When Robert Louis Stevenson penned Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, even he couldn't imagine how perfectly his novel would cast the mold for this current batch of Wildcats. Stevenson's novella starts with two relatives walking, one talking about a recent event that shocked him. He witnessed a man maul a young girl, then walk in a door. Moments later, a different man walked out, and kindly paid the family for their troubles. That man, through his own concoction, had created dual identities. His own, Dr. Jekyll, and his alter-ego, the atrocious Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll was an upstanding man, well respected and liked by all. Mr. Hyde, on the other hand, was a conscience-free man who did as he pleased.
It's not hard to conjure up the idea of Dr. Jekyll hailing from Maysville, sporting number one, and some days making 'Cat fans giddy, some days leaving them foaming at the mouth.
A quick look at Darius Miller's stats tells the story of the season. When Miller is up, Kentucky is up. When Miller is down, the same is true for the rest of the team. The 'Cats have played 14 Southeastern Conference games, thus far, and Miller's production ties directly to UK's fortunes.
In six losses, Miller is averaging just eight points per game. In the eight wins, he's averaging 15 per outing. One need not be a mathematician to read UK's progress throughout this conference slate. When Miller's points are up, UK wins. When his points are down, they lose. When Miller scores less than 10 points, UK is 1-4. When he scores 10 or more, they are 7-2, and when he scores more than 13, the Big Blue is a perfect 5-0.
Following Saturday's win over first-place Florida, a number of players noted that Miller's scoring took pressure off the entire team. Terrence Jones specifically noted that he and Knight had more room to work when Darius was an offensive threat. Jones also pointed to Miller's scoring outburst as inspiration for the entire team. Which is nice, considering some of the uninspiring play this team has put together.
Simply put; As goes Darius, so go the 'Cats. Seeing the way the team plays when Miller puts up points, it may be wise of Calipari to emphasize getting Miller touches early, and often. When Mr. Basketball is fired up, so are his teammates, and so is Rupp Arena. And, when Vanderbilt comes to town tomorrow night, it will take Miller, his teammates and their 24,000 supporters to snatch a win.
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