UK Recruitng Class Highlights

Ladies and gentlemen...

Brandon Knight


Doron Lamb


Enes Kanter


Stacey Poole (Couldn't find much highlights for him)


Terrence Jones


Eloy Vargas

John Wall Pre-Draft Interview

Louisville Basketball Building New Arena

The University of Louisville is building a larger arena, which according to wiki, will seat 22,000 fans.

Here's the link for more info.

Terrence Jones is a CAT

The wait is over. The amazing Terrence Jones from Portland, Oregon signed with UK this evening. John Calipari never ceases to amaze me. The guy is awesome. Four 5-star recruits, and two 4 stars. ARE YOU KIDDING? THIS COMMITMENT SEALS THE FACT THAT KENTUCKY WILL ONCE AGAIN HAVE THE #1 RECRUITING CLASS FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR.

Ladies and gentleman, your 2010 class:

Enes Kanter - 5 star
Brandon Knight - 5 star
Doron Lamb - 5 star
Terrence Jones - 5 star
Stacey Poole - 4 star
Eloy Vargas - 4 star

Washington Wizards Win NBA Lottery

They were in the fifth spot, but the balls bounced their way...as they win the draft lottery, and presumably the rights to the nation's top PG, John Wall.

#1 Washington
#2 Philadelphia
#3 New Jersey
#4 Minnesota
#5 Sacramento
#6 Golden State
#7 Detroit
#8 LA Clippers
#9 Utah
#10 Indiana
#11 New Orleans
#12 Memphis
#13 Toronto
#14 Houston

Eloy Vargas Commits to Kentucky

He was rated #26 by Rivals.com in the class of 2008. This REALLY helps fill Patterson's spot. Kentucky's recruiting class will likely be #1 AGAIN, for the 2nd straight year.

UK Recruiting News Links

It's been a hard-to-keep-up-with few weeks in Kentucky Basketball recruiting, so let me give you some info on past events.

CJ Leslie committed to North Carolina State on April 28th.

Terrence Jones, rated #13 overall by Rivals.com, committed to Washington on April 30th. But in a strange turn of events, Jones didn't sign his LOI but instead had a fifteen minute phone call conversation with Coach Calipari minutes after commiting to Washington.

Kentucky lost out on Josh Selby, who committed to Kansas.

Enes Kanter moves up to third overall spot in Rival's 150, and Brandon Knight slides to #6.

Kentucky misses out on Cory Joseph, who committed to Texas.

Marquis Teague is a CAT!

#2 pick of the 2011 class, Marquis Teague chose Kentucky at 1:30 pm on April 22. He said he chose UK and Coach Cal, because of Cal's ability with guards.

He is 6'2" 170 lbs.

Marquis Teague Announcement Set

2nd ranked player by Rivals.com for the 2011 class, Marquis Teague will make his college choice on Thursday at 1:30 pm.

2010 Kentucky Basketball Commitment List (4)

Doron Lamb is a Cat

Kentucky signs 5-star recruit, Doron Lamb today. He is a 6'4" 175 lb guard from Mouth of Wilson, Va. He is considered the #21 overall pick by Rivals.com and is a very good player.

Brandon Knight Choosing Kentucky Video

Gilchrist says Kentucky

Junior forward, Michael Gilchrist, commited to Kentucky today just a couple hours after Cal landed the #1 recruit for the 2010 class. Michael Gilchrist, a foward from New Jersey, is the #1 prospect in the 2011 class.

He is 6'6", and 190 lbs.

KSU Update: Michael Gilchrist

Gilchrist will make his college choice today, April 14, at 5:45 P.M.

Enes Kanter signs L.O.I to Play with UK

Enes Kanter, a five-star power foward, is a Turkish player and said to be the best player in Europe. He is 6'10" and 235 lbs.

"Enes has the body and potential to be special," said Coach Calipari. "I look forward to working with all the incoming players and our returnees as we build on the foundation we set with our 35-3, Elite Eight team."

Brandon Knight is a Cat!

Top player in the senior class, Brandon Knight, chose to come and play at the University of Kentucky. He listed his schools he was considering, talked about each one and the coaches, then announced his decision to come play under Coach John Calipari at Kentucky.

"I just chose Kentucky because I felt it was a place that had great players, great coaches and a great environment with great pieces around me where I can elevate my game," he said.

Knight is a 4.0 student who has maintained A's for his 12 years of school.

Rivals Top 10 in Basketball Recruiting

The Following is Not Approved for the Faint Hearted

It is official UK fans. Probably the most dreaded sentence a UK fan did not want to hear. "They entered in the NBA Draft." John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson and Daniel Orton. They have until May 8th to take their name out of the draft, should they choose to remain a cat.

"I've spoken with all five guys concerning the NBA and have encouraged them to put their names in the draft," coach Cal said. "They've all met individually with our compliance office to make sure they have a full understanding of eligibility rules and academic responsibilities. I'm so proud of these five young men, with everything they did for us on the court and the way they represented us off of it."

He also said,

"It's extremely unusual for four freshmen from the same team to have this opportunity, but it's my job as a coach to prepare these young men for such opportunities."

The draft will take place on June 24th.

Duke Claims the Title With 61-59 Win

The 2009-10 championship trophy goes to the Duke Blue Devils as they prevail over a tough, #5 seed Butler. Butler kept it within just a few points the whole game, at times actually leading. 3 seconds to go, Butler's Hayward drove it up and shot a half court shot, that just bounced of the iron...instantly sinking the Butler Bulldog's hearts.

Kentucky's Regular Season Stats

Who stays, who Goes?

I have a list of players that will most likely be gone, and who will stay. I'm sure that a lot of UK fans would probably agree with this too.


Who Goes?


John Wall. Predicted to be the #1 pick in the 2010 NBA draft, who wouldn't go?

DeMarcus Cousins. The kid is a beast and will be in the top five.

Eric Bledsoe. He'll get an offer for sure...both tournaments (SEC and NCAA) really helped him out.

Patrick Patterson. He's supposed to graduate in three years, this being his third, and the way he's played at Kentucky, he'll get an offer and take it.

Daniel Orton. He's been in the mix lately now, the last few games of the year he came out strong. This is a 50-50 choice. It could probably go any way, him staying or going.


Who stays?


Darnell Dodson. He's not consistent enough, and he needs to work on that to the point where he is.

Darius Miller. Same case as Dodson.

DeAndre Liggins. He's a talented player, but not enough to go pro.

Josh Harrellson. A good bench player, but just simply not talented enough to play with the NBA boys.

Jon Hood. He's also a good bench player, but he needs to improve his play and battle for more minutes and prove he's ready to go pro.

So what are we looking at? A five-team roster, excluding the new recruits that we already have, and could have.

Kentucky's Season Comes to a Close With 73-66 Loss

West Virginia says no more, as they put up the red light to Kentucky to end their season with a record of 35-3. UK pulled it within 4 with 25 seconds to go, after trailing on a average of 10 points the whole half...but West V gets it done with their free throws. Bob Huggins gets only his 2nd Final Four...his last one coming from 1992 at Cincinnati. Everyone believes that John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and even Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton are gone in the 2010 NBA draft. Good run for Kentucky this year, lets hope we can do it again next year.

Kentucky Wins Round 2 Matchup vs Alabama

The Kentucky Wildcats rolled into Nashville, Tennessee at the Bridgestone Arena to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2nd Round of the SEC Tournament after earning a 1st rounf bye for their stellar conference play and getting their 44th SEC Title in school history. UK picked up a hard fought 73-67 victory over Alabama, a game in which UK trailed most of the time. The Cats were lead by solid play by Eric Bledsoe with 10 points. Patrick Patterson and John Wall were huge for the Cats both scoring over 20 points in today's win. The Cats will play the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC Tournament Semi-Finals tomorrow at 1 PM ET on ABC.

1st Half UK 30 ALA 35
2nd Half UK 43 ALA 32
Final UK 73 ALA 67

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

DeMarcus Cousins 26 mins, 7 pts, 8 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 blks
Patrick Patterson 36 mins, 20 pts, 4 rebs, 1 ast, 2 stls, 1 blk
Darius Miller 16 mins, 4 pts, 2 rebs
John Wall 38 mins, 23 pts, 7 rebs, 5 asts
Eric Bledsoe 36 mins, 10 pts, 4 rebs, 3 asts, 1 stl

Bench

Darnell Dodson 14 mins, 3 pts, 2 rebs, 1 stl, 1 blk
Ramon Harris 3 mins
Perry Stevenson 8 mins, 4 pts, 1 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk
Daniel Orton 8 mins, 2 pts
DeAndre Liggins 14 mins, 2 rebs, 1 blk
Josh Harrellson 1 min, 1 reb

Totals 73 pts, 32 rebs, 11 asts, 5 stls, 6 blks

Alabama Crimson Tide

Tony Mitchell 26 mins, 10 pts, 12 rebs, 2 stls
Justin Knox 34 mins, 4 pts, 11 rebs, 2 asts, 1 stl
Chris Hines 12 mins, 3 pts, 3 rebs
Anthony Brock 27 mins, 6 pts, 1 reb, 3 asts, 3 stls
Mikhail Torrance 36 mins, 20 pts, 3 rebs, 2 asts, 1 stl

Bench

Senario Hillman 25 mins, 5 pts, 3 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl
Charez Hillman 11 mins, 5 pts
JaMychal Green 29 mins, 14 pts, 11 rebs, 1 blk

Totals 67 pts, 44 rebs, 8 asts, 8 stls, 1 blk

29-2 Anyone?

Yes sir...UK beats Billy Donavon's Florida Gators today by a score of 74-66. Can't go into detail...but UK had a big lead early, as much as 18. But the Gators cut it to within 3 in the 2nd, but UK slowly pulled it out, winning by 8.

Kentucky Beats Georigia For 44th SEC Title

The Kentucky Wildcats traveled to Athens, Georgia to take on on the Georgia Bulldogs. The Cats came away with an 80-6 victory to be the first SEC East opponent to defeat the Georgia Bulldogs on their home court this season. UK came out much improved on their three-point shooting. Dodson and Wall both had 3 three-pointers. Darnell Dodson was huge off the bench tonight with 11 points and John Wall had 24 points with many highlight reel plays. Patterson recorded another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. UK spoils Senior Night for the Bulldogs as the Bulldogs did for UK's Senior Night at Rupp Arena last season. Kentucky will play next on Sunday hosting the Florida Gators on Senior Night as UK will say good bye as Mark Krebs, Perry Stevenson, Ramon Harris, and Patrick Patterson will all be graduating.

1st Half UK 40 UGA 36
2nd Half UK 40 UGA 32
Final UK 80 UGA 68

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson 35 mins, 17 pts, 10 rebs, 1 ast, 2 stls, 4 blks
DeMarcus Cousins 21 mins, 6 pts, 4 rebs, 1 asts, 1 stl, 6 blks
Darius Miller 15 mins, 4 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 2 blks
Eric Bledsoe 20 mins, 5 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl
John Wall 37 mins, 24 pts, 1 reb, 6 asts, 3 stls, 1 blk

Bench

Perry Stevenson 5 mins, 2 pts
Ramon Harris 11 mins, 2 pts, 2 rebs, 3 asts
Darnell Dodson 21 mins, 11 pts, 1 reb
Josh Harrellson 2 mins
DeAndre Liggins 16 mins, 5 pts, 1 stl
Jon Hood 1 min,
Daniel Orton 16 mins, 4 pts, 4 rebs, 1 blk

Totals 80 pts, 26 rebs, 13 asts, 8 stls, 14 blks

Georgia Bulldogs

Starters

Albert Jackson 21 mins, 2 rebs
Rick McPhee 37 mins, 12 pts, 3 rebs, 1 ast
Dustin Ware 36 mins,10 pts, 3 rebs, 5 asts, 1 stl
Travis Leslie 33 mins, 8 points, 10 rebs, 1 ast, 2 stls
Chris Barnes 9 mins, 5 pts, 5 rebs, 2 asts

Bench

Jeremy Price 19 pts, 6 rebs
Ebuka Anyorah 8 mins, 2 pts
DeMario Mayfield 1 min, 1 ast
Trey Thompkins 30 mins, 12 pts, 5 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl
Vincent Williams 5 mins, 1 reb, 1 ast

Totals 68 pts, 35 rebs, 12 asts, 4 stls

UK Gets Revenge On South Carolina With A 21-Point Win

The Kentucky Wildcats looked to get some revenge on the South Carolina Gamecocks who are the only team to have defeated UK on the season. UK would end a three-game losing streak to the Gamecocks handing Devan Downey and Darrin Horn their first loss to Kentucky in their South Carolina tenure. Patrick Pattterson and DeMarcus Cousins dominated the paint vs South Carolina and out-rebounded South Carolina 44 to 36 unlike the game in Columbia. John Wall broke the freshman record for free throws made in a single season tonight. Kentucky puts themselves in great position to claim their 44th SEC Title with one more win or a Vanderbilt loss. Kentucky will head to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday.

1st Half UK 37 SC 26
2nd Half UK 45 SC 35
Final UK 82 SC 61

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson 23 pts, 8 rebs, 2 stls, 4 blks
DeMarcus Cousins 19 pts, 11 rebs, 2 asts,
John Wall 12 pts, 5 rebs, 4 asts, 2 stls
Eric Bledsoe 8 pts, 2 rebs, 2 asts, 2 blks
Darius Miller 7 pts, 8 rebs, 2 blks

Bench

Daniel Orton 9 pts, 5 rebs, 2 stls
DeAndre Liggins 4 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 2 stls
Darnell Dodson 3 rebs, 1 ast

Totals 82 pts, 44 rebs, 11 asts, 8 stls, 8 blks

South Carolina Gamecocks

Starters

Devan Downey 26 pts, 4 rebs, 5 asts, 2 stls
Lakeem Jackson 16 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts, 3 asts, 1 blk
Sam Muldrow 10 pts, 9 rebs, 1 stl, 3 blks
Brandis Raley-Ross 5 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts
Johndre Jefferson 4 pts, 3 rebs, 1 blk

Bench

Stephen Spinella 1 rebs
Austin Steed 1 stl
Ramon Galloway 1 reb
Mike Holmes 1 reb
Evaldas Baniulis 1 ast, 1 stl

Totals 61 pts, 26 rebs, 10 asts, 8 stls, 5 blks

Kentucky Gets Revenge With 82-61 Win Over South Carolina

Kentucky, after tasting their first and only loss of this season against South Carolina earlier on this season, gets revenge against them in Rupp Arena winning 82-61. Kentucky jumped out early, going up by a touchdown without a USC basket. USC comes back and gives UK a fright, but the Cats answer and go up, ending the first half with a 37-26 lead. Ending the 2nd, UK shoves 10 unanswered points down USC's throat, giving UK a 20 point lead. After a couple baskets, the final seconds tick off and UK leaves the court, smacking South Carolina in the face 82-61. 2nd ranked UK moves on to 27-1, and 12-1 in the SEC and USC goes on to a record of 14-13, and 5-8 SEC.

1st half UK 37 USC 26
2nd half UK 45 USC 35
Final score UK 82 USC 61

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson, 8 rebs, 2 stls, 4 blks, 23 pts
DeMarcus Cousins, 11 rebs, 2 asts, 19 pts
John Wall, 5 rebs, 4 asts, 2 stls, 12 pts
Eric Bledsoe, 2 rebs, 2 asts, 2 blks, 8 pts
Darius Miller, 8 rebs, 2 blks, 7 pts

Totals, 44 rebs, 11 asts, 8 stls, 8 blks, 82 pts

Bench

Daniel Orton, 5 rebs, 2 stls, 9 pts
DeAndre Liggins, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 4 pts
Darnell Dodson, 3 rebs, 1 ast

South Carolina Gamecocks

Starters

Devan Downey, 4 rebs, 5 asts, 2 stls, 26 pts
Lakeem Jackson, 4 rebs, 2 asts, 3 stls, 1 blk, 16 pts
Sam Muldrow, 9 rebs, 1 stl, 10 pts
Brandis Raley-Ross, 4 rebs, 2 asts, 5 pts
Johndre Jefferson, 3 rebs, 4 pts

Bench

Stephan Spinella, 1 reb
Austin Steed, 1 stl
Ramon Galloway, 1 reb
Mike Holmes, 1 reb
Evaldas Baniulis, 1 ast, 1 stl

Totals, 26 rebs, 10 asts, 8 stls, 5 blks, 61 pts

Kentucky Picks Up 1st Win in Music City In 5 Years

UK holds off a tough #19 Vanderbilt squad to get a 58-56 win. This was the first victory the Cats have had since 2005 breaking a five-year losing streak at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville. Both teams struggled from the field today. It was a defensive battle that looked more like a football game at some points. Vandy's bigs Festus Ezeli and Steve Tchiengang fouled out and the Cats would take charge of the game. Missed free throws looked like it was going to haunt the Cats but a huge block by John Wall as Vandy's John Jenkins tried to get a three point shot off and give the Commodores a lead. John Wall missed a huge free throw in the game that set up A.J. Ogilvy up for a game-winning basket but the Cats prevail to become 26-1. John Calipari admitted he made a mistake calling a timeout after Wall's free throw shots when Vandy had no timeouts left and let Vandy head coach to draw up a play that freed up A.J. Ogilvy on what would be the game-tying basket had it went it. The Cats come back home Tuesday night to face South Carolina at home, the only team to have defeated UK this season and try to end a three game skid to the Gamecocks.

1st Half UK 27 Vandy 25
2nd Half UK 31 Vandy 31
Final UK 58 Vandy 56

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson 39 mins, 13 pts, 2 asts, 1 blk
Darius Miller 15 min, 3 pts, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk
DeMarcus Cousins 26 mins, 19 pts, 5 rebs, 1 ast, 3 stls, 1 blk
Eric Bledsoe 33 mins, 8 pts, 2 rebs, 3 asts
John Wall 38 mins, 13 pts, 5 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1blk

Bench

Perry Stevenson 2 mins
Darnell Dodson 7 mins, 1 reb
DeAndre Liggins 27 mins, 2 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk
Daniel Orton 13 mins 1 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk

Totals 58 pts, 29 rebs, 9 asts, 7 stls, 5 blks

Vanderbilt Commodores

Starters

Andre Walker 24 mins, 6 pts, 8 rebs, 1 ast
Jeffery Taylor 29 mins, 17 pts, 4 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk
A.J. Ogilvy 27 mins, 9 pts, 4 rebs, 1 asts, 2 stls, 1 blk
Jermaine Beal 35 mins, 6 pts, 1 reb, 2 asts,
Brad Tinsley 26 mins, 2 pts, 6 rebs, 2 asts, 1 stl

Bench

Festus Ezeli 8 mins, 2 pts, 4 rebs
Lance Goulbourne 13 mins, 2 pts
Steve Tchiengang 19 mins, 7 pts, 8 rebs
John Jenkins 19 mins, 5 pts, 2 rebs, 1 blk

Totals 56 pts, 37 rebs, 7 asts, 4 stls, 3 blks

Former UK Recruit Rajaan Bennett Murdered

Former UK recruit and Vanderbilt signee Rajaan Bennett was killed in a murder-suicide at his home in Georgia. The authorities are saying Bennett was shot by his mom’s ex-boyfriend, who then shot himself. Bennett was a four-star recruit. He was only 18 years old. Kwane Doster, another Vandy running back was killed in 2004 in Tampa. Bennett was Vandy's highest-rated player in the 2010 recruiting class. Our prayers go out to his family and friends.

