Practice Starts Friday as anticipation mounts...

The 2008-2009 Kentucky Wildcat basketball campaign began last Friday with Big Blue Madness. Now after such hoopla, it is time for the Cats to begin to focus in on the season ahead.

It will be the Wildcats 2^nd year in the Coach Billy Gillespie era and the players know what to expect this coming training camp that begins Friday. The Cats are anxious to start practice as Jodie Meeks, explained that the team’s hard work this offseason should be very noticeable in the early part of the season.

“We have been working hard with out conditioning and workouts…our goal is to win every game but we are just going to try to work hard”, said Meeks. It was the lack of conditioning last year which saw the Wildcats drop five of their first eleven games.

Coach Gillespie has also commented that this is his most conditioned team that he has coached thus far and sees no Gardner Webb losses coming to this team.

With the better conditioned team Kentucky is hoping to start fast. They will need to start fast as they will face off against the number 1 team in the nation, the North Carolina Tarheels early in the November schedule.

With the offseason coming to a close and practice beginning in the Bluegrass Friday, sophomore leader and stand out Patrick Patterson feels that the Kentucky team should send shock waves through the college basketball nation.

“We all feel that this is our year and we can win it, we can get a national championship and we can make it to the final four.” Big words from Patrick Patterson, however with the way the team gelled late in the season it is not an improbable thought to believe the Cats can have a special season.

Practice starts tomorrow and the Bluegrass nation is eagerly anticipating play to get underway. It is only 18 days away until Rupp Arena will be full of 23,000 screaming fans and a new season of basketball will begin.