Allright, so the Cats are 4-2 now. After a tough going in Maui, the Kentucky Basketball team pulled out a win against the College of Charleston Cougars Tuesday night 77-61.

Kentucky held the Cougars to 37% from the field in the 1st half, which allowed them to go on a run that College of Charleston could not overcome.

Junior Randolph Morris scored 17 for the Cats, while Joe Crawford threw in 15, and Perry Stevenson contributed with 14.

Which brings me to my question...

What lineup would you like to see for the Cats this year? Does Perry Stevenson have to be in the game? Are there other areas that you think need to be addressed?

Let us know what you think!

Outside the Huddle

I have never been more excited at the prospect of a place opening in a long time. Right here in victorian square is going to be the best sports grille and pizzeria in town. Brooklyn sports grille will be open this Saturday dec 2nd what a great place to eat and watch the games.

Live Game Blog:

Are you watching the UK Memphis game on TV right now during the Huddle? If so, what do you think about the game? What do you think about the team in general? What do you want us to know? You guys make the blog today...

Weekend Recap:

The basketball team returns to form as Ramel Bradley contributes with 21 pts, 5 assists, and only 2 turnovers.

The football team eeeks out a close one 42-40 over Louisiana Monroe. Let's just be glad that they got this one out of their system before Tennessee and the bowl game.

The basketball team takes on DePaul tonight at 9pm in the start of the Maui Tournament.

Here are my questions to you all:
1. What did you think about the basketball game Friday? Did this reassure you after the Miami of OH game?
2. What did you think about the football game on Saturday?
3. What do you think about the upcoming game against Tennessee?
4. What do you think the Cats chances are of winning the Maui Tourney?

Cats 57 Miami University 46. UK is 1-0 (that's the important thing).

Sure, it wasn't the prettiest thing in the whole entire world, but that doesn't matter on paper. It matters when we analyze it, but years down the line when we look back at it, a win is a win is a win.

On our post game show, Jim Tirey, Ryan Lemond, and I, went in to depth about the game (by the way you can listen to us an hour before the game and an hour after the game). Here's what we came up with:

1. Stevenson is amazing. He had 7 blocks! Tubby has no choice but to play Stevenson because of his defense. Woo only had 8 minutes in this game because of the way Stevenson played.

2. Morris needs to be worked into the game more. He only had 7 shots the whole game. Stevenson maybe had 1 shot the whole first half. Where's the inside game? When Morris touches the ball at least once a possession, the offense runs much more smoothly.

3. Cut back on the turnovers

4. What happened to the uptempo game?

5. Jodie Meeks is going to be amazing.

Personally, I tend to side on the belief that this was the first real game. The freshmen were probably a little nervous. Rupp Arena has a different feeling from exhibition to regular season game... Wait until they've played a little bit before we jump all over them. Like I said before, a win is a win is a win.

Outside the Huddle

OK OK--- THROUGH MANY MANY DAYS OF BEGGING BY JOHN I WILL NOW POST MY FIRST BLOGGING EXPERIENCE.

I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND ALL FUSS ABOUT THE BCS STANDINGS. AFTER ALL IN ANY SYSTEM YOU CAN PLAY THE WHAT IFS. ARGUABLY, IF THE WORLD SERIES WAS PLAYED AGAIN THE OUTCOME COULD BE "AND I SAY COULD BE" DIFFERENT. NCAA BASKETBALL IS EXCITING BECAUSE ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT A TEAM OF LESSER NOTABILITY CAN AND DOES WIN. NOW HOW IS THAT BEING SURE THE BEST TEAM IS THE NATIONAL CHAMPION. SEEMS TO ME IT IS THE BEST TEAM AT THE TIME. I THINK PROBABLY BECAUSE OF MY PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE AND THE COUTLESS HOURS YOU SPEND ON STATISTICAL PROBABILITY I AM IN TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE BCS. BASED ON ALL NUMBERS ABOUT WHO PLAYED WHO AND THE WON LOSS COLUMN THE STATISTICS ARE A BETTER GUAGE OF WHO REALLY DESERVES THE CHANCE TO PLAY FOR THE TITLE THAN ANY PLAYOFF SYSTEM COULD MUSTER. AFTER ALL THE FIGURES NEVER LIE BUT LIERS ALWAYS FIGURE. GOOD DAY

The UK men's basketball season officially starts today... THE WAIT IS OVER.

