Kentucky hits a three game stretch beginning tonight that is of the utmost importance for its ultimate goal of making the NCAA Tournament.  As I see things, the Cats need to go 9-7 in conference in order to insure an NCAA bid.  That would put them at 19-11 going into the SEC and with one win in the tourney, I think it would be tough for the NCAA to leave out a 20 win Kentucky team.
 
However Kentucky has a brutal stretch of games still to come....2 games against Florida, 2 against Tennessee, one on the road at Vandy, on the road at South Carolina and on the road at LSU.  7 games, all loseable.  Kentucky, even as they stand now, needs to go 2-5 during that stretch.

However between those games and now comes three games that are needed wins....at Auburn, home to Arkansas and at Mississippi St.  As I see it, these games are CRUCIAL, not only for momentum purposes (winning all would give us 5 straight going into Florida), but also to give some breathing room before the hard stretch at the end.  One hates to put the fear of god into big games, but the schedule is such that tonight's game (like Rondo's three the other night) must be successful.

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