Cal's Cats: Wednesday UK News

-Kentucky begins the first tier of the Cancun Challenge tomorrow against Sam Houston St, which is an odd set up where all teams win or lose go to Cancun and really wins or loses do not change who you play until you get there and half the teams no matter what can’t be matched up with the bigger schools…it’s kind of a tournament and it’s kind of not…weird set up

-Also the TV coverage is odd; you will find these games on CBS College Sports Network. On Dish, this is channel 152, on Direct TV it is channel 613. If you have cable you might be out of luck…if you are a sports buff, you really need Dish or Direct.

-For those out of state or people like me who like to listen to the UK radio preview show you can listen to this online, go to this link and then click “listen live” http://www.wlap.com/main.html. This is also good for anyone out of state who cannot get tv coverage you can listen to the games as well.

Some people have claimed the radio coverage is behind their TV coverage and they can DVR the game and go back a few seconds to align the radio broadcast with the tv coverage. I always thought the radio was faster…so if this interests you, try it out and see if it works for you...

-Keep Wall's family in your prayers, he had to leave campus today because his uncle past away, he is supposed to be back on campus today and be ready to go in tomorrow's game.

-There is a rumor going around that Cousins tore his acl in practice…gotta love internet rumors, he turned his ankle a little in practice went and wrapped it up with tape and came back in and is set to go tomorrow. For those questioning him continuing to practice rolled ankles is a type of injuries that is best to go out and work it out or it will stiffen up and cause bigger problems.

Cal went onto say that Cousins was amazing in practice, it takes a lot for him to talk about a player so candidly with his high expectations…I expect him to go off tomorrow if he can stay out of foul trouble. That’s the thing about practice after you foul twice you don’t go sit down for the next hour…

-There has been some rumors that Dodson is suspended for the next two games. Cal was asked this today at his press conference and he wouldn't say he was out for the next two games but did say he is in the dog house and stated work ethic in practice as being the reason.

When asked about Liggins he again would not say if he will play tomorrow or not but said Liggins is getting better in practice.

Cal said Hood is expected to play more tomorrow...well he didn't play last game, so that is a vague statement...Cal said he didn't see clock against Miami because he didn't practice the day before because of his wrist.

-Patterson is currently on the front page of ESPN Basketball page with this write up of Patterson by Andy Katz: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=4663619

-Speaking of Patterson he is on the front cover of Sports Illustrated, their NCAA basketball preview edition. I love Patterson but if you are going to put UK on the cover I’m surprised that a picture of the freshman class or a picture of Cal didn’t make it, both of these were bigger stories then Patterson coming back. I will be buying a copy just to save. I get the ESPN magazine but not SI.

-In the recruiting world Tobias Harris is suppose to sign with his school of choice tonight and then make it public tomorrow on ESPNU.

He took a surprise unscheduled visit to UT last night. He went away saying he didn't commit but this surprise visit is making many believe UT is his destination.

Most believed Syracuse had previously led but Harris has stated over and over he has no leader so everything has been speculation.

I have said multiple times I felt we had as good of a shot with him as the others but when there is six schools with an even shot that means UK only has a 1/6 chance...

My gut feeling had been Syracuse but after this visit I believe it to be UT but it looked like Payne was headed to WVU and Barnes to Duke...so what it looks like really doesn't mean a whole lot. If he ends up being a pleasant surprise for UK then I will send out a mass message letting everyone know, otherwise I will not mention it until the post analysis of the game tomorrow…unless we lose which would cause me to want to stay away from the computer for the night.

-The good news is if we don't get Harris then we are still in the running for Terrence Jones, can't imagine the two together. Jones is a force and very intimidating. Leslie plays the same way, I can’t imagine having both of those enforcers playing together.

Jones seems to be waiting till Spring to decide and this likely good because most feel if he had to commit today it would be to Washington or Oregon.

-Lamb is planning on committing somewhere soon. He seems to be between UK, UCONN, Kansas and Oklahoma. He also list Arizona but has yet to visit them claiming he will if it fits into his schedule…it doesn’t sound like it’s a priority to visit. UK was considered the leader for a long time then we seemed to back off and Kansas seemed to take the lead, then we got back in it again…since this it has been quiet on any leaders.

If we do whiff on Harris and Lamb there are going to be quite a few frustrated UK fans wondering what the deal is. Most believed when Cal came on that recruits in the 2010 class were banging down the door to come and we will at that point go into the spring period with only one commitment.

We will still end up doing fine more than likely but most will wait till the end and UK fans are many things but patient isn’t one of them. It would be easier to relax with two commitments going into the spring.
We will see how it all works out, it’s hard to sit back and just trust that our coach will just get it done even though deep down we all know that he will…

Go Cats!