UK vs IU

I remember Rick Pitino saying if UK doesn’t lose to Vanderbilt in 96 the Cat’s wouldn’t have won the NCAA tourney that year.  I feel that statement was appropriate then and also now for the present team.

I do want to give credit to a good IU team.  I am surprised how good they are and that Zeller kid is the best of the Zeller kids.  I just hope he will be gone after this year, ha!

Having said that, IU had some extra friends in the game especially in the first half.  Pundits say bad officiating doesn’t win games for the other team, but that is a farce.  First of all every no call or bad call gives the other team a chance to score more points, but the larger thing is that it gives a club impetus to impose their will on the opponent.  Those same calls or lack of them allows the surging team to be loose.  They feel they can do no wrong and can’t miss shots.  That scene unfolded before our eyes today.  During the entire game especially in the first half officials allowed IU to mug UK on both ends of the court.  The lack of calls in UK’s favor were basically absent and IU got loose real loose so they win.  During the 2nd half the calls were better, but IU pushed the UK players with their free hand on every drive and were never called for it.

Now to tell the truth Jones forgot to show up for this game.  For some reason he just wasn’t there.  Miller was tentative and passed up some open shots to drive and miss.  During the 2nd half he improved and I feel if he makes the three with 2 minutes left UK wins that game.  It was obvious Wiltjer was really nervous and unsure of himself.  He passed up shots that he should have been ready to take.  He definitely will not be a one-and-done.  I like him and he will be a good player at UK.  Davis absence for most of the game was probably the deciding factor in the loss, but that will change.  I know that Teague will improve greatly and I was proud of the way he picked himself up and played a heady 2nd half.  If we have that same player in the 1st half UK wins the game.  Finally, if Doron Lamb doesn’t show up and play a hard game UK loses by 20.  Gillie-the-Kidd played well as usual and it is unreal how he plays so mature at his young age.

The good part is all of those things that went wrong today can make the team even better so like Ricky said in ’96 perhaps the loss will propel this team to a championship.  They won’t be #1 next week and don’t deserve it yet anyway, but I feel they will be there again.

My reasoning is that they will not face a more hostile crowd that they faced today.  They now know they have to listen to coach and that every shot won’t always go in for them.  I think UK may not lose another game this year.  I mean that because they will improve so much from that loss.  Let us understand those are young players starting for the Cat’s.  Three freshmen and two sophomores take the floor.  They have so much to learn and they will.  By the time March rolls around this team will be awesome.

Don’t get me wrong, because I am severely disappointed in the loss.  I never want UK lose, but sometimes every team loses a game they should win (yes UK should have won) and goes on to greatness.

Will this be one of those teams that rise from defeat determined to be the very best or will they fall into mediocrity?  They will become great, because of their youth, their drive to be better, their individual superb talent level, their learning how to win as a team and finally because of one of the best coaches in the land.

Revel in the win IU while you can.  You deserve the win, but in the end you are going to get run over by a superior team in March.  Hope to see you there in our bracket.

Instant Classic

Yesterday’s game, UK vs UNC is an instant classic.  Two great teams not giving an inch to the other and battling to the end in a game decided by one point is one for the ages.  That is doubly so with perennial powerhouses going at each other at high noon on Saturday.

The game was marked by every real basketball fan as a must watch.  Games like that have even the most seasoned writers and prognosticators scratching their head and stuttering a few unintelligible words trying to pick a winner.

Even though UNC lost to UNLV most people still picked them to beat the  talented youthful Cat’s.  Most people thought the home court win streak was going to end yesterday for the Cat’s.  All of the elements were there for an upset at the hands of the hated baby blue uniforms with a hated coach at the helm.

UNC has great, great talent with youth mixed into an already seasoned talented team with veterans running the show.  UNC had a revenge motive from the NCAA loss to UK last season.  They had a bounce back motive from the loss at UNLV.  They needed to beat UK to gain a game in the overall all time win column which I believe burns in Old Roy’s belly.  Two blue bloods going after each other, but UK was going down because of their youth and the talented front court from UNC.

However, don’t tell that to the precocious youth at UK.  Don’t tell Gillie-the Kidd he can’t get the job done who played like a man possessed all game long while rebounding from the foul plagued game against the quick St. John’s team.  Don’t tell that to Terrence Jones who put his game face on and brought his lunch with him.  Don’t tell the senior Darius Miller they were going to lose.  No sir, Darius does what a super talented senior does best, put the team on his shoulders and do something to steady the team be it a rebound, deflection or some points by willing the ball in the basket.

Don’t tell that to anyone off the bench.  Losing was not an option to the young UK team with 4 freshmen.   Don’t tell it to Davis who played a heady game.  He played like a veteran against a bigger older 7 foot opponent in the middle without fouling out.  He was tired, but with the game on the line he had the quickness and energy to block a 6′ 11” guy with long arms shooting from the side.   Henson wasn’t his man, but he did it anyway.

Those guys are coachable and they like each other.  They are becoming a feared team already in early December with a yet huge upside to them.  Coach drives them to be the best and is the reason they came to play for Cal. They know what he is going to do to and for them.  They know he is going to drive them to limits they never dreamed they could do, but in the end they will have a shot at the NBA.  They know he drives a hard bargain, but they also know he cares about them so they play together and win.

In the end, however, the question is how did UK win the game, really!

The answer has already been posted in another post or two so it shouldn’t be any surprise.  It was also spoken by Cal in the early part of practice.  The answer is speed.  The cartoon character Road-Runner can out run, out quick anybody that is until this brand of cat pastes him all over the floor and in the end gets stuffed into the basket along with the ball by one mister Davis.  Yesterday John Henson was the Road-Runner.

No team is ready for the length and quickness of this brand of Cat, nobody.  UNC found out yesterday and they are good, real good.

Instant Classic, you bet!

Cat’s beat determined Portland

UK beat a very determined Portland team that refused to just wilt, but in the end they had no choice in the matter.  UK had superior talent and superior quickness for the 3 point barrage from Portland to equal a win for the visitors.

The season will become decidedly more difficult this week with two good teams coming to town.  UNC has been the #1 ranked team from the last of the previous campaign and rightly so in my opinion.  They lost last evening to a supposedly inferior team and if they played 10 times UNC would probably win 9 of them.

That loss by UNC can’t be good news for UK.  Roy and company will now have the proverbial monkey off of their backs and it is squarely on UK right now.  I would normally welcome the #1 ranking, but I would have preferred it to come after the UNC game if UK would be lucky or good enough to win.  I say lucky because I feel UNLV was more lucky than good, because UNC has everything a coach could want for a college team except 5 starting seniors with the same talent.  On the other hand, UK doesn’t have that.  Sure UK is extremely talented and extremely quick which saved them last night, but UNC has more depth and experience and now they also have a wounded ego to bring with them.

UK will have their work cut out for them and they had better not be overlooking Steve Lavin’s boys from the City.  Steve’s boys are young but very talented.  If UK brings their A game they should win that game, but it is a trap game.  I wish that game was on Wednesday instead of Thursday because of the youth on Cal’s team.

I like what I have been seeing in the growth of the team.  They are getting better and better each game.  They are becoming a team of extremely talented young men rather than just being extremely talented individuals.  The athleticism and length of the team disrupts every team they play and should (barring injuries) all year.

UK could lose 2 games this week split the games or win two.  I feel they can get two, but they need to grow even more this week before facing two good teams.   Don’t worry about Harrison Barnes not being in the lineup, because he will be there at full strength and I want it that way.  Even if he wasn’t there UNC has great talent to fill the spot.

One great sign from the Portland game was Darius Miller once again brought a great game with him.

We have been waiting for almost 8 months for this week.  I know I am excited so bring it on!

 

 

The Snowball And The Hot Place

I gave UK as much chance to win the football against UT yesterday as the proverbial snowball in the hot place, but somehow the snowball survived. It wasn’t pretty and as usual I was fuming angry all during the game at the horrific play calling by the coaches. I know, I know they sort of had their hands tied, but couldn’t they let a quarterback who has been playing football for many years throw a short pass up field a few times?

