Is the Internet Amazing?

First, thank you, GoHeath, for keeping the doors open the last several weeks.

Second, I've decided to re-open this question for myself after a friend's now years of answering in the negative after being onboard for years before that.

Third, I doubt the question actually matters because we are here now and I can't imagine we would or maybe even could go back. The relevant question today, shared by millions of people in formal and informal conversations around the world, is how to make the internet better (safer, more beneficial to more people, more profitable, less expensive ... there are a zillion, many contradictory ways to define "better"). But most of the time I spend at the HP is spent on thinking about questions that are no longer especially relevant (e.g., How would my life have been different had I chosen to watch the Dukes of Hazzard pilot instead of the Hello, Larry pilot on the Friday night of Jan. 26, 1979?), so I'm not going to get too suddenly embarrassed about being slow on the uptake now.

Pope Update

Cats were hammered last night in Memorial Gymnasium.  Even without Duke Miles, its second-best player, Vandy blew the doors off UK.  The Commodores were up 43-23 at the half, and then trotted home as easy winners by the score of 80 to 55.

Cats fall to 5-3 in the SEC and 14-7 overall.  They are down to 32 on Ken Pom, who has UK as underdogs in six of their remaining ten games (games where the Cats are favored in bold):

at Arkansas (27 percent chance of a UK victory)

OKLAHOMA (78 percent)

TENNESSEE (53 percent)

at Florida (21 percent)

GEORGIA (64 percent)

at Auburn (33 percent)

at S. Carolina (61 percent)

VANDERBILT (42 percent)

at Texas A & M (39 percent)

FLORIDA (41 percent)

But my guess is that these calculations will change after Saturday.  Ken Pom has Arkansas beating UK by 84 to 78, and I don't think the game will be that close.  So the Cats will likely fall further in the rankings, which would lower their chances in the remaining games.

Here's my prediction.  If Kentucky finishes 9-9 or below in the SEC, I do not think they will be in the NCAA Tournament.  And that will have a huge impact on what happens next in Lexington.  So every one of these games really matters.

At this point in 2009, the Cats were 5-1 in the SEC and 16-5 overall.  At that point, it looked as though Billy Gillespie was likely to make the tournament and survive for another year.  He already had road wins over Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.  But the roof fell in after that.  UK went 3-7 in its last ten games, ending the regular season on a four-game losing streak.  They finished 8-8 in the SEC, and 19-12 overall.  They missed the NCAA Tournament, and Gillespie was fired only one season after being named as co-SEC Coach of the Year for the 2007-08 season.

Assuming that Florida beats South Carolina in the last midweek game, the top of the SEC will look like this:

Texas A & M:  6-1

Florida:  6-2

Arkansas:  6-2

Vanderbilt:  5-3

Auburn:  5-3

Kentucky:  5-3

Alabama:  4-3

Tennessee:  4-3

Seven of UK's last ten games are against teams on that list.

Classic SEC Standings

It's not clear that anyone from the Classic SEC will be in the Regional Finals.  According to Ken Pom, only two Classic SEC teams are good enough for the Regional Semi-Finals:

11.  Florida:  14-6

13.  Vanderbilt:  17-3

19.  Alabama:  13-6

20.  Tennessee:  13-6

25.  Auburn:  13-7

28.  Kentucky:  14-6

33.  Georgia:  16-4

42.  Louisiana St:  13-7

72.  Mississippi:  11-9

95.  Mississippi St:  10-10

Pope Update

Cats win their fifth conference game in a row, beating Ole Miss 72-63 in a game that tipped off at 10 A.M. Central Time at Rupp in order to beat the snowstorm.  It's UK's longest winning streak in the SEC since they won the last five games of the 2024 regular season.  The Cats are now 5-2 in the SEC and 14-6 overall.  They are ranked 26th on Ken Pom, and their Luck score is up to 189.

But now the road gets much tougher.  On Tuesday, the Cats go to Memorial Gym to play Vandy, and the Commodores throttled Mississippi State in Starkville today by the score of 88 to 56.  This will be the biggest UK/Vandy game in many years -- probably the biggest since they played in the final of the 2012 SEC Tournament.  Ken Pom has Vandy winning 83 to 76.  Then, next Saturday, the Cats go to Arkansas, where the Razorbacks have been hammering everyone.  Ken Pom is calling the Hogs by 85 to 79 in that game.  He still thinks UK will finish 10-8 in the SEC, and 19-12 overall -- and that record would almost certainly lead to a Nine Seed.  So if the Cats want to beat those expectations, they will need to pull at least one upset next week.

Pope Update

Cats won their fourth game in a row in Lexington on Wednesday night, beating the Texas Longhorns 85 to 80.  However, they lost Kam Williams, who suffered a broken foot.  Personally, I thought UK was better off without Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance, because those guys were not healthy enough to contribute in a positive way.  And sure enough, the Cats have been better without those guys.  But losing Williams will hurt their depth.

The Cats play Ole Miss at home this weekend, and then they go to Vanderbilt (Jan 27) and Arkansas (Jan 31).  After they play Arkansas, they will be halfway through the SEC regular season.

Here are the current Ken Pom rankings for the Classic SEC.  The rankings are pretty stable except for Vandy, who is falling rapidly:

10.  Florida:  14-5

15.  Vanderbilt:  16-3

18.  Alabama:  13-5

23.  Tennessee:  12-6

25.  Kentucky:  13-6

26.  Georgia:  16-3

30.  Auburn:  12-7

42.  Louisiana St:  13-6

68.  Mississippi:  11-8

85.  Mississippi St:  10-9

Here are the Classic Southwest rankings:

4.  Houston:  17-1

19.  Texas Tech:  15-4

21.  Arkansas:  14-5

31.  So. Methodist:  14-5

36.  Texas A & M:  15-4

41.  Texas:  11-8

48.  Baylor:  11-7

52.  Texas Christian:  12-7

241.  Rice:  8-11

Classic ACC rankings:

3.  Duke:  17-1

13.  Virginia:  16-2

27.  N. Carolina St:  13-6

28.  Clemson:  16-4

33.  N. Carolina:  15-4

70.  Wake Forest:  11-8

72.  S. Carolina:  11-8

115.  Maryland:  8-11

Classic Big Ten rankings:

1.  Michigan:  17-1

6.  Purdue:  17-2

8.  Illinois:  16-3

9.  Michigan St:  17-2

20.  Iowa:  14-5

35.  Wisconsin:  14-5

36.  Ohio St:  13-5

38.  Indiana:  12-7

61.  Northwestern:  9-10

82.  Minnesota:  10-9