This is based from an article in the [URL=”http://www.tennessean.com/”]Tennessean[/URL] on today’s Kentucky game at Vanderbilt. I love reading the viewpoints from the opposition to see just how important the game is to the opponent’s state and fan base. This one is a big one, which is no surprise, it always is.
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The Kentucky game is and has always been the measuring stick as to where we are in the basketball world,” Cate said. “The coaches may not look at it that way, but the fans do.”
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The fans always play a huge part on the road in the SEC, and Vanderbilt combines the weirdest floor layout and very loud fans to make the best home court advantage this side of Rupp Arena in the conference.
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The Commodores (20-5, 9-2) haven’t won the SEC East since 1992-93. A win today puts them in a tie for first with [URL=”http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DN&Dato=20100131&Kategori=SPORTS0602&Lopenr=1310802&Ref=PH”]Kentucky[/URL] (25-1, 10-1) with four games to go.
“I don’t know how you qualify ‘biggest,'” said Coach Kevin Stallings, who has been at Vanderbilt since 1999. “In terms of its impact on the league race, sure it is. It’s the biggest league game that we’ve played in this late in the year relative to bearing on the race and our position in it.”
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Vanderbilt will be playing with a lot of urgency today and Kentucky will have to match that if they want to pull out a tough road victory. This game could go a long way in seeding for the NCAA tournament.
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“I don’t know if I’d go that far. But is this one of the biggest we’ve ever hosted? That’s a cinch to say. We’ve hosted teams that have been No. 1 and beat them. North Carolina comes to mind (in 1987) and Kentucky with Rick Pitino(in 1993). But I don’t know that we’ve ever had as much going on as we do this season. We’re ranked No. 17 and playing for co-leadership of the SEC.”
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On eBay, a pair of tickets in 3L, in the upper deck behind the basket, sold for $226.51 on Friday. That is on the cheap end. There were no tickets for sale Friday on StubHub.com or SeatExchange.com. Most of the listings on craigslist.org were people looking to buy and pleading for a good deal. One poster’s listing read: “I will pay well but not ridiculous money for them.”
But with baseline seats starting at $175 and lower-level sideline seats eclipsing $500 on many ticket sites, deals have been tough to find.
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It is going to be full and if you haven’t got a ticket yet, sounds like you aren’t going to get one. Big game in Nashville!! I love SEC basketball, but it will be hard to listen to the television when you know ESPN is there. Look who is calling our game again!!
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ESPN, which will carry the game, is sending its “A” team of Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews. That alone tells Vanderbilt senior Jermaine Beal the impact of this game.
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It should be an awesome game to watch today and I am just hoping that we pull one out today. For some reason I think we will win by more than 10, but as I have said before, I am in the minority on that. I just think this Kentucky team is special. Go Big Blue!
[URL=”http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100220/SPORTS0602/2200334/2196/SPORTS”]Source[/URL]
