Kentucky Wildcats 62, Carolina Gamecocks 68: Postmortem
by Glenn Logan on Jan 26, 2010 11:58 PM EST
in Kentucky Wildcats Basketball
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PrintWell, that #1 ranking was nice while it lasted. But it didn't last very long -- something over 24 and under 35 hours. After all sorts of praise, a unanimous #1 ranking, and a call from president Obama, the Kentucky Wildcats decided to go out and make like the Palmetto State Poultry and lay an egg -- only this one was rotten.
Congratulations to the South Carolina Gamecocks. They absolutely earned this victory by playing this basketball game like the upperclassmen they are. They had a leader, they got him the ball, and he did what leaders do -- won the basketball game. I don't want to hear any whining about officiating, or complaints about how bad Kentucky played. South Carolina won because they were the better team tonight. They did the smart thing and took the air out of the basketball, forcing Kentucky to play a half-court game where they don't excel as much as when they are running up and down. South Carolina had a game plan which they executed in a superior manner, and it paid off.
Devan Downey was just unstoppable, and he has a special love for beating Kentucky, which he has been able to enjoy for the last four meetings. That's great for Gamecock fans, but it hurts to have to write yet another lament starring the Gamecocks in the role of the villain.
Kentucky fans have no right to complain. This team may have gotten a unanimous nod from the Associated Press voters, but they have not really been tested much. Nevertheless, Kentucky fans were ecstatic, even gloating. Unfortunately for us, our team tonight was weighed, measured, and found wanting.
Here are my observations:
- Patrick Patterson has officially disappeared from this team. He has been replaced by Perry Stevenson's clone.
- DeMarcus Cousins did all he could to win this game. Unfortunately, neither John Wall nor Eric Bledsoe could make layups, Darnell Dodson couldn't even make a wide open breakaway dunk, Patrick Patterson couldn't hit short jumpers, and when you miss enough easy ones in a low-scoring game, you lose. It's that simple.
- I loved the Kentucky defense in the first half, but I lament the fact that they left it in the locker room at halftime. That wasn't a really good idea.
- Devan Downey was indomitable. That's all you can say. Nobody, not even two players, could stop him. Maybe we should have tried three, or even four. Heck, did anyone else from South Carolina even score?
- What is it about playing Kentucky that makes the Gamecocks want to rise up and block 20 shots? It's the darnedest thing.
- I'm thinking some Kentucky fans might want to dial Ken Pomeroy's number and apologize. UK looked pretty much like the #9 team tonight to me -- at best.
- With all due respect to the President of the United States, I chose to blame him for our loss. We're blaming him for almost everything else, so a little thing like this won't matter much.
- John Calipari was out-coached by Darrin Horn tonight. How interesting. Maybe Coach Cal will want to take a few shots at him and get a rivalry going. Seems to have worked real well versus Pitino and Calhoun.
- I think Calipari got into Jobu's rum before the game. It is very bad to drink Jobu's rum. Very bad.
- I have not seen the stats, but I have the feeling that we got outrebounded on the offensive glass by a team half our size. I was very unhappy with our work on the boards in this game. I was even more unhappy to ... you know, lose the game.
- What happens now? Does UK go into a pout? Do they come back and thrash Vandy? Do they flap their arms and fly to the moon? I have no idea. But Calipari needs to lay off Jobu's rum.
- When will our seniors, juniors and sophomores take back the leadership of this basketball team? Just askin'.
- Darius Miller? That's just a name on the official roster, I guess -- with a 0 in every category except minutes. The designated bupkis.
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We were robbed!
By our inferior player. Or by South Carolina’s superior play.
I’m thinking that the kool-aid has gone bad :P
Definitely ...
… the kool aid was sour tonight. :-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Glenn Logan on Jan 27, 2010 12:03 AM EST up reply actions
Shouldn't have been drinking the kool-aid anyway
sour, OR sweet
No matter where you're at, there you are
will not disagree...
but i do believe the bounces clearly went usc’s way with some of downey’s shots while the bounces did not go our way. we have way too much talent to let that be a factor – but i do believe the perfect season, #1 ranking, press conference with the president, etc are weighing on the team.
my biggest concern is patterson. cal sat him at a couple of key moments of the game. not sure if he was sick or if cal is trying to motivate him -
the kids look worn out – maybe the loss will help – of course we have no choice but to say that now…
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Jan 27, 2010 12:03 AM EST reply actions
Oh PPat........Where are you? We are looking for you....lol
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
agree - without the lol though
cause missing PPat is NOT funny…. :)
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Jan 27, 2010 12:07 AM EST up reply actions
i know...
me too. was just joking around as well.
given a choice of laughing or crying, i laugh – gets me in trouble sometimes
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Jan 27, 2010 12:10 AM EST up reply actions
19-1 is not bad at all....
Thanks for the laugh Tru. 5000th block in 2 years…..I hear ya’ :-)
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
Heh.
