Show the Cats a little love

One of our fans, Catlanta, had a great idea on Facebook that you might love too: Let’s fax some love to our Cats directly. Here is the number and the address of the UK Athletics office to send your messages so the Cats will actually get them! :

Send the Cats some love via snail mail, so they will see how much the real Cats fan in the Big Blue Nation really feel about them. Will you please do this too? I am going to send mine right now to the UK Athletics office.

Here is the address:
Mailing Address UK Athletics
Joe Craft Center
338 Lexington Ave.
Lexington, KY 40506-0604
General Phone 257-8000

According to UK Athletics, the fax # is (859) 323-1071.

Please do this! Let them know the Cat fans are behind them. Thanks!!!

USC 68 UK 62

I didn’t want this day to come. I certainly didn’t see it coming from a game at South Carolina. It’s just a guess, but I don’t think the Cats saw it either, and there in lies the start of the problem. It’s not a bad problem to have, rooting for a team that is 19-1. I wanted to believe this team could handle it. I now know they couldn’t. I think Cal probably knows it too. I know some disagree, but I do think there has been too much going on outside of basketball this last week for this team. But in the grand scheme of things, there is more to life than basketball and I would trade raising 1.3 mil for one of the worst natural disasters of my lifetime and the acknowledgement from that for a loss to USC any day of the week. Having said that, there is no excuse for losing to South Carolina outside of Devan Downey. The kid was the best player on the floor on this night, and in the end, that is the center of the story. He got the help he needed from his team mates and from UK, but you have to take your hat off to the Gamecocks for having a plan, sticking to it and executing it. UK, didn’t.

Any time after a loss like this, you have to look harder at what went wrong. For one, Bledsoe seemed to be caught up in the, “who is the better point guard” war. Downey, wasn’t. Downey did what he had to do to win and that really is the ball game as none of the Cats did what they needed to do to win the ball game. The late heroics seemed a little stale to the Gamecocks, who shrugged it off and won the game anyway.

I honestly think coach had a game plan that would win almost any game, but there was a major lack of execution which started with Miller. The game plan only works if you hit your outside shots, and Miller seemed to not even be in the gym. His replacements didn’t do any better and I am not sure why Dodson deserved 21 minutes in this game other than he did seem to hustle some on D. Harris played six minutes, which was probably 5 minutes too many until you consider that anyone deserves a chance to work their way into the game. Harris, in my mind, has been disappointing of late. I love the kid, he’s one of my favorites, but he seems to be coasting. The effort on D is gone, the rebounding is gone and the over all leadership is gone. This team will go as far as the three position takes them, which at this point is a toss up on any given night.

Leadership. Big, big word. Guys like Patterson and Harris have all but differed the leadership to the freshman point guards. You must give Kudos to Wall and Bledsoe for wrestling it away from the elder players and shame on Patterson and Harris for handing it to them without a fight. Patterson is my favorite player of all time, but he has coasted this year as well. Part of that is the scheme, and I don’t think there is an answer for it. UK can go to the double post, but that clogs things up. Boogie, to his credit, has stayed on the blocks much better than I thought he would and it usually serves UK well. Patterson, on the other hand has not produced much when he’s on the wing and has not posted as well as the last two years. Over all, you just don’t see Patterson around the ball nearly as much as in the the past and I credit much of that to coasting.

This team would have Cal’s eight or ten losses if he didn’t have Boogie. The kid brings it every play of every night. Lat night: 27 points while shooting 53%, 12 boards, a steal, three turn overs, three blocks. He’s the one guy that did not deserve to lose.

I didn’t want to know how this team would handle a loss, but now its time to find out. The great news is, I just looked out the window and the sun DID, in fact, come up this morning and UK does live to fight another day.

It’s NOT Business, It’s PERSONAL!