Don’t get me wrong about the win. I am ecstatic that UK won. The streak has been 25 years too long so this win is so satisfying on many fronts. First and foremost beating anything with the color orange as a school color is very satisfying. I kept seeing the face of Mr. Dooley on camera yesterday with that gray jacket on. It didn’t look so bad until the camera showed a full torso of him wearing those ugly orange pants and it was like, ugh why did you put such ugly things on for your pants. The person or persons that choose that color were insane at the best. The people that choose to keep it their school color are even worse because they see ugly splattered all over the place and do nothing about it.

Yeah the win is doubly satisfying because now we won’t have to listen to it a million times over and over like broken records reloading to punish you. This time it is their turn and it will be even worse for them because they are the team, coach and administration that let it happen. They have to live with that for the rest of their lives and I am so happy for them! I do feel bad for the coach, because he seems to be a decent sort of guy so I don’t hate him, because as coach he had to wear that color. I wish him well in his future assistant coach job(s) at another institution, because this will surely be his last year at UT. I bet he has had to hire extra security for their safety. I can only imagine the death threats he may have already received, because as the announcers said during the Bama and Auburn game there would be repercussions from that loss.

Now back to the game…what really happened to secure the win? I mean really!? UK is horrible and there is no way an offense so bad the coaches wouldn’t even attempt a forward pass could beat any division 1 team. The defense played their hearts out, but even that had many holes in it all game long, but UT couldn’t take advantage of it. Their quarterback is so slow he moves in slow motion. I kept wondering why our guys couldn’t splatter the guy all over the field.

The last 1:47 was terrifying to watch, because that is the point where the clock was stopped to attend to a downed referee. Isn’t that the place during the game when UK usually has something bad happen to them?  Certainly, the clock was their enemy at that point of the game! UK desperately needed the clock to run really fast, but there it was stopped giving UT time to settle down a bit and call a good play, but even more importantly to them gave them more time.

I just knew fate had just intervened once again to deny UK the win, but somehow it didn’t. Time stood still for an eternity and I was screaming at the referrer’s to start the clock, but they wouldn’t for the longest time.  Finally, play resumed with a pass to the sideline and we all know the usual ending to that story all to well don’t we, however;  from out of nowhere Danny Trevathan almost intercepted a pass to a receiver, but he didn’t.  I knew then fate was torturing us for the dramatic letdown and our 26 years of hope was going to crash to the ground by one fateful play.  There was no doubt we were going to lose, but I had to watch anyway.  I just knew the next pass was going for a touchdown or close enough for an easy field goal to tie the game. We surely didn’t want another extra period for another quirky meltdown.  Then the fateful play unfolds as I held my breath while the ball sailed right down the middle of the field.  Sure enough fate intervened and some how some way the pass was picked off allowing UK to run out the clock securing the win.

All I can say is the snowball must have had a special coat on it yesterday, because the fire was hot and orange in color.  Now the UT administrators need more than a snowball to put out that fire.

Yes indeed, that win is sweet for the color BLUE!  Can I breathe now?

Way to go Joker!

I guess I should title the post way to go Joker, because of all the heat he has been taking and some of it by me.

Of course the game yesterday wasn’t about a national championship or such, but the game was about ‘who are we going to be going forward’! I believe that sometimes fate makes you make decisions that you are unable to make given your personality or your habits. In this instance I am talking about both of those attributes in Joker Phillips. I want all to understand that I am a huge admirer of Joker because of not only all he has accomplished as a football player and coach from and at UK, but because of his character.  Having said that, I feel that Joker wouldn’t have changed his “style” of play without being forced to do so.

That game against Ole’ Miss was much more than a casual yearly meeting between the two teams, because the losing coach of the game stood a good chance of losing their job as coach of their respective team (from what I have read Houston Nutt may have lost his job after the loss) and that is sad commentary for how we are and what is expected of a coach.  If Ole’ Miss had won Joker’s hot seat would have been hotter.

