“I’m The Better Player”!

During the Iowa State vs UK game Royce White could be seen mouthing the words ‘I’m the better player’ for the whole world to see.  It was the wrong words to say for more than one reason.

First of all he isn’t, period! Yes he is a great player with a load of talent and a large motor propelled by at least 270 pounds of muscle.  I give him all that and he did play well, but get real Royce come drafting time with the NBA your name will be called after other players on the UK team.  I ask the question if you are so great then why did your team have double digit losses during the season?  Something can be said about coaching and overall talent level on your team, but let us leave the best player proclamation to others.  That in itself said a lot to me.  It said to me I am glad you didn’t bring that attitude to come play for UK.  That statement also got you pretty much shut down for the rest of the game didn’t it big fella?

Now for best player mantra!  UK has a team of best players and they showed it collectively yesterday.  I will give Terrence Jones accolades for the game.  He didn’t score as many points as he usually does, but he was able to pull down 13 rebounds against you big guy.  He made life tough for you and it would have been worse if the terrible refs didn’t swallow their whistles the entire game when you were involved.  If the refs had called all those touch fouls or phantom fouls on you they called on TJ or Doron you would have been out of the game in the first 10 minutes.

To rant a little more about the officiating it was obvious Cal was having a difficult time not charging the floor on many occasions  during most of the game.  The relentless booing by the crowd was another telling sign of poor officiating.   On the other hand the reason for technical called on States coach was a smoke screen by him trying to intimidate the refs.  Why you ask, well it was because a real ‘whoppin’ was in the works and there was nothing he nor ‘I’m the better player’ White could do about it?

All game long UK was held, pushed, shoved, beat upon, tripped and verbally abused and the stripes let it happen until the game was practically out-of-hand. Kidd-Gilchrist didn’t have a great game scoring the ball, but that was because of the aforementioned sentence.  I am still burning inside those refs let that happen all game long.  To his credit he kept his cool.

Now for the reality of the game: UK was ready for that game.  They brought their A game with them.  They executed their plan almost flawlessly.  A few decent calls UK’s way and the game would have been over by halftime.

Miller was something special yesterday.  We have been waiting for that game for his entire career.  Oh yeah, he has had a bunch of really great games, audacious dunks, beautiful sticks from three and at the elbow not to mention those no-matter-who-you-are-guarding-me tear drop shots we have become accustomed to, he was a man yesterday.  It was clear that he had decided to make his presence known as soon as he entered the game.  There was no such thing as letting the game come to him.  The game was on and he guarded, deflected, harassed, blocked and scored at will.  It didn’t matter where he was when he decided to score he did.  Prior to yesterday when he willfully decided to show his immense talents his offense often suffered, but not yesterday.

Miller was a game changer so I say to Mr. White, Miller was better than you. Can’t say enough about the rest of the team either.  All of them had great games.  Davis just alters games, but unnoticed is the altering of shots other team members cause.  Immense talent on this UK team and if they are to lose it will be because of injury, poor shooting or bad officiating or perhaps all three.

The UK team are singular in purpose and it showed yesterday.  Gone (at least for that game) was any arrogance or sell will, but rather, they played as a team. Couple great players playing team ball with a super coach spells a lot of wins.

Did I mention wins, oh yeah, there can be four more to go for this season?  No I am not about to jinx them by predicting wins, but one thing we can be assured of is that the players will bring it and coach will be coaching his best.

As for the best player tag goes I think Mr. Royce White brought attention to some other players on the floor who just continued to play their game.  For that I am thankful and have I said to the UK players I have enjoyed your talents beyond measure, but your character shines even above that!

Thanks guys and go Cat’s!

Whos Going To Surprise Us This Year

The latest coaches poll is out and the Cats unsurprisingly got all the #1 votes. The other usual teams from the power conferences are near the top. Murray St is the highest ranked of the non BCS teams in the top 25 along with Wichita St, UNLV, N Mexico, Temple and San Diego St. Other non BCS teams getting votes are Creighton, Gonzaga, Saint Louis, Harvard 10, Drexel, Middle Tennessee, Long Beach State, Virginia Commonwealth, Weber State and Nevada.

There are still a few games and conference tournament games to go before the field is set and several of those teams aren’t going to be in the tournament. If the tournament started tomorrow which of those non BCS teams do you think could make it to the sweet 16. Do you think one of them is good enough to make it to the final four?

I can easily see Wichita St, Temple, UNLV, Murray St, Creighton and N Mexico in the sweet 16. Wichita St is the team that I think has the best possibility to go to the final four.

Of course making my picks on speculation never works for me during the tournament. Come to think of it it not much else does either.

Where Were You April 22, 2010?

The day the NCAA Tournament Died.

We all knew this was going to happen but it’s one of those things that shocks ya when it finally does.
Corporate Interest wins out over the Glory & Magic of the Big Dance.
Kind of ironic that the word Integrity became the Buzz Word & Imaginary Standard for the sport this season but yet, the very entity that organizes & runs the whole shin dig didn’t have a problem nor one 2nd thought about Selling their Holier Than Thou, Conceited, Black Hearted, Biased Souls to the Corporate Devil.
And just like that…… it ends.

The bigger question is this—-
How long before we Witness the demise of the NCAA? I’m going to take the optimistic road here by looking forward to seeing the last yards of that short rope hanging themselves.
Sure, it may seem like a pipe dream right now, but it’s mine all the same. After all, everything & everyone has a beginning & an end. So, I will look on to the near future & welcome the day when the power conferences UNITE, UPRISE & BREAK AWAY from that fraud of an organization w/open arms. W/all the hypocrisy & mis management that has proceeded this latest escapade —It could very well be the shot that began the revolution.

ONWARD UPWARD GO CATS!
Ms.Cats~