Happy “SUPER TUESDAY” CatLand! Ya’ll ready to put that #1 ranking on the line @ 9 & defend it like NoCats Business?!
I’m so past ready! We deserve this ranking more than any other team in the country right now & I’m hoping that the Cats conduct a ROAD STYLE CLINIC to emphasize the point! It’s not just because we know they deserve it. NO, for me, this has become PERSONAL. 

As a Cat by birthright, I’m used to all the negativity & hatred for the Wildcats & Big Blue Nation. Like many of you, my skin is riddled w/wrinkles & cracks but tougher than leather.
I professed my love for this team last week & like w/any & all things I love, I defend w/a fiery passion. Yes, I’m reveling in the hatred & envy we are once again receiving, but there comes a point in time when Kudos & Props are due! In our case, it’s quickly becoming Long Past Due & I’m going to start tallying the fines of the naysayers, haters & wannabe’s.

I think the thing that irks me the most is this WEAK argument of Kentucky hasn’t played anyone—- Okay, it’s all well & fine to have that opinion, but quit tryin to pass it off as a legitimate fact! The numbers don’t work in this arguments favor & the key witness is the SOS of the other Top 5 teams. I won’t even go into the Kansas schedule, it doesn’t take a basketball expert to see that their schedule is the laughin stock of the NCAA world this season. Yet, here the ACC chumps over on that Nazi Network aka espn is taunting them as the rightful #1. Question? Since when does the ACC  fall in love with the Big 12????? I think I’ve solved that mystery….. and the answer falls within an old cliche—-> The Enemy of My Enemy is my Friend. Don’t look now but the BLINDING HATRED by the powers that be is becoming more & more brazen, obvious & forthright. The characteristics that we, as Cat Fans, have known existed for years are beginning to solidy themselves from Paranoia to FACT. When the upper ranks of the college bb world begin to make off handed comments & suttle observations, you then finally know that YES, YOU ARE NOT CRAZY! (Well most of us, Mark—it’s okay hon, we love ya & would never disown ya. Every Family has Weird Ducks & you’re one of the more livelier ones!) Coach Cal~ is aware of this too…you can catch it all the time in his jabs when playing Meet The Press. Who all has he gotten at now??? I’ve lost count. But to date, my fav. was the WWII remark directed at that Creepy Old Notre Dame Coach, Digger. <— who by the way, will never let it go that we were always better than him & his Irish. ( 4-12 is the record btw) Digger is just one of a gazillion examples. Now the problem is this….. for those younger whipper snappers (not just w/in the BBN) The motivation is totally lost in translation simply because they don’t know their History & tend to look at the more popular analysts as the Be All End All truth in the wide world of sports with the result being what we’ve known for years, PREJUDICED, BIASED, SENSATIONAL JOURNALISM not only passed off but ACCEPTED AS PURE FACT. It disgusts me to NO END! Of course, I’m smart enough to know that this is a never ending battle that the BBN will NEVER win, but at the same time I refuse to sit idly by & allow these Haters to rage on w/o giving them my .2 worth.

You know, before Cal~ came here, YES! I was one of the Nations biggest finger pointers in regards to his record. And the 1st to shout out the words CAMBY & CHEATER! Ain’t it funny when the NIKE is on the other foot, you begin to look around for the facts of the matter? And then POOF! You discover that you were indeed wrong! That’s part of being a typical fan. However, it has taught me to look & look again when hearing & reading the supposed NEWS in college basketball. And when it comes right down to it, overall, we are generally GUIDED to misinformation & sensitized to the point that it becomes ACCEPTED information!

Now ya’ll know I LUVTHOSECATS but have the mindset that a loss or two is always, always good for TOURNAMENT DANCING. For once in my FELINE 9 LIVES, I HUNGER for an UNDEFEATED SEASON! Not just for that Banner #8 but out of sheer damned SPITE & We’ll show you attitude! I hope that same attitude resonates w/our Cats & Continues to make its presence known w/command & authority. I happen to love Boogie’s opinion—- “Us Against The World.” That’s right CUZ! In the end, banner or not, that’s the way it’s always going to be.

