Worst loss of the year BY FAR
- Thread starter .Bodhi.
- Start date
Nothing can be said to defend the team right now. As I've said several times this week the 'tired' excuse was getting old and now you can't even fall back on that. Huggs has his work cut out for him now.
Teams that cannot shoot will not win the close games. Too many accolades surrounding this team when they won the patsy games. Tired of the Press Virginia nonsense. No offense. No flow. No heart. Team is in danger of free fall. Love Huggs but this collapse is unacceptable at this point. Not a Top 25 team.
The flushing sound you hear is the season going down the ole *******.
No excuses for this team lacking the toughness and leadership required to be a top-25 team.
No excuses for this team lacking the toughness and leadership required to be a top-25 team.
It would be hard to take IF this team was out gunned from the get go. But to be up 15 at the half and lose is flat out embarrassing. Especially with the worst UK team in several years.
Hope they can rebound after another collapse. Lovable losers....think I'll buy myself a WVU rifle t shirt so I can get the feel of a winner. You don't get a chance to get a win against a very beatable Kentucky team very often....we **** the bed.
This isn't like the time UK waxed us in the NCAA tourney by just being a superior team, this was ineptitude on WVU's part. Wasting a good season by playing stupid and soft.
There's a 64 team tournament at the end of the season. Too early to throw in the towel. It's all about matchup at that point, so keep the faith.
Hence, the term Blueblood, even their worst teams can be pretty darn good at times.
A bit emotional I’d say. For the 19th time this team is a 3-5 seed. Some of you guys act like this team is a 1 seed which is ridiculous.
I'm not blaming it all on ESA, but when he gets back to his old self, we will be fine. Plus, we are putting way too much pressure on Sags by not staying in front of our men. Sometimes I think our guys just let their man go by so Sags can swat it.
You saw how much different we are without him in there, literally a 30 point swing with him on the floor versus with him not out there.
You saw how much different we are without him in there, literally a 30 point swing with him on the floor versus with him not out there.
The second half come back happened with him on the floor, so not really sure where the 30 point swing came from. UK is a damn good team that hasnt been healthy all year til just now and still has a couple rotation players missing and a couple key players playing limited minutes due to just returning from injury. Vanderbilt who ive been saying is our best player since before the year is playing very limited minutes but in 2-3 weeks once hes in a rhythm and getting starter minutes things will get scary for teams, come march this team will be clicking on all cylinders this isnt anywhere close to one of our 'worst' teams as this team is and most certainly will be a title contender come march.
Freshman teams like this dont come out of the gate rocking people especially this young, teams like this dont start clicking til round jan/feb and march, but when a team this talented does start clicking its going to be a tough out since UK's roster is as deep as anyone this season and also the biggest/longest team this season to go along with arguably the most, granted youngest, but most talented team with the highest ceiling in basketball this season, this team has a lot more potential than last years team (even though they were likely a john higgins away from a title) as we only had 3 great players (they were VERY great though) and abunch of players that were just there to go along with a 6'8 center. Who was our only post presence last season to go along with very little depth/zero frontcourt depth.
This was a MUST win game for us. I think WVU will be fine and once Esa gets back into form you all will be a top 5-10 team/title contender come march. As an outsider ive been impressed with WVU's tenacity all season minus that ugly first game to start the year. No reason to wave the white flag over a regular season loss the great teams bounce back from tough stretches like this which i expect from a huggy bear coached team. You all did beat arguably the best team in the country right now in Virginia. You all have a very veteran, battle tested team thats seen it all which will pay off come march. My only issue with WVU is they take a lot of very contested shots, with that said i havent seen a team hit so many shots with people in there face all year long i was getting very mad at all those heavily contested threes falling. Goodluck and hopefully we meet again but in the title game the next go round, see ya there! And goodluck to you all til then.
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was telling a friend prior to the game that all was in line for us to take UK to the woodshed. worst UK team in yrs. well I was right about the woodshed comment, only I had the teams backwards>
This worst kentucky team in years hasn't been healthy til just now and still isnt fully healthy, players missing, best player playing limited minutes between 9-14 a game due to only playing 10 days into his college career. Longest and tallest team in the country, an absolutely elite rebounding team and its only getting much better with our best rebounder finally starting his career after injury. This worst UK team in years is still arguably the most talented team in the country that id say without a doubt has the hightest ceiling in the country. Yes like you ive been hearing the talking heads talking about UK not being any good this year, yet they never seem to mention the fact we've had a ridiculous amount of injuries this season and they always seem to not mention that when discussing our losses.
We had 6 of 11 scholarship players available for the last 15 minutes of the TN game. Every loss this season weve been missing multiple key rotation players, We were missing IMO our best player in vanderbilt and our best shooter in all of our games so far this season til recently, not to mention our starting PG missing i think like 5 games during a span those players were out, forcing our backup freshman PG to play 40 a game in that time span and also forcing walk on Brad Calipari into the rotation due to being so injury depleted, all that while also missing 2 critical players not including green and rotation big man wynyard who has yet to return, which green didnt return til just recently and hasnt been himself his first couple games back til the game last night. Now that we're locked and loaded none of you all will be saying 'worst UK team in years' thats absolutely a laughable statement.
Vanderbilt wont see starter minutes and probably wont be in great shape for another 2 maybe 3 weeks, once he is getting those minutes i wonder if we'll still be hearing 'worst UK team in years'. I mean we do have 7 Five star freshman and 2 Five star sophomores in the top 9 of our rotation. We just haven't had all the pieces available at any point this season and finally are close to having that. Kinda ridiculous to have that kind of talent and be the worst UK team in years. especially considering we had one big man last season and zero big men the season before (marcus lee was our starting center and only almost decent big man that season).
