The Pinkie Previews (kind of): Campbellsville at Kentucky

The University of Kentucky basketball team opens up the exhibition portion of their schedule tonight against the Campbellsville Tigers. As you know, freshman John Wall will not suit up tonight, as he is undergoing a two-game suspension. Instead, Eric Bledsoe will get the start and will be joined by Darius Miller, Darnell Dodson, Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins.

Campbellsville is coming off of a year where they finished 10-19 and 2-10 in their league. This year they have been picked to finish fifth in the NAIA’s Mid-South Conference.

Head Coach Keith Adkins is entering his tenth year at Campbellsville. Adkins has a 160-105 career record at Campbellsville and last year’s losing season followed the strongest three-year stretch in school history.

In 2006, they finished 27-6 and won the Mid-South Conference Tournament Championship. They then went on to win their first game of the NAIA National Tournament. They followed that with a 27-7 record in 2007, including another NAIA tournament win.

Then in 2008, the Tigers finished 26-10 and advanced to the NAIA National Fab Four for the first time in history.

If they are going to get back to that level, they are going to rely on Nestor Colmenares, a First-Team NAIA All-American out of Venezuela. The senior forward missed all of last season, but two years ago was named NAIA Second Team All-American. As a junior he averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds per game.

“We have what should be one of the premier players in NAIA basketball. We will set the bar pretty high for him this season. If he can continue to raise his level of play, then we may have a chance to do some special things this year,” Adkins said. “Every time we step on the floor, we need him to be able to compete to be the best player on the floor. He is a high energy guy that our other players need to follow.”