UK 68 UGA 45

So what does UK do if it goes down to UGA, UGA wants an ugly game and UK obliges? You beat the snot out of them at their own game. THAT is a sign a team is getting really good. Its one thing to have a game go as you like and pound someone. Its quite another when you can beat them at your game AND at theirs. Meeks returned to earth, Patterson returned to being Patterson and UK beat up on Georgia from start to finish. There is plenty not to like about this game. UK usually doesn’t take too many bad shots but they did in this game. UK hasn’t turned the ball over as much of late but turned it over and over and over in this one. Why? I think there is a direct correlation between Coaches pre-game comments about returning to Patterson as the focus and many of the turnovers. Not all but a good portion. When UK wants to go to Patterson, they do it on one block or the other. You know it, I know it, the whole world knows it and especially the opposing coaches know it. It’s pretty easy to draw up a D when you know right where the other guy wants to go. Many of those turnovers were on entries when it simply isn’t there. Patterson is a hos, but he isn’t big enough to entry to with two guys within range every time down the floor and I think its a mistake to keep trying. The good news is UK did adjust by going to other places on the floor. I liked the pick and role game Porter and Stevenson played. I liked getting Patterson looks at the elbow. He needs to knock those down. Doing things like this pro actively will help keep turnovers down and get Patterson higher quality looks.

There is a question that begs for an answer. If UK didn’t play all that hot in some key areas, then how did they blow the doors off of this one? Lets start with a bucket full of blocks. Meeks is something, Patterson is, well, Patterson, but the thing that probably causes opposing coaches more loss of sleep than anything is UK’s D. And that is across the board. It’s quite true that most teams do not get much inside on the Cats. Thanks to Stevenson and Patterson for that. But teams also don’t get much any where else either on most nights. The blocks were a team effort and came from many places on the floor and from seven different Cats. But Georgia didn’t get many open looks anywhere. UK also simply out worked Georgia. When there was a ball on the floor a cat was scratching and clawing for it. UGA didn’t seem to like the fact that the Cats wanted it more, but that is why they are UGA.

This was also a great game from a team aspect. And when I say team, I mean guys that do not get on the floor much. There was a Carter sighting, and you had to do a double take to see if it was the same guy. He actually looked great out there, aside from the play where he passed out instead of going up and dunking the ball. His block was as decisive as the one on Liggins in the open practice, and his rebounding was superb. I actually thought all the Cats contributed. Harrelson looked good and his block made me do a double take as well. Liggins was solid, Galloway still has the best vision on the team, Stewart blundered in the first half but came back to provide some solid relief. I think Miller looks more and more comfy every time out. Here is a valid list of Cats that could make good cases for more PT. The problem for them: There are five guys ahead of them that have even better cases. What a great problem to have.

UK didn’t look so hot going to its bread and butter. It’s gonna happen. Its real nice to have an off night and still be able to come out on top in a laugher..

UK 70 Vandy 60

Did anyone wonder what would happen if UK hosted Vandy, Ogilvy had to sit out with a bum heal, and 2 Pat would pretty much take the day off? I didn’t. But if you did you now know the outcome. And to UK’s credit, it had enough to step up, make adjustments, and get the win. To be honest, UK still had plenty to bust the game open. It just didn’t have enough to sustain it. Or maybe, this is part of the learning process for these Cats. Lets face it, these guys aren’t used to having big leads on good teams.

To be honest, Meeks didn’t have a real good day but the hustle on offense was there. The D end? I thought he really stunk it up. Vandy did a lot of moving picks. UK (ie: Meeks) did a horrible job of staying close to his man as they moved and the picks came so late that it didn’t even matter. And when I say close, I mean he usually trailed his guy by four or five steps. Totally unacceptable..

But on to the good news. No, on to the absolute greatest of news, and it can be summed up in one word. Liggins. He was the difference maker. Not in the whole game, mind you, but in the second half. It reminded me of the year UK woke up at the half during Vandy and played an unrelenting finish up to NCAA tournament time. The spearhead then was Hawkins and the spear head this time was Liggins. In this game, we got to see what a difference Liggins can make when he plays stunning D, within the team concept, and looks to make others better. In the process of making others looked better, HE looked like an All Freshman candidate. The kicker? He did it scoring all of one point. The 20 point lead came as a direct result of his second half play. I also thought Miller looked much better and his rebounds were key. With both Patterson and Stevenson no where to be found on the boards, the others, including Miller did just enough to almost even out the rebounding battle. But if Liggins can give 20 quality minutes, UK would take one of the questions going in to the year and place a huge SOLVED stamp on it. I can certainly see Porter starting, Liggins in middle relief, and Porter closing as a huge weapon going forward if Liggins did, in fact, figure it out in the second half of Vandy.