One thing happened on the way to a victory yesterday and that was the game was more exciting and became more winnable because of opening up the game a little and taking chances with play calling they wouldn’t have in the past. Those are two things we fans have been screaming about and for a long time.

Max Smith now has a following and Joker has a problem on his hands.  He has said Smith is the starter for next week, but Joker unless something happens to Smith this fan says he needs to be the starting quarterback the rest of the year no matter what.  The more open play calling and going for broke was exciting, but he made the connection with the receivers and (very importantly) the fans. The crowd was loud (I had to listen to the game via the radio) and I listened the entire game without getting disgusted and changing to classical music.  Also, Joker, this article says it will buy you more time with the fans.  It will buy you time for another year to let us see how good those other young guns you have been talking about really are.  I want that to happen.

Realistically, we can’t expect to win the rest of the games, but make them exciting and who knows what could happen on the way to having some fun.  Just saying!

 

What is it going to take!

If you follow my writings you know that I generally support Mitch Barnhart with his decisions. The man has a thankless and tough job. There is no way he can garner support from all the fans no matter how hard he tries. I feel he is trying to do what is right with his most recent show of support for beleaguered football coach Joker Phillips.

Mitch is having to live with the hiring of a “coach in waiting” as proposed by the most recent past coach Brooks, but reality is reality no matter how much we don’t want to admit it.

UK football is abysmal at best. Football has descended to the basement of football in America not to mention the SEC. I am just a writer and an untrained one at that, but I have eyes to see with and what I see is ugly to look at. I see an offensive line that is just that, offensive. They can’t seem to get together for even one good play let alone 4 of them. Why is that happening? That line was supposed to be pretty good according to the prognosticators (whom I didn’t believe), but it was forecast to be much better than they have showed. The question then is why is that so? Is it the players or the coaches, or could it be the system?

People say players play and coaches coach. In the forum section it has been posted that they don’t blame the players. I am sorry to say that I don’t completely agree with that. Now I am not laying all the blame on the players, but some of it has to be there. If the coaches are coaching well and have recruited well then the players have to perform to a certain level or have someone to take their place from within the system.

I could go down the list of positions that aren’t performing well and make all of us sick, but I won’t. The question and answers would be the same for all of them. It seems the only position that is doing OK is the kicking game.

Now back to Mitch and his decision to say what he did concerning Joker being the man. He had to say it for now, OK, yeah he did, yeah he did, but what about after this Saturday if they (gulp) lose? I hope they don’t lose, but they might. Who knows with this team what they might bring to the game Saturday, but even if they bring their “A” game that team will bring theirs. They smell blood and rightly so, because after all every team has smelled blood all year and why is that?!

Am I wrong to ask if the recruits (as a whole) are talented enough to play at the SEC level of football?

Secondly, am I wrong in suggesting the coaches aren’t making the right calls for the players to succeed. I surely think I am right in that regard, but more than that may I suggest they aren’t coaching the players up (as they say) as a team to be better than they can individually be. Good or dare I say great coaches do that. Not only can good or great coaches make the right calls, teach players how to make plays in a better more efficient way, but they make them burn with desire to be better. Let us face it not many players are Randall Cobb type players. Not many have a burning motor like him so the coaches have to instill that in them and this coaching staff is not doing that.

Now Joker has been here for a number of years and has had the reigns of recruiting, hiring staff, calling plays and motivating players. With his success rate in mind what rating should we give him for any or all of those areas. I mean, let us be reasonable and rate with our minds and not our hearts. Let us rate him by his success in development of 0 stars to 5 star recruits, wins against non-SEC teams, SEC teams. Does the success of the team make us look forward to the next game? Does the success of the recruiting department make us drool over the coming season? Does the excitement carry us through the summer and keep us tuned to the next talk show or searching websites for a new tidbit of exciting information?

