UK vs LSU PEP TALK

Malcom White didn’t think that UK was very physical when Ole Miss beat Kentucky in the last meeting… “Basically Kentucky’s offense only involves Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson”, said White. “If you can contain those two then you have a great chance to stopping their offense…”

Well, as we all know Mr. White saw a different team on Thursday, a more balanced, tougher defensive team, than he saw in January. And, I think LSU will see a tougher team than the one that played them close in Lexington…

Now that we have a 1 game winning streak, it’s time to move on…As they say, “You can’t win them all until you have won the first one”, and we have that out of the way. LSU is next and we have lots of positives going into that game on Friday…First, we just played the best second half of basketball we have played all year and put 4 players in double figures in our victory over Ole Miss…

Beating LSU will require that self same defensive effort and balanced scoring that was displayed against Ole Miss and I believe that we are going to get it…

Perry is starting to play well again and I thought Darius Miller had a “breakout” type game against Ole Miss; one where the confidence goes sky high and he contributes in a positive way the rest of the tournament. Patrick is being Patrick again as well, while Jodie had a great all round game and didn’t force anything against Ole Miss.

I think that LSU is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E…Uk in Overtime!

UK Beats Ole Miss with Balance and Defense 71-58

“Coach is the one designing plays, but it’s our intensity, it’s our toughness, it’s the way that we battle out there that (determines) down the stretch whether we win or lose” ..so says Patrick Patterson who has spent much of his time defending his coach, Billy Gillispie, during his time in Tampa, and today went out on the court and proved it, along with his teammates.

Billy Gillispie’s young charges showed that there is still basketball being played in the state of Kentucky. Sure it was an also ran, NIT bound, Ole Miss Team we beat, but that was the goal and we did it well, well in the second half.

Kentucky advanced to the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Tampa on Thursday with balanced scoring and some tough second half defense.

Post game had BCG saying “that’s the way we should be playing”, referring to the stingy defense that allowed Ole Miss only 18 points in the second frame.

Indeed, it was the D, and the B, as in Balanced Scoring, as Meeks led the way with 25, while Patrick had 15 points and 14 big rebounds. Perry Stevenson had a great game, matched by one Darius Miller, who came in and added 12 points to go with Perry’s 13. Perry cracked the double-digit point barrier for the first time in eight games. Darius Miller, only an 18 year old freshman, equalled his second-highest point total against a Southeastern Conference opponent

“I don’t really care how many points I score so long as we win. When something like that happens I’m glad we have help on the team. People off the bench gave us great energy and help.” said Jodie Meeks. Indeed, BCG that is the way we should be playing, and a lot sooner than now.

Uk’s 13 point victory was a second half clinic on how to play defense and UK must put together two of these halves to have a shot at their next opponent, LSU. “Today we did what the coaches asked, and that included playing hard and tough. We controlled the tempo with our defense and rebounding, things we had not been doing.” UK junior Ramon Harris. Indeed, Ole Miss was only 2 for their last 9 in the last eight minutes enabling UK to post the victory…

LSU is in the headlights…We’ve played ‘em close once. We will do it again. “We’re definitely a better team like this,” Meeks said. “The more scorers you have, the better.” Let the game begin, keep the bubble alive. GO CATS !..!..!

NEXT YEAR….AND THIS ONE.. OLE MISS vs. KENTUCKY

Some things that will probably happen next year…Patrick Patterson will be back, he said so…Jodie will be back…and BCG and Mitch. All will be well next year with UK basketball from the eternal optimist. If you need convincing, think about it. Consider, if you will, what one more year under their belts will do for this bunch of green frosh and Juco’s. Darius Miller is barely 18 yrs old.

One more year of life and maturity and this will be a completely different TEAM. Really, it will be, considering the players will be a year older, wiser, and better. The level of talent that we have coming in; which I feel is vastly superior to this year’s group, will bolster next year’s experienced squad. I expect UK to put three (3) new starters on the floor next year in additon to the BIG 2…They have too, in my opinion, to be competitive.

Matt Pilgrim and Orton will make a BIGGG difference in this program…Perry S. Would be well served to work on his game…Looking at Jon Hood film reminds me a little of a kid we had in here by the name of Rex…Really, the kid is a player and can shoot the basketball. Any contribution from him next year would be the icing on the cake.

Now as for Ole Miss, I look for UK to take this game rather handily using a strong defense on the point of attack which was our Achilles heel in the last game with Ole Miss. David Heurtas, their leading scorer is said to be “day to day” with a foot injury and UK is primed to bust O-U-T…

Let us not forget this is the same UK team that started this season at 5-0 and took #5 Louisville to the wire and the top twenty LSU team as well.

