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EDGE rusher from USC Trojans committed to UK

3 Years of eligibility remaining, 6'-1", 255 lbs. Luck says he has power and high effort output, top 500 recruit out of HS. We need all the edge guys we can get so, perhaps, one of them can put pressure on the QB. Played more this past season as it wore on and put some stats on the board.

Welcome to BBN!

Let me gripe a little

Ok, I’m stoked to beat UL. Forever and always. I’m not trying to be a drag. But a pattern has emerged. We are nowhere near physical enough and we don’t sell out for lose balls and rebounds. This is a big issue. It’s with all our guys too. Garrison buddy that was shameful to let that UL kid slide under you to grab that ball. We tap rebounds around instead of grabbing them. We don’t shoot in to block out with force. We try to dribble loose balls and frankly we just stand and watch too much when there’s a ball to be had. I’ll say too that we hunt for fouls in the paint instead of finishing strong and trying to score.

The SEC slate will not allow this to continue.

Marshall opts out of bowl cause of transfers

Sources: Marshall opts out of bowl after transfers, coaching change


Army now has no opponent and the bowl ppl will have to scramble to find a 5-7 team when most have already left campus for winter break.


So two conference champs now won’t face because of the idiocy of the portal being open before the bowls take place.

This stuff will end up putting an end to bowl games outside the playoff.

What must we improve on, to reach the Final Four & win the national championship?

I'm thinking 1st, 2nd & 3rd on the list has got to be defense. Louisville had so many open 3 pointers yesterday it was like they were taking target practice. Plus other times a smaller UofL player would take it to the basket & score over 7'0" Amari Williams because Williams had his hands down at his side. And also there were several times that a UofL player would back our defender under the basket & our defender would get no help from a teammate to double down on the UofL player. There was one time that a UofL player backed our player under the basket & Andrew Carr stood there not 5 feet away and didn't offer to double team, which resulted in an easy basket for UofL.

Dane Key

Looks like we may be seeing Dane week 2 in Lexington. Visited Ole Miss today. Khamari Anderson visited Auburn yesterday, so we could potentially meet him later in the season as well. Most of Keeshawn SIlver's suitors are high end schools, but not any we have to face. Looks like everyone else is getting lower level looks so far, except Barion who already committed to LSU.

Louisville being competitive again

Louisville being competitive again and having a good coach will make these games much more entertaining. But one thing I missed in recent years was the UOFL fans coping after they lose games. They are the most “if this happened” or “if Kentucky didn’t do that” fanbase ever. If we didn’t only have 7 players, we would have won by double digits. Kentucky has 7 guys who contribute right now. If butler didn’t hit everything he throws up, while they hit 14 3s and shot way better than they have all season. And then the blaming of the refs, when the refs were terrible for both teams the whole game. I sure did miss the coping that fanbase does.

Football Can confirm the Football Scoop reports

Belichick is targeting Marrow for his staff at UNC. I heard this was possible because Marrow and Belichick apparently have the same agent.

Can also confirm the Football Scoop report that UK is interested in USF WR coach L'Damian Washington.

Both are true.

On the surface, it's a great opportunity for Marrow.

OT: Fixing the NBA

I used to watch the NBA a little bit between middle school and college. Recently, though, I have no desire to sit and watch at all.

I saw a tweet by Clay Travis that suggests I might not be the only one, with NBA viewership decreasing by 48% since 2012.
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Replies largely mirror my qualms with the NBA: players sitting out, tons of games, and a near complete homogenization of systems and player skills. It's boring watching an NBA game.

Players can carry the ball and travel. Defense is basically punished. Offense sold tickets, but we now have too much of a good thing, IMO. NBA games are lifeless, stale products. Moreover, personally, I feel like defense has suffered for the same reason it has in the NFL – stars are commodities and investments, and hard fouls or aggression towards them should be punished severely.

That's great from an investment standpoint, but it's kind of like having a really nice China set that nobody's allowed to use. The pieces are just for looks and once viewing it has lost all novelty, the set has completely lost its utility.

Furthermore, the NBA has a near universal system: drive, kick, shoot, rebound, drive, kick, shoot.... Yeah, that's great, but basketball now has something of a "meta build," to borrow a gaming term. Everyone does the same thing and strives for the exact same players. The NBA isn't a chess match, it's a game of who's got better cards.

An idea I've toyed with for a while is how the NBA would look if half the games were 3 point "on" games and 3 point "off" games. I watched UK's win against Duke in '78 when Goose got loose, and it's such a completely different game that emphasized post moves, strength, interior passing, cutting, and more.

