Before I start, I am once again ecstatic because of the recruiting of Rich Brooks and Joker Phillips. Morgan Newton committed to UK this morning, and hopefully you heard it first from me in my column on Sam Simpson. It’s a great day to be a Wildcat fan.

This will be my last 2004 game. After the emotional win over Florida, Kentucky went on a roll, losing only once for the rest of the regular season. That game was in Athens against probation-screwed Georgia in Dennis Felton’s rookie year with the Bulldogs. Georgia also won in Lexington early in the year, handing out half of Kentucky’s losses for the season. Felton employed the same grueling, physical style that led the Bulldogs to the 2008 SEC Tournament title, and this Kentucky team did not respond well to that style. At the time of this game, Felton was 3-0 against Kentucky because of a win in 2002 when he was with Western Kentucky.

Georgia had quick, physical guards and long forwards. Rashad Wright was essentially a cliff Hawkins clone, probably my favorite Georgia player ever. Levi Stukes was the sharpshooter who put Georgia in this quarterfinal. Georgia was expected to lose to Auburn and Kentucky was anticipating another tough game against the Tigers, but Stukes hit eight threes and propelled the Bulldogs to the victory. This game will also drive me crazy in the recap because Kentucky had Erik Daniels, Chuck Hayes and Sheray Thomas. Georgia had Chris Daniels and Jonas Hayes, and the year before, they also had Jarvis Hayes (went pro) and Steven Thomas (suspended). That’s just not right, and I felt sorry for any announcer whose audience was blind. From the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, our announcers are Tom Hammond and Larry Conley.

This game actually has a special place in my heart because it brings me back to some of the best times of my life – my senior year in high school, to be exact. In 2003, Kentucky played a Friday afternoon game against IUPUI, but the administration at Lincoln County High School chose to show the first serious of bombings of Operation Iraqi Freedom instead. I understand the significance, but I’d still rather watch a basketball game than a bunch of random things exploding. This time was different. This time they showed the game and we essentially got the afternoon off unless you had Spanish, in which case you were SOL.

Gerald Fitch started his first game since injuring his right index finger in the Florida game, and he helped get Kentucky off to a decent start (great compared to the first two starts against Georgia) with a big block, followed by a three. Cliff Hawkins made a Jack Givens shot (bank shot from the baseline) to give Kentucky an early 7-4 lead. Because of the suspension to Steve Thomas and the outburst by Stukes against Auburn, Georgia deviated from their usual offensive style and shot threes in bulk. Hawkins forced a five second violation on Wright (Hawk forced more five counts in a week than some teams do in a season), and then forced a shot clock violation. Both teams went on small runs, but I hesitate to even call them runs because the defense was so good. Wright had another five count later in the half, this time because of Fitch.

Kentucky went up 16-9, but an NBA three by Wright capped a 7-0 run for the Dawgs. Georgia was able to come back because of their ability to crash the offensive glass, and another contested three by Wright gave Georgia a 21-20 lead. The first half set the scene for the second half because defensive stalwarts Hawkins and Wright were looking for their shots. Wright won the Defensive Player of the Year award in the SEC in 2004, something I’m sure Hawk took personally. Hawk unleashed everything in his offensive arsenal at the Bulldogs, and his sudden burst of scoring put Kentucky up by six. Both teams got a score after that, and Kentucky led at the half, 32-27. I apologize for the lack of highlights, but this was one of the best defensive games I’ve ever seen, and because Dennis Felton was involved, there was no flow to the game. I promise you that the second half will make up for it.

The second half started with offense. Damien Wilkins (Dominique Wilkins’ nephew) made a 17-footer, but when Georgia pressed on the inbound, Kelenna Azubuike sprung free on the baseline for a powerful dunk. This was at the tail end of his “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane” phase. Georgia had been able to beat Kentucky in the regular season by starting each second half well. It was Kentucky who came out with guns blazing on this day. Fitch tipped in a Hawkins miss, then hit a three from the corner to put Kentucky up by ten. In the AP English class at LCHS, we thought it was over and there was no reason to worry. In typical Dennis Felton fashion, the Bulldogs fought back. The key to the run was an ankle injury to Cliff Hawkins, but he quickly came back.

