Brian Joyce is a writer for the SEC microsite and regular contributor for Rush The Court. Follow him on Twitter for more about SEC basketball at bjoyce_hoops.

By now you have already made up your mind on Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson. You either love him or hate him, and every time he makes another appearance likely just serves to further strengthen that viewpoint. The animated GIF of Henderson popping his jersey to a legion of frat stars at Auburn went viral quicker than the newest spoof of the Gangnam style video. [Ed. Note: We are linking to it instead of embedding it because you wouldn’t be able to take your eyes off of it and read the column.]  Henderson frequently tweets out Eminem lyrics, and like his idol Marshall Mathers, the point guard for Ole Miss is a polarizing figure to say the least. Whether he’s drinking Coors Light at a party or shoving his tongue down down a frisky co-ed at the club, Henderson is making headlines. And once one sifts through the shenanigans, the fiery guard has done his most newsworthy stories on the court.

Marshall incites strong reactions wherever he goes.

Ole Miss was 20-14 last year, with an 8-8 mark in conference play. In Andy Kennedy‘s six seasons at the helm for the Rebels, Ole Miss has never made the NCAA Tournament. But in just one year with Marshall Henderson in the backcourt, the Rebs are 17-2, undefeated in the SEC, and a nationally relevant program for the first time in, well, maybe ever (outside of a Sweet Sixteen run in 2001). That’s the power of Henderson. He has become must-see TV at this point, and regardless of your opinion on his erratic behavior, people in college basketball are talking about the Rebels. And most importantly, the hype about the Rebels isn’t just noise, they’re also playing winning basketball. That much is indisputable.

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1. Ole Miss‘ win over Arkansas gives the Rebels a 4-0 beginning to SEC play marking its best conference start since the 1936-37 season. That’s 76 years since the Rebels have began this well in league games. It may feel like it’s been about the same length of time since Andy Kennedy’s club has been to an NCAA Tournament (never under Kennedy; the last time was 2002), and the Rebels are hoping to break that streak too. And while they’re at it, they may even try to break into the Top 25 rankings, a faraway land that Ole Miss hasn’t seen since 2001. The players sense that something special is brewing in Oxford as well. “Anybody can see it,” said senior Nick Williams. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do something great here, and we understand what we need to do because me, Murphy (Holloway) and Reg (Buckner) — we have been here for a while and we’ve been so close for so long.” Could this finally be the year that Ole Miss breaks through?
2. Florida’s 83-52 thrashing of Missouri on Saturday led to a number of questions. Is Florida that good? Yes, especially at home. Is Missouri that bad? I really hope not. Does Laurence Bowers really make that much of a difference? No. But it’s undeniable that the Tigers are on a downward spiral. They’ve lost two of their last three games, and dropped three of their last six. To make matters worse, guard Keion Bell adds that Missouri simply wasn’t prepared. “I just think that we, as a team, we underestimated the amount of pressure that their full-court press would put on us,” Bell said. “Although the coaching staff has embedded it in our brains throughout the whole week, we just didn’t take heed to the things that they were saying about Florida’s pressure, and we weren’t ready at the beginning of the game.” Missouri needs to regroup before things get worse, and perhaps listen to the coaching staff during its preparation. A softer upcoming schedule of South Carolina, Vanderbilt, at LSU, and Auburn should help.
3. It was a homecoming of sorts for Mississippi State Bulldog Jalen Steele, who always dreamed of playing in Thompson-Boling Arena. Steele grew up in Knoxville as a Tennessee Mr. Basketball, but then-Volunteers head coach Bruce Pearl went for two recruits you may have heard of instead — Aaron Craft and Josh Selby. Even though his basketball career didn’t work out exactly as planned, Steele finally heard his name called in Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday. “To hear my name called and it said ‘Knoxville,’ that felt good,” Steele said. Steele showed he was good enough to play with the Vols too, as he added 15 points in a losing effort for the Bulldogs. I imagine it was a surreal moment, even in defeat, for a player who has been through a lot in Starkville.
4. When you’re playing as well as Florida is right now, four points probably won’t matter, but it might one day. Gators center Patric Young isn’t satisfied with his free throw shooting after a 4-of-8 performance against LSU. “It’s huge because I’m leaving points on the board whenever you miss free throws,” Young said. “You go 4 for 8, that’s four points that help you with your draft stock or your average on the year. I mean, it doesn’t really matter but when it comes down to the line in a game-winning situation, you need to be able to step up with confidence.” For the sake of his draft stock, Young hit the practice courts to shoot 500 free throws a day, and the hard work is paying off. He entered the Texas A&M game shooting 50 percent from the line, but went 4-of-5 against the Aggies and 1-of-1 against Missouri.
5. Kentucky has struggled against quality teams this season, but John Calipari’s Wildcats have a surplus of NBA talent on the roster. However, during an ESPNU telecast of the Kentucky vs. Auburn game on Saturday night, Charles Barkley said none of the current Wildcats were ready for the NBA. “John Calipari’s a friend of mine. I love him as a friend. There ain’t one player on this Kentucky team who should go pro early. I hate the one-and-done rule in college basketball. Just ’cause there’s a rule does not mean you have to do it. Listen, Anthony Davis played well enough for him to go pro. … I wish some of these parents would talk to their kids.” Though Cal’s younger Cats will excel in the pro game one day, Chuck has a point for the here and now. Archie Goodwin is probably the most pro-ready of the three freshman Wildcats most likely to be selected in the first round. Nerlens Noel is ready defensively, but his offensive game has a ways to go. But Alex Poythress is the biggest question mark in terms of making the jump. He has tendencies to disappear for long stretches offensively, and did you see his defense on Elston Turner?  The issue is not just directed towards Kentucky’s freshmen but the entire college game. The one-and-done mentality has watered down the talent level, enabling and pushing players like Noel and Poythress who could both benefit from an extra year of development to make the jump after just one year.