So, I say take everything we can & give nothing back!
1 world is going to become 1 BIG BLUE NATION! LIKE IT OR NOT!!! LOVE US OR HATE US you can’t deny one thing…..
WE’RE BACK, WE’RE BAD, WE’RE THE TEAM YOU WISH YOU HAD!
GO CATS
GO CATS
GO BIG BLUE!

Path to the Mountain Top

If you are like me, and you probably are if you are reading this, you’ve wondered what this UK team would look like if they played a full forty minutes.  It’s really hard to ask a team to play a full forty minutes, by the way.  Most coaches would be doing back flips to get thirty full minutes of play.  As for this team, now we know.  It wasn’t really forty minutes, but it was as close to it as you can get.  And when they do, this team is unbeatable.  And when I say unbeatable, that includes the Nets as well.

 So now that we have that answer, the next big question is, what flipped the switch for this team?  What made them decide to finally keep the foot on the gas the entire game?  I contend that the answer lies square in the events that will happen when the polls come out on Monday.  Consider that this team was given a lot.  They were ranked third before they ever took their first dribble.  I’m not saying they didn’t deserve the ranking, or maybe a better way to put it is no one deserves their ranking, good or bad, when you have zip to back things up.  All UK had to do to maintain their ranking was to win.  And win they did.  Most nights, they put just enough effort in to get the wins.  The sum of the wins is impressive.  The wins themselves mostly were not.  Then something happened.  Losses by Kansas, then Texas happened.  These Cats decided they did want to be number one and I think they know that to be number one, you must play at another level.  What we found out yesterday is this team is scary good when they play the entire game.  They didn’t play a perfect game by any stretch.  They had 15 turnovers,  and shot 68% from the free throw line.  I’ll truly pity the team (after the final horn) that plays these Cats when they play the entire game AND play a perfect game.  I would probably even pity the Lakers.  I do not mean to knock the team for not playing a perfect game and actually my intent is to show that this team does not need to play a perfect game to destroy teams.  All they have to do is follow the game plan, dominate the boards (margin was 20) shoot a high percentage for the game (46%), shoot 30 percent from three, and defend like mad.  The rest tends to take care of itself. 

 When we talk about playing the entire game, we aren’t just talking about consecutive minutes or even stretches of minutes.  We are also talking about minutes by position.  We know what can happen when UK gets play from the 1,2,4 and 5.  The other question asked as been, what happens if UK also got production from the 3 as well.  Now we know.  Miller and his subs, in my mind, was the difference.  The Hogs chose to let UK’s wings have open looks and the wings responded in a dominating fashion.  Miller, Liggins, Harris; the three did not miss a beat as the lead swelled to 46.  This may continue to be the game plan, then again, I don’t think anyone will feel very good about using this game plan.  It can get you spanked.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

It’s official. I’m T totally 100% in love w/this team. I’ve always loved the Wildcats, it’s my family, friends & life all rolled into one. But every so often a team comes along, sneaks in, grabs your heart & runs w/it. Unlike the 96 Cats that delivered the Love @ 1st sight along w/my 1st love syndrome, the 09-10 team flirted, toyed & snuck in like a theif in the night w/a Big Thuggie Bear sealing the deal w/his 4 mos. old Peyton antics.

