It's official: North Carolina and Kentucky will renew their basketball series, with a game in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Dec. 14 next season, and another at Rupp Arena in Kentucky during the 2015-16 season.
“I think it’s a great series for both schools and our fans as well as college basketball fans period,” Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said in a prepared statement. “North Carolina and Kentucky have great traditions and, regardless of who you pull for, fans mark this as a must-see game on the schedule.”
After 12 years, the schools did not play this season, citing the expansion of the ACC and SEC schedules.
UNC leads the series 22-13 and has won six of the last nine meetings.
Credit: ESPN
Showing posts with label John Calipari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Calipari. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Monday, July 2, 2012
Kentucky likely to dominate 2013 draft, too
The 2012 NBA draft was a familiar scene.
Kentucky players heard their names called in suitably historic fashion -- Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist became the first teammates of the modern era to be selected Nos. 1 and 2 overall -- en route to an expected six total selections, four of which came in the first round. As during his Memphis tenure, and as in 2010 (when John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins both went in the top five) and 2011 (when Brandon Knight led the way) John Calipari was on the draft floor, smiling and hugging and soaking up the countless brand-oriented benefits that come with being at the center of yet another massive NBA draft haul.
This has become the routine for Calipari: Recruit some of the best prospects in the country, accelerate their cohesion and development, make a run at a national title, send them to the NBA draft, rinse, repeat. Whether you believe Calipari can claim credit for developing NBA players or merely recruiting them (I tend to fall on Jay Bilas's side of the argument, but there is some gray area there) the process has become an annual tradition.
There's no reason to expect anything different in 2013.
This morning, I planned to do a more in-depth, listy look at the teams who could challenge Kentucky for most populous draft classes in 2013 -- but, as usual, the pool of challengers looks slim. As Chad Ford wrote in his 2013 lookahead this weekend , Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel is the early favorite to be the No. 1 overall selection in next year's draft. Even if that doesn't pan out -- scouts already really love Indiana's Cody Zeller, and Zeller should only improve as as sophomore -- it's unlikely we'll see Noel drop much further than the top five. Meanwhile, incoming Kentucky freshman Alex Poythress is ranked No. 5 in Ford's 2013 top 100 , while classmate Archie Goodwin comes in at No. 17 overall. Throw in power forward Kyle Wiltjer, and point guard Ryan Harrow, both of whom could have big seasons in starting roles, and while the Wildcats' talent won't come anywhere close to 2012's heights, it's clear they are still the leaders in the 2013 NBA draft clubhouse.
The closest any squad comes to matching the breadth and depth of UK's potential draft offerings per Ford's top 100 is UCLA. Shabazz Muhammed is a top-five talent, fellow freshman guard Kyle Anderson is ranked No. 15, and there are mock drafts that list forward Joshua Smith as a potential lottery pick (provided he can slim down and harness all the potential in that massive frame).
That's the closest challenger. Those UCLA players (and coach Ben Howland) have much to prove before that comes to fruition, and elite draft picks have not always thrived in Howland's traditional downtempo system. That's true of everyone in next year's draft, of course, and obviously it's much too early to start counting up draft picks. We're still an entire year, and an entire college hoops season, away.
But as of now, it would appear that what's been true of Kentucky under Calipari since he took the job will remain true next summer, too. If any other program matches UK's concentrated draft accolades, it won't just be an expected random blip. It will be a major surprise.
Credit: ESPN
Kentucky players heard their names called in suitably historic fashion -- Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist became the first teammates of the modern era to be selected Nos. 1 and 2 overall -- en route to an expected six total selections, four of which came in the first round. As during his Memphis tenure, and as in 2010 (when John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins both went in the top five) and 2011 (when Brandon Knight led the way) John Calipari was on the draft floor, smiling and hugging and soaking up the countless brand-oriented benefits that come with being at the center of yet another massive NBA draft haul.
This has become the routine for Calipari: Recruit some of the best prospects in the country, accelerate their cohesion and development, make a run at a national title, send them to the NBA draft, rinse, repeat. Whether you believe Calipari can claim credit for developing NBA players or merely recruiting them (I tend to fall on Jay Bilas's side of the argument, but there is some gray area there) the process has become an annual tradition.
There's no reason to expect anything different in 2013.
