For the first week of the season, all SEC teams in action play other SEC teams.  There are five games on tap including the Cats and Cocks.  How many jokes will we hear this week involving cocks?  Seroiusly, probably enough to start a drinking game. 

SOUTH CAROLINA @ KENTUCKY  12:30 pm  RAYCOM

Oh well, I guess everybody loves when USCjr comes to town because they can openly make jokes about cocks and no one cares.  I just hope this week that everyone is in a good mood after the game as well.  I look for the Cats to prove once again that they are superior on the defensive side.  USCjr’s offense hasn’t been much to talk about this year but like the Cats, they have relied heavily on their defense.  Remeber last year’s contest when a couple of turnovers cost the Cats the game.  If those same mistakes can be avoided, look for the Cats to finally send the Old Ball Coach home crying.  If it happens, Spurrier’s seat may become a little warm considering  he has yet to have a good season in Columbia.  PREDICTION: KENTUCKY 20, USCjr 6.

LSU @ FLORIDA  8:00  CBS
The Tigers go into “The Swamp” fresh off of a bye week while Florida basically had a bye week even though they did travel to Fayetteville for a scrimmage with the Hogs.  After their 38-7 win, they flew back home and began preparations for LSU.  If Tim Tebow keeps his word, it was probably one of the toughest practice weeks the Gaotrs have had yet.  I think after this showdown, there will be one less unbeaten team in the SEC.  PREDICTION: FLORIDA 24, LSU 21

TENNESSEE @ GEORGIA  3:30  CBS

The first half of the SEC doubleheader on CBS takes us to Athens where the Dawgs host the Vols.  As much as it will kill Billy Bob and Bertha, Fat Phil will still be leading the Vols out of the locker room for yet another week.  I think that if the Vols don’t perform well and keep it close, someone may be out of a job next week, and I’m not talking about any coordinators.  Two blowout losses to SEC East opponents would not be taken well in Knoxville.  I just hope that if they do get rid of Fulmer this year, it is done before the end of the year instead of at the end of the season because teams tend to play differently for their coach when they know it’s his last game.  Yeah, we get them in their last game of the year.  Here’s to hoping Georgia can get it done this week.  PREDICTION: GEORGIA 35, TENNESSEE 13

VANDERBILT @ MISSISSIPPI STATE  1:30

After their victory over Auburn, Vandy travels to Starkville to take on the mighty cowbell backed Bulldogs.  Vandy looks to get to 6-0 for the first time in 80 years and extend their SEC winning streak to the longest in school history (3?).  It’s unknown which quarterback the Dores will use.  Starter Chris Nickson injured his shoulder last week and his status for this week is unknown.  If needed, MacKenzie Adams is more than qualified to step in and lead the team to victory.  Mississippi St has lost three in a row and looks to spoil Vandy’s cinderella season.  PREDICTION: VANDERBILT 21, MISSISSIPPI STATE 14

ARKANSAS @ AUBURN  3:00

A week before coming to Lexington, Arkansas travels to Auburn to battle with the Tigers.  Arkansas got blown out by Florida at home last week and Auburn lost to Vanderbilt for the first time ending a 13-game winning streak against the Dores.  Auburn fired it’s offensive coordinator earlier this week and really have no identity on offense.  Although I don’t think Arkansas will win, I think it will be a close game because of Auburn’s lack of offense.  PREDICTION: AUBURN 10, ARKANSAS 6

Alabama and Ole MIss have the week off.  Bama is still #2 in the national rankings after their win over the Cats last weekend while Ole Miss is regrouping after the letdown they suffered against South Carolina last week.

Florida @ Tennessee

I know the games are always close at Knoxville, but have you seen Tennessee this year? They played like absolute garbage against UCLA and didn’t look that much better when they beat UAB last week. I still don’t have the kind of trust in Jonathan Crompton to convince myself that Tennessee will keep this one close. On the other hand, Florida has done everything a championship contender is supposed to do in the first three weeks of this young season. I think I saw on ESPN that they were outscoring opponents 65-3 in the first three quarters of the game. That is scary precision, folks. I like Florida to roll in this one, let’s say 49-17.

Alabama @ Arkansas

This will tell us something about both teams. Is Alabama for real, or did they just catch fire against Clemson and their games against Tulane and WKU indicative of how they will play the rest of the season? Is Arkansas as bad as they have looked in 4th quarter comeback wins against Western Illinois and UL-Monroe? I’d say that yes, Alabama is for real, and yes, Arkansas is that bad. The Razorbacks are just missing the kind of talent all around that is necessary to achieve any kind of success this year, and I think the Crimson Tide will win comfortably. I think we’ll go with 38-14 in this one.

