My Old Kentucky Home

My Old Kentucky Home never rang so true as it has this year for the Wildcats. Why you ask......because they are horrible on the road this year. This Kentucky team has a record of 19-8 yet is ranked #22 in the country. Their home record is 16-0 and you guessed it, that makes their road record a dismal 3-8. How many teams do you know of that are in the top 25 and have lost 8 road games. Now I am not saying they are not a top 25 worthy team in fact based on their strength of schedule and their close road loses they are deserving. What I am saying though is strong teams find a way to finish and win on the road. Here is a breakdown of their road losses:

UCONN lost 84-67 one of only a few blowout losses
North Carolina lost 75-73
Georgia lost 77-70
Alabama lost 68-66
Mississippi lost 71-69
Florida lost 70-68
Vanderbilt lost 81-77
Arkansas lost 77-76 On Wednesday night

Six of those losses were by 4 points or less and five of those were by 2 or less. The Kentucky teams of old found a way to win those games. They have lost 4 consecutive road games and lost 6 of their last 7 road contests. The good news is that they have only three games left with two at home. If they hold true to this consistent performance they should upset #13 Florida on Saturday at Home and then avenge an earlier road loss to Vanderbilt on Tuesday before taking it the road to probably lose to Tennessee on the final regular season game. What a tale of two teams, 16-0 at home and 3-8 on the road. Their three road wins you ask............Portland, Louisville & South Carolina. With the SEC tournament held in Atlanta they will have to see if they can muster up some good old fashion home cookin' to carry them into the Big Dance or they could see an early second round exit in the field of 65.

Cincinnati's win over Georgetown last night in DC gives the Bearcats another claw in their paw as they head into the big dance.

Marquette's big 74-67 OT win over Connecticut tonight in Storrs should make Marquette the 11th Big East team to get a bid to the Big Dance.

Wisconsin's three point bank shot desperation buzzer beater was a shot to the gut of Michigan and may have dashed the Wolverines last chance at securing a bid to the tournament. What a shame as they played well enough to win this game.

Don't forget the following games this weekend:

Saturday
#7 BYU at #6 San Diego State University 2:00
#17 Syracuse at #11 Georgetown 12:00
#13 Florida at #22 Kentucky 4:00
#23 St. John's at #15 Villanova 2:00

Sunday
#4 Pittsburgh at #16 Louisville 2:00
#8 Purdue at Michigan State 1:00


On an NBA note - how about the debut for Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups at the Garden in the NY Blue. Three players score 20 or more for the Knicks and Stoudamire gets 19 on significantly less number of shots than Anthony. Carmelo drops 27 points with 10 rebounds in his new Blue uniform and Billups chips in 21. It was a party at the Garden last night but how long will this party last with the likes of Stoudamire and Anthony that both are use to be center stage spotlight. Time will tell if either team or egos wins out in this one.

Look for my High School rankings coming out this weekend. Good night from Your Basketball SNOB







: