[ED. NOTE: This is a rescued post from December of 2006, but seems relevant enough, given that (a) it took time to compile and (b) it's LOUISVILLE-CATS on Saturday! ... ]

[Originally published Friday, Dec. 15, 2006] ...

With another of the annual grudge match known as the Louisville game nearly upon us, A Sea of Blue takes a quick look back at some of the most memorable games in this storied rivalry.

A State Divided
The day it all began ... again. Having refused to meet since the late 50s, chance and the basketball gods worked it so that Kentucky and Louisville squared off in the NCAA regionals in the spring of 1983 in Knoxville, TN.

That Big Blue squad featured junior big man Mel Turpin and sterling backcourt of Dirk Minnifield and Jim Master. Louisville countered with Scooter and Rodney McCray and Milt Wagner, among others. It was a true heavyweight matchup, and one befitting the first meeting in over 20 years between the arch rivals.

The game was a tight one, and it wasn't over until overtime, after Master nailed a jumper at the buzzer to knot it up. Once the game went into extra time, however, the Cardinals took over, fast-breaking the slower Cats into submission.

It was, and is, still among the greatest games the two teams ever played.

A Rivalry Renewed
It took a threat of legislative action to force UK and UL to meet in the regular season for the first time in ages. The fans wanted it, but the administrations were reluctant to pit one power against another with state bragging rights on the line. But eventually, with the Kentucky legislature talking of stepping in, both sides relented, and this annual I-64 series was born anew.

With a bitter taste still in their mouths from their OT NCAA loss to the Cards the prior year, the Wildcats hosted the Cardinals in the first of the alternating home-and-home trips. Kentucky returned nearly everyone from the previous year, and added now-healthy All-American center Sam Bowie to the mix as well. Louisville had lost some of its star power, but still had the amazing Milt Wagner to lead the troops.

No. 2 Kentucky was too much for the Cardinals on this day, using sharp shooting from Jim Master and the inside strength of Mel Turpin and Bowie to a 65-44 victory in front of a rocking Rupp Arena crowd, which included the Governor, John Y. Brown, Jr., complete with split red-blue baseball cap. Ever the politician, eh?

King Rex and his Court
Don't let the rankings fool you, when UK and UK met on Dec. 27, 1986 at Freedom Hall, the Cats were heavy underdogs. After all, the Cards were the defending national champion, and returned a nucleus of stars led by then-sophomore Pervis Ellison, the MOP of the '86 Final Four. Then again, we all forgot about King Rex.

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Seems Ron has a few anger issues.  From the Courier-Journal online:

More coverage:

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• Pith in the Wind
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• KSR
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• Wildcat Fan Report
• 
  

If you have $10,000 burning a hole in your giant pocket, you too can own a significant piece of UK hoops history.

According to this ebay posting, a basketball stanchion and apparatus said to be from Memorial Coliseum is being sold for a cool 10 grand (or similar offer). The pics look like the back of Lexington Christian Academy, so perhaps the University donated them and now the school figures it can get more from them than a few made baskets by scrawny religious teens? Smart move.

Should we take a collection basket around the web?

I volunteer to hold onto the basket for a few years ... I'm sure my wife won't mind since we live in a two-bedroom apartment!

But the NBA draft lottery is tonight.

College Hoops Net has lots of coverage, including Over/Underrated players and unsubstantiated rumors (a fun read).  For those who have a rooting interest in the NBA, or just interest in where the college kids go, check them out.

Bill Simmons at Barad-Dûr's Page 2 spins down his ping-pong ball order and handicaps the results.

We often use this moniker, but it's fitting today. ...

BREAKING: Kentucky is the choice for Patrick Patterson.

This, folks, is a HUGE victory for Gillispie. To come in so late and grab a guy that absolutely fills a gaping hole in your roster is enormous for both the prestige and the practical.

There were many reasons Kentucky made sense. Thank God those mattered to Patterson.

Let's savor this one.

The collective buildup to a Kentucky hoops recruiting decision -- particularly any ceremonial one -- is both impressively and bafflingly large. If recruits were won on focus and interest alone, I'm not sure the Wildcats wouldn't reap a top class every season. But much more factors into any recruit's decision, not the least of which is parental help.

See streaming video of the press conference: CLICK HERE

If you're here looking for updates, join us in the comments.

BREAKING: Rivals.com says Lucas to Florida, Hamga to UNLV. Not a good day for coach Billy Clyde. Patterson becomes -- if possible -- an even bigger need now.