1. If you’re a fan of an SEC team not named Ole Miss, than chances are high that you entered this season with no idea who Marshall Henderson is. But I bet you know who he is after Tuesday night. Grantland says we need more passion and unpredictability in college basketball these days, like the type of raw emotion that Henderson displayed against Vanderbilt. Of course, the guard contributed more than just energy and on-court antics. He scored 26 points, including a memorable game-tying three in regulation. Henderson, along with the Rebels’ current winning streak, should place Ole Miss as must-see TV in the next couple of weeks with important games with Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
2. Everybody wants to talk about Henderson’s game-tying shot and the emotion with which he plays the game, including Andy Kennedy, but Ole Miss’ head coach cautioned his junior guard. “Marshall Henderson without that edge isn’t the Marshall Henderson that leads the SEC in scoring,” Kennedy said. “He needs that edge, but it has to fuel him in a positive way.” Henderson had some off the court issues in several previous stops before Oxford, but Kennedy said he hasn’t had any trouble with the Rebels. “There’s a fine line,” Kennedy added. “I want kids to play with passion, and his passion is genuine, but we have to make sure it doesn’t turn into emotion that doesn’t help him or our team.” Kennedy has taken chances on troubled guards before (see: Jelan Kendrick), but it seems this gamble might just pay off.
3. Rebounding was one of the major concerns for Florida coming into the season, but a team effort has made that area a strength for the Gators. Coach Billy Donovan attributes some of the improvement to going to a bigger lineup that is more focused on the boards. “When you have [Casey] Prather out there and you have [Will] Yeguete out there and you have Mike Frazier out there at the small forward spot, we’re a team that can compete on the glass,” Donovan said. Florida’s poor rebounding numbers last season (2012: 33.7% offensive rebounding rate, 69.7% defensive rebounding rate), are significantly improved in 2012-13 (2013: 38.4% offensive rebounding rate, 73.5% defensive rebounding rate), putting the Gators in the top 25 in both categories.
4. After a 15-point loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, Mizzou coach Frank Haith is questioning the Tigers’ toughness. “Emotions and toughness, they’re two different things,” Haith said. “I want emotion. I want passion. I want energy. I want all those things. But that to me isn’t toughness.” Missouri rebounded for a victory over Georgia on Wednesday night, though the game was played in the friendly confines of Mizzou Arena. Haith hinted at a related issue for the Tigers – winning on the road. “Because you don’t let the environment make you do something you’re not supposed to do. That’s how I define toughness,” Haith said. Missouri has yet to win a road game this season in just two attempts.
5. Kentucky coach John Calipari still loves his team, but he also accepts what they are capable and not capable of doing. And he warns UK fans to buckle up for a bumpy ride. “I have coached teams that have absolutely whomped on people, and this ain’t one of ’em,” said Calipari. “And every game, we are going to be in is going to be a dogfight, and instead of going crazy about it, how about just accept it.” Calipari also cited toughness as a reason the Cats aren’t running away with games. “You’ve got to be a man. This is a man’s game and this is a man’s league we play in. You have to play through bumps. Quit crying about fouls. Everybody is fouling everybody.” Like Missouri, Kentucky has struggled on the road. The Wildcats travel to Auburn on Saturday for a showdown with the 8-8 Tigers.