No more, last year they lost 10 games...
No more, there was no chemistry...
No more...
No more...

Before the season starts, and after you've seen them play a couple of exhibition games. I'm curious where you think the Cats will end up this season. Give me a prediction of their W-L, where they'll finish in the SEC tournament, and where they'll finish in the NCAA tournament.

As far as Miami of OH goes, how do you think they'll do tonight?

Their tallest starter is 6-9, but they have some bruisers that are 200+ lbs.

The starting lineup is looking to be:
Morris
Stevenson
Perry
Crawford
Bradley

By the way, I know it's getting way overblown by the media, but do you think what Bobby Knight did was wrong?

UK has officially turned themselves around; they are in a bowl for the first time since 1999. Even better, is that the team is starting to come together even more late in the season. Rafael Little is back, Keenan Burton had his best game ever, Alfonso Smith, Tony Dixon, and Dicky Lyons Jr remain solid in their positions... And of course, there's Andre Woodson. The player that was involved in a quarterback "controversy" in the beginning of the season. What happened to Curtis Pulley in all of this?

Anyway, what bowl do you think UK will end up in?

What have you been most pleased with this season?

Do you think UK can win out?

By the way, how about the NFL? What a crazy weekend.

Tomorrow, Louisville will play Rutgers in one of the biggest games ever for both teams. Rutgers has typically never been this high in the rankings and Louisville has the chance to play for the BCS championship.

Do you think Louisville should play for the championship if they win out?

If you don't think they should, who should take their place?

What would fix the BCS rankings? (I know it's the big question every year)

Pre-season's over...

Whatever happened before doesn't mean anything now. The only thing the Cats can do is focus on Miami of Ohio coming up next Wednesday.

Here's what I took from last night's game:

Stevenson is going to be a force to be reckoned with. The Big Blue Network said he had 8 blocks, the official box score said 5. Anyway you cut it, he's a defensive presence early. He is going to play and play soon. I could potentially see him breaking the starting lineup (depending on how Sheray Thomas plays when he comes back).

Meeks is another guy who will play soon. He's proven himself as a scorer (which is something UK needs after the loss of Rondo). He's also shown that he's one of the quickest guys on the floor at all times.

Morris... What can you say about him? He's one of the keys to the season. He HAS to stay out of foul trouble and he has to be in the game.

I'm still waiting for Crawford to break out.

Perry did some really good things and some bad things last night. He did a great job guarding someone a lot quicker than he was, but he shouldn't be trying to shoot when he beats someone off the dribble. He's typicially someone who works better when he gets an open look.

Bradley is unquestionably the leader of the team. I know that Perry is the "senior leader" but this team is going to live and breathe on the shoulders of Ramel Bradley. He still had a solid game (despite the turnovers). This team will go as far as he can carry them.

Woo and Carter will lose playing time due to Stevenson and the return of Sheray Thomas. Look for them to go in to pick up fouls (along with Coury) and to give Morris a rest.

Porter and Jasper will be solid contributors to the Cats this year, but not to the level of Meeks and Stevenson.

I think this will be a better team than most people think...

Did you ever think this would happen? Only one day ago UK took a huge step to becoming bowl elgible. In fact, they could even get to 7-5 this year with a win over Vandy and Louisiana-Monroe. What would happen if the Cats went 8-4 with a huge last game win over Tennessee? Would Kentucky fans tear down the school?

There are a few scenarios that I can take from this season...

1. Rich Brooks comes back to continue the rebuilding of Kentucky's football program. He has built the foundation, it's time for him to build the rest of the house.

2. Rich Brooks hands over the reigns to another coach and retires.

3. Rich Brooks hands over the reigns to another coach and becomes the AD of Oregon (brought up in our UK Football Pregame show).

