Pope Update

Kentucky whomped Oklahoma 94-78 at Rupp Arena last night.  The Cats have now won seven of their last eight games.  They are 7-3 in the SEC, and 16-7 overall.  They are ranked 31 on Ken Pom, and they have eight games left.  In their first ten SEC games, they have outscored their opponents 780-760 -- meaning that the average score of a UK SEC game this year has been 78 to 76.  Their luck score is up to 137, meaning that their record is now better than their offensive and defensive efficiency would indicate.

Ken Pom thinks they will finish 11-7 and 20-11.  Here are his predictions for the last eight games -- games where UK is favored are in bold.  It looks like the UK fans are in for a bunch of nailbiters:

2/7:  TENNESSEE:  73-72 (53 percent chance of winning)

2/14:  at Florida:  72-81 (19 percent chance)

2/17:  GEORGIA:  84-79 (69 percent chance)

2/21:  at Auburn:  76-80 (35 percent chance)

2/24:  at S. Carolina:  76-71 (68 percent chance)

2/28:  VANDERBILT:  78-79 (47 percent chance)

3/3:  Texas A & M:  77-81 (38 percent chance)

3/7:  FLORIDA:  75-78 (38 percent chance)

Notice that even though Ken Pom only has UK favored in three of these games, he thinks they will likely pull out one more.

Here are the Classic SEC rankings, according to Ken Pom:

7.  Florida:  16-6

13.  Vanderbilt:  19-3

17.  Tennessee:  16-6

21.  Alabama:  15-7

27.  Auburn:  14-8

31.  Kentucky:  16-7

41.  Georgia:  16-6

48.  Louisiana St:  14-8

66.  Mississippi:  11-11

84.  Mississippi St:  11-11

NBA27 Update

Cannot wait to read what The Washington Post sports section has to say tomorrow morning about today's big trade of Anthony Davis to the Wizards!

I am officially excited:

1-Trae Young, Bub Carrington, D’Angelo Russell

2-Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson, Otega Oweh

3-Kyshawn George, Justin Champagnie, Zach Tow

4-Anthony Davis, Caleb Wilson

5-Alex Sarr, Skal Labissiére

Maybe Popeye Jones will come over with A.D. from Dallas to join the coaching staff.

Seriously, this projects as perhaps my favorite Bullets lineup since about 2002, when they had Popeye, Hoptown's Chris Whitney, Rip Hamilton and Michael Jordan.

Classic SEC Update

Based on the Ken Pom rankings, an old-school 10-team SEC men's basketball tournament would look like this (seeds in parentheses):

Upper bracket:

(1) Florida (16-6) v. (8) Louisiana St (14-8) or (9) Mississippi (11-10)

(4) Alabama (14-7) v. (5) Auburn (14-8)

Lower bracket:

(2) Vanderbilt (19-3) v. (7) Georgia (16-6) or (10) Mississippi St. (11-11)

(3) Tennessee (15-6) v. (6) Kentucky (15-7)

There are some really good quarter-final matchups here.

However, in terms of the modern SEC, the top of the league looks like this:

Texas A & M:  7-1

Florida:  7-2

Vanderbilt:  6-3

Arkansas:  6-3

Kentucky:  6-3

Tennessee:  5-3

Auburn:  5-4

Missouri:  5-4

Alabama:  4-4

Texas:  4-5

Georgia:  4-5

Pope Update

In what I regard as a stunning upset, Kentucky went to Arkansas and won 85 to 77.  The Cats run their record to 6-3 in the SEC and 15-7 overall.  They move to number 30 on Ken Pom, and Ken Pom now has the Cats finishing 11-7 in the SEC and 20-11 overall.  That record would certainly get them into the NCAA's and win another year for Mark Pope.

It was a crazy game.  Doug Shows was there as one of the officials, and UK got the full Doug Shows experience.  There were four technical fouls called on UK early in the second half to help Arkansas take the lead, but then we had make-up technical fouls on Arkansas that helped even things out.  The Cats blew a 13-pioint lead, fell behind by 4 points with 11:28 left (thanks to the technical fouls), and then outscored Arkansas 32-20 the rest of the way.  Cal's team did Cal stuff -- they were 3-14 from three-point range, and 16-26 from the line, and all those missed shots really hurt.  But UK also pounded Arkansas at the line -- outrebounding them 35-26, and that usually does not happen to Calipari's teams.  This game was the first time all year where I really felt like the UK players were as angry as the UK fans.

Anyway, under different circumstances I would have a lot to say, but I don't think I'm going to be that invested in Kentucky for a very long time.  So I will say only that I'm happy to have been wrong, and I'm genuinely happy for all the folks in Kentucky who stay loyal to the Cayts, and who think the job of a fan is to support the team, win, lose or draw.  It's not my philosophy, and sometimes it drives me nuts, but it's a beautiful dream, and I certainly understand its appeal.

Pope Update

We've reached the stage of the proceedings where Seth Greenberg is attacking the UK fans for having expectations that are unrealistically high.

K-Pom has Arkansas beating UK 84-77 tonight.  Vegas has Arkansas winning by 6 1/2 points with a total over/under of 161.5.  That would come out to a score of something like . . . . 84 to 77, which makes me think that the bettors must be following Ken Pom.

I'm putting myself out there, and going on record as saying that I will be absolutely stunned if UK covers that 6 1/2 point spread.

Meanwhile, here are the top 20 boys' basketball teams in the Commonwealth, according to MaxPreps:

1.  Madison Cent:  20-1

2.  Cov. Catholic:  20-1

3.  Lou. St. Xavier:  15-5

4.  Daviess Co:  18-3

5.  Warren Cent:  15-3

6.  Geo. Rogers Clark:  15-3

7.  Lou. Jeffersontown:  12-3

8.  N. Oldham:  13-5

9.  Lex. Frederick Douglass:  11-5

10.  McCracken Co:  18-3

11.  Boyd Co:  15-5

12.  N. Laurel:  16-4

13.  Lou. Male:  14-6

14.  Lou. Butler:  15-5

15.  Christian Academy-Louisville:  15-5

16.  Lou. Ballard:  12-5

17.  Grayson Co:  15-4

18.  Lou. DuPont Manual:  11-5

19.  Bell Co:  15-3

20.  Ashland Blazer:  13-4