KENTUCKY WILDCATS ARE THE 2012 NCAA CHAMPIONS!!! AWESOME BABY!!!!!!!!! =)

Estil

Well folks, OPENING DAY for Kentucky Wildcats basketball is tomorrow for the 2012 season!! After 13 loooong years we finally broke our Final Four drought (the longest in UK history) and we just barely missed making the championship game. But with all the guys from last year's squad we're getting back, not to mention having the top ranked recuiting class in the country, and add to THAT us starting out SECOND in the pre-season AP Poll (with a chance on December 3 to take first place away from the Tar Heels; I definitely hope we're still #1 vs. #2 by then; that will make for a very exciting classic game!). And considering we're now over our Final Four drought, I don't think we should settle for anything less than going for the gold this year!!

2012 KENTUCKY WILDCATS SCHEDULE
===========================
Nov 11 MARIST 108-58
Nov 15 vs Kansas #12 75-65
Nov 19 vs Penn State 85-47
Nov 20 vs Old Dominion 62-52
Nov 23 RADFORD 88-40
Nov 26 PORTLAND 87-63
Dec 01 ST. JOHN'S 81-59
Dec 03 NORTH CAROLINA #5 73-72
Dec 10 @ Clown U 72-73
Dec 17 CHATTANOOGA 87-62
Dec 20 SAMFORD 85-50
Dec 22 LOYOLA 87-63
Dec 28 LAMAR 86-64
Dec 31 LOSERVILLE #4 69-62
Jan 03 vs Arkansas--Little Rock 73-51

----------SEC SCHEDULE----------
Jan 07 SOUTH CAROLINA 79-64
Jan 11 @ Auburn 68-53
Jan 14 @ Tennessee 65-62
Jan 17 ARKANSAS 86-63
Jan 21 ALABAMA 77-71
Jan 24 @ Georgia 57-44
Jan 28 @ LSU 74-50
Jan 31 TENNESSEE 69-44
Feb 04 @ South Carolina 86-52
Feb 07 FLORIDA #8 78-58
Feb 11 @ Vanderbilt 69-63
Feb 18 MISSISSIPPI 77-62
Feb 21 @ Mississippi State 73-64
Feb 25 VANDERBILT 83-74 <----SEC REGULAR SEASON TITLE CLINCHED
Mar 01 GEORGIA 79-49
Mar 04 @ Florida #16 74-59<--KENTUCKY COMPLETES 3RD UNDEFEATED SEC SCHEDULE (1996, 2003, 2012)

2012 SEC TOURNAMENT
=================
Mar 09 LSU 60-51
Mar 10 Florida 74-71
Mar 11 Vanderbilt 64-71 Eh...

ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR
==================
16 Western Kentucky 81-66
08 Iowa State 87-71
04 Clown U 102-90
03 Baylor 82-60<--2012 NCAA FINAL FOUR

QUEST FOR OUR EIGHTH CHAMPIONSHIP
=============================
LOSERville 69-61
Kansas 67-59 WE DID IT!!!!!!

KEY:
HOME GAME
Win
Loss

Brick

Piece of cake. I see no one on the schedule that will even give them a scare. North Carolina may stay with them for a half if they meet in the tournament but the Wildcats would easily pull away in the second half.

prthd

OHIO STATE BABY !!!!!

Estil

<< <i>Piece of cake. I see no one on the schedule that will even give them a scare. North Carolina may stay with them for a half if they meet in the tournament but the Wildcats would easily pull away in the second half. >>



How do you figure? They're #1 and we're not.

Yet...

Still I am very tempted to think that maybe, just maybe we could see a squad similar to our magical 1996 team?

