Lamar Cardinals 64, Kentucky Wildcats (3), 86:  Postmortem

Due to his finger.

I am afraid cal still does not have Teague’s attention…it may take a loss to ul or early sec loss to get it. Hope not but it looked like Teague still wants to debate cal rather than listen to him.

As he did @ times last season, Terrence Jones could have worn the green “Riddler” costume from the old Batman TV series. His game & effort is just full of questions right now.

I realize he is coming off an injury, but without TJ playing to his full best this team will not go where BBN wants it to go (nor will TJ be a lottery pick).

Right now it appears that both TJ & Marquis Teague may well be back for another season, a good news/bad news situation for UK.

As Dennis Miller says: “That’s just one man’s opinion; I could be wrong.”

I think we will go as far as Teague’s play will let us. So far I am not impressed. He is just not the calming effect that a championship team usually has. I hold my breath every time he drives into the lane, usually into 2 or 3 defenders. His passing is sloppy & his outside shot is – shall we say – inconsistent. I really have been disappointed in his play so far this year.

As to TJ? Who knows what’s going thru his head this year. I’ll give him some slack due to this injury, but I’ve seen more of the “old” TJ rather than the “new & Improved” model. I counted 3 times that he got his shot blocked last night – against LAMAR! What’s UL going to do to him?

Poor Wiltjer couldn’t guard a fence post. He is S-O-O-O S-L-O-W. Great shooter though when he spots up.

Overall some good things last night – MKG & Davis are just spectacular & fun to watch. Miller had a good outing, need more of that but not a totally satisfying game last night. With the Cards coming to town I suspect every soft spot we have to be exposed. We’ll need to raise our energy level several notches, say what you will, RickyP’s guys will play hard. We must match that energy to win.

He was yelling so loud you could clearly hear him on the broadcast.

that Teague told Cal that he didn’t carry out his instructions after a time-out because “he didn’t want to”!

Please don’t let this be true.

On Jones: I initially thought he didn’t have his finger taped, but he did, only the tape was dark and not as visible as the white tape he had just after he injured it. Every time he tried to go left, except one, he lost control of the ball. His first two FGs were right-handed. I thought his effort was OK, not great, but OK. But try playing with your little finger taped to the ring finger on your dominant hand and let me know how that works out. It just has a huge effect on your “spread”, and I daresay it is the second most important finger to the thumb in handling the ball and shooting. Let the man heal, then throw rocks at him if he doesn’t do well.

On Wiltjer: He surely had some mistakes on defense, but he also looked much better than in the past on several defensive plays. As a matter of opinion, the entire team handled some well-executed P&Rs by Lamar much better than earlier in the season. It’s precisely what Cal spent some time working on in the televised practice. Also, Wiltjer, except for one obvious instance, was more aggressive in looking for his shot, and I count that as progress.

Teague is a freshman and is not John Wall, Derrick Rose, or even Brandon Knight. Let’s see how he’s doing in mid-February. If we’ve forgotten, last year’s team had NINE LOSSES and still made the FF because their chemistry improved at the right time.

Lots of mistakes still, but I think there’s progress. Let the stew simmer for a while before we start lopping off heads (This coming from a guy who is usually quick to nit-pick performances, but I just get a different feel from this team now than earlier.). I’m glass half-full on this bunch so far.

I still worry about the lack of “heart” I am not seeing, but time and time again, I am reminded that we are a team of FROSH and that is typical….

But an example that worries me: I watched some of the UL/GT game before UK, and I noticed that UL BOXED OUT (all players) when GT shot the ball….that is “heart” and I fear that heart will overcome talent on Saturday…unless we show it, we won’t win…

Don’t want to be the downer.

I think you’ll see the team step up play. It has to be hard for a young team not to look at the name on the opposition this time of year and stay inspired. League play carries more importance than non-conference play. Look how long it took last’s year’s team to gel and click. These guys just need to have more games together under their belts. They’ll be fine.

I’ve been attending UK games for many decades and something I saw last night really bothered me. During the national anthem, every player and coaching staff for Lamar had their hand on their heart – conversely, only Calipari, Robic and Twany Beckham did for Kentucky. Coach Cal stresses teaching his team about life bigger than basketball, and he should make this a point of emphasis.

On the plus side, this is a really fun team to watch. Lamar is better than all but UNC, Kansas and IU of the teams we’ve played so far. I expect the Cats will ramp up their intensity Saturday against the Cards and we’ll see a performance more like the Tar Heels game. If so, I think we win by double-digits.

would have been even better if he didn’t have to force up a shot at the end of the first half.