A Sea Of Blue - 2013-14 Season Basketball PostmortemOnline Home of the Big Blue Nation: Kentucky Wildcats Sports for the Discerning Fanhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46621/aseaof-fav.png2014-08-10T10:47:32-04:00http://www.aseaofblue.com/rss/stream/54826052014-08-10T10:47:32-04:002014-08-10T10:47:32-04:00Posmortem: The Dramatic Conclusion
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<p>The final installment of the 2013-14 postmortem recalls the drama of the season as Kentucky makes their final push for the NCAA Tournament title.</p> <p>At last, we have reached the end. Just as the NCAA Tournament of 2014 seemed to go on forever with drama that only escalated with every single contest, we have traveled the entire gamut of Kentucky’s season — from the promise of the preseason, to the difficulties of the non-conference season, past the glory of once again defeating the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.cardchronicle.com/">Louisville Cardinals</a> when Kentucky seemed vulnerable.</p>
<p>We then relived the agony and frustration of the SEC season, a ride which seemed to get more and more bumpy as the calendar flew by. The culmination, a brutal loss to Florida in Gainesville, left Wildcats fans empty and in the winter. Many, in fact, achieved apathy, a rare occurrence in Kentucky during the reign of John Calipari.</p>
<div target="_blank" class="read-more">
<strong>More</strong>: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/6/5688810/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-1/in/5482605">Part 1</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/14/5718476/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-2/in/5482605">Part 2</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/6/15/5812770/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-3/in/5482605">Part 3</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/basketball/2014/7/29/5947933/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-4/in/5482605">Part 4</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/8/9/5986011/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-5-the-assault-on">Part 5</a>
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<p>But the SEC Tournament and subsequent NCAA Tournament would change all that. In our penultimate examination, we reached the Elite Eight of the 2014 NCAA Tournament via a second defeat of detested Louisville, sending them back to the River City as the ex-NCAA Tournament champions, and to their hoisting of whatever memorabilia in the rafters of the KFC-Yum Center. Since it is so relatively bereft of NCAA Tournament championships, raising banners for Sweet Sixteens would seem to be necessary to reduce the echo, I suppose. But I digress…</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="the-setup">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#the-setup" name="user-content-the-setup"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>The setup</h3>
<p>The Louisville game was a kind of catharsis for Kentucky fans, and for the team. Kentucky, although many of us tend to forget it, was apparently in significant trouble against Louisville late in the game, but seemed to find another gear and blew by the Cardinals at the end. End-game heroics had become a kind of calling card for the Wildcats, and it was a trend that would continue all the way to the end.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="michigan-wolverines-2-seed">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#michigan-wolverines-2-seed" name="user-content-michigan-wolverines-2-seed"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Michigan Wolverines (#2 Seed)</h4>
<p>Michigan was the most efficient offensive basketball team in the NCAA in 2013-14. They had an adjusted offensive rating for the season of 124.1, fueled by their outstanding 40.2% average 3-point percentage for the season, fourth best in the NCAA. Michigan had terrific 3-point shooting from <span>Nik Stauskas</span>, Chris LeVert, <span>Glenn Robinson III</span>, Derrick Walton, and <span>Zak Irvin</span>. Of those five, only Robinson was shooting under 40% from the arc.</p>
<p>But the Wolverines were without their big center <span>Mitch McGary</span>, who had back problems and had to undergo season-ending surgery. The loss of McGary made Michigan a very small team, and they were coming up against the biggest team remaining in the tournament, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.aseaofblue.com/">Kentucky Wildcats</a>. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they had lost <span>Willie Cauley-Stein</span> to an ankle injury in the Louisville game.</p>
<div target="_blank" class="pullquote">It was a classic testosterone moment, where Aaron faked a drive, then stepped back with a "You can't stop this!" look and snapped off a lightning-quick three right over LeVert's outstretched fingertips.</div>
<p>The absence of WCS would show up early with the early appearance of a Wildcat who had played but sparingly during the season — <span>Marcus Lee</span>. Lee came in for <span>Julius Randle</span> at the 15:25 mark in the first half, and promptly made his presence felt with back-to-back offensive rebounds and dunks in a span of one minute. Three minutes later, he would do it yet again to bring Kentucky within a basket with 12 minutes left in the half.</p>
<p>But as with so many games that the Wildcats had played this season, they started the contest behind, and with five minutes remaining in the first half, Michigan had pushed out to a 10-point lead. Kentucky charged back on five straight points from <span>James Young</span>; a 3-pointer on an <span>Andrew Harrison</span> assist, and on the next possession a nice jumper in the lane to bring Kentucky back within four.</p>
<p>On the ensuing Michigan possession, Lee would block a Glenn Robinson III shot, and at the offensive end, flush another put-back dunk off a missed Julius Randle layup attempt. Lee’s length and astonishing athleticism was giving Michigan fits. The Wildcats would go on to fight back within one at the break.</p>
<p>The second half of the game was reminiscent of the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/wichita-st-shockers">Wichita State Shockers</a> game in the respect that it was an offensive tour-de-force by both teams. The game was fought out in a very narrow band, but unlike other recent games, Kentucky was ahead more often than behind, although never by enough to really matter. This game, it turns out, would simply come down to who had the last clean look at the basket before time ran out.</p>
<p>History will record that it was Kentucky who got that shot with 4.3 seconds left, and it was <span>Aaron Harrison</span>, on a hand-off from his brother Andrew, who took and made it. It was a challenged jumper from the left center of the 3-point line with the long 6‘6" Chris LeVert challenging it perfectly. It was a classic testosterone moment, where Aaron faked a drive, then stepped back with a "You can’t stop this!" look and snapped off a lightning-quick three right over LeVert’s outstretched fingertips. It was a fantastic individual play by a confident player at exactly the right moment, and it ended Michigan’s NCAA Tournament run.</p>
<p>With 2.3 seconds left, Michigan called a timeout, and Nik Stauskas’ desperation heave would go begging from half-court. Kentucky had done the absolutely improbable — made it to the Final Four from the #8 seed, and going through the 1, 3 and 4 seeds in the process. In the game against Michigan, Kentucky had its highest offensive efficiency of the season against a quality team — 131.7 points per 100 possessions.</p>
<p>The Big Blue Nation was, in a word, stupefied. Yes, some had held on to hope that had been realized, but many had simply recalibrated their expectations. After defeating Louisville, most Kentucky fans would’ve accepted a loss to Michigan with aplomb, especially considering the loss of one of their most important players. But that would not be necessary thanks to the dagger by Aaron Harrison.</p>
<p>When the dust had settled, Kentucky was set to face the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.buckys5thquarter.com/">Wisconsin Badgers</a> in the Final Four, the second-best offensive team remaining the the NCAA Tournament, and the #2 seed in the West Region.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="wisconsin-badgers-2-seed">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#wisconsin-badgers-2-seed" name="user-content-wisconsin-badgers-2-seed"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Wisconsin Badgers (#2 Seed)</h4>
<p>For the second time in the short Calipari era, Kentucky had reached an unexpected Final Four. The first time it happened in 2011, Kentucky had to get past an Ohio State team that was an offensive juggernaut. In 2014, Kentucky had somehow defeated not one, but two offensively-dominant teams in Wichita State and Michigan, and now stood toe-to-to with yet another — Wisconsin</p>
<p>The Badgers had reached the Final Four by virtue of an amazing performance against the arguably superior <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azdesertswarm.com/">Arizona Wildcats</a>, but they won by only one point. It was Bo Ryan’s first Final Four as Wisconsin coach, and he had a team dominated by juniors and seniors, guys that had been underrated in the early season and had really gelled in the crucible of the tough Big Ten.</p>
<p>In seemingly trademark style, Kentucky fell behind early in the first half, and for over 15 minutes of the period the Badgers held at least a 3-point lead. Wisconsin pushed it out to as large as nine, but finishing the first half up only four points over Kentucky. The Wildcats were struggling to shoot the ball from inside and out, and Andrew Harrison missed the last 6 minutes of the half with fouls. Julius Randle also suffered from cramps, limiting his effectiveness.</p>
<p>The second half, though, things would change, although not immediately. Wisconsin’s <span>Sam Dekker</span> would block Julius Randle’s first shot, then make a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession taking the lead out to six and prompting a quick Calipari 20-second timeout. It was well done, and the Wildcats came back out with their attitudes properly adjusted.</p>
<div target="_blank" class="pullquote">Aaron rose up like Achilles of myth and drilled the three that sent Wisconsin to the showers for the final time in their splendid season, just as he did to Michigan.</div>
<p>Kentucky would promptly go on a 15-0 run led by <span>Alex Poythress</span>, James young and <span>Marcus Lee</span> with dominant inside play, rebounding and stick-backs. Wisconsin would respond at the 14:36 mark and go on a 10-2 run of their own to tie the basketball game, and take the lead at 56-55 with 12 minutes left, a lead they would not surrender until very late in the contest.</p>
