Trick or treat in the SEC.

Come as yourself.

The decision not to wear a costume either means an individual is too lame to party or too cool to party. Sometimes being too cool is actually lame, and sometimes being too lame is actually cool. Texas A&M’s season started off well, and then it started going not so well. Alabama bullied them down the stretch, and Ole Miss finished the job with a 23-3 thumping.

Gut Reaction to Selection Sunday: Kentucky Edition

From the perspective of a UK fan:

Possibly the most shocking event in UK's quest to repeat will turn out to be the moment between these two.

Well, I was disappointed to see the committee didn't give my Wildcats byes all the way through to the championship game like they deserve. Still, I can't complain about not having to play anyone until the round of eight. All in all, this gives me more time to Google pictures of Ashley Judd. I think given another fourteen days or so I can find one that's at the perfect angle for photoshopping my face in place of Dickie V's, although I believe doing so might be a more difficult task than the Harrison twins repeating. Do you think Karl-Anthony Towns gets to kiss Ashley Judd? What about Wynonna? He's had to have kissed Wynonna, right? Seriously, Dickie V, wow, I always thought it would be Coach K.

Kemba Devours Calipari

The Cinderellas took care of each other, and the favorites took care of themselves; so the only thing left to ask is: HOW DO YOU SAY GO BUTLER, WHEN ALL YOU CAN TASTE ARE YOUR OWN SCALES?

Defining the Term Scavenger

scav-en-ger: 


--noun


1. an animal or other organism that feeds on dead organic matter.

Bracketing the End of Days

The sky will be on fire. The earth will tremble. The seas will swallow cities whole. And teams that we thought were long dead will rise up out of the ground with their dreams rekindled. While Revelatory statements about basketball may be deemed inappropriate in the wake of real life tsunamis, earthquakes, and personal loss, sport always epitomizes a way for us to understand and have faith in life regenerating, that new ages eclipse the old ones, and that all is not lost. Our obsession is both our cure and our disease, paradoxically putting our world into focus, while displacing us from the reality of what's truly important.

LCB Hoops Picks: Rivalry Week

With football season finally over and the NBA season taking a break for all-star festivities, Berndon and myself move our focus to selecting college basketball. Our picks for this weekend's best games are after the jump..

Garbage Time: Charleston, Guns, and the Mavericks

Teach: The washing machine in my apartment is an old clunker. As it goes through its spin cycles, one can hear it bang against the dry wall and linoleum, like a Wright Brothers contraption it longs to fly, and while my washing machine turned the dryer into a passionate lover by rocking and swaying, Kentucky and Louisville slugged it out against one another, in a sloppy game made appealing only by the soap opera plot lines of Pitino and Calipari's lives, that is until John Wall took over with about nine minutes left, propelling Kentucky into full-fledged flight.

As Wall mounted the run that took the game out of Louisville's grasp, my washing machine finished dry humping the dryer, except it wasn't that dry--the water was still running. I got a pair of pliers and cut off the supply, but I was too late. I could already fill my gym socks absorbing the half inch of water that now sat on my laundry room floor, running under the door and soaking into the carpet and floorboards of the hallway. I used every towel in my apartment to control the flood, but the damage was done; and I felt as foolish as a Cardinal defender trying to keep John Wall from being John Wall.

By the time one feels the flood, it's probably too late.

Yes, College of Charleston upset Carolina, giving them their fourth loss this season, but this loss only puts this season into context. A team with ten freshmen and sophomores, that's lost only to top ten teams so far, lost on the road while missing two of its starters, who happen to be a junior and a senior. Yes, College of Charleston is only 8-6 on the year now, but Carolina teams have suffered much more embarrassing losses and turned out alright by March. Santa Clara anyone? And, if any of that didn't help UNC fans to relax, then check out Adam Lucas' portrait of a young team still learning "how to win."

Langston:

On the last day of 2009, the Tennessee Volunteer basketball team appeared to be headed towards a deep run in the NCAA tournament. They were ranked 14th in the country, coming off a big 66-59 win over in-state rival Memphis, and about a week away from hosting the #1 Kansas Jayhawks. Then it all unraveled in a late night traffic stop on new years, all due to speeding. The end result; 4 players facing misdemeanor drug, alcohol, and gun charges. All four scholarship players, all four indefinitely suspended. Leaving the police, coaching staff, university and fans with a lot of questions. Not really about the pot or alcohol, because, well, it's college. But why in the world did they have guns, especially guns with altered serial numbers? I have lived in almost every living situation in Knoxville from dorms to apartments to off-campus houses. And do you know the one thought that never entered my mind? I need a gun. Yet, I guess that's why these stories are so interesting to those of us lacking the talent and ability to play major college sports, as we can't imagine why any of them would risk the opportunities presented to them.

I sometimes imagine myself in their position as a scholarship athlete, thinking I would never make the same mistakes. Leading myself to believe that I would embrace everyday as the most grateful person alive. After all, my only job would be to get good grades, play a game, stay in shape and not get arrested. But who am I kidding? If I was told how awesome I was by everyone I met from the age of twelve to twenty, I would be insufferable and just as likely to get popped by the cops for some idiotic mishap.

Game of the Week:

Dallas @ San Antonio, Friday, 8:30 PM

San Antonio went into December having won five games in a row. The Spurs then lost three in a row to Boston, Denver, and Utah, dropping their record to 9-9. Since that losing streak, they've won 11 out of 14 games, climbing to 21-12 and within two games of the Dallas Mavericks. This game matters not only because the Spurs can pull a game closer to the Mavs, but because the Spurs need to beat a quality opponent. All last year, I said the Spurs role players, not their Big 3, needed to play well against quality teams so they would have the confidence to win in the playoffs. Well, now, the role players and the Big 3 need to win against a quality opponent in order to have the confidence to remain relevant. In their December surge, the only winning team Duncan and company have beaten is Miami, which means this surge sounds more like a whimper than a bang.

Bridge Ices Before Road: #10 North Carolina Loses to #5 Kentucky

To reach any destination, one must travel from point A to point B, and throughout history, humans have designed and built roads as the line connecting dot A with dot B. By foot, by horse, by wagon and cart, by chariot, by car and by truck, people have travelled by roads, laid by hard work and perseverance.

The land between A and B is not always flat and passive. Roads are not always greeted with open arms and a kiss upon the cheek. Rivers, lakes, marshes, valleys, and mountains all take their turns impeding the construction of roads, of one's journeys. Hence: the need for bridges.

North Carolina is a talented team, but they are also a very young team. Young teams commit turnovers and fold under pressure. Young teams have a tendency not to win championships or meet their fanbase's expectations. Experienced teams tend to accomplish all the tasks that leave young teams as a starting point for a discussion on potential rather than on accomplishment. Young teams enter the discussion on accomplishment by fording rivers and building bridges. They must find a way, somehow, to get from point A to point B, proving through survival tactics that they are worthy of arrival.

Building bridges and fording rivers is a difficult undertaking that requires more than whistling. A Georgetown gust can topple one's means of construction, or a Kansas flood can washout the bridge's supports, but these disappointments, full of dynamite and gunpowder, often lead to much bigger bridges and from the smoking ruins of defeated prison camps rise 89-72 victories over Michigan St. It's been done before, and it can be done again.

As I watch this young Carolina team face off against Kentucky, I find myself staring out the window, watching snow cover the earth like so much flour on a baker's countertop:

BRIDGE ICES BEFORE ROAD

Carolina swerved off the bridge somewhere in Lexington. The team bus toppled over the guardrails and landed on a cold mirror of ice. Larry Drew, Ed Davis, even Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard looked timid and scared crawling and staggering out of the wreckage's smoking, steel body. Meanwhile, John Wall flew by as if he were wearing skates, as if everyone else were dough, and he was the baker's cookie cutter. For the first half of yesterday's game, John Wall was both beautiful and devastating.

Then Wall stumbled into the locker room as if his skate caught a snag in the ice, and a Kentucky lead that seemed frozen at 19 points began to thaw. Carolina got huge plays from several contributors: a Dexter Strickland dunk cutting the lead to single digits, a three from David Wear with 9:33 left, Ed Davis blocking a spinning runner in the lane by John Wall, Will Graves taking a charge and hitting a three with 1:45 to play, and a barrage of Tyler Zeller jump hooks and put backs throughout the second half. But the Kentucky lead never dipped below three points.

Kentucky's first half intensity and the splendor of John Wall decimated whatever Carolina's 7-1 start to this season seemed to have built so far as a means to crossing over from rebuilding to contending. I called my Dad, as I turned up the thermostat in my apartment, looking for some silver lining in Kentucky's 28 to 2 run that flipped a 9-2 Carolina lead into a 30-11 deficit, and we really couldn't find one other than the fact that UNC features eight underclassmen on their roster, which means the construction of this bridge is just beginning.

