UK Wildcat Country

For good luck’s sake, let’s do this.

SHAN(E) FOSTER

Pop quiz: What’s the best thing about playing Vanderbilt this season? If you said “Not having to worry about how many threes Shan(e) Foster will bank in from the elbow,” you’re right. I could have done Foster a lot worse. I could have linked his NBA song that hit the web during last year’s draft. Apparently somebody told him one too many times that he looked like Usher, and he just decided to take it one step further – not a good career move.

DREW MADDUX

Drew Maddux is a lot like Pat Bradley from Arkansas, in that his only flaw was that he just wouldn’t go away. Drew Maddux played for so long that I think he actually knew Cornelius Vanderbilt, the man for whom the school is named. Also, when he played against Ron Mercer, the TV guys used to hammer down how those guys were close friends growing up. It was the “Jerome Bettis is from Detroit” of the mid-90s for a Kentucky fan.

BRENDAN PLAVICH

Yes, I know he transferred after two years. I couldn’t stand this guy at Vandy, and I didn’t even like him after he transferred to Charlotte. He hit a halfcourt shot that help speed up Indiana’s firing of Mike Davis. All he did was launch bombs. In fact, the moment in the above picture might be the only time I’ve ever seen Plavich attempt a two-point basket. Plus, he just looks like a guy who talks excessive trash, thinking he’s Larry Bird or something. Some guys just look like that.

DAWID PRZYBYSZEWSKI

Around 2003, SEC coaches suddenly started to recruit the basketball hotbed called Poland. Kentucky got Woo Obrzut, and he was criminally misused. Mississippi State got Michael Ignerski, and he was hit or miss. Kevin Stallings got Dawid Przybyszewski (that’s “Da-VEED Shibbashevski”), and he was a matchup nightmare. Woo never shot a three. He could hit that 18-footer at a decent clip, but I don’t think he ever shot a three. That’s all Przybyszewski did, and he hit them too. Frankly, I could go on, but I’m tired of typing “Przybyszewski.”

DAN CAGE

There’s a classic video game called NBA Live ’06. One of my favorite teams on that game is the Orlando Magic because of former Notre Dame star Pat Garrity. I don’t know if this was a game glitch, but if you insert Pat Garrity into a game of NBA Live ’06 during the fourth quarter, he will hit threes at an ungodly clip. I bring this up because that is what Dan Cage did at Vandy. He just hung around for 35 minutes and camped around at the baseline, then when it became crunch time, EVERY team would just leave him open and he’d bury bomb after bomb. He was the Roger Mason Jr. of the SEC, and I’m glad he’s gone too.

BRYAN MILBURN

Bryan Milburn is an assistant coach at Campbellsville University. He’s from Russell County, KY. What’s not to like? Well, there was the time in 1994 where he rolled into Rodney Dent on a loose ball and blew up Dent’s knee something fierce, ruining the chances of the 1994 Wildcats to do anything of substance in March. I know it was an accident, but it happened, and yes, I hold a grudge because Dent was having a great season and was one of the most improved players in the country.

As for tonight’s game, I’m not even touching it. Memorial Gym is a spawn of Satan, but Vandy is primarily a zone team, and Kentucky has one of the best zone busters in America. If Meeks is hitting the shots, it’s a nice W for the good guys. If not, then Vandy better be missing their shots as well.

Thanks for reading.