<p>With 5:40 left, the Wildcats made their move. First, it was a 3-point play the old-fashioned way by Julius Randle. Then it was Alex Poythress in the lane for a spectacular 2-handed dunk over Dekker. Randle followed that up with two free throws to tie the game, and shortly thereafter, Andrew Harrison found Alex Poythress by the rim for a layup to give the Wildcats the lead for the first time since the 12:05 minute mark. But that was just the appetizer.</p>
<p><span>Frank Kaminsky</span> and <span>Traevon Jackson</span> would combine on a layup and a couple of free throws to return Wisconsin to the lead with 16 seconds remaining on the clock. It was at that point that once again, Aaron Harrison was possessed of a spirit of the heroes of Kentucky basketball. The need was dire, the end was near, but Aaron once again found himself in the clenched fist of Destiny.</p>
<p>The ball penetrated inside, was kicked to Andrew in the corner, and then Andrew passed to his brother outside the arc at the 45% left wing. Aaron rose up like Achilles of myth and drilled the three over a near-perfect challenge by the Wisconsin defender that sent Wisconsin to the showers for the final time in their splendid season, just as he did to Michigan. Jackson’s desperate final shot would clank off the rim, and for the second time in five season under John Calipari, Kentucky would play in the last game of the NCAA season.</p>
<p>Incredibly, Aaron Harrison had reprised his game-winner against Michigan almost precisely, right down to the side of the floor and the excellent challenge. It was the kind of déjà vu rarely seen in an NCAA Tournament, and all the more memorable for it.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="the-connecticut-huskies-7-seed">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#the-connecticut-huskies-7-seed" name="user-content-the-connecticut-huskies-7-seed"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.theuconnblog.com/">Connecticut Huskies</a> (#7 Seed)</h4>
<p>After the cheers of the victory over Wisconsin had died away, the Big Blue Nation found itself in a place it had not imagined since the very early days of the season. Somewhere between the loss to North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the loss to Arkansas in Rupp Arena, faith in this team had been lost, and never fully recovered. Even now, on the cusp of their ninth NCAA Tournament championship, Kentucky fans were just surprised and happy to be here.</p>
<p>They had expected this team to perhaps get to the Sweet Sixteen, maybe even the Elite Eight if somebody pulled an upset. Yet here, before them, stood a team that four weeks before had been impossibly ordinary, even underachieving. Somehow, in the space of only 30 days or so, they had transformed themselves into a championship team who had defeated four top-4 seeds to reach the NCAA Tournament finals, and have a chance to bring home yet another NCAA Tournament championship, its second in three seasons.</p>
<p>Alas, it was not to be.</p>
<p>Of all the games Kentucky played in the last three weeks of the season, the UConn game was by far the least competitive. UConn would take the lead with over 15 minutes to go in the first half and would never relinquish it. The bulge would grow to as large as 15 points in the latter half of the first stanza, and although Kentucky clawed their way back to within 1 point in the early second half, they could never retake the lead.</p>
<p>Kentucky’s normal advantage on the backboard was somehow negated by the Huskies, and although neither team was efficient offensively, Connecticut was just enough better to win. There was relatively little drama in the game other than Kentucky’s ultimately futile effort to catch up to Connecticut. As the game ground on it became clearer and clearer that Destiny had abandoned the Wildcats, or at least was unwilling to drag them any further. Kentucky was simply unable to muster the kind of rise-to-the-occasion effort that had put them here.</p>
<p>The Wildcats had run out of magic pixie dust. Aaron Harrison was 1-5, and turnovers returned to plague the Wildcats again in a grinding, low possession, hard-on-the-eyes affair that saw Kentucky return to mid-season form instead of elevating their game. They bowed to the Huskies 60-54, and the impossible dream remained just out of reach for a squad that, perhaps, was unworthy of it considering their regular season. Whether Connecticut was more worthy is a question that will forever remain academic — they were on this day, and that’s all that matters.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="conclusion">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#conclusion" name="user-content-conclusion"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Conclusion</h3>
<p>So we reach the end of the 2013-14 season, and with this final word put "finis" to a season that will long be remembered for its incredible ups and downs, or rather, downs and ups. This will not be remembered as one of the Wildcats greatest seasons, nor reviled as one of its most disappointing. 2013-14 was not really unique in any meaningful way, as we had seen something very similar only three seasons before.</p>
<div target="_blank" class="pullquote">But perhaps the most memorable thing about this team is that a significant portion of the Big Blue Nation had given up on them after the Florida debacle, and they can be forgiven for doing so.</div>
<p>Even so, it was a season the Big Blue Nation can be proud of. Kentucky took every moment of the regular season to find themselves, but in the end, they did, and that’s what really matters most. Just as <a target="_blank" href="http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews/sports/college/uk/basketball/no-one-laughing-about-aaron-harrison-s-great-story-prediction/article_3321ddbd-ce32-5db7-a90c-27a9c925ac5e.html">Aaron Harrison predicted</a>, this was a great story, filled with drama, glory and pathos. It was a tale fit for the most storied basketball program in America.</p>
<p>Kentucky fans learned a lot about themselves in this season. After many believed the 2011-12 team would win a national title, and they did, picking that out seemed easy. Many in the Big Blue Nation believed that 2013-14 would win it all at the beginning of the season, but the kind of dominant team that races past all comers never emerged from this group. We learned that good on paper is one thing, good on the court is another.</p>
<p>This riches to rags to riches story is possibly the most interesting in Kentucky history for its spectacular failures and spectacular success. It is also interesting in that there has quite possibly never been a #8 seed in the NCAA Tournament with two first-round draft picks on it.</p>
<p>But perhaps the most memorable thing about this team is that a significant portion of the Big Blue Nation had given up on them after the Florida debacle, and they can be forgiven for doing so. The end of last season was one of the most underachieving and disappointing things we have seen at Kentucky in a while. Even the much-reviled 2012-13 team had better moments in the second half of the regular season than this team did. Yet like the Phoenix of legend, they rose from their own ashes to form an amazing thread in the colorful tapestry that is Kentucky basketball.</p>
<p>In closing, it’s worthwhile to point out that it is just possible that the seeds of an NCAA Tournament championship were planted by the 2013-14 team in that second-place finish. The year of struggles lowered the stock of several Kentucky players as NBA Draft picks, prompting their return to Kentucky this season to form the nucleus of what may be the most powerful team in Kentucky basketball history. That team begins writing its story starting today with their first August exhibition against the Puerto Rican national second team. As we close the curtain on last season today, it is perfectly fitting that the new season should unofficially born on that same day.</p>
<p>Once more unto the breach! Go, 'Cats!</p>
https://www.aseaofblue.com/basketball/2014/8/10/5987973/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-6-drama-and-theGlenn Logan2014-08-09T15:00:02-04:002014-08-09T15:00:02-04:00Postmortem 2014: The Assault Begins
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<p>In part five of the 2013-14 season postmortem, the Wildcats begin their assault on the NCAA Tournament championship.</p> <p>As we approach Big Blue Bahamas, its time to close the book on the 2013-14 season. Our detailed postmortem has taken us all the way through the season, through the SEC Tournament, and to the brink of the NCAA Tournament that saw Kentucky enter as it’s highest seed in years and leave with a remarkable second-place finish. Of course, we don’t think much of runner-up finishes here in the Bluegrass, but after this season’s highs and lows, it seemed a remarkable feat.</p>
<div class="read-more" target="_blank">
<strong>More</strong>: <a href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/6/5688810/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-1/in/5482605" target="_blank">Part 1</a> <a href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/14/5718476/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-2/in/5482605" target="_blank">Part 2</a> <a href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/6/15/5812770/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-3/in/5482605" target="_blank">Part 3</a> <a href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/basketball/2014/7/29/5947933/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-4/in/5482605" target="_blank">Part 4</a>
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<p>At this point, on the cusp of the Big Dance, the mood of the Big Blue Nation was still restive, but there were murmurs of "Could we really make a run?" and "This may be the most talented high seed ever." Those murmurs would soon grow louder, and herald the emergence of a Kentucky team six months out of phase with expectations.</p>
<h3 id="the-setup" target="_blank">
<a name="user-content-the-setup" href="#the-setup" class="headeranchor-link" aria-hidden="true" target="_blank"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>The setup</h3>
<p>Having lost in the final seconds to the <a href="https://www.alligatorarmy.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Florida Gators</a> in the SEC Tournament, Kentucky had nonetheless seemingly found itself. While most of the Big Blue Nation were intrigued by the possibilities after the conference tournament, they knew that Kentucky was unlikely to get better than a six or seven seed.</p>
