UK alum Tom Leach has been the play-by-play “Voice of the Wildcats” for the football Cats for 12 years and nine years for men’s basketball. He is a four-time winner of the Kentucky Sportscaster of the Year award. Tom offers an entertaining and insightful perspective into UK athletics. Column entries will be posted twice per week through April. Read Tom’s full biography
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Kentucky players get to see the Big Blue nation’s fervor up close, but even some of them were amazed to see more than 22,000 Cat fans turning out for a TV show at Rupp Arena when ESPN brought its “College Gameday” tour to town earlier this month.
“There’s been a lot of players that have come through this program over the years but the one constant has been the UK fans,” UK All-American Jack “Goose” Givens. said “And regardless of what happens, they’re going to be here and that’s what makes it special to play at the University of Kentucky.”
Givens got a chance to take in a UK practice the day before and liked seeing how the players were enjoying themselves on the court. Asked if he’d ever seen a player as fast as John Wall, Givens said the only one that came to mind was former Auburn player Eddie Johnson, who played with Givens for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
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John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and/or Eric Bledsoe could join some exclusive company Friday in Knoxville, Tenn., by doing something they’ve already done this season: score 20 or more points in a game.
In my research, I can only find two freshmen who scored at least 20 points for UK in a game in Knoxville: Dwight Anderson (22 in 1979) and Jack Givens (20 in 1975).
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Soon, March Madness will be here, and we’ll start breaking down the matchups for the Wildcats on a possible run to their first Final Four in a dozen years.
I recently asked Jimmy Dykes of ESPN to give me a team or two that UK fans should hope to avoid seeing in the Cats’ bracket.
“Well, Syracuse is first on the list,” he said, noting that Kentucky is probably safe on this one as Syracuse and UK are both looking like No. one seeds. “I think Wisconsin (is another one). They are a type of team that nobody wants to draw in their bracket anyways, but I saw them in Maui this year and they are getting better. Bo Ryan plays this style where it’s not a zone, it is man-to-man, but it is pretty similar to a zone because they pack it in and take away you’re drives. They are methodical and make you work offensively and make you work and have to break down and they are a veteran team at the guard position, which I think would be a tough matchup for Kentucky. But Kentucky’s size would be something that Wisconsin would have a hard time dealing with as would most of college basketball right now.”
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Head coach John Calipari praised freshman Daniel Orton for his six-point, five-rebound performance in the win over South Carolina. Orton says he’s comfortable in the role the coaches need him to play.
“It kind of takes me back to my freshman year in high school, when all I had to do was block shots and rebound,” Orton said after the game.
Calipari noted that Orton’s extra work on free throw shooting paid off with two makes in the game, meaning the Cats will have more confidence in feeding him the ball down low.
Orton was also asked if the Cats are tournament-ready now.
“I don’t know what tournament-ready means because I’ve never played in the tournament,” he replied.
Great — and correct — answer. You have to love the honesty of freshmen.
