The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Late Edition

Yes, it's late, but I wanted to get in another edition of the Big Blue Daily Mail before I hit the rack and mail myself off to the land where the Kentucky Wildcats pay back the Vanderbilt Commodores for the 93-52 drubbing they put on us back in 2007-08.

Just for the fun of it, let's relive that game for a moment:

Oh, that's nice, isn't it?  Is anybody getting in that sensation again, that wonderful feeling of being obliterated in Nashville by an embarrassing margin?  I'll bet you are.

Why am I dredging up such a painful memory?  Because it's all I can ever think about whenever I think of the Commodores, this unpaid debt.  Yes, we owe several teams one, but we can't get them all back at once.  This one, however, is the one I would most like to put paid to.

I'm not talking in-kind revenge -- Vandy is probably too good for us to hang a 41-point thumping on.  I'll settle for fifteen or twenty.  Frankly, I'd settle for a one-point victory in triple-overtime, but I feel like shooting for the moon here. 

At this point in time, there really isn't much doubt that UK is more talented than the Commodores.  There also isn't much doubt that the Commodores are much more experienced, and that does give me pause.  But again, why not be positive?  After the recent disappointment in Columbia, I think the 'Cats will be, in the words of Gimli son of Glóin, "Fully armed and filthy."

But more on that tomorrow.  Right now, the news after the jump.

• Vaught's Views: Cats lacked intensity against Gamecocks: AMNews.com
• Basketball Prospectus | Articles | This Time it Cost Them
• " Big Cuz is no Mike "Mad Dog" Curtis John Clay’s Sidelines

• UNC? UCLA? Florida? What's happened to the hoops dynasties? - Stewart Mandel - SI.com
  Heh.

• Word on the Street: Quincy Miller Will be a Wildcat
  Sounds good to me.

• Opinion: NBA’s worst can begin dreaming of Wall - NBA- nbcsports.msnbc.com

• Danny Jett's Inner Circle: Kentucky Got Beat, Fire Calipari
  Heh.

• Fan criticism will not help Cats | Vaught's Views
  This is right. Sometimes, Kentucky fans can be their own worst enemy.

• 2010 NCAA Tournament: National Championship Contenders
• Texas coach Rick Barnes, Kentucky coach John Calipari talk trip ups at top spot - ESPN

• John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Kentucky talented, but are still young - Paul Daugherty - SI.com
  You sign three of the best kids in the country -- John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins -- you're going to have a fun ride, more fun than most. But it won't be without a whoopee cushion or two along the way. That's just how it is.
  
  Heh. Yep. That's how it is, all right.

• S.C. reporter downplays Cousins' post-game incident | KentuckySports.com
  Okay. Let it go then.

• Why is the SEC fining South Carolina for something it has no control over? | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times
  I actually think this is a fair question. How can the school control a mob? I think storming the floor is dangerous and not a good thing, but I think we are punishing the wrong party here.

• Questions, answers from UK loss - Beyond the Arc - msnbc.com
  The initial reaction to Kentucky’s 68-62 loss Tuesday to South Carolina gives much of the credit to a scrappy Gamecocks team and especially their star guard, Devan Downey. Always one of the game’s more underrated players (a combination of his 5-10 stature and playing for S.C.), there’s no doubt he came up big when it mattered.
  
  That's the way I see it.

• Afternoon Linkage: The eyes don't have it - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
  Eamon Brennan praises our sportsmanship at A Sea of Blue. Thanks, Eammon!

• Andy Katz: Dissed Gamecocks deliver season-changer - ESPN
• Darrin Horn: In his own words - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

• Instant reaction: No. 1 goes down - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
  -- Should Barack Obama now put in a congratulatory call to the Gamecocks, after his afternoon call to the Wildcats?
  
  Can Pat Forde possibly be any more of a douchebag?