bugatti

Tattoo appointment made.

I get the move, but that’s a steep price.

Fair.

I believe UK will take care of business. I can't wrap my head around them not getting to 20 wins on the season; that would be a colossal failure.

RE: the SEC Tournament. I still contend there are no scary teams. Florida is the closest thing to a juggernaut, but they are not on the level of last year's team.

Good enough to coach a title contender (with doubt, I know)? What evidence do we have to support this? His semi-final CBI finish 10 years ago?

Not disagreeing as I think Pope will return, but why does a new AD guarantee Pope another season? Granted, this isn't the NBA, but new GMs have no allegiance to head coaches selected before their hiring and are often seen as a means of dismissal. The new age of college athletics does not allow for as long leashes as in the past. As evidenced by the multiple mid-season changes we saw in college football last season.

LSU stinks. Worth noting, it took a valiant comeback and Christian Laettnerish buzzer beater to take down the Tigers earlier in the season.

We’re back!

Here's my thing. For every random "Last 4 In" type team to make a deep run, there are 100 that do not. I would much rather see a team like Miami (OH) be rewarded for their efforts than team #68 or whoever be given a seat at the table. I am much more concerned with fairness at the top of the bracket with regionality, than I am with the 9th-place team in the Big 12.

The reality is, we have no historical precedence with this. With the sudden shifting landscape of power conferences and quad-based scoring system, it is next to impossible to capture any type of traction as a mid-major like you once could.

Interesting. Not sure I would pick up this book, but the Habsburg Empire intrigues me, having traveled to Vienna and Prague over Christmas.

Wrapped up this one on Saturday night. It was ok.

I believe my wife read it and enjoyed it. Thanks!

UK had flames shooting out their rears yesterday. On Tuesday, it was the polar opposite. Guess that’s why they call it an average. ? They’re probably closer to the Tuesday version, but maybe this will lead to a confidence boost as we head down the stretch. Again, the SEC isn’t filled with a bunch of juggernauts, so… there’s a chance.

Out of conference, probably so. The MAC - while not a worldbeater - is a tougher conference slate. It does stink that the powers that be eliminated the Bracket Buster weekend. This provided an opportunity for mid-majors to get a quality opponent on their schedules that they normally would not get. That, of course, would take from the power schools, so we can't have any of that. ?

A little separation (7 points) at the 4:31 mark.

Update: still trash.

My God, make this game end.

This reminds me of when Murray State started the season 23-0 in 2012. They rose as high as #7 (if I remember) in the rankings. The OVC was not great then, but they at least had wins against a ranked Memphis squad (in Memphis), won the Alaska shootout, won at UAB, and collected another ranked victory against St. Mary's in the Bracket Buster game. They went into the tournament as a #6 seed with a lot to prove. They handled Colorado State in the opening round and were up 6 late in second half against #3 seed Marquette, before falling short in the end. Hoping for a similar story with the Redhawks!

This has been my thing. For a premier program, this CANNOT happen. Granted, the conference strengths are not the same as they were then, and the structure was different, having two divisions, but UK went 12-4 (2nd in the east/overall) and 8-8 (4th in the east / 7th overall) in BCG's two years at UK. We can cite his off-court stuff as to why he was forced out, but it was performance first and foremost. And I am not trying to turn this into a Pope vs. BCG debate, just that there is something amiss with the program overall, like there were those two seasons. The organizational structure as a whole feels behind. Even last year, I didn't get the sense people felt like UK was back.

Sadly, that is not as bad as I thought. I assumed every game they lost (9), they'd gotten down by double-digits, and I saw the stat last night about the five times they came back and won when trailing by 10+, which leads the country. Again, 15-11 is probably more reflective of where this team should be. But, by hook or crook, the Cats are still in decent shape on the conference front.

UK has played 26 games now. How many of those have they gotten behind double-digits? 15? If we are being real, UK probably has a couple more games they've won than they should have (could argue more). As I said, going into conference play, the only saving grace is that the league is down from last season. If this team were in last year's league, they would be around .500. There is still no team that scares me in the SEC.

Polished off this one this morning. If you come across it at your local library… you can keep walking. Not my favorite read.

The view looking up at Charlie Puth with the flyover was awesome.