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 disappointing losses to Michigan State, Baylor (lol), North Carolina and Arkansas (again), 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: *You Can Have the Crown: After shocking 3rd ranked Wisconsin Tuesday night, jubilant Indiana fans rushed the court, and in doing so showed all the enthusiasm of a girl finding out she just won Miss Teen Detroit. The reaction from Kentucky fans was predictable: Jealousy. Why else would they call out IU backers for being excited about their team winning? For one thing, given how the Hoosiers have played this year, nobody saw this coming. Sure, Wisconsin isn’t a dominant team historically, but then again, neither is Indiana. Secondly, no current Indiana student was enrolled in the university the last time IU beat the Badgers, so excuse them for thinking they’ll never see it again. Likewise, no normal-aged college student in America was alive the last time IU won a championship. And to all the members of Big Blue Nation who were telling Indiana fans to “act like you’ve been there before,” you can’t “act like you’ve been there before” if you haven’t. Duh. *I'd Have to Be Crazy: Despite the fact that they have been playing together for almost 4 months now (practice began in late September), Kentucky has only won one true road game all year. By my calculation, this means that this UK team is only averaging one road win every almost 4 months. This is an astounding feat, given the fact that the Wildcats entered the season ranked #1 in the country. While it’s true that UK has only lost two home games in the past 5 season, and sports a sparkling 76-2 mark under John Calipari in the confines of Rupp Arena, the fact of the matter is that the Cats won’t be playing any NCAA Tournament games at home. To get ready for the Big Dance, these Kiddie Cats need to learn how to play in opposing arenas full of hostile fans. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the thousands of Big Blue Backers who routinely fill opposing arenas (e.g., Memorial Gymnasium when Kentucky played Vanderbilt last week), it isn’t clear how many more chances they’ll get to do this. *Life Ain't Fair & the World Is Mean: When Arkansas hosted UK Tuesday, the Razorbacks had a “white out,” whereby they handed out white t-shirts to all the fans, and had coach Mike Anderson donning a white tie. This does not bode well for Kentucky. John Calipari likes to crack that everywhere the Cats play, the opposing team has “a red out, a white out, a blue out, an orange out,” etc. In other words, the only way UK’s opponents can coerce any fans to attend games featuring Kentucky is to bribe them with swag (this is shorthand for “stuff we all get”). Apparently, Kentucky’s tire fire of a season last year, which culminated in a humiliating loss to Robert Morris in the National Invitation Tournament, has resulted in people not wanting to see them play. in previous years, opposing arenas sold out whenever the Cats came to town. Nowadays, the only way fans will come see Kentucky is if they are bribed with clothing. It’s sad, really. * On this date: On this date in 2020, that Arkansas fan who confronted Aaron Harrison should be up for a promotion at Dairy Queen.