Stupid Murphy and His Law

"Can't you see I'm blubbering?" That did not go well. The Cats just couldn't catch a break, and the fell to Vandy, 77-64. I'm too lazy to make up a fake location for Beisner and Matt, so I'll just jump straight to the notes: -Um, well, the officiating was...interesting. There's nothing lamer than blaming the refs for a loss---and I won't---but it warrants a mention. I don't know that I've ever seen so many questionable off-the-ball fouls. It seemed that every 50-50 foul call went their way, and sometimes that's how it goes---especially on the road. If you are wondering, they shot 40 FT's to our 23. -What basically led to the Cats' demise was Vandy's ability to keep Meeks in check. They did a great job covering him and switching on screens, and the Cats were unable to do anything else offensively. It's a difficult proposition without Patterson, but someone, still, needs to step up and score. -Hey! A.J. Stewart played fairly well! He scored 11 off the bench, including a second consecutive random three! Exclaim! -Stevenson and Harrellson, however, were less than impressive, combining for only five points. -Galloway and Miller, again, played solidly. Galloway seems rusty, which is to be expected, since this is his first real game action (he has to now steal those minutes back from Landon Slone, see). Miller still has trouble controlling the ball, but look, we don't have many options. Plus, he gets more confident offensively each game. -Porter made a lay-up and was credited with two blocks.Harris made all his free throws. -If I told you Jermaine Beal had 17 points, would you believe me? Well, he did, with 10 coming from the line. -A.J. Ogilvy is the college basketball version of Cristiano Ronaldo. -A point that is usually belabored mercilessly by television announcers: the first five minutes of the second half were monumental tonight. A similar scenario was presented in UK's loss at Ole Miss, and the outcome was mirrored tonight. Some attribute those crucial minutes and their result to coaching, others to...well, you guys can hash that out. -Moral of the story, folks: the Cats have seriously endangered their tourney hopes. Tonight was a bad, bad loss. Not only because it came to a mediocre team, but also because of the upcoming schedule. UK still has USC on the road, UT and LSU at home, and Florida on the road. -But don't go soaking your pillows with tears, yet. Remember, there's still a lot of basketball left, and all indications suggest it will no longer be Patterson-less. So, if you're more of an optimist than me, you have something to look forward to! Now, we just absolutely have to win Saturday. No pressure or nothing.