Jodie Meeks Traded To The Philladelphia 76ers

The Milwaukee Bucks have tradedJodie Meeks and Francisco Elson to the Philadelphia 76ers for Primoz Brezec, Royal Ivey and a 2nd Round draft pick this season.

The teams are waiting for the trade deadline today at 3 p.m. ET for the deal to be official.

Biography on Tom Leach, the Voice of the Cats

Leach is a High School graduate from Bourbon County High School in 1979, and a 1983 graduate at the University of Kentucky. When he was a senior in High School, Tom Leach wanted to become the next "Voice of the Wildcats". Leach began on the UK Radio Network in 1989, hosting the post game scoreboard, and the call in show. Eight years later, he was officially dubbed the new play by play voice of Kentucky Football, and in 2001 he also became the Kentucky Basketball Sportscaster. Through tough years, and good years, Leach has been at the mic broadcasting UK games...and has been named Kentucky Sportscaster of the year, four times. Tom has called five football bowl games including very memorable wins over great teams in the past such as Alabama, and the #1 LSU Tigers.

He also was a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for excellent coverage in Thoroughbred racing. Leach was selected by Quint Events in 2008 and '09, to entertain their clients for Oaks and Derby.

He also has a website, tomleachky.com, and he authorized his first book "Rich Tradition" which talks about former UK head coach Rich Brooks.

"You have to be lucky, you have to be in the right place at the right time," said Leach when asked about how he got this job. "I came to work for Ralph Hacker at WVLK in Lexington in 1984 and got a chance to start doing sports on the station in '87, and in '89 I got to start doing the scoreboard show on the UK Network. So I did that for eight years, before Ralph (Hacker) gave up the football job and I took over Football in '97, and then basketball in November of 2001. So I've been doing it since '89 and just doing the scoreboard shows, and pre and post-game stuff."

Kentucky Wins Over Time Thriller vs Mississippi State

UK traveled to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Bulldogs of Mississippi State and pulled out an 81-75 victory. This win ends a 3-game skid to the Bulldogs who Kentucky has not defeated since 2007 with Tubby Smith still the head coach of Kentucky. There were many stars of the show tonight for the Cats. Patrick Patterson was aggressive on the offensive end of the ball and had many clutch baskets for the Cats. Liggins key defense and a 3-point basket when the Bulldogs had a seven-point lead as the game was winding down. Cousins proved to be too much for the Bulldogs to handle with 19 points and 14 rebounds. John Wall was clutch and proved again to many why he is the favorite for player of the year. Wall had a near triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. An instant classic game in UK's history that was ruined by classless Mississippi State fans From the calls and text messages cussing and calling Cousins racial slurs. The chants "referees suck" all game, and the water bottles and stuff thrown on the court. Kentucky will travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores and look to complete the season sweep over Vanderbilt.

1st Half UK 32 MSU 29
2nd Half UK 35 MSU 38
Over Time UK 14 MSU 8
Final UK 81 MSU 75

Starters

Patrick Patterson 19 pts, 10 rebs, 3 blks, 1 stl
DeMarcus Cousins 19 pts, 14 rebs, 3 asts, 1 blk
Darnell Dodson 1 pt, 3 rebs, 1 stl
Eric Bledsoe 7 pt, 1 blk
John Wall 18 pts, 10 rebs, 8 asts, 3 stls, 2 blks

Bench

Darius Miller 9 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 2 blks
DeAndre Liggins 6 pts, 3 rebs, 2 asts, 1 blk
Daniel Orton 2 pts, 4 rebs, 2 blks
Ramon Harris 2 rebs

Totals 81 pts, 48 rebs, 14 asts, 5 stls, 12 blks

Did Not Play

Mark Krebs
Perry Stevenson
Josh Harrellson
Jon Hood

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Starters

Jarvis Varnado 10 pts, 5 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk
Kodi Augustus 17 pts, 4 rebs, 1 astt, 2 stls
Barry Stewart 16 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts, 1 stl
Dee Bost 22 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls
Romero Osby 5 pts, 4 rebs, 5 asts

Bench

Phil Turner 5 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 3 stls
Wendell Lewis 1 blk
Riley Benock 4 rebs, 2 asts

Totals 75 pts, 27 rebs, 14 astsm 8 stls, 2 blks

Cousins receives nasty phone calls from Miss. State fans

DeMarcus talks of someone getting his cell phone number and calling him racial slurs and cuss him. Apparently this is what Cousins said about it on his facebook.

"man dis to funny ...gotta get my number changed ..AGAIN! ....miss st. fans got my number on they message boards and on twitter ...gotta hotline right now ...so far i been called 34 n-bombs ....106 bwords ...lets see wat today brings ...lmao"

Cousins says he will wait until after tomorrow's game to change his phone number AGAIN. He wants to see what the Mississippi State fans have to say afterwards.

AP Top 25

1. Kansas (62) 24-1 1,622
2. Kentucky (3) 24-1 1,557
3. Villanova 22-2 1,482
4. Purdue 21-3 1,403
5. Syracuse 24-2 1,389
6. Duke 21-4 1,278
7. Kansas State 20-4 1,239
8. West Virginia 19-5 1,101
9. Ohio State 20-6 1,068
10. Georgetown 18-6 966
11. Michigan State 20-6 906
12. New Mexico 23-3 888
13. Gonzaga 21-4 830
14. Wisconsin 19-6 697
15. Texas 20-5 674
16. Brigham Young 23-3 669
17. Vanderbilt 19-5 529
18. Butler 23-4 527
19. Pittsburgh 19-6 398
20. Tennessee 18-6 381
21. Temple 20-5 347
22. Baylor 19-5 316
23. Wake Forest 18-5 286
24. Texas A&M 18-6 231
25. Richmond 20-6 101
Others Receiving Votes
Northern Iowa 74, Virginia Tech 59, UTEP 46, Illinois 29, Marquette 12, Mississippi State 5, UNLV 5, Old Dominion 4, Cornell 2, Georgia Tech 1, Maryland 1, San Diego State 1, Xavier 1.
Dropped From Rankings
Northern Iowa 19, Georgia Tech 20, UNLV 23.

Kentucky Beats 12th Ranked Tennessee Volunteers 73-62

UK beats border-rival Tennessee in a hostile environment today at Rupp Arena. Rupp Arena was electric today with ESPN and College Game Day visiting Lexington for the premiere game of the week. Former players on hand to see this battle of top 15 ranked teams were Jodie Meeks, Chuck Hayes, Kyle Macy, Wayne Turner, Ron Mercer, Scott Padgett, Tony Delk, Cameron Mills, Jared Prickett, Jack Givens, Richie Farmer, Lukasz Obrzut, and Kenny "Sky" Walker. Kentucky at times had trouble holding off Tennessee giving up the lead at some points. Kentucky held just a one point lead at the half. The production came mostly from UK's back court today. John Wall 24 points with a few highlight-reel dunks. Eric Bledsoe stepped up and gave the Cats 16 points. Patrick Patterson and DeAndre Liggins gave a solid effort and made key plays during crucial parts of the ball game when momentum was in Tennessee's favor. The Cats go on the road to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs who have won three straight over Kentucky dating back to 2007.

1st Half UK 30 UT 29
2nd Half UK 43 UT 33
Final UK 73 UT 62

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson 31 mins, 10 pts, 7 rebs, 1 ast
DeMarcus Cousins 29 mins, 5 pts, 12 rebs, 1 stl
Darnell Dodson 13 mins, 5 pts, 1 stl
Eric Bledsoe 34 mins, 16 pts, 3 rebs, 4 asts, 1 stl, 1 blk
John Wall 37 mins, 24 pts, 4 rebs, 3 asts, 1 stl

Bench

Perry Stevenson 8 mins
DeAndre Liggins 28 mins, 7 pts, 4 rebsm 4 asts, 2 stls, 1 blk
Darius Miller 7 mins, 2 pts, 1 blk
Daniel Orton 13 mins, 4 pts, 3 rebs, 2 blks

Totals 73 pts, 33 rebs, 11 asts, 5 stls, 4 blks

Did Not Play

Ramon Harris
Mark Krebs
Josh Harrellson
Jon Hood


Tennessee Volunteers

Starters

Renaldo Woolridge 24 mins, 2 pts, 3 rebs, 1 ast
Kenny Hall 13 mins, 4 rebs, 2 blks
J.P. Prince 32 mins, 9 pts, 8 rebs, 5 asts, 3 stls, 1 blk
Scotty Hopson 32 mins, 9 pts, 8 rebs, 5 astsm 3 stls, 1 blk
Bobby Maze 21 mins, 15 pts, 1 ast

Bench

Wayne Chism 30 mins, 12 pts, 5 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk
Steven Pearl 12 mins, 2 rebs
Melvin Goins 19 mins, 14 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl
Brian Williams 1 min
Skylar McBee 16 min, 6 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl

Totals 62 pts, 31 rebs, 11 ast, 5 stls, 4 blks

Kentucky Defeats Alabama 66-55

I don't have time tonight to go in to detail and give the stats, as it is a late night...but I'll make the most of it. Alabama jumped out to a big lead at first, but Kentucky quickly answered and led at halftime 31-24. In the 2nd, Kentucky mostly led, but the Crimson Tide came back in the 2nd to cut it to 61-55 with about a minute to go. Kentucky kept it under control, jumping out to a 66-55 win.

Biography on Kyle Macy (Former Kentucky Basketball Player)

Kyle Robert Macy was born on April 9 1957, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is currently a basketball broadcaster, the color commentator for University of Kentucky telecasts. He was a high school standout at Peru High School, being named Mr. Basketball for Indiana. He went on to play for the Purdue Boilermakers averaging 13.8 points a game in his freshman season, and led the Boilermakers in free throws, shooting a good .859 percent from the line on the season. They finished the season with a record of 16-11. After playing one season at Purdue, Macy transferred to the University of Kentucky in 1976, and sat out the 1976-77 season by NCAA rules. The 1978 team, Macy was a starter for Kentucky and helped get Kentucky their 5th National title. After his senior year at Kentucky (1979-80), he was chosen as the 22nd pick in the NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns.