Brian Joyce is a writer for the SEC microsite and regular contributor for Rush The Court. Follow him on Twitter for more about SEC basketball at bjoyce_hoops.

Florida’s Billy Donovan isn’t concerned with low attendance figures for his Gators’ home games. But it’s easy to not worry when fans usually line up to fill the O’Connell Center in Gainesville. Mississippi’s Andy Kennedy takes a different approach. And maybe that’s because he can’t afford to be unconcerned with a factor that has such a heavy influence on his job status for next year. Despite a 20-14 record in 2011-12, including 8-8 in SEC play, Ole Miss only lost two home games (Florida and Vanderbilt) all of last season. But this year’s 14-2 mark has the potential to be the Rebels’ most successful season in over a decade, and so far, the Rebels haven’t yet dropped a contest at the Tad Pad. Fans in Oxford need to continue to show up for Mississippi to continue its recent success.

Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy could really use a trip to the Big Dance in 2013.

In a 64-49 win over Missouri on Saturday, Ole Miss had a sellout crowd that helped fuel the Rebels to victory. Kennedy is aware that attendance is crucial for an encore performance. “We had a sellout, which is great,” Kennedy said. “There was a lot of energy in the building. My hope is that the people will continue to support the team. We have a group of guys that are playing real hard and trying real hard.” The players are well aware of the difference a home crowd can make on the result of a game too. The 9,173 fans in Oxford on Saturday represented the first sellout crowd for the Rebels since 2010. However, forward Murphy Holloway had to rein in expectations of the team’s freshmen who were witnessing this environment for the first time. “First SEC home game, it helped that it was the No. 10 team in the country that everybody came,” Holloway said. “The freshmen, they said, ‘Man, is it like this every SEC game?’ I said, ‘Nah.’”

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David Changas (@dchangas) is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after last night’s game between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Prior to the season, the Ole Miss Rebels were picked to once again finish in the middle of the pack in the SEC. Little did anyone know that the league would be quite as bad as it has been, with preseason favorite Kentucky leading a throng of disappointing teams that may miss the NCAA Tournament. Given his track record of not having made the Big Dance in his first six seasons in Oxford, it was reasonable to assume that Andy Kennedy’s squad would once again be left out. But the Rebels brought a gaudy 13-2 record and an improving RPI into Tuesday’s contest against Vanderbilt in icy Nashville, and with it the hope that this could be the year Kennedy gets the monkey off his back. With a pre-conference schedule filled with an array of cupcakes and losses only to top-50 RPI mid-majors Indiana State and Middle Tennessee State, it was reasonable to be skeptical about whether this Rebels team was any different than some of Kennedy’s prior squads which, though talented, never did enough to qualify for the Tournament.

