Boo’s Regular Season Review

Well fellow Cat fans, we made it through another regular season. Well, most of us did anyway. It’s been another rough and tumble year, which we should be very accustomed to by now. It seems every year we are surprised that we made it, but to be honest, it shouldn’t be surprising at all. We are all old pros at it. It’s now time to reflect on what was the 08-09 UK regular season.

The preseason was full of hopes and dreams for most. I was much more reserved. There were too many unknowns to say if this would be a break out year. UK brought in some size in Liggins, Galloway, Miller and Harrelson. All with plenty of unknowns. Miller and Liggins had the pedigree among the four and those two seemed to be locks at making the biggest contributions. But when and how much remained major mysteries for me. Still, many fans had already anointed one, two or all four of these guys as saviors even before we had a chance to see them play. Then, we got to see the Cats! The Big Blue Madness show did leave some room for promise, but it was one night which is never enough to make judgments. Harrelson made shots from everywhere, and the other new comers did not disappoint. The biggest splash may have come from the Cat that couldn’t play in Pilgrim. UK’s first exhibition did make me sit up and take notice. The Cats flat out destroyed. The second preseason contest wasn’t quite as big of a hit. Then it happened… The regular season kicked off with VMI… And so the story really begins.. And continued with UNC…..

I always wait for a large sample before making decisions on any Cat or the team in general. When the time came, I knew UK would be looking at another 10 loss year. I figured, looking at the schedule, UK would have a very rough finish. Patterson was slow getting back to form, and to be honest, I have only seen a handful of minutes where he looked like the Patterson of last year. Meeks, has been the streak shooter that he is, only he had some very big streaks. Of course he has also had his games where he cost the Cats dearly with his turnovers and forced play. Such is life when you live and die with the 2 on five game. And while I am not really surprised with the out come of the season in general, I am very surprised at many of the aspects of the season. I am totally shocked that the Cats have not tried to add more options to the offensive side as players like Miller have developed. I am surprised we did not see Patterson develop and utilize the skills to play at other spots on the floor like we were told he would. I am surprised that no one could ever get Liggins on the same page as the rest of the Cats. I am surprised that no one was able to pass up Porter and Harris. I am surprised at the magnitude of some of the losses.

UK was down seven to UL with seconds left on the clock. Some how, some way, UL fell apart and the Cats were able to make the push to tie the game. Sosa, who had never made a game winner in his life, and probably never will again, rose up with the luckiest shot of his career. The Cards used that victory to spring board themselves back into being a top 10 type team. UK used the experience to vault itself into the team to beat in the SEC after a 5-0 start. I must say that even with knowing who UK had beat, and knowing the rough schedule ahead, even I was tasting a bit of the fools gold back water. The major debate: Where was UK ranked and why were they not in the top 25. It could very well be that the Cats were having the same debates among themselves, because there is no doubt in my mind that they let up on the accelerator. And being young as they are, I also have no doubt they had no clue about what can happen when you let the SEC hit you with an upper cut and put you on the mat. To be honest, I don’t think Coach knew how to deal with the adversity of getting clobbered for a standing eight. I’m not surprised, as he’s use to being the one that clobbers others. So maybe if there is a silver lining in all of this, its the team and staff will be wiser and more aware, and should be much more hungry next year, and maybe even in post season play.

In the end, UK is 19-11. I thought they would be 21-9 and end up with 11 losses. Maybe 10 if they got on a roll in the SEC tournament. So I am not all that disappointed in the season from a wins and losses standpoint. I am disappointed in how it has happened and how it has been handled. But that’s nothing that some wins could not fix. One more win and the Cats are at the magical 20 win mark. Many fans were OK with that some years ago. While I am not, I do understand that it will take more time to get things back to where they belong. So for this year, that is all I ask for. Cats, please, just give me one more win.

So what is wrong?

I did something very painful last night. I actually went home, sat down, and watched the UK-UGA game all over again. I not only watched it, I rewound parts and slow motioned parts. I spent four hours looking at how in the world UK could lose to UGA. These are just my opinions, mind you, and I know everyone has their own, but I feel firm and strong with the convictions that will be forthcoming.

