The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Moving On Up Edition

Well, it seems that the Villanova Wildcats' loss is the Kentucky Wildcats' gain, as UK moves up a spot to #3 between behind the Kansas Jayhawks and the Texas Longhorns.

As John Wall continues to garner Freshman of the Week awards from the SEC, Kentucky has a week to ponder it's recent success versus the North Carolina Tar Heels, Indiana Hoosiers and Connecticut Huskies, as well as working to improve their game, particularly on the defensive side.

If Kentucky's game versus IU proved nothing else, it showed that the 'Cats can handle a hostile arena with aplomb, even one that's said to have done some pretty ugly things lately.  John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectus ponders the remarkable sequence that Daniel Orton had in the North Carolina game where he blocked a shot and dished an assist in the same short time frame, and in a later post, notes that DeMarcus Cousins is getting 22% of UK's misses back.

The news follows the jump.

• idsnews.com | Indiana Daily Student |
  This wasn’t the first time this season that Assembly Hall has been a hotbed of insults. Student fans were as loud on Dec. 1 against Maryland, but their chants included racist and derogatory slurs toward Maryland senior guard Greivis Vasquez of Venezuela and sophomore forward Jin Soo Choi of South Korea. This time, the yells were mostly targeted at Calipari.
  
  Wow. Glad we didn't see any "racist and derogatory slurs" on Saturday.
• The Big Blue Nation Report: Five Quick Questions for Mr. Leach...
  An interview with Tom Leach
• Hot UK plays it cool in potential 10-0 start | KentuckySports.com
  Awesome job by Matthew Mitchell. Could UK hoops finally become a contendah?
• Grading SEC Coaches | SEC Corner - al.com
  Brooks gets surprisingly high grades.
• Wildcat Blue In a Sea of Orange: Rich Brooks Wildcats garner post season honors
• Monday's news & notes: UK's Wall making headlines, MSG a home away from home
• Kansas freshman Xavier Henry is just as impressive as John Wall - Seth Davis - SI.com
  Henry is the first to recognize that Wall has earned every bit of his publicity, but he will not concede that Wall is the better player. Henry also confesses that Wall's hot start has provided him with extra incentive. "It does kind of motivate me that he plays like that and gets all this attention, so if I play just as well then I should get the same," Henry told me in a telephone interview. "Just don't sleep on me. That's all I've got to say."
  
  Play somebody, Xavier. Then talk smack.
• Basketball Prospectus | Unfiltered
  The always-worthy John Gasaway.
• Izzo speaks out after Roy Williams throws another shot at Delvon Roe | College Hoops Journal
  Another bit of bad behavior from Roy Williams.
• Is Roy Williams the biggest phony in college basketball? | College Hoops Journal
  CHJ takes Roy Willams down -- hard.
• Ex-Cat Shagari Alleyne Signed by Halifax Rainmen
• Is Wall or Cobb the better athlete? | Vaught's Views
  Who cares? Both are great.
• " BBL: Could Kentucky play in New York every year? John Clay’s Sidelines
  John Clay's Big Blue Links.
• Kentucky and Louisville have flipped fortunes | College Hoops Journal
  The Kentucky Wildcats aren’t in the clear and aren’t guaranteed a Final Four berth this season. The Louisville Cardinals aren’t mired in mediocrity and aren’t one of the eight worst teams in the Big East, all of the sudden.
  
  But that doesn’t mean these two intrastate rivals haven’t switched positions in the past eight months. Think about where each of these programs were on Selection Sunday. It’s remarkable, when you think about it.
  
  Indeed.
• courier-journal.com | Chris Diggs - UK Fan | The Courier-Journal
  When IU fans have to go back twenty years and talk about NCAA violations to put down a rival, I can't help but laugh. Seriously. Out of the last 20 meetings, the Cats have won 15 of those years. Why don't we talk about that? Why don't we talk about what is the most important thing, what happens on the floor?
  
  Or, we can talk about something else that happened this decade -- Cell Phone Kelvin Sampson.
• Thoughts on Kentucky and Kansas
  Very thoughtful and interesting comments from a Kansas fan. I think Kansas is significantly better than UK right now, but at the end of the year, it could be a horse race. I would read this if I were you. He gets a few little things wrong, but mostly he does a very good job.
• Wildcats Break for Exams - KENTUCKY OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
• Which basketball team will stay unbeaten longest? - Mike DeCourcy - College Basketball - Sporting News
  Always worth a read.