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This is the eve of the Kentucky Wildcats at Louisville Cardinals game, the most anticipated game of the year so far. But there will be others.
Tweet of the Morning
Today is the last day without a D-I men's college basketball game until March 16, 2015 … the day after Selection Sunday.
— KPI Sports (@KPIsports) December 26, 2014
I didn’t know that.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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Stoops aims for balance from offense, just don’t call it the "Air Raid:"
Without a doubt, he want the offense to put up the high-power passing numbers that Dawson and West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorson are known for – the Mountaineers ranked ninth nationally in passing yards per game in the 2014 regular season – but he also knows running the ball is key to success in the Southeastern Conference.
Kentucky basketball
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Despite unprecedented success lately, the Louisville Cardinals have a Wildcats problem:
"That game last year was probably the most crushing defeat in the history of the school for me," said Patterson, whom listeners to Lexington sports talk radio know as "Lou," short for "Louisville." "I just thought we had the better team. Then the game, we had it the whole way until the end. It was a rough one."
Funny. It was good to beat Louisville, but if they had won that game, it would’ve been nothing compared to the disappointment 1992 game. It’s flattering that it meant so much to Cardinals fans.
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Streaking the Lawn, SB Nation’s Virginia Cavaliers blog, has been writing a lot about Kentucky lately. In this installment, he tries to answer, "Who would win if the Wildcats played the Cavaliers today?"
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I can’t figure out where Jerry Tipton is trying to go with this. I suppose, in the end, he’s trying to disprove John Calipari’s hyperbolic claims about Louisville’s defense holding, kicking and pushing.
Memo to Jerry: There’s no need to test the truth of this by asking people. We have eyes, don’t we?
Seriously, every team fouls and tries to get away with fouls. Pressing teams try to get away with more. It’s just the nature of the beast.
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Both Adam Himmelsbach and Tim Sullivan of the Courier-Journal pick Kentucky, although by widely disparate margins.
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Ranking Calipari-era Kentucky-Louisville meetings. It’s hard to argue the last game in the Sweet Sixteen wasn’t the best, but I think the 2010 game ought to be #2, and the Final Four game #3. The 2010 game was about the most intense affair of the entire series, maybe ever. The DeMarcus Cousins/Jared Swopshire scrum kind of epitomized it.
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Weekend predictions: Will Kentucky lose? No. There, saved you a click. But overtime? Really?
Other Kentucky sports
Links posts
College football
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Arkansas’ leading rusher will be back next season rather than declaring for the draft.
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Western Kentucky wins the Bahamas Bowl, narrowly avoiding perhaps unreachable depths of ignominy. After leading 49-14 with 12 minutes left in the second half, the Hilltoppers gave up 34 straight points. Only the bad call of a fade route on a 2-point conversion preserved the WKU victory.
College basketball
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Wichita State loses to George Washington. Here’s an amazing stat for you — WSU shot 29% from 2-point range and 41% from three. Here’s why that’s interesting — WSU shot 27 3’s and only 34 2’s. They wound up making one more three than they did two-point shots. I’m not sure I can ever recall a game where a team ranked this high did that.
This also highlights what makes it so hard to beat UK. Kentucky holds teams to around 32% from two, so even if you make a bunch of threes, odds are you aren’t going to make enough to win.
Other sports news
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John Wall had a big day yesterday, leading his team to victory over the hapless Knicks. But near the end of the game, Quincy Acy (formerly of Baylor) made a flagrant 2 foul on Wall, then tried to punk him. Wall reacted with a shove and got a technical, but Acy go the heave-ho, deservedly.
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Steph Curry is ridiculous — as in ridiculously good.