Seem like it.
I gotta go over and congratulate the Gamecocks. Sigh.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Glenn Logan on Jan 27, 2010 12:04 AM EST up reply actions
The way I look at it
It’s just a game. The earth is still on its axis, the sun will rise and set tomorrow.
Sure it’s aggravating and disappointing….but I’d rather us lose now and have an opportunity to learn from it while there’s time.
I think if we had 1 or 2 more players step up a little and the outcome of this game is probably different. It absolutely AMAZES me at how nearly every player except Cousins is a non-factor in the 2nd half.
Actually, Seth Davis just twittered
the Sun will NOT rise tomorrow
No matter where you're at, there you are
I agree.
This game isn’t necessarily a big deal. Put it aside, don’t a bad loss beat you twice.
by Thomas Hunt Morgan on Jan 27, 2010 12:09 AM EST up reply actions
One last 'Cock joke before I go to bed...
You brought the KY, we brought the ’Cocks.
Thanks for putting up with me and good luck until you play us again.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
No fair
you have more than 1? Cheater
UL Football Fan/UK Basketball Fan ~ Okinawa, Japan
by The White Mandingo on Jan 27, 2010 7:31 AM EST up reply actions
Thanks. Like I told those of you that came over to GABA...
I’ve always thought you guys have a classy fanbase. It’s a pleasure passing the time with you. It’s of course even more fun when we win. :-)
Really, best of luck. I will pull for you when the NCAAs roll around.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Jan 27, 2010 12:09 AM EST up reply actions
Downey was 9-29 from the field.
Not exactly poor defense What was poor was the rebounding. And I agree that Patterson needs to assert himself as the unquestioned leader of this team.
by Thomas Hunt Morgan on Jan 27, 2010 12:08 AM EST reply actions
How many times
did we have a rebound in our hands only to not squeeze the basketball and secure it? I really do think rebounding is ultimately what kept us from going to the locker room with a double digit lead at the half. That isn’t to say the game wouldn’t have been tight in the end, but it could have helped us build just enough distance to pull one out. Then again, the Cats just weren’t all there in any phase of the game tonight other than Cousins. Great game for Big Cuz. Plain awful game for every other man. Time to put it behind us though and take care of business these next 11… I mean 20 games. :)
This game=Louisville losing in the tourney
Hear me out…….Louisville blows out AZ by 30 or 40 something points then gets beat by Mich. St the next game. Why? Because they got COCKY. Same thing that happened to our guys.
Did anyone here think it would Rebounding that would cause the first loss?
Frickin amazing
No matter where you're at, there you are
or a 5' 8" guard driving to the hoop?
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Jan 27, 2010 12:11 AM EST up reply actions
Not only that but
+Only five Patterson points
+Only four Bledsoe points
+Only seven points off the bench
+No points from Darius Miller
by Thomas Hunt Morgan on Jan 27, 2010 12:13 AM EST reply actions
and only
about 3 rebounds from the rest of the team other than Demarcus. I would say that’s recipe for an ass whoopin’.
we were discussing it at work today
And I thought we should’ve been beat much, much worse with how everyone else’s “performances” were so lacking.
The key for the near future...
avoid the first loss let-down that hit Purdue, then Texas. Saturday’s game is very important in this team’s development
No matter where you're at, there you are
where is patrick?
even in the first 19 games, I’ve been wondering this. I know we have a bunch of good freshmen, and they’ve taken their turns being stars, but when will it be Patterson’s turn? I keep waiting for him to bust out a 25 and 12 game, but you can’t do that on 4 shot attempts.
JUST 4 ATTEMPTS TONIGHT!!
Cal needs to let everyobody know that in a halfcourt game, the ball starts inside with Patteron and Cousins (more Patterson, since he is much more efficient on the block) and it’ll work it’s way outside.
No reason that Patterson should have less then 12 attempts again. absolutely unacceptable!
GO BIG BLUE!! GO BIG BLUE!!
by UKWildCatFanatic on Jan 27, 2010 12:43 AM EST reply actions
What I liked
and yall I only saw the last four minutes of the game. Was at kids ball games tonight. What I liked to see was John Wall’s face. He looked like he was really distraught and so were some other players……….I like it. No, I don’t like that they lost but I like that they cared about losing. It will only make them better. My kids were shocked that I wasn’t upset that we lost…….disapponted but not uspet……told yall earlier……….its all GOOD!
That's because in those last four minutes, the team started to try to win
Had you watched the other 36 minutes; you’d be as disgusted as the rest of us.
Of course its difficult, its a shortcut... if it was easy it'd just be "the way."
Thassright, chirop,
if we play for the first 36 like the last four, we might have won a close game. But at least the team could have said they fought. As it was, they waited till it was too late.
No moral victories--it's all about Ws and Ls!!!