This team is setting itself apart from its predecessors in that they are forming an identity with characteristics of unity, compassion, involvement, & humanitarianism . I’ve told you in the past that there is no Coach better working w/these types of student athletes. Cal~ is not only bringing out the best in them on the court, he’s growing them emotionally as men leading by example. There is no doubt in my mind that every member on this team is going to contribute to society as a whole & will take pleasure in doing so in some way or another.
Just another ingredient in the kettle of Champions recipe.
Yes, Cal~ organized the Hoops for Haiti, making sure our Cats took on the active role, but you can’t make one enjoy & embrace such a role. It was obvious they did!
Maturity grew 10 fold yesterday & Mark My Words…. you will see it bear fruit on the Court, proving that all baskeball lessons aren’t learned in practices & games.
A heart of a Champion presented itself last night. Nevermind the struggle w/putting teams away early or the sluggish perimeter defense… these things will come w/time as they are growing up right before our very eyes. Ain’t it fun to watch?! (: It’s January & we’ve got a long way to go before Peak time….. why be in a such a hurry to reach it NOW???? I welcome watching them work through adversity. A lot of Cats were sweating that Auburn game & I heard many a time…… Auburn’s comin back on em, Auburn’s comin back on em —- to which I CONFIDENTLY replied “No, they’re not.” I know it makes many of us uncomfortable to watch them squander away the lead & play down to the competition …. you ever stop & think that this may indeed be this teams style & identity. It may very well be. Puts Me in the Mind of Sea Biscuit— always needing the challenge Neck To Neck to bring out his best.  Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral -1938 Match Race Pimlico “  “You know everybody thinks we found this broken down old horse & fixed him. We didn’t, he fixed us.  And I guess in a way, we fixed each other.”
Honestly, I hope they develop the skill of the KO punch, but we may all haft to realize that you don’t necessarily haft to EXCEL at every skill to get the W.
I’ve eluded many times to this being a Championship team. I’m starting to buy stock in it & if the Banner Market goes Belly Up so be it! It just seems we are watching History being made before our eyes. And I’m a firm believer in you get back 10 fold what you give.
I’ll end this w/some Kudo CatKisses to our King. BRILLIANCE Cats, BRILLIANCE PERSONIFIED. He’s smart enough to recognize the power at his hands & uses it for the greater good. That is LEADERSHIP. Do you realize that we just sent 500,000 dollars more to Haiti than the NY YANKEES!
WE’RE WINNERS on & off the court. And will be justly rewarded not just in March but for Life.
Coach Cal~ is showing the world just one of the few reasons we are the Flagship of College Basketball & why we SUCCEED.

On The Way To 8!
LuvThoseCaliCats!
Ms.Cats~

The auctioneer is in the house

Did anyone besides me get the feeling that the old fast talking auctioneer Lane Kiffin sold out Tennessee in record time.

Has there ever been a faster talking SEC coach? The fast talking old balls coach at South Carolina couldn’t come close to matching Kiffen’s speed with his mouth and Spurrier at least is willing to give a school his best. Kiffin on the other hand is willing to give a school his dads best shot. If it wasn’t for his dads defensive coaching what would Tennessee have done this season.

Has anyone seen a reason he should be described as a good head coach? I thought not.

He spends not even a year with the Raiders, has a losing record and is fired and called a liar by Al Davis. And you betcha he is a liar as Tennessee fans and players will tell you. All you have to do is watch his lips move to know that.

He wins barely half of his games and hes considered a good coach at Tennessee but his lips were moving there all the time too.

Hes an embarrassment to not only Tennessee fans but all of us SEC fans as well and USC fans will find that out quickly. Thanks Lane and your dad would be ashamed of you but hes watched your lips move your whole life and knows not to get involved watching them and forget whats hes doing.

About the only thing left for Tennessee to do is put the head coaching job up for auction and let the fastest auctioneer get the school a new coach in record time.

UF and Random Stuff

These Cats do have the will to win. I’m not really sure if that is the correct phrase, but it’s the sheik, in phrase that’s going around. What this team really has is the potential to beat teams in any type of game, and when they really want to they can focus long enough to get it done. They also have a confidence in their ability to make plays when they need to. I can’t really compare them to any college team I’ve seen before. I think they are a more well-rounded bunch than the 96 team. Probably more talented 1-7 but obviously much younger. The 96 team came at you in waves and the game was usually over in the first 10 minutes. This team could do that if they could focus for more than 5 minutes at a time. The big question going into post season with the 96 team was if they could handle a close game situation. No such question with this bunch. What this team reminds me of is more of a championship caliber NBA team. Not in talent, not in how they play, but how those type teams approach an NBA season as a whole. They don’t blow people out every night, but they do get some easy W’s. Most of the games are decided in the last five minutes or less, and at the end of the year they’ve clutched their way to winning 90% of their games.

