… but there are a few things that we need to realize:

• This was only the third game of the season, and roles have yet to be clearly defined.
• An older, more experienced team will always stick to their game plan better than a young one.
• Understanding our opponents is the job of the coaches. They must then impart that knowledge to their charges.
• We were very undisciplined, just as you say. That needs to change, right soon.
• No way Gillispie was coaching this game in any other way than to win. No way.
• I really doubt there are many players in the doghouse. Gillisipie has done this before, and his rationale has been entirely consistent, “I played the players that I thought gave us the best chance to win.” He says that every time, and I believe him.
• Patrick Patterson is not 100%, and I have said so since the Blue-White game.
• Coach Gillispie is not known for wholesale substitutions. That was a Tubby Smith trait. As Forty correctly pointed out, he is trying to get down to an eight or nine player rotation.
• Our man-to-man defensive intensity was not the problem. The problem was the execution. Effort and intensity cannot make up for a failure to execute a defensive scheme. There is no level of intensity possible that can keep a five-out team from beating you off the dribble, so you must devise a scheme to deal with it. I described the scheme, and I have no doubt at all that it was pretty much what Coach had planned. It was just not executed at all.
• We never got into an offensive set until the second half, when VMI showed some zone. That was because Kentucky fell into VMI’s trap and let them turn it into a track meet.

I could go on and on, but the reality is that it was defensive execution more than anything else that is responsible for this loss. The second factor most responsible was a failure to even attempt a half-court offense and control the pace of the game.

Are we going to get beat, at home, every year by a team that we have no business losing to? Are we going to have to try & adjust to making another teams’ year by allowing them to come into Rupp & coming away with a victory? I was very disappointed by BCGs lack of coaching in this latest setback. We played the whole game, the way we played the first 5 minutes – at VMI’s pace. Shouldn’t a supposedly superior team dictate the flow of the game? Has BCG EVER – EVER- EVER considered mixing up a little zone or different defense just to give the other team a iittle something different to think about?

Is This A Tend?

yea i agree with forty, our team is too talented to have another season like last year

I believe that I must disagree with FortyYearCatFan about this simply being just one loss. It is true that in the W/L column it will be looked at as an L only, but nationally it is looked at otherwise. First, the national media, never true friends to the blue and white, will forever bring this up and point to it as an indication of Kentucky being a fading basketball power (see the Gardner-Webb mentions last year as a preview). Second, this loss tells every other team on our schedule that should have considered themselves massive underdogs, that there is hope, VMI proved that. When it comes to athletic events, confidence and perspective can mean all the difference. Finally, this loss will actually have impact when it comes time to get a seed for the NCAA tourney. Bad losses are looked at, whenever they happen, regardless of what we want to believe. Losing at home to a team that will probably not make it out of the SoCon will hurt.
This was a bad loss, and it will be talked about much worse than if we were to lose a blowout to Carolina Tuesday.

with the above post. We schedual these weaker teams for a reason, and that reason is not to lose. Very very bad.

I must, once again, disagree with 40Year. True we have lost in the past and survived. We are Kentucky. We are not supposed to survive, we are supposed to thrive. Heck, even Indiana won there first game.

One of the reasons I love this game is that the underdog can beat ANYONE on a given night. Unfortunately, Friday was not the night I wanted the underdog to do well. The fact of the matter is that it only counts as one L on the record. Those who make it out to be more than that can argue that, but It’s not like an L in March that sends you home. These early season games are to learn and improve. Hopefully that can be done with some wins. All we need to do now is pull off a win in Chapel Hill on Tuesday, and a lot of people will forget VMI real quick.

…none of this will matter.

Not that I think we will, but it’s in the past, and the team needs to use it as a focal point for improvement. We’ll get better, but it won’t be as soon as any of us (fans, coaches, or team) would like.

I agree with the whole “just one loss” sentiment. I am the one right now assurinig others that “we will be just fine.” Its not the “letting go and moving on” part that gets me. Its not even hearing those that despise Kentucky basketball give me hell – I expect and am fully ready for that. (Doesnt help that when it comes to UK, I am a full fledged blue goggles wearing trash talking believer!!) No – what gets me is having to hear other UK fans get so down on our team. I mean, its one thing to be disappointed, but another to go into “all hope is lost” mode. So, today I come into work (a place with plenty of non-Kentucky fans) after leaving here on Friday predicting a win by “at least 25,” and I still say…… We will be just fine! GO CATS!!

If Billy G would simply not play porter that much we would be a much better team. the obvious plummet of skill that occurs when he is on the court is undeniable he is at best a 3rd string limited 2 guard, at worst a key player for the other team why does he continue to get the time on the floor i wonder? Is Billy Gs ego really that sensitive?