Big Blue Madness is only a week and a few hours away, so it's time to begin talking about the hardwood Cats. This week, I will have many more articles than I have lately about the basketball team. We have to get ourselves ready, because after Big Blue Madness, Kentucky fans will be forced to split our attention between our successful football team and our newly-minted version of almost every UK fans' favorite sports team.
We have had a lot of news this spring and summer regarding recruiting, and we still have recruiting going on. The biggest outstanding need for our basketball team is at center or big power forward, and Terrance Jennings is obviously a priority for us since he decommitted from Maryland. News comes today that Traitor Rick's staff is hard after Jennings, and who can blame him? This is one we certainly don't want to concede to the Cards given our needs, and I don't think Gillispie will let that happen.
Also, I want to let everyone know that I have been asked to participate in a basketball version of the Blogpoll, which is being run by March To Madness. We have just completed our pre-season round of voting, and after some deliberation, I present to you our top 25:
| 2007 - 08 Pre-Season Blogpoll | ||||
| Rank | School (1st place votes) | 2006-07 W-L | Conf. | 2006-07 Conf. W-L |
| 1 | Memphis (3) | 30-3 | Cusa | 19-0 |
| 2 | UCLA (1) | 25-5 | Pac10 | 15-4 |
| 3 | North Carolina (1) | 28-6 | Acc | 14-5 |
| 4 | Kansas (1) | 30-4 | Big12 | 17-2 |
| 5 | Georgetown | 26-6 | Bige | 16-3 |
| 6 | Tennessee (1) | 22-10 | Sec | 10-7 |
| 7 | Louisville | 22-9 | Bige | 13-5 |
| 8 | Michigan St. | 22-11 | Big10 | 9-9 |
| 9 | Washington St. | 25-7 | Pac10 | 14-6 |
| 10 | Marquette | 23-9 | Bige | 11-7 |
| 11 | Oregon | 26-7 | Pac10 | 14-7 |
| 12 | Indiana | 20-10 | Big10 | 10-7 |
| 13 | Texas | 24-9 | Big12 | 14-5 |
| 14 | Duke | 22-10 | Acc | 8-9 |
| 15 | Kentucky | 21-11 | Sec | 10-8 |
| 16 | Gonzaga | 23-10 | Wcc | 13-3 |
| 17 | Arkansas | 21-13 | Sec | 10-10 |
| 18 | Stanford | 18-12 | Pac10 | 10-9 |
| 19 | Texas A&M | 25-6 | Big12 | 13-4 |
| 20 | Arizona | 20-10 | Pac10 | 11-8 |
| 21 | Butler | 25-6 | Horiz | 14-4 |
| 22 | Davidson | 27-4 | South | 20-1 |
| 23 | Mississippi St. | 18-13 | Sec | 9-9 |
| 24 | VA Commonwealth | 27-6 | Coln | 19-2 |
| 25 | USC | 23-11 | Pac10 | 13-8 |
If you want to see how everyone voted, you can follow this link for a copy of the spreadsheet. Keep in mind that this is pre-season, and really doesn't mean a lot. I'm sure the debates will become much more heated as the season progresses. By the way, those participating (at the moment, at least -- we are asking for more participants) besides A Sea of Blue are SEC Hoops: The Good. The Bad. The Dirty, March Madness All Season, Rush The Court, NCAA Hoops Today, College Hoops Heaven: The Big 5 & More. Stop by their respective blogs if you have time and check them out.
SEC Hoops: The Good. The Bad. The Dirty, here and forever after known on this blog as as SEC Hoops GBD (to differentiate it between several other blogs of similar names), has a story about UK Wildcat fans. He opens with this:
This should surprise nobody around here, but I love his conclusion:
Well, I'm not sure I like being "ridiculous", but he is right, it is a bit ridiculous. However, nobody can deny that we are passionate to a fault about our program, and if we sometimes go overboard, well, so be it. SEC Hoops GDB also compares us with Alabama football fans, and I think this is very apt -- I have long believed that Tide football fans are the only fanbase in America that we can truly relate to on a passion level, and vice versa.
Jody Demling also as a bit of a roundball update, including such names as Hopson and Jennings among others. Mike at the Card Chronicle is also ready for roundball.
That's all for now. More to follow.