<p>What happened, though, was that Kentucky wound up an eight seed in what quickly became known as the Region of Death. Kentucky would start out with the <a href="https://www.bringonthecats.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Kansas State Wildcats</a>, an offensively-challenged Big 12 team that had made their living on defense. If the Wildcats managed to get past K-State, their next opponent would be the #1 seed in the Midwest Region, the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/teams/wichita-st-shockers" class="sbn-auto-link">Wichita State Shockers</a>.</p>
<p>Kentucky fans were dismayed by the seed, but resigned to the reality that it was, for the most part, what the Wildcats had earned. Most of the Big Blue Nation was steeling themselves for a first-weekend exit from the NCAA tournament for the first time in the John Calipari era.</p>
<h4 id="kansas-state-wildcats-9-seed" target="_blank">
<a name="user-content-kansas-state-wildcats-9-seed" href="#kansas-state-wildcats-9-seed" class="headeranchor-link" aria-hidden="true" target="_blank"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Kansas State Wildcats (9 seed)</h4>
<p>The Kansas State game was an unremarkable affair. Kentucky and K-State started out roughly even, but after 11 or 12 minutes, Kentucky had built up a significant lead that stayed around ten points. Kansas State was not done, however, and got the lead down to six at the half.</p>
<p>But Julius Randle wasn’t about to let the rather ordinary purple Wildcats derail Kentucky. His relentless labor produced a prodigious game, with 19 points and 15 rebounds, and combined with <span>Aaron Harrison</span>’s outstanding shooting for 18 points, the Wildcats wound up grinding out a 56-49 victory and earning the right to play #1 seeded Wichita State in the second round.</p>
<h4 id="witchita-state-shockers-1-seed" target="_blank">
<a name="user-content-witchita-state-shockers-1-seed" href="#witchita-state-shockers-1-seed" class="headeranchor-link" aria-hidden="true" target="_blank"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Witchita State Shockers (1 seed)</h4>
<p>Kentucky had struggled all year to defeat top quality out-of-conference teams, managing it only once in the regular season when they defeated the <a href="https://www.cardchronicle.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Louisville Cardinals</a> in Lexington. They were facing the top seed in the Midwest Region in the Shockers, a team who had lost exactly <strong>zero</strong> games all year long. Not only would Kentucky be facing one of tournament favorites, but one who did not know how to lose.</p>
<p>This was unquestionably one of the most memorable individual games in the Calipari era, and we happen to think that it was arguably the most memorable game since the 2005 Elite Eight overtime loss to the <a href="https://www.theonlycolors.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Michigan State Spartans</a>. Kentucky was a four-point underdog to the Shockers, which seemed surprisingly small for a struggling eight seed like Kentucky facing an undefeated squad. But the reality was that Wichita State was unproven against a tough schedule, with most of their 35 victories coming against teams ranked <a href="http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Wichita+St." target="_blank">well over 150 in Kent Pomeroy’s rankings</a>. There was also the fact of Kentucky’s vast, but erratic talent.</p>
<p>The game between Wichita State and Kentucky was vaguely reminiscent of the unforgettable 1992 Elite Eight game between the <a href="https://www.dukebasketballreport.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Duke Blue Devils</a> and Kentucky in that it was an offensive tour-de-force. Midway through the first half, the Shockers went on a run that burst them nine clear of the Wildcats, a lead they held within a narrow band most of the second part of the first stanza. But a three from <span>James Young</span> after a nice pass by plucky <span>Jarrod Polson</span> brought Kentucky back within six when the teams adjourned to their locker rooms.</p>
<p>The second half of this contest was as pretty a half of basketball as you will ever see. It started out with a three by <span>Cleanthony Early</span> to push the Wichita State back out to nine. A put-back dunk by Randle and a 3-pointer by Aaron Harrison, followed by yet another offensive rebound and putback by Randle got Kentucky back within a field goal.</p>
<p>From there on, the game was a back-and-forth affair with both teams taking small leads but neither able to build on them. Offensively, both teams were very efficient at over 1.2 points per possession, and although the Shockers shot the ball better, they simply could not deal with the Wildcats on the backboard. Also, to the surprise of many, Kentucky made their free throws, while Wichita State, normally a good free-throw shooting team, struggled a little.</p>
<p>The heroics began when James Young took a defensive rebound off a <span>Fred Van Vleet</span> miss and raced down the court to make a layup, putting Kentucky ahead by one. Early made a shot on the next possession to regain the lead for Wichita State, but Young struck again, this time from beyond the arc, to give Kentucky a 2-point cushion with only 101 seconds to go. <span>Tekele Cotton</span> missed a three, which Young was again there to rebound, leading to two <span>Andrew Harrison</span> free throws. <span>Ron Baker</span>’s three on the next possession put the game back within a single point with 29 seconds left.</p>
<p>On the next possession, Early would foul Randle, who calmly made the two most pressure-packed free throws of his short Kentucky career to date. Early would then score the last two points of his magnificent Shockers career with two free throws, capping off a 31-point seven rebound effort that would bring his team just short of advancing. The Kentucky lead was one.</p>
<p>Andrew Harrison was fouled by Ron Baker on the ensuing possession, and Harrison managed to split the pair. Kentucky had a two point lead with seven ticks remaining. WSU ran the ball up over half court and called a timeout. Three seconds remained in the Shocker’s undefeated season. The last-second 3-point attempt by Fred Van Vleet was off-line all the way, and Kentucky had pulled off one of the biggest NCAA Tournament upsets in it’s history, made even more impressive by their profoundly mediocre regular season.</p>
<p>After the thrill of one of the biggest upsets we’ve witnessed by a Kentucky team in years began to wear off, the Big Blue Nation turned it’s attention to their next opponent — the bitterest of our rivals, the Louisville Cardinals, had advanced to meet Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen for the right to move on to the Final Four in Arlington, Texas.</p>
<h4 id="the-louisville-cardinals-4-seed" target="_blank">
<a name="user-content-the-louisville-cardinals-4-seed" href="#the-louisville-cardinals-4-seed" class="headeranchor-link" aria-hidden="true" target="_blank"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>The Louisville Cardinals (4 Seed)</h4>
<p>Compared to the Final Four meeting with Louisville in 2012, this Sweet Sixteen contest was very slightly anticlimactic. Kentucky knew they could beat Louisville, having done so earlier that year. The Cardinals were better, but so was Kentucky, and the resurgent Wildcats had just defeated a better team than Louisville was. But a rivalry is a rivalry, and the Cardinals had the kind of small, dynamic guards that had given Kentucky trouble all year in <span>Russ Smith</span> and <span>Chris Jones</span>.</p>
<div class="pullquote" target="_blank">Suddenly, Kentucky was living in the hugeness of the moment, particularly Aaron Harrison and James Young — that place we only dream about as children where momentous, challenged shots go in with a snap of the net and the roar of the crowd.</div>
<p>But the Wildcats, unfortunately, did not come to play early. Seven minutes into the game, the Cardinals amassed an impressive 13 point early bulge, due to Kentucky gunning away in futility from three and turning the ball over liberally. But it would not last. Gradually, in fits and starts, Kentucky worked its way back into the game and by half time, the Louisville lead was three.</p>
<p>It was free throw shooting that really hurt Louisville. Kentucky had often struggled from the line during the season, but in the post-season, they started making them at a high rate, and that would be a huge factor in the outcome of this game, a game that Louisville seemed more prepared for than Kentucky.</p>
<p>Louisville would lead the Wildcats for almost the entire second half, until about 4:30 left in the game. At that point, the Wildcats would hold the Cardinals without a single point for over two minutes, and tied the game at 66 with 2:11 remaining. <span>Dakari Johnson</span> would be a big factor in the comeback, but it was the combination of <span>Alex Poythress</span>’ power and Aaron Harrison’s dagger three that would eventually put Kentucky over the top. In the last 4:33, Louisville would score three points — Kentucky would score fifteen. The final count was 75-69 Kentucky, and for the second straight game, the Wildcats had defied the odds.</p>
<p>It was at this moment that the Big Blue Nation began to realize that the mighty fist of Destiny had seized the Wildcats, and was dragging them forward to an unknown, but certainly less ignominious fate than we had collectively foreseen. Suddenly, Kentucky was living in the hugeness of the moment, particularly Aaron Harrison and James Young — that place we only dream about as children where momentous, challenged shots go in with a snap of the net and the roar of the crowd.</p>
<p>For the second time in three seasons, the Wildcats banished the Louisville Cardinals from the NCAA Tournament. Their next test would be the most powerful offensive basketball team remaining — the <a href="https://www.maizenbrew.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Michigan Wolverines</a>.</p>
<h3 id="the-final-four-looms" target="_blank">
<a name="user-content-the-final-four-looms" href="#the-final-four-looms" class="headeranchor-link" aria-hidden="true" target="_blank"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>The Final Four looms</h3>
<p>We’ll address the Final Four, and the season overall in the last installment of this postmortem. After defeating Louisville, Kentucky had managed to overwhelm the recalibrated expectations of the Big Blue Nation and drag all but the most optimistic Kentucky fans into a sense of almost religious wonder. Despite a regular season that could barely have been less successful and still ended with Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats had taken their eight seed all the way to the last weekend of the NCAA basketball season, and in doing so had taken arguably the most difficult path of any of the Final Four participants.</p>
