Top 25

*previous rank in parentheses

1. Kentucky 25-1 (1)
This Week: Mississippi

2. Syracuse 25-1 (2)
This Week: @Louisville, @Rutgers

3. Missouri 23-2 (4)
This Week: Oklahoma State, @Texas A&M

4. Ohio State 21-4 (3)
This Week: @Minnesota, @Michigan

5. Kansas 20-5 (9)
This Week: @Kansas State, Texas Tech

6. Duke 21-4 (11)
This Week: North Carolina State, @Boston College

7. North Carolina 21-4 (6)
This Week: @Miami, Clemson

8. Michigan State 20-5 (12)
This Week: Wisconsin, @Purdue

9. Baylor 21-4 (5)
This Week: Iowa State, Kansas State

10. Georgetown 19-5 (7)
This Week: @Providence

11. Marquette 21-5 (14)
This Week: @Connecticut

12. Indiana 19-6 (16)
This Week: Northwestern, @Iowa

13. UNLV 22-4 (17)
This Week: @TCU, @New Mexico

14. Murray State 24-1 (10)
This Week: @Southeast Missouri State, Saint Mary's

15. Louisville 20-5 (23)
This Week: Syracuse, @DePaul

16. Wisconsin 19-6 (22)
This Week: @Michigan State, Penn State

17. Florida 19-6 (8)
This Week: @Alabama, @Arkansas

18. Saint Mary's 23-3 (15)
This Week: Loyola Marymount, @Murray State

19. Florida State 17-7 (13)
This Week: Virginia Tech, @North Carolina State

20. Virginia 19-5 (18)
This Week: @Clemson, Maryland

21. Michigan 19-7 (24)
This Week: Ohio State

22. Wichita State 22-4 (25)
This Week: Missouri State, @Davidson

23. San Diego State 20-4 (20)
This Week: New Mexico, @Air Force

24. Notre Dame 17-8 (NR)
This Week: Rutgers, @Villanova

25. Gonzaga 20-4 (NR)
This Week: @Santa Clara, @San Francisco

IN: Notre Dame, Gonzaga
OUT: Creighton, Mississippi State

Notes: Louisville at Kentucky

1. What I'm getting ready to write is being written by pretty much everyone covering college basketball in the aftermath of the Cards-Cats contest. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is playing like a first team All-American. Anthony Davis has received more hype (which he's actually lived up to in large part), but Kidd-Gilchrist deserves the same amount of attention for the way he is playing. I'm not sure what's been more impressive about MKG's play - the effort he brings every single game on every single possession or the fact that he scores as much as he does without dominating the ball.

2. MKG's 24 and 19 was spectacular, and his play of late has been just about flawless. Still, I think Anthony Davis is the most important Wildcat. After foul trouble sidelined him for much of the first half, Davis finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 blocks. Put simply, Davis is a singular talent. There are no substitutes for his shot-blocking and ability to play above the rim.

3. Kentucky got the better of the Cards on Saturday and is the better team. But Louisville fans need not fret. Rick Pitino's squad held one of the four best teams in the country to 29.8% shooting from the field on its home court. If the Cards can develop any semblance of effectiveness in their halfcourt offense to go along with one of the nation's premiere defenses, they are going to be very difficult to beat.

4. Louisville's level of talent has been much-maligned in recent weeks as a result of the Cardinals' undefeated start and the inevitable comparisons to the heavyweights of the 2011-12 campaign - Syracuse, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Ohio State. While the Cards' talent level pales in comparison to the talent possessed by the top 4 teams in the country, I like their roster compared to just about everyone else, save perhaps Connecticut. Peyton Siva is a steady hand at point guard, and Kyle Kuric is a well-rounded player who can knock down the three and finish on the break. That much we knew coming into the season. Additionally, Chase Behanan, despite a number of bone-headed mistakes against the Cats, has lived up to his billing as one of the Big East's top freshmen. The surprises have come in the form of the emergence of sophomores Gorgui Dieng, one of the nation's most improved players and best shot blockers, and Russ Smith, quickly becoming a source of instant offense off the bench and a player who can create his own shot. The Cards also have a number of injured players who are working themselves back into the rotation or should be returning in the near future.

