Silver Screen Debuts; “Himself”

You may already be aware that there is a movie coming out this fall based on the Michael Lewis book The Blind Side.  What you may not know is that the movie will be featuring three SEC coaches playing themselves.

Tennessee’s Phil Fulmer, Ole Miss’ Ed Orgeron, and LSU’s Nick Saban (not one still affiliated with his previous school) will don the logos and colors of Universities Past for their big screen debuts.

Check out Hey Jenny Slater (via Holly) for a great rundown of wish-list actors, were the SEC head men not already spoken for in the film.

In my version, Saban is played by Gargamel

Orgeron is played by Mr. Bean

 

and Fulmer is portrayed by Janet Reno.

You know you’d watch it.

FWP: ’09 Memorial Day Weekend Edition

Fearless Weekend Predictions is a weekly column running on Friday afternoons where our resident soothsayer (or whoever we can get) locks down what will transpire in the coming 72 hours. It’s better to get these out before the 7-year is open.  The crystal ball gets cloudy.

It’s about 10AM on Friday morning as I begin to write this. Yes, I am at work. Yes, I am on the clock. No, I don’t care that I am stealing money. There, I’m glad we got that cleared up. I’d like to clear something else up as well. It is very fun to talk about recruiting rankings, especially now that UK is being talked about as having one of the great recruiting classes of all time, but they don’t a damn thing. The Fab Five from Michigan is hailed as the greatest recruiting class ever; how many NCAA Titles did they win? Zero. Isn’t that what it’s all about? The Fab Five were awesome and they revolutionized basketball, but they never won a title so why do we consider them so great? Let’s look at 2004, another great time for Kentucky recruiting. Tubby Smith (who is lambasted for his “poor” recruiting) landed the top class in the country according to Rivals.com‘s rankings. That class never got past the Elite Eight (which they did as freshmen) and was filled with turmoil the years they were there. Randolph Morris played the Hokey-Pokey (one foot in…one foot out) with the NBA before finally bolting for good and Rajon Rondo was percieved as selfish during his two years in Lexington. The two guys who made it all four years at UK, Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley, were forced to play with lackluster talent after their classmates left for the league and struggled mightily their senior year with new coach Billy Gillispie after Smith left for Minnesota. I’m not trying to be a buzzkill and I think UK’s class this year is totally different, mainly because their won’t be a huge talent dropoff in next year’s recruiting class, but let’s keep our expectations tempered UK fans. Enough with the ranting, let’s do this…

• The Lakers will lose two games in Denver. LA is in big, big trouble. They struggled with a Houston team that didn’t have its stars and have been outplayed the first two games against Denver. I know I’m not the first person to say to say this, but their point guard play is awful. Derek Fisher is a shell of the guy who was there earlier this decade. He is absolutely killing them right now. And, somehow, the Nuggets are outplaying them in every facet of the game. Where did the Nuggets come from? I have no idea, but I feel like they’re here to stay… at least for this year.
• The Mets will get humiliated in Boston. The Mets cannot score runs anymore. Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado both get hurt and the runs stop going on the board; it’s not a coincedence. Now, they have to go play an AL team that puts up runs in its sleep. I’m sure Santana will be a stud tonight, but expect the Red Sox to put up about 746 runs on Saturday and Sunday. Things were great when the Mets went 16-4 over a 20 game stretch, things could get really ugly soon.
• People will talk about hockey? I have this sneaking suspiscion that ESPN will soon be airing hockey again. They have led SportsCenter with it in the last couple weeks, on the same night as good NBA Playoff games. The WWL is slowly trying to drum up interest again in a bad product. Hockey sucks and Southerners don’t care about it. Please, spare us all.
• Lane Kiffin will commit a minor NCAA infraction. I can’t say exactly what it will be this time. Will it be an inappropriate tweet? Will he call out another SEC coach? Will he Superman some ho? Who knows? The only thing I know is that my UT friends are hoping his bark is like his bite… or just that the Vols win some football games this fall. Sidenote: his wife is still smoking hot.
• Jake Peavy will not want to come to your city. Think about if you are Jake Peavy. You are 28 years old, you are a millionaire and you live in San Diego. You are living the dream about as well as anyone can live the dream. Why in the hell would you want to move to Chicago, especially if you have to play for crazy ass Ozzie Guillen? You would stay in San Diego unless some team came with a hell of a deal and was definitely going to contend for the World Series.
• LeBron will tell his teammates to stop standing around. What the heck happened the other night? The Cavs were clicking for the first half, kicking absolute ass in the first half; the next thing you know, the Magic have chipped away at the lead and end up winning. Their offense was stagnant at best for the entire second half, though. It was awful, and LeBron looked pretty frustrated. I would hope that Mike Brown, who is an inept thief the NBA’s Coach of the Year, would be able to get things figured out. The Cavs win the next two games… easily.
• The Indy 500 will run. Is there a less relevant sport in the USA right now than Indy racing? Hell, I would watch hockey over this crap. But, it will be all over your TV on Sunday afternoon. Enjoy!
• John Calipari will come to your BBQ, shake hands, kiss babies and still not sleep with your girlfriend. This guy is almost invincible and he’s yet to coach a game. He convinced the #1 PG/player in the country to come to UK after he’d already gotten the #3 PG to come (yeah, I know I’m going against my rant above), he sends out about 15 tweets a day to his 75,000+ followers and seems to be a genuine guy. All this comes before he coaches a game. Wait until he finds out what happens when he loses to Gardner-Webb.

