Bryan the Intern's Picks to Click

  I got into a nice little argument with my boy Payne yesterday, but if you didn't get to see my stats, I wanted to put them in a post.  Payne was correct in pointing out I ommited certain things that hurt the Cats chances, so in fairness I will put the same info for all of these teams.  The list below is of teams that MADE the NCAA Tournament with resumes that will be similar to Kentucky's, assuming the Cats finish winning 5 ouf 7 (losses to UT and South Carolina in my opinion and going 1-1 in the SEC Tourney).  Then I put the Cats imaginary resume at the bottom, you do the comparing. In parentheses (RPI, wins vs. Top 50, worst loss with date of loss)   1999: Washington: 16-12, 10-8 conference (27 , 3 wins, 32 pt./Stanford/ Feb. 15)             Mississippi:  16-12, 8-8 (51 RPI, 5 wins, 29 pt./Auburn/Feb. 9) 2000: Wisconsin: 18-13, 8-8 (32 RPI, 7 wins, 17 pt./Michigan St./Feb. 9)             Missouri: 18-12, 10-6 (38 RPI, 3 wins, 27 pt./Oklahoma/Feb. 26) 2001: Penn State: 19-11, 7-9 (24 RPI, 6 wins, 32 pt./Illinois/ Jan. 20)             Georgia Tech: 17-12, 8-8 (39 RPI, 6 wins, 44 pt./Duke/Feb. 21) 2003: Alabama: 17-11, 7-9 (38 RPI, 5 wins, 19 pt./Florida/Feb. 9)             NC State: 18-12, 9-7 (53 RPI, 1 win, 24 pt./Georgia Tech/Jan. 11) 2004: Alabama: 17-12, 8-8 (26 RPI, 4 wins, 11 pt./Kentucky/Feb. 10) 2005: Iowa St.: 18-11, 9-7 (63 RPI, 4 wins, 16 pt./Texas A&M/Feb. 22)            Stanford: 18-12, 11-7 (40 RPI, 4 wins, 18 pt./Arizona/Feb. 5) 2006: Indiana: 18-11, 9-7 (34 RPI, 6 wins, 19 pt./Minnesota/Jan. 29)            Seton Hall: 18-11, 9-7 (58 RPI, 4 wins, 42 pt./Connecticut/Feb. 11)  2007: Stanford: 18-12, 10-8 (65 RPI, 4 wins, 14 pt./UCLA/Feb. 24) Kentucky's PROJECTED Resume: 18-13, 11-5 (60 RPI, 5 wins, 41 pt./Vandy/Feb. 12) Kentucky has a better conference record than EVERY team mentioned, a better RPI than 2 of them, more Top 50 wins than 8 of these teams, and 2 teams actually had worse losses than UK-Vandy, and both had them LATER in the season.  My whole point, is that the Cats have their NCAA chances still in front of them.  4 games left against the Top 50, three of those at home, and the SEC Tourney.  The margain of defeat to Vandy doesn't mean a damn thing.  If UK gets left out it will be because of RPI, and that all falls back on Gardner-Webb and San Diego.   Now, on to what I am actually here to do, some links: 1. If you want to know more about the type of guy Billy Gillispie is, you YOU MUST READ THIS LINK.  It will bring a good feeling to your heart on Valentine's Day.  2. More on the Cats tournament chances from Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.    3. A very interesting night yesterday for SEC basketball, and one that is both good and bad news for UK fans.  First the bad, cellar dweller LSU went into Florida and came out with a 12-point win, coming off the heels of a 2-point loss to Tennessee.  Suddenly, the game in Baton Rouge Saturday looks very iffy.  Like I have been saying ALL YEAR, Mississippi is overrated, and they continued to prove it last night, losing to Alabama by 9.  The Rebels are now 3-6 in conference.  I think this is the most shoo-in win left on UK's schedule, besides Georigia.  And finally, another team that gets waaaay too much credit, Arkansas, went to Tennessee, and got trounced by 22.  This is the same UT that Ole Miss lost by 2 and Kentucky beat.  I will say it now, UK's hardest 3 games left are UT, LSU, and South Carolina.    4. You saw this kid maybe 20-30 times at the Vandy game, the poor UK kid in the Vandy student section.  John Clay has hunted him down, and now you get to know what his experience was like. 5. Story in the Herald-Leader about the Cats current mindset and how they plan to move on past Vandy.  As a fan though, which loss hurt you more: Gardner-Webb or Vandy? 6. If you haven't heard, mark August 30th on you schedule for the must-see game of the early college football season.  Defending national champions from two divisions will clash when LSU and Appalaichan St square off in Baton Rouge.  I would bet anybody LSU wins by at least 21, but App. St. quarterback Armanti Edwards is an amazing sight to see.  He was the only player I saw this year that could win a game on his own, a la Vince Young.  And, he will be a Heisman candidate, and he's only a junior. 7. With the sanctions heading IU's way, it's likely Kelvin Sampson will be out with the Hoosiers.  Rick Bozich brought up an interesting point on his and Jody Demling's show "The Front Row Ticket", that maybe Bobby Knight got early wind of the sanctions, and decided to resign in hopes of going back to IU.  I strongly doubt it, but it at least gets ya thinking.  Grant Wahl addressed Sampson and other college basketball topics in his weekly mailbag. 8. Speaking of Bob Knight, thermocaster.com has released a mock game story about a possible Texas Tech-UAB, Knight-Davis matchup in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  Pretty humorous, even takes a shot at Kelvin Sampson. 9. Youtube has pulled the videos with Chris Berman doing an assorted amount of things such as hitting on women, using bad language, and discussing how to smuggle drugs in from Canada.  But, one video came out on Monday that I was able to see, but has also been pulled.  I will give you the link, and the headline will tell you all you need to know.