I was worried about Vandy. UK hangs its hat on playing smart and so does Vandy. Sometimes these type games come down to who plays the smartest. So even when I heard Ogilvy would be out I was worried. And the way UK left guys open for 3s early was exactly what I was worried about. But UK adjusted and I thought the D, minus Meeks, was very good after the adjustments.

Now its on to the ugliest team in the league (country?). Their colors are ugly, their players are ugly, their house is an ugly Rupp knock off, their coach is butt ugly and their cheerleaders are ugly. Most importantly, their play is ugly. It’s sad when the best looking thing about your program is your hound dog mascot. It’s really really sad. Anyway, it’s time for Patterson to clock back in and go to work simply because UK is simply much prettier.

UK 71 UL 74

In the end, it came down to one shot. UL was in the position to take the shot, and Sosa was able to hit the shot. That was probably the only thing that separates this UK team from this UL team at this point in the season.

Along the way, UK had many chances to either prove they were better or show they were not. And through the game, UK did its best at to prove both and Meeks is the finest of examples. His start to the game was nothing short of horrid. He was pressing too much and you could tell his mind was racing 90 miles a minute. He has GOT to find a way to calm himself down in these bigger games. UK just isn’t the type of team that can recover from a hole of the likes that Meeks put UK in at the start. To UK and Meeks credit, they did fight, scratch and claw to within 3 at the half, only to allow UL to punch them in the mouth at the start of the second half. Again, to their credit, UK fought and clawed to a draw at the 2-3 second mark.

So what did we learn from this game? First, this team will not give up. Next, Porter really is proving to be the leader of this team. He handled the pressure with ease on his way to a zero turn over day while also adding 8 points. You would like to see his assist total up more, but you could also easily credit UL for taking away the assist areas and making UK’s scorers get theirs on their own. The one mistake Porter made on the day was by far the biggest. You simply do not give a guy with the ball room when the clock is under five seconds. You just do not do it. We learned that UK’s frosh are still not quite ready for prime time. Liggins continues to remind me of jet the reindeer in Santa Claus II. Miller continues to think too much. Harrelson fell down big time in this game and Stewart continued to improve in very limited action. Galloway might be the biggest mystery, but the answer to why he only saw four minutes may be at the defensive end. While it was great getting major minutes from Harris again, he certainly didn’t tear it up on either end himself. As for offense, it looks like Patterson and Meeks will be carrying this team just like Bradley and Crawford carried UK last year down the stretch. And I think that will be enough if UK can shore up its defense, which I think still has the most room for improvement.

Now, it’s on to the most important part of the season. Every game now has season defining implications and UK will need to bring it every game. And I think UK is ready. Last year at this time, I didn’t think they were even close to ready. So with that said, I think this team is light years ahead of where they were at this time last year. IF they can improve as much as they did from this point forward last year, things could be getting in the real special area very soon.

Mid Season Review

The UK mens basketball program has reached the end of its 2008 schedule. So lets take a look at where they started through where they are today…

The preseason started with as much question as promise. UK had several highly rated new comers and was returning some quality players. But UK was also losing a huge chunk of its scoring and leadership. Off season surgery also placed major question marks on both of its returning marguee players. Meeks was cleared much earlier than Patterson, so he was easily much further along but still was not his old self. There was a point in one of the preseason events (I think it was the Blue White game) that made me sit up a bit on the edge of my seat. it seemed like a small funny thing to most, but I certainly didn’t think it was funny and felt it may be a sign of things to come. Patterson, who is and always has been THE man child, went up for a certain slam only to get rejected by… the front of the rim. I knew right then he wasn’t full strength and he obviously did not have the explosion or lift he displayed last year. The preseason, otherwise, went off without a hitch but then something happened. The season started. And not just against your typical patzy. VMI may have looked like a patzy on the surface, but once you looked deeper you saw something very scary. You saw a high scoring team that played pressure D going against a UK team that had all new roles in three of the four spots on the floor and the most glaring was the point (OK, lead) and it was a recipe for disater. The sky fell and hell opened it doors to the doomed. Ok , maybe not but those who would do anything to undermine this staff revelled in the glory that was a season opening loss. Luckily, the sky did not fall, hell did not open and it turns out all UK needed to do was get better.

