Anthony Davis Slams against Arkansas

For a good portion of Tuesday night’s game the Kentucky faithful seemed like they had fallen asleep before the 9 pm tipoff.
Honestly I’ve seen a more raucous crowd at funeral parlor.  But fortunately Anthony Davis and the rest of Wildcats eventually got the block party started, giving the home crowd something to scream about.

Darius Miller opened the game with aggressive moves to the basket and one of the prettiest up and under moves in the lane you’ll ever see, getting the Cats off to a quick 8-0 lead.   After the fast start the offense struggled to put points on the board.  Fortunately, Kentucky had 8 blocks in the first half alone en route to holding the Razorbacks to 31% shooting, leading 37-21 at the break.

The block party continued in the second half with every Arkansas shot being taken under extreme duress.  The offensive onslaught continued as well as UK shot an amazing 65% from the field in the second half to put the game out of reach.  Kentucky wins 86-63.
I have to say I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see the standard Mike Anderson “40 Minutes of…uh…Hades” let’s say, that is always expected.  Of course it is hard to set up a press if you aren’t able to score the basketball, but even when they were able to do so it usually ended up with a Kentucky dunk on the other end.  I think after the trouble his teams have
caused Kentucky over the years we owe him a good beat down.

Have you heard of Anthony Davis?  Well if not, he’s pretty good.  Davis had seven blocks on the night, giving him 89 on the year, breaking the single season blocks record held by one of my all-time favorites Andre Riddick. And the crazy thing is that there are still 12 regular season games left.  At this pace he would be real close to breaking the SEC record held by Kentucky arch enemy of the past Jarvis Varnado from Mississippi State.  Oh and by the way, Davis also had 27 points and 14 rebounds, while showing off an ever expanding offensive repertoire.  He truly is an amazing talent.

Marquis Teague had arguably his best game of the season, dishing out a season high nine assists with only three turnovers in 36 minutes of action.  He did a tremendous job of distributing the ball to his teammates, but also taking the opportunity to get to the rim when necessary.  As I’ve said all season, the Cats don’t need Teague to be a scoring threat, they need him to run the club and take the scoring opportunities teams give him.

Next up for the Cats is a date with the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday at Rupp Arena.  This will be a very physical game from the opening tip and it will be very interesting to see if Kentucky is able to run its’ offense effectively against a very formidable defensive squad.  The Cats will need to be able to get open shots from the offense to get the victory.

UK Pros fell to Dominican Republic Monday Night at Rupp Arena (Photo - Tim Hamblin)

There was a twist last night at Rupp Arena. Calipari was coaching the Dominican Republic team against the U.K. Wildcat Professional group. The “Pros”, as they were called, featured names like, Wall, Cousins, Bogans, Meeks, Bledsoe, Rondo & Prince to name a few.

PROS VS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC NATIONAL TEAM PHOTOS CLICK HERE

Calipari showed he still has the Rupp Arena touch as his Dominican team ran away with an 016-88 win before 24,000 Wildcat faithful. The two teams will meet again tonight, at the Yum! Center in Louisville. The U.K. Pros were coached by U.K. coaching legend Joe B. Hall and Louisville coaching legend Denny Crum.

Freshman All-American removes name from NBA Draft

Terrence Jones returning to the Wildcats for his sophmore year

Kentucky already has the top recruiting class coming in and holdovers Darius Miller, Jon Hood, Stacey Poole and Doron Lamb on board, the Cats got some good news today when Fresman Terrence Jones pulled his name from the NBA draft. This make U.K. the odds on favorite to win the National Championship next year. The only question out there right now is whether DeAndre Liggins will stay in the draft or come back for another title run.

U.K. Wildcat Athletic department released this earlier today;

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky freshman Terrence Jones has decided to return to Kentucky for his sophomore season and remove his name from the NBA Draft.

Jones, a 6-foot-9 forward from Portland, Ore., was named Third Team All-America by Yahoo! and received Freshman All-America status by several media outlets.

He was also named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year by the league coaches and SEC Newcomer of the Year by the Associated Press. He averaged 15.7 points, while pulling down 8.8 rebounds per game, ranking seventh and first in the SEC respectively.

