Scott's Scout

It's odd to think of this game in these terms - especially after a 7-0 start to the 2009-10 season - but today is the first day of Coach John Calipari's coaching career at the University of Kentucky.

Everything else has been a prelude to a little after 12:30 this afternoon when the two winningest teams in college basketball tip-off in the inaugural game of this year's CBS college basketball package. If all goes well, one or both of these teams will meet again in CBS's final college basketball game of the season.

But for that to happen, each of these teams will need to learn about themselves over the course of two-plus hours on this chilly Saturday in December that began with a light blanket of snow covering Lexington. What they learn will go a long way in dictating the way the rest of the season unfolds for each team.

It is far from a must-win game for either team but suffice to say, the team that does come away with the "W" will not only have a resume win for the Selection Committee but also an ego win to build on.

Talent-wise, you can make the argument that UK is better at each starting position than UNC. HOWEVER, when talent and experience are taken into consideration, the edge would likely go to the Tar Heels.

Conventional wisdom would suggest UNC gets the edge down low and UK has the better players on the perimeter. If you believe all these premises, than the game will likely come down to a couple of individual performances.

For my money, that means UK will rise or fall with John Wall and Patrick Patterson. Why? Here's my thinking:

1) Wall will need to harness the obvious emotional energy that will accompany his first game on the big stage, on national TV. If he does that, doesn't try to make the showtime passes and takes what the defense will give him, we will have another scoresheet keepsake highlighted by a Wall line that could look something like this: 25 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists and two turnovers.

2) Patterson, simply put, has a lot of doubters who wonder if he was a worthy pre-season first-team All American. The only way to prove that is to come out in marquee games like today's and Wednesday's and be the "beast" that we have seen glimpses of. Maybe more importantly, he needs to show the upper classman leadership that Coach Calipari has been coaxing out of him. That means being vocal and also being encouraging with the pat on the butt or the tap of the head of a teammate.

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A few notes from the morning shootaround at the Joe Craft Center which started at 7:30:

• Coach Calipari told the team he woke up at 4 a.m. and was ready to jump out of bed and get to the gym. "I sat up and looked at Ellen and then looked up and said, 'Lord, thank you for giving me the opportunity to coach in this game. This (type of game) is why you came here and this is why I came here."

When he said he was up at 4 a.m., John Wall raised his hand as if to say, "Yeah, Coach, I did the same thing."

• Coach Calipari got his run in on the treadmill prior to practice and wore a sweat-covered grey t-shirt throughout shootaround. He had a blue towel over his shoulder for the early part.

• Suffice to say, Coach Calipari wasn't overly thrilled with yesterday's practice. He felt much better about this morning's shootaround where the players had good focus and executed sharply.

• Coach told the team they could expect substitutions to come a bit earlier and maybe more frequently as he tries to keep guys fresh. This is likely an acknowledgment by Coach that the players will be expending a bit more mental AND physical energy than they have in prior games.

• Just before shootaround began, Coach's Twitter followers topped the 1 million mark. "Is that a good sign?" he asked in his early morning post.

• The traditional end of shootaround half court shot was made by Patrick - swish.