Morning Newspaper for February 11th

I remember Travis Ford’s mouth from when he was at Campbellsville and they would come to play Georgetown. He could give Mike Krzyzewski a run for his money.

Couldn’t watch the game live but kept up to minute on cell. Have watched replay, what a relief! One of the intriguing aspects that came to mind was the performance of Nick Calathes and its exposition of the distinction between physical athletic talent and the talent to play the game of basketball. The subject sprang from my frustration with UK’s apparent inability to prevent Calathes from dramatically influencing the game. More specifically was the question why were bigger, stronger, quicker players relatively helpless in stopping an obviously less physically talented individual from accomplishing seemingly whatever he wished. I eventually reasoned that it is because that Calathes — in the mould of a Larry Bird — possesses a rather rare combination of mental and physical abilities that constitute what coaches refer to as “knowing how to play the game” and thus provides a synergy that is not usually found and allows him to succeed at a level superseding his physical abilities alone. Further consideration leads me to believe that UK’s roster is absent such a player. Jodie Meeks, as proficient as he is physically, doesn’t have it. Patrick Patterson may be as close as any Cat but his position (the 5) isn’t conducive to displaying it — Bill Russell and Bill Walton come to mind as 5’s who did. Lack of such a player(s) contributes mightily to UK’s deficiencies and is in particularly responsible for the troublesome and ostensibly irreparable turnover problem.

and commentary.

I think Calathes already had one missed free throw.

Galloway should be the starting point guard…period. He is so much faster than Liggins it isn’t funny and he is one of the few players on the team who actually penetrates and makes things happen offensively. They are also much better defensively when he is in. Because of his athletisicm and length he can actually defend the 3 which we have sucked at lately. I heard he doesn’t practice well or something but we can’t lose too many more games and even get into the tournament so get him in and leave him there except for 10 or so minutes from Liggins. I agree that Porter is best at the 2 backing up Meeks.

Ogetarts stats say it’s not one game but a pattern over the year. " when Kevin Galloway plays 10 minutes or more? The Cats are 7-0 when he plays 10 minutes or more.
In those 7 games Galloway is averaging 3.7 assists and 1.7 turnovers in 14.9 minutes per game. If he played 30 minutes per game, he would easily average 6+ assists per game.

They are just better with Galloway. The numbers show it and fans can see the difference. Plus they are much more exciting. I’d say one of the reasons the crowd was so energetic last night is that they were seeing a fast and aggressive game in terms of the fast break and defensive pressure when Galloway was in. Tubby is gone not just because he couldn’t get to the final 4 or because he was a bad coach (clearly a great coach), but because we liked the Pitino style better than the Tubby defense and rebounding – yawn… style. Ditto for McDonald’s All Americans who had their eye on the NBA. Galloway, who reminds me a little of Walter McCarty minus the outside jump shot but a better passer, can be a major factor in taking us to the next level. He is the short term 2 year ANSWER to the point guard problem. He probably isn’t the third scorer we have been looking for but we won’t need it if he keeps the assists up, turn overs down, while continuing the up-tempo aggression.

Not saying Liggins won’t be good…but he looks a year away really. Could someone tell him to bend over a little when he dribbles? They say the ball is harder to steal that way. He needs to master either penetrating/dishing appropriately, or shooting, neither of which he currently does well.