Brandon Jennings to emulate Rondo

Brandon Jennings who was selected 10th by the Milwaukee Bucks thinks that the NBA guard to emulate is none other than former Kentucky guard Rajon Rondo.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/bucks/49279172.html

Gamecocks Flog Cats 77-59

The South Carolina Gamecocks showed us all last night why they should be in first place in the SEC East – and not us…They outplayed us…They outhustled us…and worse, they humiliated us. SC, not accustomed to being in this spot this time of the year, made the most of it last night, beating UK for the second time this year, and showing us what a matchup problem UK has with SC’s guards. Native son, Darrin Horn, must be basking in the glory after defeating UK twice in one season…SC, riding the wave of 16 blocked shots on the inside by its big men, and 9 alone on 2Pat, flogged UK for the second time in a row this season, and this one’s going to “hurt us for a long, long, time”….

For as good as UK looked on Saturday in the confines of Rupp; that’s how bad they looked on the road before a packed house of screaming Gamecock Fans…Indeed, UK showed it has the youth and immaturity to lose at any time should they not play with the passion commensurate with the situation. Playing for 1^st in the SEC East, UK looked like a bunch of high-schoolers getting their dose of humble pie before a packed house of screaming “I told you so’s….. We came out and looked rigid and tight and never really had a chance. Patrick Patterson was the only player that I could discern that played very hard while he was out there.

Sc rode the heady play of guard Devan Downey and came out and hit 4 of their first 6 three’s and the game was over for all intents and purposes. In my pre-game pep-talk I suggested that Porter might need lots of help with Downey. He did, and he didn’t…He did need help; he didn’t get it, in anyone that BCG put on Downey. He is just too quick and too good. The substitution pattern on this night went beyond logic into bizarre world…I don’t have the numbers on minutes played, but it looked as if Galloway could have been uses if available, for all those useless 30 minutes or so that Liggins stood out there. And, to play Porter and Sloan at the same time on SC’s guards was the biggest mismatch since Hawaii took on……just kidding Bill!,,, you guys know what I mean…There isn’t a way that those two can handle SC’s two at any time. Nuff Said!

Since BCG is always eager to take the blame for a loss, I will eagerly give him some of it; given he played the same defense against SC he played in Lexington and lost worse here than there…I wonder how BCG wanted us to double down on Downey and Frederick as they drove the lane when we couldn’t do it in Lexington and prevent them from the kick out pass to the man with the open 3.

BCG did have this to say about the game:

“They have a point guard; we don’t”

On Perry Stevenson: “He is just not playing hard enough”, Gillispie said. “That’s two times in the last, what, week or eight days that I’ve said something about a guy not playing hard enough and that’s the first two times in my career I’ve ever said that. That’s shameful, in my opinion, to everyone involved.”

SC and Darrin Horn, had the easy, logical, perfect game plan, and we had the task to crack it. We did not. We let them run the ,”drive and kick”, on their first 6-3 balls and they hit 4 of them. It would be better to let the guards go on those drives than the wing defender to collapse on him and let Downey kick to the open shooter…..But that is what happened last night and that is how they took us out in Lexington….

AND, don’t get me started on the substitution patterns…Can we hire Bruce Pearl’s guy who does his for him..BCG’s patterns were illogical based on even his last game and I don’t think that anyone did anything in practice since Saturday to radically change the way one would expect it would be. I suspect that after BCG watches last night’s game for the 20^th time, maybe he would concede that.

UK needed a “team effort” to play in this game, and they hardly looked like one all night. As bad as we made UT look on Saturday, SC made us look last night. That is basketball, but this glaring weakness is one that teams will exploit until BCG and Co. Stops it. Maybe we don’t have the personnel to stop it. Maybe we do not have the point guard the SEC requires to overcome it. We shall see.