He spent five years at the Suns, and he averaged 10.6 points and 4.0 assists per game. He then spent just one year at the Chicago Bulls (1985-86) and the Indiana Pacers (1986-87) before officaly retiring from the NBA. He then went and played professional ball in Italy for Dietor Bologna (1987-88) and Benetton Treviso (1988-90).

In his coaching career, he coached the Morehead State University Eagles for nine years and in 2003, he won them 20 games, its most in 19 years. He later left M'head State and went to coach a group of Sports Reach college all-stars that toured China and finished with a undefeated 7-0 record against several Chinese professional teams.
Later in 2006 Macy went to coach the Lexington Christian Academy Eagles Men's tennis team. He got them their first winning season since 2003.

Cousins Speaks Out

It doesn't seem fair to the Kentucky freshman, DeMarcus Cousins who is hacked and fouled...but it doesn't get called.

"My issue with DeMarcus is that they keep going to the monitors as he gets absolutely whacked, grabbed, pushed, shoved," Coach Cal said. "Then when he does do something, they go look at the monitor.

"If you want to go look at the monitor," Calipari argues, "then you've got to protect him. Call every foul. You can't let him get grabbed and pushed and then expect no kind of response. You can't then go to the monitor."


"Every little thing I do they run to the monitor ready to pop a flagrant on me," Cousins said. "But every time I come down the court, I get elbowed in the jaw and it's not ever looked at, it's not even called. I think that's completely unfair.

"I'm getting this rep to be such a bad player who plays physical and dirty, but every game I play I'm getting beat up and I'm getting no calls."

Junior Patrick Patterson feels Cousins's pain.

"That how it was for me my freshman year. You're not used to it," Patterson said. "In high school, you get all the calls. When you come to the collegiate level, the refs let it go a little bit and let you play. They don't call a foul unless it's a real hard foul."

But Coach John Calipari likes that teams are fouling Cousins.

"It's not his fault he's that big," Calipari said, Cousins being 6'11" and weighing 265. "But he is so big you almost have to do that guard him. You have push him, shove him, foul him, grab him and try to get his goat."

"They say they can't get me every call," Cousins added. "But if it's a foul, it's a foul. If it was me, they give them the call. I just think that's unfair.

Kentucky Scorches LSU 81-55

What was a LSU start, Kentucky quickly erases it and jumps out to a 22 unanswerd point run. UK absolutely crushed LSU going up 41-8, before making it a 42-14 halftime score. Hurricane Cousins was just a beast...as usual with his 6th consecutive double-double putting him at 19 pts and 13 rebs.

1st Half UK 42 LSU 14
2nd Half UK 39 LSU 41
Final Score UK 81 LSU 55

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson, 31 mins, 5 rebs, 16 pts
DeMarcus Cousins, 20 mins, 13 rebs, 2 ast's, 1 blk, 19 pts.
One thing I want to point out about Cousins...is look at his playing time. 20 mins. Look at his stats. If he would of played at least 30 mins, he could of had 35 pts with 25 rebs. Maybe more, maybe less.
Darnell Dodson, 12 mins, 2 rebs, 2 blks, 8 pts
Eric Bledsoe, 25 mins, 4 rebs, 4 stls, 10 pts
John Wall, 30 mins, 4 rebs, 4 asts, 6 pts

Bench

Perry Stevenson, 6 mins, 4 rebs, 2 pts
Ramon Harris, 16 mins, 1 stl, 5 pts
Mark Krebs 3 mins
DeAndre Liggins, 18 mins, 8 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 7 pts
Darius Miller, 17 mins, 3 rebs, 3 asts, 2 stls
Jon Hood, 3 mins, 3 pts
Daniel Orton, 15 mins, 1 blk, 5 rebs, 5 pts
Josh Harrellson, 1 reb

Totals, 16 orebs, 51 rebs, 10 asts, 8 stls, 7 blks, 81 pts

LSU Tigers

Starters

Tasmin Mitchell, 38 mins, 3 rebs, 1 stl, 10 pts
Storm Warren, 18 mins, 3 rebs, 2 stls, 1 blk, 7 pts
Bo Spencer, 38 mins, 2 asts, 2 stls, 25 pts
Chris Bass, 31 mins, 6 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 5 pts
Aaron Dotson, 20 mins, 3 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl

Bench

Garrett Green, 17 mins, 6 rebs, 1 stl, 3 pts
Dennis Harris, 11 mins, 1 ast, 1 pt
Zach Kinsley, 6 mins, 1 reb, 4 pts
Daron Populist, 7 mins
Eddie Ludwig, 8 mins, 1 reb
Chris Beattie, 6 mins, 1 reb

Totals, 7 orebs, 24 rebs, 7 asts, 8 stls, 1 blk

Leslie Still Deciding

High school basketball star C.J. Leslie enjoyed his trip to Kentucky this past weekend to watch the Cats defeat Vanderbilt. That shouldn't be taken the wrong way, however, because after his visit, he is still "nowhere remotely close" to making a decision. Erasto Hatchett, C.J. Leslie's coach at Word of God said this is not evidence of Leslie possibably coming to Kentucky.

A winter storm canceled all classes at Word of God, so Leslie made the trip to Lexington to see the Cats play Vanderilt on Saturday.

"He had a good time at the ballgame," Hatchett said. "He still is friends with John Wall, and he also just wanted to come see him play."

Leslie, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound forward, averages 21.5 points per game for the Holy Rams. His coach also stated that he averages 11 rebounds and six blocks per game.

The coach said that he (Leslie) will make more visits to other schools, where and when is unknown. The coach also listed schools that still have a chance at landing Leslie. Those teams are, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina State, UCLA, Florida, Florida International, Georgetown and Oregon.

Leslie is considered by Rivals.com to be the #14 pick in the class of 2010. His coach thinks he should be higher.

"I won't say he's the best player in the country, but I think he has the most upside of any player in the country," he said.

Dodson and his Improving Play

As we know, Dodson has been draining a lot of 3's lately, making it hard for DeAndre Liggins, and Darius Miller to find playing time. His family knows that that talent goes back to his childhood, when he would be in some serious battles with his sister in basketball games.

"We were real competitive growing up in terms of basketball," said Darnell, who is one year younger than Davida, who played three seasons at Radford University.

"She kept me going and I kept her going and staying motivated," he added. "It was in high school gyms around the city with my dad and my sister, doing shooting drills and stuff like that. I could always shoot and, yeah, she (Davida) can shoot a little bit, too."

And when you got two great shooters, it would be a good game in H-O-R-S-E.

"I would beat her," Dodson said with a smile, "She got me one time."

For nearly one month (from the Jan. 2 Louisville game, to the South Carolina game on Jan. 26), Dodson only made 6-of-22 three pointers and never scored more than six points a game. Missing 3's also gave him poor defense, and with DeAndre Liggins improving his play, time was ticking for the sophomore from Greenbelt, MD. What had happened? Why wasn't Dodson being the shooter Kentucky needed?

"He should be the X-factor," coach John Calipari admits. "But I'm not changing. If he goes in the game, goes half speed defensively, or jogs the floor. I'm not playing him."

This is when the 6'-7" Dodson got down to work.

On defense: "Cal told me that he wanted me to play better defense and focus more on it," Dodson said. "He told me to think about it on the defensive end like I do when I am playing offense, with that same aggressive mindset. I have been able to do that and I have been playing more."

On offense: "It's the work I put into it and it's starting to pay off," he said. "I just take shots and see how many I can make. I try to come in before or after practice and put up more shots."

Dodson hit four 3's at the Ole Miss game, Tuesday night.

"That's definitely a confidence booster," he said. "It makes you want to put in that extra work because you see that it's paying off. There is a deeper comfort level. Every time it leaves my hand, I think it's going in."

Video Highlights From Kentucky vs Ole Miss

Patterson and His Playing

When Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy met with the media following his team’s 85-75 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena, he was running down a list of what makes Kentucky so difficult to defend.

He talked about Wall. He talked about Cousins. He talked about Bledsoe. Then he paused for a second or two and said, “I mention three guys and I don’t even mention the Preseason Player of the Year in the league.”

He was referring to Kentucky's junior Patrick Patterson, who was named to The Associated Press’ preseason All-America first team.

Before the Ole Miss game, Patterson averaged only 8.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in his three prior games against Arkansas, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Patterson’s last double-double came back earlier in the season against Long Beach State when he had 15 points and 11 boards Dec. 23.

He refuses to blame all this on Calipari's system.

I resorted away from that,” Patterson said. “I am comfortable with where I’m at. I love seeing John ball. I love seeing DeMarcus and Eric ball. But Coach wants me to join in as well instead of watching.”

“I liked Patrick’s game tonight,” Calipari said following the Ole Miss game. “He went after the ball and rebounded the ball. He is still not where he needs to be but in another week or so you will see how good he is. He is making strides.”

Coach Cal and Patrick have been meeting for 30 minute sessions before each practice.

“Part of the reason I am working with him is because I want him to know how much confidence I have in him,” Calipari said. “Joe Dumars said of all the players that returned to college he has helped himself the most. I am proud of that. I am telling him to take that to another level. … He is still 30 percent better than the way he played today in my opinion.”

John Wall Audio Interview

John Wall's Interview After the Kentucky vs Ole Miss Game (Feb. 2 2010).

Kentucky Improves to 21-1 With 85-75 Win Over Ole Miss

Kentucky had it in the palm of their hand the whole game and never trailed. Ole Miss did cut it to 3, but UK quickly answered and gained a double digit lead on them. Kentucky improves to 6-1 in the league, and Ole Miss to 4-4. No one really stole the show tonight, except for an awesome play where there was a lob to Bledsoe who had to jump out of his way to grab the ball and throw it behind him, in which it bounced of the backboard and in.

