Good Lord - everyone needs to chill...

[Cat Ballou]

This team isn't as bad - could never be as bad - as the 2013 team - thanks to Ulis - but just maybe it will be Cal's worse team after 2013. We always knew there would be a "next worse" team after 2013 eventually. After all, under Cal, exempting 2013, we've never had a "made the tourney, early exit" team. We are spoiled effing rotten.

Think we'll still make the tourney and who knows - if we only win 1 or 2 games that's the level of performance that Kansas, UNC, Duke, Indiana, UL fans have experienced multiple times over the last few years while we were regulars in the
Final Four.

The good news is that 2016 is shaping up to be 2014 redux as far as talent on the floor, and I still think this team could come around and make a deep tourney run. Even if it doesn't though, I'm fine with it.

 

[Nubb16]

Do people forget us being a top 20 team when Noel got hurt? Take Ulis or Murray from this team and what's their record?

 

[BBUK_anon]

This team isn't as bad - could never be as bad - as the 2013 team - thanks to Ulis - but just maybe it will be Cal's worse team after 2013. We always knew there would be a "next worse" team after 2013 eventually. After all, under Cal, exempting 2013, we've never had a "made the tourney, early exit" team. We are spoiled effing rotten.

Think we'll still make the tourney and who knows - if we only win 1 or 2 games that's the level of performance that Kansas, UNC, Duke, Indiana, UL fans have experienced multiple times over the last few years while we were regulars in the
Final Four.

The good news is that 2016 is shaping up to be 2014 redux as far as talent on the floor, and I still think this team could come around and make a deep tourney run. Even if it doesn't though, I'm fine with it.

[roll]That is all...

 

[donkat]

[roll]That is all...

So you are okay with embarrasssing loses.
We are Kentucky. This is not okay.

 

[BBUK_anon]

So you are okay with embarrasssing loses.
We are Kentucky. This is not okay.

Are we? Are we really? Go back to BCG bud..... he's all yours... or better yet tell Cal how to right this ship... I'll step back and learn...

If you have no solution and are just ranting it's okay. One thing... the grass is not greener on the other side...

 

[fisherscat]

Fans still havent recovered from the Wisconsin loss. It ruined past year and this year.

 

[Goingfor9]

Fans still havent recovered from the Wisconsin loss. It ruined past year and this year.

I think you are getting to the heart of it. Cats fans felt we'd be right in the thick of it and have a chance to make a run. Last year set a bad precedent of no championship with by far the best bb team in country. We are on a course that next year needs to yield an NCAA champ or there will be a revolt on Cals recrutikng strategies

 

[TortElvisII]

It takes players to win. It is on them to develop and get good between now and March. Cal is not a magician. They just need to be serviceable.

 

[BBUK_anon]

I think you are getting to the heart of it. Cats fans felt we'd be right in the thick of it and have a chance to make a run. Last year set a bad precedent of no championship with by far the best bb team in country. We are on a course that next year needs to yield an NCAA champ or there will be a revolt on Cals recrutikng strategies

That is pure horse hockey. Cal could have a championship three years straight and someone would be on here beotching. That is a fact. UK in the hunt every year is all you can ask. Win once in a while. I stayed away for a month last season. I was sick... literally. The sun still came up. I'm still trying to understand the loss. I can't accept it wasn't meant to be.

I know one thing though for sure. If you give in to defeat, you will lose. All we can do as fans is not give in and hope the players don't either. Be Good

 

[anon_q409idbs5m40a]

I think most are still upset about the Wisconsin loss but a bigger question is why this is our second down season in the past four years? It's unrealistic to assume that any team would be a favorite for the FF every year, however, when's the last time Duke, KU, Arizona or any other elite program struggled to get to 20 wins? Some are probably thinking along these lines as well. Unless there's a drastic turnaround in post play we could be in danger of missing the tournament. 20 wins probably gets us in but we can't afford to have anymore bad losses like yesterday.

