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As DeMarcus Cousins wakes up this morning, I wonder what he found under his pillow? Did the tooth fairy leave him a quarter, dollar, five dollars or maybe a future number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. There's still a long way to go, but after Saturday, there's no doubting this IS THE NUMBER ONE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY!!

The first half of this game is the most complete twenty minutes this team has played this year. Cousins loses a part of his tooth, Wall gets a bruised knee while diving for a lose ball and sliding into the scorers table and what about Darius Miller! This guy was on fire! I hope this is all part of Miller becoming more comfortable with his new teammates and we can expect to start seeing this type of performance going forward.

Here's the post game interviews in case you missed them...

John Pelphrey


John Wall


Eric Bledsoe


Daniel Orton


Calipari Part 1


Calipari Part 2

Tags: arkansas, darius miller, deandre liggins, demarcus cousins, john calipari, tooth fairy

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Wildcat Basketball

This Saturday, John Pelphrey will attempt to play Superman as he leads his team into Rupp Arena to hand the Kentucky Wildcats their first loss. With the #1 ranking on the polls in the waiting, Pelphry can play the role of spoiler and truly leave his mark as an unforgettable.

We shouldn't take this team lightly. The way the CATS played defense against Auburn, we should be worried about anyone that can shoot. Arkansas has just the person to really give UK problems. Rotnei Clarke is the leading three point shooter in the country at 48.8% If he gets hot, UK could be in for a long day.

NCAA Basketball

Here's what I'll be looking for from UK...

Patrick Patterson - Patterson really needs a complete game. He leads the team in scoring but he always seems to leave something on the table. I'm looking for Patterson to have a break out game leading up to the Tennessee game. It will help if our guards can start looking for him once and a while, when they're driving out of control to the rim.

Demarcus Cousins - Boogie just needs to be Boogie! If Cousins can just keep his cool and stay focused even when things don't go his way, he'll be unstoppable!

John Wall - I can't pick too much on the best player in the nation. I would like to see him start being a little more carefully with the ball. Against Auburn, Wall had seven turnovers and four assist. It wold be nice if he could at least flip those around.

Erick Bledsoe - SLOW DOWN!! There's a time to turn it on and there's a time to be smart and don't force anything. Against Auburn, Bledsoe only had three turnovers and a slew of forced "circus" shots that resulted in quick transition bucket for Auburn. Bledsoe is a freshman, but if UK is going to win a national championship, he must get things under control.

Darius Miller - Miller is definitely the fifth starter and needs to be productive if he wants to keep his spot. He must play with high energy, be a defensive stopper and hit his shots. He's not playing with the same amount of forgiveness as the other starters, so there's little room for error.

Darnell Dodson, DeAndre Liggins and Romon Harris - All three of these guys are in the same boat as Miller. They're all on a very short leash. Liggins has emerged as the front runner because he's more of an offensive threat that Harris and he plays better defense and takes care of the ball better than Dodson. Look for Liggins to be the first person off the bench on Saturday.

Daniel Orton and Perry Stevenson - These guys are settling into their roles very nicely. Both are providing solid, productive minutes. As long as they take care of the ball and continue to block shots, Cousins and Patterson will be able to get some much needed rest throughout the season.

Kentucky is definitely the favorite and many of us have already claimed that #1 spot on Monday. I really think we have nothing to worry about, as long as we play defense for entire game.

If you're an Arkansas fan, don't get too down on yourself on Saturday after you've lost the game. There's still lot's to be proud of. This video is a great example of one of Arkansas finer moments. Enjoy!!! (There's just something about that video that disturbs me...just can't place it)

Tags: arkansas, darius miller, hot dogs, john pelphry, kentucky

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Uncategorized

Following Kentucky's 76-68 conference opening victory against Georgia, Kentucky coach John Calipari gave some feedback on who he thought stood out. In his opinion DeAndre Liggins was the difference maker and was the factor that in the end allowed that W show up in the win column. Here is the excerpt from UK Athletics of Calipari discussing Liggins;

[SIZE=2][I]“Who fought? You tell me who went in and fought? DeAndre Liggins. It is not brain surgery. We all saw how he can play. Now the question is, do I start him? Should he be a starter? The tentativeness, the softness, the `I got screened I’m sorry’, it is too late now. We are in the middle of the season and you have to ball. You have to go out there and fight and compete and if you are not, I am going to play somebody else. I have not changed since I got in the seat. We got some guys fighting it a little bit, `I would try ig you give me the ball more.’ It isn’t about that. It is about battling. DeAndre was probably the difference in the game. If I had to play pother people we probably wouldn’t have enough to win. One guy was breaking down and they were coming up with balls. He tied up a ball for a jump ball and made that layup when we were dying. He did some really good things, I was proud of him too, really proud of him.”[/I][/SIZE]

Now by all means DeAndre has showed that he can be on the team, following his suspension he has stepped in and made a difference. His biggest impact I feel has been on the defensive end with his intense pressure on the ball handler of the opposing team. With that said maybe Liggins only needs to be the sixth man for this season, he was suspended for most of the non-conference schedule after all. It would seem that the starter that Coach Calipari would be directing this comment toward would be Darius Miller who hasn't done a lot in the past few games but I don't believe he has done enough to lose his spot. When Bledsoe or Wall go to the bench it is Darius you will see bringing the ball up the court and although he does hesitate from time to time to take the shot, he does take care of the ball. This is a position I don't think Liggins is ready for, he was last year's Bledsoe by getting a full head of steam and either losing the ball or being called for a charge on the defender. Now all of this could be nothing more than Coach John Calipari trying to give Darius Miller or possibly Eric Bledsoe some initiative to be more than a difference maker but I felt it was a big topic to discuss amongst his comments from his postgame interview.

Tags: coach cal, darius miller, deandre liggins, eric bledsoe, john calipari, kentucky, wildcats

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Wildcat Basketball