Notes before Kentucky-Florida:
- The fans are into it. We know this for two reasons. One, they have actually pulled on the blue-and-white t-shirts to spell out C-a-t-s. And for the national anthem, the Akoustikats asked the crowd to sing along to "make this the loudest national anthem ever." And the crowd did sing.
- This afternoon, I traveled over to Winchester to see Mason County play Clark County. I wasn’t alone. Also in attendance was Florida assistant Donnie Jones and William Donovan, father of Billy. They were there to check out Mason County’s Darius Miller, the 6-foot-6 Mason junior guard/forward who is being recruited by the Gators, Kentucky, Tennesse and many others. Miller was impressive, scoring 26 to help the Royals rally from a 10-point halftime deficit to post a 62-54 win. He can handle the ball and make his teammates better. He had several nice assists.
Dick Vitale is here, of course, but feeling a bit under the weather. Vitale was in Las Vegas last night to see Elton John, and must have picked up something on the trip to Lexington. Vitale is pushing the V Foundation this game. It’s the "Suits and Sneakers" weekend for coaches, some of whom you’ve probably seen today are wearing sneakers to promote cancer research awareness.
- Dick was very complimentary of UK’s new $30 million practice facility, which he toured today. Expect plenty of praise for the facility during the broadcast.
- One thing is for certain, Dick is one of the nicest guys in the business.
- Vitale, Dan Shulman and Erin Andrews are the broadcast team for ESPN.
- A Florida victory tonight and the Gators would be the first team since Tennessee (1975-77) to win five straight games over Kentucky.
- Florida shot 57.7 percent and 51.7 percent in its two wins over Kentucky last year.
- In the four games it has lost to Florida, Kentucky shot 42.3, 35.2, 40.3 and 37.9.
- Both of last year’s games were close at halftime. Kentucky led 41-39 at halftime in Gainesville. Florida led 34-33 at halftime in Lexington. But the Gators dominated in the second half, blowing out the Cats 56-39 in the second period at the O-Dome, then 45-31 at Rupp. That’s a combined 101-70.
- Joakim Noah made 17 of 21 shots in the two games against UK last year.
- Florida leads the SEC in three-point percentage, but here’s the thing: The Gators average only 15 a game in conference play. In othere words, Florida akes good threes.
- An overlooked matchup tonight is Derrick Jasper on Taurean Green. The Gator lit UK up for 29 points in Gainesville. And that was against Rajon Rondo, who is quicker than Jasper.
- On the other hand, some believe that the way to beat Florida is make the Gators turn it over. Green committed four turnovers, compared to just one assist, last time out, at Georgia.
- The officials tonight are Tony Greene, Mike Stuart and Pat Adams.