It only seems like four years since Texas point guard prospect Jai Lucas started being recruited by UK. Tubby Smith, with deep ties to Lucas' well-known NBA father, John, targeted the 5'9" floor general as his de facto Ramel Bradley replacement sometime in early 2006, and the Cats've been in the mix ever since.

Today was the day Lucas finally revealed his choice. For 9/10 of the kid's recruitment, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Maryland and Oklahoma were the acknowledged four finalists. Then Florida won a second straight national title and starting point guard Taurean Green took off for the NBA (good luck with that one). Suddenly all of Lucas' platitudes about sticking to his original four flew out the window. Such is the nature of recruiting, especially when the hot school gets involved.

Hard to fend off the chumps ... I mean champs, sorry.

Here's a little something from Jerry Tipton at the Herald-Leader.

Jody Demling provides his thoughts .

Now Chris Diggs weighs in. I think the C-J guys are collaborating ...

A little news swarm on Hamga reporting that he committed to the Runnin' Rebs of UNLV, but no confirmation yet.  Jody Demling has the latest.

Update [2007-5-14 15:39:53 by Truzenzuzex]:  Jody Demling is reporting Lucas is a Gator .

Chris Diggs is baffled by Jai's decision , and I'm not ...

Jones claims Hamga to UNLV is confirmed by a conversation with his coach.  Still waiting on a second.  Guess we can thank Mark Adams for that.  Hope he gets his money's worth.

LHL confirms Hamga to UNLV.   Solid enough for me to call it.

Where are the Florida blogs on all this ...???

Barad-dûr reports on Lucas' commitment.

Dannyboykn at Kentucky Wildcat report is seriously bummed, and has a few ill wishes to pass along ...

The fur is really flying over at TCP .  Imagine that!

Kentucky's entries into the Kentucky Derby Festival game had mixed results.

Long, athletic more highly regarded A.J. Stewart had all of four points for the winning team, but did take home the Slam Dunk title for the weekend.

Much maligned other early signee Morakinyo "Mike" Williams scored 9 points with 7 rebounds.

The buzz, still, was about Texas A&M signee and Billy Gillispie acolyte DeAndre Jordan. Jordan has hinted at both sticking to his commitment to the Aggies and potentially opting out, leaving both programs' fans convinced they are getting him, despite clear reason why both are wrong.

For what it's worth, Texas A&M apparently has hired or is going to hire Jordan's AAU coach as an assistant. That could, and probably would, seal the deal.

We'll see.

The game's MVP was Kansas State signee Michael Beasley, who totaled 23 points and 16 rebounds with five assists and three blocked shots. Beasley inked to the KSU Wildcats in a now much publicized situation with departed coach Bob Huggins. Hey, if nothing else, you can't say Huggins left the cupboard bare.

The last note on the game is that Elizabethtown star and Kentucky 2006 Mr. Basketball Stephon Pettigrew, whose recruitment (or non-recruitment) has been the fodder for endless message board debates, had a mild showing in the game, with 7 points. The knock on Pettigrew is his size, coupled with a lack of perimeter speed to play at the high D-I level.

Ask three people in the bluegrass and you're likely to get three answers as to whether the new UK coach should give the kid a ride. Personally, having not seen him play, I'd be jumping the gun to say one way or the other.

My feelings on the matter generally are that Kentucky's level of talent is not comparable overall to Michigan's or Texas' or Florida's. That said, there is also no way to quantify heart or the "Kentucky Jersey" effect.

Tweener guys can succeed with the right coach and the right grooming. But the Cats have been burned in both directions, from offering the Josh Carrier/Brandon Stockton Mr. B's (both 30+ ppg in their senior years) and NOT offering Ross Neltner/Chris Lofton (both Mr. B's as well).

So I guess I'll cop out and say that if Clyde feels he has the extra room, no harm is likely to come of it. But if there's some talent out there that the coach feels is more likely to give him a chance to win, this kid is not likely to emerge as a secret star. He may do so, but the same could be said for almost any Division I scholarship offer.

So, I'm firmly on the maybe camp. How's that for diplomacy?

Photo courtesy of Jon Scott's UK stats.

By far the best thing about running this site is the chance to interact and hear from the readers and fans out there.

And while I certainly enjoy the notes from readers who say "I like your site" or "You're a moron," the best kind of notes are the ones I never expected to get, notes from a kid who needed to interview UK players for a school project or a loyal reader knee deep in West Virginia fans.

