Saturday Quickies: Senior Day Edition

Good morning, BBN.

The season is winding down to a close and the annual tradition of honoring upperclassmen will be recognized today by saying goodbye to Davion Mintz, Olivier Sarr, and Riley Welch. The odd thing is that Kentucky will have one more home game next week when they take on the South Carolina Gamecocks in Rupp Arena.

The Cats are playing much better and have won three games in a row, but everybody knows the ultimate goal here is to win the SEC Tournament. If the Kentucky Wildcats defeat the Florida Gators today, it doesn’t do anything as a “resume builder” for their NCAA tournament hopes, but a win will continue to bolster the confidence of the team heading into March.

Kentucky fans don’t have the luxury of asking the questions, “Does Kentucky need to lose one to get that out of the way before the SEC Tournament”. Kentucky needs to win every game in front of them and hope that some other things fall in their favor to avoid playing four games in four days in Nashville.

A win against the Gators today would do well to keep that scenario alive.

Tweets of the Day

Cryptic message or motivational tool? I lean towards motivational tool.

Moving closer to a decade since this happened.

Quickies

No real path for an at large bid | Cats Pause- Joe Lunardi doesn’t see any way that Kentucky gets in the NCAA Tournament unless the Cats win the SEC Tourney and he’s right,

Gators prepare to avoid sweep | Gator Country- Kentucky pounded the Gators early in SEC play while they were in the midst of their first three game winning streak of the season. It was Kentucky’s last win before losing seven of their next eight.

March Madness without teams fans love to hate | USA Today- Many times success breeds contempt and some of the most successful basketball teams in history are Kentucky, Duke North Carolina, and Michigan State. All four of those teams are on the outside looking in, while Kentucky is the team with the longest odds to make the tournament. It will be weird if one or all four miss out on college basketball’s biggest event.

Don’t compare Brandon Podziemski to Tyler Herro | Vaught’s Views- The four star Kentucky recruit is trending towards becoming a Wildcat and many fans have visions of Tyler Herro dancing in their heads. Antonio Curro is Podziemski’s AAU coach and the former AAU coach fo Herro. He cautions against comparing the two.

Wan’Dale Robinson discusses goals for UK football | Saturday’s Down South- Wan’Dale Robinson is ranked as one of the best transfers in the country and there will be pressure for him to make an immediate impact.

Big tests this weekend for local teams | WDRB- Kentucky, Indiana, and UofL are all facing an uncertain March as big tests loom for all three this weekend. Louisville recovered a bit from getting smashed by UNC with a “stop the bleeding” win over Notre Dame but now they face a dramatically improved Duke team on the road. IU was embarrassed by Rutgers this week and now get to face, in my opinion, the second best team in the country, Michigan. And we all know what Kentucky faces today.

Key games on a loaded college basketball Saturday | CBS- The folks over at CBS loaded up Florida winning and covering the 2.5 point spread.

Cats crush Milwaukee in series opener | Cats Illustrated- The Kentucky baseball team got things going in their opener against Milwaukee in a 10-0 win. Game 2 is at 1:00 PM at Kentucky proud park in the SECN+.

Indy to lower COVID restrictions starting Monday | ESPN- As vaccination numbers continue to rise and COVID numbers continue to drop, the city of Indianapolis are going to ease COVID restrictions at bars and restaurants in preparation for the NCAA tournament. Feels like we are getting some normalcy back in our lives.

Win or lose I will be taking your calls and texts as well as carrying John Calipari’s press conference live as soon as the game ends. Join us on ESPN 680 after the game for some high quality entertainment.