Yes! Weekend! Long weekend! Pools opening! Go have the greatest weekend and always remember to be better.

Afternoon Wake Up Call: Rain Out Edition

When you’re baseball team plays in a small market on the West Coast you get a little fired up to watch them in prime time, HD coverage on ESPN.  It was not to be tonight as the Yanks-A’s game was postponed.  Boo the rain people.  Boo it!  Okay, the sports world goes on so we’ll tone it down a bit.

The state of Kentucky continues to watch the basketball recruting process closer than people watched the birth of a baby panda on the interwebs.  John Wall is living it up.  One day he’s going to UK, now he’s talking to Billy D, and the NBA still beckons.  He might even end up in Europe.  All I know is that this guy knows how to market the John Wall brand.  I love it.  I’ve pretty much stopped keeping up with it from day-to-day because the information changes on a daily basis, but it will be fun to see where he ends up.  UK fans are also closely following the recruitment of the Henry brothers.  They’re almost as much as an enigma as everyone knows they’re down to KU and UK but that changes constantly.  Will they visit Lexington?  Who’s knows at this point, but they’ll eventually be somewhere and that will be another fun signing for one of those universities.

Baseball is being played in a few places and a few of the web site’s teams are still going strong.  The Tigers are still first in a close Central.  The Reds aren’t playing too bad.  The A’s are in a bit of a lull offensively but the bats will wake up.  Hopefully the pitching holds out.

Golf has slowed a bit after the Masters but the Pudge Cup kicks off this week.  We might drop an update for you from time to time and let you know who’s playing adequately.  Let’s be honest, none of the guys in this league are shooting 70’s, but it’ll be fun.

The NBA playoffs are in full swing.  The Mavs and Spurs are fighting it out again tonight and I expect TGC’s boys down in Dallas to get the better of their Texas breathren before it’s over.  Duncan is hobbling and Sir-Flops-A-Lot is out for the Spurs as well.  Not looking good to pick up #5 this year for my boys in Silver and Black.  I just hope Lebron gets it from Kobe in the Finals.  I haven’t liked that guy since he stole J.R. Rider’s dunk in the Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star weekend.  Yes, the alleged rape, his general attitude, and everything else that comes with disliking Kobe does not bother me as much as him stealing the East Bay Funk Dunk to win a dunk contest.  I’ve never pretended to be sane or fair folks.  It’s just the way I am.

Our favorite thing today will be Tiger Woods 2008 on the Playstation.  TGC is fervently trying to play his way up to face off against the virtual eDayStat.  Who needs to pay 60 bones for a new game when you can play last year’s golf game for next to nothing?  The only standing rule is no one plays with Vijay Singh.  It’s get ugly if I had to tackle someone in the middle of a round.  Have a few drinks, enjoy some playoff basketball, and if you can find some baseball on TV then bless you.  Enjoy the night folks.

FWP: What My Cousin’s Friend’s Brother’s Nephew Heard Edition

Fearless Weekend Predictions is a weekly column running on Friday afternoons where our resident soothsayer (or whoever we can get) locks down what will transpire in the coming 72 hours. It’s better to get these out before the 7-year is open.  The crystal ball gets cloudy.

Sorry about last week.  I’m sure you didn’t miss me.  You were probably at your favorite sports bar just like I was all Friday long.  I would loved to have pulled the laptop (labtop) out at BW’s and write this, but our waitress was smoking hot and I felt I would have ruined my chance if I’d done that (I didn’t get her number).  Anyway, we’re knee deep in the NCAA Tournament and if you live in Central KY, you couldn’t care less about the games.  There is a soap opera going on with your favorite basketball team and you need to know what’s going on.  Thankfully, this may all be coming to an end.  I doubt this will stretch out too much longer.  I would say Billy G will be gone by the end of today (Friday).  While we’re here, let me weigh in on this mess real quick.  First off, Gillispie deserves another year at least.  The product on the court hasn’t been good enough and he’s made an ass out of himself and the program, but people are given second, third and fourth chances all the time.  But, I am also glad that my favorite team doesn’t stand for mediocrity.  A first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament and an NIT bid are not good enough for UK Basketball.  0-2 against Louisville isn’t good enough.  2-2 against Florida isn’t good enough.  2-2 against Vanderbilt isn’t good enough.  3-1 against Tennessee isn’t good enough… okay, maybe that is, but I had to get the shot in.  The bottom line is, UK has tradition and the administration wants things to be better.  You can lose, but if you are a great guy you might keep your job.  You can win and be an asshole and possibly keep your job.  You cannot lose and be a social enigma.

Mercifully, the good Lord has provided us with sports to take our minds off of this disaster.  Twelve NCAA teams will become four, Tiger is playing good golf right before the Masters, baseball spring training hits the home stretch and NASCAR is at Martinsville.  I’m at work, pretending to work… let’s see how long this can be.

• You will develop a Pavlovian response to the sound of your phone vibrating on your desk.  Okay, maybe that one is just me.  Seriously, today is one of those days where you can never get too many, “You heard anything yet?” texts.  I am more the fan of the fake text.  If you send something like, “BREAKING NEWS: Gillispie out!  Adolph Rupp to coach next season,” you can usually get a rile out of people.  Plus, the Baron appreciates your thoughts on a day like this.
• Louisville will walk to the Final Four.  How can they be stopped?  T-Will, Edgar (and the guy who paints his hair on everyday), Samardo and Earl see a title in their future.  Ricky Pitino is the best coach in the country and will out-wit both Russ Pennell and Bill Self.  It’s time to start thinking about a party on 4th Street.  Oh, sorry, there’s always a party on 4th Street.
• New York Mets fans will hate the World Baseball Classic.  Seriously, Oliver Perez?  Get better.  You got way too much money this offseason to start pussing out now.
• Missouri will press UCONN into a loss and admitting recruiting violations.  No coach in the country can make himself more money next year than Mike Anderson of Mizzou.  Premier jobs are open and the further he goes, the more cheddar he can rake in.  Georgia?  He doesn’t need your Georgia job.  He can start thinking about Arizona with a win in Phoenix over the Huskies.  UConn is finally distracted by the recruiting violation allegations and Hasheem Thabeet looks too slow in the 40 minutes of Hell.
• Denny Hamlin will win the NASCAR race.  He’s won at Martinsville a lot in the past (at least that’s what NASCAR.com told me).  Normally, I would pick a driver who has some hot girl associated with them.  A quick Google search didn’t lend that to me with Hamlin.  In that case, I’ll put up a picture of a smoking hot celebrity I’ve been thinking about lately.  Hmm… how about you, Whitney Port?  Sure, your reality show made me want to take a baseball bat to my nuts, but you are still smoking hot.  Denny Hamlin, do better with the ladies.
• Villanova will beat Pittsburgh for the second time this year.  Levance Fields isn’t healthy enough to stay with ‘Nova’s guards.  DeJuan Blair looks like he’s just getting tired and Sam Young isn’t elevating like he once did.  Jay Wright’s team is playing really well as of late.  They absolutely locked Duke up last night and looked very efficient on offense.  Villanova marches on.
• TIGER! TIGER! TIGER!!!   I would not want to be  a professional golfer right now.  The best golfer in the world has been back for a month or so and is just getting really good.  Hmm… that’s odd, the first major of the year is a couple weeks away.  Tiger has always known he would be getting very good around this point.  There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that he can win the Masters in two weeks.  You heard it here first… or some other time after first.
• Gonzaga will get to their first Final Four.  It’s time for the Zags.  The build up has happened for too long.  Ten years ago, they were on the cusp of the Final Four, and this is the year they get there.  Mark Few is poised to upset UNC again and will sneak past Syracuse in the Elite Eight.  Congrats to Spokane, WA; success couldn’t happen to a more irrelevant place.
• Billy Gillispie will get fired, then sleep with your girlfriend one last time.  Honestly, I’m feeling a tinge of sadness.   A little over a year ago, FWP started with a recurring joke about BCG railing your girlfriend.  Somehow, it stuck the whole time.  I really hope Gillispie nothing but the best.  He’s a hell of a basketball coach and was put in a very tough situation.  I think if either UK or Gillispie had known what they were getting into, they would have politely declined.  But, sometimes you have to be a man and take what’s handed to you.  Gillispie will find work soon, and probably very good and wealthy work.  Godspeed, Coach… but, on your way out of town, leave some blonde girls for us.

