Kentucky vs. Campbellsville -- Pre-game Analysis & Open Game Thread

Forgive me for running a little behind today.  Monday's can be like that.

So tonight, we begin basketball in earnest with an exhibition game against Campbellsville in Rupp Arena at 7:00 PM.  The game will be carried on Fox Sports South, so check your local listings for availability.  This post will also serve as the official Open Game Thread for the game.

Tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats take on the NAIA Campbellsville Tigers in exhibition basketball action at Rupp Arena.  This will be the first time the Tigers have played the University of Kentucky.  Campbellsville was in a rebuilding year last year in the Mid-South conference, winning only 2 conference games and having an overall record of 10-19.

Tonight will mark John Calipari's debut as coach in a game where they play by the rules and keep score, so that's significant.  We will be able to see how he will comport himself on the sidelines, how he will coach the kids, and how the young players will respond to him.  That will be very much worth watching.

Another thing we will see is the UK team without John Wall, likely for one of the very few times this season.  There has been some talk about who will play and who will not, but Chris Diggs gives us more detail:

Here's the announced starting line-up as of now.

Eric Bledsoe - Fr.
Darius Miller - So.
Darnell Dodson - So.
Patrick Patterson - Jr.
Demarcus Cousins - Fr.

Back-ups (First f0ur in no particular order)

Jon Hood - Fr.
Josh Harrellson - So.
Daniel Orton - Fr.
Ramon Harris - Sr.

Who we don't see in this is interesting -- no Perry Stevenson and no DeAndre Liggins.  Oh, I'm sure they will both play, but not being on his announced list kind of says something to me, even though I may be reading tea leaves that say nothing.

And, in an interesting John Wall development, apparently addressing questions about Wall missing one exhibition and one regular season game, we have this:

Calipari said that "they" told him what games Wall would miss. The UK coach did not identify who "they" were.

Were "they" the NCAA staff? UK's athletic administration? A fan poll on CoachCal.com?

Apparently, Calipari doesn't even know who "they" are, or if he does, he's not telling.  Maybe it's "the Visitors."  I blame Jerry Tipton -- I think he knows "them" and is just having a bit of sport with us for ragging on him so hard lately.

Unfortunately, there is not much in the way of statistics available for Campbellsville, so I can't tell you much about their players, who leads the team, or anything else.  But I can give you their roster from the school website, which you can find after the jump.

2009-10 Men's Basketball Roster for Cambpellsville

To be honest, that's about all I know.  But it should be good fun.