I think the answer to that is no and Joker, Mitch, and the university President will have to answer for that sooner or later. I think Joker only has a few games (1 if they lose to J-ville State) to get the ship righted. If he doesn’t then what do they do? I mean who are they going to hire to replace Joker?

If the university doesn’t decide to put an emphasis on football it will eventually hurt all the programs. Basketball has been so successful it has been able to keep support a grow, but eventually it may need help. We aren’t always going to have a Calipari at the helm of basketball so UK desperately needs football to succeed. They need to pull out all stops to make sure it succeeds and that takes money. There is no reason football can’t succeed at UK and don’t give me the recruiting edges other schools have. UK just needs to put the money in the hand of a really good coach looking for a challenge or to put his stamp on a program.  They need to put their money on a man that can recruit the better players, make better play calls, motivate players and keep fans searching and listening.

Is there a man out there watching and listening for the call.  We know the fans are and have been for many, many years, but the real question is anyone in the administration listening?

Basketball is finally here!

I have been anxiously waiting for the basketball season to get under way since the final 4 ended the wrong way. I was certainly disappointed with the finish, but I was so happy those guys reached the final four.

They over-achieved (I know that term is usually a misnomer, but not this time) and reached a height that only the most ambitious prognosticator would have dared voice to anyone. However, that season is over and a new one begins.

I have posted about most of those players and how excited I am to see them take the floor. It is hard to pick a single player as your favorite player on this team at least it is for me. All of them seem to have a great personality and have accepted the team concept so how do we or should we pick a favorite player.

I mean how could we not pick Jones, Lamb, Miller or Davis as our favorite player. Gosh if one didn’t have Miller up there before the exhibition they should have now. I mean he was unconscious and seemed so relaxed. The same goes for Lamb. I believe he would be comfortable shooting from half court.

Jones drove faster than the wind and finished around the basket with authority (I know it was only an exhibition), but WOW he exploded and stuck it more than once. Just when I thought I had him pigeon-holed he stuck a long three. How are you going to defend that. It will be very difficult one on on one so double team him, right?! How can a team do that with speed burners that can shoot (or pass) at every position.

Anthony Davis has arms so long every loose ball is in range and he can run like a deer and jump like one as well. Not many players like him anywhere in basketball.

Teague will have so much fun getting the ball to those guys knowing that they can make him look good with every pass. Well if nothing else works for you just give it to Kidd-Gilchrist. That young man is only a freshman and freshman are not supposed to be able to do what he does and hold onto the ball in traffic much less finish the play.

I am so excited to watch him play. I will watch every game with anticipation for the unexpected from every one of those players, but when something goes awry with the play I know who will be in the mix for the ball.

He will do what he does and immediately sprint down the floor looking for a loose ball or to catch an unlucky opponent not paying close attention. He will do it without fanfare, but he will do it!

It is going to be a fun season and certainly makes it easier to be a catfan4life!

Renovating Rupp Arena

A lot of time has been spent on the topic of a new arena or renovating Rupp Arena to make it more modern. The topic has been at the forefront or in the background for perhaps ten years. There are certainly as many ideas as there are people it seems, but the topic is front and center again and this time it looks like something just might happen.

I say bring it on. I mean I have been waiting for years to see it happen so I hope this time it isn’t another disappointment for those like myself.

There are basically three schools of thought.

1. Do nothing right now. Stall for time, Rupp is OK the way it is some say. OK, if nothing is done does it benefit UK? I say no it doesn’t and the reason is that other schools are renovating or building a new facility. I am not talking about the SEC, but rather the entire country. UK has already been left in the dust in that regard. Recruiting will be affected if it isn’t already. Sure UK is a huge draw to top notch recruits because of the basketball tradition we enjoy. Calipari is a draw all by himself, but let us look ahead to when he leaves or retires from coaching. When that happens we have to ask ourselves will the new coach be able to make an impression even close to what Calipari has done. He is a special talent and knows how to make things happen is so many special ways which means a new coach will be hard pressed to even come close to what he can do. Keep in mind it will take time to renovate or build a new arena.

