Tuesday night featured a return to Lexington, KY and Rupp arena.  7th ranked Florida was in town to take on the top-ranked Wildcats, making this the de facto game of the trip.  I can talk about how much I love the smaller conference venues until I’m blue in the face, but you and I both know that two top ten teams playing in one of college basketball’s iconic arenas is going to be a headliner.  This trip to Lexington was also about a bit of personal redemption for me (getting deep here, I know).  My road trip made a stop at Rupp back in 2009 during the Billy Gillespie era, where I witnessed Mississippi State walk in and knock off a pretty bad Kentucky team.  The fans were disgruntled, the team out of sync, and I left wondering what the big fuss about this place was.  The postgame snowstorm that turned a 3 hour drive back to Dayton into 6 didn’t help the cause.  In any case, I returned last night with clear eyes and heart open, completely ready to embrace Big Blue nation.

Rupp Arena is a really loud place.  It is also a really blue place.  Rupp was packed for this one, and you could not  find an empty seat anywhere.  I know that is used as an expression sometimes, but I literally could not find an empty seat many times when I looked around.  I only was able to sit during timeouts (my entire section stood for all 40 minutes), and the energy in the arena was electric with a capital E.  Unfortunately the game was only a game for about ten minutes before Kentucky just dominated a really good Florida team, much to the home crowd’s delight.  I would have loved to see how loud Rupp could get in a close game in the final minutes, but I’d say the fans did plenty well even in this blowout.  The Kohl Center last year during the comeback versus Ohio State is what I generally cite as “the loudest building I have ever been in”, but this came really close.  Those who read this blog closely know I frown upon “NBA style arenas” and enjoy many of the smaller venues, but none of that matters when you pack the place like UK fans do (25 thousand strong).  This is one of the premier venues in college basketball.  It is comforting for me to know that the last visit I took here was nothing more than an aberration; Rupp is the real deal.

Find me an empty seat...

The team that fills Rupp isn’t bad either.   While there is a slew of tough, talented players on the roster, there’s one that stands out from the rest. At this moment, Anthony Davis is my national player of the year.  We all know how he impacts a game defensively, but what impressed me Tuesday night was his influence on the offensive end.  My view from the upper corner was not a good one for most purposes, but the one positive was an ability to appreciate the spacing on the floor.  There is a reason, after all, that a coach’s clipboard is viewed from a bird’s eye and not that of a courtside ticket holder.   Florida’s help defense was geared to take away the lob pass on all of Davis’ rim-runs, an effort to negate all the easy buckets the Kentucky big man gets at the rim.  They would be unsuccessful on this count, as Davis had 5 or 6 easy dunks, but the attention to Davis also resulted in a lot of easy looks for UK wings.  On two occasions, all it took was a high screen (that Marquis Teague wouldn’t even use) and slip to bring the strong side wing down to help on Davis.  From there, only a quick pass from Teague to the short corner was needed, and a Kentucky wing (Lamb and Miller) got a pretty open look at a 3.  Both times they would knock it down.  That’s a one-pass halfcourt posession that results in a wide-open three folks.   These were far from the only times that the Florida attention on Davis resulted in opportunities for his teammate, as many possessions included a Florida player giving extra help on Davis’ sprints to the hoop.   The slowed defensive rotations would inevitably end in a rushed close-out, or even worse, an open jumper.  When Lamb, Miller and co. knock down the three-ball as they did last night, opponents are truly left with a pick your poison scenario.  Last night Florida chose both.

Also give credit to Davis for reining in his shot selection.  While he has a really nice stroke, he has stopped shooting many of the deep jump shots he was taking early in the year, instead choosing to make opponents really work to stop him or a teammate.  The guy just seems to get it already, and when you get it to this extent, on the best team in the country, hardware usually will follow.

I don’t think Kentucky is running the table in the SEC.  Road trips to Vanderbilt, Florida and Mississippi State remain, and count me as surprised if they get through that trio of games unscathed.  Regardless, this is the best team in the country in my estimation.  Calipari’s ability to overhaul by bringing insane amount of talents to Lexington year after year is surely commendable.  What sets him and this program apart, is his ability to bring these talented kids in and get them to mesh.  He’s done it to varying degrees each season, but I think this year’s edition is the best example of a group of highly touted recruits who are in the midst of a 6-7 month stretch where they couldn’t care less about the NBA.  It’s in large part due to Calipari’s phenomenal motivational abilities, but don’t sleep on the impact of Big Blue nation.  Do these kids really have a choice when they show up in Lexington as to whether or not they are going to win games?  There are 25 thousand fans consistently packing Rupp arena that are loud and passionate; even the most aloof of high school kids would have to put on the Kentucky blue and know he isn’t just playing for himself anymore.  We often talk about a senior’s urgency when it comes time for their last March go-around.  Could it be possible that Calipari and these fans have instilled a similar type of exigency in these one-and-done freshman?  We have seen recent Wildcats (Wall and Cousins most notably) show up at UK games since defecting to the NBA, quite literally wearing their Kentucky pride on their sleeves.  Current players like Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist know their time in the commonwealth is limited, so it stands to reason that they do everything in their power THIS season to deliver their fans that elusive national title.   Some will accuse my glasses of being a bit rosy here, but these Cats are playing too tough, too together, not to have checked their NBA aspirations at the door.  They have bought in to winning; winning right here, right now- in front of the most passionate fan base in all of America.

Had a great night in Nashville last night and will attempt to get to that tomorrow.  A trip to Bloomington awaits today- life isn’t too bad.

BH