CAPTION: Dennis Felton and his dog Muttley watch tape of the Bulldogs’ next opponent.

The 23-point win was the biggest margin of victory by Kentucky over Georgia since the 1997 SEC Tournament. How long ago was that? On that day (March 9), the #1 single in America was “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls (Lyrics: “Tell me what you want, what you really, really want / I really, really, really, really want to lick a sick ox.” Or something like that). That’s a testament to Dennis “Wario” Felton and his ability to ugly up the game so badly that it always keeps his teams in it. For the second time in as many days, the Big Blue went on the road (although it might not be a stretch to say that there were more Cat fans than Dawg fans in attendance – Stegeman was a ghost town) and curb stomped its opponent.

The best part about yesterday’s game was that the team played 40 minutes of intense basketball without even a lull. At least Tennessee went on a couple of runs. UK jumped out to the one touchdown lead to start the game and never looked back. When they got the lead to 20, one might expect a lull because of human nature. Instead, the bench guys came in and beat Georgia to pretty much every loose ball. The whole team really got after it defensively, but two guys stood out: Mike Porter for making like Brian Cardinal and setting the season high in floor burns and Patrick Patterson for doing an excellent job providing double teams for Perry Stevenson and forcing the talented Bulldog post players into awful shots and turnovers.

This brings me to all the blocks. There were 11 blocks total for Kentucky yesterday, and every one of them was spectacular. Offense is great, but nothing gets me going like a good block. Maybe that’s why my favorite Wildcat ever was Andre Riddick. The best thing about the blocks is that most of them directly resulted in a change of possession. I like that our guys believe in the Bill Russell philosophy of blocking shots rather than the Wilt Chamberlain philosophy (swat it as far into the stands as you can). Most of them came inside, which is comforting because as terrible as Georgia is – and they are quite awful – they do have quality depth inside.

Well, I hope Jodie Meeks breaks out of his slump. He only had 22 points yesterday, and he even missed a free throw. If he does this against Auburn, Coach might have to send a message for the next game against Alabama.

I just saw the new Coaches’ Poll. It isn’t upsetting that Kentucky isn’t ranked. It’s tough to go from not even receiving any votes to being in the top 25. What does upset me is that the coaches only gave us 12 votes. That seems a little low to me. Watch the games, coaches. Illinois shouldn’t be ranked. They were unranked, beat #24 Michigan and lost to #10 Michigan State. That shouldn’t be enough to put them over the top. I’d be a lot tougher on the coaches had they not gotten #1 right, but they made a good call. Wake Forest looks legit. Hopefully the AP poll will be better.

Can Georgia please fire Snidely Whiplash Dennis Felton? I just want them to hire somebody that won’t go out of his way to make the game as miserable to watch as possible. And while we’re on the subject of Felton, here was my favorite take on his appearance from Cats’ Pause yesterday: “I bet when Felton talks there is no sound and Dave Bliss comes out with what he said written on poster board.”

Arkansas’ 0-3 start in conference play is proof that unless things are completely disastrous, it is unwise to prefer another team’s coach when there is still half a season to go, even if he is John Pelphrey. If they don’t play Georgia in Athens, they might not win a road game in conference play all year long. Those young guys really struggle in road environments.

In order of certainty, here are the SEC teams that will go to the Tournament: Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi State, Tennessee. Arkansas drops off the list for now.