<p>Perhaps more significantly, this was only the second time that a Calipari-coached Kentucky team had actually exceeded expectations. The first time was in 2010-11, when Kentucky rose up at the end of the season and managed to make a run to the Final Four. But this time was even more unexpected, perhaps by an order of magnitude. Unlike the 2011 team who was clearly rising at the end of the season and won the SEC Tournament outright before moving on to a Final Four, this Wildcats team swooned at season’s end in an embarrassing way, and although they played better in the early post-season, they were hardly world-beaters until the NCAA Tournament itself.</p>
<p>What really helped Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament was both improved free throw shooting and vastly improved 3-point shooting. The "tweak" that Calipari made to the offense created more open shots from the perimeter, which Kentucky finally began making, as well as improving the Wildcats' floor spacing. In addition, Poythress and Johnson began to assert themselves powerfully, and that was enough to propel Kentucky to two hard-earned victories where they were the underdog. Defense was still only average during this run, but with the offense clicking like it was, it was enough.</p>
<p>The 2013-14 Kentucky team was a remarkable study in contrasts, struggling to defeat quality teams in the regular season, and even suffering a couple of major, embarrassing upsets at the hands of markedly inferior teams. They gave Wildcats fans no reason to believe in them, and yet they managed to live up to their unprecedented hype in the end.</p>
<p>The journey may have been disappointing, but the destination was not. The roller-coaster ride continues in the final episode.</p>
https://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/8/9/5986011/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-5-the-assault-onGlenn Logan2014-07-29T10:34:26-04:002014-07-29T10:34:26-04:002013-14 Season Postmortem Part 4
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fxJRG4k39eRuBhhJA90JunbUVL8=/0x0:4000x2667/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36213490/20140316_mta_sz2_192.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>We've reached the SEC Tournament in our review of last season's team, and what a tournament it was!</p> <p>It has been a while since the last installment of this series, and I confess I am trying to stretch this out all the way through the summer to the Big Blue Bahamas. Obviously, during the dog days, there really isn’t a great deal of basketball news other than recruiting, and sometimes it’s good to look back over the last year a little at a time.<br> </p>
<div target="_blank" class="read-more">
<strong>Other installments of this series:</strong>: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/6/5688810/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-1">Part 1</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/14/5718476/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-2">Part 2</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/6/15/5812770/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-3">Part 3</a>
</div>
<p>We have, in the first three parts of this series, looked at the entire regular season of the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.aseaofblue.com/">Kentucky Wildcats</a> in 2013-14. We have relived what can only be described as the agony of a good team apparently gone bad, a season filled with promise that slowly declined into what can only be described as mediocrity for a Kentucky team. In fact, the finish of the season was more than just a disappointment, it was sufficiently incompetent to drive many passionate members of the Big Blue Nation to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/3/10/5493102/kentucky-wildcats-apathetic-about-the-basketball-team-poor-little-you">complete apathy</a>. Even on <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/">A Sea of Blue</a>, articles were appearing casting doubt on Calipari’s methods, and it got so bad that we lost a few members who could not control their disappointment either with the coach or the team. It was a difficult time. It may not seem so bad in retrospect, as time and events ameliorate some recollections, but I recall it as one of the more difficult times to be a Kentucky fan since the Billy Gillispie Experiment, and even tougher than the year before.</p>
<p>As bad as it was, and as great as the suffering of the Big blue Nation became, most of us <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/2/21/5432972/kentucky-basketball-what-will-it-be-wildcats-the-blue-pill-or-the-red">still retained some hope</a> that maybe the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.aseaofblue.com/">Wildcats</a> could reach the Sweet Sixteen and save the season from complete calamity. Hope remained, but actual faith in the Wildcats had declined to a level even lower than 2012-13’s visit to the NIT. Expectations had been <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/2/26/5451018/kentucky-basketball-computers-seeds-and-caliparis-recruiting">so much higher</a> for this season than the one before, and the distance from which we fell left a bigger bruise on our collective psyche — all the way from pre-season #1 to an unranked team needing to win a game in the SEC Tournament to ensure the NIT debacle wasn’t repeated.</p>
<p>As Kentucky limped into the SEC Tournament, Calipari mentioned the now-famous "tweak" to the offense, which captured the imagination of the Big Blue Nation, and became big news around the Commonwealth. In retrospect, all that attention could probably be most accurately described as grasping at straws — we were desperate for anything to validate the thin shred of hope some, but by no means all, of the Big Blue Nation still retained. It was typical sports desperation, but those of us not mired in apathy embraced it, foolish as it seems looking back.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="the-sec-tournament">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#the-sec-tournament" name="user-content-the-sec-tournament"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>The SEC Tournament</h3>
<p>The Wildcats managed to earn the #2 seed in the SEC Tournament, which matched them up against the winner of the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.rollbamaroll.com/">Alabama Crimson Tide</a> vs. the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.andthevalleyshook.com/">LSU Tigers</a>. Most Kentucky fans were concerned about the possibility of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/3/14/5509508/sec-tournament-quarterfinal-kentucky-wildcats-vs-lsu-tigers-game">facing LSU again</a>, as their quicker guards and the skill of Johnny O’Bryant, not to mention the depth of their big men, had proven to be a tough matchup for Kentucky. True to form, the Tigers defeated the Tide convincingly to face Kentucky.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="lsu-tigers">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#lsu-tigers" name="user-content-lsu-tigers"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>LSU Tigers</h4>
<p>This would be Kentucky’s best game of the post season, all told. But it didn’t start out that way. Once again, Kentucky got off to a slow start that had epitomized their season — falling behind early in the game and then having to claw their way back in. For the first seven minutes or so of the game, it looked very much like the same Kentucky team that had fallen supine before the Tigers in Baton Rouge, with the Wildcats on the bad end of a 20-14 score. But then the "tweak" took hold.</p>
<p>Kentucky took the lead three minutes later and never surrendered it again. The Wildcats would take a 43-32 lead into the half. In the second stanza, the Tigers would make a push to get within four points, but the Wildcats quickly pushed it back out to seven and doggedly held on. With five minutes to go, the Wildcats exploded, quickly pushing the lead out to double-digits. There was no let up this time, and Kentucky went on to a convincing 85-67 win.</p>
<div target="_blank" class="pullquote">The Big Blue Nation, looking for something — anything — to give them reason to validate their hopes, suddenly felt the warm breath of destiny on their cheek.</div>
<p>Kentucky looked like a completely different team against the Tigers, and the big reason for it was that the Wildcats, instead of the Dribble Drive Fling and Hope began to run a coherent Dribble Drive Motion offense. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/3/15/5511836/kentucky-wildcats-vs-lsu-tigers-sec-tournament-game-postmortem">The result</a> was more passing from the initiators of the offense, be it <span>Andrew Harrison</span> or <span>James Young</span>. Instead of flinging up prayers hoping for putbacks, the Wildcats were probing the lane, passing to open shooters, and making unchallenged shots. It was a game Wildcats fans hadn’t seen in over two months. The Big Blue Nation, looking for something — anything — to give them reason to validate their hopes, suddenly felt the warm breath of destiny on their cheek. Could it be? Could this team turn around against all odds?</p>
<p>In the other half of the bracket, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.dawgsports.com/">Georgia Bulldogs</a> put away the Ole Miss rebels to set up the third meeting between Kentucky and Georgia for the right to go to the SEC final. But the Big Blue Nation knew that if this was a team of destiny, it would be Florida and Kentucky in the final.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="georgia-bulldogs">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#georgia-bulldogs" name="user-content-georgia-bulldogs"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Georgia Bulldogs</h4>
<p>The Georgia game was different from all the recent Kentucky games that had proven so difficult for the young Wildcats. Kentucky burst into and early ten point lead, and even though Kentucky wasn’t able to expand it, Georgia never managed to get closer than seven until just before the break, they got it down to four.</p>
<p>The second half was nip and tuck for the first eight minutes or so, with UK and Georgia battling it out in a narrow 4-7 point range with Kentucky never surrendering their halftime lead, nor able to expand it much. At about the 12-minute mark, Kentucky abruptly leaped out to a 10-point bulge, and by the 2 minute mark, they had a comfortable 14-point lead. The game was statistically over, and the Wildcats cruised to a convincing 70-58 victory.</p>
<p>This particular game was <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/3/16/5514474/kentucky-wildcats-vs-georgia-bulldogs-sec-tournament-semifinal">notable for the excellent 3-point shooting</a> of the Wildcats, and it was the point at which <span>Aaron Harrison</span> began his torrid post-season run.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="florida-gators">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#florida-gators" name="user-content-florida-gators"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.alligatorarmy.com/">Florida Gators</a>
