Kentucky at Indiana

The debut of 2007-2008 college hoops on CBS was a disaster. Their double header consisted of two blow-outs. Not only that, but the player most people tuned to watch, super-frosh Eric Gordon, did not play because of a back injury.

In fact each team was missing three of their guards from their media day roster. Indiana was playing without injured Eric Gordon and DNP-CD Armon Bassett and sharp-shooter AJ Ratliff (why are all the Ferengis good shooters?). Kentucky was playing without injured Jodie Meeks, Derrick Jasper and "transferring" Alex Legion (Wildcats Thunder story).

Despite all that, Indiana managed to play quite well and impress me. They also exposed how much Joe Crawford has underperformed in his career as he was outplayed by his freshman brother, who is probably the fifth guard in the Indiana rotation. Ouch! The Indiana fans were chanting "Jordan is better" to taunt Joe Crawford.

Move over Big Baby! Here comes DeAndre Thomas! This space-eater had the agility of a Bear, and this Hoosier-Bear may be a game-changing performer since he gives Indiana something that their other players cannot give! A space-eater with good hands!

On the other hand, Kentucky is doing worse than I expected. Despite the late additions of Patterson and (then) Legion, the fingerprints of Tubby Smith's "ball line defense" recruiting can be found all over the court. I will venture a guess here, but in April I see a lot of Tubby Smith recruits either transferring or giving up their scholarships. Check Billy G's history at A&M and UTEP for that.

Patrick Patterson is a very good player, but he has not been a spotlight-hungry player so far, unlike his high-school teammate OJ "rehearsing for endorsement money every time he is interviewed" Mayo. But he is only one, and he can't do it all.

More on this game at A Sea of Blue. They also have a "State of the Big Blue Nation" recap. Also at John Clay's Sidelines report, Inside the Hall, Rick Bozich (Courier Journal), Hoosiers Insider, and Aaron's UK blog, and ESPN's Pat Forde.

And finally, Kentucky Sports Radio find a silver lining in the blowout loss.