Vanderbilt @ Mississippi

The two most underrated teams in the conference square off in Oxford Saturday. Vanderbilt has been great on defense this season, just like they have been throughout the Bobby Johnson era. Ole Miss showed the world just how good Houston Nutt is when they were a blown pass interference call away from beating Wake Forest, the best team in the ACC. Jevan Sneed is the best quarterback you haven’t seen so far this season. I might be inclined to call this one a must win for Vandy because of their struggles against Florida, Georgia and Kentucky. They play a few more OOC games, so in order for them to get that sixth win, they’ll have to take this one. I think the Rebels win a very close defensive slugfest. Let’s call it 14-10.

LSU @ Auburn

Now we’re talking the good stuff. I had Auburn winning the West and eventually the entire conference this year, but I didn’t plan on them benching their quarterback after only one week. Chris Todd did not fare very well in that offensive explosion in the land of the cowbells, and the more I watch LSU, the more I think they can win this thing again. Charles Scott has been the best offensive player in the conference up to this point, and if something happens to him, no SEC team has a deeper pool of runners than LSU. I’ll say this: If LSU wins this game, they will go on to win the national championship again. However, you can’t just waltz into Jordan-Hare and expect to beat Tommy Tuberville in a big game. I think the War Eagle Tigers will beat the Bayou Bengal Tigers in a classic. Auburn wins, 24-21.

In other news, I think Georgia will make like a Mountain West team and destroy Arizona State in the desert.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and watch me be completely wrong on all of these picks except Alabama/Arkansas.

We told you before we are very thankful to be invited to be part of the SEC Power Poll. And even more thankful to be able to air our comments and ballot here. So this is what was just turned in. You get the first look! In reverse order.

12. Mississippi State
Anyone who put Croom higher thsn 10 in a ranking of SEC coaches should publicily apologize. Those who believed the Bulldogs were anything but a one-year wonder, please excuse yourselves. We’ll wait.

11. Arkansas
Petrino comes deathly close to hell, but the Razorbacks still pull out a comeback win over Western Ill. Will fight MSU for the most crappy team this year.

10. Tennessee
Hang it up Fulmer. Claw-fense my butt. How about a defense that has 4 INTs in the first half and a team that can’t score on those mistakes. You’re awful. Say hello to fifth place in the SEC for us.

9. Vanderbilt
Gets lucky since three other teams played bad.

8. Ole Miss
See: Vanderbilt. Real test comes this week.

7. Kentucky
Did you see that defense? Did you see the awful play of four of UK’s conference opponents? Looking good for the Cats.

6. South Carolina
Maybe Spurrier has something brewing in Columbia. Finally.

5. Alabama
Saban has a growing monster in Tuscaloosa.

4. Auburn
Still waiting to see if they can rise up and take the SEC West

3. LSU
Their handling of App State proved they weren’t ready to hand over the SEC to anyone else.

2. Georgia.
Playing Georgia Southern means nothing except you get to stay where I think you should be.

1. Florida
If those freshmen speedsters continue to play well = championship.

Mississippi State has played West Virginia. Georgia has played Oklahoma State is will play Arizona State in Tempe. Tennessee did a home-and-home with California and will play UCLA in Los Angeles. Alabama played Florida State in Jacksonville and will play Clemson in Jacksonville this season. LSU did a home-and-home with Virginia Tech. Vanderbilt went to Michigan. Auburn did a home-and-home with USC near the peak of the Trojans’ run, and last year they played Kansas State and South Florida. This year they play West Virginia in Morgantown. I don’t mind Arkansas vs. Texas, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, South Carolina vs. Clemson, Florida vs. Miami or Kentucky vs. Louisville because those are rivalries and nothing tops a college football rivalry. Still, I wanted to take a look at the marquee games SEC teams play out of conference in the first two months of the season.

September 1: #18 Tennessee @ UCLA

Why does Tennessee keep going to the West Coast? I know they’ve gotten some recruits from there (Casey Clausen comes to mind), but they rarely win the game. I’m going to put down the Pac-10 when I talk about Georgia vs. ASU, but I think UCLA might be a little better than people expect. I’m not saying they’ll win their conference (they won’t – USC will in a landslide), but Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow know offense, and that had been the Bruins’ weakest area. Also, I’m not sold on Tennessee. Jonathan Crompton is very green at QB, the running backs are powerful, but don’t have the blazing speed possessed by Georgia or LSU, and the defense is still suspect. I don’t think UCLA would beat Tennessee if they played at the end of the season (Tennessee always has a top-heavy schedule and closes out seasons well), but I like the Bruins in this one.

Prediction: UCLA 28, Tennessee 27

September 6: Miami @ #5 Florida

Florida is either going to go undefeated in the regular season, or they will have one loss against Georgia. People bring up how mediocre their defense was last season, but I’ll counter by bringing up how young that defense was last season. Tim Tebow is a pretty good football player, and they have a ridiculous amount of talent returning at the skill positions, even taking into account the injury to Cornelius Ingram. Randy Shannon will turn Miami back into “The U” by 2010, but his young Hurricanes won’t be ready to take a gameplan into the swamp and execute perfectly, which is what they’d have to do to win. Also, I don’t like betting against Urban Meyer.

