Our state’s intrepid sports media covers University of Kentucky basketball like the dew covers Dixie, to quote the motto of a Southern newspaper, so it’s surprising that we don’t have the answer to the biggest question of the season: What in the name of Adolph Rupp got into the Wildcats in the week between Jan. 5 and Jan. 12?

On the afternoon of Jan. 5, you may recall, Coach Billy Clyde Gillispie’s team slunk off the Rupp Arena floor on the short end of an 89-75 loss to a Louisville team that also had been struggling. It put UK’s record at 6-7 heading into Southeastern Conference play. The team that lost to Gardner-Webb – Gardner-Webb!!! – seemed poised on the brink of infamy.

It wasn’t so much the record, bad as it was, as the way the record had been achieved. Gillispie and his players seemed to be at war with each other. The team had no life, no fight, no clue. The only bright spot was a freshman, Patrick Patterson. Boos were rolling out of the stands, even at Rupp and Freedom Hall.

But only seven days later, in the very same arena, the Wildcats shocked previously undefeated Vanderbilt, 79-73 in double overtime. They then fought hard in respectable road losses at Mississippi State and Florida. And then came a winning streak that stretched to five with Saturday’s 65-52 homecourt win over Alabama that pushed the record to 12-9 overall, 5-2 in the league.

The transformation has been amazing. It’s sort of like a homely guy walking into a dressing room and coming out as Brad Pitt. Or a guy driving a clunker into a car wash and driving out a new Lexus. Or, more aptly, a failing student entering a classroom and emerging as a Phi Beta Kappa.

• The team previously vilified as a bunch of slackers and pouters has actually become downright lovable. Understand, the Cats still have a long way to go before scribes will start dreaming up nicknames for them. But their effort, post-Louisville, has given the fans and the media reason to warm up to them.
• The coach who seemed out of his league and over his head in the non-conference season now is the front-runner for SEC Coach-of-the-Year. Gillispie finally is looking more like the guy who coached Texas A&M to last year’s Sweet Sixteen that the guy who lost to San Diego – San Diego!!! – at home.
• The season that seemed lost and hopeless after the Louisville game now has morphed into one that has the fans talking, realistically, about an NCAA tournament at-large bid. It says here that if the Cats can go 5-3 in their last eight games for a final regular-season record of 17-12, they’ll need to only win one game in the league tournament to get their NCAA ticket punched.
• The boneheaded senior guard who once had “Europe” or “CBA” stamped all over him now is a looking like a player who will deserve at least a serious look by the NBA. Ramel Bradley will never have a point guard’s mentality – he’s a scorer – but his shooting, both from the perimeter and the free-throw line, have taken a big load off Patterson.
• Of Gillispie’s various right moves, the best was his archaeological discovery. He dug up sophomore Perry Stevenson from the end of the bench, where he had been buried all last season and most of this, and decided to play him because the things he does well – block shots, pass, run the floor more than offset his lapses in judgment. He has done for Patterson inside what Bradley has done for him from the perimeter – keep defenses from ganging up.

So what happened in those seven days in January? There has to be a great story there. But since it’s so difficult to find out what happens behind closed practice doors, I have some theories:

• Gillispie and his players had a summit conference in which both sides gave up something. Gillispie agreed to lighten up in practices and the players agreed to try harder to buy into their coach’s philosophy. Something like that.
• Gillispie promised to throw the mother of all parties for the team if it earned an NCAA bid. Talent will be flown in from Las Vegas. Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton will serve hors d’oeuvres. Anita Madden will come out of retirement to be the hostess.
• Alex Legion’s mother called to say that she had spoken to God again and He had told her there would be a place for the Cats in hoops heaven, otherwise known as the NCAA tournament. She said she was sure it was God because Dick Vitale couldn’t talk at the time.
• Gillispie told the players that he knew Bobby Knight would be hanging it up soon and that if the players didn’t shape up, he would bring Knight to Lexington as his strength and conditioning coach.
• Gillispie threatened to bring back Tubby Smith’s entire coaching staff, provided he could find them. An unsubstantiated rumor has it that they’re all in the federal witness protection program.

Finally, any talk about “Diaper Dandies” or a Freshman All-American team should immediately be dismissed unless Patterson is in the discussion. I’m well aware of the vast achievements of Michael Beasley of Kansas State, Kevin Love of UCLA, Eric Gordon of Indiana, and various others. But I haven’t seen anybody who has been more consistent or precocious than Patterson.

Until Bradley and Stevenson came to the rescue, Patterson was pretty much UK’s entire offense. He plays 35 or more minutes every game and takes a tremendous pounding. Yet the kid from Huntington, W. Va., just keeps getting smarter and better. Most of the year, he has looked far more mature than the upper classmen.

Looking at the immediate future, I’m assuming a loss at Vanderbilt Tuesday, a win at LSU Saturday, and another win against Georgia at home on Feb. 19. That would make the Cats 14-10 going into a crucial three-game stretch – Arkansas at home on Feb. 23, Ole Miss at home on Feb. 27, and Tennessee in Knoxville on March 2.

Victory in at least one of those games is essential because it would put the Cats in line for a final 17-12 record, assuming wins at South Carolina and against Florida at home in the last two games.

Maybe by Senior Night some enterprising reporter will dig up the truth about what happened to the Cats between Jan 5 and Jan. 12. Whatever it was, it has certainly turned a sour season into a sweet one that promised to get even sweeter.