Full disclosure here, I missed all but 15 minutes of the UK game last night. An important engagement kept me from watching all but the first 5 and last 10 minutes of the game. What I did see was great though.
Most UK fans today are probably scared to death that UK only beat Miami OH by 2 last night, but they shouldn't be. Last night's game was a great lesson for the new team. It taught all those top 100 recruits what it means to play at Kentucky. That is everyone will give you their best shot every night.
UK's freshmen also learned last night that they are not infallible. Everyone has talked about how they are one of the best recruiting classes ever. Coach Calipari has noted that they think they "poop ice cream." It must have been sobering for them to look up and see themselves down 18 points in the first half last night. All this is great.
What I did see last night made me very excited. Specifically, Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins, Darius Miller, and John Wall impressed while I was watching. Patterson did his normal thing and dropped a double double while controlling the paint. Cousins also had a double double with all his 10 points and 10 rebounds coming in the second half. Apparently Cal challenged him at half time and the results were fantastic.
Miller showed some aggressiveness toward the end of the game that has been lacking lately. It seems he plays better with his back against the wall when he has no choice but to be aggressive. What else can you say about Wall? He was playing too fast in the first half and calmed in the second. The final play was amazing too. Yes he made the shot, but the way he made it was flat out impressive. He drove the floor at full speed, crossed over, and pulled up vertically for the game winning jumper. For those who've never played competitive basketball you can't understand how hard it is to drive full speed, stop, pull straight up, release at the top, and come back down in the spot you left. Wall's game winner wasn't a fade away and he didn't run down his defender. He pulled straight up and came straight down. It was just another example of his rare athleticism.
In all, the Miami game was a huge success for UK. They got down, were tested, but won the game in the end. The only severe disappointment I had in the night was the lack of a foul on Miami's last possession. I would have though Calipari would have learned to foul when up 3. You can't allow that tying shot to go in the air. Those are things that can be changed later in the year, but it is a small thing that is worrisome.
Two more games this week will allow UK fans to see how much their team grew up. If they come out and dominate the next two games everyone will know they learned their lesson. If they play 40 minutes like they did the final 25 last night then they will start getting better. That's all any coach can ask of their team at this point in the season.
Bruce Pearl will shoot for his 100th win at Tennessee tonight against UNC-Asheville (7pm, CSS). Here's Pearl this summer cracking jokes with boosters and announcing his engagement.
In other UT news, another Volunteer DB has been arrested. This time, Nyshier Oliver, and for shoplifting. As if the injury bug wasn't bad enough, we have to add thug-removal? Sheesh.
We're about a third of the way through 24 hours of basketball on ESPN. Niagara is about to seal the 8 o'clock game against Drexel and Clemson is just underway in the 10am contest at Liberty.
No word yet on whether Niagara is hosting a spelling competition following the game. I mean after all, it is a Tuesday morning.
Follow along the live blog at StormingTheFloor with my good man Yoda.
UPDATE (3:47pm): Let's not forget about the insanity ongoing at FNL4.com, where those guys are live blogging all 30 hours. It should get interesting now that they enter hour 22 of 30 in 13 minutes.
Kentucky beats Vandy and becomes bowl eligible while Tennessee gets thwacked at Ole Miss and still needs another win. Florida and Alabama are running headlong into one another in Atlanta, and Michigan just might be on the outside looking in this year. Here's a compilation of the internet's bowl projections as of this morning, along with my own.
Today kicks off the official hoop season for both the Kentucky Wildcats (6:30pm v. Morehead, ESPNU) and the Tennessee Vols (9pm v. Austin-Peay, SportSouth).
These two programs are not only picked to contend for the SEC East and Overall titles, but are both preseason top-10 and have Final Four expectations. And that's about where the similarities end.
Kentucky is sporting a #1 overall recruiting class inundated with talented newcomers, including suspended John Wall, a purported one-and-doner, and big man DeMarcus Cousins. The Vols, on the other hand, return nearly all of their production from last year's East Division championship team, including preseason All-Conference power forward/wing Tyler Smith (another supposed first rounder next year).
I'm sure Bru will be getting his shots in soon enough so you might as well hear it from me. Three Tennessee Football team members, all freshmen recruited by Lane Kiffin (he of "we haven't had anyone arrested since I took over" fame) were taken in by the cops for attempted robbery this morning on the UT Campus "Strip." Apparently with a pellet gun in tow.
UPDATE: Gotta love this... regarding last week's suspension of Janzen Jackson... from YESTERDAY!!
Jackson said he appreciated that UT's coaching staff was willing to forgive him of his recent transgression.
"I appreciate that a lot," he said. "You don't want to have your coach mad at you for any reason. You don't want that to linger. It's always about looking forward with these guys. That's a good thing."
For guidance, Jackson said he spoke to his father, Lance Guidry, who coaches defensive backs at Miami (Ohio).
"He just told me to keep my head up," Jackson said. "Look forward and it will be past sooner than I think. And it already is."
Today was a big day in college basketball. National Signing Day brought a lot of action across the board. Kentucky only has one commitment for the 2010 class and that is four star small forward Stacey Poole. That's not meant to slight Poole in the least. The kid is the #11 ranked small forward in the class (as ranked by Scout.com). The thing is, some UK fans have been a bit down in the dumps due to the lack of top 100 talent coming into the 2010 class.
