GameDay News and Views...

The big day is finally here and fans are beginning to file into Rupp Arena for ESPN's College GameDay experience. Its not a big surprise the Bobby Knight didn't make the trip, seeing as how security probably couldn't guarantee his safety after his boneheaded comments about Kentucky and Coach Cal, but the other four "experts" are in attendance for the event.

There seems to be a lot of critics that think Tennessee is more than capable of beating the Wildcats tonight. Despite Kentucky's impressive record, there's a lot of concern about Kentucky's youth and inexperience. We mentioned yesterday that Hubert Davis thinks the Vols will win, but his analysis of the match-up was spotty at best. He talked about Kentucky having to score the ball from outside because of the Vols ability to stop the drive, but the former Tar Heel didn't event mention the inside play of DeMarcus Cousins. Yet, he did mention Wayne Chism, who is nursing a bad ankle, and how Chism should be able to score at will under the basket. Again, this is just silly talk by a man who knows about half as much as he thinks he does, if that.

Meanwhile, Rece Davis is more concerned about whether or not Kentucky will join Duke and North Carolina as the only GameDay hosts to have a fan to hit the State Farm half court shot. Davis predicted that a UK fan would rise to the occasion and nail the shot. How fitting would that be for Kentucky to join UNC and Duke in this rarest of categories? I think it would be another perfect element to the big day... that and a trouncing of the Vols tonight, of course.

Kentucky is a 9.5 point favorite, and if Wayne Chism isn't able to go, that spread will most likely go up before game time. With that said, the Kentucky-Tennessee game has become one of the SEC's hottest rivalries, and with any rivalry game, you can almost throw all the tangible elements out the window because every player and coach will raise their play to another level. Speaking of the intense rivalry that will be showcased tonight, CNNSI has taken a look at the personal rivalry between Cal and Pearl, which just adds another layer to the complexity of tonight's big game.

That's all for now, but check back throughout the day as we continue to discuss all the goings-on in Lexington.

For complete coverage of the GameDay experience, click here. More later...