And better they did get. Little by little, and bit by bit, UK got better and better with each day. Yes, there was a loss to UNC (who has not lost that has played them), yes there was another loss to a very big and talented Miami team. But there were also wins against K ST, West Virgina and host of other gritty teams, with some real yawners thrown in. So at the close of 2008, UK stands at 11-3. Of those three losses, all are to top 100 teams (yes, VMI is in the 80s), two are to top 50 teams (Miami has even been a top 25 team) and one was to the best team in the land. UK has answered the scoring question easily by turning Meeks lose, getting Patterson back to full strength, and using its third scorer which is a hybrid of Harrelson, Stevenson, Liggins, Stewart, Porter, Slone and Miller, to the tune of 80 something points a game. UK has also found its D when needed by only allowing teams to score in the 60s on average. That is a 20 point or so differential which includes the three losses. The bottom line: This team has gotten better and better every day. And one by one the questions of the preseason have been replaced with answers. The answers were not always the ones people thought they would be. People sometimes have a hard time when that happens. Many thought the answer at the point would be Liggins. Turns out it was Porter. The question of depth would be answered, many thought, by Harrelson and Miller. Turns out its more like Galloway, Slone and Stewart. Many of those people say that you can’t win in big games with guys like Porter and Slone. I say if the other options were able to get it done by now, they would have been able to do it in the gimmi games. How can anyone with a sane mind say that Liggins is a better choice against UL when he isn’t the better choice against App St? That just makes no sense to me at all…

So, now that we have taken a look at the season to date, what are some of the questions moving forward? Is Patterson fully recovered? I say that question was answered when he left from the second block and posterized the poor kid from App St. THAT was the first NBA quality move I have seen in a UK jersey since Prince was taking off from outside the lane for his patented sky dunks. Who will be the third scorer is ALWAYS the question. I think it will contiune to be by committee and I really like it that way. That shows a team is able to mesh and mold around what others are trying to take away. When you have a set third scorer, it makes scouting a little easier. When you have six or seven guys that can each step up when the game plan calls for it, it make it impossible to scout or defend. Can the cats continue to play well with the likes of Porter and Slone? I say they better, or others need to really step it up. I hope its both. The more buttons coach has to push, the better. But I do think Porter and Slone are carving their own nitch on this team. Watch out if Liggins and Miller start doing the same. What about the three spot? I have no clue who will take the lead there. It could be Galloway. It could be Harris. It could very well be Miller if he starts playing more and thinking less. But I think all three will continue to contribute provided Harris recovers. What about the post? I think that is becoming very well defined. Patterson is back to where he was last year, but what if he has matured and is even better? This is a very real possibility. I think it is actually likely. If you think about it, this is an infinately better passing team and with the improved play around him, Patterson’s limit is, well, limitless. Couple that with a guy like Stevenson who is a great complement to him, and then throw in the added support provided by a very skilled Harrelson and an ever improving Stewart, the post seems to be very well manned for the final stretch. So here’s the big question: What should we expext from the home stretch? I have no idea how far this team can go as of yet, but I do not think it is even close to reaching it’s potential. But I am really excited that the answers to all of these questions begins in earnest come January 4th. I say bring on the Cards and..

GO CATS!

UK 84 UCM 52

UK had been chewing up teams and spitting them out like spent bubble yum. Wait, MEEKS had been chewing up teams and spitting them out like spent bubble yum. He can obviously streak into orbit at any moment. Be he could also be grounded at any time as well. So the big question for me during that stretch was how will this team perform once Meeks returned to earth? Granted, a return to earth for Meeks is getting 23…

The answer? The team did just fine. Led by a pesky point in Porter and some extremely high quality minutes from Slone, UK has passed the test with flying colors. Some say might say it was against a 3-8 (now 3-9) undermanned team. True, but that doesn’t tell the whole story about this team. If you look a little deeper, you see the worst this team has done was a 14 point loss to Marquette. Yes, this team has lost, but they have been there in all their games. They were in all the games until they met the Cats, that is. The Chips came out and showed a ton of heart. heart is about all they had and sometimes it can carry a team a long way. But this UK team has a ton of heart as well. So when heart meets heart, and UK has Patterson, UK wins easily.

