Posts Tagged ‘Ashley Judd’

Oh, they may look harmless, but you have to be careful…

Beware!!!

Yes friends and neighbors, tonight the Kentucky Wildcats (NR), come into the Tommy Bowl to take on the Tennessee Volunteers (15 AP / 24 USA Today) in what is sure to be another serious challenge for Bruce and the Barbarians.

Like the BasketVols, Kentucky has struggled with inconsistency since the start of the season.  Though the Wildcats are currently 12-4 on the season (1-0 SEC), two of their losses were against far-from-impressive teams:  VMI and Miami.  That said, the boys in blue have appeared to rally lately, barely losing to Louisville and defeating Vanderbilt in a 70-60 win last Saturday.  Given the heat that Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie has felt since the start of last season, a win tonight is a must for the Cats.

Billy Clyde Gillispie in all his Glory!

The Vols, on the other hand, are struggling to reign in their defensive woes (currently 298th … that’s right 298th in scoring defense) and find some offensive consistency (shooting an average of 45.5 from the field and 30.8 from behind the 3-point arc).  Kentucky, however, has always been Tennessee’s biggest rival in basketball, and the Vols should have no problems getting up for all that the Wildcats have to dish-out.  My question from yesterday, however, stands: will Tennessee’s desire, hustle, and tenacity be enough to win the day?

Well, one way or the other, we’ll find out tonight at 9:00.

For a more in-depth preview and breakdown of tonight’s game, check out what RBK has to say over at the BruceBall Blog, as well as Joel’s thought’s at Rocky Top Talk.

The game will air tonight on ESPN and ESPN360.com (where available). As always, the game will also be broadcast by the Vol Network through its broadcast affiliate stations, as well as via the live internet stream available through UT Sports.com, and via the XM Satellite Radio Channels 199 (Tennessee) and 200 (Kentucky).

Barring incident and time permitting, I will be joining in the Live Game Thread over at Rocky Top Talk, where everyone is always welcome to join in and either celebrate or commiserate throughout the game.

Go Vols, Beat the Wildcats!

– Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: Smash South Sports / HeyBC

Well, as expected, there have been a few surprises in the Tournament so far. I being busy re-modeling my garage have been a bit slow to comment on these (as if anyone cared…). Be that as it may, here are my observations…

• Kentucky Consistency: Despite managing to make something out of nothing, Billy Clyde and the boys in blue have proven in the NCAA Tournament that they still possess the ability down the stretch to demonstrate the quality which helped pave their way to an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament: the ability to suck the tubes hard when they really have to.

In fairness, however, the Vanderbilt Commodores also proved that — when forced to play on a normally configured basketball floor — they blow.

That’s the last time I take either of them as a longshot in my bracket…

• Pac-10 Power: I don’t claim to keep up with the Pac-10 in anything, but I was under the impression that UCLA, Stanford, and USC were supposed to be simply amazing teams which made their opponents quiver in fear, little children run for their mother, and grown men crap their pants. Apparently, Kansas State didn’t get the memo, and Marquette and Texas A&M all but disregarded it.

News Flash, UCLA is beatable…

• Bulldog Blowout: Despite veritable orgy of wins over the last week leading up to the NCAA Tournament, the Georgia Bulldogs did not achieve the ridiculous and manage to amass more wins in the post-season than they did during the SEC regular season. Nice run, however for the Dawgs, but now the party is over..

So could someone please tell Dennis Felton that Wade Houston called and wants his moustache back?

• The Kevin O’Neill Chronicles: After coaching the Arizona Wildcats all season while Lute Olsen “found” himself (despite the fact that Olsen has to be approaching 70 — or at least looks like it) Kevin O’Neill again gets the shaft as Olsen made it clear that he will now resume his role as head coach. I guess Olsen is done chasing skirt, and can get back to doing his job. I don’t get why Olsen needed a whole season off because of a divorce — Bruce Pearl has actually improved his record during his divorce, and Pat Summitt hasn’t been too shabby during hers either.

Given Tennessee’s experience with O’Neill and his refusal to put up with the Big Dickey’s bullshit (did I say “bullshit?” I meant “bullshit.”), I’d say it’s a safe bet that O’Neill is gonzo, and that right soon. As the only Pre-Pearl / Post-DeVoe coach the BasketVols ever had that was worth a damn, I wish him well. Speaking of which, the SEC schools that are thinking of trading up on their coach could do a lot worse than giving the old “Revco Kicker” a look.

I guess Lute Olsen and the Big Dickey have one thing in common … now O’Neill thinks they are both two-faced jackasses…

• Dookus Go Homeus: Dook took it in the teeth, exactly as I didn’t predict. Oh well, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and UConn already screwed my bracket enough to make Dook’s loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers a game of little consequence. I just hate it that the Belmont Bruins couldn’t pull it out the night before — I was so hoping that the Bruins would give it to Coach Kryezq?r²gxmzrfeykzwGkeeei the hard way, and lay it on the “regal” ACC. Hats off to West Virginia for finishing the job.

As for the boys of Belmont, I know moral victories are like french-kissing your sister (fun at first, but then just damn nasty) but Belmont obviously has a really hot sister. No shame in taking Dook down to the wire, even if you came up one point short. Thankfully, Joel over at Rocky Top Talk didn’t have a coronary or toss his cookies on his keyboard during the 70-71 loss by Belmont…

… if Joel had quit posting due to death or a broken computer I’d have had one less great resource to plagiarize.

• UConn Sucks: But of course I think everyone already knew that…

• In Case You’re Keeping Score: Finally, just to show — like Eliot Spitzer — I am accountable to the people, my bracket is completely shot to hell.

More to come, on the BasketVols, and on everyone else once the rest of the Sweet 16 are confirmed…

– Go Figure …

Images Courtesy of: Loser With Socks, SportsCrack, Georgia Sports Blog, and WildcatsMania

Pure as the driven snow …

or so the Germans would have us think!

I bet I get some hate mail on this one…

— Go Figure … lawvol