More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

Charlie Coles is da man! What a great performance the Miami RedHawks gave in the post-game interview the other day.

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Tonight, the Wildcats take on the Bearkats of Sam Houston State, a team I know absolutely nothing about, as their opening round game in the Cancun Challenge.  Rumors have been swirling about the availability of Darnell Dodson and John Wall, but I have heard nothing definite.  The closest I can come is:

• Calipari is very unhappy with Darnell Dodson at the moment (that could explain why it took him so long to get into the game on Monday).
• Calipari is getting happier with DeAndre Liggins.  Happy enough to play him?
• John Wall's uncle passed away earlier this week. Our sympathy goes out to his family.  I have no idea if he will play or not, but I suspect he will.

In other news worth highlighting, UK just secured another football recruit, Avery Williamson, a Rivals 3* linebacker out of Milan, Tennessee.  Willimson impressed at Lane Kiffin's Tennessee Camp and is one of the very best in the Volunteer state.  Even though UT was not heavily recruiting Williamson, UK has had great success with the overlooked players from Tennessee and Georgia.

And finally there is this item about one of my favorite players, Chuck Hayes.  I somehow missed this when it come out (I'm sure somebody linked it, though) but I think it deserves special attention.  I love Chuck Hayes, and when he gets accolades, I like to put it on the front page.

The news follows the jump.

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More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

No need to get back after that shot, John.

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I don't know about you, but I think winning on a last-second jumper qualifies as a close call.

John Wall's shot has been the talk of college basketball all day long.  Here in Louisville, WHAS radio host Terry Meiners was cracking jokes about how the name "John" had become synonymous with great things.  It was a great play by a great young player, but it can't erase all the questionable and downright ugly things UK did on the court last night.

John Calipari told us it would be this way, and he wasn't wrong.  The question is, how soon can the 'Cats figure out how to right the ship?  We'll know in a couple of days versus Sam Houston State.

Moving on to football, Kentucky is gearing up for a meeting with the Georgia Bulldogs between the hedges this weekend. This is a huge game for Kentucky, as right now, Georgia looks to be the most beatable of UK's remaining two foes.  If the 'Cats can get a win against the Dawgs, it would not only remove any long-shot doubts of not getting invited to a bowl game, but it would actually put UK in a position to win second place in the SEC East if they were to beat both Georgia and Tennessee.  Who would have imagined that?

Just a programming note about Saturday -- I will once again be at the racetrack, and I don't know if I will make it back by kickoff, but I should be there by halftime at the outside.

The news follows the jump.

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by Mark Humphrey - AP

Goin' bowling, baby!

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Today's edition of the Big Blue Daily Mail comes near the end of a four-day stretch in which Kentucky continues to win games in every discipline -- men's basketball on Friday, football on Saturday and women's basketball on Sunday. 

Tonight, the Wildcats welcome the Miami (OH) Redhawks into Rupp Arena for a men's basketball contest that will see John Wall and Eric Bledsoe play together for the first time this season.  I expect some serious fireworks as UK puts its best team on the floor.

After Xavier Henry's 27-point performance on Friday night, some are now hoping that Wall will somehow improve on that.  Not only is that not necessary, it is not even desirable.  College basketball is a team game, and what I hope to see tonight is team basketball -- and I expect I will.

Midnight tonight marks the beginning of the 24 hours of hoops marathon on the ESPN family of TV stations.  Rush the Court, incredibly, will be live-blogging the entire marathon.  All I can say is, "You go, guys."  Be sure to check back with them frequently to find out what's happening from work.

The news follows the jump.

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More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

We'll be looking for some of the Bad Cuz tomorrow.

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Tomorrow, we have the season opener against Morehead State University, a game I know that many of us have been really looking forward to.  Unlike the cannon fodder that was our exhibition teams, the Eagles made the Big Dance last year (unlike Kentucky), and impressed everyone with their gritty play versus Louisville.  These guys will be ready to give us a game, but we'll have more detail about that later.

John Clay has a video post up with John Calipari talking about the Morehead game, and the comment that struck me was, "This is not football.  In football, you lose your first two and you're out of the race for the national title.  That's not what this is."  Well, coach, all I can say is this -- going 0-2 may not put us out of the race for the national title, but you can believe me when I say it will give you (and us) a lot of headaches, nonetheless.  We have been there and done that, and we didn't like it.

Of course, Coach Cal obviously doesn't believe this is likely, and neither does anyone else with a brain.  But it is just a tiny bit over the top to downplay expectations that much.  That may work at Memphis, but this is not Memphis.

But just in case we have forgotten Gardner Webb and VMI, Bret Dawson reminds us that neither of those worthies were as good as the Morehead State team we are likely to see tomorrow, and they are.  But I am confident, and I think everyone else in the Big Blue Nation should be as well.

Now, for the news

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by Ed Reinke - AP

Top recruits, like John Wall, are increasingly waiting until the late period before signing with a school.

