Loge Level

Sorry, Tru, I commend your resiliency, but the Patrick Patterson news has pretty much ruined my weekend.

What makes this so difficult to swallow is that Kentucky was on the verge of completing a remarkable in-season turnaround. Gardner-Webb . . . San Diego . . . blowing the lead against UAB . . . being simply out-classed by North Carolina, Indiana, and Louisville . . . the 40-point thrashing in Nashville — somehow, it was all going to culminate with a positively mind-blowing bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Now? Uh, not so much.

We’re left with ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi crushing poor Lance from Corbin’s dreams:

Lance (Corbin Ky): Joe, let’s just say that UT does hold home-court advantage and beats UK (respectfully, let’s say by 10), and UK wins out against S. Carolina & Florida (18-11 and 12-4 sec) and has a good showing in the SEC Tournament. Where do you see UK’s seeding? I’m thinking between 7-12 depending on SEC Tournament showing. Also, if you were a 5, 6 or 7 seeded team how scared would you be to see that Kentucky was your first round opponent seeded at 12, 11 or 10? UK has really played well in the SEC this year (with exception of @ Vandy, but EVERY team has a off-night), and yes I understand that the SEC as a whole is a bit down this year to past years but, UT, UK, VANDY, MISS ST, FLORIDA and maybe ARKANSAS could give about any team fits on a neutral court site. GO BIG BLUE NATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SportsNation Joe Lunardi: (4:08 PM ET ) This may all be moot given today’s news about Patrick Patterson. It’s hard to imagine UK getting/staying on a roll without him.

[Link] Ouch, Joe. But, unfortunately, it’ll be surprising if Lunardi’s proven wrong. Even with a healthy Patterson, we were decided underdogs against Tennessee, and the South Carolina and Florida games were far from gimmes. Candidly, I don’t expect to win any of those games now. Not saying it can’t happen — crazier things have — but I’m significantly lowering the bar.

Where do we do go from here? Even if we lose out, I’d think an NIT bid would still be a possibility. But, as a UK fan, I’m unfamiliar with NIT qualifications.

So, yea, what about spring football? Will Curtis Pulley beat out Michael Hartline for the quarterback job? Would an “I *heart* Hartline” shirt be cool or not cool? And just who will Pulley or Hartline be throwing to?

Onward and upward!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 5:23 pm and is filed under College Basketball, College Football, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.