Joining Ken, Norm Haney, and the newly engaged Seth Burchett for Wildcat Wednesday on 1340 WBGN will be former UK center Jim Andrews. We'll talk about the 'Cats victory over Mississippi State, as well as what Andrews thinks this team needs to improve on in order to hang banner No. 8.

The show starts at 5:00 ET. We encourage your calls by dialing 270-746-9246 or email sportsguys@1340wbgn.com. To listen to live streaming go here, and click on the "Listen Live" link on the right hand side of the page.

As is my wont after a late Kentucky Wildcats game and staying up until 1:30 AM, I pretty much turned off my blogging for a while just to reclaim my thoughts from the madness of the night before and the emotion of a game that probably should register in the "L" column.

So when I finally got around to looking at something besides the comments to my own article of last night, I ran across the article Thayer Evans wrote for Fox Sports recycling some of the same old knocks on John Calipari you see everywhere. These three paragraphs encapsulate the entire tone, if not the detail of the piece, so if you are one of those people who don't want to give pageviews to sportswriters who draw your ire, don't click the link above and just read this:

But Calipari knows he was rather fortunate against a Mississippi State team that scored only four points in the final 6-1/2 minutes and is in danger of missing the NCAA tournament after losing four straight games. His team had been feasting on the waifish-weak Southeastern Conference and entered Tuesday with just the nation’s 47th-best strength of schedule.

So there’s still plenty of reason to doubt Kentucky, just like there always is with Calipari’s teams.

Because the knock on Calipari will remain the same until he finally wins his first NCAA championship: He can collect all the talent he wants, but inevitably underachieves with it because of his coaching shortcomings.

Two things need to be pointed out here when it comes to facts: first of all, the SEC is 3rd in the RPI in conference strength, and 4th in Ken Pomeroy's rankings. Calling the SEC "waifish-weak" is not a defensible opinion, and Evans even goes so far as to suggest Calipari is somehow coaching his players to always say the same thing about him when asked.

The second thing is that Mississippi St. only scored four points in 6-1/2 minutes because Kentucky locked them up like Charlie Manson with a basketball concept known as "defense," something Evans should familiarize himself with -- because apparently everyone but him knows the Wildcats are really good at this "defense" thing.

Continue reading this post »

When discussing a basketball team, toughness can be described in many ways, and can mean different things to different people. One of the most widely held definitions of toughness within the (basketball) team concept is a team's ability to overcome obstacles, in some cases, mountainous obstacles.

In No. 1 Kentucky's 73-64 come from behind win over a reeling Mississippi State squad, the 'Cats, after being whipped in every phase of the game in the first half, and with an inspirational halftime lecture from their head coach still resonating in their ears, came out of the locker room for the second stanza with one thing on their minds, climb back into the game possession-by-possession, rebound-by-rebound, shot-by-shot, stop-by-stop. Offensively the 'Cats, instead of continuing to play the shrinking violet, fearful of contact, became the team they've been all year. One which invites contact and relishes the hoop-and-harm.

Defensively, Kentucky defended the paint like it was its living room, and extended the defense to choke off MSU's --on this night anyway -- incredibly accurate 3-point shooters. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist put the brakes on Bulldog point guard Dee Bost's career night (he had 16 first half points, five in the second), and Doron Lamb, after being back-doored in the first stanza on more than one occasion, locked up MSU guards Brian Bryant and Jalen Steele with attentive defense.

Continue reading this post »

One of the things that teams eventually learn at Kentucky since Calipari has been there is that the day you leave your A-game laying around on the locker room floor is the day that SEC opponents rise up and smite you like the Wrath of God. That's what happened to Kentucky tonight, but instead of regressing to the wet-behind-the-ears team of early January that might have dropped this game, they got up, dusted themselves off, and decided to play some basketball in the second half.

A great effort by the Mississippi St. Bulldogs tonight. They went nuts in the first half, and showed Kentucky just how good they can be when they are playing well. But after the half, the Dawgs came out a little cocky, and even though they fought off a couple of Kentucky charges, you could just feel the momentum begin to swing when the Wildcats just refused to go quietly into that good StarkVegas night. Despite an amazing first half from Dee Bost, Michael Kidd-Gilcrhist significantly hampered his effectiveness in the second, and the Wildcats pulled away for a nine point victory.

This game really was a tale of two halves. The Wildcats noticeably failed to compete in the first half, looking like they were just in Starkville for a little scrimmage for funsies and didn't much care who won. When MSU smacked them in the mouth, then spun them around and planted a foot firmly in their keister, Kentucky started barking at the officials, whining at each other, and generally acted like a bunch of sad sacks with the collective spine of a jellyfish. Heading into the half, the Wildcats were extremely fortunate not to be down 18 or 20.

They say the most meaningless score in college basketball is the halftime score. That truism was proven yet again, in spades.

Continue reading this post »

Well, that half of basketball absolutely sucked from a Kentucky Wildcats perspective. I have no words to describe the utter futility of the UK team, and it's something we haven't seen before.

There is an old saying in golf: If you didn't bring it with you, you won't find it on the course. Fortunately, team sports violate this truism all the time, so there is still hope here, and Kentucky is more than capable of overcoming a 13-point halftime deficit.

Let's hope they can, and do. I'm not tired of our winning streak yet. Go, 'Cats!

Welcome to the A Sea of Blue open game thread for the Kentucky Wildcats at Mississippi St. Bulldogs basketball game tonight in Starkville, Mississippi. Game particulars are as follows, courtesy of UKAthletics.com:

Kentucky @ Mississippi St.
Kentucky at Mississippi State Tues., Feb. 21 - 9:00 p.m. ET Starkville, Miss. Game Notes: UK | MSU
Coverage
TV: ESPN Radio: UK IMG Live Video via WatchESPN Live Audio Text Updates

This is one of those games that Kentucky could easily drop if they don't bring their A-game. Mississippi St. is a talented team that has largely underachieved this year, particularly the last three games, which have all represented games that they should've won, but didn't. That means they are likely to be hungry for a victory, and it's never a good thing to face a team this talented who also has a lot of motivation.

Kentucky enters this game on a serious roll, having not tasted defeat since early December of last year. Over two months of undefeated basketball and maturation have turned this team into a machine that has only rarely been seriously challenged by anyone.

Continue reading this post »

Tonight, the Mississippi St. Bulldogs welcome the Kentucky Wildcats to The Hump in Starksville, Mississippi for a basketball contest that has no major implications for the SEC regular season, but major implications, at least potentially, for the NCAA tournament. A win here by the Bulldogs would really help them climb the seed ladder.

However, this Kentucky team seems to know not indifference, or overconfidence. What they do know is winning, and intensity, and execution, and they don't seem to need motivation from anywhere but within. That's nice to see, and as this team has matured, Calipari has been giving them their head more and more often, and it's paying off big time. With that said, this road trip is an SEC away game, and all such games require extra care, extra effort, and extra attention to detail.

Mississippi St. has been the other side of that coin. They seem to require a constant reminder of what they are playing for and what is at stake lest they drift off into fruitless basketball. The last three games, inexplicable losses to less talented teams all, stand in stark contrast to Kentucky's in terms of motivation, execution, and frankly, success. Mississippi St. is talented enough to go far in the NCAA tournament, but they don't seem to be willing, or able, to put all that talent to purposeful, efficient basketball.

Continue reading this post »

In my 94-feet feature for CoachCal.com, I take a look at the UK vs. MSU series history, as well as the series superlatives and Kentucky's SEC-only stats. In addition, I recount UK's 2004 win in Starkville, a game decided by a last second basket by UK's Erik Daniels. Here's an excerpt:

With Kentucky being undersized in the middle, MSU began the game with single coverage of UK's post players, Hayes and Daniels. The tactic allowed UK to spurt to a 10-2 lead by the first media timeout. When the Bulldogs started giving help on post catches, UK's shooting took off.

Behind two treys from Fitch and forward Bernard Cote's NBA range 3-pointer, followed by 7-footer Lukasv Obrzut's 3-pointer, his first basket in nearly a month, the Cats were off and running to an 18-point, 35-17 lead.

Go here for the full article, and Go Cats!