On the flip side, I now agree with Cal that this team needs to focus for longer stretches and put people away. You know they can play in the clutch. They are very battle tested from that area. They are getting better and better and its time to see them flex. Beside, Cal is correct in that one of these times, a team is going to hit that lucky shot, ala the UT walk on, and UK will not be able to recover. This is a mojo I don’t want to play with because we have no idea how this team will react if it lost in the clutch.

It must be very disheartening to take Wall and Boogie out of what they want to do only to see Bledsoe, Orton and Miller step up, fill in the slack, and get it done. You simply can’t focus on one or two guys and beat UK. You can’t take Patterson out so I wouldn’t even bother there. He gets his 16-7 no matter what. I do think he needs to be more assertive and get his numbers up to 20-12.

Some of us noted during the game that Wall still doesn’t look right. He did end up with 19 and 7 of those came down the stretch, but I am concerned health wise. It may just be mental fatigue, which doesn’t change my concern one bit.

The general feeling is that Liggins and Harris were pretty much no shows. I do not disagree and the box score doesn’t either. Liggins had two turn overs and Harris had one fall in the lap rebound. But I feel strongly that an even bigger contributor was Millers much improved play. He only had nine points and a few boards, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Miller was much more involved on defense and mixing it up underneath. He didn’t always come up with the ball, but at least he was in there. He did a better job of getting in the lane and making his best shot, and he knocked down some threes when UK needed it.

Daniel Orton was a beast inside. Those blocks were unreal. They kept coming at him and he kept swatting them away. It looked to me as if one went into the second level. I won’t call them cheap seats because I wouldn’t give a dollar for any of them.

Bledsoe was the beast. I don’t know why he was the only one that noticed UF was not going to challenge people who drove to the rim, but I’m glad at least he did. He was by far the fastest player on the floor and he steadied the Cats when they needed it most. It was good to see his shooting eye return which also was a dagger into the head of the gator beast.

Finally, Cal goes for a tie of Rupp’s conference win streak Saturday. Granted, almost all of them in CUSA, but at least a Cat coach will be the one to tie/break it. It’s nice keeping things like that in the family.

What’s in a Ranking?

HAPPY NEW YEAR CATLAND (:
After a long, delightful, frenetic Holiday I’m finally gettin back to what I do best ….. expressing my opinion.
Question of the day—- What exactly is in a ranking & if it doesn’t matter as much as we profess, then why all the fuss?