</h4>
<p>Nothing is more annoying to Kentucky fans than getting swept in the regular season, but the indignity of going 0-3 against an SEC team is more than annoying, it’s completely frustrating. But coming into this final game with the Gators, the Wildcats were on a roll, and the Gators were defending a long winning streak that had to end sometime. The Big Blue Nation was hopeful that this would be the third time that pays for all.</p>
<p>This was back to the old, slow-starting Kentucky, and the Gators took control of the game halfway through the first half, jumping out to a 14-point lead with four minutes remaining in the half. Kentucky came storming back, getting it back to eight at one point but still going into the half down by ten. Florida was scorching the nets from everywhere, and Kentucky seemed powerless to stop them. Unlike the previous game, Aaron Harrison’s stroke was off, and Kentucky was reeling.</p>
<p>For most of the second half, it was more of the same, and eight minutes in, the Gators had expanded their lead to 16. This game was taking on a similar cast to the final Florida-Kentucky game of the regular season in Gainsville, where the Gators dominated Kentucky completely.</p>
<p>But there had been a change in the Wildcats, and starting with around 11 minutes left in the half, Kentucky stormed back, cutting it to two with more than six minutes left, 54-52. Usually what happens to teams down big who get to this point is that they swoon, and lose convincingly after a hard comeback. But not this time.</p>
<p>Instead, Kentucky and Florida battled it out as equals. Florida gained a four point advantage which they held to near the end, when James Young made a cold-blooded three to get it within one with 91 seconds left. Some missed Florida free throws and a couple of empty possessions by both teams found the game still at 60-61 and Kentucky with the ball in the front court.</p>
<p>Aaron Harrison got the ball , and attempted to penetrate. When he was shut off by the Gators, He handed the ball off to James Young cutting to the basket and with a lane. Inexplicably, Young slipped and fell, the ball came free, and the game ended.</p>
<p>While the Wildcats were unhappy with the loss, they knew this was a game they should have won. Young had a wide-open lane to the basket, the ball in his dominant hand, and visions of a thunderous dunk in his head. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/3/17/5517580/kentucky-wildcats-vs-florida-gators-sec-tournament-final-postmortem">Unfortunately, that didn’t happen</a>. Kentucky would be the runner-up in the SEC Tournament, but hope had been restored to the Big Blue Nation to some extent as the Wildcats had very nearly knocked off the #1 team in the land.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="conclusion">
<a target="_blank" aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="#conclusion" name="user-content-conclusion"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Conclusion</h3>
<p>The SEC Tournament marked an inflection point for Kentucky. Coming out of the regular season, Kentucky had looked like an early upset in the SEC Tournament to any of several league teams, especially LSU who had given the Wildcats a lopsided loss in Baton Rouge and just came up short of reprising that in Lexington.</p>
<p>One big thing that happened as a result of this SEC Tournament is that the Big Blue Nation began to once again believe an NCAA tournament run was theoretically possible, if not particularly likely. Kentucky looked like a completely different team in the conference tournament, and it is always better to be on an upswing going into the biggest tournament of the year than otherwise. Kentucky was definitely on an upswing, and the mood of the Big Blue Faithful, while far from ebullient or optimistic, was at least curious to see what would happen.</p>
<p>But perhaps the most important part of this particular group of games was contest against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.alligatorarmy.com/">Florida Gators</a>. The Gators had risen to #1, and deservedly so. Kentucky suffered two defeats at their hands in the regular season, one of them an uncompetitive dismissal in Gainesville. The Wildcats lost for the third time in the league tournament final, but could well have won the game but for a slip of James Young’s sneaker. That near-success would translate into something magical as Kentucky now readied itself, and its newfound confidence, for an NCAA tournament in which they were likely to have a tough path to travel.</p>
<p>Just how tough would surprise everyone.</p>
https://www.aseaofblue.com/basketball/2014/7/29/5947933/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-4Glenn Logan2014-06-15T18:15:16-04:002014-06-15T18:15:16-04:002013-14 Season Postmortem - Part 3
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Pon2YPygFoFhYhqRwu7gaXY-PUo=/0x0:4000x2667/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/34382177/20140308_pjc_sv7_077.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Part three of the six-part season postmortem for 2013-14. This part covers the second half of the SEC season.</p> <p>This is the third part of our series of articles providing the postmortem for the 2013-14 baskeball season. Due to the success of the baseball and softball teams, I thought I'd wait until the end of their respective seasons before finishing off the final three sections. Today, we'll examine the second half of the SEC season, remarkable for the complete change of attitude that afflicted the Big Blue Nation, and understandably so.</p>
<div class="read-more">
<strong>More</strong>: <a target="new" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/6/5688810/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-1">Part 1</a> <a target="new" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/14/5718476/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-2">Part 2</a>
</div>
<p>The second half of the conference season began exactly like the first, with a game against Mississippi St. This part of the season would see Kentucky come in like a Wildcat and go out like Gator bait, to paraphrase a popular folk construction. Ranked #18 in the AP poll before the MSU game, Kentucky had seemingly reversed the negative feelings caused by the defeat at LSU, defeating Missouri on the road and Ole Miss in Rupp Arena before beginning a two-game road swing to Starkeville and then to the Plains to take on the <a href="https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Auburn Tigers</a>. Kentucky won both, and returned to Rupp Arena for the game that everyone had been waiting for: The Flordia Gators at home. Their road success had raised Kentucky's stock back up to within shouting distance of the top ten at #14, and optimism was on the rise. This was the setting coming into the first key contest of the second half of the SEC slate.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="key-game-florida-gators">Key game: <a href="https://www.alligatorarmy.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Florida Gators</a>
</h3>
<p>Florida came to Rupp Arena undefeated and almost unchallenged in the SEC at this point in the season, with the only eceptinon being an overtime victory over Arkansas on the road and close, but not particularly scary games at Alabama and Auburn. Kentucky at this point was feeling over their recent road woes, and the comfy confines of storied Rupp Arena gave the Big Blue faithful confidence that the Wildcats were about to deal the Gators their first loss of the SEC season.</p>
<p>It didn't happen.</p>
<p>This game <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/2/16/5416682/florida-gators-at-kentucky-wildcats-postmortem">turned on two things for Kentucky</a> — the season-long bugaboo of turnovers continued to hurt Kentucky, particularly against good teams. In addition, Kentucky was unable to dominate the rebounding and free-throw shooting stats versus Florida, and despite shooting a decent eFG% of 53%, the Wildcats lost the game by ten points.</p>
<p>A major turning point in the game was the technical foul called on John Calipari that turned a one-point Wildcats advantage into a one-point deficit, with Florida having the ball after two <span>Scottie Wilbekin</span> free throws. Florida would score on the ensuing possession to get a 3-point lead, and they would never again be on the short end of the score in the game — see the image below, courtesy of <a target="_blank" href="http://statsheet.com/mcb/games/2014/02/15/florida-69-kentucky-59/flow">Statsheet.com</a>. The reason for that technical foul was never determined, to my knowledge. Speculation is that it was due to Calipari being out of the coaches box, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.coachcal.com/27714/2014/02/coach-cals-live-post-florida-presser/">but Calipari himself professed not to know</a>. Whatever the reason, it changed the momentum of the game in Florida's favor, and they took full advantage.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/4619679/Florida-Kentucky_game_flow.png"><img src="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/4619679/Florida-Kentucky_game_flow_medium.png" class="photo" alt="Florida-kentucky_game_flow_medium"></a></p>
<p>The Florida loss, while not devastating to the season, prevented Kentucky from continuing their rise up the rankings, dropping them back to 18th. At this point, it is pretty clear that Kentucky is fighting for a three or four seed in the NCAA Tournament at best.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="key-game-lsu-tigers">Key game: <a href="https://www.andthevalleyshook.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">LSU Tigers</a>
</h3>
<p>The rematch with the LSU Tigers was the point at which people began to believe Kentucky might actually struggle to finish out the season. The Tigers presented problems that Kentucky thought they had solved, but it didn't turn out that way.</p>
<p>Kentucky struggled to contain LSU's smaller guards in Baton Rouge, and then had the same difficulty again in Rupp Arena, which at this point was becoming an ongoing concern. Kentucky just couldn't seem to get back fast enough in transition, and it led to easy baskets and open shots.</p>