Estil

<< <i>OHIO STATE BABY !!!!! >>



Too bad we don't play them in the regular season (I guess you can still try to catch us in the poll). But if you get in our way come NCAA Tournament time, we'll be more than happy to take ya to school again

prthd

<< <i>

<< <i>OHIO STATE BABY !!!!! >>



Too bad we don't play them in the regular season (I guess you can still try to catch us in the poll). But if you get in our way come NCAA Tournament time, we'll be more than happy to take ya to school again >>



bring it big boy

PowderedH2O

Not that excited about a #1 vs #2 matchup in December unless it is in football. Kentucky has tons of talent. How they perform in the regular season really won't mean a whole lot. It is all about the Tournament. They are VERY young, and that means generally unpredictable. So, you might have a team there that is a Final Four team, or a team that loses in the first couple of rounds if they draw a matchup with an experienced team that didn't get a great seeding.

Estil

That's true with most any team in the postseason. That's true in best-of-seven series and especially more true in single elimination tournaments like the NCAA's. We just gotta stay focused and keep our eyes on the prize.

PS: I appreciate that I'm actually getting responses this time; I wasn't sure if anyone else besides myself or frankhardy even gave a flying Fig Newton about UK.

frankhardy

I cannot wait till UK plays UNC. Folks, if you don't already know it, tune in to see Anthony Davis. He is going to be insanely good. He is a point guard in a power forward/center body. He grew several inches in high school and didn't loose any coordination. He can block shots, handle the ball, and shoot it from long range.

Also, Terrence Jones will be a beast!

Estil

Well let's hope they and the rest of Cats remember to eat their Wheaties! That's what my grandma used to tell me--that Wheaties are what the basketball players eat (except David Robinson; he ate Kellogg's Raisin Bran)! Just like how Campbell's Chunky Soup is what the football players eat!

Estil

Well folks, the Reds, eh I mean Marxists, eh whatever, sure tried to hang in with us for about the first 15 minutes or so (we did our offense pretty much perfectly but our defense looked a little rusty) but I knew that it was just first game jitters and we warmed up pretty nicely with a FIFTY POINT blowout! I had a hunch that this team just maybe could be comparable to our magical 1996 squad where we blew away nearly everyone (even top 25's).

I have a feeling our next opponent will put up a much better fight (Kansas after all is ranked and is a big name brand school) but that's our best opponent before our UNC game so we'd better pull out a convincing win so we can make the Tar Heels really good and scared of us

frankhardy

What did I tell you about Anthony Davis? How about that for a debut!

Estil

<< <i>What did I tell you about Anthony Davis? How about that for a debut! >>



Indeed, and once Terrance Jones is again 100%, we'll really be in business!

Estil

Again, a not so strong first half, but we managed to recover nicely and properly dispose of Kansas by ten points! Not quite as convincing a win as I would like, but we'll take it! Now we just have to torture and crucify five more Mickey Mouse clubs and then we'll be all set to swipe the top spot away from the 'Heels! And once we do there will be no looking back! We are on a mission this year, there won't be no "hope we get lucky" like in a lot of past years, no sir! Once we grab the #1 ranking from North Carolina we are not gonna stop until that big gold trophy is back in Memorial Coliseum where it belongs!

Unfortunately, we did see a bit of not-so-unselfish play in this game (granted it's only our second game but still), so I hope every now and then Coach Cal will show our guys some footage of our magical 1996-98 teams and let them observe how the key to bringing home two golds and a silver in those years was pure teamwork and unselfishness (which considering what our 1996 squad was made of that is quite remarkable). And I'm sure our players are not idiots and know how starving Big Blue Nation is to bring home the gold. After all isn't the only name brand school besides us that's failed to win a title in the 21st century is UCLA and Indiana (though Indiana won the silver in 2002)?

Estil

I've just received the Fox News Alert that little ol' UNLV was a little too much for the big bad Tar Heels and beat them by ten points, which means that the KENTUCKY WILDCATS will move up to FIRST PLACE when the new AP Poll comes out in a day or two! Now granted, I would've preferred it be us who knocked them off the top perch but we'll take the top ranking any way we can get it, and come this Saturday UNC will really be shown why this will be OUR year! We do still have a little Mickey Mouse Club to beat up on first but that'll get us good and warmed up for the EX-#1 ranked 'Heels!

