[Old School Hound]

I think it's going to be a close game either way. Each team will probably hit some runs on the other. Arkansas will put the clamps on the Cats and turn defense into easy offense. Kentucky will get hot from outside and hit some runs while the Hogs go through some of the offensive droughts that have held them back all season.

Hope the fans cheer Cal and the returning Kentucky players prior to the tip. We're happy and in a better spot, Cal did a lot for the program at a time when we were down, and the players followed the coach who recruited them and did what they thought was in their best interest. No use in anyone being bitter.

Will be a different ballgame if we have to play Perry and Noah big minutes against the kind of athleticism Cal can roll out. Chandler was athletic enough to hold his own at one point (and we might be seeing him get closer to form as he works back into shape), but Cal's guards are just going to be bigger and more athletic than Zeigler and Lanier.

Key to the game is probably going to be how effective Johnell Davis is able to be. We know what Thiero, Wagner, and Ivisic are (and aren't) capable of. Think Williams will hold his own against Thiero. Unless Butler is back, I do think Wagner will get his on some drives to the goal where he just bullies our defenders or throws it up (for Thiero) because I don't know that we want to burn Oweh on him. If Cal looks to involve Ivisic too much, that probably plays into Pope's hands. Williams will drawi Theiro and Oweh gets their best perimeter threat, so we'll probably try to hide someone on Ivisic and live with him posting us up while really hoping that he starts drifting onto the perimeter and we get into a game with lots of scoring and possessions.

Know Aidoo will probably be mentioned, but he's honestly just not produced since his injury. Brazile playing well could open some things up given the possible line-ups and what you could do with each team, but he hasn't been as much of a factor as you'd think and seems like the typical "odd man out" that Cal always seems to carry on his roster.

Cal has ramped up Karter Knox's minutes since Fland's injury, so he's a bit of a wildcard-- don't know that any outcome for him is off the board. I could see him getting anywhere between 2 or 22, but would live with going into the game knowing that they were counting on him getting 16+ to beat us. Still, I don't have to squint too hard to see some of our defenders struggling with him if he gets rolling.

Billy Richmond isn't really getting a lot of attention but I'd love for Pope to be able to bring someone with his athleticism and defensive intensity off of our bench. He seems like a throwback player from Cal's days at Memphis. He's nowhere near the point where you can count on him to win the game for you this early in his career, but you can do much worse than brining someone with those tools off of an already short bench in hopes that he does the little things to help your team win. I've always thought of him as a less physically gifted, less hyped MKG, but that's still someone who can terrorize a college game on a given night, especially if he's blowing up dribble hand-offs, getting through screens, and playing the passing lanes.

There are not enough Cactus Jack's or Old School Hound's in Big Blue Nation. Unless Mark Pope publicly pleads for leniency for Cal from fans, they will boo him mercilessly. Hell, they roundly and loudly booed poor Aaron Bradshaw at MSG.  Unless Pope steps up to the plate for the Hall of Famer, the Big Blue Nasties will be up to their usual grotesque mischief on Saturday.