 

[BBUK_anon]

I think most are still upset about the Wisconsin loss but a bigger question is why this is our second down season in the past four years? It's unrealistic to assume that any team would be a favorite for the FF every year, however, when's the last time Duke, KU, Arizona or any other elite program struggled to get to 20 wins? Some are probably thinking along these lines as well. Unless there's a drastic turnaround in post play we could be in danger of missing the tournament. 20 wins probably gets us in but we can't afford to have anymore bad losses like yesterday.

He's back.... now. Was there any doubt...

 

[LadyCaytIL]

 

[anon_q409idbs5m40a]

BBUK, Go ahead and answer the question with an intelligent response, which is probably out of the league for you.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

I think most are still upset about the Wisconsin loss but a bigger question is why this is our second down season in the past four years? It's unrealistic to assume that any team would be a favorite for the FF every year, however, when's the last time Duke, KU, Arizona or any other elite program struggled to get to 20 wins? Some are probably thinking along these lines as well. Unless there's a drastic turnaround in post play we could be in danger of missing the tournament. 20 wins probably gets us in but we can't afford to have anymore bad losses like yesterday.

In 2013 all I heard was "be calm the twins are coming"....well they came and went....2 final fours....no championship. in his tenure Cal has 1 championship with the 1-2 recruiting classes every year....Duke has two titles with less talented teams..Heck even Little Brothel has a championship in this period......Cal is a heck of a recruiter but an average coach. He is sorta like the Buffalo Bills....No way we should have lost on 2010 or last year....With the talent he has had here we should have no less than 3 championships. Then I could better handle games like yesterday and give him and this team a pass.

 

[catfan144]

Nobody wants Cal gone, but he is the one being paid to go out and evaluate these players before offering them a spot. If Isaac and Tai are so bad they can't get clock on this team why were they offered to come here? Alex has not changed a bit since the day he came to Lexington. And he has had 4 years under Cal's system. Skal is going to be one of the biggest bust in recent memory. Cal refuses to play zone when it is obvious this team cannot gaurd man to man. Duke got hot and went on to win a title last year cause k realized he needed to stop trying to play 100% man d with that group. Cal is paid 8 milion a year to win titles on the court, not recruiting championships. I love the high profile image he has brought here and all, but he is not above criticism either. We have had terrible perimeter shooting teams year after year and usually we had a cousins, Jones, Davis, to offset that. In the years we don't have that "guy" down low this is what you get. The same thing happened in 2013. Gaurds that couldn't shoot and Noel was not a guy who was a low post scorer.. It astonished me that year after year we cannot shot the ball with all these 5 star recruits.

 

[Blueaz]

Do people forget us being a top 20 team when Noel got hurt? Take Ulis or Murray from this team and what's their record?

That is not pretty to think about

 

[Blueaz]

:angry:

I think most are still upset about the Wisconsin loss but a bigger question is why this is our second down season in the past four years? It's unrealistic to assume that any team would be a favorite for the FF every year, however, when's the last time Duke, KU, Arizona or any other elite program struggled to get to 20 wins? Some are probably thinking along these lines as well. Unless there's a drastic turnaround in post play we could be in danger of missing the tournament. 20 wins probably gets us in but we can't afford to have anymore bad losses like yesterday.

I think all reasonable people have gotten over the loss to Wisconsin...






And most got over it in just a few days

 

[letitrainuk_rivals88012]

So you are okay with embarrasssing loses.
We are Kentucky. This is not okay.

We are UK. But I think since Cal has been here a lot of fans have been spoiled by the level of talent that comes through the door most every year.
As a whole we're still better than a lot of teams. Are we as good as Cals best teams? No. You can't eat steak every year. Some years going to have to eat hotdogs. Haha.
It's still early and this team still has gaurd talent. Lets hope our big get on the same page.

 

[BBUK_anon]

:angry:
I think all reasonable people have gotten over the loss to Wisconsin...






And most got over it in just a few days

I hurt a lot longer than that.

 

[Cawood86_rivals]

Fans still havent recovered from the Wisconsin loss. It ruined past year and this year.

Did for me. Wasted opportunity. No excuse for losing that game. None.