Construction on the Brooklyn Bridge began in 1870. The bridge was completed in 1883, and cost 27 lives. Huge sacrifices are required to cross the chasms of fear and disappointment that separate humanity. Be assured that Roy Williams will take these building blocks of rough stone and stack them one upon the other, pouring mortar in the spaces in between, building the means to go on from here, a 68-66 loss in Lexington, to Indianapolis in March. After all, what drives humanity other than a need to migrate from point A to point B?

Do not be surprised if these two teams meet again, on a bridge of interlocking brackets.

The Cliches of Kentucky Basketball; or the Aura is Back

Today we bring you our second ever keynote speaker here at LCB. His name is Quincy Jones, and he writes the blog Thoughts of Q. He's also an avid Kentucky basketball fan, which is his topic for today and the start of our many discussions on the 2009-2010 college basketball season.

“A program synonymous with winning.” “The stars are aligned.” Let’s stick with clichés for awhile. It makes for good reading when viewed through blue lenses. Kentucky basketball is famous for both its winning ways and bottomless appetite for national championships. Try to imagine racing a Ferrari and a Maserati on a ¼ mile track. You’ve been given the keys to a Lamborghini. Three great thoroughbreds. One small problem for the Lamborghini: the wheels have fallen off. That basically sums up Kentucky basketball for the past half decade. It defined the Billy Gillispie era.

The fumes of victory had long since dried up before Gillispie rolled into town. Tubby Smith, the last coach of a UK national championship team, won it on the backs of Rick Pitino’s players: Scott Padgett, Michael Bradley, Wayne Turner, Jamaal Magloire and Tayshaun Prince. He was still able to recruit the great player every now and then (see Rajon Rondo and Randolph Morris [who was a bust, but nevermind that]), but struggled to bring in a complete class of great recruits. Gillispie brought in Patrick Patterson and developed Jodie Meeks into a more than solid two guard, but it was a steep downhill in talent after that.

So what do you do if you’re Kentucky’s ADUP (Athletic Director Under Pressure), Mitch Barnhart? Well, you find, hook, plead, beg and do everything else legally and illegally to get a coach that will absolutely put you on a path to success. Quick aside: Mr. Barnhart has a self-termed “15x15x15” plan that he is banking on for proof of his success. Basically, the goal for UK Athletics is to win at least 15 conference or national championships and rank among the NCAA’s top 5 athletic programs by 2015. Let’s take a reasonable guess and assume that Kentucky basketball wins the conference championship oh, I don’t know, every year from the 2009 to the 2014 season (6 conference championships). Let’s take another leap of faith and assume they will challenge for the NCAA title oh, I don’t know, every year through the 2014 season. And let’s say they will win two titles (2 national championships). Well that’s 8 championships from one sport. I’m sure the rest of the sports teams can pick up another 7 between them.

After another down season for Kentucky basketball and the shadow of Rick Pitino growing in Louisville, it was time for a change. The plug was pulled on ol’ Billy Boy because, as the Kentucky administration put it, there existed an “incompatibility between the school” and coach. Billy Boy is now in the John Lucas After Care alcohol rehab program in Houston. Talk about “drinking away your sorrows.”

Strolling into the limelight and pressure is John Calipari. He’s never won a national championship, but he has also never coached a program as high profile as Kentucky. And, as Rick Pitino showed us by winning high praise with his Kentucky teams (but also tanked in the NBA and whose Louisville team has yet to reach the predicted heights), when you surround yourself with great players, you just need to be good enough to “manage the game.” And, of course, you don’t really need to have great recruiting pitches to attract the nation’s finest basketball players to the bluest part of the Bluegrass state. Just ask the FOUR five-star recruits that will be playing for Coach Calipari this year: Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton and the will-he-or-won’t-he-play, illegally recruited, played 5 years of high school, maybe ineligible, highlight reel point guard, John Wall.

There exists my favorite of clichés: “No one knows that the future holds.” The college basketball landscape is forever changing. When you have someone as seedy and loathed as John Calipari (For the record, I love Kentucky basketball, but when does integrity give way to the “win at any costs” philosophy), an illegal violation waiting to happen, you’re not even sure of next week. For Billy Gillespie, the cliché, “Pressure busts pipes,” came true. Can Calipari turn an old stone back into a diamond? The 900,000 fanatics that follow Coach Calipari on Twitter each and every day are eager to find out.