Whichever way you slice it, Rich Brooks is not going anywhere for a while nor do I blame UK for keeping him.

The question I have to ask though, is does this take any of the spotlight away from the basketball team? In Kentucky, basketball is king. However, with the way Louisville and Kentucky are playing, will the focus remain on football for longer than usual?

The goalposts came down...
The fans cheered...
One of the biggest wins EVER at UK...

That's right, I'll say it. This had to be one of the biggest wins ever at UK. The Kentucky Football team finally beat someone that they weren't supposed to beat. I know I said it earlier in the week, but this was THE MOST IMPORTANT game of the season for UK. The game that really counts now will be Louisiana-Monroe (unless UK beats Vandy next week at home).

(I also called that this was a winnable game by the way)

What does this mean for the UK Football Team and it's coaching staff?

Do you think the goalposts should have come down?

I'll have more on this tomorrow...

Hey everyone,

So for those of you that were lucky enough to go to the UK game last night, I was suprised at the lack of people in the seats. But, that's not the real story. Yes, I understand it's Lindsey Wilson, but those freshmen looked pretty good. He played 3 of them (Meeks, Jasper, and Stevenson) for over 20 minutes and played Porter for 17. Meeks even had 28 minutes! It wasn't Meeks point scoring ability that impressed me the most (although he did go 3-4 from 3 point land), but it was Stevenson's defense.

Everyone went in talking about Meeks and Jasper and overlooked the tall and lanky Stevenson. We know Meeks is good. We know that he'll play a lot right away. Stevenson is someone that has that ability as well; he looked like he could jump twice before anyone else could jump once.

Tubby definitely used this game to get a good look at his freshmen, and if he's like me, he liked what he saw. Lindsey Wilson may not be an SEC team, but they're still ranked 8th in the NAIA.

So what are we looking at now:

Morris: 4/5
??????: 4/5 (Maybe Stevenson or Thomas when he gets back)
Perry: 3
Crawford: 2
Bradley: 1

Meeks: 1st sub

For his starting role, Woo only played 10 minutes. The only player that got less minutes than him was Mark Coury.

What did you guys think of this game?

Rob-I will do my best to post more blogs. I had hoped that more people would join in, but if you guys have something you want to talk about, post it in a comment and I'll move it to the main topic.

Okay, so UK beat Mississippi St. 34-31. We're all happy that they got out of that one. The story of the game was Smith emerging as an option as running back. Andre Woodson turned in another solid performance, as did Dicky Lyons Jr. and Keenan Burton. The defense held the Bulldogs to ONLY 24 yards rushing! Unfortunately, they did let them throw the ball all over the field.

Here's the debate though:

With 4 games left (3 against SEC opponents), what games are winnable to you? There is one gimme game in Louisiana-Monroe, a game that would be a HUGE upset in Tennessee, and then the middle of the road games against Georgia and Vandy. I think Vandy is better than we all give them credit for, which in my mind only leaves Georgia. Georgia is the game standing between UK and their bowl game. Which again would make this week the biggest week in Rich Brooks' career. What do you think about all this? Which game does UK HAVE to win?

Hey everyone,

Chris Cross is on vacation this week so Mike and I were wondering what sorts of things you all would like us to talk about this week on the Sports Huddle.

What sorts of things have you all been dying to talk about but couldn't because Chris Cross would tell you to "get off his phone"

There will be lots of special guests this week to look forward to... And, you might even get to hear me on the show too.

Come hang out with us while we do the show this week:
Monday - The Grapevine (Tates Creek Center)
Tuesday - Downtown Studio
Wednesday - Jack Kain Ford (Versailles Rd.)
Thursday - The Ketch
Friday - Downtown Studio

Just when you thought things were looking up, a team like LSU comes and brings us back down to reality. I'm not surprised that UK lost this game; I'm just surprised the way it happened... 49-0

For those of you that want it spelled out (I know I don't), that means that UK let LSU score 7 touchdowns and they couldn't even score one themselves.

What happened to the improved offense this year?