Prediction: Florida 42, Miami 24

September 13: Arkansas @ #11 Texas

Arkansas is in a major rebuilding mode with the loss of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, plus having Casey Dick return at QB. Bobby Petrino will probably achieve success on the same level of Houston Nutt at Arkansas (which I’d kill for as a Kentucky fan), but not this season. Texas might be a tad underrated this season. Their talent level is always top notch, but I wonder if Mack Brown caught lightning in a bottle with Vince Young. This is the last game in this rivalry for several years, and I don’t see Texas losing.

Prediction: Texas 38, Arkansas 21

September 20: #1 Georgia @ #15 Arizona State

Arizona State is overrated because the Pac-10 is overrated. Every team besides USC has a great offense and a terrible defense. A lot of the people I’ve seen on TV have begun to hump on the “Georgia is overrated” bandwagon, but I disagree. If any team is capable of getting through that meat grinder of a schedule, it’s the Bulldogs, and it will start against Arizona State. I think Rudy Carpenter will rack up a lot of yards against Georgia, but I think Georgia has the kind of red zone defense that can take points off of the scoreboard, and Georgia will control the ball with the running game enough to win comfortably.

Prediction: Georgia 34, Arizona State 19

October 23: #10 Auburn @ #8 West Virginia

I really like Auburn to do big things this year. They looked like a totally different team as the big underdog against Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, and with Tony Franklin calling the plays and Cody Burns at QB, the Tigers’ new spread offense should be lethal. Auburn people don’t like Tommy Tuberville, which is one of the biggest mysteries ever. Somebody exhume Robert Stack’s body so he can figure that one out. WVU will be awesome on offense with Pat White and Noel Devine, but I wonder if their blowout win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl might have been a bit of an illusion. Those guys rallied behind Bill Stewart as the interim coach, but can they carry that into this season? Morgantown is a tough place to win, but if Pittsburgh can do it on a night where WVU could have made the title game, Auburn can certainly do it. I think they will, in a wildly entertaining game.

Prediction: Auburn 34, West Virginia 31

And finally, there’s Louisville vs. Kentucky.

Yeah, that one will have to wait for another day. I don’t want to waste that one on Monday because I’ll be dead for the rest of the week.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, setting the DVR for 5:00 today. ESPN Classic is showing a replay of last year’s Kentucky vs. Louisville game. There will be good times tonight.

I could do a column on either of the two games UK had against Arkansas in 1995, but I don’t have the loss in Fayetteville on Super Bowl Sunday where Scotty Thurman pushed off to get open for the game winner. That was a great game despite the outcome, but this one was even better. The 1995 Wildcats were a dominant team, losing only four times during the season. Just imagine the 1996 team, subtract Ron Mercer, Wayne Turner and Derek Anderson, and add Rod Rhodes and my boy Andre Riddick. They were legit. The biggest weakness on this team was at point guard. Rick Pitino shuffled between Anthony Epps and Jeff Sheppard at point, but neither of the two sophomores was good enough to control the offense like Epps did in his next two years. Of course, Pitino wanted Tony Delk to play point guard, but you know how that worked. The fans always won that argument. Rhodes was inconsistent, much like he was during his entire career, but this was his best season despite the inconsistency. Antoine Walker emerged as a major player towards the end of the season and had his best game of the year (for the time being) in the SECT semifinal against Florida.

Arkansas returned the same team that won the national championship in 1994. The core of players was the same from my last WGCGA – Williamson, Thurman, Beck, McDaniel, Robinson, Stewart and Dillard. Because they were the defending champs, they got everybody’s best shot and then some. So whenever they lost, they usually got the dog beaten out of them. They were still one of the five best teams in the country despite the blowout losses. This epic SEC Tournament final was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and it was the first time Kentucky faced Arkansas in the SEC Tournament where neither team had a distinct crowd advantage. UK had the advantage in Lexington in 1993, but Arkansas had the advantage the next year in Memphis. In Atlanta, the crowd was split down the middle, 15,000 for Kentucky and 15,000 for Arkansas. I think it’s the greatest conference tournament game ever, and that isn’t exclusively for the SEC either. Our announcers are Tom Hammond and Larry Conley, and they’re not cheering for Arkansas.

Sometimes you can tell right off the bat that a game will exceed the hype. On the first possession of the game, Andre Riddick drew a shooting foul. He is the worst FT shooter in the history of the game, and he nailed both. Can anybody say “Game on?” Kentucky opened in a 2-3 zone in an attempt to neutralize Williamson, but the Razorbacks burned the Cats with an open three by Clint McDaniel. Both teams played at the most blistering pace ever, like a Showtime Lakers game. On this day, the Hogs seemed to play better at that pace, as the 40 Minutes of Hell began forcing some turnovers. The Arkansas guards flopped like Argentineans, drawing charges left and right. A three by Thurman made it 13-9 – not a big deal, but it was about to get way worse.

