By Kevin Faris
UK’s absence in the NCAA Tournament is affecting me in a major way. Sadly, for the first time in my adult life, I have little to zero interest in the NCAA Tournament. When the brackets were announced, I was in Kroger’s trying to find the Chunky version of the Natural Skippy Peanut Butter (this is a problem, some Kroger’s do not have it but the Wal-Mart grocery store does.) The other problem is that I am finding it hard to get excited for the NIT that UK will play in for the first time since Joe B. Hall was coach.
At 9:30 tonight the Wildcats will face the Runnin Rebels of UNLV in the first round of the NIT. The only cool aspect of this game, the fact it will be played in Memorial Coliseum, is somewhat dampened by the fact that students, who I now are on Spring Break, were not GIVEN more tickets. Still, I am a little jealous I won’t see the game live.
Because of UK’s play since they started 5-0 in the SEC, I do not have a lot of confidence in their ability to win the game. UNLV is a perimeter oriented team that averages more than 7 made three point shots per game. SEC teams that made 6 or more were 8-3 against UK while teams that made 35% or more were 9-1. Since UK’s first game, against VMI, they have allowed too many open 3s, turned the ball over too much, and did a poor job of keeping the opposition off the offensive boards. I don’t expect this to change, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised.
If you have been away from the computer/Internets this afternoon, Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS is reporting that a well connected source told him that Billy G. is “done” and that it has already been decided.
So, this could be Billy G.’s last game as UK’s coach. While it is hard to get excited about a tournament that is sometimes referred to as a loser’s tournament, at 9:30 I will be watching ESPN2 and rooting on the Cats.
