Home with a sick kid so here are a few completely redassed hot takes. Totally irrational but I don’t care.
:fire: K getting elite one and done recruits will tarnish the Coach Cal brand. K will do with elite talent what Cal hasn’t been able to. Face it, based on pure talent alone, Cal should have at least 2 titles at UK and an argument could be made for 4 total. K won’t have those types of what-ifs as long as he keeps getting dudes like he has now.
(It’s not my nature to criticize a coach because, well . . but I’m approaching this as a frustrated fan so whatever)
:fire: This is the type of game that could break a team’s will. It obviously has broken the fan base lol! I was going to view this as a glorified scrimmage regardless of the outcome. I mean, it’s Nov 6. It’s a scrimmage hyped up with mega sponsors and a prime time tv crew. But goodness, that game was something else entirely.
That’s the type of game where the coach makes you practice right after the gym clears out or after you get home off the bus. We’ll at least see what this bunch’s mental makeup is.
Glorified scrimmages in August are much more meaningless than whatever that was last night. Last night was a clearer indicator of where we stand in the national title picture (that is to say, we were absent on picture day).
:fire: Very clearly we were the weaker team last night, which leads me to ask something that I’ve noticed for about the last 3-4 years but never got around to mentioning. What the hell is our strength and conditioning program doing? I get that Zion is going to make anyone look weak, but even Duke’s honky role players were physically destroying us inside/on the glass.
Travis has lost 25 pounds since August. “He’s leaning up to be more mobile.” ********. That dude’s game is centered around being a 250+ pound bulldozer. Slimming up to 230 and still playing just right around the rim is not ideal.
Furthermore, how much muscle has Richards gained? Quade? PJ (another slim up to be more versatile candidate)? I mean seriously, what in the hell is going on in the weight room? Know why we couldn’t stop the ball in transition last night? Because when those studs got downhill, UK had nobody that could stop the ball with their body. That’s why the first step is backwards or a grab/foul. No strength or willingness.
(And go back to Monk and Fox. They both looked like they lost 10-15 pounds DURING the season two years ago.) But I digress.
It was blantany obvious 2 minutes into the game last night that Duke just looked bigger, stronger, faster. Throw in elite level skill and execution on top of that, and you have a recipe for a disaster.
OK that’s it. I had to get that all out there. Clear minds, full hearts, and get pumped.