Yeah, weekend!  Be safe, watch sports and get ready for that extra $13 a week Obama is giving you!

UPDATE!  This was found on WKYT.com briefly.  It it now no longer there.  Take it for what you will.

Candidates for Kentucky Basketball Coach – 2009 Prom Edition

Spring is in the air in Kentucky, for everyone out of high school that means Keeneland and for those still in high school it means Prom.  Both events are usually preceded by drinking and high expectations that go unmet.  Keeneland goers gather around a keg, cooler or the sports bar on the second floor to discuss the rights and wrongs of Gillispie’s dismissal (Yes I am aware that it officially hasn’t happened but its going to, mostly likely tomorrow.  Plus I’m afraid someone else will steal  my article if I don’t post it now.  For that reason I’m bypassing any sort of post about the actual firing and moving right into the possible candidate post).

Prom goers will gather around the spiked punch bowl to discuss dance moves, ugly dresses and after parties.  Feel free to take a trip down memory lane to your own prom, many, many years ago.

Gillispie, Prom Date 2007

Let me make only one quick comment about the firing of Gillispie.  The decision was made by President Lee Todd, not Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart.  There were on the floor issues but it came down to Gillispie failing to represent the University in a manner suitable for President Todd.  Barnhart understands the reputation that a University gets for firing a coach after only two seasons but this was not his call.  Done.

With that being said, let’s not waste time about the wrongs and rights of the firing and move on to possible replacements.  With everything that has happened image and character will play a larger role in this hiring process than the last.

In honor of prom, each candidate will fall into a possible prom category.   For you Keeneland goers you can find a Win, Place and Show at the end.  Let’s meet the possible dates. 

Afternoon Wake Up Call: The Back Porch Is Open

Well the weather has turned quite nice after the cold weekend and you may start seeing a few more afternoon wake up posts in your future friends.  Take a moment to let that sink in…Now, the few who are still about should start off their evening by checking in with what TGC and 2SL have to say about the state of the Kentucky program.  These two put up a couple of great posts about how the UK program has gotten into the state it is in.

For the UK fans still around after looking at those two posts, we’re looking at taking on Jerry Tarkanian’s the Runnin’ Rebels out of Las Vegas this week in the friendly confines of Memorial.  Personally, I’d love to be at that game tomorrow as it will be a part of Kentucky lore for years to comes.  Here’s to hoping that will be a good thing.

The other SEC fans out there can catch UT, Mississippi State, or LSU in the Big Dance starting on Thursday or South Carolina, Auburn, and Florida battling UK for NIT supremacy.

