Having spent some time in Lexington talking with some UK fans before and after some football games I got the sense they really....really hang their hats on having a basketball team that for the ages was head and and shoulders above the Gators and that was their calling card for getting in our face. Now....in the afterglow of Billy Ball and the back to back championships I am hearing that UK fans are salivating at the chance they have on Sat. to destroy Florida. In fact.....it is being ventured over on Gatorsports that UF BB is to UK fans what UF Football is to Tenn fans. I think I agree with that assessment..
Think about it for a second.....which SEC team has had the success in BB that UF has had in the last 16 years.....one Final Four('94).....one Final(2000).....and two national championships('06-'07). Only Kentucky can make a claim that is comparable. There is a reason the SEC has had the UK-UF game finish the SEC slate for both teams in a season ending series for many years running. Besides....as I stated....I have been in Kentucky.....drinking in the bars with Cat fans before a football game on several occasions and I think I have an insight from that experience.
MCG, strange you talking about all our basketball success right now. On the Gator forums the fans are whining about this probably being the third straight year we go to the NIT, posting all kinds of negative posts etc. We are not the power in the SEC, we are at best the 4th best team in the SEC, we are a pretty hefty underdog to Kentucky tomorrow. We are a good but not great team. I don't go with the whiny fans or with your assessment. We need to get a full roster somehow in future years and hope then probably start getting into the NCAA on a regular basis again. Meanwhile we are neither really good and not by any means bad.
Bill....the topic name doesn't imply Gator greatness in BB....nor did I mean it that way. I think it is just fact that if you polled UK fans about which SEC foe they would like to see their beloved Cats put a beatdown on the most it would probably be Florida. Some of that is definitely driven by the humiliating football defeats they have suffered to Fla but the UF bb team's success of the past decade fueled that fire.
CBSSportsline has an interesting article on what the writer calls the "game of the weekend".... http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/13013518/friday-look-ahead-donovans-gators-dont-need-distractions-at-uk?tag=coverlist_active;coverlist_footer Personally I see a 20 pt blowout W for UK. UF will have to win two games in the SEC tourney for a minimum 22-12 record to stay inside the bubble. Win one....and just like last year may be on the outside wiping the window panes to see in.