Vols and Wildcats are having a good game thus far.

[Hollywood_HOGan]

if so where?

I cant get it on full court or on CBS.

[Bomis Hawg]

Notched up at 29 with 2:29 left in the first half.

[Hollywood_HOGan]

if so where?

I cant get it on full court or on CBS.

They havce stuck us with Iowa-Wisconsin in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Could care less abotu big 10 basketball.

[Bomis Hawg]

I have the game here, but I AM in Tennessee.

[Hollywood_HOGan]

saw that UT is up by one.

do not want to play UK coming off a loss.

HOpe they stay ranked. We play better agaisnt ranked teams.

[PiggoBitttys]

Both teams jack up 3's every other possession at least. I think we should be able to handle UK pretty well. As long as they're not on fire from the outside, we'll be fine. They have Morris inside, but we can handle one good big man down low. I'm happy to let them try and beat us with the 3 in our building.

[Dwight_K_Shrute]

47-44Kentucky with 10:00 left in the game.  I'm really not impressed with either team up to this point.  With the way we play ranked teams at home we should have a great chance to lay one on the Wildcats.

 

[woodhog14]

saw that UT is up by one.

do not want to play UK coming off a loss.

HOpe they stay ranked. We play better agaisnt ranked teams.

Kentucky is not ranked this week.

[PiggoBitttys]

UK is 25th in the Coaches Poll. 27th in AP.

[jbcarol]

saw that UT is up by one.

do not want to play UK coming off a loss.

HOpe they stay ranked. We play better agaisnt ranked teams.

Unfortunately for "Backs after two staight losses b/4 the Tennessee game (to Vandy and GA) KY will be back to getting two votes in the poll from the sports guys in Louisiana who were sucking up to try to get media passes.

[jbcarol]

Ky 61 Tenn 48 at 5:47

[Dwight_K_Shrute]

KY now up by 12 with 6:20 left, looks like they are in control.  I was a bit impressed with Bruce Pearl last year, now I think he is more style than substance.  I like his energy but I wonder how much of a disciplinarian he is.  It seems that Tennessee has always had great talent but lack of disciplined doomed them down the stretch.  They would probably be in the same spot if not better if they would have just kept Jerry Green. 

[jbcarol]

Lofton did not play today (ankle).  Unfortunate as he absolutely lit KY at Rupp as he did in the State Tournament in High School.  Lofton would have crawled to Lexington to play for KY but KY said they did not need them as they had Crawford, Rondo, Bradley, and Williams.  Outside shooting ability is not a prerequisite in the KY offense.  Apparently Lofton had once eaten at McDonald's but that did not suit KY who wanted the "All-American" part as well.  Coach Pearl went to Lofton's hometown (Maysville, 60 miles north of Lexington) and had 4000 attend his presentation, fans clad in orange.

[jbcarol]

KY now up by 12 with 6:20 left, looks like they are in control.  I was a bit impressed with Bruce Pearl last year, now I think he is more style than substance.  I like his energy but I wonder how much of a disciplinarian he is.  It seems that Tennessee has always had great talent but lack of disciplined doomed them down the stretch.  They would probably be in the same spot if not better if they would have just kept Jerry Green. 

You're probably right about his discipline except he dismissed Major Wingate and lost his best inside player.  Green's issue was he overplayed his kid ala Eddie Sutton and Tubby Smith.  No one complained too much when Wade Houston and Press Maravich played their sons in the SEC.  They just fired soon after their kids finished their eligibility.

[Dwight_K_Shrute]

KY up by 18 with about 3 min left.  Hope they get overconfident and think, "We own the Hogs"  That will last about 30 seconds into the game when Steven "Geico" Hill throws their junk 10 rows deep.

[PiggoBitttys]

Lofton did not play today (ankle).  Unfortunate as he absolutely lit KY at Rupp as he did in the State Tournament in High School.  Lofton would have crawled to Lexington to play for KY but KY said they did not need them as they had Crawford, Rondo, Bradley, and Williams.  Outside shooting ability is not a prerequisite in the KY offense.  Apparently Lofton had once eaten at McDonald's but that did not suit KY who wanted the "All-American" part as well.  Coach Pearl went to Lofton's hometown (Maysville, 60 miles north of Lexington) and had 4000 attend his presentation, fans clad in orange.

We also didn't offer Lofton(and we did consider him) instead going after Dontell Jefferson. So, we can't exactly judge UK.

[jbcarol]

Both teams jack up 3's every other possession at least. I think we should be able to handle UK pretty well. As long as they're not on fire from the outside, we'll be fine. They have Morris inside, but we can handle one good big man down low. I'm happy to let them try and beat us with the 3 in our building.