Turnovers
killed us. Poor rebounding killed us. What has happened to Patterson? He has to demand the ball. Cousins is a beast, but when Patterson is on his game too, there is no way to stop us down low. Hopefully this loss will get the guys focused.
That's what she said.
We got beat tonight and, for the grace of a few good bounces, this team would not even be #1 (ask Cal)
In no way does that diminish the talent and the character of this team. #1 in January is and will soon be, was, very nice. I’m not trying to “lick my wounds” or rationalize a loss before I hit the sack: We got beat tonight.
But as Tenken said— It’s all good.
Why is it good? — because this team is talented as hell and Cal has their attention. Let the second semester begin!
No matter where you're at, there you are
As long as we make the tournement
I don’t care if we lose the rest of the sec games. I just want to beat the snot out of this south carolina team. There is no SEC team I want to beat the hell out of more. Between the game tonight and the games last year…they just infuriate me. I have honestly not been this mad since the game in columbia last year. Please, when they come to Lexington; darius miller, do something…patrick patterson and john wall, play as well as you’re able to play…eric bledsoe and deandre liggins, don’t get embarrassed by downey. Demarcus cousins, throw down 27 on these clowns again.
Payback in Rupp
I absolutely agree with you! Even before the last seconds ticked off last night I ran to get my schedule to circle the date that South Carolina comes to Rupp. I have never in my life seen so many circus shots thrown up by Downey that just lucked in — Wild, off balance shots that had a lucky bounce and fell in! And we missed so many lay ups that any other time would have gone in. And several times Downey walked, which plainly showed up on the replay, but the refs were too gutless to call it and other times, especially in the last few minutes they would knock John Wall’s head off and no foul called?!! We have got to beat them when they come to Rupp!
Weird game
The freshman scored every point in the second half,the upperclassmen produced zero.DD was amazing and UK had no answer on defense,just played his tail off.Horn had a great gameplan,milked the shot clock,and USC made the shots in the clutch.UK did not play a bad game,they just got outplayed.I watched the replay,and UK let up “just enough” to lose.Great win by USC.
Never like to lose but...
this was clearly a case of a superior team being out worked and out hustled. This team has played down to the competition all year with the attitude that we will pull it out in the end. That is a recipe that must be left at home come March. This is EXACTLY the loss this team needed to see the light on that subject.
We played awful, it happens, get it back together Cats.
Xbox Live Gamertag: hoopchi
The freshmen point gaurds tried to hard
to be King, the ball bounced away in all the key moments, the Gamecocks wanted it, went and got it, proving will does matter in the end, for a win. If not for Boogie, I would have gone to bed embarrassed, even though SC just held on long enough to win.
After last night another year for everyone does not seem like that bad of an idea. We will see in the next game if a little more seasoning will help our young gaurds control DD a tad, that is all we needed, time, time, time is on our side
I am very proud of this team, hold your head high guys, now you know what it takes on the road in the SEC.
Go CATS!
Don't Understand
With no answer for Downey why doesn’t Cal try a little zone. We couldn’t contain him from driving to the hoop, make him beat you from outside? This game looked a whole lot like a BillyG coached game – no adjustments, no answers, no nothing.
Hopefully, now the players see that they have been somewhat overhyped & we can get back to maybe a 3 or 4 man team instead of just 1 against 5.
Have you watched South Carolina at all this year?
Devan Downey can and will beat you from outside. Last night was one of those games where there was no stopping him. A zone would not have helped against him.
Of course its difficult, its a shortcut... if it was easy it'd just be "the way."
Perhaps You Are Right
My point is that we had no one who could guard him. Try a little something different. What did we have to lose?
You are right
I have watched DD this year. But he was not hitting as high a percentage last night as he did the other SEC games. But in the last 5 minutes, he hit everything, and he even had an assist or two when we doubled. Even on a rough night, he hit the clutch shots. We have to have a lead so that there are no clutch shots for DD. I mean, he beat us on a last second shot last year. Don’t we know this already?
We lost this game on the boards mostly though. DD missed a lot of shots, but too many of them were rebounded and put back in.
Then we got our butts beat in the lane on our end of the court. So many blocked shots and missed shots inside 5 feet. A bad O-goaltending call in the second half also stole one of our few O rebound put backs and changed momentum.
I watched the game in my workout room (did the eliptical the first half-paced and screamed the second half). My dogs also sleep in that room, and they are afraid of me today.
When you dont get rebounds and loose balls,then you commit turnovers, and miss layups
you wont beat anybody, usually. Downey played a great games last night, but he didnt beat the Cats………The Cats beat the Cats…..it was a bad case of self-mutilation….We played right into their hands, and with the exception of DeMarcus Cousins, who scored 26 points, had 3,743 fouls committed against him, helped guard Downey, and tried to be everywhere, no one else showed up for more than a minute or two at a time.
DeMarcus should get the Freshman of the Week in the SEC again. Now if the rest of the Kentucky Wildcats will plase stand up???
Remember, we're having fun now!!!
What an honest assessment!
