A look from HBO's documentary on the Ohio State and Michigan rivalry...

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After watching Kentucky’s Brandon Knight seal the deal with a jumper with five seconds to go as UK knocked off the top-seeded Ohio State 62-60, Friday’s Sweet 16 game has to go down of the greatest Wildcat games of my lifetime. No game may ever top the 1992 Elite Eight showdown against Duke, but last night’s game came pretty close. Here are the top ten UK games I ever watched (starting in 1983) from the list of hundreds:

1. KENTUCKY vs. DUKE
1992 Elite 8 – Specturm (Philadelphia, PA)
If it is true that right before you die images flash before your eyes, the improbable Christian Laettner jump shot at the buzzer to send Duke past Kentucky into the Final Four will be one of the things that I see.  Everyone in the Commonwealth, including me, thought that after Sean Woods nailed a jumper with 2.2 seconds left in overtime to give the Cats a 103-102 lead that UK was Final Four bound. The team, under new head coach Rick Pitino, was fresh off of probation and not expected to do much. Duke was fresh off a National Championship and a heavy favorite. Grant Hill connected with Laettner on a 75-feet baseball pass and the All-American delivered over multiple defenders sinking a jumper as the clock expired.   The Blue Devils won the game 104-103, returning to their fifth straight Final Four, but the game will long live in UK history…BOX SCORE

2. KENTUCKY vs. OHIO STATE
2011 Sweet 16 – Prudential Center (Newark, NJ)
Few gave Kentucky a chance to go very deep in the NCAA tournament after the team saw five players from last year’s Elite 8 squad leave school early for greener pastures in the NBA. The team struggled for consistency through most of the regular season, including losing a school-record five SEC road games. However, the Wildcats entered the Sweet 16 matchup against No. 1 Ohio State having won 10 of 11 games and playing some of their best basketball of the season. Senior Josh Harrellson turned in one of the best games of his career, scoring 17 points and 10 rebounds while stifling Buckeyes’ big man Jared Sullinger.  Brandon Knight won the game with his second-buzzer beater of the tournament. UK did with defense, blocking 11 shots and holding the sharp-shooting OSU team to 32.8 percent shooting…BOX SCORE

3. KENTUCKY vs. LSU
1994 Regular Season – Pete Maravich Assembly Center (Baton Rouge, LA)
After turning in the one of the worst halves of basketball in school history against LSU during the first-half and trailing by 31 points, Kentucky staged the greatest comeback in NCAA history as they beat the Tigers 99-95. Kentucky hit 12 of23 three-point shots after intermission and outscored LSU 62-27 in the second half. Walter McCarty nailed a three to give UK their first lead of the game with 19 seconds left in the game. He finished with 23 points and eight boards to lead the Cats…BOX SCORE

4. KENTUCKY vs. LOUISVILLE
1983 Sweet 16 - Stokely Center (Knoxville, TN)
In one my earliest memories of college basketball, Louisville and Kentucky met for the first time since 1959. Wildcats’ coach Joe B. Hall held stern to Kentucky’s long-standing policy of not scheduling in-state schools despite Denny Crum’s push for the two schools to meet.  The NCAA took matters into their own hands when they paired the two schools in the same region when pairing up teams for the 1983 NCAA tournament. Both schools got through a pair of tournament wins and met with a trip to the Final Four on the line.  The game started good for the Wildcats as the Cardinals missed 16 of their first 20 shots as UK opened up a 23-10 first-half lead, but the Cards would battle back and prevail in overtime. They hit 22 of 27 shots from the field after halftime and won 80-68.  The game opened things up for the regular-season series to continue in 1984 for the first time since 1922…BOX SCORE

5. KENTUCKY vs. ARKANSAS
1995 SEC Championship – Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA)
Kentucky trailed by as many as 19 points during regulation and nine in overtime, but still managed to pull out a thrilling 95-93 overtime win to lay claim to SEC crown.  Anthony Epps came up with a huge steal underneath the basket on an Arkansas inbound pass and was fouled. After he hit both free throws, Kentucky took the lead and held on to win the game. Antoine Walker had a game-high 23 points, including a pair of buckets in overtime to lead UK…BOX SCORE
 
