Boo’s Regular Season Review

Well fellow Cat fans, we made it through another regular season. Well, most of us did anyway. It’s been another rough and tumble year, which we should be very accustomed to by now. It seems every year we are surprised that we made it, but to be honest, it shouldn’t be surprising at all. We are all old pros at it. It’s now time to reflect on what was the 08-09 UK regular season.

The preseason was full of hopes and dreams for most. I was much more reserved. There were too many unknowns to say if this would be a break out year. UK brought in some size in Liggins, Galloway, Miller and Harrelson. All with plenty of unknowns. Miller and Liggins had the pedigree among the four and those two seemed to be locks at making the biggest contributions. But when and how much remained major mysteries for me. Still, many fans had already anointed one, two or all four of these guys as saviors even before we had a chance to see them play. Then, we got to see the Cats! The Big Blue Madness show did leave some room for promise, but it was one night which is never enough to make judgments. Harrelson made shots from everywhere, and the other new comers did not disappoint. The biggest splash may have come from the Cat that couldn’t play in Pilgrim. UK’s first exhibition did make me sit up and take notice. The Cats flat out destroyed. The second preseason contest wasn’t quite as big of a hit. Then it happened… The regular season kicked off with VMI… And so the story really begins.. And continued with UNC…..

I always wait for a large sample before making decisions on any Cat or the team in general. When the time came, I knew UK would be looking at another 10 loss year. I figured, looking at the schedule, UK would have a very rough finish. Patterson was slow getting back to form, and to be honest, I have only seen a handful of minutes where he looked like the Patterson of last year. Meeks, has been the streak shooter that he is, only he had some very big streaks. Of course he has also had his games where he cost the Cats dearly with his turnovers and forced play. Such is life when you live and die with the 2 on five game. And while I am not really surprised with the out come of the season in general, I am very surprised at many of the aspects of the season. I am totally shocked that the Cats have not tried to add more options to the offensive side as players like Miller have developed. I am surprised we did not see Patterson develop and utilize the skills to play at other spots on the floor like we were told he would. I am surprised that no one could ever get Liggins on the same page as the rest of the Cats. I am surprised that no one was able to pass up Porter and Harris. I am surprised at the magnitude of some of the losses.

UK was down seven to UL with seconds left on the clock. Some how, some way, UL fell apart and the Cats were able to make the push to tie the game. Sosa, who had never made a game winner in his life, and probably never will again, rose up with the luckiest shot of his career. The Cards used that victory to spring board themselves back into being a top 10 type team. UK used the experience to vault itself into the team to beat in the SEC after a 5-0 start. I must say that even with knowing who UK had beat, and knowing the rough schedule ahead, even I was tasting a bit of the fools gold back water. The major debate: Where was UK ranked and why were they not in the top 25. It could very well be that the Cats were having the same debates among themselves, because there is no doubt in my mind that they let up on the accelerator. And being young as they are, I also have no doubt they had no clue about what can happen when you let the SEC hit you with an upper cut and put you on the mat. To be honest, I don’t think Coach knew how to deal with the adversity of getting clobbered for a standing eight. I’m not surprised, as he’s use to being the one that clobbers others. So maybe if there is a silver lining in all of this, its the team and staff will be wiser and more aware, and should be much more hungry next year, and maybe even in post season play.

In the end, UK is 19-11. I thought they would be 21-9 and end up with 11 losses. Maybe 10 if they got on a roll in the SEC tournament. So I am not all that disappointed in the season from a wins and losses standpoint. I am disappointed in how it has happened and how it has been handled. But that’s nothing that some wins could not fix. One more win and the Cats are at the magical 20 win mark. Many fans were OK with that some years ago. While I am not, I do understand that it will take more time to get things back to where they belong. So for this year, that is all I ask for. Cats, please, just give me one more win.