Your March 12 Madness Report

• The brackets are in, y'all, and Kentucky couldn't be better represented.  Our beloved Wildcats are the Overall One-Seed, Louisville is a 4-Seed, Murray State is a 6-Seed, and Western is a 16.  Then there's the UK tie-ins like Tony Delk's 13-seed New Mexico State and Sean Woods' 16-seed Mississippi Valley State. And let's not forget former Joe B. Hall assistant Leonard Hamilton's Florida State team, who has awesomely beaten both Duke and UNC twice.
• In the Women's Tournament, Coach Mitchell's awesome UK Hoops team is a 2-Seed, while Louisville was awarded a 7. Seriously, y'all.  It's the Commonwealth's year!!!
• Barack Obama and David Cameron will be attending the WKU-Mississippi Valley game.  That's just awesome.
• Congratulations to Linda P., who is the winner of the Louisville Stoneware drawing!  Look for an email from me, Linda!

GO CATS!!!

Your March 9 Madness Report

Everybody fills out their brackets in the teams' colors, right?

• It was a day of upsets and near-misses.  Cincinnati simply out-played Syracuse, Baylor needed to win to offset the humiliation of highlighter-yellow unis, and Kentucky coasted on talent.
• Joakim Noah's hair is, indeed, still ridiculous.
• I finally read the ESPN: the Magazine article on the Cats. (My beau apparently subscribes. Who knew?) Loved this quote from Cal: "This team has already been told: If you win, it's going to be about you, and if you lose, it'll be about me.  So go play."  Truer words have never been spoken.
• Tom Izzo defends Bruce Weber more forcefully than my Illini alumni friends do.  I've actually always respected Izzo, but he seems increasingly strident this year. 
• I cry every time somebody references the anniversary of Biggie's passing.  Moving on.
• Doris Burke's ninety-second post-game interview with Yancy Gates was far and away the best piece of sports reporting I saw all day.  (So good that I'll let her hairdo slide without comment.) I truly believed that this is a kid who recognizes that he made a huge, nearly life-altering mistake, and is fully repentant. 
• The Cards play the Bearcats in the Battle of Teams We Peripherally Follow Big East Finals tomorrow night.  I feel like I've already seen that matchup fifteen times this year.  I guess the same could be said of UK-Florida.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway! Go Cats!!

Your March 8 Madness Report

In an effort to convince ourselves that watching the SEC tournament in front of a flat screen TV with Girl Scout Cookies is equally as good as watching it live after a stop at Cafe du Monde, here's tonight's Madness report.

All that cigarette money wasted...

• Major points to Trent Johnson.  When asked how he'd prepare LSU for tomorrow's Kentucky game, he deadpanned "We're gonna send an email out to Shaquille and Glen, see if they can come back to play."  Beautifully played, Coach.
• An additional hat tip to Auburn, for adding some drama and intrigue to the Tournament proceedings.
• I've focused on watching SEC and Big East games today. Needless to say, I've had plenty of time to google this new Tim Riggins movie amidst the excitement.  So far, I've figured out that some crazy shit goes down and Tim Riggins looks real hot.  Let's all go see it tomorrow night.
• Christian Laettner still sucks after all these years.
• The University Ad of the year award goes to UGA.   Thanks, Bulldogs, from my REM-loving 1992 self.
• Malcolm White seems repentant about the time he tackled Anthony Davis.  I still expect a very physical game tomorrow.
• Finally, don't forget to enter our Louisville Stoneware giveaway!

On Cal and Changes

A few weeks ago, I was driving through rural Johnson County on an overcast Friday afternoon. As I sat at a stop light, I saw a kid who looked to be eleven or twelve getting off the school bus. In the dead of winter, he was walking slowly and dribbling a ball. It was a scene I've encountered hundreds of times: a young Kentuckian who loves basketball. The mountains, the humble homes, the simple love of the game -- it could have been a vignette set at any point in the last fifty years, or a lithograph hanging on a devoted fan's wall. It simply was the embodiment of the Commonwealth's love of basketball. Yet, as I looked back at the kid one last time before my light changed, I was overcome with the sense that, while Kentuckians' devotion to basketball hasn't changed in decades, the Wildcat Fan perspective has changed dramatically in recent years. In 2012, as fans of the Number One team in the country, we really aren't kids walking up a dirt road dribbling a basketball. 

The Coach Cal era has brought a totally new viewpoint to the Big Blue Nation. Anyone who follows college basketball in even the most casual fashion knows that John Calipari's coaching and recruiting styles have caused quite a stir. When Coach set out to revitalize the storied University of Kentucky basketball program, we knew we were in for some changes. As fans well-schooled in the x's and o's of the game, we anticipated the dribble-drive offense to be a dramatic departure from the tried-and-true zone we all knew and loved. We expected a flashy recruiting style, one which took recruits from "blue chip" to "blue and white" before transforming them into big-money NBA stars. 

And yet, even with those expectations, we couldn't have possibly been prepared for the transformation that the Kentucky basketball program would undergo. We'd seen amazing players in blue and white before, but who could have expected to see Anthony Davis break Shaquille O'Neal's season-blocks record when a month of conference play still remained? We have a history of success in the NBA, but who could have anticipated five first-round draft picks in 2010? The answer to both of these questions is, quite simply, "anyone who gets the Coach Cal game." 

Coach Calipari has changed the face of Kentucky basketball so dramatically in the past three years. Most of the time, I’m totally on board. If big changes mean big rewards, then I'm all about shaking things up.  But, when Coach tells us that the SEC Tournament barely matters, I do a bit of a double-take.  What about the decades of CatLanta and Blue Orleans bumper stickers, coach?  What about all the opportunities to lord our victories over Billy Donovan? I immediately ask.  It's our birthright, our destiny, our obligation to win the SEC.

