Kentucky plays its first men's basketball game of the year tonight in Brooklyn, N.Y., where the Wildcats will take on the Maryland Terrapins. It will be only the fourth time in history the Cats have played a game before November 10.
This is quite an interesting schedule. It's the first time UK isn't scheduled to play Indiana since the 1968-69 season. We're playing Duke for the first time since December 18, 2001. We're playing 18 conference games for the first time since the 1990-91 season. We're playing Missouri for the first time since December 1999, and Texas A & M for the first time since December 1978. We also host ESPN College GameDay for the first time since the John Wall Era. In the SEC, we will play two games against Texas A & M, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Florida, and one game against all other conference members. I don't know how this schedule will change from one year to the next, but I hope we're not supposed to play two games against Tennessee, Vandy, and Florida every year.
Meanwhile, over on the UK message board, the fans are already worried about the potential for a loss to Maryland tonight, and are complaining that the media is biased against the Cats. So the fans, at least, are ready to go. Here are this season's games (home games are in all caps):
11/09/12: Maryland (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
11/13/12: Duke (Atlanta)
11/16/12: LAFAYETTE
11/21/12: MOREHEAD ST.
11/23/12: LONG ISLAND U.
11/29/12: at Notre Dame (SEC/Big East Challenge)
12/01/12: BAYLOR
12/04/12: SAMFORD
12/08/12: PORTLAND
12/15/12: LIPSCOMB
12/22/12: MARSHALL
12/29/12: at Louisville
01/02/13: E. MICHIGAN
01/10/13: at Vanderbilt (SEC)
01/12/13: TEXAS A & M (SEC)
01/15/13: TENNESSEE (SEC)
01/19/13: at Auburn (SEC)
01/22/13: at Alabama (SEC)
01/26/13: LOUISIANA ST. (SEC)
01/29/13: at Mississippi (SEC)
02/02/13: at Texas A & M (SEC)
02/05/13: S. CAROLINA (SEC)
02/09/13: AUBURN (SEC)
02/12/13: at Florida (SEC)
02/16/13: at Tennessee (SEC)
02/20/13: VANDERBILT (SEC)
02/23/13: MISSOURI (SEC) (ESPN College GameDay)
02/27/13: MISSISSIPPI ST. (SEC)
03/02/13: at Arkansas (SEC)
03/07/13: at Georgia (SEC)
03/09/13: FLORIDA (SEC)
I was in New York at the end of last week. I saw two folks in Times Square on Thursday evening in UK paraphernalia, and I uttered a "Go, Cats" as I passed. They were thrilled and continued to yell stuff in support of UK as they drifted further and further down the street from me. Then, on Saturday night, I ran into a guy in UK gear at La Guardia. I figured he was in town to see the game against Maryland, but, like me, he hadn't. I was there for work, and he was there for a wedding. We instead traded details of the game that we had heard from friends.
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