“Last year was an unbelievable experience, but we left a lot on the table,” Jones said. “I’ve decided to come back and help us get back to the Final Four and bring the Big Blue Nation a National Championship.”

Jones set the UK freshman single-game scoring record with 35 points against Auburn. He also posted 13 double-doubles, second most among UK freshmen all-time and his eight 20-point games was fourth most by a freshman in program history.

“I’m very happy for Terrence and his family because he did the right thing for his future but he had to come to that conclusion,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “He told me he wanted to continue enjoying the college experience and I told him that was fine by me.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky junior DeAndre Liggins and freshmen Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight have declared for this year’s NBA Draft. None of the three have signed or announced plans to sign with an agent.

DeAndre Liggin put his name for NBA draft

Liggins, a 6-foot-6 guard from Chicago, served as the Wildcats’ defensive stopper this season, consistently drawing the assignment of guarding the opposing team’s top offensive threat. He averaged 8.6 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 39.1 percent from 3-point range.

He was named to the Lefty Driesell Defensive All-America Team and was also named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year by Yahoo! Sports, as well as being named to the SEC All­-Defensive Team by the league’s coaches.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to enter my name into the draft, putting me one step closer to realizing my dream,” Liggins said. “Growing up in a tough environment in Chicago, it’s a pleasure to have an opportunity to do something special. This is another challenge I’m looking forward to, to have my game evaluated by pro scouts and see how I rank against some of the top players in the world.”

Jones, a 6-8 forward from Portland, Ore., was named a fourth team All-American by CollegeHoops.net and a Freshman All-American by several outlets. He averaged 15.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. Jones led the league in double-doubles (13) and rebounding, ranked sixth in blocks and seventh in scoring.

He was named the SEC Freshman of the Year by league coaches and SEC Newcomer of the Year by the Associated Press.

Jones & Knight also to test NBA draft waters

“Coach Cal and the rest of the staff pushed us all year long and helped us develop every part of our game to help prepare us for this point in our lives,” Jones said. “This will be a great chance for me to measure my skills against some of the best in the country and receive additional information on where I fit into this year’s draft.”

Knight, a 6-3 guard from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., led the team and ranked fourth in the league in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game. His 4.2 assist average was second in the SEC. He set the UK freshman scoring record, scoring 657 points, and also broke the UK freshman 3-point record with 87 3s.

A Freshman All-American, Knight was also named the NCAA East Regional Most Outstanding Player as well as fifth-team All-America by FoxSports.com.

“Playing in the NBA has always been a dream of mine and this is the next step,” Knight said. “All season long coach has been tutoring me on the fine points of being a point guard, and now I have an opportunity to put my game on display in front of NBA scouts as a result of my hard work.”

“I support the decision these three have made to take advantage of the process of putting their names in the draft,” UK men’s basketball coach John Calipari said. “They were a joy to coach this year and I would love the opportunity to continue to coach them again next season.  I will always support my players in weighing their options and doing what is personally best for them and their families.”

Underclassmen have until April 24 to declare for the draft and have until May 8 to withdraw their name from the draft, provided they do not sign with an agent.

The 2011 NBA Draft will take place on June 23.

U.K. falls to U Conn in Final Four (Photo - R. Hamblin)

The U.K. Wildcats are hanging their heads right now, but after a season of exceeding everyone’s expectations, hanging their heads is the last thing they should be doing. There wasn’t one expert in the country that expected U.K., UConn, VCU & Butler to be in the Final Four. No one gave the Cats a chance to defeat the much heralded Ohio State Buckeyes either. I cannot think of anyone who thought they should win the SEC Tournamentm so the Cats have gone above and beyond anyones expectations.

Take away U.K.’s 7 losses by 4 points or less and 6 games of losses of 2 points or less and the Cats could have finished 35-3 and National Champions instead of 29-9 and in the Final Four. There are several things to point at for U.K.’s 1 point loss to eventual Champions UCONN Huskies, but the most glaring to me was free throws. U.K. was 4- 12 for 33% from the charity stripe. Kentucky in the first half was down by 10 by the score of 31-21. They did this by shooting a disasterly low percentage. They were 7-20 from two point range for 35%. They were 2-12 from threes for a 16.7% and 1-5 from the Free Throw line for a 20%. It is arguably the worst half of shooting by a Wildcat team in a long long time.

UK vs UConn Final Four Box score

U.K. Wildcats Final Four Photos

Kentucky fans should not worry though as there is a lot to look forward to next year with the arrival of 4 more stars in the making coming to Big Blue Nation.  Kentucky’s incoming freshman class includes three of the nation’s top six prospects in 6-foot-2 point guard Marquis Teague (No. 2), 6-7 small forward Mike Gilchrist (No. 3) and 6-10 forward Anthony Davis (No. 6). The class also features 6-9 forward Kyle Wiltjer, the nation’s No. 25 prospect. 

Davis averaged 32 points, 22 rebounds and seven blocks this season as a senior at Chicago Perspectives Charter, while Gilchrist averaged better than 20 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 blocks as a senior Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick. Teague has extraordinary athleticism and quickness, which allowed him to average 22.1 points, 5.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds as a senior at Indianapolis Pike. Kyle Wiltjer is a big man with shooting touch as well as offers rebounding down low.

It is not clear if Knight, Jones, Lamb or Liggins will go pro although Knight & Jones appear to be headed that way, but U.K. appears to be the best team in the Nation on paper for next year. Assuming Miller, Liggins and Lamb come back with Jon Hood and possibly Stacey Poole, the Cats will be loaded and ready to make another run at a title for Big Blue Nation. Let the discussions begin. It is never too early to talk U.K. Wildcat Basketball.

Cats heading to Houston (Photo by R. Hamblin)

The Wildcats are getting even with teams that have beaten them in recent years and this year in particular. They started Tournament play with a win over Princeton, then got revenge on West Virginia, the team that bounced the Wildcats from the Elite Eight last year. Then it was on to Ohio State, the #1 overall team in the tournament and a team U.K. was 0-5 against. Then it was on to yet another revenge match with Kentucky advancing to the Final Four at the hands of North Carolina. The Tarheels defeated the Cats earlier this year with some very questionable officiating and poor execution on the part of the young Wildcats.

WILDCATS ADVANCE TO FINAL FOUR – CLICK HERE

Kentucky can lock up a trip to the 2011 title game with a win over UConn. UConn handed the Wildcats their worst defeat of the season during the Maui tournament in the early part of the season. Should Kentucky win this game, they will advance to the title game on Monday. It is truly a situationno one thought the young Cats would be in this late in the season.

Josh Harrelson goes for rebound over Ohio State stud Jared Sullinger (Photo R.Hamblin)

When the round of Sweet 16 began this weekend, very few basketball experts gave the Kentucky Woldcats a chance to beat the great and powerful number one seeded Ohio State Buckeyes. Kentucky was thought to be a speed bump in the road for Ohio States championship run. Kentucky has played, arguably, the toughest tournament schedule of any team thus far.

The Cats opened the Tournament giving their fans a scare with a tough battle with 13 seed Princeton. From there it was a match up with #5 West Virginia, which Kentucky handled easier than most expected. Then it was a matchup with overall #1 and tournament favorite Ohio State. Very few people gave U.K. a chance to win the game, in fact, Ohio State winning was an after thought. Kentucky would win and now faces a #2 seeded North Carolina. The Tournament selection committee did not do U.K. any favors with the seedings, but in the long run may have made this team much tougher and more equiped to make a run at the title.

It would take the Wildcats nearly 4 minutes before scoring their first basket on a Josh Harrellson layup at the 16:33 mark, and it didn’t take Ohio State long to build a 14-7 lead hitting a three, a couple free throws and a jumper from William Buford.Kentucky would settle in and eventually take the lead 19-18 on a Brandon Knight pass to Josh Harrellson for a layup at the 8:51 mark. From there both teams would trade leads until going into the half at 30 a piece.

The second half was as good as the first as both teams claimed the lead several times befor Kentucky grabbed a 3 point lead at the 36 second mark on a Deande Liggins jumper making the score 60-57. Ohio State would not quit though as Jon Diebler nailed a 3 pointer to tie the game at 60. U.K. did not call a timeout and Brandon Knight would hit a mid range jumper with 6 seconds to go. Ohio State would get off one last 3 point attempt, but William Buford missed the shot off the front of the rim.

