Kentucky Blue/White Game Reaches New Heights

There is a new atmosphere surrounding the Kentucky basketball program as the Cats prepare for the 2009-10 season. It was evident the moment I stepped out of the Rupp Arena tunnel tonight. Even the Blue/White game, which is essentially a practice game with fans, had a feeling of importance. Tonight may have officially marked the awakening of arguably the NCAA's all-time greatest program.

Moments after the game tipped off, the reason for all the excitement became very apparent. From top-to-bottom, this may be the most talented, athletic Kentucky team in the past decade. If I were asked to say the first two words that come to mind when I think of tonight's game, my two words would be "speed" and "athleticism."

John Wall is good. He is historically good. Patrick Patterson looks to be in the best shape of his life and, believe it or not, he can shoot from outside and drive to the basket. Then, there's Darnell Dodson, who started slowly tonight before putting in a game-high 26 points, including 4 smooth-looking 3-pointers. Wall added 25 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists and 4 steals. Patterson looked impressive in getting 24 points and 8 rebounds, and did I mention that he was 2-4 from long range?

Freshman big man DeMarcus Cousins scored 16 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. Darius Miller and Jon Hood each put in 14 points. It should be noted that Josh Harrellson put in a double-double in the first half of the scrimmage and finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.

The primary concern heading into the season has been outside shooting. Tonight, Kentucky was 16-45 from the 3-point line for 35.5%. If the bad shots are eliminated from the mix, the team actually looked very good from long range.

The score tonight was insignificant, the Blue team won 106-73, because players switched sides throughout. The obvious upgrade in overall talent, however, is very important. This team has the potential to be special.

Some Basketball Notes:

- The Blue team opened the game in a full court man-to-man defense; the defense did not last long and Calipari admitted after the game that the players "were worn out after about 3 minutes."

- The overall team speed is very impressive

- There were many deflections and tipped balls by defensive players; a visible result of the team's overall length and quickness

- A few players tried to do a little to much with the ball, which is pretty typical in an October scrimmage - especially one played in front of an excited crowd of 14,000+

Some Things You May Have Missed on Television:

- The attendance tonight was 14,060, a Blue/White Game record

- John Calipari had a whistle on the sidelines; several times throughout the game, he blew the whistle to stop play and setup a different situation or to do some coaching

- Several former Wildcats were recognized on the big screen's during timeouts; each time, the crowd erupted in support; Wayne Turner, Ron Mercer, Tony Delk and Scott Padgett were recognized; When former coach Joe B. Hall was pointed out, the fans erupted into a standing ovation

- There was an obvious bad call late in the second half and the majority of the arena rained down a course of boo's

- DeAndre Liggins had 8 fouls in the game, which led to several nonchalant jabs by the public address announcer; the crowd enjoyed the humor

- Someone sitting about 20 rows behind the media table screamed, "Shoot it Mark! Come on man!!!" Another fan unloaded on the refs after a so-so call; have to love "that guy" in every crowd

- Wall dunked on his own basket with about 13 seconds remaining in the game; he then took the ball on the other end and dunked on the wrong basket just before the final buzzer - don't recall ever seeing that before

Postgame Quotes:

John Calipari on John Wall off the court:

"Nothing, he's in pretty good shape."

"Wall has gone through the clearinghouse."

John Calipari on expectations:

"They don't have high expectations in Kentucky. They just like to win a game every now and then, don't they?"

John Calipari on whether or not Bledsoe and Wall can play together:

"I hope so."

"They played better together then when they were separated."

I'll have pictures and complete player breakdowns tomorrow
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