1st half UK 46 Miss 37
2nd half UK 39 Miss 38
Final Score UK 85 Miss 75

Kentucky to Release New Uniforms

This is just our 2nd season with the "new" Kentucky Men's Basketball Jerseys, but now Calipari confirms they are indeed releasing "newer" uni's. This was told by Calipari on his call in show and he gave a timeframe of a week or so which many asume would be the home game against Tennessee on 2/13 at 9:00 P.M.

There are no pictures of them yet but many speculate that they will look something like the new LeBron James shoes the Cats wore in the Vandy and Ole Miss games (so far).

There is no word if this new uniforms will be worn occasionally, or as a total redesign and dubbed the offical new uniforms.

Tight End Alex Smith Commits To Kentucky

Kentucky has received a verbal commitment from Alex Smith, a tight end prospect from Cincinnati, Ohio. Smith was receiving interest from Kentucky, South Carolina, Cincinnati, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, NC State, Ohio State, Purdue, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The tight end position is a weak spot for Kentucky on the depth chart and Smith is a much desired recruit by UK's coaching staff. Kentucky Wildcats. Huguenin is UK’s 23rd commitment of the 2010 class. He is 6'5" and weighs 250 lbs and can run the 40-yard dash in 4.87 seconds. He is a senior at Lakota West High School. Smith will sign his letter of intent with the Cats tomorrow on National Signing Day. This could be the surprise of the recruiting class that Joker Phillips was hinting about. Rivals.com rates him as a 4-star recruit and UK does not get many commitments with a 4 or 5 star rating. Certainly the Joker Phillips Era looks promising from the recruits that he bas been chasing after as well as the new additions to his coaching staff. There is reason to be quite excited about Kentucky Football this fall.

Game Day : #25 Ole Miss vs #3 Kentucky Wildcats

Today the #3 Kentucky Wildcats (20-1) vs #25 Ole Miss Rebels (16-5) in Lexington, Kentucky at Rupp Arena. You can find the game on ESPN and ESPN360.com. If the Cats play like they did Saturday vs Vanderbilt, the winning margin and outcome of that game will probably be the same. Reginald Buckner, the most physical player for Ole Miss will be out tonight. Look out though for Murphy Holloway who had 19 points and 19 rebounds in their last game vs Arkansas on Sunday. Those are some DeMarcus Cousins numbers. Ole Miss also has a very deep back court with all four guards(Chris Warren, Terrico White, Eniel Polynice, and Zach Graham) all scoring double figures. White is a 3-point sharpshooter and Warren has been compared to Devan Downey. Will need to contain their backcourt for sure.

John Calipari On Ole Miss...

"Very good. When you talk about (Chris) Warren and (Terrico) White, you are talking about two of the best guards in the country. They're inside people are active, block shots and they are physical. This is an athletic team that tries to break you down on the bounce. They shoot three's and they shoot them well. They are a top-20 team. I just watched the (Ole Miss vs.) Arkansas. When I watched the tape, I thought they (Ole Miss) were up 15 because there was not a score on the tape I got. All of the sudden, Arkansas was up three. If you would have watched the game you would have said there was no way they lost that game. They are a good team."

DeAndre Liggins On what he has heard about Ole Miss ...

"I have heard they are pretty athletic and they will take it to you off the pick and roll. They have Chris Warren back and are very athletic and we have to do a good job of guarding them and come up with a game plan"

Biography On Chuck Hayes (Former Kentucky Basketball Player)

Chuck Edward Hayes, Jr. was born June 11, 1983 in San Leandro, California. He was a basketball star out of Modesto Christian High School out of Modesto, California. Chuck is currently starter for the NBA's Houston Rockets as he fills in at center in place of the NBA All-Star Yao Ming. Hayes is the shortest ever center to play the position in NBA history but his work ethic and desire to win lets him hold his own vs the bigs in the NBA. The traits of Hayes we all loved during his tenure as a Wildcat has followed him to the NBA where he is having a solid NBA career.
High School Career
Coming out of high school, he was named Mr. Basketball of the State of California in 2001. He was also named a Parade All-American. Chuck Hayes was recruited by Kansas and Kentucky but when Kansas wasn't sure if they wanted to offer him a scholarship, Tubby Smith quickly offered him a basketball scholarship and Hayes accepted the offer.
Collegiate Career
Chuck Hayes was instantly a fan-favorite of the Big Blue Nation since day one. During his freshman season he contributed 188 points and 143 rebounds. His contributions during his freshman season earned him All-SEC Freshman Team Honors in 2002. Hayes played all 36 games in his sophomore season with 310 points and 244 rebounds. Chuck Hayes as a Junionr emerged as one of the team's leaders. He scored 342 points and grabbed 260 rebounds and earned All-SEC 2nd Team (Coaches) and 3rd Team(AP); as well as All-SEC Tournament. Hayes senior season was his best yet. In 34 games, he had 371 points and 263 rebounds. He lead the Cats all the way to the Elite 8 in which they lost to Michigan State ending a fabulous 4-year run with the Cats. He earned All-NCAA Regional Team Honors in 04-05 as well as All-SEC (First Team (AP & Coaches). Hayes played with many future pros during his Wildcats career including Keith Bogans, Gerald Fitch, Erik Daniels, Randolph Morris, Joe Crawford, Tayshaun Prince, and Kelenna Azubuike. During 4 years, he compiled a record of 87-15 (.853), and earned final AP rankings in the polls of 1st, 2nd and 7th. Hayes finished his career at Kentucky ranking 7th all time in rebounds, 8th in steals, 9th in blocked shots, and 35th in points. He also tied Alex Groza for the Kentucky record for most consecutive starts with 110.
USA Basketball
Hayes was a member of the USA Team in the 2003 Pan American Games. He was a starter in 5 games and lead his team with 7.6 rebounds. They finished 4th in the tournament with a 2-3 record.
Professional Career
Hayes went undrafted in the 2005 NBA Draft but became an undrafted free agent. He signed with the Houston Rockets and played some preseason games but got cut. He then was selected 6th in the 2005 NBA Developmental League Draft by the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. He led the league with 12.2 rebounds per game while he was in the D-League. Hayes signed a 10-day contract with the Houston Rockets on January 18, 2006. Later than month on January 28th, the Rockets announced that they would sign Hayes for the remainder of the season. During his rookie season, the Rockets traded for Keith Bogans and Gerald Fitch reuniting with Hayes for the the first time since their playing days at Kentucky. Hayes has a shoe endorsement deal with Chinese athletic apparel company Li Ning that was signed in 06 valued at about $5 million. Hayes has a trademark free throw shooting form that he delays the release on his jumpshots and free throws kind of like having a hitch in his shot delaying it from going in quicker. Hayes remains with the Houston Rockets to this day.

Personal Life
Hayes became a father on April 21st, 2007. His girlfriend, Nicole Anderson, gave birth to their son, Dorian Titus Hayes. That same day Hayes made first career playoff start and recorded first playoff victory as well. Hobbies Chuck Hayes has are singing, acting, and poker.

Marquis Teague is Liking the Cats

Top junior high school basketball prospect Marquis Teague is liking the University of Kentucky. Kentucky is high on his list of schools. 6' 2" Teague, said after his team's 66-55 loss to Bloomington South on Friday that he plans to pick a college after this high school season ends and before his AAU season begins.

"I like Kentucky a lot," he said. "I want to go down there and take a few more visits, get to a few games. I haven't been down there as much as I've been everywhere else. I like Coach Cal a lot. We have a great relationship, so that's a great school."

He's planning to visit the UK UT game in Rupp Arena.

"I've been watching a lot of (UK) games," he said. "I love watching John Wall play. He's a great player, and Kentucky is a great program. They've got, what, five freshmen? And they're dominating."

He says he likes how Wall and Eric play, mostly their aggresive ways. He thinks that he could really fit in with UK.

"Their games are similar to mine, pushing, scoring in transition a lot, playing full-court defense, all that," he said. "I can see myself doing that style."

He also likes UK rival, U of L.

"My father didn't want me to jump in to anything to quick," Teague said. "I really wasn't going to commit anywhere because my father wouldn't allow me. But they're one of the tops on my list."

Hopefully he'll commit to Kentucky.

Videos of Wall/Calipari Discussing Their "Feud"

Apparently the situation between Calipari and Wall is all good now according to KSR.

Calipari addressed those comments today and said,
“He comes in like a puppy dog and says, ‘Coach I need to talk to you, I am frustrated.’ I told him, ‘just play and enjoy yourself. When you play bad, its ok to play bad. You act like you can't play bad. Yes you can. He came over and said ‘I love you” and hugged me and left."

Biography on Rex Chapman (Former Kentucky Basketball Player)

Rex Everett Chapman was born on October 5, 1967 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The 6’4” 185 lb Chapman was a high school basketball star at Apollo High in Owensboro in Kentucky, and was heavily recruited by many universities. All though he was wanted at so many other schools, he chose to stay close to home and therefore he signed with the University of Kentucky. Named Mr. Kentucky, he was a star at UK. He was named to the All-SEC Team during his freshman and sophomore years. In his freshman year, he averaged a team-leading 16 points-per-game and knocked down 68 three pointers. During his sophomore season, he increased his average to 19 points-per-game and led Kentucky to their 37th SEC Title and a 6th overall ranking in the 1988 NCAA Tournament. Chapman and one of his teammates, future NBA player Winston Bennett, helped lead Kentucky to their 37th SEC title with a 27-6 record during his sophomore year. And in 1988, Chapman scored 30 points in effort to try and beat the Villanova Wildcats, but lost to them in the Sweet Sixteen. Shortly there after, Chapman entered his name into the NBA Draft, where he was chosen as the 8th pick overall, and became the first player ever signed by the Charlotte Hornets in the school’s history.