 

[Blueaz]

I hurt a lot longer than that.

But ur not reasonable. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

 

[BBUK_anon]

BBUK, Go ahead and answer the question with an intelligent response, which is probably out of the league for you.

I could answer it but it's the we part that makes me laugh too much. Yep, I'm definitely not in your league. I admit that....

 

[LadyCaytIL]

BBUK, Go ahead and answer the question with an intelligent response, which is probably out of the league for you.

You simply don't have enough information to ask that question yet. We don't know if this will be the 2nd worst season. Wont know that until the last game is played now will we? The reason why we are having bad games is simple and you shouldn't even have to ask because when we get no production from our bigs, we are going to struggle. When we get production from them, we look like a top 10 team. Skal , Wynyard and Humphries all have 6 weeks at least to improve and eventually you'd have to think Lee and Poythress will start playing with urgency when they realize their careers are coming to an end.

UK plays great against Ole miss and "we are there, back in the mix for a title" Lose to Ole Miss and "we suck, NIT" Win against Alabama and "look we're back to a possible 2 seed" and Lose to Auburn and "no hope, NIT team" We have a team capable of beating top 25 USC and Texas A&M on the road but we also have a team capable of losing to Auburn on the road........ It also took an insane 3pt shooting day from Auburn and 31 FT's to come back and beat UK.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

I fail to see how a zone is going to stop a team hitting 46% from 3pt range ...........?????? A jump shooting team got 31 FT's to our 17 and we were attacking the basket..... A zone wouldnt of changed that any. A zone however would of lessened our Rebounding advantage because its harder to rebound in a zone. In other words, we probably would of lost by 9-10 pts if we had zoned them.

 

[BBUK_anon]

You simply don't have enough information to ask that question yet. We don't know if this will be the 2nd worst season. Wont know that until the last game is played now will we? The reason why we are having bad games is simple and you shouldn't even have to ask because when we get no production from our bigs, we are going to struggle. When we get production from them, we look like a top 10 team. Skal , Wynyard and Humphries all have 6 weeks at least to improve and eventually you'd have to think Lee and Poythress will start playing with urgency when they realize their careers are coming to an end.

UK plays great against Ole miss and "we are there, back in the mix for a title" Lose to Ole Miss and "we suck, NIT" Win against Alabama and "look we're back to a possible 2 seed" and Lose to Auburn and "no hope, NIT team" We have a team capable of beating top 25 USC and Texas A&M on the road but we also have a team capable of losing to Auburn on the road........ It also took an insane 3pt shooting day from Auburn and 31 FT's to come back and beat UK.

He know's that. You never see him post unless something bad happens at UK or UK loses. He knows exactly what he is doing.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Auburn played out of their minds just like Ohio St.
It happens.

 

[catfan144]

I fail to see how a zone is going to stop a team hitting 46% from 3pt range ...........?????? A jump shooting team got 31 FT's to our 17 and we were attacking the basket..... A zone wouldnt of changed that any. A zone however would of lessened our Rebounding advantage because its harder to rebound in a zone. In other words, we probably would of lost by 9-10 pts if we had zoned them.

A zone may not have helped in the Auburn game, but in many other games it looks like a layup drill because outside of Briscoe our gaurds cannot stop anyone from getting inside. Just would like Cal to be a bit more flexible instead of taking the attitude of its man to man defense 100% of the time.

 

[BBUK_anon]

A zone may not have helped in the Auburn game, but in many other games it looks like a layup drill because outside of Briscoe our gaurds cannot stop anyone from getting inside. Just would like Cal to be a bit more flexible instead of taking the attitude of its man to man defense 100% of the time.

Can you name the last team that won a championship that incorporated a zone defense?

A thought to ponder...

 

[catfan144]

There has to be a connection as to why all of these scrub teams play so well against us. I will buy the " we are everyone's super bowl" thing with the sec teams. However we are not Ohio st's Superbowl Michigan is. We are not ucla's Superbowl, Arizona is. I have come to terms with the fact that we do a lot of things poorly that make other teams look good. Just a flawed group this year. It sucks lol.

