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As of this writing, 52 percent of SportsNation respondents believe the Kentucky Wildcats would beat the Philadelphia 76ers in a game of basketball. In case you're among that 52 percent, Rob Dauster is here to set you straight.
That said, Mike DeCourcy has some interesting thoughts on the topic, not so much a counterpoint as a dash of appropriate context:
Here was my plan: Fed up with the constant assertions the Kentucky Wildcats could defeat an NBA team, and prompted by my editors to address this particular nuisance, I was going to search through the D-League and find a group of players not even good enough for the NBA who would defeat this UK squad. The hitch was, I’m not sure I could find 5 — or, given the whole two-platoon biz, 10 – D-League guys I could comfortably argue would defeat this Kentucky squad. … And thus we have the central problem with the debate over, “Could the Kentucky Wildcats defeat an NBA team?” — What constitutes an NBA team? If it’s merely that they wear the uniforms of an NBA team and are paid relatively handsomely to play the game, even if they bear no particular resemblance to any competitive team ever fielded in the NBA – in other words, if we’re talking about the 2014-15 Philadelphia 76ers – then it’s not ridiculous to assert Kentucky would have a chance to beat that team. It’s far more ridiculous to assert that these Sixers are, in fact, an NBA team.
Last week, Myron brought you the story of J.P. Honsinger, an 11-year-old member of Albany's 2014 recruiting class. Honsinger, a sixth-grader from Clifton, New York, is diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C disease, a extremely rare form of childhood Alzheimer's afflicting just 500 known sufferers worldwide. The program's release made Honsinger's dream come true, and Albany coach Will Brown's effusive praise ("As our point guard of the future, we are going to rely on his exceptional leadership qualities. Nobody in the country will be signing a player with JP’s toughness.") was enough to make at least one writer's apartment unusually dusty. On Thursday, DePaul unveiled a similar gesture, inking 11-year-old Brendan McMahon, who was diagnosed with Duchene Muscular Dystrophy when he was six, to a national letter of intent. "We are tremendously excited about announcing the addition of Brendan McMahon to our program," coach Oliver Purnell said in a release. "We have every confidence that bringing Brendan on board will strengthen the grit, the determination and the heart of our team." This is the best signing day trend in decades.
In advance of tonight's Indiana-SMU matchup Indiana freshman Emmitt Holt spoke exclusively to ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil about the Nov. 1 accident that left IU forward Devin Davis hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury: "It was just an awful night, to be honest, that probably changed my life forever. It did actually change my life forever. When I went to visit him in the hospital for the first time it was like ... it was ... crazy. Then when we talked the first time, I don't want to go into great detail, but he was trying to comfort me, telling me it wasn't my fault. But deep down, I'll always feel like it was my fault. It was one of those moments where you realize you have to be a better person."
The best game on Thursday night's schedule is undoubtedly No. 10 Texas's matchup with a deep, experienced and -- thanks to last season's collapse -- probably underrated Iowa team. Our old friend Ryan Clark may not be in Madison Square Garden, but he's still got a totally thorough preview for your pregame consumption.