Kentucky 71, Louisville 62:  Postmortem

He was at the end of the bench during part of the game and then went to the locker room during one tv timeout. Definitely looked not 100%. This is my second game breaking the attendance at Rupp ;-) so I’ll take credit for it haha. It was bedlam in there at the beginning of this game and anytime we had any sort of run. If UK had hit the threes like we normally do, this game would have been nowhere near as close as it was, but that’s nothing profound or unnoticed on here. Ugly game, but pretty W. Go Cats!!!

P.S. What was the exact attendance?

nothing excessive by Cousins. Wasn’t that elbow due to trying to get the ball? I wasn’t sure but I didn’t see him try to hurt the player. I wanted to say something about the emotions of this game. I was sitting there just all excited. For years I have seen passion lacking in our guys at times and its very frustrating for this old kentucky girl to witness that. I want them to want it as bad as I do. Today I saw that. I dont care if its messy or not just because of the emotion. That game is what you want to see in a rivalry. Messy and full of emotion. These Kentucky kids get it. I think Cal has preached to these kids what Kentucky is all about. To me that means that he wasn’t just selling us a load of crap when he talks about how much he respects the tradition at Kentucky. He is selling it to his kids too. He completly won me over today. They all won me over today. I was so proud of these guys. I for the first time in years feel like they love UK as much as I do. I think they appreciate Kentukcy as much as I do. That will carry them a long way.

Let me mention a couple of the guys you didn’t talk about:

DeAndre Liggins didn’t impact the stats much at all, but made two plays that illustrated how far he’s come. First was the touch pass to PPat-if that’s not a Top Ten POD, somebody’s asleep. The second was diving to the floor, taking possession of the ball and then calling timeout. Good stuff, and it’s good to see that kid doing well.

-Darnell Dodson didn’t light it up today like he’s capable of doing but he got some rebounds, two of which show his potential, what with that amazing wingspan of his. On the rebounds I’m thinking about, his arm(s) shot out there like a snake striking and took the ball. Depending on who we recruit this year, this kid is gonna have to carry a load next year, and he’s plenty capable of doing it.

Finally, it was butt-ugly, but despite shooting like a sixth-grade team except for dunks and layups, this group of kids found a way to win. There’s a lot to be said for that. Have a good night, everybody.

about Pitino’s press conference….handled himself with class and as you know, even mentioned Laettner and Timberlake in reference to Cousins. The questioner was obviously trying to start something and didn’t we all just LOVE Brando and Davis EXPERT opinions?
I also thought Cal said all the right things and I think both coaches showed how smart they are.

It was ugly but as both Cal and Pitino said….that’s what you get in rivalry games.

When the reporter asked him post game about how he felt about the technicals, Cal’s response was, “Were they on me? No? Well then I didnt really care.”

As far as Pitino goes, I thought he did ok post game. I, personally, felt that there was some smugness and sarcasm present when discussing the technicals and whatnot. Just my opinion though.

right away and that is what sent Bledsoe off. Cousin’s is an easy target and he has to learn to control those emotions. When he gets to the NBA somebody will deck him. From what I saw, Cousin’s didn’t swing the elbow (he would of been ejected if he had) but pushed it into the player. I have never seen a game start like that and I hope don’t ever again. My heart can’t take it. It would not of surprised me if the refs had sent both teams back to the locker room until they cooled down.
As for the UL fans crying about the game not being fair because Cousins wasn’t ejected, BULL CRAP. Winners want to play the best and beat the best. It really says something about their fans.

The so called technical or unsportsmanlike foul called on Cousins was after they looked at the tape. When did it become legal for refs to look at a tape and retroactively call a foul??? They called 2 fouls on UL at the time, but didnt call the one on Cousins untll looking at the tape. So now dont have to be called at the time, but can be called via instant replay. Thats crap. By the way, I thought Cousins was propping himself up using the UL players head, not committing a foul.

I think that after incidents they may be considered fighting in which inappropriate behavior may have occurred, officials are allowed to go to replay in order to assess technicals and possible ejections.

just talked to my dad and he said in the post game Cal said he thought this team could very well call the NC game – did anyone else hear that?

as bad as we agreed the refs were, my dad said given it might have been good that this crew was calling the game because a “lesser” crew might have ejected cousins rather than taking the time to get it right…or rather than impacting the game more than they were…

I love rooting for one of the most honorable, talented and exemplary young men to ever play for our university as much as anyone, but…

Patrick Patterson was terrific. I know you think he didn’t get enough rebounds, but that is more a sign of experience than anything else. Cousins just sucks up every rebound available, and Patrick has learned just to set sail for the opposing goal when a shot is missed.

Patterson played 38 minutes, Cousins 26. That is a minimum of 12 minutes for PPat without Cousins even on the floor. And even that is if the old “Cousins sucks up all the rebounds” argument even works on Coach Cal, which I am betting it doesn’t.

I completely agree that Patterson “is” terrific. He is one of my favorite UK players, ever. But I am not as sure that he “was” terrific this time. Especially in the 2nd half.

To me one of the biggest story lines of the game is how late in the second half, when someone needed to slam the lid on this one, it was the freshmen (Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe) who rose up and got it done. With PPat joining the rest of us in watching the proceedings.

He was excellent on defense, and is a complete team player. The Cards tried to push the young players over the edge and it did not work. For an intense rivalry game the officiating seemed balanced with both sides getting a couple of calls and not getting some just like every other game we will play with this much intensity. My only complaint is the UL players and the media trying to put the thug image on us without real justification. UL had a plan to try to rattle us that did not work, but will possibly effect the calls in March.

