No good reason for the pic, just random!
I started this week very excited and anxious. We were launching the site on Sunday. We had a bowl game, the Big East opener, and the UK game. I knew it would be a very busy time, which was the main reason we launched at that time. So much excitement. After last night’s bowl game and then tonight’s b-ball game, the wind has been taken out of my sails, for now.
Of course I wanted to go 3-0 for the week. Who wouldn’t? But if we had to go 1-2, I would have been torn on picking a bowl win, or a UK win. I don’t really have a choice in this anyways, but if I had to pick which one was most important, I’d say this UK game is. I see the youth on the football team and where the program is headed, and I know we will be just fine as long as Charlie Strong is here. A loss in the Belk Bowl does not diminish what was a great season, and what will be a great future. So we are heading in the right direction there.
A Big East win would have also been big. I understand we have to protect our home court, and I am not happy that we lost. But in reality, in a league like the Big East where there isn’t a huge gap between the top 8 teams, how big is that 1 game? We got a double bye last year after a great regular season. UConn finished 9-9 and had to play all 5 days in the Big East tournament. You tell me who ended up better off. I guess I am just looking at it this way because now I have to since we lost tonight. It isn’t the end of the season. Did you really think we would not lose 1 game all year? Wouldn’t you rather it be before the UK game to humble this team a bit? Now there is no undefeated pressure, and they should not think they are “all that” because they just got beat at home. Seems like a pretty good time to re-focus and get back on track. A few years ago, we lost to UNLV at home a few days before the UK game, and people panicked then too, but we ended up beating UK anyway.
I don’t care how talented they are or how poorly we have played lately. In a rivalry game, especially this one, ANYTHING can happen. Think about the 1997-98 season. We were 3-6 heading into Rupp Arena. I said 3-6. We finished the season 12-20, yes 12-20. Kentucky would go on to win the National Championship that season. We were playing AT RUPP. No shot to win, right? Rivalry game: we won 79-76.
Even in the year Sosa hit his shot to beat them, we ended up being the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Kentucky was an NIT team. That game was at home for UofL, and it came down to a buzzer beater? Yes it was awesome, but on paper, should have been a blowout.
All I’m saying is anything can happen in this series. If you don’t know that, you haven’t watched many UofL-UK games. I will post another blog in the next day or two talking about my favorite moments from the rivalry and what it means to me. I didn’t mean to get this much into it on this one, but hey, it’s a blog.
So don’t flip out over 1 loss. This can still end up being a good week for the Cards. And if things don’t go well on Saturday? I’ll try to avoid the computer for a while 🙂
Justin