The fact that UK couldn't even score a field goal let alone a touchdown is what disappoints me the most. The high flying offense only put up around a whopping 220 yards; 84 of which were taken back by penalties. So let's look at this for what it is. UK got beat by the better team. We knew it was going to happen, but no one thought it would happen like this.

What needs to be done in order for UK to be successful?

Is the defense not letting Kentucky get into the game, or is the offense that needs to come up with more drives to help the defense? Do you think that it's both sides fault?

What has to happen?

The Life of ESPN Sports Radio 1300's Operations Manager

Hey everyone,

I bet you're wondering where I've been lately and wondering why the blog has suffered. I know I apologize, but there's a lot to talk about now so I suppose I'll make up for it. I'll try and run you through the week as best as possible.

Monday

Went to Keeneland for the morning broadcast of "Live From the Backstretch" with Mike Penna and Pete Kules. This show is always fun because you get to run into a lot of people in the horse industry and you get to see the horses working out in the morning. I almost got a bunch of jockeys mad at me with my rolling equipment bag with all the remote stuff in it because the noise was getting the horses excited. Once I realized what I was doing, I picked the bag up instead of rolling it. Finished broadcast at 10am and rushed back to WLXG.

I then got ready for Brooks' Monday press conference. Here's the thing about this one that got me. It seemed as if the media focused more on the offense than the defense. Honestly, I think the defense has been what's hurt them the whole year. It seems to me that there are always a handful of guys that come to play on defense every game, but in order for them to win, they need to get everyone on the same boat. Sometimes, defense cannot be taught, coached, etc. Sometimes, defense comes down to pride and who has it. You need to take pride in what you do to wrap up and make the tackle, pride in what you do to take on the double team so that someone can make a tackle, and pride in what you do to cover the wide reciever that may be faster than you. It seemed to me that everyone was very concerned with the fact that Little is out for a month, etc. etc. I think the issue with the running game comes down to the simple fact that UK hasn't had a set offensive line all year. Although the injury bug hasn't been as bad as it was last year, it's affected key positions that don't always get all the press. The offensive line, in my honest opinion, is the most important part of the offense. Without a solid offensive line, there is no passing or running game. The biggest surprise to me on defense is the fact that they haven't been able to stop the run as good as we thought they would. Here's a front 7 that we thought was going to eat up the run in the preseason. However, the injury bug has plagued them in those key areas and now they're looking for more D Tackles and have had to move some offensive tackles to defense. By the way, if you're still in school and can play DT, talk to Coach.

Tuesday

Live from the Backstretch in the morning and Sports Huddle at night.

Wednesday

Live from the Backstretch in the morning, back to WLXG to book guests for the Sports Huddle and to make promos, and back to Keeneland for the feature race at night.

Thursday

Live from the Backstretch in the morning, booking and promos, Keeneland for the feature race at night.

On a side note. I love Keeneland. The changes that they made to the track in the off-season have been spectacular. The new tote boards are amazing. I think the coolest thing about going to Keeneland is where we do the broadcast from. There's a balcony in between Kurt Becker's announcer booth and Mike Bettaglia's office. I have to say that it has the best view of the track in the whole place. Also, after sitting in the booth while Kurt Becker does his call, I have to say that I am amazed at what he can do. For those of you that missed him being a guest on the Sports Huddle, this guy has 20 minutes before each race to memorize every horse so that he can do his call. It's amazing to watch him at work.

Friday

Live from the backstretch in the morning. I noticed that both Bob Baffert and Nick Zito made their appearances at Keeneland today. Back to WLXG for the Sports Huddle which turned into the decision to cover the baseball championship series. So, Mike Cameron and I decided to get some lunch. Then back to Keeneland for the feature race. I have to tell you there are some tense moments when you're trying to fit a race into 15 minutes and there's a horse that has an equipment delay the race before. We did get the race call in though.

Allright, here's the one you've all been waiting for. I fought through the Keeneland traffic after the races to get down to Rupp Arena for Big Blue Madness. Just so you all know, Tubby was sporting his new glasses in the press conference before. I was excited to see the freshmen though. I think they're going to have to get more playing time than we think. Here's how I see the breakdown going right now.

