16-0 last 6 mins.

bbnkat02

Heisman
Nov 14, 2017
47,700
71,064
113
But I don't think we'd ever toy with lineups or take the foot off the pedal, if the game is close.

We got to a 30pt lead in 30min, that should be the takeaway.. what happened in the 10min after just isn't going to be the norm.
Especially after we got so close at LSU. Our guys just checked out tonight. Unacceptable, but it will be addressed.
 
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LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
39,460
62,089
113
Especially after we got so close at LSU. Our guys just checked out tonight. Unacceptable, but it will be addressed.

But you do see this in ALL sports. I watch pro teams check out in games. I remember Lebrons team playing the water-bottle-flip-game on the sidelines when the game was over and a blow out.

My ONLY worry is IF Cal is still trying this big man lineup.. but I think that was more of an end of game thing, and something that's dying little by little.
 

fatguy87

All-American
Oct 8, 2004
13,764
9,093
0
We stopped trying to score against the Vandy press. We let them play high pressure without any of the risk. There were plenty of opportunities to take it to the rim in a 2v1 after breaking the press, but we pulled it back to run down the shot clock.
 

CB3UK

Hall of Famer
Apr 15, 2012
64,392
107,346
78
Meh. I'd worry about that stuff OP if I thought that was the lineup Cal would have out there during crunch time in late February and March.

He won't. So I'm not worried about it. Doesn't mean I don't want our bench to be better, they clearly need to be, but they are the bench for a reason. It is what it is as they say.
 

Blue63Madison

All-American
May 21, 2002
35,727
6,826
0
Better add Matt Jones to this thread. He’s complained about the same thing multiple times during the postgame call-in show.
 
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Rockfly78

Heisman
Nov 20, 2014
7,927
10,877
0
I absolutely hated it, was having PTSD flash backs to past teams that also stopped playing basketball and instead tried to play 30 second games of keepaway and also collapsed their leads under Cal.

YOURE UP 28 BY PLAYING BASKETBALL, DONT STOP ****ING PLAYING BASKETBALL WITH 5 MINUTES LEFT IN THE GAME YOU EGG HEAD CAR SALESMAN CALIPARI
But we whine and cry when he doesn’t play the bench players. You want Oscar to roll an ankle up 28 in January? Or do you want the bench to develop?
 
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Jul 26, 2003
21,180
11,162
0
How could any Wildcat fan be OK with the last 5 minutes? Our guys worked hard and played great to get a good blow out win and the coach put in a couple of guys that did nothing to at least help hold the hard work they did. Did it the first half also, squandering a 12 point lead from subbing. What good did it do? Just lessened the work the first six done.
 
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LowCountryCat

Heisman
Apr 17, 2010
117,188
22,769
0
I got nothing to say to anyone who has nothing good to say about a road SEC win. It's not worth arguing.
There's plenty good to say, but tell me you didn't get flashbacks to the Wisky loss with the slowdown of play. Or even the 2nd half of 2012 where we scored only 26 points and nearly let KU come back on us.
 

Cleisthenes

All-Conference
Nov 21, 2021
829
1,330
0
So a poster can start a thread on UK's largest (by far) fan website telling our coach to "shove it" and doesn't get banned?
 

Blue63Madison

All-American
May 21, 2002
35,727
6,826
0
So a poster can start a thread on UK's largest (by far) fan website telling our coach to "shove it" and doesn't get banned?
If it’s ok for Matt Jones to whine about it on the postgame show, why shouldn’t it be allowed to be a topic on a message board?
 

willyclyde

All-American
Feb 25, 2007
5,917
8,898
0
He ain’t changing. These scoring droughts and stall ball are gonna cost us in March (again) I fear.
 

Hoskins91_rivals

All-Conference
Jun 12, 2011
6,750
1,619
50
There's plenty good to say, but tell me you didn't get flashbacks to the Wisky loss with the slowdown of play. Or even the 2nd half of 2012 where we scored only 26 points and nearly let KU come back on us.
I didn’t, because it was as close to impossible as it possibly could be to lose by the time he subbed everybody. At that point, yeah, get everybody who we actually need tf outta there.
 

tls

Heisman
Nov 7, 2007
7,876
14,475
81
This was almost the perfect game. There was something for everyone.

It gave most fans the opportunity to appreciate a pretty easy conference road win.

The ending gave others the chance to call out the coach and keep their hopes alive that they can still be correct about him blowing things again this season.
Misguided big time. It’s not their hopes but their fears.
 

tls

Heisman
Nov 7, 2007
7,876
14,475
81
The one thing Cal can control is not having his team beat the press then pulling back out to run clock.

