Hometown Hope

Those of you who know me know that I was born in Lexington, Ky., which is where I had my first glass of water. And, as you know, there's something in the water in Lexington that makes you crazy for hoops.

(It doesn't help that I moved to another hoops-crazy town -- Amherst, Mass. -- after my family left Lexington, but I digress.)

That said, I know what it means for Kentucky to be good. And if Jodie Meeks keeps scoring 54 points a game, the Wildcats are golden. Meeks is the man of the day in the college hoops world. And who can blame the media for fawning? Dude hit 10 3s to help UK destroy No. 24 Tennessee ... in Knoxville.

Kentucky is now 13-4, 2-0 in the conference and suddenly the team to beat in the SEC. And Meeks is a major reason why the Wildcats are clawing back to relevance. With 26 points, four boards, two assists and 1.5 steals a game, Meeks has some nice numbers.

And his team isn't half bad, either. Kentucky struggled out of the gates, losing its first two games to VMI (gulp) and at North Carolina. After a heartbreaking loss to a re-emerging Louisville, Kentucky has won its two opening SEC contests against Vandy and at Tennessee. In a down conference, Kentucky has to be thinking it can really make some waves.

With Meeks (and lottery pick-to-be Patrick Patterson) leading the way, Billy Gillispie's club is looking a lot like a Tournament team these days. Fifty-four points against a ranked team always helps, too.

Elsewhere
-- Big East Showdown of the Week: Syracuse at Georgetown. Not only is this a major rivalry between these two schools, but it also features yet another pair of ranked Big East teams battling. I say it in every post and I'll say it again here: The Big East seems like it has two ranked teams locking horns almost every night.

Who do I like? Well, Syracuse. I think Chris Wright will have a lot of trouble dealing with Jonny Flynn, Greg Monroe can be neutralized by Arinze Onuaku and the rest of the matchups seem to favor Syracuse, too.

Like I said, it's a rivalry game -- and it's at the Verizon Center in D.C., but Syracuse has more talent and a slightly deeper roster. Georgetown is good, don't get me wrong, but I think Syracuse might be the third-best team in the Big East behind Pitt and UConn. And there isn't much of a gap between those three teams.

-- Kansas City will be relevant again with Scott Pioli making personnel decisions.

-- My favorite little guy Dave Meggett is in some trouble. I have to say I'm really disappointed.

-- With Leo Lyons suspended for an uncertain period of time, Mizzou has to find a new scorer. Without him, don't expect the Tigers to keep up their fast start. But it was just a driving violation, so Lyons should be back sometime soon, I would think.

-- Pennsylvania has hopes of a Turnpike Tussle.

-- And I really don't know to react to this.