In baseball news, the USA held off the mighty NED to stay alive in WBC play.  After all the shit the writers of this site gave the Dominicans after their two losses to NED we’re extremely glad they couldn’t knock off the US team.

In other sports news another football player may be in trouble for killing someone, Manny may be hurt, and Mr. Peanut rolls in style.  Okay, that last part is a bit of a stretch but baseball is in the air and most people buy (read: pick up off the ground) a few peanuts at the ball game.

Now it’s time for our favorite thing of the day and we’re going to go with an Old Fashioned.  No, I did not just terminate that sentence as prematurely as 2SL in the sack, I’m referring to an ice cold Old Fashioned.  Take yourself a cocktail glass, drop a few ice cubes in, a teaspoon of simple syrup, two dashes of angostura bitters, and top it off with a shot of the best bourbon you can afford.  Hell, throw some jack or scotch in there if that’s your thing.  It doesn’t really matter, but what does matter is that you sit back and enjoy it slowly while reading Afternoon Wake Up Call every afternoon.

With that, my friends, I sign off.  Have a fantastic Monday night and back the blue on Tuesday night.  While you’re at it, back them early by listening in while they play baseball tomorrow night (7:30, prior to the UK tip off).  They were supposed to battle Nicholls St. tonight but the game was cancelled due to what appears to be a man-made rain-out due to the sprinkler system.

FWP: Never to be Seen in Tampa Again Edition

Fearless Weekend Predictions is a weekly column running on Friday afternoons where our resident soothsayer (or whoever we can get) locks down what will transpire in the coming 72 hours. It’s better to get these out before the 7-year is open.  The crystal ball gets cloudy.

Hooray!  It’s Conference Tournament Championship weekend!  The Big Six Conferences will all crown their champions by 6PM on Sunday and then Seth Davis will be able to rip apart every team in the NCAA Tournament except for Duke (he’s sure they’re going to make a big run this year).  I like to look at this weekend as just a warmup for next.  Hell, I worked yesterday and am writing this from work right now.  If you think I’m going to work next Thursday or Friday, you must be as drunk as I’m going to be in about six hours.  Thank Mitch for the interweb, though, as I was able to listen to the Cats take down the Rebels yesterday.  Hopefully, I’ll be out of this place soon enough and can stop getting paid to blog (unintentionally).  This is a great weekend for all those who like to talk shit about things that don’t really matter.  Sure, Kansas, Oklahoma, Connecticut and Pittsburgh all got knocked out of their conference tournaments before ever winning a game.  Does that hold any weight at all?  Aren’t all of those teams still going to the Dance?  Even with those losses, it wouldn’t be a shock to see any of them in the Final Four.  Conference tournaments for BCS schools are all about money and are superfluous at best.  Is it fun to watch some good games?  Sure!  Can you tell me who won the 2006 Big XII Tourney (without checking out Wiki)?  I didn’t think so.  Watch the games, but don’t get your hopes up or down because of how well your team plays.

While this may be a basketball-heavy weekend, Round 2 of the WBC gets going, Tiger is golfing again and we all gear up for the only day of the year where drinking green beer would be encouraged.  Yep…