6. KENTUCKY vs. ARIZONA
1997 National Championship – RCA Dome (Indianapolis, IN)
Kentucky came up just short in their quest for back-to-back NCAA titles. They played to a 74-74 tie at the end of regulation against the Arizona Wildcats, but UK had no answer for Miles Simon, who led all scorers with 30 points. His four free throws in the final minute of overtime (all 10 of Arizona’s OT points came on 14 free throws) proved to be the nail in the coffin for Rick Pitino’s squad. The game would mark the last for Pitino at the school as the coach took a job with the Boston Celtics at the conclusion of the season…BOX SCORE

7. KENTUCKY vs. DUKE
1998 Elite 8 – Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, FL)
All of Big Blue Nation wanted revenge for the loss just six years earlier to Christian Laettner’s miraculous shot, but early on it didn’t appear to be in the cards for the Wildcats. They fell down 49-39 during the first half, but UK wouldn’t go away.  Kentucky took its first lead of the game with 2:31 left in the second half as they slowly chipped away. Scott Padgett broke an 81-81 tie when he nailed a three-pointer with 39 seconds to go in the game as Kentucky held on for an 86-84 win…BOX SCORE

8. KENTUCKY vs. SYRACUSE
1996 National Championship - Continental Arena (East Rutherford, NJ)
Kentucky’s 76-67 win over Syracuse wasn’t the most thrilling game, but it was the first NCAA title that I remember Kentucky winning. Tony Delk was lights out as he tied a championship-game record by nailing seven three pointers and the Wildcats held off a stingy Syracuse team.  That year’s Kentucky team was as good as any in school history and they delivered by giving Rick Pitino his first national championship. The win secured the team’s sixth national championship and their first since 1978…BOX SCORE

9. KENTUCKY vs. UTAH
1998 National Championship
Playing in their third championship game in three years, Kentucky picked up its seventh national title with a 72-59 win over Utah.  The Wildcats were heavy favorites entering the game and did not disappoint. They built a 10-point halftime lead and never looked back. Ron Mercer had one of his most memorable games of his career, scoring a game-high 21 points. The win gave Tubby Smith a national championship in his first year as the school’s head coach…BOX SCORE

10. KENTUCKY vs. LOUISVILLE
2004 Regular Season – Freedom Hall (Louisville, KY)
Playing in front of the largest crowd to date in Freedom Hall’s history, Kentucky sent the home fans home unhappy as they rallied from a 32-16 halftime deficit to win.  Patrick Sparks led the charge with 25 points, including the unforgettable foul called on a three-point shot which Sparks iced the game from the free throw line as Kentucky prevailed 60-58…BOX SCORE

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Oklahoma is No. 1 in the first BCS rankings, released Sunday night.

The Sooners (6-0, 2-0 Big 12) jumped up to No. 3 in the AP and Coaches' polls after blowing out Iowa State 52-0 on Saturday, and — in part because of previous AP/Coaches No. 1 Ohio State's 31-18 loss to then-No. 18 Wisconsin — hold the coveted top spot in the BCS rankings that determine postseason bowl placement.

Oregon sits at No. 2 in the BCS, followed by Boise State, Auburn and TCU in the top 5. LSU, Michigan State, Alabama, Utah and Ohio State round out the first top 10.

"I understand that the announcement of the poll makes for good conversation among media and fans, but two games into our conference season, it's too early for us to give it any attention," OU coach Bob Stoops told to the Oklahoma Daily. "At this point, it just speaks to the quality of the schedule we've played. And while I appreciate the caliber of those teams, our focus has to be on the games we have remaining. We're not talking or thinking about anything but playing Missouri."

How important is being in the top five of the standings? If history is a guide, 20 of the 24 teams to play in the title game were in the top five in the initial standings. No team has reached the title game from lower than 12th in the initial release (from ESPN.com)

COMPLETE RANKINGS

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Winning NFL picks, odds and power rankings all from our friends at Doc's Sports Service...

I'm not a believer in preseason polls at all. How can you rank any team before they actually play a game? I'm a firm believer that the polls shouldn't come out until around the beginning of October. By then every team has played four or five games, and are about to enter conference play. Preseason polls can really hurt teams that have stellar seasons but started out the season ranked too low to make a move to the top of the rankings. At the same time it can both help and hurt those teams that get top rankings. It can help them in the way that as long as the teams don't lose, they don't drop, even if teams below them are undefeated and beating better teams. But it can also hurt them. If a top ranked team loses, especially early in the season, they could slide pretty far down the rankings and have to fight their way back to the top, hoping to get a lot of help along the way.