All I can say is that now that we're the #1 team in the country we should never let it go until we are hosting that big blue 2012 NCAA CHAMPIONS banner in Rupp Arena!

benderbroeth

this really should be a great game!!! go heels!!!

PowderedH2O

All I can say is that now that we're the #1 team in the country we should never let it go until we are hosting that big blue 2012 NCAA CHAMPIONS banner in Rupp Arena

Fast forward to 2015....

[AP] Sources confirm that Kentucky has been stripped of its 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship for numerous violations which occured under John Calipari's tenure. Calipari himself was not implicated, but the scandal has been widespread, involving numerous players and boosters. Etc, etc....

Estil

<< <i>All I can say is that now that we're the #1 team in the country we should never let it go until we are hosting that big blue 2012 NCAA CHAMPIONS banner in Rupp Arena

Fast forward to 2015....

[AP] Sources confirm that Kentucky has been stripped of its 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship for numerous violations which occured under John Calipari's tenure. Calipari himself was not implicated, but the scandal has been widespread, involving numerous players and boosters. Etc, etc.... >>



Oh go back under the bridge troll.

SanctionII

The things I like about Kentucky are (in no particular order):

1. Horses;

2. Horse country with green and white splitrial fencing going on forever;

3. The Derby;

4. UK Hoops (the UK uniforms are usually great looking, particularly with the blue and white color; and the players who wear them usually look like thoroughbred horses or greyhounds);

5. Sold out games at Rupp Arena; and

6. UK Cheerleaders (usually blonde with blue eyes and a great southern drawl), who IMO are to college hoops what USC cheerleaders are to college football.

My only connection to UK hoops is that I played high school hoops in 1974 as a senior against a cross town rival that had a sophmore named LaVon Williams (he played at UK from 1976-77 season through the 1979-80 season and was a member of the 1978 National Champs playing with Jack Givens, Rick Robey and Mike Phillips. Givens scored 41 points in the Championship game against Duke, leading UK to a 94-88 win.

LodiBrewFan

Bama may have a chance in Rupp on Jan 21st. We are not that bad this year!

Estil

<< <i>

6. UK Cheerleaders (usually blonde with blue eyes and a great southern drawl), who IMO are to college hoops what USC cheerleaders are to college football. >>



Oh yes!! When I was working the Commons Market (one of our two main cafeterias; we have several smaller ones scattered about the campus too) I got to see the Kentucky Girls come through our lines a lot! I must say a lot of them were tiny little chicks; at first I wasn't sure if they were even our students (like maybe they pick HS cheerleaders to cheer at UK games or something)! But yes I absolutely agree we got the best cheerleaders in college b-ball and it's always really cute watching them do their cheer whenever we make a basket.

Estil

<< <i>Bama may have a chance in Rupp on Jan 21st. We are not that bad this year! >>



Well as it stands now you're in 12th place in the country so you had better be "not that bad this year".

I guess you could say we're the Evil Empire in SEC basketball and Alabama is the Evil Empire in SEC football.

Estil

Though the 'Heels sure kept with us most of the game (and in fact got some fairly convincing leads at some point), all that really matters is the final score, and the KENTUCKY WILDCATS come out on top!! Next up is to go up the river to make a joke out of Clown College. Then we got a few more Mickey Mouse clubs after that until we face our next big test against LOSERville.

Go Cats!!

frankhardy

Great game. What stuck out to me was that even though UNC was deadly from behind the arc, UK still pulled it out. If UNC would have just shot average behind the arc, it would have been a 10 to 12 point game.

Estil

<< <i>Great game. What stuck out to me was that even though UNC was deadly from behind the arc, UK still pulled it out. If UNC would have just shot average behind the arc, it would have been a 10 to 12 point game. >>



Of course us making our own 3's would've done the job too.

Dboneesq

OH WELL. What a game. Who is the new #1????

