They did it.
Kentucky did it.
They won impressively.
It was a breakthrough for John Calipari’s team. The kind of breakthrough we’ve been waiting for. They went to Gainesville and shitpumped the Gators, coming back to the surface fully armed like some Rambo-esque Poseidon in a Greek God/shoot ‘em up mashup by the folks who did Sharknado.
The question now, of course, is whether Kentucky will stop at the NIT level. At the moment, that looks the most promising. They still have a solid number of games where they will be the underdog. They play Tennessee twice. They host Texas. They go to Alabama, and to Missouri, and to Mississippi. They’re still two games under .500, and it’s not like Florida’s all that good (they are now quite present on our NIT radar). But it’s a thin zone a team has to hit. It’s possible Kentucky will fall short. It’s possible Kentucky will blow past us. We shall see.
Other notes of note:
- I don’t think Oklahoma helped itself, playing Kansas close in Lawrence like it did. The Sooners are tantalizing. They could win this whole thing. They could miss it and play one or two meaningless games everyone forgets within minutes. The choice is yours, Lon.
- Miami finally got a win, chinning themselves up while pulling NC State’s pants down. We are always happy to have a pantsless NC State in our midst.
- Rhode Island beat the tar out of VCU in Richmond. That’s big for both.
- Vanderbilt lost its second straight by three points, and while Vanderbilt’s out of the picture, Mississippi State almost was.
- Seton Hawk’s got more up its wheels. But they did beat DePaul yesterday, disappointing us.
- Western Kentucky, after all that love, went and lost to Louisiana Tech at home. Big Red, why do you toy with our hearts?
- Wofford and UNC-Greensboro are not NIT-relevant, but they combined for 93 points yesterday and you’ve likely heard of both, so we thought we should mention them. Wes Miller’s stock isn’t falling. But it probably shouldn’t be as high as it is?
- Northeastern finished the sweep of Hofstra and is in full control of the CAA. Unless Drexel starts winning a bunch. 4-0 vs. 0-1 there, which is closer than it maybe sounds. Or the complete opposite. Depends how close it sounds to you.
- Bad loss alert in the WCC: Saint Mary’s fell at home to Santa Clara. Should solidify the Gaels, but there’s a chance it was bad enough to pull them out of the projected field.
- San Diego State again avoided triumphant disaster, again against Nevada. We’re waiting, Aztecs (we mean SDSU not the ancient people).
- Cleveland State got another win, escaping NKU in overtime. Still in the HoLo lead. Keep it up, fellas. Because Wright State would be a huge favorite against you in that tournament.
- Improbably, Wofford and UNCG didn’t play the only game to end 48-45 yesterday. Duquesne won by that final at Fordham. Duquesne fans will likely view this as a signature win. And perhaps it is.
- Providence and Xavier have already tipped, in the most Cincinnati thing that has ever happened. How dare they? I didn’t even get up late this morning. I have all this stuff to do and I can’t get my NIT Notes out on time because the Big East has to play in the fucking predawn hours. And the most NIT game of the day, no less.
- Cincinnati’s other college basketball team (no, not NKU) plays at Wichita State at the perfectly responsible time of 4:30 PM local. Big bubble game. On ESPN2. During the NFL playoffs. As God intended.
- San Francisco’s got a risky one at Loyola Marymount.
- Indiana’s got a risky one at Nebraska.
- Loyola and Drake rescheduled, eh? Intriguing (give us an undefeated MVC tie, please). Loyola plays at Indiana State.
- Northern Iowa, last year’s mid-major darling, has yet to win a game. Just kidding. They’ve won one. Two if you count non-Division I games. But I thought for a minute they hadn’t won one. It would be believable. Disastrous stuff up there. Poor dudes. Think they’ve had some injuries.
- Nothing of any other note is happening in college basketball (ehh, should’ve saved this line for when Iowa’s playing Illinois).