With all that said, today the USA Today Coaches' Poll was released. It counts for 1/3 of the overall BCS rankings at the end of the season. Its no surprise that last year's BCS champ, Alabama, sits atop the rankings with 55 of the 59 first place votes. They are returning 10 of 11 starters on offense from last year and are definitely considered to be the favorites to take the title again this year. Behind them sits the the Ohio State Buckeyes, who received four place votes. With Heisman hopeful, Terrelle Pryor leading the charge, the Buckeyes could see themselves back in a national title game come January. Rounding out the top five is Florida, Texas, and the surprise to the party, Boise State. This is the highest the Broncos of the "Smurf Turf" have ever been ranked in preseason polls. While Boise State isn't in a BCS conference, its a very good possibility that they could crash the party this year. Their fate could very well be decided after their first game this year when they take on No. 6 Virginia Tech.

A complete listing of the USA Today Coaches' Poll is listed below:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. TCU
8. Oklahoma
9. Nebraska
10. Iowa
11. Oregon
12. Wisconsin
13. Miami (FL)
14. Penn State
15. Pittsburgh
16. LSU
17. Georgia Tech
18. North Carolina
19. Arkansas
20. Florida State
21. Georgia
22. Oregon State
23. Auburn
24. Utah
25. West Virginia

*For those of us here in Cincy, the Bearcats are on the outside looking in at No. 26. Odds are they will be in the top 25 at some point this season, most likely after the first week if they beat Fresno State and one of the lower rank teams get upset and fall out.

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Here's a look at the scehdule/lines for the Sweet 16 match-ups:

THURSDAY
7:05 Syracuse (-7) vs. Butler
7:25 West Virginia (-4.5) vs. Washington
9:35 Xavier vs. Kansas St (-4.5)
9:55 Kentucky (-9.5) vs. Cornell

FRIDAY
7:05 Ohio St (-4.5) vs. Tennessee
7:25 Baylor (-3.5) vs. St. Mary's
9:35 Michigan St (-4) vs. Northern Iowa
9:55 Duke (-8) vs. Purdue

LIVE VEGAS ODDS

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Wow! What a weekend of college hoops. Despite the talk of expanding to 96 teams and the criticism that college basketball is water down. The first two rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament delivered plenty of exhilarating drama as usual. 

Here are some of final takes from the first four days of the tourney:

KENTUCKY – John Calapari has had his boys ready to play. After knocking out East Tennessee by 29, the Wildcats beat Wake Forest by 30 points. Eric Bledsoe’s eight 3-pointers in the first game was one of the best shooting displays in Kentucky’s storied history. For the critics that have insisted that despite its talent, UK is too young and inexperienced to win it all shame on you. Talent always wins when it plays to its fullest potential.

XAVIER – Sean Who? In his first season as head coach Chris Mack did something former coach Sean Miller couldn’t - beat Pittsburgh. The Muskies have made their way back into the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive season with an exhilarating win over the Panthers. Jordan Crawford is making a name for himself on a national scene here for something aside from dunking on LeBron James. He put up another 27 points in Sunday’s win.

KANSAS – Count me amongst the nearly 44 percent of people in America (according to ESPN.com’s online pool) that bought into Kansas being the team to beat. They failed to put 40 minutes together in Thursday’s opening round versus Lehigh and only had a lead at the 2-0 mark as they got knocked out by Northern Iowa, 69-67.

OHIO STATE – With Kansas officially out, the Buckeyes are the top team in the Midwest Region and they are playing like it. Not only are the Jayhawks out of the mix, but so too have gone No. 3 Georgetown and No. 4 Maryland. Evan Turner shook off one of the worst night’s of his career by tossing up a triple-double 75-66 win over Georgia Tech.

CORNELL – The Big Red followed up their first-ever tournament win by winning a second tournament game and advance to the Sweet 16 as they are the lowest remaining seed in the tourney. Now, they get the daunting task of playing the tournament’s highest ranked team left standing, Kentucky.