With that said how about Rupp then if it hasn’t been changed. The new coach will need a draw and a special one-of-a-kind venue would be a great draw for the recruit. Yeah we could keep Rupp the way it is, but to me it is the least desirable choice available to us.

2. Renovate Rupp and keep the memories we all share a little longer. That is a nostalgic idea for sure, but in my view has our hearts firmly replacing our minds. Every venue we have had or will have will have special memories to them. To me if we are going to have those special memories and never move UK should add onto Memorial. There is where even more memories have been made and it is on campus. On campus, uh, yeah, on campus. In my view they should build on campus. That way they control everything about the facility. They could still work out something with the city about their renting the facility from UK for large audiences rather than the other way around. The players would be able to be more familiar with the facility and many other small things come to mind, but it would really be UK whereas it isn’t now. Yeah, it is owned by the city and UK calls it home, but it isn’t home. Just look at the times the city says no to UK about the use of the arena and that tells the story.

3. Build a new facility. Yeah, that is the idea that I like. True it may cost more money, but I bet it won’t be that much more and if UK would build it on campus the land wouldn’t be such a problem cost wise. They could build a state of the art facility where everyone else would once again be looking at UK.

Now some have brought up the cost and they should, but in today’s marketing times have changed. Businesses pay dearly for naming rights and advertisement space so there is a good avenue to alleviate some of the cost. Either way it will be very expensive to renovate or build anew. Building anew will give them more leeway to add more luxury suites and all the pizzaz one can add in a facility. Renovating will limit that ability. One last thought about building another facility is parking space. An on campus site would automatically have much better parking than is now available downtown. We have to pay to park now so why not at UK to defray some of the cost of building.

After finishing a renovation I guarantee you that the powers that be would say it looks nice, but I really wish we could have done more. With that I rest my case.

catfan4life

Awesomeness of the Legends Game

Basketball in August is simply awesome and especially if it involves UK in any way. The Legends game last evening (Aug 14, 2011) is one I will remember for a long, long time. Watching those former players that gave their hearts and souls to the game playing on the Rupp Arena floor once again was special at least to me.

I think most of those 23,000 fans show up in August to watch former players get after it says so much for several reasons.
1. It speaks volumes about the UK fan base. It gives credence
to the fact that UK has the #1 basketball fan in the country.
If anyone wants to argue that point try topping the number of
wild avid fans in another venue.
2. It was even televised, imagine that!
3. It shows that the players still bleed blue no matter what team
they may now play for.
4. Coach Cal is a magician. If he doesn’t buy gold he is making
a mistake because everything he touches turns to gold.

Can Cal coach or what? Don’t you think if he had coached the blue team they would have won? I sure do.

Two more months until midnight madness and it will be madness this year.

UK’s Underclassmen

Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and DeAndre Liggins all have/had a decision to make concerning their futures and so far I think the right decision has been made by each of them. I still haven’t heard what Liggins has decided, but from reports he should return for his senior season.

‘Dre is a very talented basketball player and in my view deserves to be in the league, but a senior year under coach Cal can only reap dividends for Dre’. The one area that he needs to work on is his shooting. If that aspect of his game improves very much he will be drafted next season and I wish him the best .

Brandon Knight made the right decision by staying in the draft. His stock improved because of who he is and how he approaches the game. It didn’t hurt his draft status that others pulled out, but even if they hadn’t he was still a lottery pick. I am sure he will continue his education and get his degree. With the money he will make playing professional basketball he won’t necessarily need a diploma for financial success, but it won’t hurt either.

Terrence Jones also made the right decision by deciding to stay at UK for another season. I don’t feel that he would have been a lottery pick this year, but with a productive season he will be a high pick providing he stays healthy. Jones has so much talent so the upside to his staying is off the charts. Next season they won’t be able to double team his as much as the past season because of the raw talent surrounding him. That isn’t to mention Miller as a senior and ‘Dre (if he comes back) for other coaches to worry about.

Whether others agree with me or not they had to make the best decision for their future not ours and I wish them the best.

Good fortune to you guys!

catfan4life

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