Hoist one for the Cats

I’m proud of you BigBlueRules fans, me for not kicking the Cat, Coach Cal and the players but mostly the players.

We fans could be screaming bloody murder because we lost but most of the fans on this site aren’t so far. Some fans on other sites are but thats to be expected I guess since most of us are considered a little over the hill. Most of us fans were so desperate for a team who would put some fun back into watching our beloved Cat’s that we would have settled for a trip to the tournament. We got more than we ask for thanks to coach Cal and a fine bunch of young men who I’m sure feel miserable right now. Don’t feel bad, feel proud instead. You gave faith back to the Big Blue Nation and we will remember you forever.

Some of you young men can’t even buy a beer right so I suggest we fans hoist a cold one for you. Way to go guys you have made us all proud of you.

One for Patterson, Wall, Hood, Bledsoe, Miller, Stevenson, Harris, Orton, Liggins, Harrellson, Dodson, Krebs and Cousins and while your at it fans hoist one to the Lady cats who have a game tomorrow in the womens sweet sixteen.

Cheers guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thoughts on this postseason

I’m watching these shows and catching the chats and watching the games, and I think I’ve come to a conclusion about ESPN and other’s deal for this tournament. There’s no story here they like.

It’s awesome to us that UK is playing well, and looks good (no jinx, cross fingers) to be in the FF or win out, but that’s just not a story they’re interested in.

I think that’s why that, every chance they get, media groups are looking for a reason to make a story out of nothing. I mean, Cornell versus Kentucky, and you’re pitching “Brains versus Brawn”? Cinderella stories are great, but c’mon. I’m no conspiracy guy, but I do understand bias, and if our uniforms had read Kansas, the lead to that game would be “Cornell next bump in the road as KU marches to Indianapolis”. But no, it’s brains versus brawn. It the smart veterans against the young talent. It’s every story and thought about why Cornell could knock of UK, when the entire idea was so stupid it hardly bore repeating. And, so I wonder, as I watch this tournament, what’s going on with these guys, and it hits me. This tournament has a story, but it isn’t the one they want to tell. They wanted a certification of Kansas’s greatness, and it’s gone. They’d love to have Coach K get vindicated for his underwhelming finishes the last few years.

Now they’re looking at these Cinderella’s, IMO, HOPING one of them does something unheard of so that can be the story. All of that when the obvious story is so easily clear that the only way for them not to run with it is by choice.

Am I making sense? I’m struggling to find the words for it, but you know there’s just a ..lack of enthusiasm from the big sports media market about the story at hand, ya know?

The way I see it, here is the real story. UK, after two years absence from the dance and a season ending in an early NIT defeat, fires it’s coach, goes out and makes a match with one of the most powerful coaching personalities in the game, who then brings in a recruiting class that may be one of the, if not the best ever assembled, and puts a team with three freshman starters on the floor, takes that team back to number one in the nation, never falls below three, wins the SEC regular season and conference tournament, locks up a number one seed in the NCAA tournament, and is on pace toward the Final Four and possibly the national championship.

I mean,.. does anyone think that sounds familiar? Because I remember only a few years ago when Ole Roy had damned near this SAME story at UNC and it was THE story of the entire dance. Does anyone else remember it that way? Big name coach, brings the program back to glory, and all that? Anyone seeing anywhere NEAR that kinda coverage or spin on this?

I mean, I k now we get some props, but that’s not what I’m getting at. There was never a reason, NONE, to try to make Kansas the story of this year. You get me? There was nothing remarkable about what Kansas had to offer. Outside of a good freshman playing for them, and twin brothers, they were just a veteran, talented, big twelve team. They didn’t have to climb mountains. They didn’t have to rebound from anything.

I’m going to predict something that I hope I am very wrong about. If UK wins it all (no jinx, crossed fingers) I expect ESPN to spend a much shorter than usual amount of time in the post tournament coverage debating how great this season was. My fullest expectation is that they will only give the legs required to be credible concerning the matter, given that it IS the biggest event in major sports now, but then drop it like a hot potato and look into the NFL draft, very quickly. We won’t see the great replays about it, and we won’t hear from experts who were thrilled to have seen it, and etc.

Nothing to it just win

Well I didn’t get the blowout I predicted in the chat but there wasn’t any doubt who the elite team was.