However, these guys are young! I am amazed at what we have done already! This game is an opportunity for teaching points, and I hope all the little hustle-plays we did not make, become more important.
"Ignorance, I can fix, stupidity, well that's another matter!"-82nd Airborne NCO
Thinking back, it looked very much like a BCG game
Throw the ball around the perimeter, force it down low, hope the post player can do something, erratic substitution, and no zone defense when it would have done a lot of good.
not sure on the zone...
i think a box and 1 might have helped, but DD was hitting from downtown so instead of driving, he would have just hit 3’s.
still – if we had rebounded, it would be a moot point…
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Jan 27, 2010 8:16 AM EST up reply actions
That diminishes Downey's performance in my eyes
I’d let a guy score thirty every night if it meant twenty misses. That was Cal’s game plan — he said the guy was going to get his points.
What he, nor any of us figured on (I think), was 20 frickin offensive rebounds. 20 offensive rebounds given up by the tallest team in the country. Who’d of believed it?
I thought for sure the first loss would be from a David’s behind the arc slingshots … coupled with foul trouble on Cuz or Wall.
No matter where you're at, there you are
It's so unbelievable
to me that Downey’s shooting percentage was that low. It sure seemed like everything he threw up, in the second half anyway, went in—no matter how crazy it looked. I have to say I really like that little guard! Though of course I hope he gets (metaphorically) stomped on his trip to Rupp.
by blue kentucky girl on Jan 27, 2010 1:05 PM EST up reply actions
He just took so many shots that it didn't matter if he missed a bunch
Some were bound to go in. Some of his shots were terrible……didn’t one completely hit the backboard? Or was that someone else?
My Prediction
John Wall is pissed…you could see it in his face as he put the team on his shoulders down the stretch and tried to carry them to victory. He now has not only tasted defeat as a team, but individually as well at the hands of a streaky, NBA caliber player in Downey. Therefore, I predict that he—not our underachieving and considerably less talented upperclassmen—will take control of this team and motivate them into playing better, faster, and harder for the remainder of the season. Wall has a will to win that is unusual for a freshman…and the talent to back it up. Therefore, I think we will be fine…and that, contrary to popular belief, the sky is not falling. As for Patterson, he is indeed a good player. However, he is nowhere close to being the best player on this team. Therefore, I disagree with those who repeatedly accuse him of disappearing or failing to step up and take over a game. Remember, folks, he was a star on some very, very, very mediocre Kentucky teams, and was forced to lead, rebound, and score more because he was surrounded by the offensively-challanged likes of Porter, Harris, and Stevenson. When you take out those three and plug in the likes of Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, and even Orton, you can understand why Patterson is no longer dominating the team’s stat line night in and night out. This does not make him a great player…it simply means that he is no longer the cream of this particular crop. Just my opinion…feel free to shoot the messenger.
Watch out Vandy…the great Wall is coming…and he’s bringing Big Cuz to the party to remind Mr. Ogilve just how much better this year’s Cats team really is. Sweep the leg, Big Cuz… sweep the leg.
Uh, where have you been?
Ppat is an NBA first round prospect. His skills justify that, but I must say, I am looking for his leadership. That is definitely lacking here.
We're all just a banana peel away from eternity.
ICQ: 591535544
Yahoo IM: jacksbrain
I don't disagree
P-Pat is a very good player, and a first round prospect… He is also one of my favorite Ky players. In a weird, perhaps, sort of way, I was trying to defend him from being called an underachiever. My point being…he is no longer the best player on the team. Put differently, this team has so many more options than last year, he simply does not need to dominate the stat line like he was required to do over the past few years.
Now will Basketball again be important???
I hope the CATS will want to stay focused on Basketball. The President did for the CATS what he did for the Lady last week in the Senate race for Ted Kennedy’s seat.
And
The Govs in VA and NJ… and, by the way, all of obama’s hugs and kisses for royboy and the unc faithful and players… look where they are today… no top 25… and so, on… he’s the kiss of death… Not only did we play 2 on 5 last night in the 2nd half… and Lexington native Darrin Horn has a hrd on for UK and is so motivated to beat UK he can whip his little davids into a frenzy to slay Goliath! We were out rebounded, out played, out hustled, out everything by a far and away inferior team.. DD made 1/3 of his shots (more layups than all the cats together).. it is true, our schedule is not the most difficult in bb… let’s hope this is the wakeup call many said we really needed. Arkansas is a decent team, we should be puttin’ a whuppin’ on everyone’s A## like we did homeboy John. We should not be sweatin’ the outcome near the end of any game!!!!
We have a first team All American
who took 4 shots last night. We had a mult-zillion $ coach who in my opinion was out coached badly last night. We have the tallest team in D1 basketball and were out rebounded.
Cousins was the only player who seemed in the game from beginning to end. Wall had a couple of spurts but he was asleep for 3/4 of the game. Miller should loose his starting position. Bledsoe probably played his worst game.