I think this one is fairly simple. It’s called for the sake of argument. It provides the media, fanbases & coaches w/the opportunity to convey their biased favoritism through subtle gloating of We are better because the numbers say so! If it works out on paper/computer, well then it’s law. WRONG. Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. Game after game refutes this equation if not shreds it to pieces. The REAL NUMBERS coming from the stats says it all.
This is common knowledge, I’m not tellin you anything new– so then WHY do these rankings carry so much weight or better yet, WHY do we let them? Again… for the sake of argument & at the very best a reasonable base to establish where a team should fall. Problem w/that base is another B word—-> Bias. I think we can all agree that the presence of bias compromises a true base line. So how should teams be ranked? No, I don’t have the answer to that one…. although it would be nice to see a weekly guide by Las Vegas & the folks that don’t watch at all. (One of the grand mystery’s of the sports world, I might add— how do they do it? LOL We who live, eat & breathe this stuff always seemed to be trumped by the fella next door that says…. OOOH I like this team, they have a cool mascot). <—- That’s a whole other subject & I’m rambling as usual.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have some sort of basketball Geiger counter to measure a team peaking??? That is the trick going into March. FTR: We aren’t even close to peaking & that’s a good thing— We don’t want to see that till the beginning week of March @ the earliest Last week of February.
The funny thing about these rankings is every once in awhile they are pretty close to being right. Like now.
Kansas is exposed & opening up the big 3— Texas moves to #1 (don’t get too comfortable you will be evicted & whisked back in several times throughout this season.) & We come @ #2. I’ve always said 2 is better than 1, so I’ll hang on to this concept w/all claws going into Tuesday night’s swamp land. I also think it is a fair assessment. Okay this is about unbiased as ya can get because those of you that know me well — know I don’t put too much stock in Rick Barnes…. he chokes year after year & his teams peak way way too early. Their conference plays a big part in his failures. The nightmare is—— patterns, streaks break all the time & playing the law of averages you are eventually going to exceed expectations. CatLand, I’m going on record now saying I believe this is the year Texas will do this. In spite of conference, past & coach— this team is for real. They mirror us in every way except they are veterans. <—- This scares the h*ll outta me. They play w/a passion & they play possessed. A wicked nasty combination. I give credit where credit is due — doesn’t mean I suggest we cash it in & hand them the goods. What I am saying is this ….. if things continue we are in for one EPIC Championship entanglement w/that bunch. We just got rid of one Texan— I don’t want to see that vindicated by another! GRRRRR………
If we’re peaking in March like we should be—- even Texas is in for a mighty hurt.
Experience is going to reap solid rewards by that time— so let the rankings say what they want—- they are going to see saw like crazy in the coming weeks. We’ll even have our time at #1 before it’s all over with, trading off with Texas from time to time. Out of the “Big 3″ kansas is the less formidable & will display as such in their win/loss column. Question is—- who slides into this party??? If ya think about it…. there is a handful of teams w/quality W/L records right as I type—– but overall, Parody has taken center stage this season …… after the Big 3 you have a considerable drop off.
All that plays into our favor. We go from NIT to National Title Contender, Our Coach is saying & doing things that force you to rewind, review & think—– This clip will be aired a 1000 times after we win the title—- LIVING HISTORY. More importantly we have a team of all stars that possess a DIE HARD WILL TO WIN & our finding ways to accomplish that desire. Funny thing is— we are so young that we don’t have enough sense to stop & respect our competition & exhibit a lil fear —–that’s what NORMAL freshman do—– WE DON’T. And you won’t find me complaining one bit. This can also be our Achilles heel in that I don’t see another beating us—–
I see us beating ourselves. I do believe it’s going to happen & if it takes 2 or 3 times to get it through our heads, then so be it—- it’s all about the journey, finding out who you are & what you are— the Victorious End is not half the fun the journey is.
Enter Cal~ ….. Cats, in this game—- there isn’t another coach out there that knows how to work w/these types of players better than he does. So pour on the extra ingredient x’s 10.
We’re gonna be there— the final chapter is …. will we just be the mighty Goliath contending or THE RETURN OF A CHAMPION? I don’t know bout ya’ll, but I’m sure gonna have fun finding out.
What A RIDE huh?! I don’t want it to ever end.
So let’s not concentrate so much on the rankings— we’ve always been & always will be #1 in the hearts & minds of the Big Blue Nation. Better yet, We’re #1 on all college basketball’s mind right now!
WE ARE KENTUCKY & WE WILL ROAR!

Mid-Season Review

It’s a game late for my mid season review. I’ve been very busy and a game late but it’s better than not at all. 

 When thinking of UK’s progress to date, the first thing that jumps out is 16-0 Another number that jumps out is 2004.  When thinking back to this time last year, both are just as impressive as they are unexpected.  But here UK sits with a perfect record and a team to be reckoned with.  Lets take a few minutes and review how this start came about.

 It starts out front and on the wing.  Cal sold Bledsoe on playing with John Wall, and he has lived up to that promise.  UK, in turn, has thrived.  The reason it has thrived out front is because Cal has also sold the team on doing what you can to help the team, not yourself.  Bledsoe could be the star guard at almost any school in the country.  At UK, he’s simply, guard.  I’ve honestly toyed with the concept of Bledsoe and Wall changing spots.  Bledsoe handles as well as Wall and it would take some of the load off of Wall which may help with his cramping.  Both guards have played extremely well together, and with the help of Harris in relieve of Wall, Bledsoe or Miller, it’s been a back court of perfection.  Now UK has Liggins producing which has been my key to the run UK can make. 

