• Searching for answers   Brooks at a loss to explain Cats' inconsistency, slow starts   Ten games into the Kentucky football season, it's obvious that Coach Rich Brooks hasn't figured his team out. And maybe the team hasn't figured him out, either.
• Cats' lethargy has Brooks concerned
  University of Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks just doesn't get it. A week earlier his Wildcats were lauded for their heart and courage after fighting valiantly to the end of a 71-63 seven-overtime loss to Arkansas.
• Vanderbilt stops UK passing and SEC losing streak    Jay Cutler took it upon himself to stop a streak he didn't start.

      Basketball

• EXPERIENCE    Gerald Fitch and Chuck Hayes anchor a Kentucky lineup deep in tested veterans.
• UK recruit cancels announcement    At the urging of his parents, University of Kentucky recruit Joe Crawford has cancelled his press conference originally scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today. Crawford, a 6-foot-4 senior guard at Detroit Renaissance High School, intended to announce which college he would be attending in the fall of 2004.
• Non-conference opponents    Winthrop: Coach: Gregg Marshall, 99-52 in five seasons at Winthrop.

• Beach rushes for 109 yards    Not even a career-best effort from sophomore tailback Arliss Beach could save Kentucky on Saturday.
• Wildcats are a bust in Nashville    The Cats (4-6, 1-5 SEC) need to win their final two games against No.7-ranked Georgia and No.9 Tennessee to make their way to the postseason.
• Kentucky didn't take its fight on the road    It was one of those afternoons that tells you everything about the soul of a football team. An afternoon that tells you if the players still are buying the motivational mojo the coaching staff is selling or if they already have dialed their minds ahead to semester break, next season or the rest of their lives.
• Cats can't face the music    Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks had just settled in his chair at Vanderbilt Stadium to address the media when a sheet with final statistics from yesterday's game made its way to the podium.
• Commodores make believers of Lorenzen, Cats    Rich Brooks had been preaching all week that Vanderbilt was the best 1-9 football team in the country. So after the Commodores picked up win No. 2 by taking UK to the woodshed 28-17 yesterday, the natural question is, Did his message get across?
• EMBARRASSMENT AT VANDY RUINS LAST YEAR'S MOMENTUM FROM WINNING SEVEN GAMES   All year long, Kentucky football wanted a goal-post game, and yesterday it got it. It got to watch Vanderbilt rip up the posts. How embarrassing is that?
• Was that Brooks on the sideline, or Curry?
  CATS' DISMAL PERFORMANCE BRINGS TO MIND VANDERBILT DEBACLES OF YESTERYEAR    At least, the locale was appropriate. Right here in Music City, Kentucky football gave us the ultimate "Wayback Weekend." Yes, The Throwback To Bill Curry Tour featured all the retro mis-hits.

      Basketball

• THE FACE OF UK    His two immediate predecessors described Kentucky Basketball in splendiferous terms. The Roman Empire of college basketball, Rick Pitino pronounced. And, in the convenient shadow of 1984, Eddie Sutton said he led Big Brother. 
• 10 QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CATS    Key among them: Whose personality will they adopt? 
• Potts leads UK to exhibition win, 88-59
• This one's for the suffering seniors   DeMoss wants to reward them before rebuilding program.
• UK women find inspiration in the second half    AFTER SLOW START, WILDCATS PUT AWAY PREMIER ALL-STARS 88-59 One team almost didn't show up for the game because it didn't have enough players. It also was exhausted from playing Michigan State the night before and traveling to Memorial Coliseum today.
• Schedule    Roster 3 Sara Potts Pos.: G Ht: 6-0 Year: Jr. Hometown: Rochester Hills, Mich. 10 NaStassia Alcius Pos.: G Ht.: 5-8 Year: So. Hometown: Lexington
• selling an idea; building a team    DeMoss can recruit, but she must coach to succeed
  Perhaps the father of Kentucky's newest recruit said it best. "Mickie DeMoss could sell ice to the Eskimos," Mike Elliott said while watching practice a couple of weeks ago.
• Coach: Mickie DeMoss (first year at UK, 549-76 in 18 years as Tennessee...
  Coach: Mickie DeMoss (first year at UK, 549-76 in 18 years as Tennessee assistant; 45-68 in four years as head coach at Florida). Last season: Kentucky finished 11-16 (4-10 in the Southeastern Conference) under Coach Bernadette Mattox, who resigned in March.
• Unfinished business    Many of the University of Kentucky players couldn't bear to watch Carmelo Anthony and his Syracuse teammates cut down the nets after last season's NCAA Tournament championship game. Those nets belonged to the Wildcats. Or so they thought.
• Five keys for the Wildcats    1. Gerald Fitch must shoot close to 50 percent from the field and 40 percent on three-pointers. Without him this team doesn't have a legitimate go-to scorer.
• They're Big Blue graybeards    But winning isn't likely to get old for veteran Cats.
• Blessed child eases pain of tragedy   SECOND KELENNA HELPS HEAL PARENTS' HEARTS    When Kelenna Azubuike was in his early teens, his parents sat him down and told him of a brother he never knew existed. The future UK player learned how his birth helped soothe his mother's broken heart and how the divine looked favorably upon him.
• 'Classic' rivalry? UK-Duke a possibility
  Kentucky-Duke, anyone? Isn't that like offering filet mignon to a meat eater? Some day relatively soon, the delicious idea of a Kentucky-Duke series may be more than a college basketball fan's dream.
• Sweat and swarm will define cats   Defense to determine if Cats can match last year   On the sliding scale of hoop feats, it is unlikely Kentucky can catch lightning in a jar two years running. Thirty-two wins, four losses. A historic, spotless 19-0 SEC record. Twenty-six successive victories. A No. 1 national ranking at regular season's end. A Final Four missed only when Keith Bogans' ankle showed up for the Midwest Region final masquerading as a grapefruit.
• Family spared tragedy    PLAYER'S AUNT ESCAPED ON SEPT. 11    It was a few minutes past 8 in the morning. Ingrid Robertson had been at work for more than an hour. She needed to use the rest-room, so she took off the sneakers she wore for comfort at her desk and put on dress shoes.
• Stepfather continues to inspire    GRAVESITE VISITS HELPED EASE TRANSITION TO UK    When Antwain Barbour visits home in Elizabethtown, he usually makes a side trip to Hodgenville. He goes to the cemetery and walks to his stepfather's resting place.