It’s one thing to play your best and get beat by a team playing better but that’s not what happened last night. This was a HUGE step backward for this team and a stunning loss of focus.
Celebrate UK’s return to prominence if you want and properly give credit for that to Cal and this wonderful recruiting class but this team if going to leave UK fans wondering “what if” for years if Cal doesn’t get them focused.
You can't fix "stupid"!
I agree with a lot of that
It did seem to me as though the guys were asleep last night. No one ELEVATED. We flat got beat by a team that showed up with more heart and energy, which wasn’t a very tall order last night. Exception, Demarcus. He played fiercely all night, but it seemed like he was out there alone.
And, even though it should NOT have made a difference, there were a few bad calls and no-calls (and I mean outrageously bad) that, as I said last night, probably did us a favor. If we can’t come out with more desire to win a game than that, then we deserve to lose. But officials should get criticized when they completely hose it, and so I will call a couple of the calls to task here:
The offensive goal tending call on Cuz under our basket: the replay showed absolutely and without question that SC committed the goal-tend. That was a 4 point turnaround that in a close game made a difference.
Am I the only one that went freaking berserk at the no-call when Wall, with a SC player hanging on his arm so heavily that he actually got spun horizontal and hit the floor on his tummy and slid for a foot, finally managed to get the ref two feet away to call a timeout? I mean, c’mon. The defender was hanging on Wall’s arm at the endline as though he was about to fall out of a helicopter. Centrifugal force actually flung the guy halfway out of bounds. It freaked me the h&** out! No call, of course, except to call the timeout. That was the one where they reviewed the clock.
Still and all, the execrable officiating should NOT have made a difference. We still should have won that game, and if the guys had downed an energy drink or whatever, we would have. They were sleep walking.
We're all just a banana peel away from eternity.
ICQ: 591535544
Yahoo IM: jacksbrain
Everything you said is correct and we
certainly got hosed on several calls. We got the key break at the end of the Auburn game when PP was stripped and the ball bounced straight to Stevenson for an easy layup…..unfortunately we didn’t get the key break in this game.
But…………………WTF (that’s a why btw) should this team ever need a break against Auburn or SC?
You can't fix "stupid"!
Precisely.
The bad calls should have been a non-factor.
We're all just a banana peel away from eternity.
ICQ: 591535544
Yahoo IM: jacksbrain
The replay showed there was no goal tending at all. The refs just missed it.
That turned out to be a bad time out by Cal. The refs missed calls on both sides. Why do the fans always want to blame the refs. We didn’t come to play and we lost. I have watched Downey play plenty of times and not just against UK, and he didn’t have his best game but he has a giant will to win and he did.
You can't get abused on the boards like that and expect to win
Even with Downey scoring 30, UK lost the game by not being able to rebound.
First time I shot her, shot her in the side.
Hard to watch her suffer, but with the second shot she died...
I, too, blame Obama.
He is a sports guy. He should have known better than to call the team on a game day. Isnt he a Carolina fan?? I bet ol’ Roy put him up to it!
Seriously though. I didnt see the game and I’m SOOO glad I didnt. I know its just one loss, but I am pretty upset about this one. IMO – there is no way Kentucky should have lost this game. Shouldnt have even been close. I’m pretty sick of this losing to SOUTH CAROLINA stuff.
Dont bother telling me all the “Gamecocks came to play,” “Gamecocks wanted it more,” or anything like that because it honestly doesnt make any difference to me. I believe there is no excuse for losing this game. None. Kentucky should have dominated this one. That is my opinion and that is just how I feel about it.
First time EVER beating a number one ranked team. Nice. Great.
It is not worth an intelligent man’s time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.
by kentuckygirl0724 on Jan 27, 2010 8:31 AM EST reply actions
UK went to dinner and was served Humble Pie
First time I shot her, shot her in the side.
Hard to watch her suffer, but with the second shot she died...
I really thought this team
was going to go undefeated. They had the skills, I guess youth caught up with them. Too many new experiences for them. Hoopla hit em instead of hoops, yeah.
Aw well, next year coach. Now they can focus on having a defense and rebounding. I watched first half and saw the same tendencies they were playing with before the Arkansas game. No real effort, lack of mental focus, looking for the big play.
Unbeaten was fun for a minute there. I also liked the dig about the Pomroy stuff. That’s funny. Timely wasn’t it? Number 9 huh? Think UK will land there in the AP? IDK and IDC. :)
I have kleptomania,
but when it gets bad,
I take something for it.
Patterson
I made it a point to keep my eyes on Patterson last night and for the most part succeeded. While he certainly needs to knock some heads and get Wall and Bledsoe to throw him the ball, a big part of the problem is how he is being used in the offense.
For the majority of the game Patterson either set screens up top, hung out by the 3pt line near the baseline, or stood around the baseline on the opposite side of the lane when Cousins had the ball – these are not the best places for him to receive the ball or do something with it if he does get it.
