Sunday is THE DAY for the Vols. Yes, I know all the hoopla was for the Memphis game, and then it was the Vandy game because it was the Vols first game as #1. Well we don’t need to go over whats already been said about that game, so we move on to Kentucky.
Tennessee is trying to win their first outright SEC regular season Championship in 41 years. The Vols can’t clinch it Sunday, but a win would go a long way toward sealing the deal, and a win would also mean Kentucky cannot pass UT in the standings. The game tips off at noon at Thompson-Boiling Arena, a place where Tennessee has won 30 in a row. Who was the last team to beat the mighty Vols at home? Yep. Kentucky.
Bruce Pearl will once again be decked in that beautiful orange blazer, maybe that will blur the vision of the Big Blue enough for the Vols to grab a victory of Ashley Judd’s beloved Wildcats. Now let me say this, at the beginning of the season when UK lost to Gardner-Webb and the powerhouse of San Diego, I wrote the Cats off. Bad idea. They have responded with some quality wins, including a win over the Vols at Rupp eariler this year. In my opinion, they still need another good win or two to make the tourney, and oh boy how another win over Tennessee would do the trick. Bruce Pearl knows how big this game is, and has been trying to sell his team on the importance of winning the SEC title, placing more emphasis on that rather than being ranked #1. He has pleaded for Big Orange faithful to bed down early Saturday night, and be pumped and ready to go at noon Sunday, even saying he would even go as far as giving students a pre-game meal if they got tucked in early Saturday night.
So this game is huge. HUGE! Kentucky will have confidence coming in, and Tennessee better be ready. I think the Vols will win, but it won’t be easy…not that it ever is in the SEC.
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Gillespie’s doing some good things with his team, and they look to be rebuilding back to a real force. There’s a distinct possibility with Gillespie and Pearl at the helms that we may have the beginnings of a true men’s b-ball rivalry between the two schools. Starting with the Lofton-to-UT incident all the way to this winner-likely-takes-the-East game, things are beginning to brew.
Patterson done for the year for UK. Stress fracture in ankle.
The game is still huge, though. Kentucky will fight with everything they’ve got. It doesn’t look to be enough, but it’s certainly not worth forfeiting the game over, either.
Hoop’s onto something. If I was Pearl, I’d make his team watch the Alabama-UT football game before tomorrow, and point out that the team that wasn’t supposed to win suddenly lost three starters on offense right before the game and all they did was completely obliterate all things orange. Either that or show them wounded animal specials on Animal Planet. Personally, I favor the first one, though I can’t quite put my finger on why.