The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Cancun Challenge Championship Edition

This is just a quickie to catch everyone up on the goings-on in the Wildcat world.

The Kentucky Wildcats will face the Stanford Cardinal tonight at 9:30 for the championship of the Cancun Challenge.  I am hearing that Patrick Patterson was walking around in a boot today, but that doesn't mean much as players often do this when they have minor as well as major injuries in order to facilitate faster healing.

We will have more on the Stanford-UK matchup later today, as always.  The news follows the jump.

• The Biggest Myth in College Basketball | Dime Magazine
  Mike Miller has already taken issue with this "biggest myth" myth. I guess if you are a Cal hater, you will welcome this. If you are a UK or Cal fan, you will likely scoff. And if you are just a neutral observer, you could go either way.

• It's Meltdown Time... - Roll 'Bama Roll
  Folks, this is hilarious stuff. Georgia's meltdown is typical, but LSU's is absolutely epic. I just wish I could say that I had never seen one like it before, but I have -- among UK fans. Well, at least we can say that we are not the only ones who occasionally kick sanity to the curb and embrace madness.
• Losing streak to Vols almost a 2nd thought | KentuckySports.com
  The Kentucky football team has already gotten some big monkeys off its back, winning at Auburn for the first time since 1961 and at Georgia for the first time since 1977.
  
  Now here comes the 800-pound gorilla.
  
  Heh. Indeed.
• Rich Brooks irate over retirement talk | CollegeFootballTalk.com
  "You know what? I'm not going to answer anything about that anymore," Brooks said. "I'm going to talk about Tennessee. None of that junk. This is not the appropriate forum. We have a huge game with a lot at stake, and we'll address those issues at the appropriate time."
  
  Heh. Brooks thinks this talk of retirement is bull***t.
• Andy Katz's Daily Word: NCAA continues to investigate, Renardo Sidney continues to wait - ESPN
  Sources said that the NCAA legal counsel has been in the loop and it would defy logic from the NCAA's standpoint if the organization purposely used this as a stall tactic to help a legal case that could be forthcoming. If Sidney were to sue to force an injunction, then the NCAA could use that lawsuit as a way to use discovery to get some of the information that it still covets. The case has been completely tossed upside down with it moving from the enforcement wing to the eligibility center, which the head of that operation, Bill Saum, has been removed from his post. This has slowed the case down by forcing others to get involved who haven't worked on the case from the outset. The NCAA won't say anything about Saum's departure except that it was a personnel matter.
  
  The strange case of Renardo Sidney gets stranger.
• Cats' rout leaves room for doubt | KentuckySports.com
  "I'm not worrying about the score," he said after UK beat Cleveland State 73-49 in the Cancun Challenge semifinals on Tuesday. "I'm worrying about playing the right way."
  
  I can see why.
• Kentucky's Brooks hot, LSU's Miles not - SEC Blog - ESPN
  Kentucky coach Rich Brooks: Let me preface this by saying I’m not trying to push Brooks out the door. He’s as classy as they come and a true pro, and there’s no doubt in my mind that the SEC is a better place as long as he’s a part of it. But if Brooks does decide to walk away after this season and turn the keys over to Joker Phillips, he can do so with his head held high and knowing that the Kentucky program is in exceedingly better shape than the way he found it.
  
  Great stuff by Chris Low. Read the whole thing.
• Wildcat Blue In a Sea of Orange: UK Basketball Preview - Know Your Enemy: Stanford Cardinal
• Op-Ed Contributor - When Dreams Take Flight - NYTimes.com
  On a Thanksgiving Day flight, a tired attendant finds an unlikely spot to get some sleep. This is darn funny.
• Round Ball Round Up 11.25.09 - Team Speed Kills
  Catch up on all the SEC basketball action.
• Alan Cutler " Alfonso Smith Makes Good Works Team
• Doug Williams on Morgan Newton - Kentucky Sports Network
• Site Names Rick Pitino Its "Turkey of the Year"
  Haha! Love it.
• Kentucky Tradition: Your Mascot is a What?
  Oh, my. That makes Western Kentucky's Big Red look positively pedestrian.
• Stanford-Kentucky Preview - Nov. 25, 2009 - NCAA Division I Mens Basketball - CBSSports.com

• Walter's Wildcat World » Video: Calipari with brief explanation of the DDM Offense on EA Sports NCAA 10
  Pretty brief, but well illustrated for those unfamiliar with the DDM.

• Derrick Miller Pleads Guilty in Kentucky Tickets Scam