College basketball in Kentucky … mid-term: (January 19), prosperity extraordinaire!

Traditional stars occupy their customary positions in the heavens.

√ Kentucky is 18-0, ranked number one in America.

Expectations? For fan and talking-head, Kentucky must make “one small step for man … one giant leap for mankind.”

With this team, anything short of giant leap will be a thud heard from city limits of Ashland to outskirts of Monkey’s Eye Brow.

√ Louisville is 15-3, nationally ranked and in a bad mood.

Cardinal Nation is not happy with ownership of an oh-fer – North Carolina, Kentucky and Duke.

Expectations? “Need shooters? You did the recruiting, you find ‘em.”

√ Western Kentucky is 12-5, atop Conference-USA and drawing comparisons to Days of Uncle Ed.

Expectations? Schedule ahead is, well, a bear and his pals. But still, there are hints of Hilltoppers Being Special.

53 play dates, fans in Kentucky went home happy 45 times.

BEHOLD!

Basketball prosperity extends far across this Kentucky homeland given us by Adolph Rupp, King Kelly Coleman, Jaime Walz, and spirits of Happy Chandler, Cawood and Claude, and word pictures from Van Vance, Wes Strader and Dan Manley.

Beyond counties Fayette, Jefferson and Warren?

√ Campbellsville 19-1 is ranked No. 1 in NAIA. The Tigers’ 13-game win streak is best since a Travis Ford team ran off 19 straight in 1998-99. The Tigers inflicted Pikeville’s only loss, beating UPike 99-79 November 22.

√ Pikeville 18-1. Having seen the Bears put 68 points on the board against Kentucky at Rupp Arena November 2, UPike looked promising. At mid-January, the Bears owned an 12-game win streak and ranked 4th nationally.

√ Murray State is 15-4 after beating Belmont last week. The Racers are also in a familiar spot, atop the Ohio Valley Conference at 4-0.

√ University of Cumberlands 16-4. With half dozen games decided by six or few points, the Patriots go into the last week of January with a handsome record and a date for fans to look forward to. Pikeville travels to Williamsburg February 7.

√ Georgetown 15-3. Coach Chris Briggs has the Tigers at a level traditionalists expect. They’re nationally ranked too.

√ Kentucky Wesleyan 13-4. Coach Happy Osborne’s team had an eight game win streak stopped last week. The Panthers are 3-1 in conference play.

√ Bellarmine. Beyond a typical 12-2 record at mid-season, the big news for Coach Scott Davenport’s program last week was off court – Knights basketball was recipient of NCAA D-II Award for Excellence.

√ Centre College 11-3. The Colonels are fresh off an upset win over Southern Athletic Association leader Sewanee.

√ Berea 10-4. Under the big guns radar the Mountaineers have quietly built a better than respectable record. Carry on.

Tallied up: November-to-mid-January: 208 games. 177 wins. Every 10 games played, fans celebrate wins seven times.

Epilogue. If the energy, passion, devotion (and tee-shirt buys) invested in 208 college basketball games (overtime hysterics not included) could be converted into electricity then our Commonwealth would be independently energy free with enough left over to sell border states for a thousand years.

And, we a half a season to go. America. I love this place.

KY. SPORTS PERSON ‘14

Sports Person of the Year 2014, the Lexington Herald-Leader will publish its choice soon. Meanwhile, while difficult to exclude Shoni Schimmel (Louisville basketball), Anthony Davis (NBA Pelicans), Teddy Bridgewater (NFL Vikings), and Brandon Doughty (WKU), my list would be exclusive to Kentuckians.

Top five for 2014: 1. Devante Parker (Louisville football), 2. Jeff Brohm (WKU rookie football coach), 3. Elijah Sindelar (Caldwell County, Mr. Football), 4. Kaleb Duckworth (Henderson County, co-Mr. Baseball), 5. Emma Talley (Alabama, golf).

HARRIS TO ‘BAMA

Stunner, wasn’t it, Madison Southern running back Damien Harris (5-11, 205) choosing Alabama over Kentucky? Why?

• Could be noise generated by Air Raid emphasis when UK hired its new offensive coordinator.

• More likely Harris’s choice came down to a scenario described by a Kentucky fan last week. “Nick Saban just went to Harris, looked the kid in the eye and said, ‘if you come to Alabama you’ll play behind the best offensive line in the country.’ That’s all he had to say really.”

And so, Bluegrass State’s highest rated high school running back prospect since Shaun Alexander (Mr. Football 1994), Harris made the same choice for same reasons.

COACH K and SUMMITT

As Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski nears his 1,000th coaching win, probably by weekend, let us remember Pat Summitt-coached Tennessee teams. Her Lady Vols won 1,098 games (1974-2012) and eight NCAA championships.

Any celebration of Coach K’s success ought include acknowledgement of Coach Summitt.

ESPN’s hour long special Sunday devoted to Krzyzewski affirmed what fair-minded fans know is true. He is best of the best not only as a ball coach with an impeccable record, but as family man and father figure to his players.

A statement by the coach’s wife stood out as she spoke with three daughters and a television audience.

“Hate. Some people say they hate him,” she said. “I don’t understand that. Those people don’t even know him.”

BEST OF BEST DEPT.

• Rick Pitino talking basketball with analyst Bob Valvano. Crisp no-sugar-coat questions and straight-up no nonsense answers.

• By way of CBS last week, Pitino: “Coach K is the modern-day John Wooden. … What I love about him, too, is that when he loses, he’s a gracious loser. He doesn’t give you the blow by hand-shake. He’ll stay there, he’ll congratulate you, he’ll praise you in the press conference. So he has it all together.”

And so it goes.