Ole Miss Celebrates Its Comeback Against Vandy

What we did not know about the Rebels coming into the season – and what appears to separate this team from prior Rebel teams – is that they would have a difference-making scorer who could lead them from NIT mainstay to SEC contender. But in junior transfer Marshall Henderson,  Ole Miss has just that, and he proved it in the grandest way possible on Tuesday. The Rebels’ 10-point overtime victory in Nashville is one that they clearly were expected to get, especially given that they were coming off a blowout win at Tennessee and a 15-point win at home on Saturday against #10 Missouri. In that game, the Rebels held the Tigers to 36% shooting from the field and forced 19 turnovers en route to a 64-49 victory. But given the way Tuesday’s contest unfolded, this is the type of win that could propel Ole Miss to bigger things, signaling that the Rebels can win on nights when they are not at their best.

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1. The defending national champions are squarely on the bubble. That realization hit the Kentucky faithful hard this weekend as the Wildcats dropped their fifth game of the season in a home loss to Texas A&M. The idea that John Calipari’s team wouldn’t be invited to this year’s tournament scarcely cross the minds of college basketball fans going in to season, but through the first half of the season, Kentucky’s season-opening win over Maryland is their only RPI Top 100 victory. “It’s still early January. It’s going to be another month before this team comes together,” Calipari said Saturday. “I just hope we are winning enough games as we learn to do this.” He may be out of luck. There’s a lot of basketball to be played, but with the SEC’s lack of quality, there are very few opportunities for quality wins left on the schedule.
2. Texas A&M’s Elston Turner has deservedly been admitted to the  unofficial pantheon of “Cat Killers”. He can’t claim the top spot (the belongs to David Robinson and his 45 points way back in ’87), but I can’t imagine that the Aggie senior would be too bummed about finishing behind the Admiral. Maybe he can just settle for National Player of the Week. Singing the praises of a guy who just dropped 40 points in one of college basketball’s most hallowed venues is tough to do without sounding overly obvious. But I’ll try. He simply couldn’t miss. Opponents know that stopping Turner is practically synonymous with stopping Texas A&M, and Kentucky’s collection of athletes still couldn’t him. He made 14 field goals on 19 attempts, and while I haven’t found an official stat for so-called daggers, Turner had plenty of those as well. The Aggies are peaking at the right time, and will hope to carry that momentum through to their home date with Florida this week.
3. In addition to being charged with creating a gameplan to stop Turner, Billy Donovan will be dealing with another injury to a contributor leading up to Florida’s trip to College Station. Casey Prather suffered a lower leg injury in the Gator’s blowout of LSU over the weekend, and the junior swingman is  facing an indefinite (quickly becoming college basketball’s new buzzword) stretch on the sideline. “That is what they are saying right now— a high ankle sprain,” said Donovan. “Those things are tough to come back from and they’re a long healing process if that’s what it is.” Prather joins Mike Rosario (suffering from a high ankle sprain as well) on the trainers table, and while neither injury appears to be season-ending, Florida’s depth in the short term will clearly be taking a huge hit. Erik Murphy’s return against LSU couldn’t have come at a better time, but a six-man rotation isn’t conducive with the brand of basketball Donovan wants to play.
4. Does Missouri really need Laurence Bowers? I can’t imagine that anyone was actually asking that question, but the answer is a resounding yes. The 10th-ranked Tigers were run off the floor in Oxford over the weekend, unable to overcome the loss of their primary frontcourt scoring option. Point guard Phil Pressey finished with as many turnovers as he had assists, stifled by an offense that struggled mightily for creativity and inspiration. Jabari Brown, Earnest Ross, and Pressey combined to miss 13 3-pointers, several of which were forced because of the newly-reinstalled 4-guard offense’s inability to cope with the Ole Miss pressure defense. “I don’t think they ever got in an offensive rhythm and that’s a tribute to how much effort our guys had defensively,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy told reporters.
5. Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings doesn’t strike me as coach who would admit to believing in moral victories, but last week’s close call against Kentucky was undoubtedly an improvement for his young team. Any momentum from that effort, however, was quickly extinguished as the Commodores failed to compete against Arkansas, totaling only 33 points for second time this season. The Commodores turned the ball over 25 times and barely reached double digits in made field goals. Stallings wasn’t in the mood to dig for a silver lining. “Well, there’s not a lot to say,” he told reporters. “We got our tails whipped, and I was real disappointed in our play in just about every way.” The Dores’ unfortunately doesn’t have a lot of time for adjustment as Ole Miss visits Tuesday night, Vandy’s third game in six days.

Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @TheMulv on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

College football is officially in the books and that means college hoops takes center stage. It’s going to be a great weekend of action highlighted by two Big Ten showdowns and an ACC battle that will shape the national picture. Good luck deciding which game you are going to watch at 12:00 PM EST tomorrow. Let’s get to the breakdowns.

#1 Duke at #21 North Carolina State – 12:00 PM EST, Saturday on ESPN (*****)

With the injury to Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee will need to muscle up on defense against NC State.

• The ACC is starting to look like Duke, North Carolina State, Miami, and then everyone else. The big news for the Blue Devils going into Saturday is the loss of forward Ryan Kelly to a foot injury for an indefinite period of time. Kelly’s loss appears to be significant for Duke but we really will not know the entire story until Saturday’s game is over. Kelly’s outside shooting and overall scoring threat will be missed, but it may be his size on defense that is missed most. Duke will be left with either freshmen Amile Jefferson and Alex Harris or junior Josh Hairston to help Mason Plumlee defend the interior. With an extremely athletic front line, NC State will test the Blue Devils’ resolve right away. Expect the Wolfpack to try to overwhelm Plumlee down low by attacking the inside. By doing this, they will attempt to put Plumlee in foul trouble and get to the line. If Plumlee gets into foul trouble, it will be a very long afternoon in Raleigh for the Dukies. The team that plays better defense will win this game.

#9 Minnesota at #4 Indiana– 12:00 PM EST, Saturday on BTN (*****)

• Minnesota made a statement in its blowout win at Illinois this week. They are looking for the Big Ten title and it’s going to take a great team to beat them. What’s most impressive about the win is actually their lack of offensive rebounding. That may seem like a crazy statement but when you consider how good they are on the offensive boards it makes sense. The Gophers lead the country in offensive rebounding percentage (OR%) at 48.5%. They are absolutely dominating that statistic. So when their OR% dipped to 25% against Illinois, their worst performance of the year, and yet they still won by 17 points, it means this team can do a lot more than just grab boards. Shooting 61% eFG proved that. Interestingly enough, however, it could be rebounding that derails the Gophers against Indiana. Minnesota actually struggles on the defensive boards and Indiana is ranked in the top 10 nationally there. With the incredible offensive weapons that Indiana has at its disposal, grabbing a bunch of misses is just salt in its opponents’ wounds. This game is going to be a great spectacle with tremendous match-ups all over the floor. Trevor Mbakwe against Cody Zeller might be the best big man battle we will see all year. If Minnesota can make it two road wins a row against the best in the Big Ten, watch out for Tubby Smith’s team.

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Every week, the SEC microsite will post a composite power ranking list for the league’s performances coupled with a short commentary justifying each team’s specific ranking. Here are Week Four’s SEC Power Rankings (all statistics via TeamRankings).

The Gators Are the Class of the SEC (Photo via John Raoux / AP)