He went on to play for four NBA teams through his 12-year career in the league, playing at the Charlotte Hornets (1988-92), Washington Bullets (1992-95), the Miami Heat (1995-96), and the Phoenix Suns (1996-2000). Despite the prolonging injuries throughout his NBA career, Chapman’s numbers are very impressive. He finished with 9,731 overall points in his career, which is great for averaging 14.6 PPG. He also sunk 805 three-pointers. He is currently the VP of player personnel with the Denver Nuggets.

Kentucky Falls To 4th In Week 12 AP Poll

AP Top 25
1. Kansas (54) 20-1 1,605
2. Villanova (4) 19-1 1,534
3. Syracuse (6) 21-1 1,506
4. Kentucky (1) 20-1 1,460
5. Michigan State 19-3 1,367
6. West Virginia 17-3 1,230
7. Georgetown 16-4 1,204
8. Purdue 18-3 1,182
9. Texas 18-3 1,069
10. Kansas State 17-4 1,025
10. Duke 17-4 1,025
12. Brigham Young 21-2 748
13. Ohio State 16-6 677
14. Tennessee 16-4 655
15. New Mexico 20-3 636
16. Wisconsin 16-5 585
17. Gonzaga 17-4 541
18. Vanderbilt 16-4 502
19. Temple 18-4 495
20. Baylor 16-4 461
21. Georgia Tech 16-5 459
22. Pittsburgh 16-5 278
23. Butler 18-4 216
24. Northern Iowa 19-2 193
25. Mississippi 16-5 132
Others Receiving Votes
Florida State 77, Cornell 39, UAB 32, Wake Forest 31, Xavier 31, Siena 19.
Dropped From Rankings
Connecticut 19, UAB 25.

Wall Responds To Coach Cal's Criticism of His Play

John Wall doesn't seem to be as happy as early on in the season. His body language is reflecting on that during the games.


John Wall doesn't look like he's smiling as much as he was earlier in the season.

Lex 18's Alan Cutler asked him if that was true and Wall agreed.

John Wall was called out by Cal after the Cats lost to South Carolina. Cal was trying to defend Patrick Patterson who was taking a lot of heat for his play, and at the time, he was critical of Wall.

"I don't know. He said I played awful," says John Wall.

"I didn't think I played that bad. I don't know what to expect. He's probably going to say I played bad today too so. I don't know. I just try not to listen to him and go out and play basketball and try and help my team win."

You could hear it in Walls voice that he was down. Cal's comments bothered him.

"Yeah, I think it's going to bother any player when he tells you that."

Wall is searching for answers. He's not sure why he's so unhappy.

"To be honest, I really haven't been having fun for the last two weeks. It's just being frustrated and things like that so, I just got to figure it out before we go further in league play."

Frustrated with how your playing, the team is playing, what is going on, is it just a lull in the season ?

"'Frustrated with everything. I don't know, one through twenty. Any ideas it is."

Wall looked as if the Cats lost two in a row by the lack of emotion he was showing.

Video Highlights From UK-Vandy Game

Kentucky Back on Track With Win Over Vanderbilt

Kentucky, (20-1) defeated Vanderbilt (16-4) today in a long 2 1/2 hour game, 85-72. At the time the game should of been over, there was still 8:00 minutes left in the 2nd. "The King" was there today, Lebron James sitting behind the UK bench and watched UK defeat #23 Vanderbilt. The Cats led most of the game, and fought to the end. DeMarcus Cousins was a beast and sliced through the Vandy defense getting And-1's left to right. He also got a Technical Foul at 9:06 in the 2nd, for arguing a bad call to a ref for calling goal tending. It was a HIGH fouling game, Orton fouling at around the 8:30 mark in the 2nd, and Cousins picked up his 4th just shortly after that. It doesn't end there. At the 5:50 mark, Patterson picks up his 4th foul. And then Wall picks up his 3rd just after Patterson's foul. Not a great day for Kentucky, fouling wise. But the Cats pulled it out today, so that's all that really matters.

1st Half UK 49 VU 34
2nd Half UK 36 VU 38
Final Score UK 85 VU 72

DE Farrington Huguenin Commits To Kentucky

Kentucky has received a verbal commitment from Farrington Huguenin, a defensive end prospect from Columbia, South Carolina. In his senior season, Huguenin led Dreher High with 121 tackles and 4 sacks. Huguenin had offers from Kentucky, South Carolina St, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central. Huguenin received some interest from South Carolina as well as some interest from Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia and Michigan State after an impressive showing at the Nike Combine last summer. He’s also a nephew of former NFL defensive lineman Gerald Perry. Huguenin is a 6′4″ and 240 lbs. Recruiting defensive linemen has been quite a common theme of the 2010 recruiting class of the Kentucky Wildcats. Huguenin is UK’s 22nd commitment of the 2010 class and the seventh recruit on the defensive line.

Insight on the Kentucky Basketball Uniforms

As we all know, Last year the Kentucky Men's Basketball program adopted new uniforms.

The uni's are modeled after the uniforms worn by the U.S. Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal in Beijing last summer. Nike spent 18 months working on the uniform, Tracy Teague (Nike’s global creative director) said.

“We wanted the uniform to be more than something teams wear with a number,” he said. “There’s a richness to the story behind every school and we wanted to bring that to life. We wanted to take the idea of using the uniform as a storytelling canvas and look at the position the basketball team holds in the state and what is important to people. In Kentucky, it’s basketball, bourbon and horse racing.”

Kentucky’s uniforms feature the square pattern of the jockey silks and the blue and white shade colors of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat.

"The uniform tops are also form fitting, which will make it more difficult for opponents to grab. If they're made of extra baggy material, guys are grabbing onto that," Teague said.

Biography On Scott Padgett (Former Kentucky Basketball Player)

Scott Anthony Padgett was born on April 19, 1976, in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a graduate of St. Xavier High School located in Louisville, Kentucky.He chose to play college basketball at the University of Kentucky under both former UK Coaches Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith.
Freshman Season
Padgett saw limited action in his freshman year in 1994-95 that included seven future NBA stars Wayne Turner , Tony Delk, Rodrick Rhodes, Walter McCarty, Jeff Sheppard, Mark Pope and Antoine Walker. After his freshman season, he had academic problems andwas ruled ineligible for the following season. Padgett quit basketball to go work three jobs and for a lawn mowing service.
Sophomore Season
That would not stop Scott's dream of playing Kentucky Basketball as he was reinstated the second half of the 1996-97 season where he played along future pros Ron Mercer, Derek Anderson, Nazr Mohammed and Jamaal Magloire. Their season would come up short of repeating as the National Champions when they lost to the Arizona Wildcats in the National Championship game. He was named to the All-NCAA Final Four Team.
Junior Season
In 1997-98 Scott Padgett earned the starting power forward job in the rotation under first-year UK Head Coach Tubby Smith. This was a break out year for Padgett with the highlight of his season coming when he hit a go-ahead three pointer to cap a 17 point comeback in the Elite 8 vs Duke. UK would go on to win the National Title that year and Padgett will forever be known as part of the "Comeback Cats" for the way UK clawed their way back all year to win games. Awards Padgett earned his Junior Season were First Team All-American (Wooden), All-NCAA Final Four Team, All-NCAA Regional Team, Second Team All-SEC (Coaches), Third Team All-SEC (AP), All-SEC Tournament and Academic All-SEC.
Senior Season
Padgett set a career milestone in his senior season making the 1,000 point club for the Cats. The highlight of his senior season would be in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament vs Kansas as he scored 29 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Padgett was also named to the All-NCAA Regional Team, was First Team All-SEC (Coaches) and Second Team All-SEC (AP) and Academic All-SEC. He also earned the SEC MVP award of the 1999 SEC Tournament.
Professional Basketball Career
Scott Padgett would be the 28th Overall Pick in the 1st Round of the 1999 NBA Draft. Scott Padgett played eight seasons in the NBA for four different NBA teams (Utah Jazz 1999-2003, Houston Rockets 2003-2005, 2006-2007, New Jersey Nets 2005-2006, and the Memphis Grizzlies 2007). He was mostly a back up in the NBA. The highlight of his career came January 21, 2005 while playing with the Houston Rockets, he hit a game winning buzzer beater three point shot to beat the New York Knicks to win the game 92-91. Scott Padgett played one season with CB Granada in the ACB, Spanish Basketball League before retiring from basketball in 2007.
Personal Life/Career After Basketball
Scott Padgett was born to Will and Linda Padgett. He married his wife Cynthia and has three kids, Logan, Lucas, and Layla. Padgett returned to Louisville after his basketball career in 2007 to co-host on The Dave and Scott show with former UofL QB Dave Ragone. Scott Padgett also owns his own franchise of the chain store Popcorn Station out of Louisville. In 2009, Scott Padgett was hired as an assistant strength coach to be on John Calipari's coaching staff in his first year at Kentucky along with former college teammate Tony Delk. Calipari was interested in getting Padgett and Delk a start to their coaching career much in the same way as he started his coaching career in Kansas. Something Calipari does with alumni a lot at his previous coaching destinations.

How Kentucky Got the Colors Blue & White

The University of Kentucky named Blue and White their offical colors in 1892. Before they did so, they had agreed on white and a light yellow color prior to a prior to the Kentucky-Centre College football game on December 19, 1891.

The particular shade of blue was finally chosen by a student who asked, "What color blue?" Then Richard C. Stoll pulled off his necktie, and the rest is history.

Gameday: Vanderbilt at Kentucky

Tomorrow (Jan. 30, 2010), The #1 Kentucky Wildcats (19-1) will take on the (#23 A/P) (#21 Coaches) Vanderbilt Commodores (16-3) in Lexington, Kentucky at Rupp Arena. You can find the game on ESPN. Many excpect it will be a close game. Some on the other hand, think it's 'just another game'. How do you think the game will turn out?

A little info on tomorrow's game:

Last meating, Vanderbilt defeated Kentucky 77-64 in Nashville, Tenn.

Ovearall record, UK leads 131-43.

SEC Records: UK 4-1, Vandy 5-0.