Kentucky will now face North Carolina for a chance at the Final 4 in Houston next week. Kentucky lost earlier this year to the Tarheels by 2 in North Carolina. The Cats won’t be overlooked in this one by North Carolina or their coach, Roy Williams.

Darius Miller inbounds to Brandon Knight (Photo by R. Hamblin)

It took some hand ringing and some breath holding by the U.K. faithful, but the Kentucky Wildcats are moving on to play in the Sweet 16 in Newark, New Jersey. The Wildcats appearance in this years Tournament is a NCAA best 51st trip to the big dance. Kentucky’s trip to the Sweet 16 is their 16th since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The win, gave U.K a 27-8 mark this year and an overall mark of 62-11 since Coach Cal took over at Big Blue Nation.

UK Wildcat NCAA Tournament Photos CLICK HERE (Photos R. Hamblin)

UK-WVU_box

Kentucky, fresh off it’s last second win against a very tough Princeton team, courtesy of a Brandon Knight layup, his only points of the game, appeared to be a little sluggish and fell behind by 8 points, 41-33, at the half to a very good #5 seed West Virginia. This did not bode well for a U.K. team that was 3-6 when trailing at the half.  The second half was a completely different story as the Wildcats busrt out of the gates on a 11-0 run giving them a 44-41 lead. Kentucky would hold West Virginia to a total of 22 second half points while scoring 38.

Kentucky is now 25-0 this season when holding teams to 67 or fewer points. Since Coach Cal took over, U.K. is 46-0 when holding teams under 67 points. Brandon Knight scored a career high 30 points after only scoring 2 against Princeton two nights earlier. Terrence Jones also played big in the second half after recording his 10th double – double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Wildcats will now face the winner of top ranked Ohio State and George Mason in a Sweet 16 matchup next week in New Jersey.

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Behind gritty performances from veterans Heather Greathouse and Ethan Settlemires, the Kentucky rifle team won the overall national title at the 2010-11 NCAA Championships, hosted by Columbus State. After UK won the smallbore NCAA Title on Friday in the first day of competition, the Wildcats held off WVU’s charge in air rifle on Saturday to secure the first national championship in program history, finishing with a 4700 team total score.

Kentucky entered the final day of competition on Saturday owning a seven-point lead. UK claimed its first ever NCAA Championship in smallbore on Friday, totaling a 2336 team score, led by Settlemires and Greathouse. Settlemires won the NCAA individual championship on Friday with a 590 in smallbore, becoming the first individual NCAA Champion in smallbore in program history. 

The NCAA Championship is the first in the storied history of the UK rifle program. Since the 1994 season, the Wildcats have finished among the top 10 teams at the national championships a total of 16 times. UK owned four runner-up finishes and four third-place finishes since 1994 entering Saturday, including a fourth-place finish in 2009-10. 

In claiming the 2010-11 national championship, the Wildcats have completed a historic season, including an unbeaten regular-season slate in the Great American Rifle Conference Championships. 

“I am so proud of this team,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “This was our goal from day one, to have a chance to shoot a 4700 as a team. We knew if we did that we would be right there at the end. It is a tremendous honor to come out on top among such a great group of teams and shooters. We have had a magical season and it is surreal to be standing here at the end of the year as the national champion.” 

After UK got off to a tremendous start on Friday behind Greathouse’s 587 on the first relay, the Wildcats again sent Greathouse in the first relay on Saturday, a change from the typical routine throughout the season. Greathouse again responded under the pressure, putting up a 591 to set the tone for the Wildcats final day of competition. Freshman Emily Holsopple contributed a 590, with Henri Junghänel charting a team-high 594. 

With Settlemires on the final relay, West Virginia continued to push, using a 599 (out of 600 points possible) from World Champion Nicco Campriani to narrow the UK lead. Settlemires fired a 590 in a pressure-laden situation on the final relay to push the Wildcats over the hump and claim the national title. 

Kentucky’s 4700 team score was three points better than the Mountaineers, with WVU winning the air rifle national title with a 2368 on Saturday. TCU, the 2009-10 NCAA Champions, finished third with a 4664 total team score. Jacksonville State (4650), Murray State (4634), Alaska-Fairbanks (4634), Navy (4609) and Army (4596) rounded out the eight-team field. On Friday the smallbore portion of the match was held at Fort Benning and on Saturday, Columbus State hosted the air rifle portion on campus at the Frank G. Lumpkin Jr. Center.

Coach Cal and his Cats were given the shaft by the NCAA Selection Committee (Photo by Brian Hyatt)

Kentucky was on a mission to prove their critics wrong. Most experts have been saying Florida was the class of the SEC and Kentucky’s inexperience would not get them through to win the SEC Tournament Title. Most so-called basketball gurus said Kentucky could not win on the road. Couple this with an injury to the Cats best shooter,

Deron Lamb on crutches in the hotel lobby the night before the SEC Tournament Championship game. (Photo by Brian Hyatt)

 Deron Lamb and it would seem  things did not look good for U.K. and the pundits were right. Apparently, what these so called experts didn’t seem to realize, is this wasn’t a road game, it was on a “neutral” site, where the Wildcats have only one loss on neutral courts and Deron Lamb would not only play but would play 23 minutes against Florida.

Kentucky jumped out to an early 13-5 lead at the 15:35 mark on the strength of  some good outside shooting. Once things settled down, Florida slowly worked their way back in to the game and eventually took a 20-19 lead at the 11:43mark of the first half. Kentucky fell behind by as many as 3 points, 24-21 at the 10:26 mark before regaining their composure and taking the lead for good at 25-24 at the 8:14 mark and they never looked back. The Cats, behind 15,000 plus screaming fans, took a 34-29 lead at the half.

Wildcats celebrate SEC Tourney Championship (Photo by Brian Hyatt)

The Wildcats opened the 2nd half with a 7-0 run opening their lead to 41-29. Kentucky’s lead stayed between 8 and 14 points throughout the remainder of the second half, until the Wildcats closed out the game on a 5-0 run to make the final score 70-54. Kentucky was led in scoring by Brandon Knight with 17 points. Jones dropped in 16, Miller had 15, Liggins scored 10. Deron Lamb chipped in 6, Harrellson 4, and Vargas had 2. Florida was led in scoring by Kenny Boyton with 10 points. The Wildcat defense completely shut down the Gators guards Erving Walker with 8 and Boytons 10. SEC player of the year, Chandler Parsons was almost a non factor scoring 9 points. Parsons did pull down 10 rebounds.

Brandon Knight goes up for the slam to close out the Florida Gators (Photo by Brian Hyatt)

During the post game press conference, Coach Cal was asked how this win would affect the NCAA Tournament seeding between the Cats and Florida.Coach Cal commented he thought that things were probably already set and that U.K. would probably just switch places with Florida. If he only knew then the smackdown the NCAA Selection Committee had in mind for his Wildcats. The Cats were placed in the East Region as a #4 seed in the same bracket as #1 Ohio State, #2 North Carolina and #3 Syracuse. Florida on the other hand was placed in the Southeast as a #2 seed along with # 1 seed Pitt. The Wildcats lost at Florida by 2 by the score of 70-68. The Cats returned the favor winning 76-68 at Rupp before knocking the Gators around in the SEC Championship 70-54.

Gator mascot doing the "Chomp" as UK Wildcats laughs at him. The Cats laughed loudest in the end. (Photo by Brian Hyatt)

Florida’s biggest out of conference win was a 57-44 home win against Kansas State while they had such out of conference losses to Ohio St, UCF, and Jacksonville. Kentucky on the other hand had wins against Louisville, Oklahoma, Washington, & Notre Dame. Kentucky out of conference losses include a 2 point loss to North Carolina and a loss to UConn. Kentucky also went undefeated at home for the second straight year. How is it then, that Florida not only got a higher seed, but was placed in a much softer bracket? It goes to show that the NCAA selection committee has no rhyme or reason to their madness. The Big East, arguably the most over rated conference in recent memory was given 11 spots in the Big Dance, and a record 5 teams with 14 losses made the Tournament.

Kentucky will now face 25-6 Princeton in the second round of the East Region on Thursday approximately 2:45pm. The Wildcats head into the game riding a 6 game winning streak and looking to once again prove the “so called” experts wrong again.