Victory at Rupp!

How 'bout them Bulldogs? You have to admit, they love doing this to us. Sometimes they make me so pissed off that I can't carry on a normal conversation for a week. Then again, sometimes I am so overjoyed about a victory that it becomes my facebook status for a week. It's tough being a Bulldog fan, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Watching our young team totally dominate that Kentucky team on their home floor was exhilarating. Especially after that tough weekend loss to the team up north.

I have to say, not many teams in the country can beat a team that shoots the way we did the other night. I'm not gonna try and spin this negatively, but, we proved that we live and we die by the three ball. Tuesday night, we lived. Ravern and Phil couldn't miss. Hell, we only had what? Two points from our bench? When all 4 of your starting guards get double figures and your point guard and two small forwards are hitting shots from 30 feet or so, you simply don't need bench scoring. However, on days like Saturday, when those guys aren't hitting the long ball, someone off the bench has to step up. Anyway, back to the big win.

Kentucky was outmatched from the start. We poured three point baskets in all night. They made two. We drained 13, I think. Too lazy to look up the stat sheet, so don't get pissed if I'm wrong. We took the crowd out of it at the beginning and when they made their run in the 2nd half, we slammed the door. When their crowd would attempt to give the 'Cats support, we shut them up with one of our long balls. We outhustled them, much the way the rebels did us Saturday. The small things, like the breakaway Benock stopped by just tipping the ball at half court back to our side, made the difference. No, Benock didn't score, but his presence, along with the other subs was noticed. They were role players on this night, simply because the stars shined with the string music they played from beyond the arc. Heck, even the presence of Jarvis Varnado wasn't felt much on the scoreboard. But, you can bet it was felt on the defensive side of the ball, with 7 blocked shots and countless shots that were altered because of his ability to swat. Yes, it was a total team effort.

Still the problem lies with the very thing that won us this game. On some nights, those 30 footers won't fall. And on those nights, what are we to do? We have to have a plan B. We need another inside scoring presence. BJ or Elgin will have to step up in those games. Ro will have to become a seasoned veteran here very soon if we expect to make a run at the Tourny. At 15-7, we still have a very legitimate shot at making the the Dance. And afterall, that should be our goal every year. I'd think that our magic number would be 22 wins. That's 7 more wins, and only 10 guaranteed games left. Why 22? Because of our RPI. Some of those non-conference losses will haunt us come Selection Sunday. Those Ls are simply just inexcusable for a team trying to stay around in March. However, 22-10 or better should get any major conference school in the NCAA Tournament. When our guards are shooting like they did Tuesday, it will be tough for any team in the country to beat us. That itself gives us hope in a tournament format. If we can catch fire at the SEC Tourny then we could make a run like Georgia did last year and get ourselves an automatic bid. Here's how it plays out: We have to protect our home floor. With 5 home games left, we must win all of them. All of them will be tough. Florida and LSU obviously. South Carolina is playing some great ball and with that guard they have, they can be very scary at times. Then Arky and Auburn won't be walkovers. On the road we face Tennessee, Mississippi, 'Bama, and Auburn. None of those are guaranteed, but we are proving to be a good road team, much like the 2004 team (8-0 road SEC record). We are chasing LSU for the West, and I don't see us catching them. We can close out 6-3 though. We need to. We must if we want to be Dancing. Then, we need to win at least 1 game in Tampa. 2 to be sure. 23 wins should guarantee us a spot. 22 will have us on the bubble because of those non-conference setbacks. Either way, it will be fun watching this team down the stretch. We have the talent to make a run here late. Let's hope we do.


By the way, Congratulations to Coach Dan Mullen on his first recruiting class here. What a great one it has turned out to be. Top 20 class after a losing season get me pumped for what we can do once we put a winner back on the field. I'll break down the recruiting sometime this weekend. Over and out.