Scoring leaders are, UK: John Wall (17.1 ppg) Vandy: Jeffery Taylor (14.1 ppg)

Calipari on Vanderbilt:

"You can't worry about one guy; every guy that they have can shoot threes, can bounce the ball and pass the ball. It's like my UMass teams. Everybody is a basketball player and they are physically tough. You are not going to punk them. You aren't walking into the gym saying, `Let's throw an elbow and knock somebody down. Knock them out for introductions.' That's not happening. None of that stuff is working in this game. They are a veteran team and they are tough."

Patterson on Vanderbilt game:

"Yesterday everybody was practicing hard. The teammates were out here early taking shots and more focused. We definitely will have a better effort. Vanderbilt has a good winning streak; they are doing well right now and have an extremely tough team. (A.J.) Ogilvy is a tremendous basketball player. He is very strong down low. He can post the ball, and he can also run. He has improved so much on the jump shot. Last year he was able to drive the ball from the perimeter. He can do so much as a big man. We know what type of team they have and we want to do whatever we can to win the game. We are going to bring our `A' game and play our hearts out."

President Obama Calls Kentucky

President Obama called the University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Program and thanks them for doing 'Hoops for Haiti'. He said he was honored to speak to the #1 team in the Country, but his main purpose was to thank them for raising a little bit more than $1 million for the earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12.

"I'm still nervous and shocked about it right now," Wall said minutes after President Obama called the Wildcats to commend their efforts for their 'Hoops for Haiti' last week.

South Carolina Fan Says DeMarcus Cousins Struck Him After Loss

After Kentucky's Tuesday night loss to South Carolina, a television reporter in Columbia S.C., says that DeMarcus Cousins struck a USC fan after South Carolina's upset over #1 Kentucky.

Bob Shields (a worker for a T.V. station in Coulmbia) said that after South Carolina's 68-62 upset over Kentucky, a fan bumped Cousins who he said, Cousins “popped the kid a couple of times in the cheek.”

Neither school confirmed the alleged incident, though. South Carolina spokesman Steve Fink said that he was aware of the incident but that no one in South Carolina's athletic department had discussed it.

“None of our people have brought it up at all, to be honest with you,” Fink said.

The SouthEastern Conference rules state that fans aren't allowed to rush down onto the court during, or after a game. Thus, South Carolina was fined $25,000 for their students rushing down onto the court after the upset.

Biography on Patrick Patterson (Current Kentucky Basketball Player as of 2009-10)

Patrick Patterson was born on March 14, 1989, in Washington, D.C. The 6'8", 235 lb. McDonald's All-American power forward grew up in Hunington W.V., and helped lead his Hunington High School to three-straight state championships.

Choosing Kentucky over Duke, Florida, Virginia, Wake Forest and West Virginia, Patrick Patterson was recruited by Tubby Smith and came to the University of Kentucky where he averaged 16.4 pts a game, along with 7.7 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and 0.8 steals in his first season (2006-07).

In his sophomore season (2007-08), he averaged 17.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, and 0.6 steals. He and Jodie Meeks were the duo that season, as they were UK’s main high scorers. Ending the season, he decided to enter his name in the NBA Draft on April 18, 2009. However, it wouldn’t last one before he withdrew and returned to play at Kentucky on May 8th, 2009.

His Junior year (2009-10), former Memphis Tigers head coach John Calipari replaced Billy Gillispie (who had replaced Tubby Smith in 2006) and brought in a lot of talented players. Patterson has been averging 15.4 points per game this season and he also has a chance of graduating this year, so most likely he won’t be coming back. However, he has had some thought on returning but it’s not for sure. Patterson has had a big impact on the program the past three years, espescially when UK hasn’t been doing too well.

Biography on John Wall (Current Kentucky Basketball Player as of 2009-10)

John Wall was born on September 6, 1990, in Raleigh, North Carolina. In his High School Career, (Word of God Christian Academy) he was a fifth-year senior and was considered by most as the best point guard in his class (2009). Rivals.com had rated him #1, and Scout.com had rated him #2. Wall led his team to the North Carolina Class 1A state championship against United Faith Christian Academy, but they were defeated 56-53 by a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, by Ian Miller.

Wall committed to the University of Kentucky on May 19, 2009. Since he came to UK, he has been a major factor for why the Cats have only lost one game (As of Jan. 28). Wall has made a couple buzzer-beater shots to win against teams such as Miami (OH). He made the game winning shot with .5 seconds left on the clock to win, 72-70. He finished that game with 19 pts, 2 rebs, and 3 stl’s. “The Great Wall of Kentucky” is what he is often called, is projected to be the #1 pick of the 2010 NBA Draft. Calipari won’t hear of it that Wall returns to play a sophomore season at UK.

"I joke about coming back, and like you say, he tells me, no," Wall said.

Calipari told Patrick he'd wrestle with Wall rather than let him return for a second season at Kentucky.

"Coach might," Wall said. "He might pull my eye out. You never know."

So why we still have him, Cat fans, enjoy...because it won't last long.

Biography on Derek Anderson (Former Kentucky Basketball Player)

Derek Lamont Anderson was born on July 18, 1974, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a graduate out of Doss High School located in Louisville, KY. In his college basketball career, he played at Ohio State University, and at the University of Kentucky. In 1996, he helped get Kentucky their 6th National Championship with a team that would have nine future NBA Stars. He later graduated at UK in 1997.

He was first selected by the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers as the 13th overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. He would play for the Cavs from 1997 to 1999, before playing for the Los Angeles Clippers. There he would remain for just one season and in 2000 he went to the San Antonio Spurs where he also played just one season. In his NBA career, he had a lot of injuries which prevented him from playing a lot of games. In Anderson’s 2004-05 season, he only played 8 out of 42 games for the Portland Trail Blazers, and missed similar numbers of games in his previous seasons. He would later play for the Houston Rockets (2005-06), the Miami Heat (2006), and the Charlotte Bobcats (2006-08).

South Carolina Upsets Over Kentucky In Recent Years

Let's take a look back at some of the games the University of South Carolina has one some games that we really thought UK was going to win.

February 15th, 2005: #3 UK goes into the Colonial Center with Chuck Hayes and Kelenna Azubuike and get upset 73-61.

March 11th, 2006: After beating South Carolina twice in the regular season, the Gamecocks defeat UK 65-61 in the SEC Tournament Semi-Finals.

October 4th, 2007: South Carolina Football defeats 5-0 #7 ranked UK 38-23 at Williams-Brice Stadium.

October 11th, 2008: UK Football blows a half-time lead to USC and lose 24-17 at Commonwealth Stadium.

January 31st, 2009: Devan Downey hits a game-winning basket over Kentucky to win 78-77 at Rupp Arena.

February 25th, 2009: South Carolina completes a season sweep over Kentucky for the first time since 1997 with a 77-59 victory at the Colonial Center.

October 10th, 2009: South Carolina comes back and beats Kentucky by two points at Williams-Brice Stadium as UK Starting QB Mike Hartline gets injured and a controversial call made by UK to go for it on 4th Down late in the game rather than kicking the field goal and lose 28-26. That field goal would have been the difference in the game.

January 26th, 2010: South Carolina knocks off #1 ranked Kentucky 68-62 at the Colonial Center to get their first win over a #1 ranked team in school history.

South Carolina got their's today though. The SEC slapped the University of South Carolina with a $25,000 fine for the students rushing the court right after the upset victory last night over Kentucky. Devan Downey has to now face the Rupp Arena crowd one last time before he graduates. Hopefully UK will get revenge on him and the Gamecocks, snapping their 3-game losing streak to them. Just hope that the result of the game won't be the same as last year's game at Rupp Arena.

Kentucky Tastes Defeat

The NCAA has no more undefeated teams this season, as Kentucky goes down to South Carolina for their first defeat of the UK season, losing by a score of 68-62. The refs made a lot of bad calls, and that's what mostly won the game for USC. Not only that, but a lot of UK players had a few wide open lay-up shots, and failed to make them, such as Darnell Dodson. A wide open lay-up bounced off the back of the iron and he missed it. Devan Downey just tore the Cats up, play after play just making lay-ups and he got a lot of And-1's that were really questionable. S. Carolina gets their first win over a #1 team (Kentucky) in the school history. To make the UK fans feel better, UK isn't the only team feeling defeat, as they did after all remain the only undefeated team for a week or so. Looking around the country, UK is no different then the other top 5 teams now, as every team has a loss or more.

1st Half UK 29 USC 26
2nd Half UK 33 USC 42
Final Score UK 62 USC 68

Kentucky Wildcats

Starters

Patrick Patterson 35 mins,8 rebs, 2 blk's and 5 pts
DeMarcus Cousins, 34 mins, 12 rebs,1 stl, 3 blks, and 27 pts
Darius Miller, 14 mins, 1 reb, and 1 ast
Eric Bledsoe, 31 mins, 2 rebs, 5 ast's, and 4 pts
John Wall, 38 mins, 4 rebs, 2 ast's, 1 stl, and 19 pts

Bench

Perry Stevenson, 3 mins
Ramon Harris, 4 mins, and 2 rebs
Darnell Dodson, 21 mins, 2 rebs, 2 stl's, and 5 pts
DeAndre Liggins, 12 mins, 3 rebs, and 1 ast
Daniel Orton, 8 mins, 4 rebs, 1 stl, and 2 pts

Totals, 13 Oreb's, 38 rebs, 9 ast's, 5 stl's, 5 blks and 62 pts

South Carolina Gamecocks

Starters

Sam Muldrow, 37 mins, 11 rebs, 1 stl, 5 blks, and 9 pts
Austin Steed, 20 mins, 6 rebs, 1 nlk, and 4 pts
Devan Downey, 38 mins, 5 rebs, 3 ast's, 2 stl's, and 30 pts
B Raley-Ross, 36 mins, 5 rebs, 2 ast's, 2 stl's, and 17 pts
Lakeem Jackson, 25 mins, 2 rebs, 1 ast, 1 blk and 2 pts

Bench

Evaldas Baniulis, 2 mins
Ramon Galloway, 10 mins, 1 reb, and 2 pts
Johndre Jefferson, 17 mins, 8 rebs, 1 stl, 1 blk, and 4 pts
Stephen Spinella, 15 mins, 2 rebs, and 1 stl

Totals, 16 Oreb's, 40 rebs, 6 ast's, 7 stl's, 8 blk's, and 68 pts

Biography on John Calipari (Current Kentucky Basketball Coach)

John Calipari was born on February 10, 1959 in Moon Township, PA. He lettered two years at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington before transferring to Clarion University. He then graduated there with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing.

