tHan's Pop Up Wildcat game thread (NC-17)

So I was in New York and headed to the game, and I got a press pass to help our UK beat writer, Brett Dawson, get quotes afterward. I was all set to sit in the press boxes above the seats, but Rick Bozich stayed home to cover the Charlie Strong hiring, and I got to take his seat on press row. It was, um, nice.

• The first four minutes, when UK went up 12-0 and looked like they had UConn totally outmatched athletically and otherwise, was the loudest I’ve ever heard an arena. There were a lot of UConn fans at MSG, but Cats fans had a discernible edge. From what I’ve been told, the 28-2 run at Rupp against UNC was even louder.

• Kemba Walker has a shit-eating grin tattooed on his mug. It doesn’t help that I pull for UK, but it was really painful just to watch him out there. He looked OK, and that shot he hit with 1:12 left was a terrific play, but he’s nowhere near as skilled, poised or athletic as Wall. His game compares really well to Eric Bledsoe’s, which is no insult, but that arrogant grin and constant attention-seeking attitude did him no favors, at least to me.

• UConn reminded me of a classic Big Ten team. They played lock-down D, had deliberate halfcourt sets on offense and outhustled UK for a lot of rebounds. I was really impressed by the toughness and, especially, technique shown by their big men in the paint. They certainly executed better than the Cats. UK had them outmatched athletically, which was evident in the first four minutes, but they did a nice job, especially late in the first half, turning it into a halfcourt game.

• On one play, Ramon Harris began telegraphing a drive at the three-point line and got dismissed once he got to the rim. He really has no business taking any shots with other guys around.

• John Calipari makes a big show on the sideline, and usually that means screaming, “What are you doing?!?!*&$&^” That’s because UK players often have no idea what they’re doing or why.

• Irony: The number of D’s in Darnell Dodson’s name.

• Jerome Dyson is a baller. He’s the only Husky that UK had no answer for on defense.

• Dick Vitale must run for office soon. I mean, he was all over the place. From the time I showed up, I saw him walk from one end of the court across to the other at least 4 or 5 times, whenever he got a chance. He schmoozed with Wall before the game, gladhanded just about every writer on press row and stopped for 10 minutes of pictures with the cheerleaders and that vagrant UK calls a mascot. He really is the mayor of college basketball.

• Which brings me to my most glaring observation, which I spent at least 40 percent of my time pondering: UK cheerleaders have a lot of butts hanging out of their bloomers. For real, they weren’t the cutest cheerleaders in the world, but they were flashing cheeks like a dog in a sweater. I also saw a lot of the UK male cheerleaders stare enviously at the tumbles made by the UConn cheerguys.

• I sat kitty-corner from UK president Lee Todd. About 8 seats away from him sat Chris Douglas-Roberts, who was sitting next to Worldwide Wes, who was sitting next to Ron Harper. WWWes got up and stomped the court at one point when wall got blocked and no goaltending was called.

• Two rows behind me sat a UK fan, no doubt, wearing a wife beater. In public. With people around. At MSG.

• Madison Square Garden, as a historic venue, was somewhat underwhelming for me. Most disturbing were the green and purple seats. No clue why that choice was made. I thought I walked into a 1993 Charlotte Hornets game. There is also a very strange Reese’s peanut butter cup advertisement /underneath/ the jumbotron hanging over the court. I could not figure out what that was for.

• John Wall was alright.

• In person, DeMarcus Cousins looks really, really clumsy on offense. I never got that from him watching on TV, but live I was surprised he didn’t get stripped every possession. He really will probably need another year in college, although who knows what he’ll decide to do once the season ends.

• The poor shooting apparently is normal for teams that haven’t played at MSG before. There’s a lot of space behind the baskets, which makes depth perception difficult. Wall and Bledsoe broke off from the rest of the team and did some extra three-point shooting before the game on their second-half side of the court, which could have helped Wall, considering he made one of UK’s three threes in the second half.

• I saw Jay Mariotti roaming the halls after the game. He’s grown his hair out and looks like a gay Italian plumber.

• Afterward I hung out with a bunch of writers, and I’ll just say that Gary Parrish is maybe the most fun person I’ve ever been out at a bar with. Supernice and entertaining guy.