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Today, the Big Blue Daily Mail asks the question -- is the early signing period a good thing, especially in light of the new restrictions on National Letters of Intent that forbid extra conditions being attached to the letter, a la addendums allowing recruits to get out of their commitment in the event of a coaching change?

Most coaches are in favor of course, and according to this article by ESPN's Andy Katz, some coaches think the new restrictions are no problem:

"If there is a coaching change, they can get out of it,'' Ohio State's Thad Matta said. "They always do anyway.

I think that's right.  Almost no school is willing to risk the negative recruiting consequences of not letting a recruit out of his NLI in the event of a coaching change.  And it's fairly obvious why coaches like the early signing period:

"I don't want to be on planes flying all over the place as the head coach during the season,'' Self said. "You want November recruiting to be done so you can have a leg up on the next year during the year.''

But it seems like the top recruits are not sold on the benefits of signing early, and aren't really interested in freeing up mercurial coaches to just coach:

"The top guys are realizing that they have the leverage to wait," said Rivals.com recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer. "And the guys who are not the top guys know that more opportunities can open up for them later. So, if you don't feel confident in where you stand, if you're not ready, it only makes sense to wait with all the coaching changes that occur and the springtime roster changes that occur."

I don't think you can blame these guys for feeling this way, and I think waiting is smart from the standpoint of a top recruit.  For the other guys, I think the early signing period makes much more sense, because it prevents them from being edged out of a scholarship by a really good recruit suddenly becoming available with no scholarships left.

The news follows the jump.

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by Gerry Broome - AP

Don't know 'bout those unis, Tar Heels ...

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Well, what do you know, the basketball season has officially begun, but with a whimper rather than a bang.  North Carolina opened up last night against the Fighting Isaiah Thomases, and lo and behold, the Tar Heels were not even a shell of last year's team.  But of course, like UK, they are very young but very talented, and they will certainly improve.

The SB Nation UNC blog Carolina March has more, as does this News and Observer piece, about how the Heels did in their first outing versus an opponent that counts.  Of course, UK doesn't get a shot at a counter until later this week, but it will get here, folks.  Be patient.

Ohio State had a convincing 100-60 win over Alcorn State in a very efficient outing.  The Buckeys look to be a very interesting team, and unlike UNC and Kentucky, is loaded with less talent but much more experience.  Teams like Ohio State often make a lot of noise in March, and this team will bear close watching throughout the year.

#25 Syracuse was easily handling tiny Albany as I was going to bed, and Murray State was getting set to take on Cal, but that tip is past my bedtime.

After the jump, all the news that's fit for Wildcats.

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Well, here we are in week 10.  Texas takes the #1 spot on my ballot, although to be honest, it is so close for the top spot that you could make them 1a, 1b, and 1c.  The biggest reason for that is their margin of victory over BCS teams and ranked teams compared to Alabama and Florida.

The thing is, though, the three teams are barely a point apart.  To quote Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments, "Can a man choose from among the stars of the sky?"  All three teams have a lot to recommend them, but Texas is just drilling everybody, having had only two games this year within ten or less points.  So this week, they get my nod for #1.  More after the jump.

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More photos » by James Crisp - AP

Newton wast the man on Saturday. Can he push the injured Wildcats over the hump?

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I did not get to see or hear a minute of Saturday's game as Mrs. Tru and I were out at Churchill Downs enjoying a beautiful day of racing, and yesterday I was again away from the blog due to other commitments.

As many of you know, the Big Blue Daily Mail has been less and less "daily" lately, something I am not too happy with.  So in an effort to streamline it and make it easier for me to publish each morning, I will be including fewer stories in the BBDM and losing the categorization.  From now on, the BBDM will be something in the neighborhood of 10-20 news/blog stories.

The big news from last Saturday is a) Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke both sat the EKU game out and b) Morgan Newton and a fairly quiet UK receiving corps had a big day against a team that they should have a big day against.  The question now becomes, with Kentucky sitting on the bubble at 5-3, can the 'Cats win one more to get bowl eligible, and even if they do, does it actually mean they will be playing in a bowl?

Right now, there are 6 SEC teams that are bowl-eligible at 6+ wins, and the only team that is out of bowl striking distance is Vanderbilt at 2-7.  The way I count it, there are a total of nine bowl tie-ins for the SEC, and it looks as if there could be 10 bowl-eligible teams from the SEC.  So at this point, I'm going to suggest that six wins will not get UK into a bowl game this year all by itself.  Seven probably will, and eight definitely will, but the Mississippi State loss two games ago could well cost Rich Brooks his much-ballyhooed fourth bowl in a row.  An alert reader reminded me that the SEC has 2 likely BCS teams, so that would mean 11 spots rather than 9.  So it looks like unless MSU wins out, all UK needs is to win six games to make a low-level bowl.

Here's how the league looks for the rest of the season:

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