U. S. College Basketball (Mens)

[beth]

Time to catch up with college basketball. Our team is University of Kentucky Wildcats, currently ranked #3 behind Kansas and Texas.

This past Saturday, January 2, the Wildcats beat another Ky team, University of Louisville Cardinals, 71-62 - a decisive win but not a romp.

UK SEC play begins 1/9/10, 4:p.m.- home game vs Georgia

This is a pretty good site to check scores, rankings, etc..
espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

For UK fans -
www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/kty-m-baskbl-body.html

[beth]

Actress Ashley Judd kisses the Kentucky mascot as she is carried during a time out in the second half of Kentucky's 76-68 win over Georgia in an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010.
Photo by James Crisp


My brother and SIL were there, but not in the picture. Great Game!!

[beth]

Wow, has this season flown. Tourny play starts next week. Is anyone else a little annoyed with the SEC situation - thinking Tennessee and (probably) Florida should be up there?

W've just finished watching "Magic and Bird" on HBO and are getting in the mood for the next couple of weeks.

GO KY!

[clemiethedog]

I've experienced an insidious loss of interest over the past decade, probably exacerbated by the fact that my team has sucked for more than a decade. It all started when Tractor Taylor rolled an SUV and Michigan State hired Tom Izzo. We just have been unable to get on track since Ed Martin, a small scandal, to be sure, and MSU has milked it well beyond its expiration date.

Cool pic of Ashley Judd. I really liked her in Double Jeopardy.

[beth]

Ashley's an alumnus who actually spends time and money with her alma mater. SHE is practically a mascot during basketball season.

We've done well this year, but there's some grumbling in the SEC east, since the better teams seem to be here and, possibly, not getting the recognition they deserve because the SEC west has an equal stake. U of K and Vanderbilt are on top, but others, especially UT are just as deserving.

When it comes to college sports, we live in this wonderful golden triangle of Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati that seems to churn out teams worth watching. Usually just enough drama to keep it exciting.

[clemiethedog]

"When it comes to college sports, we live in this wonderful golden triangle of Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati that seems to churn out teams worth watching. Usually just enough drama to keep it exciting."

I can recall during a vacation driving through Kentucky. I passed through Lexington, spent the night in Louisville, and then spent the next day in Bloomington, IN. In what amounted to about two hours' drive time, I'd visited three of the premier basketball towns in the nation. The competition for local talent must be fierce.

[beth]

Oh absolutely, IU. We're right in the heart of the KY university system and at the southern tip of Ohio and Indiana. Great schools - great athletics. And, a good many legends. Makes high school sports very important throughout the area.

UK won their seniors day game yesterday against Florida > 74-68. Now, things get interesting.

Almost all our teams are in the Southeastern Conference, but we also have ties to some in the Ohio Valley C. (EKU and Murray St.) and the Atlantic Sun C. (ETSU).

Here are the SEC standings.

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/men/conferences/sec/

All conferences

espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/standings

[beth]

Bump up.




More tomorrow night.

[beth]

OK, here's the schedule. Follow along or pick a team and post your preference.

I'm going with University of Kentucky as I'm honor bound by location and close ties.

=======================

2010 NCAA March Madness begins with the highly anticipated Selection Sunday official picks on March 14 when college basketball team match-ups are announced at 6 pm ET on CBS and ESPN — followed by the opening round games on March 16.

The national championship is then determined during a month-long battle of skill, determination, and dazzling performances by top competing college teams leading up to the final four games played April 3 - 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

2010 March Madness Tickets & Venues

NCAA March Madness tickets are already on sale for top venues nationwide:

Opening Round: March 16
UD Arena, Dayton, OH

First and Second Rounds: Thursday and Saturday, March 18 and 20
New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA
Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI
HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA
Spokane Memorial Arena, Spokane, WA

First and Second Rounds: Friday and Sunday, March 19 and 21
HSBC Arena, Buffalo
Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, FL
Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
Ford Center, Oklahoma City, OK

Regionals: Thursday and Saturday, March 25 and 27
East: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
West: Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT

Regionals: Friday and Sunday, March 26 and 28
Midwest: Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, MO
South: Reliant Stadium, Houston TX

Final Four: Saturday and Monday, April 3 and 5
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN

Those without tickets can keep it here for complete TV schedules - on CBS and ESPN - as 2010 March Madness draws near...

www.chiff.com/recreation/sports/ncaa-brackets.htm

[beth]

Sorry about the Ohio St. game, Clemie. Heartbreaker, but what a game!

nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35839250/ns/sports-college_basketball/

[beth]

Tomorrow night is the beginning of tourny season. Looking forward to it.