The front court has been the defining factor in all but two games.  There simply is no answer for a Patterson and Cousins combo.  There have been a few teams to come close, and UGA was one of them, but the cost is usually foul trouble.  UK gets quality relief in Orton and Skinny, which does nothing but keep the interior pressure on other teams.  UK’s front court is most unique because they can beat you with strength in the post and they can also beat you down the court.   Rarely does a team have both.

 Now let’s talk about the overall positives of this year.  First and foremost, this team has played together which is the biggest key I can think of.  They rarely take bad shots and they work to get the highest percentage shot possible.  I’ve only seen them rattled a few times, and both have been of late.  But in every battle, they have been able to focus and execute down the stretch.   Much of that can be attributed to Wall, but the team as a whole must also execute when the game is on the line and for that, you must give them a sterling A+.  You would not expect a team full of All Americans to hustle as they do, but rarely is a ball on the court without an AA being in the mix.  The team, for the most part, has shot much better from outside than anyone thought they would and there have been times where they have shot extremely well from the free throw line.   UK’s interior rebounding and defense is second to none.

 There are not many areas where UK needs vast improvement, but there are a few.   UK has only played two or three games where the focus and intensity was there for 40 minutes although they usually haven’t needed to.   The team as a whole has had issues with turnovers, although this has been an area that hasn’t seemed to hurt the team.  Most of those issues are with the freshman guards, and they have shown signs of being able to play more under control when needed.  This has not been a very good rebounding team from the wing guard positions, but I think that is to be expected when you want your team to fast break as much as possible.  Still, teams have been able to stay close or outrebound the Cats at time.  One of the reasons UK has been outrebounded of late is do to a dip in outside shooting, shooting percentage and ft shooting percentage.   Missed shots equal defensive boards by the other team.  This dip is also a major concern going forward simply from a team execution standpoint.  Outside shooting makes the inside game more possible.  The three position over all needs some improvement.  Miller is an offensive threat, Harris is a defensive stopper and generally a better rebounder, and Liggins is just now getting his game legs under him. 

 Outlook:  I look for this team to get better and better IF, they can keep their focus, but I think that has been a struggle area of late.  UK needs to return to getting quality outside and free throw production across the board.  I think Liggins will now push the three spot into being just as productive as the other positions.  Miller will do nothing but improve from being pushed and Harris will be Harris, although I have not been happy with his rebounding of late.  I think the guards will continue to improve, which should translate into fewer turnovers.  This team has the tools to be as good as it wants to be.  With it’s will to win, it will be interesting to see how far they actually go.

 My player of the year so far is Boogie.  Many do not like his demeanor, many do not like his shot selection and many do not like his fake glasses.  But game in and game out, no one has played with a will to win greater than Cousins.  He is the absolute best since Sky Walker at scoring while being heavily defended, he’s a rebound machine, he defends and block shots, and no one on the team has more floor burns than Boogie.

I’m behind Joker, and here’s why

Yes, God himself knows I’ve gone a mile out of my way to discuss my distaste with Joker’s playcalling, but all that is over. I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I truly think that Joker will have better success as a head coach, than he did as a playcaller. He’s a tremendous recruiter, and he has a team building personality.