After the TV timeout, the Razorbacks went on a huge run. Beck stole a rebound from Walter McCarty and kicked it out to Thurman for another three, which went in, of course. The turnovers kept Kentucky from utilizing the zone, and also freed up Williamson inside for some easy scores. Arkansas drew their third charge of the half, then Darnell Robinson made a three (!), and when the center is making threes, it’s pretty much over, right? With the Hogs up 25-16, Beck found Lee Wilson inside for an easy bucket, then stole the ball and went all the way for a score. A McDaniel three doubled the score at 32-16, then Davor “Croatian Sensation” Rimac buried a three, and the lead was an ungodly 19 points. The scariest thing about this Arkansas charge was that it happened with SEC POY Corliss Williamson on the bench with two fouls.

Kentucky started to chip away with jumpers by Rhodes and Chris Harrison. Sheppard and Delk began to hit some shots, as Arkansas began to get a little careless on offense. Free throws by Rhodes made it 40-30. Walker drove baseline for a jam, and I wonder if he could do that today. Another key to the Kentucky comeback was FT shooting. Arkansas’ press created more fouls than Kentucky’s, and it led to lots of free throws. Another three by Thurman made it 45-34, but UK still had one more run left in the half. Baskets by Walker and Mark Pope made it 45-39, and just when it looked like Kentucky was about to get over the hump, Rimac made another three. Jared Prickett got inside for an easy one, then Epps made a driving bucket in the lane, plus the foul. Arkansas led 50-44 at the half, but it didn’t feel like that much. Arkansas was shooting 8-14 from three. Surely they couldn’t keep that up. Kentucky had 11 turnovers, but all of them happened in the first 11 minutes.

The two teams traded baskets to start the second half, with neither team being able to get any kind of momentum. Kentucky switched from the zone to the press, and it helped create some turnovers, but Kentucky couldn’t capitalize because several scores were wiped out by charging fouls. Kentucky’s depth advantage allowed them to dominate the glass in the second half, and the offensive rebounding of Walker and McCarty allowed UK to cut it to 56-53. Both defenses tightened up tremendously in this half, and the pace resembled something from the Tubby Smith era. Arkansas countered the Kentucky run with one of its own, capped off by a three by Alex “By God” Dillard burying a three on a 1-on-3 fast break. Kentucky fought right back with another run. Delk made a long two from the baseline, then Prickett scored on a runout, plus the foul. Say what you want about Jared, but he always played great against the Razorbacks. Another three by Rimac (just stop it, Croatian) made it 66-58, but then Williamson bowled over Sheppard to pick up his third foul. A breakaway layup by Pope (that went in!) once again cut it to six, but Arkansas came back with another flurry, and at the halfway point it was 70-60. Another steal led to a drive and dunk by Williamson, and at 72-60, it seemed like a foregone conclusion.

Kentucky gained ground little by little, but had yet to make the big run that would make the Hogs panic. A sweet reverse layup by Delk made it 74-67. The announcers were all over Tony Buckets on this day because they thought he was playing poorly, but he just wasn’t hitting threes. He did everything else very well. Delk fed McCarty inside for a gorilla dunk and it was 74-71. That might be Tony’s best assist ever. Thurman banked in a short jumper, then Kentucky made another brief run. Walker made two free throws, then followed up a miss on the next possession. After Thurman missed a three, McCarty took a long outlet pass and laid it in, drawing the fourth foul on Williamson. Walter’s FT tied the score at 78, but Arkansas responded like a champion. Williamson posted up Pope, scored and drew the foul. Big Nasty missed the FT, but the Hogs led by two. After Kentucky forced a shot clock violation, Pope answered back by drawing a foul and hitting both of hits shots, making it 80-80.

Arkansas had time to take the last shot, and everybody knew #30 was going to be the man. Walker intercepted the Williamson pass and called timeout with 5.5 seconds to go. Rhodes got the ball and drove to the rack. He drew the foul with 1.3 to go and all he had to do was hit one. Rhodes hadn’t been in the game for the last eight minutes, and when the referee held up the number 12, he thought the foul was on him and not McDaniel. He was not in the condition to make free throws. To make matters worse, Arkansas called a timeout to ice him. As Rhodes stepped to the line, Epps turned his back on the bench, crossing his fingers and probably his toes, a miserable wreck to be sure – just like me and 95% of Big Blue Nation. Rhodes missed both shots, not coming close on either one. Williamson grabbed the rebound and it was time for overtime.