• Oklahoma State will win the Big XII Tournament; Lexington, KY will explode.  It’s no secret that UK fans are less than pleased with Coach Billy Gillispie right now.  The crazed fanbase is ready to hire anyone with UK ties (Pat Riley’s name has been mentioned which is just inane).  What do you know?  Travis Ford coaches the Oklahoma State Cowboys who just beat a top 10 team!  If you don’t think coaching for a job in Lexington is motivating enough for Ford, you were never at Redmon’s on Thursday nights when Ford coached at Eastern Kentucky.
• Wake Forest will win the ACC Tournament.  They are definitely the most athletic team in the conference with Ty Lawson out for UNC.  Duke is obviously a bunch of whiny bitches who don’t have the cajones to play well three days in a row.  Lawson’s injury will be too much for UNC to overcome (have you seen Larry Drew II play PG for them…yikes!) and Roy-Boy will not want to get anyone hurt already knowing he has a #1 seed locked up.
• The Netherlands will fall back to reality when it comes to baseball.  Look, it was a hell of a run.  No one not named Fjord thought they could beat the Domincans (twice!) to make it from Pool D to Pool 2 (See what they did there?  Lettered Pools to Numbered Pools.  Nice.), but the run ends at Pool 2.  The USA and Venezuela emerge from the almighty Pool 2 to take on Japan and Korea in Pool Triangle… or something like that.
• No one will know the Pac-10 Tournament is actually going on, but Arizona State will win anyway.  How bad is basketball out West this year?  The Pac-10 has two teams in the top 15 and they both suck.  They just happened to have beaten all the really bad teams out West to move up the rankings.  Ugh, moving on.
• Few will be awake to see Wisconsin win the Big 10 Tournament.  Oh, sorry, I just woke back up.  I accidentally turned on the Michigan St./Minnesota game.  The game clock read 3:35 left to play and the score was 27-26, so I guess it was the 2nd half.  Bo Ryan is the best coach in the conference and will find a way to get his team into the Dance.  Raise your hand if you like defense!  Actually, put both hands up, it’s better for your defensive stance.
• Tiger Woods!!! Wooooo!!!!  The sound of schoolgirls yelping was actually that of golf executives when they heard El Tigre would be playing this weekend.  Sadly, he’s tied for 40th right now and I’m pretty sure that doesn’t put him in the final pairing on Sunday.  Bru still owes me his car.
• Villanova will beat West Virginia in the Big East Championship game.  Louisville is over-hyped and Syracuse will be dead tonight so both will lose.  Jay Wright is a hell of a coach, Bob Huggins is a hell of a drinker; Wright wins on Saturday night because Huggins will be thirsty.  Real quick tangent, just because a basketball game is long does not mean it is great.  If a baseball game goes 20 innings, do people call it the greatest game ever?  No, because you usually see pitchers that are terrible and would never play in any other circumstance.  Thus, in a basketball game, you see players making plays they would never make because they are exhausted and have no energy.  They are not playing at a high level and the quality of the game goes down.  UK/Duke is still the greatest game ever played and Syracuse/UConn might crack the top 15.  Tangent… out!
• LSU will win the SEC Tournament and then Billy Gillispie will sleep with your girlfriend.  Look, everyone knows every team in the SEC has flaws.  Kentucky is inconsistent.  Florida doesn’t have consistent inside play.  Tennessee’s guards couldn’t guard me.  LSU lost twice last week.  South Carolina has Devan Downey and… I can’t think of anyone else on their team.  Mississippi State is coached by Rick Stansbury.  Auburn is coached by Jeff Lebo.  Alabama’s coach is afraid to yell at the refs because his mommy might get mad.  LSU won more games all year, so hell, I’ll take them to win it.  Also, ladies, watch out, this could be BCG’s last SEC Tourney.  He’ll be looking to go out with a bang!  Get it, “bang?”

Okay, I’m at work at UK/LSU is about to start.  I better start getting sick in a hurry so I can get the hell out of here.  Have a fabulous weekend you beautiful bastards.

SEC Regular Season Wraps Up, Do We Have Prophets?

Back around Halloween we made some bold predictions on the outcome of the SEC basketball season.  Let’s check in with how everyone is doing thus far.

The first question up for grabs in the pre-SEC predictions was player of the year.  The question posed was can your respective star (Patterson or Smith) win POY in the SEC.  TGC didn’t like Smith’s chances but didn’t pick a clear favorite, 2SL went with Nick Calathes or Jody Meeks, SmoothRon liked Pat’s chances but also liked Calathes, and BobWicket was all over Meeks for POY.  How has it turned out?  Well Meeks leads the league in scoring at 24.7 a game but some poor performances as of late could knock him out of POY standing.  Calathes has played well but some other players have outperformed on a consistant basis (but don’t count him out).  Marcus Thornton down at LSU has played well and helped his team to win the SEC regular season (plus he runs a great chain of convenience stores).  Patterson is fourth in the league in scoring, third in rebounding, and fourth in blocked shots.  He would be a solid pick.  Someone that wasn’t mentioned by the panel is Devan Downey.  With 20+ points, four and a half assists, and 3 steals per game Downey did a lot with a little at South Carolina this year.  He could be a dark horse for POY when it is decided.

The next query to the panel was who will take pressure off the main guy at your school.  2SL missed by a mile in picking Woolridge out of UT.  Although his flow skills are tight, Ronaldo didn’t contribute like 2SL expected this year.  SmoothRon went with the trio of Galloway, Liggins, and Miller for UK (along with transfer Harrelson).  KG, Liggins, and Darius all saw time for UK and for the most part all contributed, but Liggins has been seen less and less as the year goes on.  Miller probably has done the most for them as late by putting the ball in the basket on a more consistent basis.  TGC went with Scotty Hopson and when he’s played well UT has played well so that’s a pretty good pick.  BobWicket went with Meeks as his primary but his pick of Harrelson didn’t work out as much as UK fans had hoped after watching the Blue-White scrimmage.  Also, it’s incredible that SmoothRon didn’t pick Big B for UT.

2SL thought Bruce would change things up and become more defensively minded this year and TGC looked for Chism to extend the defense allowing driving lanes for the guards and forwards this year.  Both of these were right on cue as the UT team has played better half court defense this year, although the press hasn’t been as effective as years past.  Also, TGC’s outlook on the offensive end was dead on.  UT has played their best basketball when a guard or Wayne can knock down a three.  When this happens UT opens up driving lanes for Smith, J.P. Prince, and Bobby Mayes.  This is when the Vols get deadly.

SmoothRon expected Billy G to run more this year and the Cats have had an up and down style from time to time.  This has been more due to them turning the ball over and getting into frantic up and down matches as opposed to designed up-tempo plans, but Billy has allowed them to run quite a bit this year.  The stagnant half court offense the Cats have shown has also made transition offense very important for Kentucky.  BobWicket expected a lot of post work from the Cats this year and that has been the style of half court offense that has been most effective for them.  Giving the ball into the post to a guy who shoots greater than 60% from the field has been their best option all year, but it is one that has been underutilized on the whole and especially in tight games.

BobWicket was right that the Cats preseason ranking of fourth in the East would not hold up as they finished fourth.  His 13-3 prediction looked good when they started off undefeated but quickly got ugly.  Everyone was looking for a 3 horse race in the East and expected that winner to be the overall champion.  The East turned into a four team race with South Carolina playing well all year and UT pulled the East championship out in the end.  2SL picked a West team to be dangerous but he went with the wrong one (Arkansas) and LSU pulled out the season championship.

Well, that brings us to the end of the regular season predictions.  The SEC tournament kicks off this week and then the NCAA tourney will start up.  We’ll check back in with all the predictions when the dust settles on tournament play.

FWP: Hanging on by a Thread Edition

Fearless Weekend Predictions is a weekly column running on Friday afternoons where our resident soothsayer (or whoever we can get) locks down what will transpire in the coming 72 hours. It’s better to get these out before the 7-year is open.  The crystal ball gets cloudy.

Well, last week we looked at the state of Kentucky basketball and posed the question, “What could UK do to surprise you?”  Hmm, losing to LSU wasn’t surprising.  Screwing up a switch/non-switch at the end of the game definitely didn’t surprise anyone either.  Getting absolutely worked over by one of the worst SEC teams this decade, AT HOME, was a bit surprising.  At some point, someone needs to take a rational look at this UK team.  Today isn’t the day to do that, but I’ll get to it at some point.  The bottom line is that this was never a good team from the beginning.  They have an elite player in Patrick Patterson.  They have a streaky scorer in Jodie Meeks.  Besides those two, they have a roster full of good young players and mediocre older players.  What is to be expected from a team that doesn’t have a legitimate third scorer?  Supposedly, this team can still salvage a tournament berth with a win in Gainesville and a couple wins in the SEC Tournament.  Deep down, I hope that happens.  The realist in me (he’s kind of an asshole) doesn’t believe it for a second.  The best thing to hope for now is Patterson and Meeks both return and start all over next year.  Then again, you never know what this team will do.