This season now with Vanderbilt back who has been a pretty damn good PG when we've asked him to be (though very limited action seen so far) we can literally go 6'8 and taller and fill out all 5 positions on the floor with players at there natural position, thats ridiculous lol. Done defending the team though just saying worst UK team in years is a bit of a reach when people say that especially considering this might very well be the most talented team in the country, though youngest maybe ever, hence the bumps and bruises along the way. Defense has been amazing for awhile now, offense is finally starting to click. Should be fun.
Proverbial? I literally wrote that after the Kansas loss. I also wrote prior to yesterday’s game that a loss to UK would be our worst of the year. I believe that. Last night tells me we have issues of effort to fix in these blown leads. We quit rebounding and running offensive sets. My relaxation has turned to frustration, because we lost to an average basketball team in a jacked-up home environment that should have carried us to a win a la #1 Baylor in Morgantown during the 2016-17 season. We were out-toughed.
I'll admit one thing......I bought in to the hype when we were ranked #2. I shouldn't have, but I did. Now I am back to the realistic expectations for this team which were:
1. 10-12 wins in conference
2. Semifinals-Finals in Big 12 tourney
3. #3-6 seed in NCAA tourney
4. Sweet 16
Those are still there and possible. However, I also won't have blinders on to those that said after the KU game that this team could fold up the rest of the way.......it isn't looking good that they can right the ship as of now. This team has the look of one that has some internal attitude problems and the lack of seniors to lead them is hurting. This is where a Tarik Phillip and Nate Adrian is missed, and even a Macon.
Face it, we ALL bought in to the hype and probably went to our workplaces boasting to everyone and now we are seeing that we were a little off on our expectations. Time to go back to the realistic ones....
1. 10-12 wins in conference
2. Semifinals-Finals in Big 12 tourney
3. #3-6 seed in NCAA tourney
4. Sweet 16
Those are still there and possible. However, I also won't have blinders on to those that said after the KU game that this team could fold up the rest of the way.......it isn't looking good that they can right the ship as of now. This team has the look of one that has some internal attitude problems and the lack of seniors to lead them is hurting. This is where a Tarik Phillip and Nate Adrian is missed, and even a Macon.
Face it, we ALL bought in to the hype and probably went to our workplaces boasting to everyone and now we are seeing that we were a little off on our expectations. Time to go back to the realistic ones....
Vanderbilt is definitely not the best player on the UK team. If he could shoot he would be a much better player. Evidently you have no idea how to evaluate players.
Wait, wut? WVU has two senior guards, one of whom looks old enough to be in a rec. league, but doesn't have seniors to lead the team? You do realize that a team full of freshmen just ran WVU off of the Mountaineers' floor, right?
Yep, because of the lack of senior LEADERSHIP. You can have seniors, but that doesn't mean that you have "LEADERS".
That's what I'm saying.......I felt like this team would be a Sweet 16 team.......and still do think that way even after this 5 game funk they are in. All we need to have it a few things to happen and we are back rolling again:
1. Esa to start playing like he did last year
2. Teddy and West to stop pouting and start playing
3. JC to not put up Trae Young type of shots in an offensive set
When JV is in game shape he is at worst a top 3 player on UK. He is the 2nd best passer , ball handler , rebounder, defender we have. And he will be a lotto pick either this or next year. It sounds like you don't know how to evaluate talent actually. He is the kinda guy who will get you 16 pts 14 rebs 3 steals 5 dimes and 2 blocks. Does every great except shoot jumpers beyond 15 feet .
I live in Lexington so this one is tougher for me than most. The thing I don't like is Huggy never takes responsibility for the losses. I have never heard him say that he and his staff need to coach better. It is always the players fault. I am sorry but with this many 2nd half collapses the coaches need to own up to the fact that they are getting outcoached. Other teams make adjustments at half we never do. Still love Huggy but players have changed over the years and he can't continue to blame them for everything.
There is some element of truth in your post. Rarely have I heard Coach Huggins assume some degree of responsibility for the level of play, or recruitment of personnel. Having said that, WV in my opinion is fortunate to have a coach of his caliber, and commitment to the university.
Been saying this for a while now...team can't shoot unless it is a give me off of a turnover. WVU continues to put a hard working, tough group on the court that has one major flaw...getting the ball thru the net. Need a pure shooter. Press Virginia is a smokescreen for a fatal flaw.
BINGO! The reason it was introduced in the first place (press), create extra possessions off of turnovers and more opportunities to score. The “flaw” continues to be the fly in the ointment.
The O sets up the press. All it takes is a few stops to get WVU to tighten up.
Once Kentucky calmed down and allowed their talent to dictate the game it was over. That and getting Sags off the court. Carter and Sags carry this team and we can’t have either on the bench for long.
Esa hasn’t brought much to the winning formula either. They seem to be going through the motions with him in the line up.
Once Kentucky calmed down and allowed their talent to dictate the game it was over. That and getting Sags off the court. Carter and Sags carry this team and we can’t have either on the bench for long.
Esa hasn’t brought much to the winning formula either. They seem to be going through the motions with him in the line up.
So, when he said "I'll fix it" a few years ago, that wasn't accepting blame for anything? I've heard him several times say "we just will have to coach 'em up better"........
I used the term “rarely”, definition of rarely ........ seldom, infrequently, scarcely, not often, ............ As you said, ..... “ a few years ago “.
You all do realize that this isn't a video game where you can stop it, change the settings, and make it easier to score........right? What could have Huggins done differently to get the ball in the basket in the 2nd half?
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