More notes from Wildcat country

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I'm back from the land of bourbon, horses and Waffle House, so I thought I'd share a few more thoughts from Kentucky:

-Fran Dougherty doesn't get a lot of credit, but defensively he was a wall against a big Kentucky team. In his first minutes of play Monday, he stood his ground against some of the best inside men in the country and helped force a few misses. Offensively he continues to look a little awkward when he gets the ball, especially when Kentucky is able to get some big blocks against him, which can be a big momentum changer.

-Zack Rosen's six points all came from free-throws. The last time he failed to score a single field goal was against Harvard on Feb. 21, 2009 (his freshman year). The last time he failed to hit double digits was last January against St. Joeseph's.

-Four Roses single barrel Kentucky bourbon is surprisingly smooth.

-I ran into coach Jerome Allen, assistant coach Rudy Wise and Zack Rosen in the airport catching a flight back to Philadelphia with the rest of the team. I assumed that the team, like most teams, would travel in Red and Blue warmups. But, it appears Allen — always impeccably dressed — has instituted a shirt and tie travel policy. Lookin' good, Quakers.

-How Mike Howlett ever fit on the 50-seater plane they took, I'll never know.

-A good friend from Penn tells me he saw coach Jerome Allen and spoke to him Tuesday night at a Sidwell Friends High School basketball game in Washington, D.C., scouting Sidwell point guard Jamal Lewis (not the Jamal Lewis). Lewis is a junior. This is interesting because a) Sidwell Friends' mascot is the Fighting Quakers, b) Jet-setting Jerome must have hopped straight on a train to DC after arriving in Philly, and c) Sidwell Friends is famous for being the school where the Obama children go, as well as where Chelsea Clinton attended. (Hat tip to Penn senior Eben Lazarus)

-I said it over and over in the live-blog, but Penn was stifling in the man-to-man defense and not-so-stifling in zone. When in zone it looked like the Quakers ran the 1-3-1 predominantly with an occasional 2-3.

-Lexington, Ky., is the horse capital of the world. The Quakers took a tour of a Gainesway farms before the game.

-Larry Loughery played his first minutes since getting injured after playing Delaware three games into last season. By the time Loughery got in, Kentucky was cruising, so I imagine Allen just wanted to give an older guy some game time. But by that logic, where was Darren Smith.

-and finaly, some (easy) Trivia: Who was the only Penn Player at Rupp Arena Monday who had played there before with the Quakers?