Cornell started out just like I figured they would but it didn’t last long as the Cat’s defense shut them down with a total of 16 points in the first half. I really can’t understand why a elite team didn’t play better unless its the Irish beer they serve in that part of the country. Just kidding we aren’t racist in Kentucky no matter what some writers think.

Cornell did come out scrapping in the second half and got the lead below 10 but never were able to pose much of a threat to the Cat’s who had their area code and email down pat. Speaking of which did 2pat want the game or what.

Congrats to Cornell but thats the way the tournament goes. There were things lie shooting the 3 and free throw shooting we did wrong but the game was never in any doubt and next up on Saturday Huggies baby’s and the West Virginia diaper dandies on the way to the final four.

Crow, medium rare, with a side of ranch

Well, I made the accusation that Cal wasn’t doing much to coach UK to beat a zone. So now, I’ll munch on those fine words, and savor them with salt.

To put it bluntly, Cal was sandbagging.

No question about it. No doubt in my mind. Flat out, SANDBAGGING. This team has just sort of muddled it’s way through the season. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they were bad, they just kinda… went game to game, sometimes big, sometimes small, but just really sorta operated with a “shoot it and we’ll go get it attitude. Obviously worked to the tune of over 30 wins. But what we saw LAST weekend?.. No.

UK didn’t just have energy. I think most of us felt like they were just playing together the whole year for THIS tournament. To make their show here. But what we saw, was an exhibition. We saw meaningful cuts. We saw movement. We saw speed. We saw shooting. We saw passing. We saw depth.

Play a zone. Go right ahead. This team is ready. Play man to man. Play 6 on 5 if you think you can get away with it, because that will still only let you stay in the ballpark. It won’t get you a guaranteed win.

Cal was lying to the world. Just lying. He sat back. He kept his cards close. He low balled his way into this tournament, and now he’s putting it on display. And I mean all of that in the most respectful sense.

Like I posted in another thread on the board, and well before Kansas got their humble pie, and in SPITE of the ESPN twits, There is a biggest, longest, strongest, tallest, fastest, deepest, and most talented team in this tournament. And that team has “Kentucky” on its jersey.

Calonite

As Jimi might have sung. Have you been exposed well I have.

We all know the story of superman. How he was from Krypton and was sent away before the planet was destroyed and the only thing that could destroy him was pieces of the planet called Kryptonite.

There is another story out there that has been feeding off a more powerful element called Calonite. That story is the Kentucky Wildcats.

These super Cat’s have been exposed to Olroyonite, Calhounonite, Stallonite and Gaudionite this year with no ill effects. Even Foxonite and a light dose of Pearlonite did little but give the Cats a temporary headache.

Selfonite has been proven to be weak so there doesn’t seem to be to many onites left. Boeheimonite just doesn’t roll off the tongue right and Konite brings to many tears to the eyes to be strong.

Could there be a stronger onite out there? Sure there could but its going to take a good forty minute exposure to overcome the Calonite exposure these Cats have experienced.

Is there a player who has been exposed to Calonite more than Demarcus Cousins and responded as well to the exposure. The answer is one word “Nope”.

If I was a young man looking to play in the NBA I would look no further than Kentucky and what the exposure to Calonite has done to not just the freshmen but to every player on the team.

Cinderella

The NCAA tournament is underway for the men and the women and it is time for the proverbial Cinderella teams to manifest themselves once again.

We like to cheer for an underdog when they aren’t playing our team and with 64 or 65 teams represented for both the men and women there has to be several to pick from, but who will they be.

I remember the team that had Cornbread Maxwell and the folk hero he became as he led his team to improbable wins one after another until that one game when he couldn’t provide the heroics and they lost. Every year we have a team like that it seems. Remember Butler and Gonzaga when they wore the slipper, but now they are there every year it seems. Western KY took their turn with their sharpshooter as he fired from seemingly everywhere and just couldn’t miss, until that game that he just couldn’t deliver just like Cornbread and so many others.

That is the way it works for the most part. Cinderella is just a fairy tale isn’t it? Could this year be the year that Cinderella actually gets to keep the slipper and prince charming give her the other one just after midnight on that oh so special night.