Any early guesses?

[beth]

We kicked butt last night .


Cats Thump Tennessee, Advance to SEC Tourney Finals

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - John Calipari brought Kentucky to town focused most on the NCAA tournament.

An arena dripping Kentucky blue with Wildcats faithful filling the streets outside has changed his intentions, and now Calipari wants to reward their loyalty by winning the Southeastern Conference tournament title those fans see as their birthright.

Oh, he still wants a No. 1 seed.

The No. 2 Wildcats made a strong argument for the top overall spot by handing 15th-ranked Tennessee a 74-45 loss Saturday in the tournament semifinals - the Volunteers' most lopsided under coach Bruce Pearl. But Calipari said he understands the importance after seeing fans spending up to $1,000 per ticket and vacationing in Nashville to support the Cats.

"As a coach you owe it to them to give them your best," Calipari said. "They tell me 180,000 fans came to Nashville. Is that true? Kentucky fans. And only 17,000 could get in the building. ... It's unbelievable. The blue dust is everywhere. It's incredible."

Kentucky (31-2) will play either No. 20 Vanderbilt or Mississippi State on Sunday, looking to add a 26th tournament title to the 44th regular season championship the Wildcats already won in Calipari's first season.

DeMarcus Cousins had 19 points and 15 rebounds as Kentucky advanced to the final for the first time since 2004. Eric Bledsoe had 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, and John Wall added 14. The Wildcats improved to a league-best 113-22 in this tournament and 35-2 in the semifinals.

Bledsoe said winning the tournament title would mean a lot to a team featuring five freshmen.

"We're trying to do something special. So far we're doing it, so we're going to keep on playing," Bledsoe said.

Scotty Hopson had 11 points for Tennessee (25-8), which snapped a five-game winning streak with its worst scoring performance this season.

"We got outplayed at every position, and Kentucky's the No. 2 team in the country for a reason. They're a really, really good team," Pearl said. "We just did not have the energy after playing two games and coming back and playing this third game. We just didn't have it."

The well-rested Wildcats never trailed and scored 14 straight points to push the lead to 29 late. That was even though Cousins missed a layup off the opening tip. He came back and dunked to put Kentucky ahead, and the best Tennessee could do was tie the Wildcats three times - the last at 10.

These programs don't like each other anyway in the SEC's second-longest series. The addition of Calipari, who brought his personal rivalry with Pearl from Memphis, and the high expectations from both teams created an electric atmosphere not seen at this tournament in many years.

Kentucky came in trying to cement a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, while Tennessee hoped a win would help earn a No. 3 seed.

It was billed as a neutral court game, but the transformation of Bridgestone Arena into Rupp South couldn't have been clearer than a text poll in the first half posted on the video board about which team fans expected to win. Kentucky drew 77 percent in the early results.

Every time Tennessee's pep band cranked up "Rocky Top," the Wildcats' fans did their best to drown it out, chanting, "Go Big Blue."

Tennessee point guard Bobby Maze noticed the blue crowd in the quarterfinals and said Kentucky fans travel like the "Million Man March." So the Vols knew exactly what they'd be walking into on a court technically in their home state but about three hours away from campus - just as it is for the Wildcats.

And Pearl had his orange blazer packed and ready for this game against the opponent Tennessee wants to measure its basketball program against. The Vols were the last team to beat Kentucky - 74-65 in Knoxville on Feb. 27 - as they split the regular season series.

"We had enough fans in there that when we made our runs, we could hear our people in the building," Pearl said. "Certainly, Kentucky enjoys a great home-court advantage, and I think it elevated their play."

Yes, it did.

Kentucky wound up winning its fourth straight by holding Tennessee to a season-low 19 points in the first half. The Wildcats improved to 5-1 in SEC semifinals and 144-66 all-time against the Vols.

"I feel like we were playing at our arena to see our fans there," Wall said. "We just feel like everywhere we go our fans support us the most. ... You can see how loud they are in the background."

The Volunteers, playing their third game in as many days, got into early foul trouble, and they spent more time pleading with officials than hitting shots. Kentucky did hit more free throws (16-of-30) than Tennessee attempted (9-of-15).

Officials were busy, handing out double technicals twice in the second half with Tennessee guard Melvin Goins ejected after both a technical and a flagrant foul with 3:33 left.