Patrick shouldn’t have to rely on offensive rebounds to get a chance of taking the ball to the basket. The other guys on the team need to be made aware that Patterson is a terrific scorer and that he needs to touch the ball in a position to do something with it every time they are in a half court situation.
As for the game itself, I’m certainly disappointed but the Cats have let lots of teams hang around and it was going to cost them eventually. When you let teams stay within a few points or let them get ahead late you leave yourself open to bad luck and that’s what happened to the Cats tonight. Overall though, this game by itself doesn’t mean much. UK is still one of the 5 best teams in the country, they are still a favorite to win the conference and get a #1 seed, and they are still a favorite to win the title.
None of those things changed last night.
3 > 2, except for very large values of 2.
yay!
"Overall though, this game by itself doesn’t mean much. UK is still one of the 5 best teams in the country, they are still a favorite to win the conference and get a #1 seed, and they are still a favorite to win the title.
None of those things changed last night."
I was wondering who was going to say that, and I’m soooo glad you did. : )
This loss means very little except to the pride of Kentucky fans and to the players, and although I consider myself a rather proud person, it’s really just a blip on the road to bigger and better things. It’s just not a huge deal to me and I really don’t feel that bad. What I do feel bad for is that now what with this loss, the blame game starts. Coach did or didn’t do this; if so and so doesn’t step-up our season is doomed!
I know some of that is to be expected as we are fans and that’s just sort of what fans do, they bitch, they moan, they find fault, but it is a bit unsettling when you have fans calling the game over and giving up long before the game has been decided as was the case last night in the game thread, and yes, I realize that a few fans from an internet site are hardly the majority, but it’s still a little disheartening for this girl to witness as I just love our boys, am so proud of them and still totally believe they can take us to a great place this season. Furthermore, I have no trepidation whatsoever about what may happen in the next game (it’s a fresh start!), I still think we will do great and I know we are capable of it, so again, when looking at the big picture, I think it’s foolish to take too much away from this loss.
How about some perspective here? As uk1982 pointed out waaay up thread, the sun still rose this morning, and I will also add that no one was injured in the loss last night (which really is the worst thing that can happen as far as reaching those lofty expectations for our season, btw), so now it’s time to regroup and move on. (I think some else said that, too : )) Next game, please…..
yeah, I just can't get too upset about one game
Now, if they go and lose to Vandy on Saturday then play poorly against Ole Miss I’ll start to get a little worried, but it still is an open question as to how these guys will respond: we just won’t know until we know.
A lot of things went wrong in this game. SC deserves a lot of credit for many of them, but they weren’t responsible for Dodson botching an all-alone dunk, nor for Bledsoe’s brain cramp when he couldn’t decide between a dunk and a layup and missed that wide open shot. If those guys hit those shots it completely changes the complexion of the last 2-3 minutes.
3 > 2, except for very large values of 2.
I knew it was over because of good coaching.
It doesn’t make me less of a fan, just realistic. SC is a well coached team and they had the clock in their favor and were going to make sure that the ball was going to be in some bodies hands that could sink the free throws. The loss right now doesn’t mean much but it won’t be our last. Issues were exposed besides just not coming with enough intensity.
No, not less of a fan.
Certainly not. Just different than me, I guess, and different is cool. : )
I find it so incredibly easy to be a good and optimistic fan when things are going swimmingly, but it seems to me that when we are struggling or facing adversity is when our support is needed the most. Obviously, the boys can’t really hear the words that we write here, but you still get the point, and I just want my voice to be one that is erring towards the positive rather than be seen as a person who buckles at the first sign of adversity, you know?
Now that we have embraced our differences, I bet we can both agree that we really really dislike Vandy, huh? I mean, who doesn’t right? Let’s get ‘em, ok? ; )
Thanks JLev,
I was trying to figure out what was going on with PPat last night. I was seeing him at the places you mentioned and trying to put the “why” with it. PPat has a new role, (probably was coached to stay “under” before HS) and we will have to give him a little time to adjust things. He will get it down “PAT” and shine in that role. :-)
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
They need to figure out what to do with Patterson to get him more directly involved offensively
As John Gasaway said this morning:
But there have been other teams with two NBA-level players in the same frontcourt, and those teams managed to balance the load on offense in a way that worked and made sense. I don’t think Kentucky has reached that point, not when a player of Patterson’s caliber (who, after all, is projected as a lottery pick in his own right) is more or less taking as few shots in this offense as, say, Arinze Onuaku takes for Syracuse. And, after 20 games, the likelihood is of course that what we see is simply the way it’s going to be. John Calipari is clearly OK with it, and maybe Patterson needs to “demand” the ball more, etc. All I know is I’ve never seen a soon-to-be lottery pick who makes 65 percent of his twos be an afterthought on offense.
3 > 2, except for very large values of 2.