This morning, I planned to do a more in-depth, listy look at the teams who could challenge Kentucky for most populous draft classes in 2013 -- but, as usual, the pool of challengers looks slim. As Chad Ford wrote in his 2013 lookahead this weekend , Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel is the early favorite to be the No. 1 overall selection in next year's draft. Even if that doesn't pan out -- scouts already really love Indiana's Cody Zeller, and Zeller should only improve as as sophomore -- it's unlikely we'll see Noel drop much further than the top five. Meanwhile, incoming Kentucky freshman Alex Poythress is ranked No. 5 in Ford's 2013 top 100 , while classmate Archie Goodwin comes in at No. 17 overall. Throw in power forward Kyle Wiltjer, and point guard Ryan Harrow, both of whom could have big seasons in starting roles, and while the Wildcats' talent won't come anywhere close to 2012's heights, it's clear they are still the leaders in the 2013 NBA draft clubhouse.
The closest any squad comes to matching the breadth and depth of UK's potential draft offerings per Ford's top 100 is UCLA. Shabazz Muhammed is a top-five talent, fellow freshman guard Kyle Anderson is ranked No. 15, and there are mock drafts that list forward Joshua Smith as a potential lottery pick (provided he can slim down and harness all the potential in that massive frame).
That's the closest challenger. Those UCLA players (and coach Ben Howland) have much to prove before that comes to fruition, and elite draft picks have not always thrived in Howland's traditional downtempo system. That's true of everyone in next year's draft, of course, and obviously it's much too early to start counting up draft picks. We're still an entire year, and an entire college hoops season, away.
But as of now, it would appear that what's been true of Kentucky under Calipari since he took the job will remain true next summer, too. If any other program matches UK's concentrated draft accolades, it won't just be an expected random blip. It will be a major surprise.
Credit: ESPN
Monday, September 13, 2010
John Calipari visits 102-year-old fan
Here's a bummer about getting old: Until you get really, really, really old -- the kind of old that's so old you're not sure if you want to be that old -- people don't care. Being 80 is rarely seen as an accomplishment. But when you reach a certain threshold, people care more than ever. You get your photo on the "Today Show." Your relatives mention you in casual conversation. ("My grandpa is 104, and he still walks a mile every day!") People clap for you at weddings.
And, perhaps most importantly, high-profile college hoops coaches come visit you on your birthday.
At least, one does. Kentucky coach John Calipari, master of the positive public relations stunt (and, by all accounts, a genuinely caring and outgoing guy), visited Dr. Gifford Blyton, a 102-year-old Kentucky season-ticket holder for 62 years and a former professor under eight different presidents at Kentucky, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Calipari is traveling in support of his latest book, "Bounce Back: Overcoming Setbacks to Succeed in Business and in Life," but he stopped the book tour for the momentary visit with Blyton at Fat Boys restaurant in Georgetown, Ky. (Mmm. Fat Boys. I've never been there, but any restaurant named "Fat Boys" is bound to be delicious. I bet there's lots of gravy.)
In any case, Calipari left the meeting with a ready-made quote straight from the inspirational coachspeak handbook:
Credits: Eamon Brennan, ESPN
And, perhaps most importantly, high-profile college hoops coaches come visit you on your birthday.
At least, one does. Kentucky coach John Calipari, master of the positive public relations stunt (and, by all accounts, a genuinely caring and outgoing guy), visited Dr. Gifford Blyton, a 102-year-old Kentucky season-ticket holder for 62 years and a former professor under eight different presidents at Kentucky, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Calipari is traveling in support of his latest book, "Bounce Back: Overcoming Setbacks to Succeed in Business and in Life," but he stopped the book tour for the momentary visit with Blyton at Fat Boys restaurant in Georgetown, Ky. (Mmm. Fat Boys. I've never been there, but any restaurant named "Fat Boys" is bound to be delicious. I bet there's lots of gravy.)
In any case, Calipari left the meeting with a ready-made quote straight from the inspirational coachspeak handbook:
“You give money, and you're giving a fraction of what you have,” Calipari said last week. “But when you give your time, you're giving everything.”Which, like all good inspirational coachspeak handbook quotes, has the benefit of being both hokey and true. Fans eat this stuff up, and it's no wonder why. Calipari is good at a lot of things -- recruiting, meshing teams together, coaching defense -- but creating a genuine sense of outreach and community in his adopted home might be his best, and perhaps most admirable, trait.
Credits: Eamon Brennan, ESPN
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
UK's grades slip in Calipari's first year
Kentucky had a fantastic season in John Calipari's first year. The Wildcats energized the faithful. They re-established UK as one of the nation's elite programs. And they showed off Calipari's unique ability to not only recruit the best talent in the country but to mesh that talent in ways that produce results on the basketball court.
