The UK men’s team will be taking the court tomorrow night at 10:30pm to face the Portland Pilots.

It is a bit of an odd game, to be playing a mid-major (at best) school on THEIR home floor, especially when it is so far from home.  However, with the Maui Invitational tournament coming up just 3 days later, and with Portland being the hometown of UK’s Terrance Jones, it starts to make at least a little bit more sense.  I think.

Portland could be an interesting game, as they like to shoot the 3.  Portland is also picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference, and finished 21-11 last year.  They also have a core of guys returning, so they do have some experience.  However, in the end, I suspect the athleticism of the Cats will wear down the Pilots and UK will prevail.

After that, the Cats head on to Maui, where the competition will be much more intense.

UK will open with Oklahoma, followed by the winner of Virginia vs Washington.  If it is Washington, that could have an interesting subplot, as Washington was the school Terrance Jones originally committed to before eventually ending up at UK.  The Huskies were none too happy about it, and neither was their coach, so there could be some physical play in that game.

Michigan State and Connecticut are also in the tournament, and there is a possibility UK could play either of those teams, as well…but good luck figuring out this bracket.

Either way, the Cats will play on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, so next week we’ll get to see how good this young team is against some stiffer competition…and then stuff ourselves with turkey.