I’m sorry. I didn’t get the memo.

No one informed me of the new trend in college basketball. You know, the one where the powerhouse from basketball country loses to the other team from — well I don’t exactly know where these teams sprout from, I’m guessing a few miles outside the boondocks.

It happened to Michigan State last week when the Spartans lost to Grand Valley State, a Division-II school. And there is Ohio State, runner-up for the national championship eight months ago that ran into Findlay, also a D-II school, and lost earlier this week.

But all is forgiven for the Buckeyes and Spartans, those were exhibitions, a college preseason, if you will. What UK did Wednesday night was not.

It was a loss in the second game of the season that will be a reminder in future halftime sermons from Billy Clyde, I suppose. Maybe it will be a lesson of how anybody can be beaten. It could be one of those “good losses,” if there is such a thing.

Really, the loss only means that the Cats won’t travel to the next round in New York City, and senior guard Ramel Bradley won’t receive the proper homecoming in Madison Square Garden. There’s no need for worries to pour from the Big Blue faithful and turning away from basketball and back to football hopes. That’s robbing Billy to pay Rich.

Don’t turn away from the basketball Cats, they’ll be OK.

Sometimes the teams that play well in February and March take time to mash after the molding and gelling that only real game situations can bring, not practices. As a result teams lose games that they would win later in the season. Those early blemishes just show areas that need to be improved. If they are improved then by the season’s end, the team’s mission will be accomplished. If not, the season will feel endless.

Anything is possible in UK athletics, as the fall sports revealed. And for those still in football mode, a fall on the hardwood doesn’t hurt as much as a loss on the green lawn.

So don’t despair over the basketball Cats’ 16-point embarrassment because the slide won’t last long. UK will start a new winning trend against the next three cupcake-games coming up. But if they can’t, don’t worry about mailing out the memos. You should ready your pen to send the old S.O.S.

J.D. Williams is a journalism senior. E-mail [email protected].