Is 40-0 a realistic goal? I think the SEC stinks this year – I’m not sure there’s a single game we shouldn’t win. Will we? Probably not. But I think it’s feasible.

I been saying there is a real possibility that this team goes undefeated, for about the last six or eight games now. I guess since the IU win. I thought UL was the most dangerous team on the schedule. I ain’t old enough, and I’m 47, to remember a season that I didn’t think " oh well, they were gonna lose one sooner or later", after they lost their first game. If this team loses, I’ll be genuinely surprised. I will think, “oh man”, if they had n’t lost that one game"! One more thing, this team will be really good by the end of the season, when they know what they’re doing!!!

I guess it’s only fair that I come here and take my lumps…

A few unsolicited opinions:

-Laetner and Cousins should have both been ejected. However, Laetner’s ejection would have guaranteed a win for ‘92 UK. I can’t say ‘10 UofL would have won even if Cousins had gotten the boot. I don’t like Cousins, but I’ll never have to see him again. He’s NBA bound.

-We have Samardo for another year or two, because he isn’t ready for the NBA. Or major college basketball, it seems. It’s going to be a long year in the Big East.

-I didn’t listen to Pitino’s press conference. He needs to shut up and get us some better players. Kidding, sort of.

I really fell in love with this kid today. As much crap as some people are giving him even our own fans, he did very well of keeping his composure. He was being banged around all game and UofL was doing their best to rile him up. I told a friend I am afraid like Shaq some are trying to hurt the guy and that is exactly what the Cards were doing and doing it to Wall too. Card fans you want to try to start throwing mud?? You need to watch the game again…….the Cards played rough and hard and dirty in opionion. Back off Cuz!

is the most wins Kentucky has had starting a season without a loss?

one of his teams went 25-0 for the year. We might end up 40-0 upin him.

I wish it were 9:37 here! This preacher needs his beauty sleep. Good night all. Yes, even good night John boy.

That is the story of the day! Been a minute since a UK team has done that. Congratulations team. Keep up the good work. One hurdle overcome, now it’s time to prepare for the next one…SEC play baby! “Us against them” will go a long way on the road and the road beckons like a siren at sea.

GO BIG BLUE!!!!

The rest of the SEC seems to be self destructing … watched a good UT/Memphis game only to find 4 UT starters in trouble for guns/drugs (could someone please explain to me how these young men could even consider risking their college careers with guns/drugs?? …. for crying out loud!!!)

South Carolina lost Dominique Archie for the season (knee injury) and now have dismissed Mike Holmes from the team ….

Florida seems to be in turmoil losing 3 straight now first Syracuse (understandable) but then Richmond and South Alabama …

A couple things that stand out to me about the game yesterday are:
1- I was disappointed on our zone offense. Not much movement or penetration. Coach did say in his comments that UL’s zone moves laterally, and not sagging to the middle. Why hadn’t they worked on that if this is what was expected? SEC teams will make note of this. And we better find some zone offense soon.
2- Free throw shooting again a problem. Cousins really blows hot and cold on this, so it has to be concentration. Now PPat is failing at his attempts. Wall had some misses, but I’d put Bledsoe there anytime. When you look at him on the line you can see the confidence in his eyes that he will make them. This aspect of the game will either win or lose several games before the season is over, so it is important to correct.

The free throws are are both surprising and disgusting, particularly in the case of Patterson, who shot them well last year. We simply cannot have a repeat of Cal’s NC defeat at Memphis because of missed free throws. We cannot!!

As to beating the zone, I was always taught that there were three keys to doing that:

-In/out ball movement, causing the zone to compress and expand, creating shots for both the inside and outside players if the ball is moved fast enough. As much as I love Cuz, we don’t have much of that type of flow when he gets the ball. It’s something he will have to learn because other teams, seeing what happened yesterday, will play a lot of zones on us until we are able to regain our shooting touch, which leads to

-Good outside shooting. Goes without saying, I guess, that we didn’t have that one yesterday. Part of it was just cold shooting and part was because our perimeter shooters were doing some watching and not getting themselves into good position to receive the pass and shoot. And finally,

-Perimeter players forcing two defensive players to react to them at the same time. Usually, that means the point guard moving the ball between the two front zoners, forcing them (and possibly the middle back post player) to compress toward the free throw line, leaving a shooter either on the baseline or, more likely an elbow, open for the pass/shot. Didn’t see much of that yesterday, either. Our guards tend to either move away from the perimeter double-team or try to drive straight through it. If that ain’t working for you, you’ve encourage them to double-team you to make passing opportunities.

Why do good teams like UK not perform some of these simple things? My own opinion is that because their individual talents are so good, they rely on those skills and think only one step or so ahead, while the lesser athlete has to see/plan two or three steps ahead to improve team, not individual, play. That’s when picks off the ball and good in-out flow cause open shots.

exactly why I said that once this team figures out what in the world they are doing they are going to be nearly impossible to beat. As long as JWall is on the court that is. The team has a true “will” to win, Wall is off the charts in that respect. Cousins truly does have miles to go in the team department. But he is terriffic in spite of his faults. When, not if, this team gets in sync, oh my goodness!!!! The FT shooting drives me nuts. I can take 10 year olds and in a few weeks have them shooting 70%, no problem. It’s 90% form and technique?!!!! The “routine” is the other 10%, and that comes from “practice, practice, practice”. Repitition is honestly a great teacher. Hey, I’d even work cheap. Go Cats.