Patterson: I love the kid to death and he plays so hard. But he just is not big enough, strong enough or skilled enough to be effective with three guys on him. Yet UK continues to beat its head time and time again on the feed the beast at all costs wall. Early, it was usually a turnover. But somehow the guys have found a way to cut that down for longer and longer stretches. In that time, a feed to Patterson might as well be a turnover because he has produced at the same clip as when the turnovers happened. But now, its a horribly missed shot and defensive rebound. Not much different that a turnover deep under your basket, if you ask me. Patterson’s goal should be 12 points and 12-14 rebounds instead of 18-20 and nine.

Meeks: Meeks is a streak shooter that has been keyed on of late. Yet UK is still hell bend on getting him 25 points. That’s a great idea when he’s on. But when he isn’t, and you STILL try to get him his points, the cost is too great for this team to over come. And most of that is on him because he has been forcing more and more and the more he forces the less he executes. Meeks should have a goal of 15 points and 5 assists instead of a goal of 25 points and one assist.

The bottom line for me is, these two aren’t nearly good enough game in and game out to carry the load the game plan has called for. As they say, the proof is in the pudding and when you look at this game plan, and then look at UK’s body of work, its quite obvious to me that it doesn’t work. People say the supporting cast can’t score and I say bull. The absolute best TEAM offense I’ve seen since Coach arrived has been this year when UK was actually looking to get other people shots in the right places to make a team pay for over playing Patterson and Meeks. The start of the UGA game was a prime example. UK had a seven point lead with very little help from Patterson and zero field goals from Meeks. Then UK decides its time to feed the beast. The result was turnovers and low percentage missed shots from Patterson playing one on three. Patterson needs to be told that he must generate his own points as long as teams are ganging up on him. That’s what he did in high school and he still got his. You then go back to him once teams must play him honest.

Carter: I know I only have a couple of quality minutes to go on, but Carter provided a major match up problem at the start of the UGA game. He was setting great picks and going to the basket strong. He actually stayed on the block and made a passing lane that no one used. UK only has one guy getting major minutes that likes to stay on the block. At least Carter likes to stay on the block. Why has he not been used? I know the penetration caused mis matches where he wasn’t quick enough but he played well containing the big he was guarding. He even caused a walk that wasn’t called. So the solution is to tell the other guys to keep their man out of the lane instead of sitting Carter the rest of the game. Which leads us to…..

Defense: Sucks. And the reason why it sucks is the same reason it sucked at the beginning of last year. Most say its the three point defense but that isn’t really it. The problem is keeping people in front of them. When a guy doesn’t contain his man, he gets help. The help guy is the one that usually gives up an open three. The difference between last year and this year is Bradley and Crawford actually learned how to keep a man in front of them. Once they did, blammo! Instant quality defense. The major question for me is why was Porter, of all people, the only one that could actually stay in front of his guy. And that includes Meeks, who has started pressing and gambling too much for steals. He gets one and gives up five baskets on missed trys. That is a cost that is far too great. UGA was able to get in the lane any time they wanted, and every time UK was scrambling. And every time UGA got the look they wanted. And this isn’t even a good team.

Execution: Over all, what we have here is a failure to execute. And its across the board. I paid close attention to the things that cost UK the UGA game. And it was a bunch of little things that all add up to one major dump-fest. Porter missing a lay up he should hit, Patterson forcing triple contested shots, Meeks forcing all over the place for turn overs forced shots and three shots from too far under the basket, Miller getting deep in the lane with no options, Patterson not blocking out and giving up offensive boards he should not be giving up, Meeks missing a key free throw, Porter air balling a wide open/game tying three, Galloway allowing the ball too be taken away from him then shuffled out for a wide open three that extended a manageable three point game to a six point game. I could go on and on. And on and on. These guys are seriously trying but they look much more like headless chickens then a basketball team.

And all of this comes back to coach. He is the one that should understand that the game plan should change if it hasn’t worked by now. He is the one that should have these guys thinking they can not be beat. He is the one that should be teaching these kids about UK pride. He is the one that should have them focused properly so they execute. He is the one that should realize that a whole sale substitution when you have a two point lead might not work. He is the one that should notice that it didn’t work once UGA hit another wide open three. He is the one that should never let this team get this low. There is no way I’ll say that he isn’t the man for the job this early. That isn’t even close to a possible thought. But I do think he needs to take a good look in the mirror. He needs to find a way to wipe the regular season off the books, clear the kid’s minds, and get these guys to playing Kentucky basketball in the little time they have left this year. And its entirely possible. There is a switch that can be thrown because there is no way these guys are this bad. And I find it hard to believe he is this bad of a coach…