Kentucky is playing its first men's basketball game of the season in Rupp Arena against Wright State. They have redesigned the floor to contain an outline of the map of Kentucky in darker brown against the light brown of the rest of the court. When you get down to the end of the map that shows the Jackson Purchase, you can see a small gap down in Fulton County that separates that one portion of the county from the rest of the Commonwealth. I don't know who took the time and effort to get that right, but I really appreciate it.
Kentucky plays Duke in the Champions' Classic tonight. The Cats have lost six of their last seven appearances in the Champions' Classic. During that stretch, their only win was in November 2019, when they beat Michigan St. 69 to 62. One week later, they lost at home to Evansville. And a few months later, the NCAA Tournament was cancelled due to COVID.
ReplyDeleteOn March 27, 1978, Kentucky beat Duke 94 to 88 to win the National Championship. At the time, the Cats had beaten Duke six times in a row going back to 1956. Since then, UK is 2-9 against the Blue Devils, with three of the losses happening in overtime.
ReplyDeleteKen Pom has Duke winning this game 83 to 76.
ReplyDeleteWhenever UK plays Duke in the Champions' Classic, we always have to sit through a warm-up slugfest between KU and Michigan State. Check out these halftime states:
ReplyDeleteMSU: 7-20 from 2-point range, 1-11 from 3-point range
KU: 11-26 from 2-point range, 2-10 from 3-point range
KU leads 30-24 at the half. Feel the excitement! No wonder UConn dominates college basketball these days.
Personally, I would be fine with letting UConn have UK's slot in the Champions' Classic. They deserve it and we don't.
ReplyDeleteIf you told me that Tom Izzo has been playing the same guys since about 2002, I would totally believe you.
ReplyDeleteSt. Joseph's, a long-time favorite of mine, knocks off Villanova 83 to 76.
ReplyDeleteOf course Kansas holds off MSU down the stretch. KU leads 74 to 69 with 29.7 seconds left.
ReplyDeleteMichigan St. is the test of whether you are a first-class team. If you can't beat MSU, you are not a top-flight squad. Tubby was finished when UK lost to MSU in the 2005 Elite Eight. Pitino's last trip to the Elite Eight was in 2015, when U of L lost to MSU. The One-and-Dones were finished when MSU beat Duke in the 2019 Elite Eight. Cal was never the same after MSU beat UK in double overtime in the 2022 Champions' Classic.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks are not finished. They roll over MSU 77 to 69.
ReplyDeleteWilliam & Mary beats Norfolk St. 84 to 73. K-Pom had Norfolk State by 78 to 77.
ReplyDeleteIt's so weird seeing digits higher than 5 on college basketball uniforms. UK has one player who wears number 7, and another who wears 77.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, whatever sport I was in, I would wear Number 5. I would also have 5 as my number if I were a race car driver.
ReplyDeleteWestern beats Campbellsville 104 to 76. The Hilltoppers are 1-2.
ReplyDeleteKentucky is now 3-0 on the year. The Cats haven't been 3-0 since November 2016.
ReplyDeleteThe Cats are now 6-8 all-time in the Champions' Classic:
ReplyDelete2-3 against Kansas
2-3 against Duke
2-2 against Michigan St.
Kentucky is 2-7 against Duke when Duke had Coach K. Kentucky is 11-4 against all other Duke coaches.
ReplyDeleteThis was the first time UK had played a Duke team not coached by Coach K since March 13, 1980.
ReplyDeleteThat's number 2,401.
ReplyDelete