True Blue Kentucky

You'd have to be living on Mars to not know that UNC POY forward Tyler Hansbrough won't be able to play tonight in their home game against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Most Wildcat fans probably look at this as an blessing, however, I think it's a blessing in disguise for the Tarheels.

As the VMI game proved, much of basketball comes down to individual matchups.  Similar to a boxing match, sometimes "styles make fights" and this is another one of those situations.  Hasbrough is a "Mike Tyson" while his replacement tandem of Freshmen, Tyler Zeller & Ed Davis, are more along the lines of "Muhammed Ali" style players.  

For the 2nd time in 3 seasons the Vanderbilt Commodores came to Lexington with the hopes of gaining bowl eligibility against the Wildcats. The last time the Dores went bowling? Let's just say it involves a combination of Michael Jackson's Thriller, Ronald Regan, and the 49ers winning the Super Bowl.

Unfortunately for Kentucky fans, Bobby Johnson's boys came to play from start to finish. And the Football Cats dropped their final home game of the season, 31 to 24, falling to 6-5 and 2-5 in SEC play. In a weekend that is sure to evoke a rise of veephobia in the Commonwealth after a rare basketball loss less than 24 hours before to the VMI Keydets, the Big Blue Nation holds these truths to be self-evident:

Welcome to the new season, 'Cats fans! BBallSophist here, giving you exclusive insight into the highly anticipated titanic battle between the Virginia Military Institute Keydets and the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Steel yourself for a deluge of mind-melting basketball wisdom!

The first thing I’d like to make perfectly clear is the following:

I’ve never been to the VMI and I have no idea where it is located. I didn’t even know that people in the military play basketball until this week, and I’ve never seen VMI’s basketball team play a single game. Everything I know about VMI I have learned this week. Keep this in mind before you become stunned by the avalanche of information I’m about to bestow on you in this preview...

...‘cause I likes to keep it real like that!

On to the preview!

Kentucky Football Notebook / UK Press Release

LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky wide receiver DeMoreo Ford is giving up playing football because of concussions, Coach Rich Brooks announced Sunday.

 A native of LaGrange, Ga., Ford also has battled knee injuries during his career.  After sustaining a concussion in the Mississippi State game on Nov. 1, physicians have advised him to retire from the sport.