UK 73 UA 64

1:41 That is a time to remember. That is the time left on the clock in the first half when the one and only moving pick call was made on UA. And that simply amazes me. I hardly ever complain about how a game is called, but the moving picks from UA were so blatant and across the board that I am floored three grown men standing on the floor couldn’t see it. They weren’t the lean in kind. They weren’t the get there late and not be set up kind. They were the wait till the offensive player who is using the scree goes by then play offensive lineman by continuing to move your feet to stay in front of a guy type. Some coaches teach it I guess because UA performed it to perfection and only got dinged once for it. Alrighty, I spoke my piece on it, I am done..

As for UK, the bodies showed up but they left their heads somewhere else. It was across the board, aside for maybe Stevenson. Porter, Meeks, Harris and Patterson were equally inept, to go along with the typical ineptness of Liggins. I actually liked Miller in this game, but his D just isn’t where it needs to be. Of course I am sure the boards will be filled with Porter hate, and probably some Harris hate as all those who said neither would ever amount to much and wish to be “right” get to blow their horns. I think there should be a rule that if you can’t acknowledge when a kid does good things, then you can’t bang on them when they screw up, so people should be glad I’m not the one making up the rules. BUT, I have been in Porter and Harris’ corner all along (I’m actually in every cat’s corner) so I get to bust them good. It starts with Porter, who had his head firmly planted up somewhere else. One of his intangibles of late has been to supply the steadying force on the floor. That went way out the window last night. Harris followed suit and looked like it was the first time he’s ever stepped on a college floor. Patterson and Meeks were just as bad, but when your role is to score, people tend to give you a break. Not me. Those two deserve to run the stairs until they fall down. If you wish to be the corner stones of this team, you must take more than your share when you don’t bring it like you should. People worried the Georgia game could have been a trap game. turns out, it was UA.

Turnovers, turnovers turnovers. They continue to plague this team. And the UA game showed the worst kind which are the fumble, bumble not trying to do the right thing kind. Its one thing to make a bad pass when you are trying to run a set. Stuff happens. But its quite another thing to just drop the ball in traffic, throw it somewhere no one expects you to throw it, or dribble off your own leg. This team can be very good, but they have got to learn how to value the ball. And I am not giving UA credit for those turnovers. It was all on the Cats.

So what did go right? Stevenson. Easily my player of the game. Yeah, Meeks got 31 and Patterson got 21 and 18. But Stevenson was the only one that I thought was actually into the game. Stevenson had some turnovers as well, but three of them should not have been called. Most probably did not even notice his game. He had to guard both at the basket and away from the basket. He had to usually guard a smaller guy, which typically means a quicker guy. Not when you are talking Stevenson. That could be a major match up problem for other teams. But it becomes a match up problem in favor of UK when Stevenson is on the floor because UK makes you pay by taking full advantage of Stevenson’s length. That, to me, was the difference in UK being 4-0 or being 3-1 in the SEC.

Liggins. If Porter played so poorly, and he certainly did, why did Liggins not get more time? Because he played much worse. His problems continue on the defensive end, and they start with those picks. Not just in this game, but in every game save three. Players usually note a pick and either fight high or low, depended on what D is called. Liggins is like a fly to fly paper when it comes to screens. He is tractor beamed right into the middle of the screen and sticks to it like glue, leaving the other defender to have to decide at the time make a switch that is only supposed to happen for a split second. Instead, Liggins is STILL stuck to the screen. That could very well be the one and only reason he doesn’t get more time. That and he seems to think you aren’t doing anything if you aren’t jacking up shots even if they are not in the flow and you shouldn’t be taking them. He’s staying in front better now, but he has got to figure out how to handle screens properly. And he has got to understand that his primary job should be to make others better on the floor. And stop jacking up 17 % shots.

All in all, I guess this is one more sign that this team is, in fact, getting better. In the recent past, the margin for error was so slim that to play as they did last night would have been a double digit loss to a lesser team than UA. As it is, it was a nine point W and the game wasn’t really in doubt coming down the stretch. And I never really felt like the game was ever in doubt in the first place. But the Cats will not be able to get away with this type of an effort come Saturday.