Looking back at the beginning of the year who would have picked the two UK teams to be enjoying the dance and festivities like there is no tomorrow. Let’s face it, nobody would have picked the lady cat’s to be so good with the opportunity to keep playing well into the tournament and with a few good bounces could still be standing at the end. I certainly will not forecast the finish because I just don’t know how it will end.

The same goes for the men. I know that everyone felt the team was going to be special because of all the new talent on the team that just appeared from nowhere to play for UK just like it would happen in a fairy tale. Let’s face it only the truly die-hard fan would envision such a year as they have had. Yeah, all of us made the statement that they would lose a “few” games during the season and have an opportunity to win it all at the end. How many games did we feel would be the “few” losses and to whom?

UNC, UConn, UL, TN, Vandy and Mississippi State were all forecast to beat UK because they had superior talent and more upperclassmen for stability. Along with those losses we had to figure they would slip up at least twice more and have a total of eight losses. Everyone knew that coach Cal was a good coach, but even the most ardent supporters had to recognize the possibility of several losses during the season. It simply wasn’t fair to expect more of them.

Look at teams like UNC that had to bring along a stable full of good talent and yet withered on the vine as the season progressed, but not the UK men. They took on all comers and stumbled only twice during games when everything that could go wrong did.

The lady cat’s had the unbeaten streak along with the men for a long time. A good shot here and there and they would have been a #1 seed just like the men. It has truly been a fairy tale year for both teams.

You see Cinderella has been right under our noses all year long with both the men and women. They have been wearing the slippers and dancing into the night, night after night and yet the pumpkin coach never disappears. The clock doesn’t strike twelve.

It has been such a wonder dance all year long and Cinderella has really enjoyed herself so much that she has forgotten that she is wearing the glass slippers. Neither team is the favorite to win it all, but prince charming hasn’t arrived yet so there is time for a few more dances before the clock strikes twelve and who knows who will have the last dance with prince charming.

The one thing we do know is that fairy tales become reality. Young men and women dream dreams about being the best athlete in their class and in the end only a few can make that claim, but they keep dreaming they will be the one. Nobody has a right to deprive them of that dream. Let them keep reaching for the stars and pinching themselves until the clock strikes twelve. We the fans can live in our dreamland as well. We don’t lay it all on the line night after night, but we are attending games or watching TV and rooting them on while hoping and dreaming of championships one after another.

Who will it be? Cinderella lives on and don’t anybody pinch me, because I don’t want to wake up. Just a few more dances is all I want. Perhaps prince charming will show up at the last dance and find Cinderella waiting.

I can hear the entourage approaching!  Cinderella, Cinderella do you have time for one more dance?

29-2

What a wonderful ride. UK sits at 29-2, which is remarkable when you consider the unknowns before the season started. Most (OK me) figured UK would struggle early and lose a few more games than they have, but would gel down the stretch. In some ways neither thing has happened. UK IS 29-2 but most would agree that their play is just as spotty now as it was at the beginning of the season. Make no mistake, they are much improved. But the level of play has increased and other teams have gotten better as well.

But let’s face it; the ride wouldn’t be nearly as fun if it were as flat as a Kansas high way. Roller coasters are way more fun. I would expect this type of ride from here on out with the young teams Cal plans to bring in. I don’t know if many of them will be 29-2, but the ride will be the same.

Senior day was something special. Given that Mark Kreb’s mom was able to make it and Patterson got his Senior day that many (OK me) thought he deserved. Something also happened when the game started too. The UK, “Seniors + Wall” went out and took it to the Gators. The defense was as crisp as any we’ve seen all year. UK had a seven point lead in just over five minutes of play. With the return of the, “starters” UF suddenly was able to get just about whatever shot they wanted for a short stretch. UK then went on a block party that looked more like volleyball spikes than rejected shots and extended the seven point cushion to 18. UK also did a great job of hitting the open threes the UF zone afforded them. UF then went to a man to man, the starters + Dodson started doing what they tend to do, and next thing you know UK takes a 10 point lead into the half.

Now let’s focus on this for a minute. UK has a seven point lead with little used Seniors, builds an 18 point lead with the starters, then settles for a 10 point lead at the half. That is a seven point lead in a quarter of that time and an added three points in the remaining three quarters of that time. I hope Cal pays attention to that when he watches the tape. Krebs was able to keep number 11 in front of him. Bledsoe, was not (not at all and it wasn’t even close). The allowed penetration got UK some good blocks at first, then UF adjusted and got some very easy shots. Meanwhile, Bledsoe had a terrific seven minutes on offense followed by a horrid finish to the half. Dodson followed a similar line on defense.