<p>Again, as we had seen all season, Kentucky seemed to struggle to make shots close to the basket. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/2/23/5439558/lsu-tigers-at-kentucky-wildcats-postmortem">From the postmortem</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Kentucky shot the ball as badly as I have seen them shoot it all year, from everywhere. LSU defended well, but my complaint regards missed layups and missed wide-open jumpshots. <span>Julius Randle</span> must have missed five layups himself. <span>Alex Poythress</span> missed a dead-bang unguarded two-handed layup. <span>Andrew Harrison</span> missed two or three relatively easy layups. All in all, Kentucky missed nine layups. LSU missed a much more reasonable four.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nevertheless, in spite of all the badness of this game, the Wildcats managed to pull it out on a last-second Julius Randle stick-back. This was the point at which I began to identify yet another problem in Kentucky's offense that later morphed into a named phenomenon, the "Dribble Drive Fling and Hope":</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Kentucky really didn't play that badly in this game, they mostly just shot the ball badly. Their shot selection was okay, but there were still too many lobs when there was nobody to lob to, and too many breakdowns on defense, particularly in transition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many of us hoped the dramatic victory would bring the team together, but in retrospect, that was just the Big Blue sunglasses getting in the way. What happend was the obverse of that, the dark side of the coin.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="key-game-arkansas-razorbacks">Key game: <a href="https://www.arkansasfight.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Arkansas Razorbacks</a>
</h3>
<p>Most of us still believed going into the Arkansas game that Kentucky was about to turn the season around. We retained hope that the young Wildcats had just matched up badly with LSU, and that Kentucky would avenge the defeat Arkansas dropped on them in Fayetteville with a walk-off put-back slam.</p>
<p>What happened was a game in which Kentucky did exactly what they did against LSU, only worse. The Wildcats missed 19 layups. This was also where it became obvious that the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/2/28/5456496/arkansas-razorbacks-at-kentucky-wildcats-postmortem">Kentucky offensive strategy... wasn't</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Does this team really believe that running down the court and flinging the ball at the rim hoping somebody will put it in is a coherent offensive strategy? Calipari has clearly confused this bunch with facts. I know Kentucky can rebound, and I know they should drive the ball, but it would seem to be necessary to find open shots — and make them — if the Wildcats hope to win basketball games. That requires more than just random drives to the rim and wildly flinging up a shot or a lob.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can see the DDFH becoming more fully-formed. It only lacked a name. But my frustration was encapsulated here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You all know that I am mostly an optimist, and if I could find any way to put a lipstick on this pig, I'd try. Unfortunately, some lips are too ugly to paint, and this is one of them. This game was a frightful mess of fail, and that's all there is to it. Calipari said last night that Kentucky "...took a step back." To me, it was more like a 100-yard dash followed by a triple-jump backward, if that's even athletically possible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At this point, dark thoughts were beginning to crawl around in the back of our collective brain, as if Pink Floyd's worms were eating into them. We had no idea it would get worse before it got better.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="key-game-south-carolina-gamecocks">Key game: <a href="https://www.garnetandblackattack.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">South Carolina Gamecocks</a>
</h3>
<p>If the Arkansas overtime loss in Rupp Arena was an unalloyed disaster, the trip to Columbia demonstrated that no matter how dark it gets before the dawn, it can always get even darker, and it did. Oh, boy, did it.</p>
<p>Kentucky went down to the Palmetto State and completely failed to fire. There's no real need to relive this particular nightmare other than to note it was responsible for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/3/2/5462724/kentucky-wildcats-at-south-carolina-gamecocks-postmortem">coining the fully-baked DDFH</a>, which came to epitomize the second half of Kentucky's season:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Obviously, Kentucky must now try to figure out what is going wrong. Of course, most of the Big Blue Nation could tell them that the offensive strategy I have helpfully labeled Dribble Drive, Fling and Hope (DDFH) is not only not a coherent offensive strategy, it is an ineffective one. Kentucky, coming into the SEC season, was one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country. Somehow, in two months, they have become one of the most inefficient offensive teams in the country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was also the point at which reality set firmly in even the most optimistic of our collective psyches, as evidenced by this paragrap:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is the inflection point we have all been waiting for. This is where the season either collapses into disarray, or the team rebuilds itself into something better. I have no idea which one will happen and neither do you. Meltdowns like this don't always mean collapse, although there are plenty of examples where the team does disintegrate (see <a href="https://www.aseaofblue.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Kentucky Wildcats</a>, 2013). If we see that, I won't be surprised. Having said that, the alternate outcome is also possible. We'll just have to wait and see.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I was wrong, and right, at the same time. It wasn't quite rock bottom, although it was near enough. Kentucky would go on to defeat an offensively unfortunate Alabama team in Rupp Arena by a narrow margin, putting up a horrid 0.96 points/possession in the process.</p>
<p>Then came the rematch with Florida, a chance for Kentucky to put "paid" to some of the miserable games in recent memory by defeating the nation's #1-ranked team. Predictably, the optimists among us expected too much.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="key-game-florida-gators_1">Key game: Florida Gators</h3>
<p>By any measure, this game was a beat-down. A vastly superior (at the time) Florida team on senior day simply dominated Kentucky in a way that UK had not been dominated since the 2013 Tennessee game. Kentucky was uncompetitive for 75% of the game, much like the contest against LSU in Baton Rouge.</p>
<p>Midway through the second half, Kentucky made a significant run to knock a 21-point halftime lead to just six, but that was fool's gold. The Wildcats went on to win the second half by only 2 points, 19 points short of victory. It was a thunderslap into the dark recesses of rank disappointment, where very few #1 pre-season teams have ever been, if any. It was a full-fledged embarrassment that forced any optimism for the rest of the season into wholesale recalibration, or downright apathy for those unable to adjust to the humiliation.</p>
<p>Consider this <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/basketball/2014/3/8/5485394/kentucky-wildcats-at-florida-gators-post-game-facepalm">prophecy from the post-game thread</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Of course, a deep run in the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness" class="sbn-auto-link">NCAA Tournament</a> is still possible. Just as youth taketh away in games like this, it can also giveth in the form of unexpected cohesion and good play. No, I'm not betting on that and neither should you, but unless you've given up (and I'm sure some of you have), that's about all you have to hope for. It's not a good feeling, know, but it will have to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Well, maybe not prophecy. More like hopeful possibility-mongering. Alas, that was all I had left at this point, besides this <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/3/9/5487946/kentucky-wildcats-at-florida-gators-postmortem">wistful conclusion to the postmortem</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I know that most of you have little hope for Kentucky moving forward, and I can't say I blame you. To me, though, this team is still capable of suddenly waking up and discovering that they are much better than they seem to think. No, it isn't likely, but when you get to this point in the season, hope is pretty much all you have if your team still hasn't showed itself to be a contender, and this Wildcats team most assuredly hasn't done so.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sometimes, hopes have a way of coming true, and to the surprise of nearly everyone (except perhaps themselves), the Wildcats were about to emerge from their dark journey into incompetence into the light of the "second season" — tournament time. It would be a memorable one.</p>
https://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/6/15/5812770/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-3Glenn Logan2014-05-14T18:19:24-04:002014-05-14T18:19:24-04:002013-14 Postmortem: 1st Half of the SEC season
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jsOcm3UUafHlJPSE2Zr7NmR8giQ=/0x449:3003x2451/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33046135/459638981.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Andy Lyons</figcaption>
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<p>In part 2 of our postmortem of the 2013-14 season, we look at the first half of the Southeastern Conference season, which ran from January 8th through February 4th.</p> <p>In this second part of the season postmortem, we will examine the first half (nine games) of the SEC conference season, which began with the <a href="https://www.forwhomthecowbelltolls.com/" target="_blank">Mississippi St. Bulldogs</a> in Rupp Arena and ended with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.redcuprebellion.com/">Ole Miss Rebels</a>, also in Lexington. This was doubtless the best part of the conference season, and also arguably the easiest given that Florida appeared twice in the second half.</p>
<div class="read-more">
<strong>More</strong>:
<a href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/6/5688810/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-1">Kentucky Basketball: 2013-14 Season Postmortem Part 1</a>
</div>