BIG EAST – All the talk surrounding the Big East entering the tournament suggested that the conference would once again flex its muscle. However, half of the league’s tournament-high eight teams couldn’t get out of Round 1, including Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame and Marquette. Pittsburgh and Villanova joined their league foes with second-round departures. Only Syracuse and West Virginia are left standing.

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Game of the Week:

USC vs Ohio State
8:00 ESPN

It doesn't get any better on a Saturday night...Two of the top programs, two of the most dynamic quarterbacks and two of the largest fan bases.

The key will be to watch how USC Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley handles the big stage on Saturday night on the road. If he is able to remain poised the way he was last week then expect USC to come out on top of this one.

Ohio State will need to limit the turnovers against the fast and ferocious USC defense. Terelle Pryor will be throwing on the run a lot, so it's crucial that he makes good decisions and doesn't turn the ball over.


Other Games to Watch:

Notre Dame vs Michigan
Two of the more storied programs going at it in this one. It'd be huge for Michigan to pull off the upset.

UCLA vs Tennessee
UCLA knocked Tennessee off last year 27-24 in overtime. Tennessee needs to prove that last weeks demolition of WKU wasn't just them running it up on a helpless defense.

LSU vs Vanderbilt
These two teams kick off the SEC schedule. LSU should roll but they need to get off to a good start after finishing worse than .500 last season in conference play.

Upset Pick of the Week: Mississipi State over Auburn

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As we continue our series previewing the college football conferences here on GetSportsInfo, it's time to take a look at one of the most disappointing conferences in the NCAA.... The Big Ten.

Favorite: Penn State

Penn State has a great chance at repeating as Big Ten champs again this year. They lose three of the greatest wideouts in Penn State history and their sack leader from last season. However, Sean Lee should be a huge gain as he comes back from an injury to be a force at linebacker. Also, Daryll Clark returns as a heisman contender at quarterback and Evan Royster and Stephon Green look to increase their production. They also have the easiest non-conference schedule in the Big Ten (Akron, Syracuse, Temple, and Eastern Illinois.) The biggest concern will be trying to find production from the wide receiver position.

Sleeper: Illinois

Illinois gets the nod as my sleeper because of two major factors: 1. They have 18-of-22 starters returning in 2009. 2. I don't know that some of the teams expected to finish ahead of them can recover from key losses... (MSU-Javon Ringer). The most important returning member of the Fighting Illini is quarterback Juice Williams, who I fully expect to be one of the top QB's in the nation this year. His 138.09 QB rating from last year was outstanding and with four of five offensive lineman returning it should only get better. Williams also has the benefit of running back Jason Ford returning after a decent freshman campaign and the Illini don't lose a single receiver.


Overrated: Michigan State

The Spartans lose Brian Hoyer and Javon Ringer yet some are still picking them to battle it out at the top of the conference. The Big Ten is bad so that will help the Spartans stay in the thick of things, but I see the loss of their quarterback and their stud running back who carried the offensive load last seasont to be too much. Their defense is decent but not great. Look for the Spartans to falter early, especially as they look for someone to lead them on offense.

Final Take:

The Big Ten is one of the most disappointing conferences in football. Every year they have a few highly touted teams who are supposed to be tops in the nation. Except, when they actually play the top teams in the nation they always seem to lose. The Big Ten will continue to pick on non-BCS bowl-bound schools, but lose to the top teams in the nation once again this season. 

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Friday proved to be a nice day of hoops for some of the area's local teams in opening round action:

XAVIER CRUISES PAST PORTLAND STATE (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Xavier coach Sean Miller said sophomore guard Dante Jackson had to be a steady presence for the Musketeers to succeed against guard-dominated Portland State University. Was he ever. Jackson assumed a prominent role on both sides of the ball and helped lead fourth-seeded Xavier to a 77-59 victory over the 13th-seeded Vikings in Friday’s NCAA Tournament first-round game at Taco Bell Arena...MORE

CARDS DON'T MISS A BEAT (Louisville Courier-Journal)
The University of Louisville men's basketball team, seeded No. 1 overall in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, faced another first it did not want as it held a queasy two-point lead over Morehead State at halftime last night. The Cardinals kept their cool and made the Eagles resemble the 99 No. 16 seeds that came before them since the tournament expanded to 64 teams a quarter-century ago. U of L dispatched the upstarts 74-54 to make it a perfect 100-0 for No. 1 seeds in the first round...MORE

DAYTON GETS FIRST TOURNEY WIN SINCE 1990 (Dayton Daily News)
Dayton beat West Virginia 68-60 on Friday. It was the Flyers' first NCAA tourney win since 1990 and set up a second-round game against defending national champion Kansas (26-7) on Sunday. The Flyers (27-6) were one of the last teams to make the 65-team NCAA field, but they took an early lead on sixth-seeded West Virginia and never relinquished it...MORE

Not every team fared so well though...