1. Florida– There’s not a lot missing from the Gators’ resume. They’ve beaten every opponent by double figures, while playing the nation’s 13th toughest schedule. As of the release of last week’s rankings, however, they hadn’t had the chance to prove their mettle in a true road game, a situation in which they struggled last season (losing their first four). After their trip to Tallahassee last week, consider that mettle proven. The Gators embarrassed rival Florida State in a 72-47 win, holding the Seminoles to only 15 first-half points. Florida’s ability to win away from the O-Dome will be crucial over the rest of the season. In addition to this Saturday’s trip to Arizona, the Gators will have road games at Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky, all among the more hostile environments in the SEC.
2. Missouri– Do I have to put a team here? There’s a massive gap between Florida and the rest of the conference, but the Tigers are the choice at #2. Missouri hasn’t been tested against quality competition since they left the Bahamas, but their performances against smaller conference foes have been far from convincing. A nasty little habit of starting slow has been their biggest problem. The Tigers trailed Southeast Missouri State by 10 at the half, and only held a three-point advantage over Tennessee State after 20 minutes. In fact, Mizzou ranks 101st nationally in first half scoring margin, at only +3.1 points. Big second half scoring outputs have saved Frank Haith’s team, but with Brandon Paul and the Fighting Illini looming next week, another slow start may be too much to overcome.
3. Kentucky– After consecutive losses to Notre Dame and Baylor, the Wildcats made history when they dropped out of the rankings from the #8 spot, receiving only 186 votes, the largest single-week drop in AP poll history. Kentucky proceeded to easily handle its next two opponents in Samford and Portland, but somehow fell even further in the next AP poll, garnering only 44 votes. I’m not claiming that the Wildcats deserve to be ranked, but why would they lose ground after two convincing victories? It appears that quite a few voters realized a week too late that they were allowed to leave Kentucky off their ballots. Read the rest of this entry »

1. The Kentucky players haven’t quite bought into John Calipari’s system yet, but they’re certainly trying to become a top 10 team. “Definitely,” freshman center Nerlens Noel said. “We’ve definitely got the potential. We’ve got the players, the pieces, the coaching staff. We’ve got all the great tools. We’ve just got to work on some things and really bring it all together.” But if anybody has the credibility to get first year players to buy in, it’s Calipari. Perhaps last year’s success is part of what is hindering this year’s version of the Wildcats? “We’re trying to uphold expectations we shouldn’t have had,” freshman Willie Cauley-Stein said. “We’re not last year’s team.” He’s right about that. The 2012-13 team is more 2010-11 than 2011-12, and that team was possibly a play away from being Cal’s first championship team.
2. Jarvis Summers is crucial to Ole Miss‘ success this year. The Rebels lost their first game of the season on Saturday to Middle Tennessee State, in part because Summers sat the last 13 minutes of the first half in foul trouble. While he was on the bench, his backups committed seven of Ole Miss’ 18 turnovers. “They just took the ball,” coach Andy Kennedy said. “Like what happens sometimes when you play your big brother. They just took your ball.” Summers returned to play 17 minutes in the second half, but it just wasn’t enough. He finished the game with just seven points and four assists, but Kennedy recognized his impact on the game by allowing Summers to play through four fouls with over six minutes left in the game.
3. Florida is getting some much needed rest before one of its biggest games of the year against Arizona. “Playing as many games as we’ve played this early against some really good quality opponents I think guys get mentally drained,” coach Billy Donovan said. “So I think we’ll probably need some time to regroup before we go out west.” The Gators have 10 days between games, allowing some time to recover from injuries as well. Senior forward Erik Murphy hasn’t been 100 percent after a hip pointer injury, and of course final exams are mixed in for the student-athletes. “This a good group,” Donovan said. “They’ve worked hard. We’ve had to individually battle through our own adversity as a team.” So far this year, 13 points is the closest margin any team has come to the Gators.
4. Missouri is also preparing for one of its biggest games of the year, but this one is for bragging rights above all else. Missouri is already circling a December 22 date with Illinois, which is one of the hottest teams in the country right now. The author makes the case that the Tigers need this win for RPI purposes because of the weak standing of the SEC relative to the Big 12 from which coach Frank Haith and the Tigers migrated. I tend to disagree. Yes, the SEC is weak at the bottom, but teams like Kentucky (with a current RPI of #95) or Tennessee (#132) won’t stay that low for long. Regardless, the match-up with the Illini is important in the bigger picture for Haith and company, but don’t expect the top half of the SEC to be a hindrance to RPI standings in the long run.
5. Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings had a unique perspective regarding Vandy guard Kyle Fuller’s honor as SEC player of the week for his outstanding performance against Xavier. Fuller scored all 12 of Vanderbilt’s points during the overtime period, leading the Commodores to a surprising victory. “That’s awesome for him and almost embarrassing for the rest of us,” Stallings said. “Good for Kyle. He made some huge plays.” Fuller came up huge in the road victory with 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting, along with five assists, four rebounds, and three steals. You have to sort of agree with Stallings on this one, however. Vandy desperately needed someone not named Kedren Johnson to step up on the offensive end. Johnson’s field goal attempts have been in double figures in every game this season, and until the return of Dai-Jon Parker, the Commodores can’t continue to rely that heavily on Johnson for all of their scoring.

