Bryan the Intern's Picks to Click

  What is that picture? Its of every Duke starter fouling out of last night's game against Wake Forest.  Imagine what Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale would have said if they were doing that game.  "A pure travesty, baby!!!"  As I mentioned on Friday, not only do the Cats need to do some winning, but they also must cheer against the 30-35 (now 20-25) teams ahead of them in the RPI, in hopes of getting around a 50 RPI by the end of the season.  Here is what happened in the key games for the Cats chances this weekend: Kentucky(84) beats LSU by 4 Virginia Tech (83) loses to North Carolina by 39 UAB (80) loses to Memphis by 1 Wake Forest (79) wins over Duke by 12 Utah St. (77) loses to Hawaii by 5 Missouri (74) loses to Kansas St. by 36 San Diego St. (73) loses to Utah by 6 Seton Hall (68) loses to West Virginia by 21 Villanova (67) wins over St. Johns by 18 Creighton (65) loses to Bradley by 28 Temple (63) loses to Dayton by 11 W. Kentucky (56) wins over M. Tennessee by 5 So, all in all, a wonderful weekend for the Cats.  Not only do they get a must-win over LSU, the other teams ahead of them went 3-8, a major reason for the Cats jump to 71 in the RPI.  Now, here are the games during the week to keep an eye out for: Ohio (63) home against Bowling Green (Tue.) Creighton (70) home against Missouri St. (Tue.) Temple (62) on the road against St. Bonaventure (Wed.) N.C. State (60) home against North Carolina (Wed.) Texas Tech (67) on the road against Colorado (Wed.) Villanova (59) home against West Virginia (Wed.) George Mason (65) home against Delaware (Wed.) VCU (66) on the road against Northeastern (Wed.) Wright St. (64) home against Detroit (Wed.) Florida (58) home against South Carolina (Wed.) With a win over Georgia, I can see the Cats in the 64-66 range if close to half these games go Kentucky's way.  Now, on the links: 1. I don't want to alarm anyone, but I had heard in the past couple weeks that it was a small possibility that Deandre Liggins might not qualify to enroll at UK.  Jody Demling writes a small article on it in yesterday's Courier-Journal, and it seems that Liggins and his coaches think he will get the scores.  Also in this article is a blip about Clarence Trent, a 2009 big man on Liggins team that also has UK high on his list. 2. I don't care how many turnovers Ramel Bradley had on Saturday, is there anyone you would rather have with the ball in his hands late in a game on this team.  Also, is there anyone you would rather have shooting free throws late in a game in the country?  After reading these notes from the Hearld-Leader, its obvious Derrick Jasper might not be the most confident at the line in late game situations.  Also, hunt for the Billy Gillispie quote on why Jared Carter's basket meant so much.  I found it really funny. 3. John Clay discusses the basketball gods helping the Cats pull out a win against LSU.  You know what else helped, playing defense, something the Cats did none of against Vandy. 4. Clay also wrote an article this weekend about the baffling coaching decisions that Billy Gillispie seems to make every game.  While it never seems his choices affect the game, they are some of the more unexplainable decisions I have ever seen.  Just from the LSU game: No Meeks in the second half, Jared Carter scores and immediatly gets benched, Ramon Harris 4 minutes?, and as always Coury starts and hardly plays again.  5. It appears a UK blog is starting the reveal its list of the greatest 25 UK players, and they start with a class act: Chuck Hayes. 6. If you haven't seen this yet, Tom Izzo sat down for a couple minute interview with the nations most beloved news person, Ron Burgandy.  Just imagine UK fans, Izzo could have been the coach here, and then Burgandy would have been romping around Lexington, picking up every woman.  7. List of the most out of shape athletes, and I dont have to tell you what local kid has made the cut. 8. While I do think the Shaq trade was really, really, bad for the Suns (how many games has Shaq played so far?), I do think Shaq is very funny and good for the league.  A couple videos of Shaq being Shaq: the first has him singing about nobody knowing who is on the Kings, the second is him "arguing" with a "reporter" about what NBA stands for.