The Razorbacks had been given new life by Rhodes’ miss
es
, and took advantage with another crippling run. Williamson went to the line and hit two. Beck got a steal and score. McDaniel made a contested three, and just like that, it was 87-80. After a runner by Delk, Arkansas looked to have put the game away after Williamson hit a tough shot in the lane and Beck contorted his way for a layup. At 91-82, it was over, right? Walker drove the rack, scored and drew the fifth foul on Williamson. 91-85, but it’s still over. Kentucky forced a turnover on the inbound pass and Pope tipped in a Walker miss. 91-87, but it’s probably still over. McDaniel missed two free throws, but Kentucky couldn’t capitalize. The Cats fouled McDaniel again, and this time he made the shots. 93-87 with 44 seconds to go, which means it’s over. Delk hit a three to cut the lead in half. 93-90, but there isn’t enough time, and it’s probably over. Kentucky fouled Beck, who missed both of his free throws. It’s 93-90, Kentucky has the ball, and it suddenly isn’t over. Walker scored inside to cut it to 93-92, and it wasn’t over just yet. Now all we need to do is foul. But Epps stole it from Thurman! There’s a foul on Arkansas! You can see a guy behind the UK bench who obviously wet himself. Epps made both shots to make it 94-93, and you know what was coming. It was Scotty Thurman time again, which meant it wasn’t over. He pulled up from about 30 feet, but the shot wasn’t true. Delk drew the foul on the rebound, hit the first shot and missed the second, which prevented the Hogs from running a set play. At 95-93, it was definitely over. It’s one of the ten best wins of my lifetime.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and I hope the Arkansas fans who read and post here liked that one, as I had nothing but respect for those guys and I hope the rivalry can be that good once again.

In an effort to bring you new and improved content, we’ve reached out to some of our favorite blogs to bring you their favorite/most prominent UK moments. Today’s guest blogger is Razorback Expats, two guys who went to Arkansas and now don’t. Simple concept right? The floor is theirs.

Hi. My name is John and, along with my co-conspirator Stephen, I write a blog called Razorback Expats. When Kenny invited us to pen a few words about the Arkansas-Kentucky topic of our choosing, one subject jumped immediately to mind…a subject so epic and important everything else paled in its mighty shadow: Gimel Martinez’s mustache.

After further reflection, though, I figured I should just write about basketball…particularly those “glory years” back in the early- and mid-90s when the Hogs and Cats were constantly battling supremacy of not just the SEC, but college hoops in general. Good times. As fate would have it, Stephen and I went to college together from 1991-95 (thus confounding the experts who expected us to leave school early for the NBA) so we had ample opportunity to obsessively study the sports landscape.

During that time there was no bigger game than the annual battle against Kentucky. The rivalry got off to a great start for us in 1992, when the Hogs confidently marched into Rupp and administered a fairly brutal butt-kicking that opened more than a few eyes around the conference. This SEC stuff would be easy, we naively thought at the time..

Of course, we couldn’t have been more wrong, as that next year’s Kentucky team was genuinely fearsome. The Hogs were in a bit of a rebuilding phase and, although we managed to eke out an upset win in Fayetteville, you guys were solidly avenged in the SEC tournament. I recall the Cats were on kind of a scary roll at the end of that season…seemingly starting every game with a 25-2 run or something like that. It’s a testament to how strong college basketball was at the time that UNC and Michigan made to the NCAA Finals instead of UK.

Anyway, an odd mini-trend of Razorback regular season victories followed by Wildcat tournament triumphs was in place…felt very much like two heavyweights trading punches. That next year, 1993-94, was our national championship year and featured another Hog victory at Rupp. This one was much closer, and Stephen and I received several warnings from our RA to keep the noise down…apparently our borderline insane whooping and hollering was not enjoyable to our extremely uncool dorm neighbors.

I should note at this point that, although Kentucky was our absolute favorite opponent to beat back in those days, Stephen and I maintained a certain degree of reason and rationality toward the Wildcats (uncommon emotions in the world of SEC sports). For example, aside from certain loathsome players (Travis Ford and Roderick Rhodes come to mind), we generally had a grudging respect for the UK guys (Tony Delk and Jamal Mashburn come to mind)…except when they were killing us, of course. We’d even say a few nice things about Rick Pitino if you caught us in the right mood (usually after the Hogs had won).

Continuing our trip down memory lane, the 94-95 games featured one of my all-time favorite Hog victories and all-time most crushing losses. Stephen and I were fortunate enough to attend the regular-season game on Super Bowl Sunday up in Fayetteville, and it was truly an epic back-and-forth battle of two great teams at the height of their powers. It ended, of course, with a classic Scotty Thurman game-winner. Fantastic stuff.

