Nine thousand red t-shirts will be tossed onto the frames of 5,000 Ole Miss fans or into the nearest trash receptacle by opposing Kentucky fans in a short two hours.
Basketball season has been nothing short of disappointing. No way to sugar coat it. The Rebels best win is over Penn State (12-8, 5-4) in Oxford, and a win over Kentucky would be only the 13th such occurrence in 110 or so tries.
John Calipari also keeps a trick or two stowed in his haphazardly slicked hair. While generally known as a player's coach who doesn't teach x's and o's and just recruits the hell out of the best players in the country, I've always held the opinion that Calipari is a terrible situational coach but an overall solid gameplanner.
Cal knows what a loud Tad Pad sounds like and most likely will have his players ready to avenge a 2009 loss when the Wildcats came in ranked #24 in the country.
What exactly is wrong with the Rebels?It's just an inconsistent brand of basketball up until this point. If it's not the defense, it's poor shooting. If it's great shooting, then it's poor defense. We can rebound non-conference but not in the SEC.
Kennedy's message to the media has been that the players are pissed and don't want to keep losing. It's a good sign, sure, and our fortunes are likely to turn around when we face more SEC West opponents down the stretch. We're likely to still have an above .500 season and make the NIT. We're the bridesmaid yet again, so why not go down as the biggest spoiler of a bridesmaid ever?
That's what we've got to look forward to, Rebel fans. There may be an upset tonight, but no one on this blog would wager any kind of money on it or even pretend to believe it in this post.
Kentucky is a young team, and when they faced a solid Georgia team in Athens, they couldn't close out the 'Dawgs. There's that...but then again, we don't have the low post presence Georgia has nor the crowd support they had that evening.
Here's the charge to all Rebels:
1.) If you're able to make it to the game, do it and be as loud and obnoxious as possible.
2.) Watch the game on TV if not only for the chance that an upset would make you so happy that you watched it.
3.) Go to sleep knowing no matter how this game ends, we're going to beat the ever living fuck out of Kentucky on National Signing Day tomorrow.
Is this a defeated post from a beleaguered blogger? Yeah, kinda, it's been a rough season so far. There's some glimmer of hope that every fan has, so I'm keeping that going in my own way.
Bold predictions
- Zach Graham scores 20+ points
- Dundrecous Nelson scores 10+ points
- Reginald Buckner doesn't foul out and registers 4 blocks
Final prediction
Kentucky 81
Ole Miss 72