True Blue Kentucky

Check out some of the most popular topics from the weekend on the TBK message boards:

• Which of the 2010 UK recruits could have the biggest impact as freshmen ?
• #2 Villanova goes down . Will the Cats move up in the polls?
• Bobby Knight will miss GameDay when ESPN comes to town.
• Both Cal and the Big Blue Nation are frustrated with the refs coninuously looking at the monitor .
• UT reinstates Brian Williams just in time for the Vols trip to Lexington.
• Will the addition of Tee Martin as WR coach help Randy Sanders?
• KACAT has some great articles on some of the recent UK football signees.
• 2010 UK recruit Terrance Jones highlight reel .

Here is an interesting article from Keith Taylor, as he writes about LSU forward Tasmin Mitchell's comments on UK after the Cats convincing win over the Tigers Saturday.

Tasmin Mitchell was impressed with Kentucky. He’s even more sold on the Wildcats after the Tigers’ 81-55 loss Saturday in Baton Rouge.

“Kentucky is a really good team,’” Mitchell said. “They’ve got everything they need. They’re well-coached, and they play hard. I don’t see why they aren’t No. 1 in the nation.”

 Mitchell said the Cats’ inside game will carry the team a long way as the season progresses.

“Kentucky is a very physical team,” he said. “(DeMarcus) Cousins is very physical. (Patrick) Patterson is very physical, too. They came down and played really hard. Kentucky has a very good inside presence. I give Kentucky's interior my utmost respect. It wasn't the perimeter that really shocked us; it was the inside. They played very physically. It's hard to guard them. They’re inside perimeter was very strong. They took care of the ball in the paint.”

John Clay has an article up over at Kentucky.com with an interesting analysis of the Top 8 teams in America chasing a #1 seed in the big dance.  Does being in the AP/Coaches Top 25 Poll matter?  Great Monday afternoon read.

Being the first team to finish the regular season undefeated since UNLV in 1991 doesn't really matter.

Being first in the polls doesn't really matter.

Being first when it comes to the four seeds atop the NCAA Tournament regions come March 14? Now that matters.

"We're playing for a No. 1 seed," Kentucky Coach John Calipari has repeated.

History suggests that it is a worthy goal. In the past three years, 67 percent of the four No. 1 seeds ended up in the Final — two No. 1s in 2009, all four No. 1s in 2008 and two more No. 1s in 2007. Only twice since the NCAA started seeding teams in 1979 did the Final Four include no No. 1 seeds. One was in 1980; the other was 2006, when Billy Donovan and No. 3 seed Florida brought home the trophy.

A No. 1 seed has won the tournament four of the past five years — Florida's '06 title being the exception — and each of the last three.

With Kentucky 22-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC, and with No. 2 Villanova losing at Georgetown on Saturday, the fourth-ranked Cats will surely inch back up the ladder when the polls are released on Monday.

But while Calipari's club appears in decent shape to grab one of those four regional top spots, UK is just sixth in the RPI, and there is plenty of competition out there. At least (emphasis on at least) seven other teams appear to be in conceivable striking distance of a No. 1 seed.

Uhhh....why in the world don't they just play the Super Bowl on Sat if they aren't going to give us the Monday after as a holiday?...

• Patterson kept Mitchell in check
• Arkansas has turned it around since getting rocked by UK
• Wall in race for the Cousy Award
• Cousins was too much for LSU
• Rondo flirted with another triple double
• Lady Cats are a half game behind the Vols
• Ricky lands Coleman to add to his 2010 class

The UK Women's basketball continues to succeed as they take their winning streak in the SEC to seven.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - A'dia Mathies scored 27 points and Victoria Dunlap added 22 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 20 Kentucky beat Arkansas 71-57 on Sunday for its seventh straight win.

Dunlap scored 20 of her points in the second half as Kentucky (20-3, 8-2 Southeastern Conference) broke a 33-33 halftime tie. The Wildcats moved within a half-game of idle Tennessee for the conference lead.

Lyndsay Harris scored 20 points and Charity Ford added 10 to lead Arkansas (9-14, 1-9). The Razorbacks led 8-0 and Harris hit four 3-pointers in the first half to help Arkansas stay close with the Wildcats.