When the Hogs and Cats met in the SEC tournament finals that year it definitely seemed like our year to finally win it and establish our rightful place atop the conference, thus making the events that followed all the more painful. I’ve long since blocked out the specific memories of how we managed to lose a big lead in the final minute of regulation, get another big lead in OT and then manage to choke again in the final minute, but I know I felt sick at my stomach for about a week after that one.

Of course, after that year the natural order of the universe re-asserted itself and Kentucky has been on top ever since (side note: your 1995-96 team was about as good as college bball gets). But, it was fun while it lasted…and I’m confident that John Pelphrey has the Hogs going in a direction that will make the UA-UK rivalry a meaningful one again soon (until he bolts for Lexington the next time that job becomes available, that is….but that’s a topic for another post).

After the emotional win over Florida, all Kentucky needed to do in order to win the SEC East and avoid Arkansas until the SEC Tournament Finals was win at South Carolina. Unfortunately, the Cats came out flat, and the Gamecocks burned UK with a backdoor cut in the final seconds to pull off the surprise 75-74 win. I have the 1994 team highlight video, and Rick Pitino was asked about that game. He said, “I think we were drained at South Carolina. You never want to use that as an excuse, but we were drained.” The loss put Florida on top of the division and forced Kentucky into the half of the bracket that included Arkansas. UK came out with a much better focus in the tournament opener against Mississippi State, but Arkansas was waiting around the corner.

The Razorbacks were clearly the best team in the country in 1994. At the time of this game, they had only lost two games, and were a lock to secure a top seed and make the Final Four. I mentioned Scotty Thurman in my last piece. “Big Nasty” Corliss Williamson was a consensus All-American who dominated Kentucky’s interior players. Corey Beck and Clint McDaniel were the guards that sparked the 40 Minutes of Hell defense. Dwight Stewart and Darnell Robinson were huge centers with guards’ skills. Alex “By God” Dillard was a JUCO transfer who was notorious for “shooting from the Hog” at Bud Walton Arena. Putting it mildly, he really enjoyed shooting threes. The Hogs had gone into Rupp and destroyed the Cats in the second half of an 8-point win that didn’t seem that close. However, history had shown that if Arkansas won the regular season game, Kentucky had a better chance of winning the SECT game. It happened in 1993, but that SECT was held in Lexington, the last time the SECT was held at a school’s home arena. The 1994 Tournament was in Memphis, where Arkansas had a distinct crowd advantage. The UK/Arkansas SECT war wouldn’t have a truly split crowd until 1995 in Atlanta. It seemed like a stacked deck against Kentucky, but if there’s one thing I realized while watching the tapes for these columns, it’s that it was unwise to count out the 1994 UK Wildcats. From the Pyramid in Memphis, TN, our announcers are Tom Hammond and Barry Booker, not in all caps this time, but back from happy hour.

In the previous game, Pitino suspended Rodrick Rhodes for reasons that I still cannot figure out. Rhodes played in this game, but Jeff Brassow took his place in the starting lineup once again. This move paid dividends, both against MSU and Arkansas. The Hogs beat Kentucky in the regular season because of the ability of Beck and McDaniel to get it past the press. To counter this, Pitino went with a variety of zone defenses, usually 2-3 or matchup, but this gave Arkansas an even bigger rebounding advantage. Kentucky started the game by taking it inside with Jared Prickett, who scored three straight buckets to create a 6-2 lead. With the Cats leading 8-7, McDaniel hit the first of many threes of this game. Tony Delk answered right back with a three, and it was on like Donkey Kong. Mr. Buckets then cut backdoor and threw down a mammoth jam. Arkansas countered by using their strength, offensive rebounding. Five minutes in, the Razorbacks had seven offensive rebounds and eight second chance points. Brassow hit a three in transition to give UK a 16-14 lead, the ninth lead change of the half. Brassow hit another three, this time from NBA range, and that settles it – I’m keeping track of the threes. The zone made for easy offensive rebound opportunities for the Hogs, but made it difficult for them to get it inside to Williamson. A three by Thurman tied it at 19, then Arkansas took the lead on a three by McDaniel. This game is awesome.

After the under 12:00 timeout, Arkansas inserted Dillard into the lineup, and on his first touch, he launched a three and buried it. Where did those types of college players go? What happened to the gun on the bench? Travis Ford found himself open from three, and of course that one went in. Ford owned the SEC Tournament. Anthony Epps knocked down a three to give UK a 28-25 lead. Delk knocked down another three to double the lead. Kentucky took it inside on every possession for the first five minutes, then I don’t think they did it again for the rest of the half. After another three by Dillard, some penetration and a kickout left Walter McCarty open for three. The shot went in, then about three seconds later, Dillard knocked down his third bomb of the half on a busted play. Walter answered right back from downtown, the eighth three of the half for Kentucky. After a long cold spell for both teams, Brassow pulled up from the corner and hit yet another three. After an Arkansas miss, Ford made an insane shot from about 28 feet to close the scoring for UK. Arkansas added a couple of scores in the last minute to make the halftime score 47-40. I love this game.