The only problem? The stuff that happened off the court.
More specifically, the problem here is what happened when those talented Cats got into the classroom. According to an open records request by the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky hoops posted a GPA of 2.025 in the fall semester of Calipari's first year. For those of you who can't remember what the GPA scale is, that's barely better than a C average. If the Kentucky men's basketball team were your average student, that student would be fighting hard to graduate, his parents would be wondering if their son needs a "change of scenery," and that son would probably start thinking about changing his major to one of the few professions whose prospective employers don't care about your GPA. (Hello, journalism!) In other words, it's not very good.
The GPA was the lowest of any of Kentucky's 20 athletics teams and the worst among the nine SEC teams that released their average GPAs to the Herald-Leader. Two UK players (only their scores, and not the individual names, were released) had GPAs lower than the 1.8 needed to be eligible for the spring semester. That penalty doesn't take effect until the second year, meaning two of the lowest GPAs -- D+ averages -- belonged to freshmen. The highest GPA was 3.59, which totally screwed up the curve for everyone else. Way to go, anonymous smartypants.
Before we get to the fallout here, it's important to note that Kentucky's administration and athletics department are already making their disappointment clear:
There's no incentive here. It stands to reason that the more one-and-done players your program has, the less serious your program is going to be about academics. (Of course, not only the one-and-dones had bad grades here; the entire team is responsible. But the correlation seems fair.)
With that in mind, it's a little difficult to criticize Kentucky, because the truth of the matter is that this is 2010's college basketball system. The NBA doesn't care about grades. The NCAA does. And the longer the NCAA goes along with the NBA's rule, the more often we'll see teams like Calipari's -- brilliant on the court, apathetic off -- post GPAs low enough to make their university president squirm.
In the meantime, it's safe to say most Kentucky fans won't much care about this sort of thing. They want to win. College basketball fans might be idealistic at heart, but they get it. It's the NCAA that does its best to maintain the illusion that these are student-athletes, and not just athletes, even if the reality has long proved otherwise. If Calipari keeps churning out 35-3 seasons, 2.025 GPAs will be met with little more than lip service and a collective shrug.
None of this excuses Kentucky, of course -- there were plenty of other programs with one-and-done players this season, and none of them appears to have performed this poorly in the classroom. A 2.0 would be embarrassing for that average college student. It's even more embarrassing when it's an average culled from a team of players with limitless academic resources focused on ensuring that embarrassing GPAs don't happen in the first place.
Throughout 2009-10, Calipari consistently touted Wall's 3.0 average as a measure of accomplishment. Turns out, Wall's excellent leadership on the floor didn't extend to the classroom. Neither, apparently, did Calipari's. Cynicism aside, that's a bad sign for any coach, especially for one as high-profile as Kentucky's. But don't say you didn't see it coming.
Credits: Eamonn Brennan, ESPN
The only problem? The stuff that happened off the court.
More specifically, the problem here is what happened when those talented Cats got into the classroom. According to an open records request by the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky hoops posted a GPA of 2.025 in the fall semester of Calipari's first year. For those of you who can't remember what the GPA scale is, that's barely better than a C average. If the Kentucky men's basketball team were your average student, that student would be fighting hard to graduate, his parents would be wondering if their son needs a "change of scenery," and that son would probably start thinking about changing his major to one of the few professions whose prospective employers don't care about your GPA. (Hello, journalism!) In other words, it's not very good.
The GPA was the lowest of any of Kentucky's 20 athletics teams and the worst among the nine SEC teams that released their average GPAs to the Herald-Leader. Two UK players (only their scores, and not the individual names, were released) had GPAs lower than the 1.8 needed to be eligible for the spring semester. That penalty doesn't take effect until the second year, meaning two of the lowest GPAs -- D+ averages -- belonged to freshmen. The highest GPA was 3.59, which totally screwed up the curve for everyone else. Way to go, anonymous smartypants.
Before we get to the fallout here, it's important to note that Kentucky's administration and athletics department are already making their disappointment clear:
"I was disappointed," UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. said recently.That's all well and good, but here's the rub: Did anyone particularly expect John Calipari to field a team of SEC-leading academic minds? Throw out all the stuff about Calipari's recruiting issues in the past, wherein he has been in close proximity to -- but never implicated in -- vacated seasons and academically ineligible players. Simply looking at Calipari's preferred recruiting strategy works. The man likes one-and-done players. He signed them at Memphis. He won with them at Memphis. The same happened in his first year in Lexington. And a one-and-done player has little, if any, reason to care about his grades. He's going to be playing in the NBA in eight months; why on Earth would he study extra hard to get that B?