With all the attention given to Porter and Slone’s play, one little tid bit that is flying under the radar is a major accomplishment by Liggins. The fine young man got his first start in the Chips game and played much better than he has of late. Liggins short coming have all been of the above the shoulders type. Last night he seemed to play with an added focus and wasn’t the huge liability on D that he has been to this point. And these were the type of players that could give him problems. Most assumed Liggins and Miller would have left the Porters and the Slones in their dust by now. I think its more a tribute to Porter and Slone than a knock on Liggins or Miller that they have not. As for Porter, he had his best game ever as a Cat against the Chips. Not only did he provide his customary stick to D, but he also distributed OK (not great), added some needed long range daggers, and scored on the break to the tune of 12. More than anything else, though, Porter is providing the visual and spoken leadership the team desperately needed.

Overall I give this team a B+ for their performance. Now, ready or not, it’s on to the Cards!

UK 103 Lamar 61

UK dispatched the Lamar Cardinals in what was easily there best performance of the year. The problem: There are so many story lines that I don’t know where to begin. Do I start with the Liggins, Galloway, Stewart coming out party? After all, this is the night UK fans have been waiting for from all three. Liggins was in total control, displayed the ability to get UK into its sets, DIDN’T FORCE THE ACTION and maybe most importantly, knocked down the outside shots UK desperately needs from anyone other than Meeks. Galloway showed us that uncanny passing ability with some of the most excellent assists on the night. He also immediately showed us why he hasn’t played as much when he allowed his guy to get past him. I harp on keeping someone in front all the time, but I don’t think it can be harped on enough because usually so many bad things happen. In this case, not only did Lamar get a great look, they also got an offensive rebound and the second foul on Patterson. But having said all that, he did a fantastic job after that. Kudos to coach for sticking with him because it was easy to see the value he will bring when the rubber meets the road. Stewart also provided some of his most productive minutes ever as a Cat. He has an awesome baseline jumper game which can be a zone killer down the stretch. And UK can expect to see a lot of zone if some shooters do not come to the surface.

But maybe I should start with the reason those guys got extended looks. The scene was something from a nightmare. Harris and Porter were down and neither looked good. At least Porter looked like he was able to function. Harris, not so much. We now find out that the medical staff took added precautions after Harris told them he had shooting pains running through his neck. The injury is not thought to be serious but we really do not know for sure at this point. This is a horrible way to get minutes. I read some things were so called fans were “glad” about this. Not only are they less than fans, they are less than human. Sick, disturbed, mentally deformed and out of touch with any sense of reality come to mind when I think of such people. All I can say is you will get yours on judgment day because there is no way you can make comments like that and have a chance at passing on hell. Of course our thoughts and prayers are with both players and it is my deepest wish that they recover, like, now. Not for the sake of the team, but for their and their family’s sake. This is when something is much bigger than the game in my book.

Maybe the big news was the turnover turn around. Silly me, I knew this was a pesky, quick, experienced team which is just the type that has given UK fits. Win or lose, I thought this was the exact type of team UK needed to play. UK has demons and turnovers, especially to these type teams, is demon number one. But to UK’s credit, they did exactly what Coach wanted. I don’t think Lamar wanted to come back out after the first half because UK looked sharp and was taking care of the ball while causing Lamar all kinds of problems. I am not going to nit pick on the rebounding; yet. UK has rebounded better and I think/hope last night was an anomaly. Many of those boards were of the long/weird bounce kind and those can really skew the numbers.

For once, the main story line isn’t the 31 point effort from Patterson or the 19 and 6 assists with only one turnover from Meeks, right?

I suppose I will defer to you to decide the story line order of the day. While making your selections, please also include Stevenson’s reemergence, especially in the mid range game, there was a Carter sighting, and Miller struggled a little.

So all this begs the question: What does this game tell us? I honestly do not think it tells us much of anything. UK is better at this point than they were last year at this point. But I think Vegas told us that. UK does have potential on the bench. But that potential doesn’t mean a hill of beans if that potential isn’t realized game in and game out. Even though Patterson has scored well in most games, I still do not think he is playing as well as he could be. I need to see the same game from Meeks a few in a row and the same can be said for Liggins, Galloway, Stewart and Stevenson. The one real constant, in my mind is a guy I haven’t even said a word about and it may be the biggest story of the year. Let’s hear it for Jorts!

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