Saturday Headlines: Kentucky Basketball on the brink Edition

Good morning and Happy Saturday, BBN. The Kentucky Wildcats are in a precarious situation as they head to Athens, Georgia to face the Georgia Bulldogs. They had won six straight SEC games heading towards Tuesday night with a chance to make a big statement against Arkansas and beef up their tournament profile.

What happened was what has happened all season with the Tennessee game in Knoxville being the exception: they blew it. Big time.

Now they’re faced with a situation with being either the last team in the tournament or the first team out. A loss against Mike White’s team today certainly puts them out for the time being, leaving little or no room for any more losses on the season. Kentucky would likely have to win out to recover or maybe lose one more with work to do in the tournament.

With the news that CJ Fredrick is out and the possibility of Sahvir Wheeler still out, the Cats will certainly be shorthanded today. Their backs are firmly against the wall for the rest of the season. Do they have one more regular season streak in them to close it out? Will we be sweating bullets on Selection Sunday? Or will we be resigned to making the best out of an NIT situation? There will be a little more clarity one way or the other at 2:00 PM today.

Tweets

De’Aaron Fox is having his All Star season with his teammate Malik Monk on the Kings.

Sounds like a great night.

Headlines

A loss today could ‘torpedo’ the season | Cats Pause- Joe Lunardi isn’t pulling any punches when discussing the Cats’ tournament chances here.

Predictions for Kentucky/Georgia | Cats Illustrated- It’s a clean sweep here but I’m not sure how much confidence is behind their predictions. I do think Kentucky wins but they needed Oscar to be Superman to beat Georgia in Rupp and he’s been more of a Clark Kent lately.

Kentucky ready for a punch from Georgia | KSR- They may be ready for a punch but I’m more concerned if they are ready to respond. This team has been poor in terms of responding to punches. We’ve seen them fold too many times.

Goose Givens as disappointed as anyone after rocky season | Vaught’s Views- Not a great season to debut alongside Tom Leach. Hopefully the last stretch is better than the start.

CJ Fredrick suffered cracked rib | SDS- He’s not out for the season and plans to return “sooner rather than later” but he won’t be available today. No word on Wheeler as of yet.

Big Blue Preview: UK at Georgia | UK Athletics- Everything you need to know as the Cats again try to start something in Athens.

College basketball Saturday predictions | CBS- Once again it’s a big college basketball Saturday and Kentucky is not in a headlining game. While the big boys are positioning for seeding the Cats are just trying to stay alive. Ugh.

Super Bowl betting and prop bets for Sunday | ESPN- Get an early jump on the biggest food/betting day of the year!

Timeline of a disaster: Nets Big 3 | Sporting News- To say the Brooklyn Nets failed with this lineup is an understatement. Kyrie Irving continues to wear out his welcome in glorious flameout fashion continued in Brooklyn and the smart money is that it also happens in Dallas.

Mysterious object shot down over Alaska | CNN- Very little is known at the moment other than the following: it was about the size of a car, it was hovering at 40,000 feet and was a threat to commercial air traffic, it didn’t appear to be threatening in any other way, the origins are unknown at the time, and it came down on ice so the recovery shouldn’t have been difficut.

Also it was shot down on Thursday but wasn’t reported until Friday afternoon in an apparent news dump. Strange times in the skies.

There won’t be a Kentucky Fish and Wildlife UK Postgame Show today due to Bellarmine Basketball over on ESPN 680. Everybody (hopefully) enjoy the basketball game today and the football game tomorrow.