If not for the post play of Chuck Hayes, Georgia may have been able to take the lead. Luckily for Big Blue Nation, this was one of the rare days where Chuck was hitting everything around the rim due to Georgia’s lack of shot blocking. In fact, the strong play of Hayes helped push the lead back to ten. Another three by Hawkins put UK up by 11, the biggest lead of the game, but Wright responded in kind with a three of his own, then a hesitation layup that got Georgia to within six. A crazy spin move by Chris Daniels made it 49-45 halfway through the half. A three by Stukes made it a one-point game, but it was the only basket of the game for Levi. Fitch did a great job guarding him all game.

With Kentucky leading 50-48, Jonas Hayes drew a shooting foul. It was the first chance for Georgia to tie the game, but Hayes only made one of two. This was a classic series of plays where Georgia got close, but couldn’t get over the hump. Georgia had about a dozen chances to tie or take the lead, but they either missed the shot or turned it over. Finally, Wright got open and buried a three to tie the score at 52. At this point, I had to leave school a couple minutes early to get to Danville for an appointment. I felt terrible because I hate abandoning close games. I feel responsible if Kentucky loses a close game where I have to leave in the middle of it. So I got the rest from Tom Leach and Mike Pratt on the radio. I’m glad I now have the tape, because this final five minutes is amazing.

Jonas Hayes drew another shooting foul with a chance to give Georgia the lead, but he missed both free throws. The FT shooting for Georgia was just tragic. Kentucky missed a couple of easy ones, as it remained deadlocked at 52 with 3:30 to go. Fitch drew a foul and made both shots from the line. 54-52. A Wright miss led to a melee under the basket. Chuck Hayes emerged with the ball, and he found Erik Daniels breaking to the basket for a layup. 56-52. Georgia answered back with another LONG three by Rashad Wright. 56-55. Hawkins came back and hit a three from even farther out. 59-55. Both of the shots by Wright and Hawkins were contested. After Wright missed a three, Azubuike rebounded a Fitch miss, put it back in and drew the foul. 62-55. Wright missed on a drive to the rack, and just like the beginning of the half, Azubuike went baseline for jam, completely uncontested. 64-55. It was over. The final score was 69-60, but words alone cannot capture the drama of those last five minutes. It was an incredibly hard-fought game with amazing defense.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and I’m ready for a quarterback controversy.

I love this game, and I also hate it. I did the Michigan State game from this season a few weeks ago, so let me try to fill in some gaps. The 2004 Wildcats were an experienced group of guys who meshed well, but they didn’t have a great bench. This translated into quick starts in games and slow finishes, hence the insane number of close games. Because of the experience advantage, Kentucky won almost every one of these close games, but they did fold down the stretch in their three losses coming into the Florida game – at home against Louisville and Georgia and at Vanderbilt. In fact, the Cats were just coming off of the Vanderbilt loss going into Gainesville to face a pumped up Florida team.

Florida, as usual under Billy Donovan, was immensely talented. They had three big scorers on their team. David Lee currently starts at power forward for my beloved New York Knicks, and he’s one of the rare Florida players that I actually liked when he was at Florida. The other two scorers, Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson, were epic tools in the same way that “Stairway to Heaven” is an epic song. Donovan brought in Christian Drejer from Denmark, who was supposed to be one of the best Euro players to ever play college ball (I heard somebody who was sober compare him to Magic Johnson), but he just wasn’t. Dude had serious confidence issues at this point in his career – think Derrick Jasper in his freshman year, only he took fewer shots. There were also two players you might know – Chris Richard and Lee Humphrey – from their national championship runs. Florida was 4-3 in the conference heading into this game and was just terrible in those three losses, but given Kentucky’s play against Vanderbilt, the Gators were probably the favorites on their home court. From the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL, our announcers are Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale. Because this game took place on the same day as the Bob Knight “salad bar incident,” they don’t talk much about the game.

Kentucky exposed Florida’s complete lack of discipline on defense early into the contest. The guards were able to work it inside to Chuck Hayes and Erik Daniels for easy scores. Kelenna Azubuike went down the lane uncontested for a nasty tomahawk jam, though that was the last good thing Kaz would do until the final minute. There was a long dry spell for Kentucky because Daniels, Gerald Fitch and Cliff Hawkins went to the bench for a reason I can’t understand. Once Fitch and Hawk came back, the Cats went on a nice little run. A three by Hawkins made it 15-7. This was a low scoring game, but I think it was more a case of great defense than bad offense. Kentucky played great defense all the time, but Florida had brief spurts of pure suck on D, which resulted in most of the Kentucky points. A three by Fitch put a stop to a Florida run, and the good guys led 24-15. Florida came back with threes. Contested threes by Walsh and Roberson cut the lead to six, as the only thing keeping Florida from taking the lead in the first half was the awesome post play of Erik Daniels. Fitch hit a tough three, but Roberson beat the first half buzzer with an even tougher three from NBA range, and the good guys had their lead cut to 33-29 at halftime. I said going into halftime that we were in trouble.