There are a lot of things going on this weekend.  The World Baseball Classic is in full swing, a certain WR is looking for work and another over-hyped Tobacco Road showdown.  Yep…

• North Carolina will drub Duke in Chapel Hill on Sunday.  Tyler Hansbrough is NOT losing on his senior day (a feat Jared Carter couldn’t get done).  Greg Paulus is still playing for Duke, right?  Okay, Ty Lawson will go for 20+.  I really hope Kyle Singler cries at the end.
• Team USA will get a big win over Canada in the WBC.  While TGC and EDay woke up the other morning at 4AM to watch the China/Japan game, I decided to wait until Saturday to watch live baseball.  While Canada has a better team than you might think, they can’t handle the almighty USA!  Ah yes, American pride will reign once again.
• The greatest basketball tournament in all the world will continue.  I’m talking about the Kentucky State High School Basketball Tournament.  KY is one of two states left that doesn’t have a class system for its basketball champion.  Every team has one title to play for and it is glorious.  Some may say that smaller schools don’t have a chance, but the majesty outweighs all the criticisms.  The regional tournaments are going on right now; girls’ Sweet 16 is next weekend, guys’ is two weeks.  Stay tuned.
• Terrell Owens will not have “several” teams interested.  Drew Rosenhaus, TO’s sleazy agent, is claiming that several teams are calling about his most overrated client.  Say what you will about all the other teams in the NFL, but Owens is going to Oakland.  End of story.  The Raiders become more of a joke, we all get to laugh.  Everybody wins.
• Katy Mixon will look sexy on Eastbound & Down.  Rawr!  If you haven’t seen Eastbound, you are really missing out.  Danny McBride plays an out of work pro baseball player (a la John Rocker) who is teaching PE in his hometown.  Katy Mixon plays his ex-girlfriend and she is super hot.  Watch the show.  Don’t lust after my new girlfriend, Katy, though.
• My second favorite team in the country will beat UConn… again.  LeVance Fields, Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and the boys are prime and ready for a big run, I believe.  Connecticut comes to The Zoo tomorrow after just getting beat by Pitt a few weeks ago.  If you remember, Blair owned Hasheem Thabeet in the first meeting.  Tomorrow’s game should be no different.  Pitt by 12.
• Brian Williams will get the respect he deserves.  All the guy does is change games and no one seems to care.  I didn’t see UT’s game against South Carolina last night, but all reports indicate that Big Beezy won the game for the Vols.  Also, Bruce Pearl needs to get some button down shirts again.  Lately, his latest attire of choice is a ribbed t-shirt under a sports coat.  That’s just inappropriate, especially with the way that bastard sweats.  The Vols will win on Sunday against ‘Bama… if Pearl starts dressing better.
• Billy Gillispie will come to your college town, lose to your college basketball team, then sleep with your college girlfriend.  Yeah Gainesville!  Florida is a hell of a college, who wouldn’t want to go there?  It’s warm ten months out of the year, they have a premier athletic department and it’s not too far from the beach.  What’s not to love.  Their basketball team isn’t at the level of the 2006 or 2007 teams by any stretch, but they’re still pretty good.  Nick Calathes is the best overall player in the SEC and Chandler Parsons has ridiculous “hops” for a white guy.  They’re also looking for revenge after Jodie Meeks pulled a shot out of his ass to beat them last month.  At the very least, can we hope for an entertaining game and not another snooze-fest like the UK/UGA game the other night?  Florida wins by ten.  UK fans everywhere put on suicide watch. 

That’ll do, people.  Have a hell of a weekend and if you are partying at a cabin all weekend, please don’t call me at 3AM.

I’ve been to Tampa, though never to Bora

Here are a few SEC East seeding scenarios surrounding the APIAS homer teams.  Tiebreaker rules are listed at the bottom.  Currently, the SEC East In-division standings are as follows: Tenness  7-2, South Carolina 5-3, Kentucky 5-3, Florida 4-5.

When the Tourney starts on March 12, the East #1 plays Friday at 7pm.  East #2 plays Friday at 3pm.  East #3 plays Thursday at 10pm.  East #4 plays Thursday at 1pm.

Scenario Pearl

UT – wins @SC and ALA
UK – wins GA and FL
FL – wins @MS loses @UK
SC – loses UT and wins GA

#1 UT 11-5
#2 SC 10-6 (2 wins over UK)
#3 UK 10-6
#4 FL 9-7

More after the short layover in Atlanta