After downing the Sam Houston Bearkats and the Rider Broncs in the first two rounds of the Cancun Classic, the Wildcats will now actually participate in a game in Cancun. Waiting for the Wildcats in Cancun are the defending Horizon League Tournament Champions, Cleveland State Vikings.

The Vikings are coming off of their first ever Horizon League Tournament Championship and a first round upset over Wake Forest in the NCAA Tournament. They finished the 2008-09 season at 26-11 and it marked their first back-to-back 20 win seasons since the late 80′s.

However, this season head coach Gary Waters finds himself in a bit of a rebuilding year, as they return only two starters and four players overall. Despite their youth, CSU was still picked to finish third in the Horizon League behind Butler and Wright State.

They enter the game against Kentucky with a 3-1 record, their lone loss coming to St. Bonaventure in their first game of the season.

Over the last two seasons, much of their success can be predicated on their defense, or more specifically steals and forced turnovers. Through their first four games this season they have continued the trend, already forcing 79 turnovers and 43 steals.

They have three players on their team averaging more than two steals a game.

One of those players is Junior guard Norris Cole, who is the key returnee for the Vikings. The Pre-Season All-Horizon League First Teamer is coming off of a season where he led the team in scoring with 13.3 per-game. The bigger the game, the better Cole was, as he averaged 16.5 in their four league tournament victories and then 19.5 in the NCAA Tournament.

He is averaging 21.0 points-per-game on the young season, including a career-high 38 against Florida A&M and 24 in their last contest, a 80-65 win against Sam Houston State.

The same Sam Houston State squad that put up 92 on Kentucky.

Cole shoots it well from anywhere, as he is shooting 56-percent from the field, 58-percent from deep and 89-percent from the line. He is also averaging 2.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

Joining Cole as a returning starter is junior guard D’Aundray Brown. Brown, who missed the postseason last year due to injury, is a not a huge scoring threat, but he has the ability to knock down shots if you leave him open. He is averaging 8.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals on the year.

The other two returnees are a pair of sophomore guards in Jeremy Montgomery and Trevon Harmon. Harmon starts alongside Cole and Brown in a three-guard lineup and is second on the team, behind Cole, in scoring, assists and steals with 10.3, 2.0 and 2.3 respectively.

Cleveland State is young team, but what hurts them even more is that they have absolutely zero experience in their frontcourt. The majority of the minutes go to redshirt sophomore Aaron Pogue and freshman Tim Kamczyc, who close out the starting lineup, and junior college transfer Jared Cunningham.

Pogue hasn’t played organized basketball in two years so there is obviously some rust there, but the coaching staff really believes that he has the ability to dominate the paint. He is averaging 8.0 points and is leading the team in rebounds with 6.5.

Cunningham, who is third on the team in scoring with 10.0 points-per-game, is shooting 36-percent from beyond the arc and is said to be their best three-point threat.

There aren’t many teams out there that throw three quality post guys at you like Kentucky does with Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton. Look for the Cleveland State frontcourt to be completely overwhelmed by UK’s bigs.

It was DeMarcus Cousins against Sam Houston State and then Daniel Orton against Rider, one of the two should again have a field day on Tuesday afternoon. Also, expect Patterson to pull down his daily double-double.

Expect CSU to push the pace in an attempt to turn Kentucky’s freshman guards over. The only way that they stay in this game is if they find a way to rattle John Wall and Eric Bledsoe and force them into mistakes.

I don’t see the fast pace playing into Cleveland State’s favor and it will wear down a Vikings team that is also inexperienced.

Kentucky rolls to the Cancun Classic Championship Game against either Virginia or Stanford.