The Week That Is About To Be

The sports schedule is hectic. The NFL is in full swing. College football is entering the bowl season. High school, college, and pro basketball is running strong. To top it all off, the holidays are upon us. Mondays are good days to plan out your week and make sure you don’t miss any of the UK-related action. Wednesday -Men's Basketball - SEC/Big East Invitational - Kentucky vs Connecticut (Madison Square Garden, New York) - ESPN - 9:30: Kentucky gets the late game on the flagship network. I know that Saturday was a statement win by the Wildcats that drew national attention, but there is additional gravitas that occurs when the Cats play in New York. It gives the game instant 'event' status and seems to generate extra buzz. I was pretty pumped until I checked out the introduction on the Invitational's website. Take a gander:

Who could forget the Orange making it to the Sweet Sixteen, and the Huskies advancing to the Final Four? Florida and Kentucky, too, had banner years–playing in the National Invitation Tournament.

Ugh. I still can't get over the fact that we missed the tournament last year. Thank goodness our program is now in more capable hands. Friday -Women's Volleyball - Kentucky vs Florida State - TBA: Last week, I got some well deserved flak for not including the Women's Volleyball Team in my weekly schedule post. The Cats responded to my slight by delivering an absolute beat down to Michigan State and Oregon. Ladies, I apologize for shutting you out last week. Well done. The Wildcats travel to Minnesota to take on Florida State. Attempts by Bobby Bowden to get the game moved to Florida were denied, although if the Cats win two in Minneapolis, they move on to the Final Four in Tampa. Faster, Wildcats. Kill! Kill! Saturday -Men's Basketball - Kentucky at Indiana - CBS - 12:00: This will only be the second time since 1990 and the tenth time overall that the Cats have played Indiana in Assembly Hall. Additionally, it is one of the few venues where UK has a horrible won/loss record. The Wildcats have beaten Indiana there twice and both times Joe B Hall was the coach. While I like working on turning this dubious record around, I kind of miss the RCA Dome/Freedom Hall games. The inevitable TV shot of the half-blue, half-red divide in the stands was something that was pretty cool. Sort of a light schedule, right? That is because it is dead week for the University of Kentucky. A time when students are forced to hunker down and get some last minute studying in before final exams begin next week. Well, either that or get a bunch of fellow undergrads together, storm the library, and tick off a bunch of bleary eyed grad students: