Kentucky

Cole Aldrich (Kansas)

Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest)

Da'Sean Butler (West Virginia)

Sherron Collins (Kansas)

DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky)

Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)

Wesley Johnson (Syracuse)

Scottie Reynolds (Villanova)

Jon Scheyer (Duke)

Evan Turner (Ohio St)

John Wall (Kentucky)

Other (Anderson, Hummel, James, Vasquez, etc)

The BracketBusters Saturday recap can be found here.

It wasn't the prettiest game and the rising emotions on the floor likely had something to do with it. But when the game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt came down to crunch time it was the younger squad that made the winning plays in a hostile environment.

Saturday BracketBusters preview can be found here

As the 2009 NBA Draft rolled around, there was one name conspicuously absent - Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson. This had to be a mistake, right? After all, Patterson was a McDonald's All-American in high school, had a terrific freshman year,  and then had upped his averages to 17 points and nine board per game as a sophomore. He received All-American nominations, and was a lock to be selected in the first round. He had no reason to come back to school. Besides, playing second, or third, or even fourth fiddle to Kentucky's heralded freshmen would only hurt his draft stock, right?

If you weren't fortunate enough to be in the fine city of Starkville, Miss., Tuesday night, I hope you were at least able to watch on television the Mississippi State Bulldogs take No. 2 Kentucky to overtime before letting the Wildcats escape with the win.

 

It was accepted well before Tuesday night's game that Kentucky would encounter a hostile environment in Starkville. In the days leading up to the game Mississippi State students called DeMarcus Cousins repeatedly, some using the time to make humorous statements while others went well beyond the line that separates fun and terribly poor taste. But what was supposed to be a showdown between Cousins and Jarvis Varnado did not play out as such, especially in the second half and overtime as the senior fell victim to foul trouble.

Mississippi State, who hasn't done enough to sew up an NCAA bid to this point in the season, has a great opportunity to do so in Starkville on Tuesday night. Kentucky comes calling on ESPN in a game that matches up likely lottery pick big men in DeMarcus Cousins and Jarvis Varnado. With an RPI of 58 and an overall strength of schedule of 118 (numbers courtesy of realtimerpi.com) they need at the least a solid effort if they're to be a part of the NCAA Tournament.

Maryland went into their game at Duke on Saturday with the ability to move ahead of the Blue Devils in the loss column with two games in hand. Well, the Blue Devils made sure to beat those thoughts out of the Terrapins on Mike Krzyzewski's 1,000th game as Duke head coach, jumping out to a 22-8 lead on their way to the 77-56 victory. Jon Scheyer led all scorers with 22 points but he's essentially a known quantity for Duke at this point. The surprising (and somewhat dominant) performance came from the tallest man on the roster.

Valentine’s Day for many people involves an intimate dinner, flowers, perhaps some candy, maybe even a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride through the snow. But for college basketball fans – it means that teams have one month left to earn their dance cards. One more month of proving their worth against conference opponents, trying to build momentum as they enter March.

Remember Greg Oden?

Of course you do. He was one the most hyped big men to enter college in the last 10 years, billed as a superstar long before he ever even made his college decision. He graced magazine covers as a sophomore in high school, and was compared to everyone from Patrick Ewing to David Robinson to Tim Duncan. In his one and only year in college, he averaged 15.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, and helped lead Ohio State to the national championship game before departing to the NBA, where he was the top overall pick.