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 a whole bunch of teams, 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: *Twist The Knife: The last few road games for Kentucky (Mississippi State, Auburn, Ole Miss) has seen a significant number of UK fans find their way into the arena. The reason for this is clear: The Kentucky basketball program simply doesn’t appeal to rival SEC fans the way it used to. In the past, opposing fans would line up around the block when the Cats came to town, and it was almost impossible for members of Big Blue Nation to get their hands on a ticket. But now, apparently as a result of 6 losses this season and an NIT trip last year, these same rival fans are giving up their tickets to UK fans. And while some may argue that this actually underscores the passion that Cat fans have for their team, the harsh reality is (probably) that these travelling UK fans just want to see what all the complaining back home is about, and decide for themselves whether this team is really as disappointing as everybody says. The bottom line is that as long as “Blue gets in” to arenas around the Deep South, it means that the current version of the Wildcats are underachieving. When’s the Spring Game again? *Hold on, Hold on: Tuesday’s Kentucky/Ole Miss game showed what happens when a team plays hard, plays together and has fun. I’m talking, of course, about the Rebels’ big 2nd half run. Though down by 22 at one point in the final stanza, Ole Miss put together a big run over the course of about eight minutes to cut the lead to 6. Folks watching probably wondered where that particular Ole Miss team had been all night. This includes UK fans, who had to realize that if the Rebs had played the entire 40 minutes the way they played during that 8 minute stretch, the Cats lose by 80. Definitely not what Big Blue Nation wants to see heading into March. When’s the Spring Game again? *Favorite: During Saturday’s UK/Florida game, former Cats Josh Harrelson and Doron Lamb received an enthusiastic welcome from the Rupp Arena crowd during a timeout in the 2nd half. This does not bode well for Kentucky. It simply serves to underscore how dissatisfied Cat fans are with the current UK team. While Harrelson and Lamb were showered with heartfelt applause simply for walking out onto the court, no such response awaited any member of the 2014 team. For instance, immediately after the two former Cats walked off the court, Julius Randle and his teammates walked on the court, and were not given a standing ovation. Why the contrast? Is it because both ex-Cats played in a Final Four, unlike any current member of the team not including Jon Hood, Jarrod Polson, Sam Malone and Brian Long? This seems to be the case. When’s the Spring Game again? * On this date: On this date in 1906, Kentucky had no black players on its roster.