Click here  for the box score

Congratulations to the Cats on their victory over the LSU Tigers yesterday in Baton Rouge, La.  UK now leads the SEC after the Vanderbilt Commodores managed to lose a not-so-close contest to the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Ga. last night.  I'm sure even UK fans are occupied with the Super Bowl today and all the festivities surrounding this great sporting event.  I caution all to be responsible in their "activities" today and to please not endanger others if they've partied a little too much (DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE).

Twenty years ago Coach Rick Pitino's squad was still seeking their first victory away from Rupp Arena, as their road record fell to 0-8 after a 87-86 loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs.  Coach Pitino continues to complain about the refereeing in the SEC as his team prepares to battle the Georgia Bulldogs.  Sean Woods continues to struggle with his last minute shooting as he has misfired five times with the outcomes of games still in the balance.  Finally, the North Carolina Tar Heels have tied Kentucky for the most college victories, both programs now have a total of 1,474 victories each.

In his post-game press conference after the Kentucky Wildcats defeated the LSU Tigers on Saturday, Coach John Calipari spoke his mind about the officiating on freshman Demarcus Cousins. 

There have been a couple incidents lately where a foul has been called on the UK post player and the officials have referred to the TV replay to see if the foul could be considered flagrant.  According to Calipari, the officials miss several fouls from opposing players on Cousins that add to Demarcus' frustration and lead to him committing fouls.

"My issue is they keep going to the monitor as he gets absolutely whacked, hacked, grabbed, pushed and shoved," Calipari said of Cousins. "And what he does, they go to the monitor."

"If you want to go to the monitor, you've got to protect him," the UK coach said. "Then just call every foul. But you can't let him get grabbed, pushed (and) shoved, then expect no kind of response. ... The issue becomes if you play that way, you're counting on those being called. Call them all. Call 50.

Jerry Tipton published an article with the above quotes from Coach Cal.  There are several more quotes in the article of interest including how Cousins feels about the "foul situation".

As long as Demarcus keeps his cool and continues his strong play, this issue will become a moot point.  Cousins should take pride in the fact that the only way a team can stop him is to foul him.

In this video, Coach Calipari discusses his team's win over the LSU Tigers:

After losing 2 games to LSU last season, UK looks to repay the favor vs the Tigers today in Baton Rouge.

The Cats look to stay on top of the SEC standings, and LSU is still looking for its first SEC win of the season. The following is a preview of todays game from CBSSports.com.

John Wall is "having fun" again, and he might have even more at the expense of LSU.

The top team in the SEC faces the conference's worst as Wall leads fourth-ranked Kentucky against the Tigers on Saturday.

"It felt great to have the fun back," said Wall, who left the court to a standing ovation from the home crowd. "I like to make plays, get the crowd into it. I still have a lot of work to do. I just want to be the floor general. This is the best I've done running the team this year. It feels good and hopefully all the other stuff will go away. But I am back to having fun and winning games."

The Tigers are trying to avoid their first nine-game losing streak since Jan. 27-Feb. 24, 2001.

They won both meetings last season, but Kentucky didn't have Wall or fellow freshman DeMarcus Cousins, who posted a fifth consecutive double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds Tuesday.

Mitchell had 17 rebounds Thursday, but was held to 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting and missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 6 seconds left in a 59-54 loss to Tennessee.

"We just kept fighting and fighting," coach Trent Johnson said. "We just couldn't get over the hump and give ourselves a margin of error so to speak. I'm pleased with the effort, but 0-8 is 0-8 and 9-13 is 9-13."

February 28, 2009 - What a difference a year makes!  Last year, Kentucky entered this game at Rupp Arena with a record of 19-9 (8-5) and losers of five of it's last eight games.  LSU entered the game with a record of 24-4 (12-1) and riding a twelve game SEC winning streak.  Kentucky was led by Coach Billy Gillispie, who was in his second (and final) season with the Cats while LSU was led by first-year coach Trent Johnson, who was hired to replace the fired John Brady.

The game, played in front of 24,411, saw the Cats lose a 10-point lead in the second half and fall to the Tigers by a final score of 73-70.  Kentucky  was led by Patrick Patterson's 28 points and 9 rebounds as Jodie Meeks contributed 24 points but struggled with poor shooting from the 3-point line, going 1 for 9 from behind the arc.  LSU was led by the trio of T. Mitchell, B. Spencer and M. Thornton as they went for 21, 16 and 23 points respectively.  The three also played a total of 117 minutes out of a possible 120.

Click read more to view the entire article from March 1, 2009 - "OUR BACKS ARE A LITTLE BIT TO THE WALL"