The Kentucky Wildcats (7-1) suffered their first setback Tuesday night at Clemson. It was the first time that the Cats had played the Tigers in ACC country (as we used to know it, that game was played in Enka, NC) since 1939.
Saturday night Mark Pope and Kentucky will continue their week in the life of and ACC program as they travel to Seattle to face Gonzaga. It's no secret that geography means nothing when it comes to how conferences are aligned or realigned. The ACC, and the Big Ten too for that matter, literally span from coast to coast now.
Here are a few examples: Boston to Palo Alto, CA is 3,129.5 miles. Boston to Berkeley is 3,088.8 miles. Miami to Berkeley is 3,037.5 and it's 3,018.9 from Miami to Palo Alto. Kentucky playing in Clemson on Tuesday and 2,750.4 miles later in Seattle on Saturday could hold its own in the new cross country ACC.
Coach Pope seemed to have mixed feelings about how the trip to the Pacific Northwest sets up. He has no doubts that his veteran guys will be ready, but he also wasn't thrilled about being out in Seattle "longer than normal". He does view the upcoming time locked in the hotel as a positive and is looking forward to it.
The Clemson game was definitely a wake up call. The surprising thing to me was the fact that there were some guys that were surprised about the way Clemson came at them. Better to learn this lesson early than (too) late in the season. The pre wake up call(s) were Western Kentucky, and then Clash Peters and Georgia State. It just continued with Ian Schieffelin and the rest of the Tigers. There will only be more of the same with Gonzaga, Louisville and all of SEC play. The way the Cats handle it all going foward will determine how far they go.
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