Kentucky can do it all so well

By By Stan Torgerson / guest columnist
Feb. 10, 2003
I sat there in my den last Saturday, looking forward to watching Ole Miss and Kentucky play basketball.
What I saw was a rerun of Custer's last stand with Ole Miss playing Custer and Kentucky the Indians.
Custer and his men were slaughteredagain.
If ever a fight was over when it began it was this one. There was no way for Rod "Custer" Barnes to circle his wagons. There were just too many Indians who were too skilled in the technique of the attack.
There were many nights in the bad old days, before basketball was discovered in Oxford when Ole Miss was out manned, out talented and out scored. Last Saturday was a throwback to B.W.before Bob Weltlich taught us how much fun it was to win games played indoors as well as those played out of doors.
Blame not Barnes, nor his team. This Kentucky bunch is a marvelous machine that was absolutely at its absolute peak efficiency against the Rebels. The Red and Blue made a real effort but effort is only one factor in winning and losing. There must be some semblance of comparable ability and Rod simply didn't have the talent by his side that was available to Tubby Smith on the Kentucky bench.
To put this Wildcat team in perspective, they have now won 12 straight games. The last seven have been by double digit margins. They beat Ole Miss by 18 but earlier in the week they went to Gainesville and ran Florida out of their own gym by 15and the Gators were rated the number one team in the country at the time.
They do it all. They run. They shoot. They play defense with an exciting flurry.
In the briefest of time Kentucky had an 11-0 lead against the Rebels. By halftime it was 44-20. Custer had no fresh troops to send in. The massacre was assured.
While Rebel fans are disappointed at being 3-6 in league play at this point, no one can be more disappointed than those who follow Alabama basketball. Earlier this season the Tide was ranked No. 1 in the country. Since then the Tide has won only five of 12 games and has lost five of its last six, including a 19 point whipping laid on them Saturday by Florida. What has happened to create this slide? No one seems to know, or if they do they're not telling.
The truth is the SEC this year is a two team league. Kentucky and Florida are in a class by themselves. Mississippi State has talent and when Mario Austin has a particularly good night they are capable of being competitive with either one. But that's about it.
Look at the standings. Kentucky is 8-0 in conference play. Florida is 8-1, losing only to the Cats. Everybody else has at least three losses in the first half of this 16 game season. Georgia and Tennessee are both 5-3 The second best teams have each lost more games than the two leaders have together.
In the West, Auburn leads the pack with 6-3. Mississippi State is 5-4. Alabama and Ole Miss are each 3-6. Arkansas and LSU bring up the bottom.
In other words, there is not a dominant team in the SEC West and while there are several still in contention for NCAA tournament berths there isn't anyone who is likely to go any farther than the Sweet 16, if that far.
But Kentucky and Florida could. Each is a Final Four possibility and Kentucky could win it.
They will both be in the field, of course but the SEC has four other possibilities, three for sure. Georgia, Auburn and Mississippi State will be invited. Alabama may be if they can get their act together.
As for Ole Miss, if the Rebels can win four of their last seven games and at least one in the SEC Tournament they will be invited to the NIT. It won't be easy. There are still some Indians waiting out there to scalp them. But at this point their future is in their hands. They're still alive.
Recruiting Note:
For those of you who take recruiting seriously as the barometer for the upcoming football season, let me remind you Ole Miss signed 16 prospects one year ago in what was said to be a standout class. Only 11 are still on scholarship, just one year later. Three failed to show up last fall and two others quit the team before the end of the season.
What you think you see is not always what you get.