Not Jerry Tipton's Friday Basketball Notebook

The 2013-14 season is here, and Kentucky will spend the entirety of it trying to atone for the disaster was the 2012-13 season. John Calipari’s team is trying to do something that no team in the history of college basketball has ever done: Win a national championship relying primarily on 6 freshmen who were McDonald’s All Americans. With a disappointing loss to Michigan State, the team will fail to reach its ultimate goal of perfect season, and will instead try to console itself with a national title. To stay apprised and educated, follow me on Twitter @NotJerryTipton. Here’s the weekly notebook: *I Miss You: Tuesday’s game against Texas-Arlington saw the lowest attendance for a UK home game at Rupp Arena in the John Calipari era. While it’s clear that Kentucky fans are fed up with this team, it is not clear exactly why. Is it the closer than expected exhibition games? Is it the poor free throw shooting against UNC-Asheville? is the loss to Michigan State? Is it the fact that UK isn’t even the highest rated team in the state? All of the above. In speaking with a few of the several million Kentuckians who chose not to go to the game Tuesday, it became apparent just how much they desired to not be there. Several of them mentioned that they would just as soon watch the contest from the comfort of their own living room, on 50” high definition TV’s, than actually see the team in person. Likewise, they discussed the interactive nature of social media, and how “following” a game on twitter is almost better than being there, especially considering that Rupp Arena has no WiFi. But what does this mean? Well, it means that people would rather spend $6,000 on an HD TV than the $45 it costs to purchase a ticket to see the team play in person. Or they’d rather learn how to use a smart phone and go to the trouble of setting up a twitter account than simply get in their cars and drive to the games. Definitely not the kind of behavior one would expect to see from a fanbase that bills itself as the greatest in college basketball. But after 26 losses in 4+ seasons, can you blame them? *Down: Last Sunday, Belmont shocked 10th ranked North Carolina. This was the last thing Kentucky fans wanted to see. UK, of course, plays Belmont on December 21. On December 14, the Cats play a (preseason) top 10 team.* On December 28, UK faces #3 ranked Louisville. For those keeping score at home, this means that over the course of 15 days, UK will play the 3rd winningest program in history,* the team that beat 10th ranked North Carolina, and the defending national champions, who haven’t lost to Kentucky in almost two years. At this point, it seems like UK’s best chance to steal a win in one of those three games is to hope that either UNC has more players suspended for NCAA violations and/or criminal activity, or that Belmont is still hungover as a result of the big win in Chapel Hill, or that UofL overlooks the Cats in preparation for the brutal American Athletic Conference schedule they face. Unless one of these 3 things happen, however, it will be a (Big) Blue Christmas for Kentucky. *North Carolina *North Carolina *Dammit (Growing Up): Against Robert Morris, Aaron Harrison scored a season high 28 points on 4 of 7 shooting from three point range, and 10 of 10 shooting from the foul line. Against Texas-Arlington, James Young scored a personal best 26 points while going 5 of 10 from deep, and 5 of 7 from the charity stripe. This does not bode well for Kentucky. In relying on perimeter players to have career nights to beat inferior opponents, Kentucky is causing concern among Big Blue Nation. What happens on a night where nobody has a career game? Or if the opponent isn’t a mid-major? These concerns aren’t without merit. Kentucky has only played one school all year from a BCS conference, and they lost. So unless this trend somehow reverses, the Cats may very well have a perfect record in the sec: 0-18. Sounds improbable, but if past history is any indication of future performance, and it usually is, then this is exactly what will happen. And in every game that the Cats have won, at least one Kentucky player has scored a career high: Marcus Lee had 17 against UNC-Asheville, Derek Willis had 6 against Northern Kentucky, Aaron Harrison had 28 vs. RMU and Young scored 26 against UTA. At some point, these career nights will end. And then what? * On this date: On this date in 1992, had you told an Indiana fan that the Hoosiers would only go to one Final Four in the next 20+ years, while winning no titles, he probably would have laughed at you. Then cussed at you. Then poured a beer on you. Then punched you. Then broken your arm. (Indiana fans are a violent people.)