5. Terrence Jones is costing himself a lot of money with his play thus far this season. He was a likely lottery pick had he left after his freshman season, but he's not playing like a first round pick right now. He collected 11 rebounds and 3 steals, so it's not as if he was a non-factor on Saturday. That being said, 2 points in 30 minutes is just not enough production from a preseason first-team All-American - even one nursing an injured finger. Needless to say this is not the type of season Jones hoped for when he decided to return to Lexington.

Titans, Tigers, and Purple Aces.

Detroit wore the uniforms shown above for the Dick Vitale court dedication on Monday night. These are the most awful, ill-fitting uniforms I've ever seen. Here's a photo gallery. Despite Detroit's sartorial sin, the Titans topped St. John's 69-63. Plus, the jerseys are being auctioned off, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the V Foundation. Ugly jerseys for a very good cause.

Memphis is also rocking throwbacks this season. These unis honor the Tigers' national runner-up finish to UCLA during the 1972-73 season. This is how you do throwbacks.


More Memphis.


And now for the jersey/t-shirt we need to get back on the court as soon as possible.


As a child, I was confused by Evansville's choice to wear short sleeves. Now I wish the Purple Aces would drop the tanks in favor of the tees.


*The player pictured in the photo above is Clint Keown. He was a three-sport star at Evansville Memorial (alma mater of Louisville Cardinal Kyle Kuric, my old roommate Prince Fennis Ismael, baseball great Don Mattingly, and my grandfather) and is now a professional poker player. I don't know anything about poker, but here's a link to a web page with a photo of Keown wearing a trucker cap at a poker table and a story about how he won money off a man suffering from food poisoning.

**I should probably add that Evansville lost to North Carolina tonight by a score of 97-48. The game made me sad. However, the Aces knocked off Butler in overtime in the season-opener in the brand-new Ford Center in downtown Evansville. Go Aces!

An Open Letter of Apology to Kyle Kuric

Kyle,

I just wanted to apologize to you. In the preseason I referred to you as a poor man’s Bobby Perry. I didn’t really mean it as a compliment. It wasn’t a complete smack in the face, after all, Bobby posted a 20-10 game against UConn’s NBA front line in the tourney, and went for 20+ against UAB in a tournament game as a senior. But really, it was a way of saying there is no “it” quality to your game. I watched you as a sophomore and wondered why you got any clock. You aren’t a prolific rebounder. You’re undersized for a 3, let alone a 4, and you only managed to hit eighteen threes in an entire season (good for 8th on the team). I mean, I heard talk about how you could jump, but all I saw was another white kid jacking up threes, and when seven of your teammates can outdo your biggest strength, well, I guess your game left something to be desired.

Moving forward, you started slowly this year, only hitting double figures in two of the Cards’ first eleven games (I’m not counting a ten-point effort against WKU when your team scored 114, that’s like saying that you got to wear a jersey). Then your game started to heat up. Your stats still aren’t outrageous (10 ppg and 3 rpg), but there is something very not-Bobby Perry about your game. It is obvious when you are on the court. You bring energy. You hit 46.9% of your threes. You have big games against good teams (17 v. UNLV, 28 v. Notre Dame, 15 v. UConn, 23 v. Syracuse). When UofL’s half-court offense struggles, you’re often the guy who gets open in the corner for a 3 or finds a way to punch in second-chance points. Most importantly, you dunk on faces. Everyone notices when white guys dunk on faces, and that’s what you started doing this year. You dunk on faces and you don’t care. Ask anyone if they noticed when you dunked against Notre Dame. They did. They noticed big time. They’re still talking about it.

I don’t want to lay it on too thick, but I just need you to know that I know I was wrong about you. You may not be Jeff Sheppard, but you’re closing in on that standing. You’re bringing plenty to the table as a basketball player, and you don’t stop there. You were also homecoming king of your college...and it’s a big college. I was homecoming prince of my high school, so I can appreciate the hard work it probably took for you to achieve that honor. You should be pretty proud. You have nicely-defined arms too. They may be the best-looking arms on your whole team, and everyone likes to be the guy on the good end of a bunch of "Gun Show" jabs. But I digress. This post is about setting things right between us. As an olive branch, I’d like to offer you “Special K” as a nickname. Your coach really likes nicknames, but he veers towards initial-themed monikers (T-Will, E5) or seemingly nonsensical nicknames (“Bullet” for Elisha Justice?). Special K isn't a creative nickname, but it’s better than nothing. You take Special K, and go ahead and use something corny like “8 essential ingredients for building a championship basketball team.” I hope we’re cool.