Much like Kentucky, Arkansas abandoned its press to start the second half and instead opted for a 2-3 zone. It would help the Hogs get back in the game, but not right away. My boy Andre Riddick blocked his fifth shot of the game, which led to another long bomb by Travis Ford. The Razorbacks quickly drew five fouls on Kentucky before the first TV timeout. Riddick kept the lead at a comfortable margin by posting up on Beck and scoring before Williamson could recover. The and1 gave UK a 53-44 lead, and after a Razorback turnover, Ford pulled up in transition and nailed yet another three. When it looked like Arkansas might be dead in the water, they came back with a quick 7-0 run. Brassow answered right back with his fourth three of the contest, and it was 61-53. A Thurman three made it 61-58, and it looked like Arkansas had all the momentum in the world at the under 12:00 TV timeout. This game rules.

Kentucky showed its resilience in the last 12 minutes of play. A three by Jimmy Martinez made it 66-58, then Ford came right back with yet another transition bomb. The timely 8-0 run swung all the momentum back in the favor of the big blue. A three by Rod Rhodes (the 16th of the game) gave UK its biggest lead of the game as panic began to set in for the Razorbacks. Rhodes had a brilliant final 12 minutes, going 3-3 from the field and 7-7 from the line for 14 points. Kentucky made enough free throws down the stretch to keep the lead in the 8-12 range, all the way down to the final buzzer. The good guys emerged victorious, 90-78. Since this is the last 1994 tape I want to do, let me just fill in the rest of the blanks from that year. UK beat Florida in the SECT Final, earning a 3 seed in the Southeast Regional. They beat Tennessee State in the first round, but lost to Marquette in a game where size made the difference. Also, had Kentucky won that game, Duke was waiting in the wings, as the selection committee (and probably CBS) made no secret about how much they wanted a Duke vs. Kentucky game. It just wasn’t meant to be, just like the whole season when you consider the Rodney Deny injury.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, getting my puppies set from the driveway.

If you would like to contribute to UK Wildcat Country, e-mail me at kennethcolston@gmail.com

WORLD’S GREATEST CLASSIC GAME ANALYSIS: KENTUCKY VS. ARKANSAS (1998)

–Seth Stogsdill

After 10 days of having no internet, I’m ready to continue the classic UK game series from 1998. The next one is the annual game against the Arkansas Razorbacks, back when Arkansas vs. Kentucky used to draw huge national ratings. At this point in the season, Kentucky was still ranked in the top ten, but of the eight major title contenders of that season (North Carolina, Duke, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Connecticut, Stanford and Utah), the Big Blue seemed to get the least respect, both from national media types, as well as our own fans, or at least from me. Maybe that had something to do with losing to a Louisville team that ended up losing 20 games that year and was more notorious for playing Troy “Escalade” Jackson from the And1 Tour. Still, Kentucky had just come off of a dominating performance against South Carolina, which I remember because I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime and witness it. They had also won an extremely emotional game at Georgia, in which Saul Smith guarded (and outplayed) his older brother GG, all while Donna Smith wore a half blue, half red shirt. No matter what this team did, they couldn’t shake the label of “a team that lost to Escalade.”

Arkansas was nowhere near the team that played Kentucky every year on Super Bowl Sunday every year in the mid-90s, but they were still pretty good. The cornerstones of their team were three juniors. Derek Hood was the rebounding powerhouse with the body of an NBA power forward. Kareem Reid was the gritty New York point guard (note: Reid was not white, but it is taboo to call a black player “gritty” for whatever reason – that’s a whites-only attribute among sportswriters) with a top 5 all-time ugly shot. Pat Bradley was the ageless shooting guard from Boston whose range began at about midcourt. All three of these guys were freshmen when the Little Rock Nine were admitted into Little Rock Central HS. In fact, during Pat Bradley’s Arkansas tenure, Arkansas actually seceded from the Union along with the other Confederate states. Whenever I talk about players who seemed to play forever, I call it the Pat Bradley effect. He was a Razorback when Bill Clinton was just a governor. Arkansas still employed the 40 Minutes of Hell, but just didn’t have the kind of players that they used to have. From a sold out Rupp Arena, our announcers are Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery, both of whom are the best at their respective position in the world.

Kentucky hadn’t started to press by this point in the season, but they were still able to turn Arkansas over several times using their equally effective halfcourt defense (not very similar to ball-line defense, for those interested). Unfortunately, the 40 Minutes of Hell was working, and turnovers abounded. Kentucky stayed in the lead early in the game because of hot shooting and superior interior presence (yes, I meant for that to rhyme). And there’s another turnover. Wow. If somebody ever put this game on Youtube, they should play the highlights in fast forward and set it to the theme from “Benny Hill.”