Having a lack of balanced scoring has been a hallmark of the team of late; that and an inordinate number o f turnovers have often been the catalyst for defeat. To secure a victory our Cats must cut back on the turnovers and find scoring from other sources. But, they can and will do it today by 13 points! One Game A t A Time~

SEC Coaches Awards

From SECsports.com The SEC Coaches awards were announced today. Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks both were named to the all SEC first team.

Birmingham, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference unveiled its men’s basketball coaches postseason awards Tuesday to cap off another exciting season of SEC basketball.

LSU’s Trent Johnson earned SEC Coach of the Year honors and LSU senior guard Marcus Thornton was selected SEC Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. Ole Miss’ Terrico White took the SEC Freshman of the Year award and Alabama’s Justin Knox earned SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State was picked as the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row. South Carolina’s Brandis Raley-Ross earned SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year honors.

In his first season at LSU, Johnson led the Tigers to their first SEC championship since 2006 with a 13-3 mark in league play.

Thornton garnered SEC Player of the Year honors in leading LSU to a 25-win season and the SEC championship. One of five unanimous All-SEC First Team selections, Thornton ranked second the league in scoring with 20.9 ppg.

White led all SEC freshmen with 18.4 ppg in league play. White was among three unanimous All-Freshman team members.

Knox earned the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, sporting a 3.219 grade-point average in Pre-Business.

Varnado leads the nation in blocked shots (4.6) and is 15 blocks shy of the breaking the single-season SEC record of 157. Last year he tied the record Shaquille O’Neal set in 1992.

Raley-Ross won the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year award. A key part of South Carolina winning a share of the SEC East Division title, he is averaging 7.2 points per game.

Coaches voted on eight member teams for First Team All-SEC, Second Team All-SEC and for the SEC All-Freshman Team. They voted on a five-player squad for the SEC All-Defensive Team. They were not permitted to vote for their own players and ties were not broken.

A complete list of the 2009 SEC Men’s Basketball postseason awards follows.

First Team All-SEC
*Nick Calathes, Florida – G, 6-6, 194, So., Casselberry, Fla.
*Jodie Meeks, Kentucky – 6-4, 208, Jr., Norcross, Ga.
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky – 6-9, 235, So., Huntington, W.Va.
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU – F, 6-7, 240, Jr., Denham Springs, La.
*Marcus Thornton, LSU – G, 6-4, 205, Sr., Baton Rouge, La.
Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State – F/C, 6-9, 210, Jr., Brownsville, Tenn.
*Devan Downey, South Carolina – G, 5-9, 175, Jr., Chester, S.C.
*Tyler Smith, Tennessee – F, 6-7, 215, Jr., Pulaski, Tenn.

Second Team All-SEC
Alonzo Gee, Alabama – G, 6-6, 219, Sr., Riviera Beach, Fla.
Michael Washington, Arkansas – F, 6-9, 239, Jr., McGehee, Ark.
Korvotney Barber, Auburn – F, 6-7, 225, Sr., Manchester, Ga.
^Garrett Temple, LSU – G, 6-6, 190, Sr., Baton Rouge, La.
David Huertas, Ole Miss – G, 6-5, 200, Jr., Humacao, Puerto Rico
Terrico White, Ole Miss – G, 6-5, 211, Fr,. Memphis, Tenn.
^Dominique Archie, South Carolina – F, 6-7, 200, Jr., Augusta, Ga.
^Zam Fredrick, South Carolina – G, 6-0, 203, Sr., St. Matthews, S.C.
Wayne Chism, Tennessee – F, 609, 242, Jr., Jackson, Tenn.
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt – C, 6-11, 250, So., Sydney, Australia

SEC All-Freshman Team
*JaMychal Green, Alabama – F, 6-9, 220, Fr., Montgomery, Ala.
Courtney Fortson, Arkansas – G, 5-11, 180, Fr., Montgomery, Ala.
Erving Walker, Florida – 5-8, 161, Fr., New York, N.Y.
Trey Thompkins, Georgia – F, 6-8, 245, Fr., Lithonia, Ga.
*Terrico White, Ole Miss – G, 6-5, 211, Fr,. Memphis, Tenn.
*Dee Bost, Mississippi State – G, 6-2, 170, Fr., Concord, N.C.
Scotty Hopson, Tennessee – G, 6-7, 185, Fr., Hopkinsville, Ky.
Jeffery Taylor, Vanderbilt – G/F, 6-7, 210, Fr., Norrkoping, Sweden

SEC All-Defensive Team
^Quantez Robertson, Auburn – G, 6-3, 200, Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio
Garrett Temple, LSU – G, 6-6, 190, Sr., Baton Rouge, La.
Chris Johnson, LSU – C, 6-11, 210, Sr., Montross, Va.
*Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State – F/C, 6-9, 210, Jr., Brownsville, Tenn.
^Dominique Archie, South Carolina – F, 6-7, 200, Jr., Augusta, Ga.
Devan Downey, South Carolina – G, 5-9, 175, Jr., Chester, S.C.

SEC Coach of the Year: Trent Johnson, LSU
SEC Player of the Year: Marcus Thornton, LSU
SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Justin Knox, Alabama
SEC Freshman of the Year: Terrico White, Ole Miss
SEC Sixth-Man of the Year: Brandis Raley-Ross, South Carolina
SEC Defensive Player of the Year: Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State

*-Unanimous selection
^-Ties are not broken

FOR THE ETERNAL OPTIMIST…

For the eternal optimist, hope does spring eternal, and we now may have to cushion ourselves to earning our UK FAN PLEASURE from our Baseball Team and then our Football Team before we again can H-O-P-E to enjoy our basketball team – ….that is considering one is a three sport watcher and not Barnhart.

But, let us consider that the date is October 15, 2009. Who will be on the court and starting for the CATS come opening day? Now this is way too much speculation coming from one who said that the Wildcats would be a “tough out” this year. They were just that for 5 games in the SEC, and then the wheels ran off, and all the coaches’ horses and all of his men could not put them back together again…At least, up until the last minute, and last second, the NCAA bubble floats perilously over a sea of pinpoints….

Again it is October 15, and the first day of practice; who shows up but Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks -…but there is another dynamic here to go with that reality. They have help…BIG HELP….Their names are Pilgrim and Orton, and they are contributors to a team that is a year older and a year wiser…Point guard spot gets nailed down by a guy not named Porter…

In the pre-season, blue-white scrimmage, Orton scores 20 and gets 20 boards, while Pilgrim and 2Pat face off for 15 and 10 apiece, and when ask what he likes about Orton, a cautious BCG replies, ……”HE’s TALL”!

UK beats UofL easily before conference time, after polishing off NC. They run through the SEC like butter, and have 3 on the All-SEC Team…., while taking a solid lead in the all-time wins category, and much like the NIT team of yesteryear did, went on and won the NCAA Title the year after that!

“To sleep, perchance to dream-
ay, there’s the rub.”

Fallout from Yesterday’s LOSS to Florida

Some observations after the UK vs Fl game from The Media World for the BBR:

From KSR:

When asked if he thought his job might be in jeopardy, in the postgame press conference, Gillispie said this:

“no, the season is not over yet is it”.

“The debate is ultimately moot…he will not be fired and the only way he wont be the Coach of UK next year is if he were to make that decision. Anything you hear to the contrary is incorrect.”

From Catspause Matt May: “There is no joy in Catville, mighty Kentucky has struck out.” *

“”We just didn’t do a good enough job executing anything in the second half,” Gillispie said. “I thought we competed really, really hard and I loved the way they fought but we just didn’t execute well enough to win.”

From Kenny Walker at Scout: “….I hope Billy Gillispie can deal with the high expectations, pressure and criticism. Look at all the coaches before him. They did in a different way and style. We are still trying to figure out his style and personality. Hopefully one day we will get the answer. But to be fair to him, give him another year to get his guys in and then”…

From John Clay of the LHL: “…You wonder if by now everyone isn’t ground down, tired of being one error away from being yanked to the bench.

If the Cats don’t particularly care for their coach, that’s hardly an exclusive event. But they need to respect him, to at least believe in what he’s saying. I’m not sure that’s the case with this group. There are whispers that there’s not a lot of love in the (locker) room, and maybe you should expect that from a team spiraling downward. Maybe not.

Bottom line: A coach deserves more than two seasons to turn a program around. He deserves the chance to do it with his own players. He deserves that, that is, if you possess faith he can turn it around with his own players. There has to be a reason to believe.

So far, this has not been an easy fit. Gillispie often seems an uncomfortable fish in a very big bowl. He’s not a glad-hander, and he isn’t making friends by not signing that formal contract. The “Billy being Billy” doesn’t wear as well when you lose.

On the floor, his first recruits haven’t made the expected impact, and this team will go down as having suffered one of the more pronounced collapses in school history — a team with Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks.

This is Kentucky basketball, after all. It’s sort of a big deal. It’s why Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart gets the big bucks, and why, despite his politically correct public statements of support, the final call isn’t as easy as you might think. Either way.

But, as Gillispie himself said, the season isn’t over. Maybe, somehow, someway, the coach can execute a turnaround in Tampa and get this team where everyone wants it to go.