<p>The mood of the Wildcats coming into SEC play had to be upbeat. They had defeated Louisville, and by doing so slain the dragon of having no significant non-conference victories. I suspect that both the team and Coach Cal were very relieved to get that monkey off their collective back. Coming out of the Louisville game, it seemed that the Wildcats were very close to becoming a strong team, and we <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/12/28/5252158/metamorphasis-kentucky-defeats-louisville-73-66-and-becomes-a-team-in">cited some statistical support for that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>Kentucky's team defense was remarkable. Holding this Louisville team to 66 points is very good. The bottom line is that Kentucky absolutely played defense — hard. For the first time all season.</blockquote>
<p>In retrospect, I should have been more alarmed about the 18.6% turnover percentage in the non-conference season, which was littered with more weak teams than strong ones. It was my thinking at the time that this was a learning curve, and that Kentucky was okay at that point. In retrospect, that looks like a misguided conclusion.</p>
<p>Looking back, we also should have been more concerned at the difficulty the Harrison twins were having with smaller guards, in transition particularly. That was a harbinger of much more difficulty to follow.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="the-home-schedule">The home schedule</h3>
<p>Home games for this half of the season were Mississippi St., Tennessee, <a href="https://www.goodbullhunting.com/" target="_blank">Texas A&M</a>, Georgia and Ole Miss. Kentucky managed a perfect record against the visitors with the closest one being fellow Elite Eight member Tennessee. None of the home games were particularly remarkable in this half of the schedule other than perhaps the last game of the first half against Ole Miss, where Kentucky had their best offensive performance of the SEC season. That game saw Kentucky shoot over 60% from 2-point range for the game. As it turns out, that game would be the last time Kentucky visited a 125+ offensive efficiency until the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness">NCAA Tournament</a>.</p>
<p>In a way, the home portion of the first half was fairly comfortable. The Wildcats kept turnovers under control, going over 20% TO's only once, against Texas A&M. Rupp Arena was it's familiar, comforting self, producing little drama in mostly comfortable wins. The closest Kentucky came to serious drama was versus the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.rockytoptalk.com/">Tennessee Volunteers</a> in the first half, where Kentucky went in only up two. In the second half, the Wildcats took the lead for good early in the half and never relinquished it. There were a few anxious moments near the end, but mostly, Kentucky won that game comfortably enough.</p>
<p>The road, as it turns out was a different story.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="the-away-schedule">The away schedule</h3>
<p>Road games in the SEC are always tough, regardless of what the league looks like on paper. Coaches in the SEC do a good job of game-planning for their foes, and as more and more tape becomes available, that gets easier and easier, particularly for a team like Kentucky that almost always brings a very simplistic game plan — try to out-athlete and out-skill your opponent. This season, SEC teams did a fantastic job of exploiting their home-court advantage, and as a result, Kentucky went 2-2 on the road in the first half of the season, which isn't really bad in the SEC. In the last five seasons, other than in 2012 when they were undefeated in the SEC regular season, Kentucky has lost at least one game on the road out of the first nine.</p>
<p>In fact, Kentucky has lost two or more games in three out of the five seasons that John Calipari has been at Kentucky: 2011, 2013 and 2014. The SEC early season has always been a bit difficult for his younger teams to manage, particularly on the road. They predictably tend to do better as they get more experience.</p>
<div class="pullquote">Kentucky officially lost in overtime on a Michael Qualls put-back dunk of a Rashad Madden desperation miss, but in reality, Kentucky lost the game due to poor ballhandling and shot selection.</div>
<h4 target="_blank" id="key-game-arkansas-razorbacks">Key game: <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.arkansasfight.com/">Arkansas Razorbacks</a>
</h4>
<p>I fretted about this contest in the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/1/14/5308156/kentucky-wildcats-at-arkansas-razorbacks-game-preview">pregame</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/1/14/5309844/kentucky-wildcats-at-arkansas-razorbacks-live-game-thread">game thread</a>. Whether you know it or not, Arkansas really does care about basketball and they really do consider Kentucky a rival from back in the Rick Pitino days, and they are desperate to get that feeling back. They showed that passion against Kentucky with a sold-out and rowdy Bud Walton Arena and an SEC season-high number of fouls whistled against the Wildcats — 31. The Razorbacks got hit for 29, so it was an equal-opportunity foul-fest.</p>
<p>This was a nip-and-tuck game where neither team ever got out to a substantial advantage. Kentucky made this possible by turning the ball over ten times in the first half and six in the second, providing Arkansas with 13 additional shots on goal. That allowed UK to shoot an eFG% of almost 53%, with Arkansas at only 42%, and still lose the game.</p>
<p>Kentucky officially lost in overtime on a <span>Michael Qualls</span> put-back dunk of a <span>Rashad Madden</span> desperation miss, but in reality, Kentucky lost the game due to poor ballhandling and shot selection.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="key-game-missouri-tigers">Key game: <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.rockmnation.com/">Missouri Tigers</a>
</h4>
<p>After the loss at Arkansas, Kentucky won three straight in Rupp Arena before going on the road again. First, they went to Baton Rouge in yet another ice storm and completely swooned at LSU. The 87-82 final score did not indicate the competitiveness of the game. LSU led by ten or more points through over 14 minutes of the second half, and the late, meaningless charge by UK just made the game look better to those who didn't get to watch.</p>
<p>LSU represented the second straight road loss for the Wildcats, and many in the Big Blue Nation feared a hat trick going into Missouri. At this point, Mizzou had hit a rough patch dropping games at LSU and Vandy, and an overtime home loss to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.dawgsports.com/">Georgia Bulldogs</a>. They had snapped back and won two in a row, including a road win at Arkansas. They were still very much considered an NCAA Tournament team, although they really needed to win versus Kentucky, because they were headed for a two-game road swing starting in Gainesville against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.alligatorarmy.com/">Florida Gators</a>.</p>
<p>This was a game Kentucky was built to win, and did, primarily because of good rebounding and ballhandling. Unlike the Arkansas game where Kentucky turned the ball over 23% of the time, at Mizzou, the Wildcats were careful with the ball and wound up getting more shots than the Tigers, as well as shooting almost 61% eFG%. But they almost gave the game away when poor transition defense again reared its ugly head, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/2/2/5370132/kentucky-at-missouri-postmortem">as we noted in the postmortem</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In transition, Kentucky was ruthlessly exploited by the Missouri guards. This is a gigantic troll of a problem that Calipari must address immediately and at whatever length necessary to fix. Missouri is good at exploiting that weakness, but other teams are much, much better at it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Those words would prove to be prophetic in the second half of the season.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="sec-conference-first-half-evaluation">SEC Conference first half evaluation</h3>
<p>The problems that reared themselves in the pre-season, namely transition defense and turnovers, continued to crop up all too often in the first part of the conference season. That was the bad.</p>
<p>The good was that Kentucky was beginning to display some signs. <span>Dakari Johnson</span> had taken over at the starting center by this point and although <span>Willie Cauley-Stein</span> had been mired in a slump for most of the first nine conference games, he broke out of it against Ole Miss and began to return to form. Johnson had given Kentucky a more physical presence inside, and Kentucky was playing some of their best offensive basketball of the season as we got close to the middle of conference play.</p>
<p>I think by this time, most Kentucky fans had begun to doubt UK had a chance to get to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but a top four seed still seemed possible. 7-2 in the first nine games with 4 on the road didn't inspire Wildcats fans to celebration, but nobody was threatening to jump out of windows, either.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="final-grade-for-the-first-half-of-the-sec-season-b">Final grade for the first half of the SEC season: B</h3>
<p>In the next installment, the second half of the SEC season, where things went a little bit sideways ...</p>
https://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/14/5718476/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-2Glenn Logan2014-05-06T19:00:16-04:002014-05-06T19:00:16-04:002013-14 Season Postmortem - Part 1
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<figcaption>Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>This is the first part of a multi-article review of the 2013-14 Kentucky Wildcats season -- what went right, what went wrong, and what it means for the future.</p> <p>Well, the time has come for the 2014 season postmortem. The players have all decided what's next, we know what next season's team will look like and who will be moving on to the NBA. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Players-First-Coaching-Inside-Out-ebook/dp/B00DMCPO9K?tag=sbnation-20" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener">John Calipari's new book is out</a>, he's finally had his <a target="_blank" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20140503/kentucky-john-calipari-hip-replaced.ap/">long-awaited hip replacement</a>, and we are heading into 2015 recruiting season for both football and basketball, and of course, to summer vacations and holidays. Now is a good time to review what we saw last season, to grade the team's performance, and to take a brief preview of next season.</p>
<p>We'll break the season down into three sections: Non-conference, conference, and post-season. We'll examine how the Wildcats did in each section, and eventually, overall. Because of the depth of this review, we'll be breaking the postmortem into five discrete articles, all tied together in a common story stream.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="non-conference-season">Non-Conference Season</h3>