Drive into Morris and get him in foul trouble early in the first half and they are done.  The offense will fold up without him as an option.  He is now a load inside.  Don't discount KY's road saavy.  They don't get to practice on their home court and the folks closest to the action make the atmosphere feel like a neutral court.  The crowd gets fired up when Dickie V is in the house.  Otherwise it is like a tennis tourney.  The kids enjoy playing away from home where they can talk some smack with the crowd.

[jbcarol]

Lofton did not play today (ankle).  Unfortunate as he absolutely lit KY at Rupp as he did in the State Tournament in High School.  Lofton would have crawled to Lexington to play for KY but KY said they did not need them as they had Crawford, Rondo, Bradley, and Williams.  Outside shooting ability is not a prerequisite in the KY offense.  Apparently Lofton had once eaten at McDonald's but that did not suit KY who wanted the "All-American" part as well.  Coach Pearl went to Lofton's hometown (Maysville, 60 miles north of Lexington) and had 4000 attend his presentation, fans clad in orange.

We also didn't offer Lofton(and we did consider him) instead going after Dontell Jefferson. So, we can't exactly judge UK.

Correct "judge not lest ye be judged ... "  I guess we don't have to.  100's of letters of hate mail daily pass the judgment in the direction of Coach Smith plus his radio show asking the question, "What were you thinking?"  The sentence is that twice a week he has to ride the 60 miles to Maysville and watch a mediocre player from Lofton's H.S. to try to gain redemption.

[jbcarol]

But I don't know if Coach Heath caught any statewide ridicule for passing on Lofton.

[jbcarol]

KY 76 Tenn 57 Final

[jbcarol]

The best equivalent I could think of is Arkansas did not offer Ronnie Brewer because they had signed a "Sebastian Telfair".  Or Arkansas took a pass on Mitch Mustain because the freshman quarterback at Georgia was willing to come to Fayetteville.

[HawgG]

The best equivalent I could think of is Arkansas did not offer Ronnie Brewer because they had signed a "Sebastian Telfair".  Or Arkansas took a pass on Mitch Mustain because the freshman quarterback at Georgia was willing to come to Fayetteville.

It was Ronnie Thompson that convinced Coach Heath and the rest of the staff that Dontell Jefferson was the real deal.I remember a game in JC where D. Jefferson really struggled in front of Heath and Stan was hesitant to offer D. Jefferson a scholie but Stan went with Thompson who was 100% behind the signing of Dontell.
   Arkansas missed out on three PGs that class in Gibson, Horton, and my favorite Kyle Lowery.Besides Lofton in the 2004 class,another guy I wish this staff had offered a scholie to late was Brandon Rush in the 2005 class, who has turned out to be a fantastic player at KU.

[jbcarol]

Good assessment HawgG.  And Lofton is the shooting guard.

A better analogy to Tubby not offering Lofton, would be if Nutt did not offer Darren McFadden but offered a scholie to Rafael Little.  Then D-Mac goes to (pick your SEC-West least favorite rival) and he sticks it Arkansas every year.

It's a pity Lofton did not get one more shot in Lexington but he is slated to return when they meet again in the Thompson Bowling Alley.

[jbcarol]

Good news.  KY boys will be reading their press clippings again and will be right for the taking next weekend.  Mr. Hill needs to "man up" like he has lately and we got us a game.

[fourthcrusade]

Didn't we pass on Lofton because we were giving a schollie to Al Jefferson? (who, as everyone in the world knew -  was going to  go the pros as a lottery pick...and then did)

i always thought that was dumb -- even if we got BiG Al, he would be GONE in ONE YEAR -- what are we gonna do, go carmelo and win the title in one year?

4 years of lofton > 1 year of Big Al JeffersoN!

[jbcarol]

Thanks fourth!  Big Al was my "Sebastian Telfair"-type I was trying to come up with.  Passing on a solid player when another is 50-50 on going to the NBA now (which was the rule then).

Arkansas should consider learning one trick from the Tubster.  He signs more players than his scholarship limit.  Then picks the least likely contributor and advises "son a year of prep school will make all the difference, at your expense of course" and to another reserve "that's some good grades you've made there son and your folks aren't making that much income, financial aid is in your future" and "Patrick Sparks, glad you are transferring.  Of course you will pay your own way your transfer year."

[jbcarol]

Of course when faced with that same scholarship limit situation his own son stayed on scholarship.

[jbcarol]

Please do a good recap of the Arkansas-Kentucky game next Saturday on the board.  Mr. jb is travelling to Manila and will not get any commentary on what really happened until he can login Sunday morning.