Hump Links

I hope everyone had a nice holiday and that you got all kinds of new Kentucky gear to show off. (I know I did)

Here is this week’s edition of “Hump Links”. Enjoy!

No Thank You

After getting egg on his face, Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse decides to give us “Wildcat Wackos” a half-ass apology.

Losing Record

Ken Pomeroy projects a losing record for Kentucky this season at 14-15 overall and 7-9 in conference play.

Slow Start

With injuries and player troubles, coach Billy Gillispie is trying to get the Cats back on track.

Winner and Losers

With the conference season upon us, Washington Post college basketball writer Eric Prisbell gives his list of winners and losers.

A Loser

Kentucky: The Wildcats, led by new coach Billy Gillispie, had first their four-game losing streak 1989-90. Can’t blame it on Tubby Smith.”

In The Crosshairs

Billy Gillispie may lose his marbles, but will have Kentucky contending for titles in a few years.

List

From McKinneyNews.net, they are having a rundown of their Top 10 Sports Stories of 2007. Coming in at No.7 is G.J. Vilarino verbally committing to Kentucky.

Happy Holidays Everyone

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry “Wildcat” Christmas.

Have fun and be safe!

Morning Headlines

Billy Gillispie said the win was nice and was proud of his team, but wanted Patrick Patterson to have the ball more.

I thought those guys fought hard in the first half, but that’s not exactly who you want to go into the Southeastern Conference with,” Gillispie said. “I’m real proud of them, and I’m real happy with their efforts. They tried as hard as they possibly could, and they played very well together, but that’s not the personnel that we need.”

We didn’t throw the ball to him enough. I think we did do a better job of not only looking for him, but also being able to deliver the pass. You can look all you want but if you can’t drop the ball down to him and get it to him on time then you aren’t doing a great job. You have to look first, you have to understand where they will be and you have to deliver the pass.”

• Quote Rundown

What others are saying

• The Cats Show Improvement–Nice Win!
• Cats Rebound with 69-47 victory over Tennessee Tech
• Cats FINALLY Cruise to a Win
• Tennessee Tech at Kentucky — Quick impressions
• Videocast: UK-Tennessee Tech thoughts

If you didn’t know by now

Alex Legion decided on transferring to Illinois over Notre Dame.

It was a tough situation because they’re both great schools, but it came down to relationships”

EGGed

Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse gets egg on his face.

After jumping on UK fans, who some were trying to blame the down year on former coach Tubby Smith. He reported Patrick Patterson gave a verbal commitment to Tubby Smith while at Kentucky.

What’s interesting with these Wildcats wackos is that, in their world, Gillispie gets the credit for recruiting Patterson, even though he had made a verbal commitment to Kentucky and started to vacillate only after Smith found a new home in Minneapolis,” Reusse wrote last week. “Smith also had a verbal commitment from Jai Lucas, who reneged after Tubby’s departure and is now a freshman starter at point guard for Florida.”

Patrick Patterson’s response upon learning this…

I just started laughing when I heard it”

Patrick has stated he never gave a commitment to Kentucky when Tubby was the coach.

King of the Bluegrass

Kentucky target Wesley Witherspoon will be playing in the King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic at Fairdale.

Also of note from the article…

Midland Community College Guard Tyrone Appleton was in attendance at yesterday’s game against Tennessee Tech.

Coach Gillispie was recruiting me when he was at Texas A&M,” Appleton said. “My coach played for him, so he’s told me a lot about coach Gillispie. I like him a lot.”

Kentucky Defeats Tennessee Tech

Kentucky gets back on the winning track by defeating Tennessee Tech 69-47.

Patrick Patterson led the way with 24 points on 11-14 shooting. He also grabbed 15 boards, along with 3 assist. This was his fourth double-double of the season.

• Box Score
• Post-game Quotes
• Photo Gallery

Kentucky at Houston: Game Thoughts

The site troubles are hopefully fixed now, so missing post should now be up.