UF was able to execute the pick and roll to perfection in the second half. Very poor guard positioning left the pick man with a wide open alley to the hoop several times in a row. But, UK again found a way to get a slight cushion at crunch time and was able to hold the Gators at arms length.

If UK is going to be a defensive team, Cal needs to play guys that can actually play defense. UK has enough scoring on the floor without all the breakdowns Dodson and Bledsoe allow. Heck, UK wouldn’t NEED as much scoring if it didn’t have the major break downs. Thank goodness for Miller as he is really starting to come into his own on both ends of the floor. UK still hasn’t even thought about solving the double sandwich on Boogie and I think it’s really starting to affect his game. Pat did a MUCH better job of helping take some pressure off Boogie in the second half and I think that should be his focus moving forward. Pat is also now taking the ball from the outside in. Folks, this is the last part of the game he needs to add, and if he can perfect it just a little more, there is absolutely no reason he should even consider returning. UK now heads into post season with some pretty obvious flaws. BUT, they also have things that other teams must gamble to try to stop. The path to a final four isn’t quite as clear as I would hope it would be, but at least there aren’t the major road blocks of the last seven years or so. I have a feeling the roller coaster will get even wilder before it’s all over!

Out-Classing UGA

It’s funny what I allow UK basketball to do to me. Last night I went from serious berserk, to total elation, all in the span of two hours. I am sure the play to begin the game wasn’t a thing of beauty, but that had little to do with my prior condition. It seems WAVE in Louisville decided to have technical difficulties with the feed. I didn’t think ESPN 360 would have the game as it wasn’t an ESPN production (bad assumption on my part). My wife has always questioned my sanity when it comes to UK, but before it was more in a joking manner. Now, I can tell she is seriously wondering…

Anyway, I missed the first two minutes all together and the first 10 minutes of TV time so I can’t give much input on that time frame. I can tell you that the Cats magically started taking it to the Dogs just as soon as I finally had TV. Just as I took the blame for the loss, I now take full credit for the improved play.

And improved play it was and for me it was across the board. I’ve given Bledsoe a lot of grief and I bet others won’t be so easy to agree with me, but I thought his play was much improved, if nothing else, but on the defensive end. He was in the right spots and did a very good job of staying with his guy. UK seemed to come at UGA in waves and all the dogs could do was try, in vain, to keep their heads above water. And this was a very dangerous place to play. I didn’t think UK would have trouble there at the beginning of the season, but conference play had made me take note as all other east teams had failed to win in Athens. That speaks volumes about the job Fox has done and its yet another quality coach to compete against in the SEC.

How about a HUGE shout out to Dodson. Something clicked and he suddenly had his stroke back. Was anyone else able to tell it was going down just as soon as he released his bombs? It all started with a pull up jumper and from there he was pretty much dead center. I totally agree with coach when he says that this team’s demise will not be poor outside shooting. But good outside shooting never hurts and there was plenty. Dodson, Wall and Patterson all shot 50% or above for the night. The team, as a whole, shot 33% which is really only respectable but the team had to make up for an 0-9 from Miller. Miller made up for the poor outside shooting on his own with awesome D (best of the year by him in my opinion) and some key baskets in the lane.

Wall was Wall at his best, Patterson was Patterson at his best but two other guys really stepped out to the front for me. We all have been looking for that extra guard and I think we finally found him last night. How about a HUGE shout out to may main man at the point, Mr BOOOOGGGGIIIEEE. The MAN is as talented as any center/point guard combo to ever come through UK. You know you have a special talent when your point guard leads the two best breaks of the night, both coast to coast. On one, he does his best Jordan hand switch in mid air and on the next he feeds none other than the power forward for a nifty assist. But the Mainest man of the night was Harris. He seemed to provide a steady hand when things were still a touch dicey in the first half and continued to provide positives throughout his minutes. He contributed some key offensive rebounding, three assists to zero turnovers, a key shot that I thought was a three and some awesome defense.

Overall, this was exactly what UK needed. They played relatively smart, and made UGA pay for the things they tried to take away. Most importantly, they out classed a team they were suppose to out class and took care of a very dangerous team in their house.