Of course if TY makes those one and ones then it’s a 16 point win and not so much grousing.
 

dc513

All-Conference
Dec 9, 2018
2,035
2,358
0
Didn’t like the end of game but was more concerned with the lineup of Hopkins, Collins, toppin, mintz and Grady that blew our early 22-11 lead. Cals obsession with playing 3 bigs will be the ultimate death of this team. He can’t help himself.
Totally agree. Must always have 3 guards in.
 
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sefus12

Heisman
Dec 22, 2007
7,177
19,030
103
Personally, I’m much more worried about the scoring droughts this team (and Cal teams in general) has. As good as we can look on offense it seems we still don’t have one player or a designed play that can get us a bucket to stop a drought or momentum. That’s what scares me for our chances in March.
 

Runnin'Ramel

Heisman
Jan 19, 2005
35,666
13,527
113
Didn’t like the end of game but was more concerned with the lineup of Hopkins, Collins, toppin, mintz and Grady that blew our early 22-11 lead. Cals obsession with playing 3 bigs will be the ultimate death of this team. He can’t help himself.
Hopkins/Collins/Toppin shouldn't be on the floor together in the 1H of any game, or ever except maybe :30 before a media timeout, or in the final 2:00 of a blowout. That group is bottom-tier SEC caliber as a front court unit at this stage of their careers. Mixed in with others? Valid and viable as role players.
 

BlueWorldOrder

All-American
Dec 17, 2004
11,300
5,364
113
If playing the 3 Bigs at the same time was a help off the bench offensively / defensively then It would probably work. Maybe more so if they were upperclassmen and had experience off the bench. However where they are freshmen and being taken advantage of by their weakness in their games, whether it's on offense or defense. So Cal shouldn't be playing 3 bigs like that in games because they're not bringing anything off the bench to help the team in there at the same time. It's only hurting us and it WILL end up costing us in a game with Cal's history of taking the air out of the ball way too early in games.

I really like the idea of playing 4 guards and Oscar and trying to get one of the other bigs out there when Oscar gets in foul trouble that won't hurt us. I Just don't know who do you put out there?

I Don't have any problems with last night's game, other than how we finished it out. I just wish Cal would stop playing "taking the air out of the ball" in games and just crush our opponents' souls.
 
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kybassfan

Heisman
Jul 1, 2005
20,032
16,368
113
Tells me our bench is subpar and can’t be relied on in March.
Well. We should just quit and go home. Give up because some random fan thinks the bench is subpar. Do you know that combination of players is the same that would be used in March? Do you know the way they were advised to play? Do you know the coaches instructions for each player? Of course you don’t. In fact you don’t really know anything.

Bottom line, the last 10 minutes was not for fans to yuck it up blowing out a team. The coaches used it for other purposes. One of those purposes was NOT projecting anything about March. In fact this was not a game that gives us any information like that. We were playing in the armpit of the SEC. We won easily. We had no injuries. Move on. That is what the team is doing.
 

Sparky285

All-Conference
May 10, 2021
1,135
2,155
0
This. Why he does it is lost on me.
Yeah Vandy getting away with murder, pressing way too hard, leaving Grady wide open after we beat their press, and no shots taken, just holding the ball.

Let’s Vandy press even harder and harder, and before you know it we can barely get the ball up the floor. We’re getting mugged by the defense and aren’t getting calls, and the team refused to take the open shots or take advantages of mismatches that appeared early in the shot clock.

If a team is pressing you like that you have to score to get them to stop, or at least make them back off to where your point guard can carry the ball up the court, get in a half court set, bleed the clock down to 10 and then run a quick play actually looking for a decent shot to cap the possession. Not just playing keepaway for 30 seconds every possession hoping to get out of the game with the lead you had being enough.

Against any top half SEC team that 28 point lead is gone playing like that and we’re in a dogfight with a minute to go with 0 offensive momentum.

People can keep dogging me if they want, they can enjoy this win if they want, if they don’t rectify that end of game performance I hope you’re happy with this win and I hope you’re happy with our round of 32 exit. I’ve never been a huge farr Cal guy, I’m mostly a sunshine pumper, but last night has me infinitely more concerned than any loss this season has had me.

And it’s not about substitutions or the bench playing like many here are trying to scapegoat it to be, I’m not mad at Cal for playing or not playing the bench, I’ve named starters that were in the game and refusing to take shots in my posts. Grady wide open multiple times, passed on every shot to run the clock down.
 
