Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: The Secrets Of Sychronicity

I think you are on to the problem. We need team work bad. I think the AAU circuit has had a bad influence on the young men. Go Cats!

what if the general public around town and campus were to just ignore them? don’t berate or get ugly. just turn your eyes away and maybe give a quick sigh… show your disappointment. if asked tell em to play for their teammates and their coaches. that that is the way to play for themselves, to make themselves shine, get awarded and rewarded. don’t treat em like rock stars and fawn all over em asking for John Henry’s and such.

Methinks Cal will get through to em. Embarrass them enough about losing that their pride will eventually take over and those necessary bonds will occur. Still a SS team but at least they’ll be winning with passion again.

I see where you are coming from bluecrip and I definitely think these kids need something like that. However I don’t see that ever happening, especially on campus. I do hope one of them steps up soon though. We need a leader on this team that is going to whip their mentality around so they stop playing selfishly. Hopefully they can pull it together for USC as this post states just always has an eerie aura to it. I’m sure it doesn’t help for these young Cats that it’s in Columbia either. I think (if it hasn’t already been done) a history and tradition lesson should be in store for these Cats. Just show them exactly what they are playing for so they can furthur respect the name on the front of the jersey. I need to see that spark again ( and not after we are already down by 20 ).

but I’m still creeped out by Glenn’s last paragraph.

Oh yeah. Speaking of being down by 20, is it possible we witnessed something in that Alabama loss? A sense of desperation, a foxhole mentality to fight for survival?

The jury’s still out. We should know the answer Saturday.

When you have complete focus and are self driven to accomplish an important goal which may seem insurmountable to some, you can reach that peak and succeed in most cases. There within lies Darrin Horn, a KY boy who is this person. It isn’t that he has our number but more so that he is possessed by these basketball demons and will to win and beating the best team in his home state. And it happening to be UK is all the motivation he needs. Beating UK is the elixir that feeds his demons.

Another great post Glenn and being a rural boy I always try to avoid stepping in any cold pond muck if possible, especially at night during the depth of winter.

Just a year ago we were all basking in the excitement of 5 players that were deemed probable NBA prospects. They all left as first round picks. This year we had three possible NBA first rounders until Enes was ruled ineligible. We are rebuilding after losing the heart of a great team. I do not find it surprising that the current team is not accomplishing heroic feats.

It hurts to watch them lose, but that’s the way it goes with an inexperienced and undermanned team. My guess is tha TJ will leave for the NBA at the end of this season, but BK and DL will be around with a new crop of freshman next season.

Honestly, watching this team, I expect a sweet sixteen and an elite 8 seems just a hopeful possibility.

…to me it was more embarassing than the 40 point loss at Vandy. Almost more embarassing than G-W.

What we sometimes lose sight of is a statement Cal made to the press early on, and to his players as well, in that he just talks loud. Just the way it was in his family growing up. What we may look at as shouting at his players, is just his form of communication with them, and they understand that. The cursing is another issue though.

could have folded against Alabama when they were down by 20 but they reached inside and fought with the intensity it takes to win road games in the SEC. They lost but they did not surrender nor turn and run away. This is all part of the growth of a young team and will pay dividends later.

This season will set us up for better seasons ahead. Patience people.

John Wall was a showboat, DeAndre Liggins was a problem child, Harrellson was a lost cause, Bledsoe was second rate, and Daniel Orton was just not ready for the big time. And none of them could shoot really well.

This year, because we do not have all of that uber-talented massive front line, we are struggling with big front lines. It is going to happen. All we need is for these kids to adjust and buy in to what Cal is trying to tell them. When that happens, all of this second guessing and negativity will become nothing more than back room chatter. We lose to Alabama by 2 at Alabama with a team that is so shorthanded they have to have coaches as practice players. To Quote my old buddy Earl Pitts, “Wake Up America!!” We will be fine.

Even if they are wasted.

Wall told a story that went something like this, “Everywhere I went people kept stopping me and telling me we had to beat North Carolina, and I got the message that it was a really important game. Then they started telling me that the Indiana game was a must-win. And pretty soon it was that we had to beat Louisville, and that’s when I figured out that to Kentucky fans, every game is a MUST WIN.” Okay that was liberally paraphrased, but it is the spirit of what he said.
And it was before Christmas time when he said it… in other words he “got it” and he got it early in the season. I think some of our new players, not kids that grew up knowing the significance of KY basketball, not even kids that grew up as part of the SEC… well, they just haven’t “gotten it” yet.

we would make a game of it, but we just did not pull it out. This lost does seem to set up a must win in the SEC east. Watching SC play the last couple of weeks had me worried as I am heading down to Columbia for the game tomorrow. Now I feel like the freshmen know how the conference brings it at home and they will play as a team, believe in the system, get everyone involved and take care of business.

GO BIG BLUE

If you could pick only one game film from a victory this year to show this young team
where they played aggressive defense, well executed plays, and hit the open man. And drill these 3 things into their heads. Which one would you choose?

In my opinion that’s the best i have seen them play as a team yet.
And that’s the one i want to see on the court every game.
Win or lose
Go cats

Not sure I buy the synchronicity angle, but hey. :-) You make some good points in your article. This is definitely a huge game for both teams, but I get the impression that Kentucky is going to be the one under pressure. Kentucky is going to be fighting to stay afloat of lofty preseason expectations, while Carolina is shooting to exceed lowly expectations. That means that the consequences are probably worse for Kentucky if the ’Cats lose, which is a lot of pressure to be under in what will be a hostile Colonial Life Arena. Hosting Kentucky is the Super Bowl of our basketball season, so our fans will be ready.

What you probably don’t know about this Carolina team is that while Downey is gone, we’re deeper and overall more talented this year. Horn brought in one of the nicest recruiting classes we’ve had here in some time. The problem is that we’re very young. However, the team seems to have matured a lot over the last few games is now playing much more cohesive, fundamentally sound basketball. We’ve also developed the edgy, team-first attitude that you rightly identified as important. That said, Kentucky is undoubtedly the more talented team, and I think it’s probably going to take a perfect performance from Carolina along with some help from Kentucky for us to win.

Good luck.

I watched them against Arkansas, and they did not impress me a lot. I felt like two or three questionable calls at the end of the game really bailed the gamecocks out. I think we go in there and win! GO CATS!!!