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Kentucky Wildcats Quickies: Beat the Tennessee Volunteers Edition

The 'Cats have revenge on the brain, Jerry Tipton beclowns himself again, Tubby gets a big win, the top five went down hard, the UK softball team looks to continue their great play, and The Witch may make you pee your pants.

By James Streble
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

It's Game Day in Big Blue Nation and I think the Kentucky Wildcats have been waiting for this one. The last time the 'Cats met the Tennessee Volunteers, they blew a 21 point lead in Knoxville in a bad loss.

Ever since that loss, the teams have gone in vastly different directions. The 'Cats are 3-0 and are curb-stomping teams while Rick Barnes and the Vols are 1-2 with losses at Arkansas and at Missouri. I think we all know how this is going to turn out tonight.

While the team may have revenge on the mind and are ready to take the next step towards March, Jerry Tipton decided to rain on the parade by asking Isaiah Briscoe a rather insulting question by insinuating that he was the lesser of the three star guards.

Take a look at the 2:40 mark:

Do us all a favor and retire, Jerry. Briscoe has been nothing short of a great teammate and hard working player. The last thing he needs is for you to diminish his status.

All of Briscoe's comments were great and he handled Tipton's ignorant comment with class and grace. (H/T Curtis Burch for the video)

Tweet(s) of the Day

I was more interested in these tweets than the game itself. I was shedding tears of laughter. Best parody account on twitter.

Kentucky Wildcats Quickies

John Calipari's entire pre-Tennessee press conference:

I can't remember Cal having this much faith in a point guard on this level. Ever. And I think he kinda likes Jamal Murray, too. (Again, H/T to Curtis Burch for the video)

John Clay delves into the importance of seeding for the Wildcats in their remaining six games. And with the losses continuing to pile up for ranked teams, now is the time for the 'Cats to make a move. As Cal said, "It's on".

While the Tennessee Volunteers have had their ups and downs this season, Kevin Punter is having the best scoring season since Allan Houston. The 'Cats are definitely going to have to check Punter tonight. He killed them last time.

The recent success of the team could be due to the fact that the 'Cats are finally clicking and having fun.

Did the loss at Tennessee light a fire under UK to cause the recent surge?

Coach Cal's 'Cats in the NBA (Feb 10-16):Big KAT is the POW thanks to his winning the NBA All Star Skills Competition.

The Kentucky softball team continues their tour of the West Coast as the #18 ranked 'Cats will play in the Campbell/Cartier Classic at San Diego State University. They will play five games in a three-day stretch. They open up with a double-header today. They are looking to continue an impressive start to the season that saw them claim victories over #4 Oregon, #20 Utah, #22 Arizona State, and #25 Notre Dame.

The #16 UK Hoops team has won two in a row and are looking to extend that streak tonight at #14 Mississippi State.The game is at 7:00 PM, so get Watch ESPN fired up and enjoy both games tonight.

Sports Quickies

OK, where to begin here...

Three top five teams lost last night. I guess we should start with the one that hits closest to home:

Orlando "Tubby" Smith and his Texas Tech Red Raiders dealt Lon Kruger and his #3 Oklahoma Sooner a stunning loss last night in Lubbock, 75-73. This is the THIRD ranked team in a row that Smith has defeated, Baylor and Iowa State being the other two. I'm not sure if they are going to make the tournament, but Smith's team is on a roll and ahead of schedule. I thought Minnesota was dumb for letting him go in the first place for Richard Pitino, now Tubby is making his case as to why I was correct. Good for you, coach!

The #20 Duke Bluedevils went on the road and defeated the #5 North Carolina Tarheels by one point last night. At the beginning of the season, I was unimpressed with North Carolina. Duke was undermanned but took advantage of the Heels lack of toughness and unwillingness to play any defense. Duke is now looking like Kentucky's best win again.

The #4 Iowa Hawkeyes went down to unranked Penn State last night. PLEASE let them be the one or two seed in Kentucky's bracket.

How about that Crimson Tide? Alabama and Avery Johnson went to Baton Rouge and beat LSU 76-69. The Tide are winners of five straight and those wins include Florida and Texas A&M. They are starting to build their tournament resume and it is looking pretty good. They visit Kentucky for a huge showdown in Rupp next Tuesday.

The esteemed Kyle Tucker may be right.

The Sacramento Kings continue to be a mess as the brass fires assistant coach Vance Walberg against the wishes of George Karl.

Nike drops its Manny Pacquiao endorsement after the boxer made some inflammatory comments about homosexuals. For what it's worth, Manny did issue an apology via Twitter.

Random Quickies

I am a fan of good horror movies. Not slasher movies that are ultra-violent for the sake of being ultra-violent; I'm talking about truly creepy and unsettling movies like The Exorcist, The Shining, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, and The Conjuring. Tomorrow a movie comes out that seems to follow in the footsteps of these classics. Take a look:

Not creeped out? Take it from the Master of Horror himself:

GAME OF THRONES PREVIEW ALERT!!!

This will be the first time since the very first season that I am completely in the dark as to what happens. I watched season not having read the books yet. I then went out and read all of the books. Winds of Winter is still not out, so book and show fans alike will be in for major surprises.

Kanye West threw a hissy fit backstage during his performance on SNL last week. As if this is shocking. Can we please just send him and his wife's entire family into deep space. Can we start a Go Fund Me for that?

Early humans got it on with their cousins much earlier and more frequently than scientists previously thoguht. You may be walking around with Neanderthal DNA and you don't even know it.

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