"It's not something we're happy with, I'll tell you that," said Sandy Bell, UK's senior associate athletic director and the person in charge of student services. "And we'll be working on it to get it up. We certainly anticipate that going up in the spring" semester.
There's no incentive here. It stands to reason that the more one-and-done players your program has, the less serious your program is going to be about academics. (Of course, not only the one-and-dones had bad grades here; the entire team is responsible. But the correlation seems fair.)
With that in mind, it's a little difficult to criticize Kentucky, because the truth of the matter is that this is 2010's college basketball system. The NBA doesn't care about grades. The NCAA does. And the longer the NCAA goes along with the NBA's rule, the more often we'll see teams like Calipari's -- brilliant on the court, apathetic off -- post GPAs low enough to make their university president squirm.
In the meantime, it's safe to say most Kentucky fans won't much care about this sort of thing. They want to win. College basketball fans might be idealistic at heart, but they get it. It's the NCAA that does its best to maintain the illusion that these are student-athletes, and not just athletes, even if the reality has long proved otherwise. If Calipari keeps churning out 35-3 seasons, 2.025 GPAs will be met with little more than lip service and a collective shrug.
None of this excuses Kentucky, of course -- there were plenty of other programs with one-and-done players this season, and none of them appears to have performed this poorly in the classroom. A 2.0 would be embarrassing for that average college student. It's even more embarrassing when it's an average culled from a team of players with limitless academic resources focused on ensuring that embarrassing GPAs don't happen in the first place.
Throughout 2009-10, Calipari consistently touted Wall's 3.0 average as a measure of accomplishment. Turns out, Wall's excellent leadership on the floor didn't extend to the classroom. Neither, apparently, did Calipari's. Cynicism aside, that's a bad sign for any coach, especially for one as high-profile as Kentucky's. But don't say you didn't see it coming.
Credits: Eamonn Brennan, ESPN
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Five Wildcats Declare for the NBA Draft
John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe declaring for the NBA draft today was no surprise, and coach John Calipari couldn't be more proud.
Calipari might be losing all of them to the pros, but he should have little trouble reloading now that he can sell a program that has recaptured rock-star status.
The Wildcats already signed small forward Stacey Poole Jr. and have a commitment from Turkish center Enes Kanter, who previously had pledged to Washington.
Credits: Diamond Leung, ESPN.com
Calipari might be losing all of them to the pros, but he should have little trouble reloading now that he can sell a program that has recaptured rock-star status.
The Wildcats already signed small forward Stacey Poole Jr. and have a commitment from Turkish center Enes Kanter, who previously had pledged to Washington.
Credits: Diamond Leung, ESPN.com
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Despite the loss, Kentucky is back
Kentucky basketball seemed to be back to its royal status as soon as John Calipari was hired a year ago.
The rock star stature of its coach within the Commonwealth and the Wildcat diaspora spread throughout the world believed that the program had returned to its rightful place among the elite as soon as the NBA-ready players arrived, too.
The loss to West Virginia in the Elite Eight Saturday night at the Carrier Dome prevented a coronation. But it shouldn’t be a sign that there is any sort of regression. Kentucky is back, and as long as Calipari is on board there won’t be a significant slide, even with the likely early departures for the NBA for three, possibly four, of the key contributors – freshmen John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe and junior Patrick Patterson.
“My teammates and myself are proud of what we accomplished this year,’’ Patterson said in a glum locker room following a 73-66 loss by No. 1 seed Kentucky to No. 2 seed West Virginia in the East Regional final. “We’re not satisfied (with losing in the Elite Eight). We know this is a stepping stone to getting Kentucky back to being a national powerhouse like it was in the years before. Hopefully the teams ahead of us can do it.’’
No one can deny what Calipari did this season in assembling the greatest late signing period class in modern times. Calipari checked egos at the door with this crew, managed minutes, coached a team that could win an uptempo game or in the halfcourt. By the end of the season, they played defense with purpose and passion and won close road games in hostile SEC environments.
You can’t deny the energy that was in Rupp Arena this season. It was palpable. From Midnight Madness in October to the opening tip against Morehead State in November to the regular-season finale against Florida in March.