For example, my buddy Aaron sends me the following text today, "...u surprised only one bball player signing today?" To begin with, no, that's not a surprise. Kentucky pulled one Hell of a recruiting class last year. Getting John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins (two guys that everyone expects to be one-and-dones) was a major coup for first year coach John Calipari. With Eric Bledsoe sitting in the driver's seat for being the point guard of the future (once Wall exits), I would assume many of the major PG prospects decided to take their services elsewhere. The ones that have Bledsoe's competitive streak (he has said on many occasions he wanted to come to UK and play with/against Wall) may wait for spring to sign. Why wait for spring? To see if Coach Cal will play Wall and Bledsoe in a pseudo-two-point-guard system. That's a shout-out to you Brandon and Josh.
The other thing Kentucky fans need to be reminded of is that Kentucky is in the top five for 7 of the top 40 recruits in the nation (again, according to Scout) for the 2010 class. There are a lot of kids still on the market and waiting to make Spring decisions. Kentucky is sitting pretty good at the guard positions. Bledsoe will be back leading the team next year and Darnell Dodson looks to be a solid scoring option at the two guard. Darius Miller will develop into a solid wing player, so that leaves UK with only a couple of questions at the big positions.
Our favorite DI rap star, Swiperboy, has lost his spot in Bruce's 10-man rotation for the moment to newcomer Kenny Hall, according to govolsxtra.com.
The Heels are off and running to the dismay of at least one Isiah.
John Wall leads UK's two of the top four freshmen in the country, according to Rivals. Also on the list, Carolina's John Henson.
For now, Lexington's John Clay is focused on football. That will change, rest assured. And when it does, we'll be there to, um, bring it to your attention...
Ok- I was going to stay away from this Brandon Spikes thing. I really was. I love Florida, and I love Spikes, but what he did was wrong. There's no excuse for playing amateur eye surgeon on the football field. He should, and is, being punished for a stupid act. Should be the end of the story. Right?
Maybe not.
Turns out when you're the defending champs and you get more TV coverage than President Obama, then everybody is going to voice their opinions. In one week, Spikes has gone from the All-American linebacker for the Gators to the poster boy for all that is wrong in the world. I've heard it all at this point... about how Florida should suspend him for the season, or Florida should have to forfeit games, or Spikes should be placed in front of an execution squad, or how Urban Meyer is actually Hitler's grandson. You know- typical message board fans weighing in with their always unbiased and credible thoughts.
Was the original punishment doled out by Meyer pretty tame, even though the SEC agreed with it? You could argue that. You could also argue that very few people who critcized it have access to Florida's locker room or practices, meaning they have no idea if he was being punished internally.
I remember reading an article a few years ago in which Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who has had his share of player trouble, said "Everyone wants to see a public hanging, when half the time, we can do much worse behind closed doors." He talked about a player who had gotten a DUI, and the message-board faithful were all over the coach to suspend him. Instead, Bowden said he made the player run stadium steps for three, two-hours practices that week. That's six hours of running up and down the steps at Doak Walker Stadium in the Tallahassee heat. Ever run stadium steps? It's not exactly a cake-walk. I don't know, but I'm betting that kid learned a little lesson somewhere in there. Of course the public didn't see it, so they continued to kill Bowden and talk about his lack of control over players. Gotta love college football fans right?
Now I don't know if Meyer does this kind of stuff. But I do know there are tons of ways to punish a kid that don't involve punishing the team. Why should the team be punished for the actions of one, when you can just as easily punish the guilty party?
And now that Spikes has said he will not play at all against Vanderbilt, people are still over him. The common theme now is that "he wouldn't be doing this if they were playing Alabama or LSU next week." Well, as it happens, Vanderbilt falls next on their schedule. What is he supposed to do? Should Florida only schedule one week at a time, leaving some wiggle room so that if a player gets suspended, they can bring in a big-name opponent to show that they will uphold the suspension?
Another interesting chapter of the story is that the "victim" here, Georgia RB Washaun Ealey, has said he doesn't think Spikes should be suspended. Interesting. I would assume this guy would be on his deathbed from the way some have described the incident, but apparently, the victim of this supposed atrocity isn't all that worked about it. Could it be because just a few plays earlier, this happened?
That wouldn't happen to be Ealey's hand inside Joe Haden's helmet would it? Weird. I wonder why the Georgia fans and Gator haters aren't bringing this up?
Look, this doesn't make what Spikes did right. But maybe the moral outrage should be tempered just a bit. This kind of thing was happening all game long, from both sides, and Spikes just happened to be the lucky one caught on the TV cameras. Again- this doesn't excuse his actions. I'm okay with him being punished. But let's not act like this was an isolated incident from one rogue, out-of-control player.
Oh well. No one ever said trying to defend a title was easy.
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics.
Advertisers
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
Bloggers Wanted
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!
RSS Feed 
Full disclosure here, I missed all but 15 minutes of the UK game last night. An important engagement kept me from watching all but the first 5 and last 10 minutes of the game. What I did see was great though.
UPDATE: Gotta love 
Today was a big day in college basketball. National Signing Day brought a lot of action across the board. Kentucky only has one commitment for the 2010 class and that is four star small forward Stacey Poole. That's not meant to slight Poole in the least. The kid is the #11 ranked small forward in the class (as ranked by Scout.com). The thing is, some UK fans have been a bit down in the dumps due to the lack of top 100 talent coming into the 2010 class.
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 