Hey, there’s a commercial for “The Edge” pizza from Pizza Hut. Did you ever have one of those? It was terrible. Pizza Hut has only come up with two good ideas since 1998. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what those are. But, I digress…

If you had 5:00 in as the first time an announcer said “Heshimu means ‘strong black warrior’” in your office pool, you have won something. Seriously, this is a sloppy game. Arkansas finally countered a fast Kentucky start with a couple of bombs from Bradley. Reid hit a three with his hideous form to tie the score, then the Hogs took the lead on a fast break. Between the turnovers and the fouls, this game has absolutely no flow, which I suppose should have worked in Kentucky’s favor, but it didn’t. There’s another turnover. Good grief. The fans are getting a little unruly at this point, which makes UK fans the best in the country, because they can tell when a team needs a lift better than any crowd in college basketball. The Cats’ response to this was another turnover.

Another sidenote: Arkansas had a player named Sunday Adebayo on the roster. He played for Arkansas in 1996, transferred to Memphis in 1997 (and played for them), and then played for Arkansas in 1998. How in the world did this work? How did Arkansas and Memphis not end up on probation for this?

Arkansas led 33-30 at the last TV timeout of the half. Another reason why the game has no flow is because Arkansas had a player named Tarik Wallace who shot every time he touched the ball. If you take away the turnovers, the fouls and one trigger happy Razorback, this has actually been a pretty solid, competitive game thus far. Another three by Bradley, and now he can’t miss. The strong black warrior has been the only offense for the Blue these last few minutes. Evans has taken Bradley one on one and scored on consecutive possessions. UK would have tied it going into halftime and possibly taken the lead, but Tony Greene called a TERRIBLE charge on Saul Smith that wiped out a potential and1. The halftime score was 40-38 Arkansas, but I have a feeling that the good guys will bounce back.

When I watch these games over, I still watch them as a fan, even though I know what happens. That’s why I always stop the tape of the Duke game after Sean Woods’ shot. Anyway, Arkansas is just murdering our guys inside, and they’re getting called for nothing.

There’s still no flow, as I just saw turnovers on four consecutive possessions. Why did I pick this game again? Actually, as the second half progresses, the turnovers are more of a result of good defense rather than inept offense. Then, there was one of those trademark UK home game bad luck sequences in which two shots which would have given Big Blue the lead took round trips on the rim, only to fall off, and when Arkansas got the rebound, Reid split a trap for an insane and1. These things happen ten times more frequently at home than they do on the road. One thing is for sure, there’s a reason why Arkansas never beat UK between 1996 and 1999: They had absolutely nothing inside, and Nazr Mohammed has just destroyed every Razorback unfortunate enough to have had to guard him. Also, at about the halfway point in the second half, the press came into effect, but it didn’t work all the time, as Pat Bradley nailed a three from Sheila Bay’s Jewelry. Arkansas switched from the 40 Minutes of Hell to a 2-3 zone, and that proved to be very effective. Wayne Turner began to attack the zone and penetrate, much like he did against Duke in a game that deserves its own shrine. Scott Padgett made a tough and1 on an offensive rebound. Almost all of Kentucky’s scores down the stretch came on second chances. Jeff Sheppard really put the clamps down on Pat Bradley. Padgett took it strong to the rack for a dunk to cut the lead to two (remember when Tubby Smith used to call awesome plays out of timeouts? It used to happen a lot!), and everybody was going crazy. A runner by Turner tied it at 62 with two minutes and change left. Arkansas scored on a cutting layup, but then Evans buried a three from the corner and Tubby Smith is FARRED UP! The Hogs weren’t bothered too much by the
s
hot, as Tarik Wallace came back with a bomb to give Arkansas a three-point lead. Mohammed tipped in a Sheppard miss to tie the score, and Reid’s last second shot rolled off, as Kentucky prepared for its first overtime game since the 1997 championship game.

The Cats took over the overtime period, with a strong black warrior carrying the load. Evans had a nice baseline drive for two, immediately followed by an explosive breakaway dunk. Most teams would have been knocked out by that offensive outburst from Evans, but most teams don’t have Pat Bradley. He nailed a crazy contested shot (that always goes in for an opposing team at Rupp), but Evans answered with another driving basket to keep the lead at four. At 78-71, it all seemed over, then Bradley made a three. Padgett made a FT, then Bradley BANKED in a three. A Turner FT made it 80-77, and Arkansas had a chance to win. 24,000 people knew who was going to try and take the shot, except he had just committed his fifth foul. Arkansas was left without a go-to perimeter shooter on the floor, and the tying attempt was way off. Kentucky won the first in a long string of close conference games, 80-77.

I’ve got at least two more regular season games left on my schedule, and then I’ll probably do the last four NCAA Tournament games.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and I’ve got tapes to watch.