“We did a lot of successful things this year but we didn’t get the main goal and that was winning a national championship,’’ Cousins said. “I’ve never had this much fun in my life. I wish it would have ended up on a good note for the returning players like Perry (Stevenson), Ramon (Harris) and Patrick who had been through hell the past two seasons. I wish we could have ended it on a good note.’’
The Billy Gillispie era the previous two seasons wasn’t good to watch or enjoyable for the players. Patterson spoke openly about the difference during Friday’s off-day media session. There was chaos throughout last season’s NIT bid. Practices were laborious, not intensely fun. Calipari brought joy back for the returning players while meshing in the celebrated newcomers.
Wall’s beautiful game -- from beating Miami (Ohio), to taking down Connecticut in New York, to his play throughout the SEC -- was something to behold at times. To watch the maturation of Cousins from a hot-tempered man-child to a much more refined post presence was a credit to Calipari and the staff. Cousins was overwhelmingly appreciative of how much Calipari helped him mature and evolve as a player. Wall and Patterson spoke Friday about how Cousins popped off early in the season when pushed and prodded, and how he figured out how to stay on the floor and ignore the temptation to return to aggression.
The fast-breaks, the turnovers, the overall enthusiasm for Kentucky basketball weren’t just good for the Commonwealth this season, but for the sport. College basketball needs Kentucky to be great, just like it needs Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, UCLA and Syracuse to matter. It’s tremendous for basketball when new powers, like Butler, are formed. Or when old ones, like West Virginia and Kansas State, are tapped. Or a newly consistent presence, like Michigan State, emerges. But Kentucky has to be relevant for the overall health of the sport. The lightning rod of the sport is still better off when it’s up than being pounded down.
“Everybody put egos aside for this team to make it this far,’’ Bledsoe said. “I’ll look back at this as a special year.’’
Even if Kentucky takes a major hit from the draft, you can guarantee Calipari will reload quickly with some of the top players in 2010 and beyond. “I’m proud of my team, they fought and they just kept trying,’’ Calipari said.
“I’m proud of what they’ve done all season, a bunch of young kids that just came together.’’
The Wildcats couldn’t solve West Virginia’s 1-3-1 zone. They gave up 10 3s and made only 4 of 32 themselves. They didn’t play with the same defensive lock-down mentality that they had against Cornell in the Sweet 16 or even close to what they had against Wake Forest in round two. West Virginia was the better team Saturday night.
Bottom line: Kentucky failed to reach its expectations for this particular group, and they likely won’t be together next season. The window was open for a national title, or at the least the first trip to the Final Four since 1998. But as long as Calipari stays in Lexington, there will be an annual run toward the title. That’s what is expected in Chapel Hill and Durham and always has been the norm in Lexington. Now it should be a reality.
Credits: Andy Katz, ESPN
The rock star stature of its coach within the Commonwealth and the Wildcat diaspora spread throughout the world believed that the program had returned to its rightful place among the elite as soon as the NBA-ready players arrived, too.
The loss to West Virginia in the Elite Eight Saturday night at the Carrier Dome prevented a coronation. But it shouldn’t be a sign that there is any sort of regression. Kentucky is back, and as long as Calipari is on board there won’t be a significant slide, even with the likely early departures for the NBA for three, possibly four, of the key contributors – freshmen John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe and junior Patrick Patterson.
“My teammates and myself are proud of what we accomplished this year,’’ Patterson said in a glum locker room following a 73-66 loss by No. 1 seed Kentucky to No. 2 seed West Virginia in the East Regional final. “We’re not satisfied (with losing in the Elite Eight). We know this is a stepping stone to getting Kentucky back to being a national powerhouse like it was in the years before. Hopefully the teams ahead of us can do it.’’
No one can deny what Calipari did this season in assembling the greatest late signing period class in modern times. Calipari checked egos at the door with this crew, managed minutes, coached a team that could win an uptempo game or in the halfcourt. By the end of the season, they played defense with purpose and passion and won close road games in hostile SEC environments.
You can’t deny the energy that was in Rupp Arena this season. It was palpable. From Midnight Madness in October to the opening tip against Morehead State in November to the regular-season finale against Florida in March.
“We did a lot of successful things this year but we didn’t get the main goal and that was winning a national championship,’’ Cousins said. “I’ve never had this much fun in my life. I wish it would have ended up on a good note for the returning players like Perry (Stevenson), Ramon (Harris) and Patrick who had been through hell the past two seasons. I wish we could have ended it on a good note.’’
The Billy Gillispie era the previous two seasons wasn’t good to watch or enjoyable for the players. Patterson spoke openly about the difference during Friday’s off-day media session. There was chaos throughout last season’s NIT bid. Practices were laborious, not intensely fun. Calipari brought joy back for the returning players while meshing in the celebrated newcomers.
Wall’s beautiful game -- from beating Miami (Ohio), to taking down Connecticut in New York, to his play throughout the SEC -- was something to behold at times. To watch the maturation of Cousins from a hot-tempered man-child to a much more refined post presence was a credit to Calipari and the staff. Cousins was overwhelmingly appreciative of how much Calipari helped him mature and evolve as a player. Wall and Patterson spoke Friday about how Cousins popped off early in the season when pushed and prodded, and how he figured out how to stay on the floor and ignore the temptation to return to aggression.
The fast-breaks, the turnovers, the overall enthusiasm for Kentucky basketball weren’t just good for the Commonwealth this season, but for the sport. College basketball needs Kentucky to be great, just like it needs Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, UCLA and Syracuse to matter. It’s tremendous for basketball when new powers, like Butler, are formed. Or when old ones, like West Virginia and Kansas State, are tapped. Or a newly consistent presence, like Michigan State, emerges. But Kentucky has to be relevant for the overall health of the sport. The lightning rod of the sport is still better off when it’s up than being pounded down.
“Everybody put egos aside for this team to make it this far,’’ Bledsoe said. “I’ll look back at this as a special year.’’
Even if Kentucky takes a major hit from the draft, you can guarantee Calipari will reload quickly with some of the top players in 2010 and beyond. “I’m proud of my team, they fought and they just kept trying,’’ Calipari said.
“I’m proud of what they’ve done all season, a bunch of young kids that just came together.’’
The Wildcats couldn’t solve West Virginia’s 1-3-1 zone. They gave up 10 3s and made only 4 of 32 themselves. They didn’t play with the same defensive lock-down mentality that they had against Cornell in the Sweet 16 or even close to what they had against Wake Forest in round two. West Virginia was the better team Saturday night.
Bottom line: Kentucky failed to reach its expectations for this particular group, and they likely won’t be together next season. The window was open for a national title, or at the least the first trip to the Final Four since 1998. But as long as Calipari stays in Lexington, there will be an annual run toward the title. That’s what is expected in Chapel Hill and Durham and always has been the norm in Lexington. Now it should be a reality.
Credits: Andy Katz, ESPN
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Quick thoughts: UK vs. GA
Sorry...due to a few procedures earlier today at St. Joseph, I was not up to posting pre-game notes. Saw these on ESPN.com and Lex18.com.-- Kentucky improves to 28-2, 13-2 SEC on the season. Georgia falls to 13-15, 5-10.
-- UK is 112-24 against the Bulldogs and 39-15 against UGA in Athens.
-- With a win, Kentucky claims a share of its 44th SEC Championship and the top overall seed at next week's SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. at Bridgestone Arena.
-- With an SEC Championship in his first season as head coach at UK, John Calipari joined Tubby Smith and Eddie Sutton as UK coaches to win an SEC Championship in their inaugural season.
-- Calipari has won five straight conference championships and six in his last seven years.
-- Kentucky will play its final regular season game on Sunday, hosting the Florida Gators on Senior Day. Tip-off is scheduled for Noon with the game being televised on CBS.
Team game notes
-- The Wildcats used the starting combination of Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson and John Wall for the 22nd time this season. Kentucky is 20-2 with that starting five.
-- DeAndre Liggins was the first sub off the bench for Kentucky. It was Liggins' ninth time this season to be the first Wildcat off the bench.
-- Kentucky extended its streak of game with a three-pointer to 741 games, the third longest streak in the country.
-- Kentucky led 40-36 at halftime. The Wildcats are now 24-1, 12-1) when leading or tied at halftime.
--The Wildcats shot 48.5 percent (16-of-32) in the first half, its highest first half percentage since shooting 51.6 pct. at LSU (2/6).
-- Finished with eight three-pointers, the most since hitting nine against Ole Miss (2/2).
-- Kentucky also shot 83.3 pct. (10-of-12) from the free throw line, its highest percentage since shooting 89.5 pct. against Drexel (12/21).
-- The Wildcats have shot 79.5 pct. (31-of-39) from the free throw line over the last two games.
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