"They obviously had us frustrated," senior guard J.P. Prince said. "We didn't make shots. We just got in a hurry. We kind of lost our composure at the end and didn't execute, listen to the coaches and overall just kind of let it go at the end."

Tennessee pulled within 45-39 on a bucket by Brian Williams with 9:27 left. That was as close as the Vols would get.

Patrick Patterson dunked for only his second field goal, Bledsoe hit a 3, then Darnell Dodson made consecutive 3s before dunking on an alley-oop pass from Darius Miller to put Kentucky up 58-41 with 6:02 remaining. The Cats just kept adding to it from there.

www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/031310aab.html

[beth]

To keep it interesting, here are my favorites for the final 4.

Eastern - University of Kentucky

Southern - Baylor

Mid-Western - Ohio State

Western - Vanderbilt is a personal favorite, but Kansas State or Pittsburgh would be OK, too. I don't think Syracuse will take this one.

Would anyone else like to hazard a guess?

[clemiethedog]

Mar 13, 2010 4:54:32 GMT beth said:

Sorry about the Ohio St. game, Clemie. Heartbreaker, but what a game!

nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35839250/ns/sports-college_basketball/

Thanks. yes, heartbreaking and a whole much more. I've been really steamed over the ending, far more steamed that I have in quite some time (which may be an improvement over the lingering apathy). I've replayed that final shot in my head about 1000 times already.

Checking out the brackets, I see Michigan State has a tough seed. Good. They are also having some disciplinary issues, as well, and got bounced earlier than expected during the B10 tourny. Good.

I can't stand State, and my choice for the NCAA title remains the same: anybody but State.

Good luck to the Wildcats.

[beth]

A number of fans here feel much the way you do about State when it comes to U of Louisville.

Here's a somewhat helpful look at the brackets and the schedules.

espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket

[DAS (formerly BushAdmirer)]

Sorry about that Beth. Kentucky has a good team but they've had the back luck of being in the same bracket with the University of Houston. They won't be able to get past U of H. Tough draw for them, tough break.

[beth]

Hi das,

y'just never know. It's always a mistake to be too sure a top team can't be upset.

Should I assume you're talking about Sam Houston State University?

If so, they have to get past Baylor, first time out, and I understand Baylor is tough this year.

OK, so what's your prediction for the final four? Be brave! Take a chance before the games start.

My favorite line up is - U of KY, Ohio State, Baylor and Vanderbilt, but that could change in a day or two.



espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket

[beth]

OK, das . . . I finally found your team in the Midwest. Houston (13) plays Maryland (4) on Friday in Spokane. Granted U of H has one great player and a decent coach, but, otherwise, they're somewhat weak. Maryland is known for its fine guards. I'll be very surprised (not to mention impressed) if your guys get past that first game.

U of KY (1) plays East TE State U (16) on Thursday in NOLA and is expected to win.

Of course, as I said - anything can happen - but this seems pretty easy to predict.

Sure you don't want to yell for Baylor?

[clemiethedog]

"Houston (13) plays Maryland (4) on Friday in Spokane."

And then Maryland can pummel Michigan State and send Silo Tech back to Cowtown.

[beth]

Mar 17, 2010 11:14:04 GMT clemiethedog said:

"Houston (13) plays Maryland (4) on Friday in Spokane."

And then Maryland can pummel Michigan State and send Silo Tech back to Cowtown.

. . . and, they actually might! Are you sure you wouldn't be just a little elated if MS won?

I noticed in the paper this a.m. that Obama has weighed in with his final 4 picks - and he's no slouch in re. basketball. His picks - KY. Kansas, Kansas St. and VillaNova are the same as my brothers - except bro. chose Baylor instead of VN. Of course, bro. is a Baylor alumnus which may smack of undue influence. We shall see.

[clemiethedog]

"Are you sure you wouldn't be just a little elated if MS won?"

Haha, nfw.

[beth]

[beth]

2 major upsets so far this afternoon.

Back later with scores.

[beth]

Keeping Up. The U of Ky, ETSU game is in progress'

mmod.ncaa.com/


www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/scoreboard?tag=fastFacts.collegebasketball

[DAS (formerly BushAdmirer)]

Beth - I'm not a big college basketball fan. More of an NBA Houston Rockets fan.

However, I've checked the big dance brackets and I'm picking U of Houston vs. Univ of Texas as the two teams in the finals with U of H winning.

Getting past Kansas will be the tough one for U of Houston but I think they'll handle it.