The following letter came from a reader, Bob Combs. I think it reminds us that, while players and coaches may come and go, we're passionate about UK hoops, and hoops in general, for far bigger reasons and with far broader ends:

Indeed it is, Mr. Combs.

Folks, please join me in honoring Mr. Combs' father, Charles Combs, point guard of the 1937-38 Kentucky Wildcats.

What we think is so important, life and death in basketball terms, pales in comparison to the history that is the Kentucky program.

What has this season of ups and downs showed me more than anything else? The value of the now.

That's why you'll apologize for a lack of verbose postings about Friday's 67-58 victory over a solid Villanova team. I'm just enjoying the positive vibes, the good product on the court.

Yeah, Kansas is a tough matchup, among the worst for the Cats in the entire draw, in my opinion. But since when has this season followed form?

Randolph Morris' "2007 Sign Me Up GMs Tour" continued, thank goodness. Double-double performance and dominant on defense. Couldn't ask for much more.

Now we look toward Kansas. The Jayhawks are long, athletic and clutch, for the most part. They demoralized 16 seed Niagara. But Depaul beat them, somehow. And Texas Tech, too.

Plus, the team chemistry look strong, with players rushing to help up guys on the floor and the bench active. So why not the Cats?

Jodie Meeks and Sheray Thomas were both fantastic, and the starters didn't rush things or panic. Tubby was into the game, and looked in control of his team. All good signs. But also all against a team that's going home, not one that's moving on like Kansas.

So we just savor the win, act hopeful about tomorrow's game and try to ignore conversations about Tubby Smith as much as humanly possible.

A guy can dream.

As we approach the NCAA Tournament Selection Show and the release of the official brackets this evening (6 p.m. ET, CBS), a legion of UK fans -- fed up and frustrated -- is starting to get itchy about the Kentucky bid.

I am not one of them. Here are the reasons (a) the Cats are a lock for the tourney and (b) the UK seed could be better than you think.

(1) Strength of Schedule
Much has been made, and rightly so, about UK's lack of wins over ranked teams. And, similarly, much has been said about how, then, the Kentucky schedule is still among the top 2 or 3 in the nation according to all indicators.

But while the Cats have come up short against the best of the best, very few teams in the nation have played more quality teams (50-100 RPI).

To wit, among the UK non-conference opponents who either made the field, finished atop their conference's regular season  or competed in the conference finals are:

• Miami (OH) - Regular season #2 MAC, NCAA Tourney as Conf. tourney champ
  
• UMass - Regular season champ (tie), at-large possible
  
• EKU - NCAA Tourney as OVC champ
  
• Santa Clara - WCC #2, lost to Gonzaga in conf. finals
  
• College of Charleston - Lost to Winthrop in conf. finals
  
• Houston - Lost to Memphis in conf. finals
  
• Miss. Valley State - Lost to Jackson St. in conf. finals

Take a look. EVERY SINGLE non-major conference, non-conference foe either palyed for a chance to make the NCAA Tourney or made the NCAA Tourney. So while it's understable to think the committee will punish the Blue and White for their lack of big time wins, dont' be surprised if they reward the Cats for beating a slate of strong out of conference teams.

(2) Fan Support
Let's face it, Big Blue Nation travels. That's unsurprising. But the amount of money the NCAA and its sites stand to make from the legion of Kentucky fans is both remarkable and distinct. In some ways, placing the Cats in a nearby locale, even as a lower seed, would bring in hundreds of thousands of duckets. A win or two only amplifies that. If you think this doesn't factor into who makes the field and where, you really are too naive to drive.

(3) The Numbers Game
With 21 wins and an RPI in the 10-12 range across the computers, there is simply no precedent for leaving the Wildcats out of the field. Yes, there were problems with the last 10 games, and, yes, the season did not go as planned. But compared to many of the other major conference teams being considered, the Cats stack up more than favorably.

I expect Kentucky to be a 7 or 8 seed, in Winston-Salem or Chicago. A win over Miss. St. might have scooted the Cats to a 6 seed. I'd be very surprised with such computer numbers if the Big Blue slid to a 9 or 10, though certainly it can happen.

Regardless, the time for recriminations and blame is over. It's Tourney time, and the Cats need everything we have as fans. One more loss ends the long, strange trip of this season, and begins the unfolding of all the other stuff.

Postponing that "stuff" for a few weeks would be nice, eh?