Where was Galloway? He didn’t see the floor this afternoon? More of Billy Clyde’s “he didn’t practice well this week” business?

he did what all great scores do, he go to the charity stripe and he knocked them down. His great offensive production combined with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and only 1 turnover made him the star of the game. We are watching a speacial season unfold for Meeks and if it translates to an SEC championship and NCAA tourny success we are talking all-american honors.

Coming into the game they were Number 1 in the country in 2 pt. field goal defense, Number 5 in effective field goal % defense, and Number 33 in overall defense. They were generally regarded as having the best defense in the conference coming in. They had held 9 of their opponents to fewer than 60 points, and 13 of their 14 opponents to fewer than 70. (Illinois Chicago scored 74 on them.) That is outstanding defense.

With the little bit of foul trouble Patrick (nation’s highest % FG shooter) had, we still shot above what Vandy usually allows. Yes, their best player was out, but essentially, so was ours, because Pat was kind of a non-factor for the most part, and the reason we did not win the rebounding battle. I’m not knocking Pat, but it is clear he played well below his usual self, yet the team survived and during parts of the game, even thrived.

Furthermore, with the exception of several ill-advised shots by Jodie, most of our trouble hitting the basket was our two superstar freshmen going a combined 0 for 9 (Darius missed 4, and DeAndre missed 5).

If DeAndre and Darius had just not taken a shot, the rest of the team shot 52% against a very good defensive team.

Coach needs to figure out what is going on in DeAndre’s head with regard to the perimeter shots. He did not come in touted as a great shooter, but he has now missed 20 consecutive three-point shots over a nine game stretch. Over that same period of time, he has shot a very respectable 62% from inside the arc, and 75% from the free throw line. Something’s amiss.

Darius just got robbed on a couple of his that rattled out. I feel he will be okay in the long run (although I figured he would have hit his stride by now, and that hasn’t happened).

Mike Porter is shooting 86% from the free throw line, and Jodie is now 92 out of 102 for the year (90.2%). Those are just luxurious nubers for any team to have waiting to be fouled at the end of any game.

Porter has scored 28 points over the last three games. Maybe he is coming out of his shell as a scoring option for us.

Overall, I am encouraged by the game. The ten point victory was one better than Pomeroy predicted, and this was a team at 55 on his ratings index. Ogilvy and Patterson were kind of a wash tonight, as neither showed up (so to speak), so I think we can take Vandy at Nashville as well. Pat will not have two such games in a row against the same competition. Darius and DeAndre will play better as well.

Very good teams will win when they don’t play well.

Ken P., Meeks was great, the star of the game by far. I will take an ill-adivsed shot from Meeks over an open look for Porter always. I was glad to see Porter not hurt the team today, but he is not a scoring threat by any stretch, no more than 40yearcatfan is the answer to offensive rebounding.

Overall picture: Great defense in stretches, good overall. Vandy missed a lot of uncontested threes. With some exceptions, most of our scoring was from individual moves and hustle, not team ball movement. Because of youth in the SEC, most teams are probably going to be inconsistent. We’ll have more quality experience on the floor than most of them.

I agree, he had an okay game, but I was so looking forward to a tremendous battle with the big guy from Vandy. When that didn’t materialize, I thought that Patterson would dominate. Instead he got in foul trouble just like he did last year. Another year will add the maturity he needs to not make those type of mistakes. Next year, with the new recruits, he will have size (Orton) playing along side of him so he can try the threes and know that missed shots will be rebounded. We will also have very good subs. (Pilgrim, Stevenson and Harrellson). Before entering the NBA draft, I think Patterson needs to add some weight (245-255) to be more markable.

Meeks, on the other hand, is taking better care of the ball, which was his major downfall. While I think he already has a NBA body, another 10 pounds of muscle wouldn’t hurt him either. With the numbers he is putting up, I just hope Jodie stays another year.

If my crystal ball is correct and both these players stay, it should be quite a year next year. In the meantime, this year will be a learning experience for the entire team. Go CATS!

really showed off his potential tonight. His behind the back pass to Stevenson on the breakaway really got the crowd into it. I can’t remember the last time I heard Rupp as loud as it got during the middle of that 10 minute stretch in the second half.