Morris: Needs 30 minutes (which means he has to stay out of foul trouble)

Bradley: 30-35 minutes

Crawford: 30-35 minutes

Perry: 30-35 minutes

Thomas/Carter/Woo: All sharing 30-35 minutes

The freshmen will probably pick up the slack. Look for Stevenson, Meeks, and Jasper to fill in the gaps in the minutes. A lot of this team is going to depend on whether or not Morris stays out of foul trouble. Thomas, Carter, and Woo may have to take fouls for Morris so that he can stay in the game. The simple fact of having Morris on the court means that teams have to watch for him in the post. If he's not in, teams can double team the outside players that need some good looks at the 3.

Saturday

Lexus Equine Forum in the morning from the Sales Pavillion at Keeneland. The coolest thing about this morning was seeing Kenny Mayne from ESPN out there.

This afternoon I will be returning to Keeneland for the broadcast of the stakes races (most notably the Queen Elizabeth II and the First Lady).

Tonight: Kentucky v. LSU. Hopefully there won't be anyone dressed up like a cow this year. If UK's defense can help out it's offense, look for Kentucky to have a shot in this one. I think they HAVE to win one of these games that people don't think they're going to. LSU is coming off of a loss last week, this may be the week for the Cats. I'm looking forward to seeing how Kentucky responds after losing one of those toss up games. We all know the games that they were supposed to win and lose, but last week was one of those "it could go either way" weeks. How they respond tonight could dictate the tone for the rest of the season.

For all of you betting out at Keeneland:

The new polytrack has taken the bias away from the speed horses. Look for horses that run well on turf and closers to run well on this surface. To be honest, it has been hard to handicap these races. A lot of 10-1, 14-1 horses have been getting in the money and messing up all my exotic bets. The good news for Keeneland though is that there have been full fields in these races. The Darley Alcibides had 14 horses in it! A lot of trainers/owners used last weekend as a prep for the Breeders Cup (Nov 4th at Churchill Downs). However, there are still quality horses going for the rest of the meet.

I'll check in again soon.

Where has everyone been lately? Are you all still alive out there?

SOUND OFF

Here's your chance to vent after the South Carolina game...

What did you think?

Meet South Carolina

Alright folks, here's the skinny on the Spurrier lead South Carolina Gamecocks

What's in a name anyway? It seems like South Carolina banks more on the "Spurrier" factor than anything else. "It's going to be tough to beat _____, they've got Spurrier" is what people tend say when they play Spurrier led teams. Here's the thing though: Spurrier DOES NOT play the game; he only coaches it. You could sit here and tell me all day that Spurrier is 152-47-2 lifetime and I'd say that's a great resume, but the players play. So now that we got the Spurrier factor out of the way, here's who to look for on South Carolina.

Offense:

QB - Well it's a toss up between Syvelle Newton (6'0" 210 Sr) and Blake Mitchell (6'3" 212 Jr). Mitchell started the first two games and Newton went 21 for 35 against Auburn and threw 5 TD passes against FAU. Right now, Newton's got the edge. Look for him to take snaps on Saturday for the Gamecocks.

RB - It's a mixture of 3 different people. Look for Mike Davis (5'9" 207 So), Cory Boyd (6'1". 201 Jr), and Taylor Rank (6'0" 206 RS Fr) to take turns with the running duties on Saturday.

WR - Sidney Rice (6-4" 202 So) leads the team with 360 yards recieving in the last 3 games. Besides him, Moe Brown (6'0" 173 FR), Kenny McKinely (5'11" 174) and Chris Hall (5'11" 186 Fr) will be the targets in the air. Kentucky's secondary has a shot to have a really good game on defense with this recieving crew.

The offensive line has been strong for South Carolina so far this season. Led by Eckerson, Coleman, White, Anderson, Meredith, and their tight end Pavlovic, the O-Line is going to be tough to crack. The linebackers HAVE to blitz that O-Line and create some chaos right at the line of scrimmage if UK is going to be strong on defense.

UK Key to the game: stay strong and take away the running game. Although they have a decent passing game, they'll hurt you on the ground.

Offense to come later....