“Hump Links” will return next week.

I wanted to give some quick comments on the game.

It was another disappointing loss for the Cats last night. We simply were just was outplayed by a better team. You got to hand it to Houston, they played great all around ball.

I don’t know if having Patrick Patterson playing would of made a difference really.

Speaking of Patterson, he was a late scratch due to an ankle injury. I was wondering why he wasn’t on the floor when the coverage came on.

Jodie Meeks made his return from injury and was lighting it up in the first half. The second half was not as good, but I’m sure the fatigue had caught up with him. Not playing consistent for so long will do that to you. There were a couple times he hit the floor and I’m sure many out there including myself were like “Oh please…No..No..” I surely didn’t want him to re-injure himself.

Joe Crawford came out scoring and looking to score. It seemed like the “Bald” one wanted to make a point. Unfortunately, his defense doesn’t match his offensive tenacity. He also gets that mentality of trying to do to much and ends up turning the ball over way too much.

I really thought Jared Carter looked good in the limited action he seen.

One thing I’ve noticed is our defense has not been very good. This is something that must be improved. We are allowing these teams to light it up from outside.

It was good seeing Keith Bogans and Chuck Hayes at the game, but they didn’t have a lot to cheer about. The looks on their faces said it all.

I just don’t know what to think about this season so far. Yes, it’s no doubt been disappointing, but I’m sticking with them forever…Good or bad. It’s just difficult seeing all the nonsense that goes on with some of the so-called “Fans” and “Haters”, with all the name calling, blaming etc. There’s a good way at doing things and a bad way…I guess.

These are some tough times in “Wildcat Land”, but as I’ve said before….You just got to have some patience.

Jodie Meeks & Alex Legion Updates

Finally, some good news to report.

Jodie Meeks could be returning to action as soon as tomorrow. Meeks has been practicing the past couple of days and all indications are he’s ready to go.

He gives us a totally different dimension offensively and defensively,” Gillispie said. “He raises the confidence level of so many of the other players.”

This is definitely very good news, at this point we need all the help we can get.

Alex Legion Update

According to Alex Legion’s mother, he will be transferring to Notre Dame. Unfortunately, she will not be following him.

This is where my ministry is,” she said. “This is where my blessing is.”

UAB Vs Kentucky Game Thoughts

There always comes a time when you play a fairly decent game, then there’s this one guy from the opposing team that gives you a painful headache. This was the case, UK got “Vadenated”, as in getting totally lit up by UAB’s Robert Vaden. This guy was simply going crazy, hitting three after three no matter what.

So, was there much you could really do? Double-team, triple-team…I don’t know. It was as it really didn’t matter, he was knocking them down even with a hand in his face. When you’re hot your hot.

I thought we played a nice game and should of probably won it. You got to play the whole 40 minutes and we didn’t. We had some lapses with some dumb turnovers and allowed them to get back in. We did fight and get back up, but at the end they made the plays that counted.

Our main guys (Bradley, Crawford and Patterson) stepped up together and all had nice games. Something I’ve said needs to happen all season long for us to have any shot at winning games.

Ramel hit some nice timely key threes for us today.

Joe also was on hitting 4 of 8 threes.

Patrick had another typical game with 18 points and 7 boards. They really should of given him more touches in the paint. This would of really been ideal in the first half. I know they were clamping down in the second on him.

Our offense really does need to run though him. Even commentators, observers etc. agree on this. We have this talent and need to use it.

As I’ve said before…It’s going to be a long season.

Next up…Houston at home on Tuesday.

Kentucky Basketball: Headlines

Here’s some latest headline linkage in the world of Kentucky basketball.

• It may be time to close “open” practice
• Wildcats can’t afford another Gardner-Webb
• Wildcats hoping for better effort, results against UAB
• Jasper misses practice; few there to notice
• Not time to panic … yet
• Gillispie expected bigger turnout for tonight’s practice
• Illini, Notre Dame chasing Kentucky transfer

Next Page »