<p>Entering the non-conference season, Kentucky fans had high hopes of reaching the Louisville game either undefeated or with only one loss, perhaps to Michigan State. That was the plan, anyway, and of course, the last step in that sequence was a beat-down of the rival Cardinals. It didn't quite happen that way ...</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="key-game-michigan-st-spartans">Key game: <a href="https://www.theonlycolors.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Michigan State Spartans</a>
</h4>
<p>Much was expected of Kentucky coming into this season. The Wildcats had what was widely considered to be one of, if not the, best recruiting classes in NCAA basketball history. There have been so many articles written on the subject of that class that it bears very little review, other than to say the Wildcats had size, strength, and some athleticism at every position although this class was anything but freakishly athletic. It was, however, very skilled.</p>
<p>After a few easy games against weak foes including two exhibitions and two official contests, the Wildcats ran up against the Michigan St. Spartans in the third game of the season as part of the <a href="http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2013-2014/uk1112.html" target="_blank">State Farm Champion's Classic</a>. Most people not in love with the idea of 40-0 (of which most of this community was justifiably skeptical) felt that this was the game that would take the measure the Wildcats early in the season, and they were right. MSU was big, talented and experienced, and they proved that all that meant something no matter how highly touted Kentucky's freshmen were.</p>
<p>We won't rehash the Michigan St. game in great depth. If you need a refresher, here is the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/11/12/5097428/michigan-st-spartans-2-at-kentucky-wildcats-1-live-game-thread">game thread</a>, the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/11/12/5097918/michigan-st-at-kentucky-second-half-game-thread">second half game thread</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/11/12/5098200/michigan-st-spartans-78-kentucky-wildcats-74-postmortem">postmortem</a> for that particular contest. Instead, we'll take a look a the big picture items that emerged from the game:</p>
<h5 target="_blank" id="the-good">The good</h5>
<ul>
<li>Offensive and defensive rebounding</li>
<li>2-point FG shooting</li>
<li>Shot-blocking</li>
<li>2-point FG defense</li>
</ul>
<h5 target="_blank" id="the-bad">The bad</h5>
<ul>
<li>Turnovers</li>
<li>Free throw shooting</li>
<li>Transition defense</li>
<li>3-point shooting consistency</li>
</ul>
<p>The reason I mention these things is because this game represented, in a way, the archetype for the struggles of the Wildcats all season long against quality opponents. Rebounding was almost always their calling card. They were usually pretty good inside the arc, both offensively and defensively. They blocked and challenged shots, particularly close to the basket.</p>
<p>Their struggles began with taking care of the ball, which would almost always show up in defeats. Free throw shooting was a season-long soul-destroying siege which they never quite defeated. Transition defense was poor from the first tip to the final horn, and was a major factor in most of Kentucky's 11 losses. 3-point shooting was up and down, but the improvement in that stat had a big impact on Kentucky's post-season success.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="key-game-north-carolina-tar-heels">Key game: <a href="https://www.tarheelblog.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">North Carolina Tar Heels</a>
</h4>
<p>The Baylor game, which I don't consider key, was an outlier. Baylor simply played at a level they rarely achieved again last season, particularly late in the game. However, the North Carolina game was pivotal. Game threads for this may be found <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/12/14/5211048/kentucky-wildcats-at-north-carolina-tar-heels-live-game-thread">here</a> and <a href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/12/14/5211292/kentucky-wildcats-30-north-carolina-33-second-half-game-thread" target="_blank">here</a>, and the postmortem <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/12/14/5211504/kentucky-wildcats-77-north-carolina-tar-heels-82-postmortem">here</a>.</p>
<p>North Carolina was Kentucky's chance at redemption, and for a quality road win — not to mention a victory over one of the few rivals that has a series record advantage over UK. This was a match up of two teams considered to be post-season locks, although UNC had lost to two weaker opponents, and Kentucky close losses to comparatively strong opponents.</p>
<p>What reared its head in this game was once again transition defense and turnovers, and Kentucky allowed the Tar Heels to shoot 51% inside the arc, while managing only 43% themselves. North Carolina's length bothered <span>Julius Randle</span>, who would make only three of nine attempts.</p>
<p>Still, this loss was forgivable to a large extent — young team, first true road contest in a sold-out gym against a major rival. Nobody in the Big Blue Nation was happy at this point, but almost everyone was willing to live with this loss without too much complaint. Unfortunately, in combination with the Baylor loss, it put Kentucky in a position of desperately needing a quality non-conference win.</p>
<h4 target="_blank" id="key-game-louisville-cardinals">Key game: <a href="https://www.cardchronicle.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Louisville Cardinals</a>
</h4>
<p>Kentucky came into the Louisville game under pressure, even though they had but three losses to their name at this point in the season. The problem was, Kentucky had yet to beat a team considered to be near their level or above. Louisville most certainly filled that bill, as at this point in the season, the Cardinals had but one loss — one that seemed bizarre at the time — to the North Carolina Tar Heels in a game that was not as close as the 93-84 score.</p>
<p>If Kentucky had lost this game, it would have branded them as an early-season washout. At the time, Kentucky had fallen from #1 to #18 in the AP poll, and Louisville had risen all the way to #6 on the strength of blow-out victories against lesser foes. This was a home game for UK, but the young Wildcats were under siege in the national media. Interestingly, so were the Cardinals, who had been saddled with an easy schedule and had failed at their only opportunity for a quality win to date. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2013/12/24/3004222/in-this-years-kentucky-louisville.html">John Clay had it thus</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There's more. A loss will confirm UK has clearly lost the in-state momentum, that the pre-season ranking was ridiculously premature, that since AD and MKG departed, the one-and-done has not been quite as much fun.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The game threads for the contest can be found <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/12/28/5251404/louisville-cardinals-6-at-kentucky-wildcats-18-live-game-thread">here</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/12/28/5251684/louisville-at-kentucky-second-half-game-thread">here</a>, and the postmortem <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aseaofblue.com/2013/12/28/5252158/metamorphasis-kentucky-defeats-louisville-73-66-and-becomes-a-team-in">here</a>. Kentucky rose to the occasion and defeated the Cardinals if not convincingly, at least not last-second. As usual, rebounding was key and for once, turnovers were not much of a problem. Transition defense, as usual, was a problem, but the Cardinals had no answer for Kentucky's size and skill inside as Julius Randle dominated the first half, succumbing to cramps to sit out the second. <span>James Young</span> and <span>Aaron Harrison</span> ably picked up the slack in the second stanza and Kentucky went on to a hard-fought but relatively undramatic win.</p>
<p>The real story in the Louisville game was how well Kentucky defended, particularly Wilie Cauley-Stein. He was the proverbial Gordian knot for the Cardinals, a riddle they simply could not solve. In the end, this game proved that Kentucky had some potential they hadn't quite shown in the early part of the season and that they could win a close game against a quality opponent. Both those questions had been very much in doubt coming into the contest.</p>
<p>With the victory, the <a href="https://www.aseaofblue.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Kentucky Wildcats</a> were 10-3 heading into the conference season in the SEC. UK moved up to #15 in the AP poll and with the advent of Camp Cal over the holiday break, seemed to be positioned to improve during the conference season with perhaps an outside shot at a #1 <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness" class="sbn-auto-link">NCAA Tournament</a> seed.</p>
<h3 target="_blank" id="non-conference-season-evaluation">Non-conference season evaluation</h3>
<p>There were few people in the Big Blue Nation satisfied with how the non-conference season went last year. Kentucky was having a lot of trouble taking care of the ball and making free throws, the much-ballyhooed emphasis on impeding the ballhandler was being enforced spottily, and the Wildcats showed significant weakness defending in transition, particularly against smaller, quicker teams.</p>
<p>While Kentucky was big, strong and skilled offensively, they were somewhat disappointing athletically in the back court, which primarily showed up on defense. Kentucky consistently struggled to control penetration by smaller guards, and get back in transition. With better ballhandling, better defense and a modest improvement in free throw percentage, Kentucky could have easily been 12-1. Perimeter shooting was streaky, and tended to desert the Wildcats against more accomplished foes.</p>
<p>10-3 in the non-conference season was disappointing for the Big Blue Nation, but fortunately at this point, did not look fatal to the NCAA Tournament championship hopes of the Wildcats. As the conference season loomed including some weaker SEC foes, the victory over Louisville and the upcoming long period of practice afforded by the Christmas holidays provided hope that the stumbles of the first 13 games would be just a minor setback. Of course, there would be more challenges to come.</p>
<h5 target="_blank" id="final-grade-for-the-non-conference-season-wzxhzdk-3-c">Final grade for the non-conference season — C</h5>
<p>In the next installment, the first half of the SEC season.</p>
https://www.aseaofblue.com/2014/5/6/5688810/kentucky-basketball-2013-14-season-postmortem-part-1Glenn Logan