• Commodores Overcome Cats 28-17    Jay Cutler threw four touchdown passes to help Vanderbilt snap the nation's longest conference losing streak at 23 with a 28-17 victory over Kentucky on Saturday.

• No-nonsense Vandy coach fears UK’s potent weapons    UK football head coach Rich Brooks first scouted Bobby Johnson’s coaching abilities five years ago.  

• Cats looking to get back on track    It's hard for Vanderbilt not to focus on Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen, even though Commodores coach Bobby Johnson points out the Wildcats are geared to run the ball and play tough defense.  

• Vandy defends dismal record    As if enough pain and suffering didn't come Jay Cutler's way last week against Florida, he spent time this week pinching himself. 

• UK tailback straightforward guy    The University of Kentucky's new starting tailback speaks French at home, soon will begin work toward a master's degree, often quotes movie character Austin Powers and rarely had watched football until he started playing the game.

• Wildcats hope turnovers tell story vs. Vandy    Today's 2 p.m. EST game at Vanderbilt very well could come down to turnovers. And if that's the case, the Wildcats, a 6-1/2-point favorite, like their chances against the Commodores.

• UK'S M.O.: PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS
  LAYOFF LETDOWNS GIVE VANDY HOPE
  While it is true that Vanderbilt has not experienced the joy of a winning football season in 20 years, has proved victorious in just one of 10 tries this year and has lost 23 consecutive Southeastern Conference games, one thing should provide the Commodores hope today.

• Cats can't afford slip-up    LOSS TO VANDERBILT MOST LIKELY WOULD KILL ANY BOWL CHANCES    The bowl hopes for the Kentucky football team may be on life support, but at least they're still breathing. Barely. It's this simple: The Cats (4-5, 1-4 Southeastern Conference) need to win two of their last three games to get the six wins necessary for bowl eligibility.

• Stopping Cutler job one for Cats
  The mention of Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler probably wouldn't strike fear in the hearts of many defensive coordinators. But the 6-foot-4, 218-pound sophomore will be the focus of the UK defense this afternoon.

• GAMES WITHIN THE GAME    Breaking down the Kentucky-Vanderbilt matchups
  The last time Kentucky came off a bye week, the Cats dug themselves a 20-point hole on the road against South Carolina. Kentucky has been notorious for starting slowly out of the gate, and you know this is the one Southeastern Conference game Vanderbilt feels it should win. It's important for UK not to be rusty: The more they lolly-gag early, the more confidence the Commodores gain.

• Kentucky    offense Left tackle 61 Matt Huff 6-5 305 Jr. 72 Michael Aitcheson 6-3 275 Fr. Left guard 70 Jason Rollins 6-5 295 Jr. 74 Nate Van Sickel 6-2 286 Sr.

      Basketball

• Cats Down Premier Players in Final Exhibition    Sharpshooter Sara Potts blitzed the nets for 25 points while SeSe Helm and Jennifer Humphrey added 17 and 13 points, respectively to lead the Kentucky women’s basketball to a 88-59 victory over the Premier All-Stars on Saturday in Memorial Coliseum.
• Cats ready for final tuneup    UK WOMEN 3-1 AGAINST PREMIER ALL-STARS    The Kentucky women's basketball team will play host to the Premier All-Stars in its final pre-season exhibition at 7 tonight in Memorial Coliseum. Admission is free, and UK Hoops posters will be given away.
• SEC at a glance    Here is a look at this season's Southeastern Conference:
• UK driven by loss to Marquette    No matter how hard Chuck Hayes tried to forget his "worse loss ever," there was no escape.