The two teams traded baskets early in the second half with Kentucky maintaining the four-point advantage over Florida. With Kentucky leading 39-33, Florida went on a huge run. Walsh beat the shot clock with a tough runner in the lane. Humphrey hit a tough three from the elbow. Lee posted up Daniels and scored. Lee hit a FT. Roberson stole it and scored. Richard made a FT. Finally Walsh beat the shot clock with a three to end the 14-0 run. Antwain Barbour cooled the run with a steal and slam, then Azubuike made to FTs to make it 47-43. Florida answered back with another run. Roberson drove down the lane with a nice spin move for a score – not quite Ron Mercer against St. Joe’s, but still very nice. Then Drejer made a three (!) and the Gators had their biggest lead of the game. After a jump hook by Daniels, Drejer hit another three (!!), and the lead reached double digits. I will readily admit that I have up on my team after the second three by Drejer. I left the TV on because I like to have my TV on while I try to go to sleep, but I thought Florida would pull away and win by about 90. Adrian Moss tipped in a Drejer miss to give Florida an 11-point lead, and UK was dead in the water. Kentucky had several chances to cut into the lead, but they couldn’t hit a FT at gunpoint. To their credit, they were still drawing the fouls, which were piling up for Florida.

With Florida leading 59-48, Kentucky made its push at the six-minute mark. Hayes found Barbour on a cut for an easy score, then after Drejer missed a front end, Chuck made two from the line and it was 59-52. Hawkins stripped Walsh and made two free throws. I should note that most of the big run for Florida happened with Hawk on the bench. His +/- had to be off the charts. After FTs by Drejer, Fitch, Roberson, Daniels and Walsh, Florida led 65-57. The shots by Walsh were the last points of the game for Florida. A melee under the basket led to an open look for Azubuike, and he connected, cutting the lead to five. Daniels went to the line and made two, making it 65-62. On the next Florida possession, Vitale opened his mouth: “Get it into Drejer’s hands, he’s an excellent passer.” Christian tried to dump it inside to Lee, but the pass went wide left. It was so bad, you’d have thought he was aiming for Erin Andrews and the rest of the Florida dance team.

Smith called a timeout, and Hayes drew a foul. His shots cut the lead to one, and as Kentucky trapped Florida on the inbound, Vitale spoke again: “Drejer’s the guy you want with the ball here.” As a UK fan, I definitely agree with Dick on this one, as Drejer threw it away again, this time directly into the welcoming arms of Cliff Hawkins, who laid it up and in to give UK a 66-65 lead. Hayes blocked Roberson on the next Florida possession, then Roberson committed a stupid foul of impatience on Hawkins. Hawk made one of two, and Florida could hold for a last shot. Roberson jacked up a long three with seven seconds left, which didn’t have a chance of going in. Florida fouled Hawkins after the rebound, and he once again made one of two. With UK leading 68-65, Florida had a chance to go the length of the court in 3.4 seconds. They got it to Walsh at midcourt, but Hawkins and Azubuike forced him to step on the sideline. A young lady in the Florida student section let out a scream comparable to the one from Return of the Jedi when the rancor ate that pig guy. They used this clip on the Lee Cruise Show for 2-3 months afterwards. The good guys triumphed over evil once again, 68-65.

I said that I loved and hated this game at the same time. It’s obvious why I love it. I love comebacks, and I love it even more when rivals choke. So why do I hate it? Kentucky faced Florida two more times in 2004, and dominated each game. It was part of an 8-game win streak Tubby Smith had over Billy Donovan. Donovan realized the major flaws in his system: His teams were weak on defense, and his players, as talented as they were, were softer than pillows. By making key hires in his staff and following it with the Noah/Green/Horford/Brewer recruiting class, he fixed those problems almost instantly, and now every game with Florida is an absolute war. The Gators did win seven straight over UK until the emotional senior Day win this year. I’d like to think that a class like Florida’s 2004 class is lightning in a bottle when it comes to being perfect fits and foils for each other, but you just never know.

Shortly after this game, Christian Drejer left Florida and returned to Europe, never to be heard from again.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, reminding you to pour one out tonigh
t – one for you, one for your homies and one for Christian Drejer.