I have to give Davis credit. He has given me more ammunition for columns than anybody whose name doesn’t rhyme with “filly feed.” His lack of knowledge reminds me of TV announcers who rave about the three-pointer in college basketball like it was invented last offseason. I’m not even going to link the piece for you today because he doesn’t deserve the hits, but today’s piece of ammo came from his “Buy/Sell” column. You can find it on the Sports Illustrated site if you’re curious. Check out this gem from the Duke grad.

Maybe I should be giving up on a team that has just one win over a squad ranked in the top 65 of the RPI, but I see no reason why the Wildcats can’t once again rally for an NCAA bid. Well, I can see a reason — they’re ranked 324th in all of Division I in turnovers per game (18.3). You can blame point guard Michael Porter all you want, but Jodie Meeks is committing even more turnovers than Porter is, and Porter’s backup, 6-6 freshman DeAndre Liggins, is averaging a team-high 3.4 turnovers in just 19.9 minutes. My faith in Kentucky resides mainly in the overall weakness of the SEC and the fact that Billy Gillispie’s teams have always scrapped and clawed to the bitter end. If this team can find a way to take better care of the ball, it should find itself right back in the NCAAs.

Here’s the part where you’re supposed to smack your forehead with your palm like when you realized you could have had a V8 for lunch today.

Have you ever seen a more backhanded compliment before? It’s like telling a random lady, “Of all the fat, ugly chicks I’ve ever met, you’re probably in the top 20 of the least ugly ones.”

Kentucky is making the NCAA Tournament with absolutely zero controversy. I have no problem saying this. In one regard, Davis is correct. The SEC is arguably the weakest it has been in 15 years. That’s why I predict that, even though this Kentucky team is very flawed, it will either match or surpass its record from last season. Anything worse than 12-4 would be enough disappointment for me that I’d want Mitch Barnhart to issue some kind of ultimatum to Coach Gillispie for the next season. I believe this team is better this season than last season, at least going into the conference opener. Comparing the remaining SEC teams, it’s too tough to judge Alabama or Arkansas. Auburn is the same. Florida and Georgia are worse. LSU is better. Mississippi State and Ole Miss are worse. South Carolina is better. Tennessee and Vanderbilt are worse. Most of the teams are worse.

I hate going back to last year because last year’s team and record are far from what a Kentucky team should aspire to be, but since this is only the second year of the Gillispie era, it’s all we have to adequately compare. Last year’s team was 6-7 at the end of the OOC slate. This year’s team is 11-4. Last year’s team had one constant before SEC play started – Patrick Patterson. This year’s team has two, and they just happen to be the two best players in the conference. Remember, as much as we all loved Joe and Ramel last year, they were as predictable as the weather in Kentucky up until the conference opener against Vanderbilt. They were also not exhibiting the kind of leadership expected of them up until that point. Nobody has stepped up to lead this year’s team yet either. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to happen. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a senior. Why couldn’t Patrick Patterson go up to DeAndre Liggins and jerk a knot in his tail for throwing those insane full court heaves? What exactly happened in the locker room that caused Perry Stevenson to look like a totally different person in the second half against FAU? Why couldn’t that happen again when necessary?

Vanderbilt doesn’t scare me. Shan(e) Foster isn’t around to jack up (and hit) crazy, contested threes anymore. I think Kentucky will look like a million bucks against them, but I’m going to stop there because otherwise I’ll run out of material for the rest of this week.

Back to Davis, did that excerpt give you the idea that he hasn’t watched one second of a Kentucky game this season? He just went stat-stat-stat like an NFL scout at the combine. Only the SEC being weak and the tendency of Gillispie’s teams to fight until the very end gives you hope that this team *just might* make the Dance? I guess that he didn’t figure Patrick Patterson into the equation since he neglected to mention him, so if you include what Pat brings to the table, maybe Davis can remove the element of doubt. This team is going to unleash holy hell on the SEC, and I can’t wait for it to start.