SIENNA KNOCKS OUT BUCKEYES (Columbus Dispatch)
Guard Ronald Moore, who forced a second overtime with his first three-point basket with 3.5 seconds left, won the game with his second with 3.9 seconds left, giving Siena a 74-72 upset of Ohio State in the first round of the Midwest Regional in University of Dayton Arena. The no. 8-seeded Buckeyes (22-11) they bowed out in the first round of the tournament for only the third time in history. They lost openers to Utah State in 2001 and to James Madison in 1982...MORE

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Let the Madness begin! The brackets have been drawn and the guessing is over...or is it? Now comes the fun part, filling out the brackets. Here are some my opening observations....

*The No. 1 Seeds - The selection committee got it right here with Louisville, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Connecticut all getting tabbed with the honor.

*Big East Rocks - They didn't the mega seeds that many expected earlier in the season as only seven of the 16 teams made the tournament rather than the 8 or 9 some had speculated earlier. Still, three No. 1 seeds from the conference is quite a  statement.

*SEC Letdown - The conference had one of its worst years ever and only because Mississippi State made an improbable run to the conference tournament championship did it get three teams in. LSU and Tennessee earned at large bids, but only a No. 8 and and No. 9 respecitvely.

*Big 10 Overrated - Penn State didn't get in, but the Big Ten get seven teams in. Still, I don't think the conference is really that good. Outside of Michigan State I expect early exits for all of the teams and even the Spartans proved to be vulnerable.

*Conference Breakdown - ACC (7 teams in), Big East (7), Big Ten (7), Big 12 (6), Pac 10 (5), SEC (3), Atlantic 10 (3), Horizon (2), MVC (2), Moutain West (2), WCC (2)

*Buckeye Pride - Five of the 13 Division I schools in Ohio made the NCAA Tournament - Akron, Dayton, Cleveland State, Ohio State, and Xavier.

*Last At-Large Ins - Arizona (12 seed), Wisconsin (12), Dayton (11), Maryland (10), Michigan (10) and Minnesota (10)

*Notable snubs - San Diego State (35th in RPI), Creighton (40), Saint Mary's (48), Auburn (63), Penn State (70)

*Where are they now? - The tournament is missing some of its regulars this season. Amongst the casualties are Arkansas, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Florida, Indiana, Georgetown, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame.

*Know Your Bracket - Understanding the history of the bracket could go long way towards helping you win your bracket. Consider a few of these numbers: six of the last eight final four teams were No. 1 seeds; Since 2000, only two teams that weren't a #1 or #2 seed have gone on to win a national championship (both No. 3 seeds - Florida in '06 & Syracuse in '03). Check out all of the TOURNAMENT HISTORY BY SEEDS and come up with your own trends.

*Local Love - Here's where the local teams are headed...
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. (Play-in game): #16 Morehead State (19-15) vs. #16 Alabama State (22-9) - Dayton, OH
Thursday, 7:25 p.m. - #4 Gonzaga (26-5) vs. #13 Akron (23-12) - Portland, OR
Thursday, 9:55 p.m. - #5 Illinois (24-9) vs. Western Kentucky (24-8) - Portland, OR
Friday, 3:00 p.m. - #6 West Virginia (23-11) vs.#11 Dayton (26-7) - Minneapolis, MN
Friday, 7:10 p.m. - #1 Louisville (28-5) vs. #16 Morehead St/Alabama St winner - Dayton, OH
Friday, 7:25 p.m. - #4 Xavier (25-7) vs. #13 Portland State (23-9) - Boise, ID
Friday, 9:40 p.m. - #8 Ohio State (22-10) vs. #9 Sienna (26-7) - Dayton, OH

COMPLETE BRACKET

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