

The strange saga that is the Kentucky 2010-2011 basketball season held sway once again at Rupp Arena Saturday.

It’s hard to say why, but these Cats just play on a completely different level at home. And no one more so than Darius Miller.

The native Kentuckian set a career high for the second consecutive Saturday, scoring 24 and showing all around hustle and a confidence that has been elusive for much of his career. As a team, Kentucky played an efficient and unselfish all-around game,...

Kentucky's road nightmare continues.

Despite another good all around offensive performance where five players in the six-man rotation scored in double figures, and despite the fact that Arkansas did just about everything it could to give the Cats a chance to win, UK's youth and inexperience showed once again in a gut-wrenching 77-76 overtime loss Wednesday night.

The head coach didn't look much better. John Calipari failed to set up an effective play both at the end of regulation and...

The Kentucky Wildcats will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., Wednesday night to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Kentucky is now 1-5 on the road in SEC play. But four of those losses came down to the last possession.

Arkansas is coached by former UK great John Pelphrey, but the Hogs have never beaten the Cats on his watch.

Find out why that trend won't change in the BBL's guest post over at WildcatBlueNation.com.

The BBL will provide complete details soon, but it's safe to say that Kentucky was a little underwhelming in a six point home win over struggling Mississippi State Tuesday night.

UK was led by Brandon Knight's 24 points and 7 assists, but it was really the defensive pressure down the stretch that keyed UK's win.

Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones also had solid offensive games for the Cats, but DeAndre Liggins sort of receded back into a former version of himself, despite his always solid...

UK is one player short. They have been all season, but it's never more obvious than now. Fatigue is just killing them. Fouling players on three point shots is a sure sign.

This mid February stretch is probably going to wear UK out. We'll have to be hopeful they can regain their legs for a March run. Its highly doubtful however to expect much as UK's frosh really struggle on the road. Especially shooting the ball from the perimeter. In addition their seed positioning falls by the week.

When it’s all said and done, the word that may best define the 2010-2011 season for the Kentucky Wildcats is “close.”

Close in victory. Close in defeat. Close to great. But not quite there.

The Cats lost another nail biter on the road, this time in Vanderbilt’s Memorial Coliseum by a count of 81-77, giving them losses in three out of four games during a crucial stretch of SEC play. Vandy was led by a masterful performance from John Jenkins, who dropped 32 and scored on what seemed like...

Following the first two-game losing streak in the John Calipari era at UK, the Cats got a huge 73-61 home win over Tennessee, which returned head coach Bruce Pearl from an eight-game suspension for various forms of run of the mill cheating.

Kentucky needed a big bounce back after consecutive heartbreaking losses to Mississippi and Florida, which dropped the Cats to #18 in the AP Top 25. They responded with an impressive, emotional win in front of an energized home crowd.

Here’s how they...

In 2011.

I am so pissed off. How does this team continue to come back from huge double digit deficits in the last 8 minutes of games only to lose at the buzzer because of a lack of execution in the final moments?

You wanna know why? IMO, it's coaching. This team doesn't run plays or get good looks or pre-designed shots when they need them. They have great individual talent. Jones, Knight or Lamb can score and create off the dribble. But they don't get good looks when it matters because...

This is a Sweet 16 team. If they get some rest and get hot outside they could make a run, but I just don’t see this team getting past the round of 8. This team will struggle in half court games. It needs to play a full court game with more pressing up top but it can’t because of the depth issue. Tie it up in physical, half court games and this team loses games like GA and Ole Miss.

My take on the starting 6:

T. Jones: Will be a hell of a small forward in the NBA. However, he does not want...

With approximately 15:30 to play in the game, Alabama took a 52-32 lead on Kentucky and it looked pretty safe to assume that the Cats were toast.

But a fierce rally spurred by gritty halfcourt defense, fullcourt pressure and timely three-point shooting put Kentucky in position to win the game three times inside the final minute. Alas, the comeback fell short, and Alabama pulled out a 68-66 win, dropping UK to 5-4 this season away from home.

The BBL offers our thoughts on the loss:

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After less than stellar performances in its first two SEC contests, Kentucky put it all together and dominated LSU Saturday, extending its Rupp Arena win streak to 28 games.

Despite coming into the game with a 2-0 conference record, it's clear that LSU is a far lesser opponent. But Wildcat fans have to be excited about the performance, in which UK showed off an arsenal of offensive and defensive weaponry.

Brandon Knight dropped 19 points and Terrence Jones chipped in 17, and the...