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UK-Chulo

All-American
Mar 22, 2007
3,472
5,005
98
I got nothing to say to anyone who has nothing good to say about a road SEC win. It's not worth arguing.
That was a nice way of framing it. If you had said we beat Vandy it might not have sounded as impressive. I'm happy with any game we don't lose. Gives the players a chance to learn and it doesn't throw another loss on the record.
 

bbnkat02

Heisman
Nov 14, 2017
47,700
71,064
113
That was a nice way of framing it. If you had said we beat Vandy it might not have sounded as impressive. I'm happy with any game we don't lose. Gives the players a chance to learn and it doesn't throw another loss on the record.
Any win in this league is good. Vandy has a really solid defense. If they could find the ocean from more than Pippen they’d be dangerous.

Be interesting to see who plays them next at Memorial. Also Vandy did go to Arky and knock off a win. So, they ain’t “turrible” terrible.

Ready for Saturday. Next week though is going to be a war. A&M and Auburn. Whew.
 

UK-Chulo

All-American
Mar 22, 2007
3,472
5,005
98
Any win in this league is good. Vandy has a really solid defense. If they could find the ocean from more than Pippen they’d be dangerous.

Be interesting to see who plays them next at Memorial. Also Vandy did go to Arky and knock off a win. So, they ain’t “turrible” terrible.

Ready for Saturday. Next week though is going to be a war. A&M and Auburn. Whew.
We are either the nail or the hammer and these next two weeks will show it.
 
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UKWildcats1987

Heisman
Sep 9, 2021
20,145
35,555
113
Tells me our bench is subpar and can’t be relied on in March.

A bit early for this conclusion as our bench for March isn't available now with Wheeler out. Mintz will be part of the bench in March and there may be another guy making waves by then as well. I think ideally we have Wheeler, TyTy, Grady, brooks and Oscar with Mintz, Sharpe & Toppin off the bench by post-season time.

If Cal doesn't play Sharpe that bench is pretty hit or miss. As others have pointed out, Mintz has done better starting the last couple of games so will he keep shooting well once he becomes 6th man again? He should, but who knows.
 

sluggercatfan

Heisman
Aug 17, 2004
35,953
29,631
0
Lmao y’all are really this clueless? Didn’t play stall ball until the last minute, was developing the bench and the team got lazy.
This fan base can’t be happy. Plays some role players and gives up a lead, damn stall ball! Doesn’t sub the role players in, damn cal could have played Hopkins more minutes! I’ve seen both threads this season…
Why are guys playing lazy as you say? Sit them down!
 

BlueGlasses12

All-Conference
Jul 30, 2016
1,609
2,319
0
Why are guys playing lazy as you say? Sit them down!
These are college kids, hard to stay motivated when you’re up 30. That’s exactly what cal did, played bench players which compounded the issue. He could have kept the starters in and held a 30 point lead, but then you’d be on the forums complaining we didn’t develop a bench and Oscar could have got hurt! It’s a situation you can’t win
 

rick64

Heisman
Jan 25, 2007
25,009
34,791
113
Fortunately UK had a huge lead, 28 points. Not uncommon when teams have a huge lead check out mentally, get sloppy, lack focus, and let the opponent make it look closer than it really was. Not going to make a huge deal of it, but if I was Cal I'd be pretty ticked. This can cost you big time vs better quality opponents.
 

fatguy87

All-American
Oct 8, 2004
13,764
9,093
0
Yeah Vandy getting away with murder, pressing way too hard, leaving Grady wide open after we beat their press, and no shots taken, just holding the ball.

Let’s Vandy press even harder and harder, and before you know it we can barely get the ball up the floor. We’re getting mugged by the defense and aren’t getting calls, and the team refused to take the open shots or take advantages of mismatches that appeared early in the shot clock.

If a team is pressing you like that you have to score to get them to stop, or at least make them back off to where your point guard can carry the ball up the court, get in a half court set, bleed the clock down to 10 and then run a quick play actually looking for a decent shot to cap the possession. Not just playing keepaway for 30 seconds every possession hoping to get out of the game with the lead you had being enough.
This is right on. We did the basketball equivalent of kneeling for the last eighth of the game.
 
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Padsfs07

All-Conference
Jan 19, 2013
3,902
3,731
108
Margin of victory doesn't matter in the NET rankings after 10 so I'm okay with it. It's obvious that Hopkins and Collins can't be on the floor together, and especially not with Toppin. You'd think they would be alright after playing together in the second unit in practice and such.