1. Kentucky point guard Ryan Harrow might be ready to return to practice after a mysterious illness kept him sidelined for UK’s first three games of the year. According to Kentucky Sports Radio, “On his radio show earlier tonight, John Calipari said Ryan Harrow was on the treadmill today and he could return to practice on Tuesday.” Calipari also indicated that Harrow lost seven pounds during this time. Archie Goodwin and his 23.1 percent turnover rate would appreciate the return of a starting point guard in Kentucky’s lineup. In all fairness, Goodwin has performed well playing out of position, but Harrow’s insertion in the lineup enables Goodwin to use his speed and driving ability more appropriately in the dribble-drive offense. Surely all of us will miss the quality time we had with Jarrod Polson.
2. Billy Donovan is looking for more consistency from center Patric Young, who is averaging 10.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. “Pat has been maybe up and down in those areas,” Donovan said. “I would like to have seen him rebound the basketball better (against Middle Tennessee State). Two rebounds in 24 minutes. He did get taken out of the game flow wise picking up his second foul.” In Florida’s four games so far, Young has put up performances of 12 points and 12 rebounds, eight points and seven rebounds, nine points and two rebounds, and 13 points and 11 rebounds last night against Savannah State. Young’s rebounding numbers are slightly better than last year, but his offensive rating has taken a significant dip in the early going partially due to poor free throw shooting. In the game against Middle Tennessee State, Young got to the line 11 times but converted on just five of those attempts. Perhaps Donovan will add that to Young’s list of areas to work on.
3. Mississippi State unveiled new charcoal black uniforms in its Maui Invitational opener against North Carolina. Though “the Adidas Adizero uniforms are 32 percent lighter than previous Bulldog uniforms and are designed to reduce weight and add breathability to keep players lighter and faster on the court,” it certainly did not appear to enhance performance. The Bulldogs were blown off the court by the faster and stronger Tar Heels to the tune of  95-49. At least they looked good while getting destroyed. Maybe there is something to the claim that Mississippi State never plays well in black, or maybe it just doesn’t matter what the Bulldogs wear this year. Mississippi State dropped another game in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday, this time to Marquette.
4. Andrew Del Piero’s teammates say he is earning his new scholarship with quality play. The former tuba player turned LSU walk-on recently earned a scholarship for his hard work, and now he is going to start earning more playing time for the same reason. “We’ve seen it all summer, his progression from last year to this year in practice,” senior Eddie Ludwig said. “Every day I think he gets better, so it’s no surprise to me. It’s just a matter of him getting more comfortable out there.” The 7’3″ center filled up the stat sheet against McNeese State a couple of nights ago with seven points, four boards, one steal, and one block in a then career-high eight minutes. The Tigers are thin on the frontline, so a hard working and producing 7’3″ center is going to earn a second look, and he did last night with another career high with nine minutes against Northwestern State.
5. Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy is happy with where his team is at after a 3-0 start to the season. “We’ve won the games that we should have won,” Kennedy said. “It’s been advantageous to us to get these young guys more minutes. Derrick (Millinghaus) was a little shaky, 19 points, four rebounds and five assists in his third college game which will allow him to exhale a little bit, and the other guys are starting to figure out their roles.” Newcomers Millinghaus and transfer Marshall Henderson have been pleasant surprises for the Rebels. Henderson was shooting 47 percent from beyond the arc (prior to last night’s 3-12 slump from the field), averaging 22 points a game (another number on the decline after just nine points). Mississippi won’t get its first real test until December when the Rebels play Rutgers and on the road against Middle Tennessee State. If the Rebels continue to win the games they are supposed to win, it is possible they could be a perfect 11-0 heading into conference play.