I hope everybody enjoyed the spirited debate among the Strait Pinkie squad this morning. We’d love to hear your opinions, so don’t be shy in adding comments at the bottom of the page when you finish reading.

As promised, I’m here to update Patrick Patterson’s status. The official word is that no damage was done to Patterson’s ankle other than a “common sprain”, as Coach Gillispie put it. He underwent x-rays last night that revealed no serious damage, and according to Cat Scratches he is day to day and no more tests will be conducted.

All in all, you have to be pretty happy that it’s not more severe. It was a strange feeling in the building when Patterson went down. Pure dread was the emotion that prevailed and I think everybody flashed back to the end of last season when UK had to play without him. Also, the crowd, while Patterson was being tended to on the floor, twice started chants for Patterson, almost as if they were imploring him not to be really hurt. Losing Patterson for an extended time would do untold damage to this team’s hopes, so it’s good that nothing is structurally wrong.

With that said, you cannot expect Patrick Patterson to be 100% for Saturday (and possibly beyond) whether he plays or not. As I mentioned last night and again in the debate this morning, UK is going to have to explore using the small lineup with Stevenson, Harrellson, or Patterson playing the five with Meeks, Liggins, Galloway, Miller, Porter, and Harris. It worked well last night, and it’s going to be even more important if Patterson is hobbled.

Finally, regarding Patterson: he has not seemed to be 100% once in SEC play. His shooting touch has been missing a bit since the calendar flipped to ’09 and his nagging finger injury has played a major role in that. This ankle injury could have as silver lining in the long run if has the chance to finally rest and heal his finger, something he has not had a chance to do since he was hurt in practice.

Here’s the other things that are on my mind about the game last night:

1) The Rupp crowd-I spoke about it last night at length, but it was incredible to be a part of that atmosphere. We helped UK pull out a desperately needed win and the team recognized it. Jodie Meeks had this to say: “That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard Rupp Arena. I’m glad they were able to be as loud as they were. I was happy they helped him miss the shots and we won the game. It was a great atmosphere tonight.” Coach Gillispie said “They definitely came here ready to rumble and they definitely rumbled and made a huge difference in the game.” In light of Chandler Parsons’ comments that UT and Florida State are more difficult places to play than Rupp, it’s fun to knock the Gators off (and hold Parsons to only 2 points and no made field goals).

Real cool guys

2) 1000 Point club-Last night during his career performance, Nick Calathes became the 8th fastest Gator to reach the 1000 point mark. Calathes is a phenomenal player and the faster he makes it to the League, the better, but he won’t remember anything but missed free throws and noise when he thinks about February 11, 2009. Also, Jodie Meeks 23 points left him only 8 points shy of 1000 for his career, 600 of which have come this season alone. Jodie would be rising fast in the UK record books right now had he been healthy last season.

3) Walter Hodge’s ejection-The reason I failed to mention Walter Hodges ejection last night was the simple fact that I had no idea what was going on during the game. All I knew is that the refs stopped the game for nearly 10 minutes and that Florida got 3 free throws, UK got 2, and UK got the ball. I just watched the video of the incident and I have trouble deciding whether Hodge stepped on Perry Stevenson’s arm on purpose while he was on the ground. It’s hard for me to believe he didn’t see him, but he seemed pretty immediately contrite about doing so, making me think it was an accident. Regardless, the referees had no choice about what to do considering that it was dead ball flagrant foul. This is twice in the past couple weeks where a player has been stepped on and the perpetrator has been ejected, you just wish that policy would have been enforced on certain Elite 8 game back in 1992…

4) Jeannine Edwards-This is another topic that was touched on in our debate, but Jeannine Edwards and Billy Gillispie certainly have a strange dynamic going on. There was the infamous bad question asked of Billy G about Jodie Meeks quiet first half in Oxford, Mississippi, then Billy Gillispie’s personal apology to Edwards, then last night’s tense halftime interview. Credit Edwards for her persistence, which will make it interesting when the two matchup again next Tuesday in Nashville. Stay tuned.

Not a yump, but not bad

5) The dude who dances to “Mony, Mony”-For the past few years, UK has done the same think during the under 8:00 timeout in the second half where they start out with a “What’s your favorite color, baby?” and the crowd answers “Blue and White!” then Billy Idol’s “Mony, Mony” is played while the arena cameras seek out the best dancers. One man in the corner of the arena in the lower bowl (roughly section 17) has emerged as a huge crowd favorite, dancing ridiculously in the aisle to the song. I’m committed to finding out the story on this guy, because people stand up just to watch him. I’m going to use every source I can to track him down and hopefully nab an interview with him, because he’s an awesome human.