 

[CharlieT71059]

We alwasy have a giant bullseye on our backs. Teams are playing their best against us

 

[catfan144]

Yes I can. Duke 2015. Duke used zone defense in multiple games last season because K was willing to adapt to what his team needed.

 

[3rex]

That is pure horse hockey. Cal could have a championship three years straight and someone would be on here beotching. That is a fact. UK in the hunt every year is all you can ask. Win once in a while. I stayed away for a month last season. I was sick... literally. The sun still came up. I'm still trying to understand the loss. I can't accept it wasn't meant to be.

I know one thing though for sure. If you give in to defeat, you will lose. All we can do as fans is not give in and hope the players don't either. Be Good

Well, to be fair, we haven't been in the hunt EVERY year...were certainly not in the hunt this year either.

 

[BBUK_anon]

Well, to be fair, we haven't been in the hunt EVERY year...were certainly not in the hunt this year either.

Final fours almost every year is not in the hunt? Okay.....oh, this season isn't finished yet....

 

[BBUK_anon]

Yes I can. Duke 2015. Duke used zone defense in multiple games last season because K was willing to adapt to what his team needed.

That is not correct. You state that like it's fact. Duke may have thrown a zone to change things up but no game they played had a mostly or even 50/50 zone defense. Never happened.

 

[catfan144]

They incorporated it when it was needed to keep Okafor out of foul trouble or when they couldn't keep other teams gaurds out of the lane. They used it almost the whole game against Loserville. Go ahead Google Duke Zone defense. Bottom line is if k was to stubborn to even try it Duke may not have our Banner from last year hanging in their rafters. At the end of the day using it won them games they would have lost and isn't that the goal? Winning? Or is it how many guys can go pro?

 

[BBUK_anon]

They incorporated it when it was needed to keep Okafor out of foul trouble or when they couldn't keep other teams
gaurds out of the lane. They used it almost the whole game against Loserville. Go ahead Google Duke Zone defense. Bottom line is if k was to stubborn to even try it Duke may not have our Banner from last year hanging in their rafters. At the end of the day using it won them games they would have lost and isn't that the goal? Winning? Or is it how many guys can go pro?

I wish uk had coach k.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

2010 - #1 , 1 seed and favorite to win the title .. made it to the elite 8. Yes in the hunt

2011 - shaky regular season but made the final four - So yes, when you are one of 4 teams left... its in the hunt

2012 - Title.. does that qualify

2013 - Noel goes down, nit... not in the hunt

2014 - made it to the title game...... yep in the hunt

2015 - made the final four and went 38-0 up until the final four..... yep in the hunt


If the season ended today...... we really wouldnt be in the hunt but we have another 6+ weeks to improve.....

 

[catfan144]

There is a great article wrote on CBS sports from January 17, 2015 about Duke and the zone and how is befuddled Louisville. K did what was best for his team to successful. Isn't that what we are paying our coach to do?

 

[LadyCaytIL]

you do know we played some zone earlier in the season and we were horrible at it. Or maybe with all eyes on UK, you want us to cheat and practice 10 x's more than allowed so that we can get freshmen playing Man and zone equally well.

I'll explain it in a way you can understand catfan144........ Tell me what do you do for a living and I'll give you a good comparison for practice time.

 

[catfan144]

Duke practiced it for less than a week according to the article. And as we as UK fans tell people that accuse us of cheating call the NCAA if u have evidence that Duke broke practice time rules.
Maybe just maybe it is time for some of us to admit that without a Rose, Wall, or Davis Cal is a really good coach and a great recruiter. Not a great Coach. Bo Ryan made him look like a chump last year as well as some of the teams we struggled with last year that we should have pummeled by 30.
Cal's teams often look disinterested, and not ready to play and offensively we have no looked like we have any real strategy for 3+ seasons. And anyone who honestly can't admit these things probably spends a lot of time looking at the cal poster hanging above their bed at night.
We won at UK before Cal and we will win after Cal is gone. I cannot believe he is so immune to any criticism.