But this regular season was one big turnover. “

*_{I’m flattered}

UK Turns the game OVER to Florida 60-53

UK came out like a team unaware that their NCAA tournament life was on the line committing 10 turnovers in the first half to trail it by 7 points. Indeed, the margin would have been much larger if not for the fact that Patrick Patterson had 14 of UK’s 21 points. Florida in similar circumstances tournament wise, shot only 41% the first half themselves, but employed a zone which causes UK numerous problems trying to generate offense.

Now UK must play and win the SEC tournament to get the NCAA automatic bid. A tall order, considering what we have seen from the team the last several games. UK finished the season on a 4 game losing streak to go along with dropping 8 of their last 11 games. For BCG, it is a time for him to do some quick change tactics to try to get an offense that works before SEC tournament time. Anything, but the product you placed upon the floor today will do!

Bubble Bursting? UK loses to LSU 73-70

It was another heartbreaking loss for the UK Wildcats, one that saw their coach bench his starting point guard and starting power forward to start the second half, for the more defensive minded Ricky Galloway and Darius Miller. Perhaps frustrated with our inability to shut down more athletic point guards we have encountered at South Carolina and now LSU, BCG went with the taller, quicker, Galloway and he and Miller immediately made their presence felt. Playing a team that is ranked 18th in the land; and looking much better than that, UK battled back from a first half deficit and ALMOST pulled it out…But alas, it was not to be.

The first half found UK trailing and in danger of getting blow out like they did at SC…Patrick Patterson came up big in the first half to keep it closer than it should have been. Even at that, UK again suffer a 1^st half scoring drought of over 4 minutes that would ultimately doom them.

UK let a 10 point second- half lead get away, that they had build on the strength of a stiff defense led by new starters Galloway and Miller. UK came out on fire defensively, and their offense began to click. The newly minted defense seemed to inspire the Cats, as they mounted a second half lead that saw them seemingly take the game in hand…But the guys from LSU hung tough, and riding the hot hand of Marcus Thornton tied the game up in the final seconds with possession. Thornton milked the clock to seven seconds before passing Tasmin Mitchell who hit the game winning shot.

For the most part in the second half, the fans were treated to some inspired basketball by some players that wanted to win…Alas; they just came up 3 points short; Jodie Meeks missing an off-balance 3 that would have tied it at the buzzer.

For UK, it was another disappointing finish, now losers of 6 of their last 9 SEC games, and needing a super effort in the SEC tournament, not to mention finishing the season with two wins.

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.

Darius Miller, “2Pat” send Vols Packing – UK WINS 77 – 58!

It must be the fact that Scotty Hopson was in the building; the reason that Darius Miller chose to have his best game as a Wildcat. For the basketball junkies out there, you might remember that Darius had 41 points the last time these two young warriors met as high school seniors, and solidified his choice, in my mind anyway, for Mr. Basketball in the state of Kentucky.

With Bruce Pearl letting his assistant make the substitutions, he had ample time to work out his defenses on Jodie Meeks. Jodie was “face guarded”, and “double teamed”, most of the game and had only 4 points at the half. But, “a funny thing happened on the way to the forum”. Not only was Patrick Patterson back, he was back with a vengeance. He looked like a man that had been sitting out a couple of games to tell you the truth.

With 2Pat and Miller leading the charge, UK came out like a “house ablaze” playing stifling defense all over the court today. Indeed, the hated VOLS were down 13-0 with 11:55 to go in the first half!

UK looked like a totally different team today than the one that had just played some 4 SCORE and 6 hours Earlier…..hmmm. The difference? Could it be that Perry Stevenson is to 2Pat, what Scotty Pippen was to Michael? It seems to be true. Perry, not the greatest post up player himself, looked great shooting jumpers off feeds. He is being used well in that regard, therefore, “Viva la Difference”.

Could it also be that the rest of the TeAm decided that they needed to score some points? And score they did, with the aforementioned Miller scoring 17 points, a career high, on 6of6 shooting, and feeding his big post man to the tune of six assists! 2Pat had 19 points, but more importantly, showed that he was B-A-C-K. Suffering what appears to be no “ill effects” from his ankle problem, he had more than one emphatic dunk. Even A.J. played aggressive on the offensive end, showing his Kevin McHale “up and under”, repertoire to Wayne Chism drawing free tosses both times….It was a great day and a great time for a great game by UK.

Could it be that this team is now starting to mature, and MiGhT be one of those “UNRANKED” teams outside the Top Twenty Five, that gives the ranked ones fits at tourney time?..?..? Seth Davis and his cohort selected Arizona, and Fl St., respectively. Did they forget UK?

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