Brick

Obviously the Buckeyes are #1




...uh, wait a minute


Oh well, can't win em all

Estil

How could we let this happen??? Now granted I appreciate our guys not giving up after being down by ten and actually having a good chance to win but still, how could we have lost to CLOWN U???? You folks have no idea how embarrassing this loss is for us (though to be fair the Clowns are running the table this season). And you know what makes it even worse?? Now only do we lose our #1 ranking but Loserville, frickin' LOSERVILLE will be ranked higher than us!! That's okay though, we'll get our chance against them soon enough.

I am very concerned about Terrance Jones. It's like he just "shut down" or something right during the game (Coach had to bench him for the remainder of the game) and that is extremely unusual for that to happen when the stakes are so high. I hope there's nothing seriously wrong with him...

delcherz

You have to admit it was a nice shot by the Indiana Player. But what i liked the most was Dick Vitale commentating lol

kgibson

Clown U? I assume you are referring to the retro warm up pants, because you can’t be referring to academics. Here are the national academic rankings for IU and UK from the most recent U.S. News and World Report. National Universities - IU #75, UK #124; Public Universities – IU #31, UK #59; Medicine- IU #24, UK #55; Law- IU #23, UK #71; Chemistry - IU #26, UK #94; Education - IU #21, UK #83; Economics - IU #46, UK #56; Business – IU #23, UK #102; Biological Sciences – IU #34, UK #115; Fine Arts – IU #30, UK #150; Library & Info Systems – IU #7, UK #27; Clinical Psychology - IU #6, UK #33; and Public Affairs – IU #2, UK #32. And now we add basketball to the 2011 list, so yes, IU did run the table on UK. But don’t worry. I’m sure you will feel superior once again when you get to SEC conference play.

Brick

My granddaughter entered the University of Kentucky a few years ago. She spent two years there but didn't feel challanged academically so she transferred to the Ohio State University where she graduated this year. She was dissapointed by the library at UK as there was only one book there and it was already colored in.

Estil

<< <i>Clown U? I assume you are referring to the retro warm up pants, because you can’t be referring to academics. Here are the national academic rankings for IU and UK from the most recent U.S. News and World Report. National Universities - IU #75, UK #124; Public Universities – IU #31, UK #59; Medicine- IU #24, UK #55; Law- IU #23, UK #71; Chemistry - IU #26, UK #94; Education - IU #21, UK #83; Economics - IU #46, UK #56; Business – IU #23, UK #102; Biological Sciences – IU #34, UK #115; Fine Arts – IU #30, UK #150; Library & Info Systems – IU #7, UK #27; Clinical Psychology - IU #6, UK #33; and Public Affairs – IU #2, UK #32. And now we add basketball to the 2011 list, so yes, IU did run the table on UK. But don’t worry. I’m sure you will feel superior once again when you get to SEC conference play. >>



Well they are our rivals you know. If you think that's bad, what do you think Indiana calls their rival Purdue? Pee U (pronouncing P.U. like words)! As for Loserville, they typically call us "uck" (UK pronounced like a word).

PS: This has nothing to do with academics; shoot one of our most hated rivals, them dang Duke boys, are the Harvard of the South.

coinkat

Indiana is a terrific school and has a great basketball tradition- I think they have won the most Big Ten Championships.

Clown U?

Indiana deserves better than that.

Lets move on

Estil

Well luckily we only dropped to 3rd place, and THANKFULLY Loserville is not above us. That's okay though we'll get a crack at them soon enough; perhaps that game could end up being a #1 vs #2?

Estil

Well, it looks like we'll have to settle for #3 vs. ex-#4 (I guess also-ran Georgetown was just too much for them...) but that's okay, we will show that other school who's the boss of the Commonwealth!

Estil

And we do indeed show LOSERville who's boss! And I must say we beat them more convincingly than I thought we would too! This most definitely makes up for our embarrassment at Bloomington.

We still got one more Mickey Mouse Club and then it's on to conference play! Hopefully the Gators won't give us too much trouble.

Estil

Well, we sure wrapped up our opening game in conference play really nicely! And with a little help from Ohio State, we are now in second place! Now we just need a little help from Syracuse (again)...