Allow me to entertain you with a bit deeper analysis of my predictions, and I’ll use some examples to show you what I mean. BTW I’m going to use layman’s terms, but some of you may know exactly what I’m talking about and may know what ideology I’m referring to. If so, no problem. But, I think it’s time I did a little bit of explaining as to WHY I’m so adamant in my evaluations. Plus, it might convince you that I’m not just pulling my opinions directly from my behind without a slight bit of filtering…

If there’s one thing that my considerable training on human traits and leadership has taught me, it’s that everyone has strengths. And, when those strengths are matched to the job right, it can be dynamic. and when they aren’t, it can be disastrous. To use one particular idea, there are four basic personality types. Some are thinkers, some are doers, some are collaborators, etc. you get the idea. Well, I’ve been thoroughly tested, and I am a doer. I’m a guy who specializes in crisis management, and immediate decision-making. *I* am better at evaluating plays and playcalling than Joker. That’s right. I said it. I DO know football, maybe not as much as some, but I know the game like it was my wife. I can look at a defense, and tell you what a good play might be in seconds. I can also tell you what a bad play might be at the same time. I say might, because sometimes, even the wrong play can be made good with good playmakers.
Now, I can do that and do it well. What I do NOT do well, is interpersonal management. I’m not someone who has the inspirational personality. I come off as direct, and abrasive, even when I don’t mean to. IT’s the way I’m wired. But, in a crisis, people are glad I’m around because I can make immediate decisions to manage the problem. But, this isn’t about me, it’s about Joker…

Joker IS NOT like me. Joker is not a crisis manager, and that’s what makes him a generally poor playcaller. He is however, a good leader. He can get the most out of people because he can manage them and their feelings. He comes across as a family member, not a boss. And that’s why I think he’ll make a good head coach.

Now, let me give you an example that should clarify why I believe you need doers as coordinators, and leaders as HCs. Florida State. Think about Florida State. Imagine Bobby on the sideline, or after the game. Remember the way he was? A salesman. The guy could sit down with anybody and make them comfortable. Make them believe him. You agree?

Now, think behind Bobby. Think Mickey Andrews. What did he look like during a game? Chewing the gum rapidly. Barking out orders. Never still always moving. He’s a kinesthetic doer. Are you starting to see what I’m getting at? They were perfect for each other and the team. It was the perfect fit.
Now, this is not to say that a doer can’t make a good coach (Urban Meyer) or that they WILL make a good coach (Charlie Weiss), but the best programs tend to have AT LEAST doers as head men or coordinators (Saban), or they have a leadership guy (Brooks) in charge that gets everyone to work well together.

BUT when teams inevitably go wrong is when they DON’T have a doer as a coordinator/playcaller. This has been the Achilles heel of UK for years now. Both Phillips and Brown are not critical thinkers. They are not crisis managers. They have milder personalities and are more interpersonal oriented. This leads to conservative decisions and playcalling. It just does.
UK needs to have DOERS as it’s coordinators. On both offense and defense, you have to have guys who think quickly, can adjust on the fly, and will gamble as often as they can, as opposed to as little as they can. Not that you need to onside kick it at the Swamp after you just scored, but things like CORNER BLITZES. 1st down hitch and go’s for the TD. Those type of things.

Joker is a collaborating type guy. He’s a guy who can bring people together and make them like him. Which is a great thing for leadership, but not for playcalling. In playcalling, you need guys who flourish under pressure. Like pit bulls and pain, they just wag their tail faster when the pressure increases. That’s what UK needs.
Sanders will be that guy, I think. (hope) His personality is more suited to the bang bang, and when he’s in the box making the calls, he’ll be better at making adjustments. I almost guarantee it.

Now, after that long walk in some minor psychology, back to the point. I’m behind Joker, and think he will do well. But, I can almost guarantee you that, unless he goes and gets a doer for his defense, he’s never going to get over the big hump. I still think he’ll be successful, maybe get an 8 win season here or there, but he’s never gonna challenge for the SEC, U-N-L-E-S-S…. Brown makes a dramatic change in his personality/philosophy and starts being a doer. To be frank, that’s just not likely.

Joker should be fine, and may be great. But, he’s gonna have to look past his feelings when it comes to Brown, IMNSHO, and realize that Brown is not a compliment for him. He needs a guy like Chuck Smith as Def Coordinator. Chuck is a doer. He’s a run the sidelines, screaming out stuff coach.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, even if you disagree.

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