From Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader: “A Kentucky team perceived to be teetering near the NCAA Tournament bubble late in its season is shocked by the season-ending loss to injury of its star freshman big man. UK in 2012-13 following Nerlens Noel's torn ACL suffered in the Wildcats loss at Florida on Tuesday night?
Of course.
But it was also true of Billy Gillispie's Wildcats in 2007-08, when the Cats lost standout freshman Patrick Patterson to a late injury yet still clawed their way into the NCAA Tournament without him.
That is why the dispiriting loss of Noel now sets up a rare dynamic for the current Wildcats — a chance to look back on the Gillispie era for positive inspiration.”
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.