Estil

Well well well, Syracuse last Saturday finally proved to be human after all and with their help last Saturday (I'll be sure to send them a thank you note ), the KENTUCKY WILDCATS are back at the top of the charts where they belong!! And I am just as pleased as punch that there's another team from Kentucky near the top ten (they're 9th in that other poll nobody cares about), and it's NOT LOSERville! Seriously, one of my favorite teachers went to Murray State and they are one of the biggest surprises of the year (they're the last team left that's running the table). They just better not run into us in the NCAA Tournament. That's not the first time they've been in the national spotlight though. In 1990, facing Michigan State, they came the closest to pulling the ultimate upset; a 16 beating a 1 by being the only 16 seed to take a 1 seed the distance (OT) before losing by four. The year before 16 seed Princeton (I think) came within a controversial last second shot of upsetting 1 seed Georgetown.

Estil

I guess so much for Florida being eighth ranked For a team in the top ten they sure didn't put up nearly as good a fight as I expected.

PowderedH2O

Typical Calipari team. #1 through most of the season. Rack up lots of impressive wins. Get to the Final Four. Choke. Retroactively find out that someone (but never Calipari) was illegally funding the players. So far, this is true to form.

Estil

<< <i>Typical Calipari team. #1 through most of the season. Rack up lots of impressive wins. Get to the Final Four. Choke. Retroactively find out that someone (but never Calipari) was illegally funding the players. So far, this is true to form. >>



Get back under the bridge you stupid troll.

Estil

Boy we sure dodged a bullet against Vandy didn't we? Just five games to go and we will again run the table in the conference just like we did in 1996 and 2003! But it won't be easy with both our remaining road games against ranked teams. But no matter, we got a top overall seed to clinch!

PowderedH2O

Get back under the bridge you stupid troll.

Wow... how polite.

Estil

<< <i>Get back under the bridge you stupid troll.

Wow... how polite. >>



Well what do you expect when you make obvious "cheater Cal" overtones? The man is innocent in both cases (UMass and Memphis) and the NCAA never even so much as accused him of anything, much less convicted him of any wrongdoing. DEAL WITH IT.

Bottom line is you are being a textbook definition of a troll and if you don't want to be treated like a troll, stop acting like one.

DavidPuddy

Did you see the Beatle Bally cartoon in which Calipari was suspended by the NCAA in 2013? It just came out last week.
How does Mort Walker know that Calipari will be found guilty of numerous infractions one year before it happens?
Can you help solve this mystery?

PowderedH2O

I understand now. This thread is meant to be a cheering, one-sided, pro-Calipari, pro-Kentucky thread. Any opinions that might differ from those will result in name calling. I will keep that in mind, and I will keep my opinions to myself on this thread or any other propaganda that you spew forth in the future. I was civil in my comments, yet you stooped to name calling... twice. God forbid anyone say anything contrary to your opinion. The FACT is that Calipari has left a trail of probation wherever he has gone (pure coincidence, I am quite sure). The FACT is that Kentucky basketball has one of the worst histories of cheating in the history of college sports (1952-53 season cancelled due to fixing scandal, 1976 scholarship reductions, 1980's probation, etc.). The building that they play in is named after one of the most surly, nasty human beings to ever set foot on a basketball court. I won't get into Rupp's alleged racism, but most people that dealt with him found him to be a guy that makes Bob Knight seem like Mr. Friendly. So, you may continue to call me whatever you will, but you'll not change my opinion and you will not change the facts.

Good day.