From 1982-85, Calipari was an assistant coach at the University of Kansas. He then went to the University of Pittsburgh as an assistant from 1985-88. After Pittsburgh, he left and went to coach at the Massachusetts minutemen from 1988-96. Then at 1996, he left the minutemen and went to the NBA, for the New Jersey Nets where he was a Executive VP of basketball operations. During the 1999-2000 season, Calipari was an assitant coach at the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, before moving to his next coaching job at NCAA's Memphis Tigers.

In his first 17 seasons as a college basketball head coach, Calipari's record is 441-139. His college teams have made eleven NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the Sweet Sixteen seven times, the Elite Eight five times, the Final Four two times, and the championship game once, which was at Memphis.

After Billy Gillispie was dismissed as the head coach at UK, Kentucky was in desperate need of a new coach. Not just any coach, but a coach who would restore Kentucky to glory. On On March 30, 2009, multiple sources said that Calipari had agreed to become the next University of Kentucky Men's Basketball coach. At 9:45 a.m. on April 1, 2009 the University of Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart officialy introduced John Calipari as the new coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

Biography on Billy Gillispie (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Billy Clyde Gillispie was born November 7, 1959 in Abilene, Texas. He grew up in Graford, Texas, a small populated town. As a kid, he worked by delivering newspapers of copies of The Fort Worth Press. At Graford High School, Gillispie was a outstanding point guard there, and later went to Ranger College, playing basketball and baseball for them from 1978-1980. After that he transfered to Sam Houston State University, and worked as a student assistant for their basketball team.

After coaching at college schools, UTEP and Texas A&M, on April 6, 2007, Gillispie was named the offical head coach at the University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Program. He made a lot of recruit waves from five different classes and most striking, an 8th grader, Michael Avery who would be in the class of 2012.

Gillispie's first year as the coach of UK, got off to a bad start. His Wildcats got routed 84-68 by unranked Gardner-Webb in Rupp Arena in the second game of the year. Gillispie improved his team by SEC play, and achieved a 12-4 SEC Conference record.

At the end of the 2008-09 season, Kentucky didn't make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in years. Instead, they went on to gain a #4 seed in the NIT Tournament defeating UNLV and Creigton in the opening and second rounds before losing to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. Kentucky finished the year with a record of 22-14 overall, tieing for the second-most losses ever in the program's history.

He finished at UK with a overall record of 40-27.

AP Top 25 NCAA Men's Basketball Poll

*** As of Jan. 25 ***

1. Kentucky 19-0
2. Kansas 18-1
3. Villanova 18-1
4. Syracuse 19-1
5. Michigan State 17-3
6. Texas 17-2
7. Georgetown 15-3
8. Duke 16-3
9. West Virginia 15-3
10. Purdue 16-3
11. Kansas State 16-3
12. Brigham Young 20-1
13. Gonzaga 16-3
14. Tennessee 15-3
15. Temple 17-3
16. Wisconsin 16-4
17. Pittsburgh 15-4
18. Mississippi 15-4
19. Connecticut 13-6
20. Ohio State 14-6
21. Vanderbilt 15-3
22. Georgia Tech 14-5
23. New Mexico 18-3
24. Baylor 15-3
25. UAB 17-2

Biography on Orlando (Tubby) Smith (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Orlando (Tubby) Smith was born on June 30, 1951 in Scotland, Maryland. He was the sixth of 17 children. He got his nickname when he was young, because he liked to stay in the tub where he, and his brothers and sisters were bathed.

Smith enrolled at High Point University and graduated in 1973. He played under three different coaches at High Point and was an all-conference performer as a senior.

Smith began his coaching career coaching at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland. He amassed a 46-36 record there. He then went to Hoke County High School in Raeford North Carolina where he got a 28-18 record in two seasons.

His first head coaching job would come at the University of Kentucky, becoming the 20th head coach on May 12, 1997. He coached the Cats to their seventh National Title in 1998, including a come from behind win over Duke in the Elite Eight. He also achieved a perfect 16-0 SEC Conference record in 2003, five SEC regular season championships, and five SEC Tournament titles.

As the years went on, fans thought his recruiting was getting really bad, and they decided it was time for him to go. On March 22, 2007 he resigned as UK head coach and went on to coach at Minnesota.

Smith led the Cats to an overall record of 263–83 record for a winning percentage of .760. In his 10 seasons with Kentucky, he averaged over 26 wins per season.

Biography on Rick Pitino (Former UK Head Coach)

Rick Pitino was born on September 18, 1952, in New York, New York. The Italian American grew up in the Village of Bayville and in High School was the captain of the St. Dominic High School basketball team. He went to college at UMass from 1970-74, and was an outstanding point guard for the minutemen.

Pitino’s first Head Coaching job came at Boston University in 1978. He led the team to the NCAA Tournament for he first time in 24 years.

He then left Boston University and went to the New York Nicks (NBA team) and became an assistant coach under Hubie Brown. He then left and became the head coach at Providence in 1985. The team went 11-20 before Pitino came, and in two years he got them to the Final Four.

After spending two years coaching in the NBA, Pitino came back to college level and became the head coach at Kentucky in 1989. The once legendary Kentucky basketball program was falling to pieces. The program was suffering from a major recruitment scandal that was brought on by former UK head coach Eddie Sutton that left UK on NCAA Probation. Pitino quickly restored Kentucky’s reputation and led them to the Final Four in 1993. Then three years later, Rick Pitino would get Kentucky’s 6th National title (1996), Kentucky’s first NCAA Title in 18 years. Pitino left UK after the 1997 season and returned to the NBA again, but returned to coach another college team which would be Louisville in 2001. Pitino finished at UK with a record of 104-28

Biography on Eddie Sutton (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Eddie Sutton was born on March 12, 1936 in Bucklin, Kansas. Sutton played for Oklahoma A&M until his senior year of 1957-58 under coach Henry Iba.

His coaching career began in 1967 in Twin Falls, Idaho at the College of Southern Idaho, a community college. He left them in 1969 to coach at the Creighton Blue Jays.

He coached 36 years of Division 1 College Basketball total, coaching at Arkansas, Creighton, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, and The University of San Francisco. He led two different schools to the Final Four, and was the first coach to take four different schools to the NCAA Tournament.

He coached at UK from 1985-1989 and led the Cats to the Elite Eight of the 1986 NCAA Tournament. He didn’t last long at UK, on the 1988-89 season, he lacked talent in his starting lineup and UK finished with a losing record of 13-19, the team’s first full season losing record since 1927. After the 1988-89 season ended, the NCAA announced that its investigation into the basketball program had found the UK guilty of violating numerous NCAA rules. He finished at UK with a 88-39 overall record at UK.

Sutton then returned to Oklahoma State in 1990, and rebuilt the program, as well as his reputation for coaching getting the school to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in awhile.

He finished with an overall record of 888-341.

Biography on Joe B. Hall (Former Kentucky Head Coach)

Joe Beasman Hall, better known as Joe B. Hall, was born on November 30, 1928 in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Joe B. Hall went to college at the University of Kentucky and played on the 1948 National Title team under Coach Rupp. His coaching career began at Shepherdsville KY High School in 1956. He then went on to Regis College in Denver where he coached for five years with a record of 57-50. He then went to Central Missouri State for one season, getting a 19-6 record before returning to UK on July, 1st as an assistant coach for Rupp.

He coached at the University of Kentucky Wildcat’s Men’s basketball team from 1972 to 1985. Coach Hall won UK their fifth Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship in 1978, and was SEC coach of the year on four different occasions. Along with the 1978 title, he also guided UK to a runner-up finish against the UCLA Bruins in the 1975 NCAA Tournament, a Final Four appearance in the 1984 Tournament, and one NIT Championship in 1976. His record at UK was 297 - 100, and 373-156 over his whole career.

Coach Hall is one of only three men to both play on a championship team (1948 – Kentucky) and coach a team to a championship (1978 – Kentucky). The only other two men to achieve this were Bob Knight and Dean Smith.

Joe Hall currently co-hosts a popular radio show along with former Louisville coach, Denny Crum.

Looking Back on Adolph Rupp's Life (Biography)

Adolph Frederick Rupp was born on September 2, 1901 in Halstead Kansas. Little did he know that someday, he would be the coach of the greatest teams in college basketball, the Kentucky Wildcats. He first became interested in the sport of basketball when he was six, when Halstead High School won two Kansas state high school titles. Later, after growing to 6-foot-2, Rupp was a star on his Halstead High School team, averaging over 19 points a game in both his junior and senior years. He went to school at Kansas and actually played on the Jayhawk’s team as a reserve from 1919-1923.

Later, he became the coach of the Kentucky Wildcats from 1930 to 1972. He actually recruited more than 80% of his players from the state of Kentucky. He amassed 876 wins (3rd best of all-time) and 190 losses, and a 82.2% winning percentage (2nd of all-time). He won four NCAA titles at UK (1948, ’49, ’51, ’58), one NIT Title, appeared in 20 NCAA tournaments, six Final Four appearances, and won 27 SEC regular season titles.

Rupp was later forced into retirement in March 1972 after reaching the age of 70, which at the time was the age of retirement for all UK employees.

He later died in Lexington Ky, on December 10, 1977 (age 76).