Now, intellectually, I know that Coach is right. We're basically guaranteed a One Seed no matter the outcome in NOLA this weekend.  But, I'm willing to bet that, for most UK fans, winning the SEC Tournament still means a lot.  It's our turf.  It's traditionally our title to win.  We may have broadened our perspectives, but we haven't changed that much.

March Madness giveaway!

This Sunday will be a veritable holiday in the Big Blue Nation.  It's the finals of the SEC tournament and Selection Sunday. And, it's Anthony Davis's 19th birthday (let that sink in for a second -- Spiderman is still just 18 years old!).  It should be a huge day for Wildcats fans.

This could be yours!!

Jenksie and I were so thrilled when Louisville Stoneware offered to give one Kentucky Girls  reader a fabulous present to celebrate Sunday's milestones.  Louisville Stoneware has always been one of my very favorite Kentucky brands -- their pottery is so striking and unique, and their signature color is just the right shade of blue! 

Louisville Stoneware has recently released a fabulous new line of University of Kentucky themed pottery.  I can't wait to add some of these great pieces to my Stoneware collection, and I know that y'all will love them as well.

Louisville Stoneware has selected a beautiful rectangular bread tray from their UK collection as a gift for one lucky Kentucky Girls reader.  I have a tray in this shape at home, and find myself using it again and again for snacks, crudites, vegetables and, indeed, bread.  The addition of the UK logo makes it perfect for March Madness parties and tailgate pre-games.

Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter the drawing.  The deadline to enter is midnight Sunday, March 11.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Your March 7 Madness Report

via Steve Moss

• Coach Cal says we shouldn't be wasting our cigarette money on a trip to NOLA.  I'm not quite sure what to do with that piece of info, so I'll just skim over it.
• The Big East Tournament dragged on forever continued into its Second Round today.  After a significant Louisville win over Seton Hall, Rick Pitino was gracious to reporters and promoted the ESPN party line by praising Joe Lunardi's Bracketology ability.  I hate it when Rick reminds me that I once respected him.
• Steve Moss of WKYT tweeted that Cal and the team will be wearing special t-shirts to honor storm victims during the SEC tournament.  I love everything about this -- the design, the meaning, the gesture.  I haven't heard if we'll be able to blow our cigarette money on one of these of our very own, but I'll keep you posted.
• Why do bad things always happen involving Boogie and a cell phone?
• Pat Forde continues to say things.  I continue to boycott Yahoo in response.
• If you aren't spending your cigarette money on tickets or t-shirts, please consider donating it to the Red Cross.  Eastern Kentucky sure needs your help. 

Your March 6 Madness Report

• The accolades are rolling in, y'all.  Coach Hall is in the Hall of Fame. Coach Cal is SEC Coach of the year. Anthony Davis is Player of the Year for both the SEC and the Sporting News. Michael Kidd-Gilchrest is First Team All-SEC.  Darius Miller is the SEC Sixth Man of the Year. Just another day in the Big Blue Nation.
• So far, three Kentucky teams are going Dancing.  Great job tonight, 'Toppers. (Current projections are putting WKU as our 16; we'll see where that takes us.)
• This. Happened.

• In the "completely random #BBN twitter moment" of the day, Joe Crawford tweeted that we should all support Jesse Campbell on The Voice.  Now, my viewing of the show mainly extends to my weird obsession with Cee Lo's cat, but it seems that Jesse Campbell is Joe's daughter's grandfather. That puts him squarely in the #lafamilia category.  Go out and vote for him or whatever it is that you do.

• Finally, the Kentucky Girls extend our deepest sympathies to Anthony Davis, who is in Chicago tonight due to a death in the family.  Our thoughts are with you, Spiderman.

Your March 5 Madness Report

Hey y'all. Our Cats are on the cover of ESPN magazine, Florida came up with the saddest little jeers I've ever heard, and the folks over at ESPN are stocking supplies for the Second Annual VCU Drinking Game (Take a shot whenever anyone says Shaka Smart! ESPN is not liable for alchol-related fatalities!)

All of this means, of course, that it much be March.  In the spirit, here are a few pre-Madness items I've seen swirling around the old Interwebz.

• I'm hearing rumors that Tom Crean was at the Pikeville Expo Center tonight to scout Johnson Central star Shane Hall.  Here at the Kentucky Girls, we don't condone violence, but we aren't above wagering about the likelihood of Crean making it back up the Parkway in one piece. Feel free to set odds in the comments.
• Clay Travis, that crafty Vol over at "Outkick the Coverage", posted a pic of the uber-creepy Cats fan couple that's graced the original entrance of Fayette Mall for about a year now.  Not gonna say he's wrong, as my mama and I have giggled at the photo more than once en route between PF Chang's and Ann Taylor.  But it's ours to laugh at, not Knoxville's. And, who would think that's a cocker spaniel, dude?
• Our Wildcat Fan Crush, Josh Hopkins, was, as always, tweeting up a storm after yesterday's win. He posted a few of his co-workers' takes on the game.  Courteney Cox gets it, Bill Lawrence does not.  We totally don't have to remind you who's from Alabama and who's fom Connecticut, right?

• Who's everybody's Cinderella pick this year? I sure would like to see OVC Champs Murray State go far, but after the rankings, the hype, and all of the spilled ink, do they really count as a Cinderella?
• Finally, as always, we urge everyone to donate to the Red Cross to help our friends in West Liberty, Salyersville, East Bernstadt, and all other towns devastated by the recent tornadoes.  They're going through something utterly unimaginable, y'all.

What is y'all's take on it all?  Do you have a blue outfit picked out for every day in March?