Estil

<< <i>I understand now. This thread is meant to be a cheering, one-sided, pro-Calipari, pro-Kentucky thread. Any opinions that might differ from those will result in name calling. I will keep that in mind, and I will keep my opinions to myself on this thread or any other propaganda that you spew forth in the future. I was civil in my comments, yet you stooped to name calling... twice. God forbid anyone say anything contrary to your opinion. The FACT is that Calipari has left a trail of probation wherever he has gone (pure coincidence, I am quite sure). The FACT is that Kentucky basketball has one of the worst histories of cheating in the history of college sports (1952-53 season cancelled due to fixing scandal, 1976 scholarship reductions, 1980's probation, etc.). The building that they play in is named after one of the most surly, nasty human beings to ever set foot on a basketball court. I won't get into Rupp's alleged racism, but most people that dealt with him found him to be a guy that makes Bob Knight seem like Mr. Friendly. So, you may continue to call me whatever you will, but you'll not change my opinion and you will not change the facts.

Good day. >>



FACT: My only objection was you calling Calipari a cheater when there is no evidence whatsoever he had anything to do with the UMass or Memphis scandals. If you were a prosecutor and tried to tell the judge/jury "Well, he happened to be there both times so he must be guilty!", they'd laugh you out of the courtroom.

FACT: You have no real evidence that Rupp was a racist. In fact, he coached and started Moses Mosley, the first black basketball player and second black graduate of Freeport HS (where Rupp coached in 1926-29 before coming to UK). Yes, you heard right. He coached an integrated basketball team in the 1920s. He wanted very much to integrate UK as well but the rest of the SEC was very much uncooperative in that end (with much of the rest of the league threatening to not take the court if he tried). Read here if you want to know the whole story.

I don't mind your opinion at all. If you want to bash Kentucky be my guest. But don't smear an innocent man when there is no evidence he did anything wrong. And don't smear Rupp when you don't have any real evidence that he was a racist.

Should we indeed hang that big blue 2012 NCAA Champions banner in Rupp, I'd advise you not to hold your breath waiting for it to get taken down.

Estil

Well folks, it's now the last game of the regular season (and congrats to Coach Cal for three straight years of running the table at Rupp), and we go to Fenway, eh I mean Gainesville to try to go undefeated in the SEC, just as we did in 1996 and 2003! I personally consider Kentucky/Florida to be the equilvant (roughly speaking) of Yankees/Red Sox in the SEC, and it should be a good game! Let's wrestle those Gators, Cats!

Brick

Kentucky is head and shoulders better than anyone else in the country. Only a colossal screw up could prevent them from winning out right through the NCAA.

Estil

And indeed we did it! For the third time in franchise, eh I mean school history, we run the table in SEC, having also done so in 1996 and 2003. And I knew Florida would give us a good fight but I'm very impressed how in the end we really pulled away and gave an impressive convincing 15 point win on their turf.

Now it's on to tournament time, baby! At the top of this thread I went ahead and listed our likely SEC Tournament match-ups (LSU/Arkansas is a classic 8 vs 9 toss-up so I went ahead and listed both for now).




<< <i>Kentucky is head and shoulders better than anyone else in the country. Only a colossal screw up could prevent them from winning out right through the NCAA. >>



If there's a "colossal screw up", it had better damn well happen in the SEC Tournament. After all it happened in 1996, and look how that year turned out.

I still think Syracuse will give us a good fight in the championship game (surely they will put them and us on opposite sides of the bracket); they did in 1996 after all. Won't that be a fun rematch?

And one very encouraging thought is that we will probably be in the Southeast quadrant of the Big Dance, where we play our first two games at Loserville and the next two at "Catlanta". So you could say we will have pseudo-home court advantage this year!

Estil

Well they weren't pretty wins but I guess wins are wins at this stage, right? Still, I hope this isn't a bad sign that Florida and even LSU actually gave us somewhat a challenge.

Also, should UK indeed beat Vandy tomorrow and take home that pyramid (what the SEC Tournament trophy is shaped like) I hope they will hoist the trophy, wear the caps/shirts, and snip the first of (hopefully) three nets. I know sometimes a team in Kentucky's position will skip the conference tournament championship celebration (didn't they do so last year or the year before?) but personally I think it's very bad luck to do so. After all, look what happened to the 1996 Braves when they didn't pop any champagne upon winning the division or even NL title, expecting to "save it" for their second straight World Series title. Well we all know how that turned out...