Teams wouldn't be able to sell out on buying three point experts at each position. You'd need traditional big men, and they'd have to have expanded roles even in the 3-point games because they're an investment just like a Klay Thompson or Steph Curry.

Now, I don't think that'll solve the NBA's myriad problems, and I certainly don't think it'll ever get implemented. However, as a biologist, I know that if you have an environment suited for one organism and one organism only, it'll fill all the niche space available. We need a diverse ecosystem to create a space where multiple organisms (styles) can compete and thrive.

So, I'm interested in what your ideas are or how you'd react if the NBA has 3pt on and off games. Maybe even on or off halfs or quarters.

Of course, defense needs to be rewarded again, offense needs to be punched down a bit, and other factors need to be addressed, so again, I'm interested to hear what your thoughts are on all this.

If nothing is done, I doubt I'll ever watch even a quarter of an NBA game again, and it seems that's a growing sentiment among basketball fans.

Lessons being learned, Kentucky is different

This team is solid but they are learning that playing at Kentucky is different. Crowds are bigger, louder, Home/Away. Teams play better than their roster and talent level almost always. The game is officiated different when Kentucky walks thru the tunnel. I believe this team will elevate even more and be even better as they acclimate more to all these you are now at Kentucky truths.

Pope and Pitino both picked up first wins over UL 93-85

On Dec. 29, 1990, Rick Pitino’s Cats defeated Louisville 93-85 in Freedom Hall to pick up his first win in the rivalry. (Cards handed Pitino his only home loss in 1989-90).

On Dec. 14, 2024, Mark Pope’s Cats defeated Louisville 93-85 in Rupp Arena to pick up his first win in the rivalry.

Interesting coincidence or omen?

22' Kentucky Native Football Class

Just looking at the non-UK guys. These guys are all either RS sophmores or juniors now. But most of these guys have all outplayed their ratings (not all). 3 of the top 4 players that year ended up being busts (247 rankings), but a lot of these guys ranked further down have been pretty solid. WKU's offense was basically built around the 22' Kentucky in-state class this year. Looking at the 23 & 21 class, this class has definitely out-performed relative to ranking

Class of 22:
LB Kalib Perry - Tennessee - listed as "or" on the depth chart for starter at WLB. 22 tackles, 3 TFLs this year.

WR Vinny Anthony - Wisconsin - starter at WR, 672 yards, 4 TDs this season

CB Elijah Reed - Akron (former Cat) - starts at CB. 32 tackles, 1 INT, 4 PDs this season.

QB Caden Veltkamp - WKU - CUSA Offensive POY

RB Xavier Brown - Virginia - 600 total yards, 3 TDs, 6.1 ypc this season

C Evan Wibberly - WKU - Starter at Center, seems maybe the next starter here.

WR Easton Messer - WKU - Starter at WR, 725 yds, 4 TDs this season.

There's a real chance all but 1 (Reed) of these guys are P4 starters this season. All the WKU guys are in the portal with some P4 attention.
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One thing drinker and non drinkers can agree on

Constructive criticism:
If you are going to sell overpriced beer at Rupp please use the outrageous profits to build more men’s restrooms.

I drink .
I’m not a prude or teetotaler . However I like to watch basketball and I can go two hours without buying overpriced beer. The couple beside us were up and down every three to five minutes to replenish their beer . The drunk even said to me “ how can you go tru half a ballgame without peeing . “
At the 16 minute timeout in the second half I went to the men’s room. Missed about three minutes of basketball because the line was incredible. Most had a beer in their hand .

I don’t begrudge people having a good time as long as they don’t drink and drive . Their continually getting the whole row up during the action to fed their habit I can contend with . However if UK is going to make outrageous profits from getting people snockered during the game have the decency to use some of those profits to build more restrooms for the folks who came to see the game rather than get snockered .
Great win . Fantastic time . But I couldn’t resist because I just can’t understand why people have to drink to have a good time at a U.K. basketball game . Football I understand . It’s four hours with too many four minute timeouts and a twenty minute halftime . And the product has been depressing lately . But two hours of top ten basketball . Come on , man !

#1 Team -vs- Unranked Team on the Road

Saw something interesting yesterday. Tn (the #1 team in country) was only a -1.5 point favorite against an unranked team on the road. (They won by 2 on a last second shot.)

This is not Vegas disrespecting UT, but math nerds understanding the difficulty of winning on the road this year.

The SEC road schedule will be a tough gauntlet to run through. I predict the conference winner will have 4 losses and 3-4 teams will be hovering around 3-4 losses going into last week of the conference. The SEC tournament in Nville will be great, with multiple schools thinking they have a chance to grab a 1 or 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
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