South Carolina
The Gamecocks thoroughly deserved to win the game. Hopefully the lesson has been learned. I would rather the ‘Cats lost at home, but I’ll take this one.
Didn’t match SC’s intensity, and it really begins and ends there.
Horn is now 4-0 versus UK as an assistant (Marquette) and head coach.
19-1 Ain't Bad
20 more (games) to go.
37 or 38 W ain’t bad, either.
Downey is an extraordinary player and very nice young man. A friend of mine coached him at UC (Cincy) in 2005-06. He was Yes, Sir; No, Sir; Thank You, Sir…
by FortyYearCatFan on Jan 27, 2010 9:11 AM EST reply actions
And he doesn't have to salute
or pump his chest after plays. Though I do like Wall and his theatrics, salutes and all. Downey will be a 5’9" NBA player. He beat us when he wasn’t even at his best.
I Hope
that Cal plays the video of the Carolina fans rushing the court last night before every practice from now on until the end of the season. These freshman must be made to understand that EVERY team in the SEC points toward the game against the Cats. South Carolina made their season last night. It will be interesting to watch their next game. I don’t know what the stats are (Forty?) but it seems as if teams lose their game following playing Kentucky a great percentage of the time.
Freshmen, watch the video & learn!
Expectations.....
Folks with all due respect….UK has the most talented team in college basketball this year. No blowouts on the road? Please, this team should be blowing out almost every team they play.
Young?….yes but the game has changed in the last 10+ years and these guys have played more AAU and other type games already than Rex Chapman played in his entire pre Pro career.
We’ve been given the coolest iphone on the planet with every ap. The problem is if you don’t know how to use all that…..it’s nothing more than a battery powered paperweight.
Now I haven’t lost faith in Cal to read through the inch thick instruction book for this cool phone but right now we’re using about 10% of the phone’s aps. 10% got us to 19-0 and it’s light years ahead of the can & string we’ve had the last 4 years but 10% is going to get very frustrating when we need to get directions to the Championship.
You can't fix "stupid"!
i know its hindsight...
but when we lost the tip, i thought, oh no, we are flat. of course cousins was the only one that showed up. so maybe that is not a fair observations (and of course, if we had won, i would not have mentioned it!)
imo, cal has never been a good x’s and o’s coach – at least in game. he does his coaching in april (signing period) and pre game (mentally). part of me thinks he allowed the call with the president to take place on game day to throw as much as he could at his team and see how they deal with it. i know its his dream to go undefeated, but he just wants to make the team better and will throw as much on them as possible…
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Jan 27, 2010 10:15 AM EST reply actions
simply put, patterson needs to do more
cousins gets double teamed a lot whenever he touches the ball…couldn’t he occasionally pass it off to patterson, one of the highest percentage shooters in the country? Think about how much more effective they would both be.
Agree
Even at 19-0 & the deficiencies we all saw last night think about how much room for improvement there is for this team. We can see it & hopefully the players can as well. Bledsoe needs to quit driving into 3 guys in the lane. This isn’t high school anymore. Did you notice what Carolina was doing to Wall last night. When we got a rebound (should have gotten more) they were posting a man right in his face to stop his taking off down the floor. He turned it over several time just because of this simple adjustment. Even John Wall looked like a freshman last night. He was trying to run before he had the ball. However, this is correctable. I worry because I didn’t see the effort last night, required to beat a decent SEC team on the road and there are many more fired up home crowds down the road. Time will tell whether this is a lesson well learned or not.
This just in
I just posted a FanPost on what we MUST do to fix this team.
All lamentating and commiserating will be appreciated.
I have to disagree
UK lost the game as much as USC won it. Turnovers in the last two minutes were awful.
USC shot the ball terribly and had USC lost, Downey would have been called out for terrible shot selection and 9-323 shooting. Of course they didn’t lose so he is the hero.
by Shootmeibleedblue on Jan 27, 2010 12:07 PM EST reply actions
I believe today is a day off for the team
I hope they all skip class and sleep, or play video games, or eat brownies — whatever.
Hoops for Haiti, kissing babies, unanimous #1, a call from the leader of the free world, a loss….
It’s been a weird 10 days for those guys.
Cal needs a day off, too.
No matter where you're at, there you are
Agree w/ PPat comments...
Not the most dominating player, but very useful for this team. UK should have went inside alternating DC and PP. Both could come in on the weak-side in the event the other missed.
Just an off game IMO.
Downey was stopped a lot...
UK stopped him and stopped him the majority of the time. UK did not lose because if Downey, they lost because of terrible decision making at the end of the game and poor poor execution.
The great thing about Downey is he knocks down his freethrows and he did make UK look tired at the end. And congrats to USC for winning and regardless of anyone’s opinion they beat the #1 team in the country and should be praised for it.
by Shootmeibleedblue on Jan 27, 2010 12:14 PM EST reply actions
Couldn't agree any more.
Downey really didn’t shoot all that well. What concerned me was our inability to stop him—knowing that he was going to take the majority of shots before the game even began. Every player on the ‘Cats roster knew he was the go to guy ahead of time, and still didn’t defend as well as they needed to.
We cannot blame the loss on Downey’s heroics alone, however—and heroics, they were; he threw up so many garbage shots that fell, I can’t even count them both hands (I guess, technically I can, as he only had 9 FG’s, lol). But regardless, and aforementioned by Shootmeibleedblue, our decision-making during crunch time was not even near up to par, as it [luckily] has been in the past.
Also, we knew a loss was coming sooner than later—at least I did, and I’m sure many others did too. Look at the pros here: (1) we were the LAST undefeated team in college hoops this season, (2) we were the first college basketball team in the history of the sport to reach 2K wins, and (3) at least this loss came in late January and not in March. In fact, when Madness rolls around, this loss will be a lot less impacting on the overall demise of this team; it can only be even more productive towards our overall goal in the long-run, as we can only move forward from here.
So, let’s put this hardship behind us and be thankful we only have 1 loss thus far and not 7 like our friends in Carolina :) GO CATS!
Reason #4566 why Facebook is the devil
http://kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=42663
Apparently some UK “fans” were talking junk on PPat’s facebook page…..morons…
First time I shot her, shot her in the side.
Hard to watch her suffer, but with the second shot she died...
uggh
that just makes me really mad. What jerks. This kid has given us another year and has represented out program well. I love this kid.
Thoughts from SC...
Just getting back into the groove after getting back from Carolina..
- Like everyone else it’s sad that Cousins and Wall scored all but 14 of our points. That can’t happen, and Wall can’t do that on 6-16 (?) shooting.
- Shots we’d made all season weren’t going in.. layups, baseline jumpers, etc.. pretty frustrating.
- If I hear Sandstorm by Darude one more time I may shoot myself.. I swear they played it 10 times at the game. FML.
- Lots of UK fans in the lower levels, but overall not nearly the amount I expected throughout.
- I felt like we got shafted on calls all night? Cousins and Patterson were getting mugged down low (especially on the initial pass in).
- Downey is just a stud, and couldn’t miss late.
- Idiotic plays cost us the game. Inexperience.
- Cal is a monster on the sidelines.. he went off on Dodson after he missed that rebound by jumping too early, I mean off.
- Demarcus almost pulled a Blount (Oregon’s infamous RB), by pushing 4 fans as they rushed the court, if caught on TV it’d be a huge deal.
- I am pretty sure Cal has two security guards just for him, anybody verify this? They sit on the row behind the bench on opposite sides, and are attached to his hip at all times when not on the court.
In
defending Cousins…….that might have been more defensive then anything…..its so dangerous for kids to rush the court. Someone is going to get really hurt doing that. I hope SC gets fined very heavily for doing that. Our guys or there guys could have gotten really hurt. Its really stupid.
No doubt...
But Cousins is held to a different standard, so he always needs to be on guard. What really made me angry (other than the guy behind me), was the SC players telling the fans to rush the court. I understand, it’s a big moment for SC, they are the definition of a mediocre school (literally they finish around .500 in just about every sport, and have won 3. 3 national championships across all sports), so I guess the term ‘act like you’ve been there before doesn’t really apply to them.
true
its not even about the pride thing for me anymore, Its about the danger. I have seen several rush the court. I think it was the NC/Clemson game that scared me the most..Those Clemson players were getting mobbed. That is soooooooo dangerous.
they are the definition of a mediocre school
Exactly. That is why this loss has me so bent. A loss is one thing. A loss to a mediocre school – that is becoming a repeating pattern? Not ok.
It is not worth an intelligent man’s time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.
by kentuckygirl0724 on Jan 27, 2010 2:57 PM EST up reply actions
A "mediocre school" ...
… that outplayed and outcoached us.
It is what it is. Let’s give credit where it’s due.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
New post up.
This one’s getting a bit stiff. :-)
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Let 'em rush the floor
I want it to be a big deal for everybody when they beat the Cats. That means UK is still the benchmark. It’s sort of a variation of “Embrace the hate.”
I am just not fawning over Downey
What I saw was a guy who cannot shoot the ball very well & played wrecklessly and out of control much of the game & he does not seem to make those around him better. He is one of those players who will come up big from time to time but certainly is not a scary player. IMO, he is a player you want to score 30+ points because it means he likely tried to do too much. Yes he was fouled a few times but he didn’t even shoot 33%.
by Shootmeibleedblue on Jan 27, 2010 6:08 PM EST reply actions
Downey: WOW!
Shootmeibleedblue , dude shot a horrible percentage but, the shots he made were amazing. He completely controlled that game, the speed/tempo, and time. Let him scoe 30 "because it means he likely tried to do too much. Did too much?? Didn’t they win?
Wall is a shooting guard, not a PG. Let Bledsoe run point and push Wall to the 2.
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