The 52nd Kentucky Invitationals News And Views

Because yes, Kentucky is now the Monstars of college basketball.  #tigerblood and all that.

Congratulations everybody, we finally made it. It’s time for the 52nd SEC Tournament to begin (for the Kentucky wildcats,) and after a few months of predictable games – winning at home, losing on the road – it’s time to get to the games that really matter. The road to the title looks to be clear for Kentucky to make it to the finals, and the implications are known (a potential 3 seed up for grabs.) All that is left is for the team to take care of business in the next two rounds with Ole Miss and likely Alabama before they play in the title game with a good chance to repeat as the SEC champs. Atlanta is turning blue, and so is the Georgia Dome, it’ll be a weekend to remember.

Beez-ner is either playing DD for Drew right now or he is passed out after his 24 hour drive, so I’m going to be giving you the quick and dirty version of the News and Views. Proceed with caution.

-By now you know that Kentucky will play Ole Miss today at 3:30 in what will be billed as a ‘revenge game.’ Whether or not the players view it that way is yet to be seen, but I think the game (and the tournament,) has the potential to be a huge boost psychologically for Kentucky. If they can go in and beat two teams they lost to earlier this season and cap the run off with a win over the regular season SEC champs in Florida, the team will have completely rid themselves of the demons that haunted them on the road in the SEC. For a young but talented team, good or bad vibes can be the difference between a blow out and a close game, and lord knows we don’t need any more close games.

-Speaking of the SEC, there were four games today that few people outside of Kentucky fans paid attention to. Georgia beat Auburn, Ole Miss beat South Carolina, Tennessee beat Arkansas, and Vanderbilt beat LSU late last night. All those results were generally expected, and the only really interesting thing it sets up is the Florida/Tennessee show down tomorrow after the Kentucky game. The winner of that game will likely play Vanderbilt, and one of the three will represent the other half of the bracket against Kentucky on Sunday.

-In related news, Deandre Liggins shared with us the fact that ‘staying fresh,’ is the key to winning the SEC tournament. Okay, he actually said that the key was getting rest, but that basically means staying fresh, and we can only assume he showers after he sleeps, so the real key is being both fresh and clean. Ain’t no one as dope as him.

-In other SEC news, John Pelphrey’s seat has got to be hotter than the LSU dance team at this point. Many of the Arkansas fan base was beginning to question the former wildcat’s coaching ability after a disappointing season and a half, and the first round loss to Tennessee seemed to dash any hope of winning that group over. But more importantly, Gary Parish broke the story of an NCAA violation committed by Pelphrey earlier this year in the form of ‘improper off campus contact.’ Frankly, the story sounds more to me like a couple of recruits heading up to to John to say hi and John not ignoring them than anything malicious, but a rule violation is a rule violation, and in a climate where your job performance is under scrutiny, you don’t want to give the powers that be any reason to terminate you. And that might just be it.

-I think Drew may still be at Stats – going on 14+ hours at this point – but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy his antics from afar. The guys recorded a podcast from the bar earlier today, and it includes insight from all the guys on the SEC tournament, Mark Krebs included.

[powerpress]