Morning After

[kgargus]

overall great game. 5 things stood out:

(1) PJ early foul trouble kept best player off court but EJ and Nick played well;

(2) Reid's last two fouls were bogus. Flopper Williams got benefit on both calls and both were wrong;

(3) two turnovers late by Hagans and Herro were critical in basically a one possession game:

(4) needed one rebound at 38 second mark to win game. EJ couldn't hold off flopper - Reid would have gotten that rebound; and

(5) UT hit three big 3s by three different people ... made plays when they needed to make them.

Overall - game could have went either way and both teams have a great chance to get to Final 4. Hoping for 2 seed in south with virginia or 2 in West against Gonzaga.

 

[Huntland Vol]

overall great game. 5 things stood out:

(1) PJ early foul trouble kept best player off court but EJ and Nick played well;

(2) Reid's last two fouls were bogus. Flopper Williams got benefit on both calls and both were wrong;

(3) two turnovers late by Hagans and Herro were critical in basically a one possession game:

(4) needed one rebound at 38 second mark to win game. EJ couldn't hold off flopper - Reid would have gotten that rebound; and

(5) UT hit three big 3s by three different people ... made plays when they needed to make them.

Overall - game could have went either way and both teams have a great chance to get to Final 4. Hoping for 2 seed in south with virginia or 2 in West against Gonzaga.

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

 

[kgargus]

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

With all due respect you must have not been watching the same game. UK played most of 1st half without PJ due to questionable calls and the Reid Travis fouls changed the game and were ridiculous. To not acknowledge that is just slanted.

Grant Williams is a great player but he flops like crazy .. he is too good of a player to consistently play like that. Should have fouled out yesterday .. not Travis.

I have crazy respect for Bone and Schofield. They play hard. Also UT made shots when game was on line but to say that UK got favorable calls in that game is pretty awful take.

 

[BlobUK]

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

You're not real smart.

 

[billoliver40]

Hard fought game. Tennessee made shots when it counted. The Cats didn't, and like Cal said.....ONE rebound with about forty seconds to play.
No sour grapes. Gotta move on....wherever that is.

 

[JStaff21]

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

Anyone questioning Williams’ flopping immediately loses all credibility. I didn’t watch many Tennessee games this year, but the few moments of the few I caught, I witnessed Williams flailing backwards every game, multiple times.

I absolutely despise the way he plays. Physical on offense (which is fine), flopping and flailing on defense (which is cheap and lazy). If flopping was an ejectable offense, he’d be ejected from nearly every game.

Shame, because as much as I’ve always despised UT, I really don’t have a problem with this team otherwise. Barnes is a good coach and a class act. I actually like Schofield. Bone is likable too. Williams just ruins it for me.

 

[Huntland Vol]

Hard fought game. Tennessee made shots when it counted. The Cats didn't, and like Cal said.....ONE rebound with about forty seconds to play.
No sour grapes. Gotta move on....wherever that is.

I have all the respect in the world for the UK fan base. You guys are the reason I had to pay $200 for a ticket yesterday. Both teams could have really good runs in March.

 

[Huntland Vol]

Anyone questioning Williams’ flopping immediately loses all credibility. I didn’t watch many Tennessee games this year, but the few moments of the few I caught, I witnessed Williams flailing backwards every game, multiple times.

I absolutely despise the way he plays. Physical on offense (which is fine), flopping and flailing on defense (which is cheap and lazy). If flopping was an ejectable offense, he’d be ejected from nearly every game.

Shame, because as much as I’ve always despised UT, I really don’t have a problem with this team otherwise. Barnes is a good coach and a class act. I actually like Schofield. Bone is likable too. Williams just ruins it for me.

If you have ever watched many interviews with Grant he is a class act and extremely intelligent. He was primarily recruited by Ive league schools. The dude has developed beyond belief.

 

[School boy]

I don't want UVA because if we are down by 5 or more, it's over. I'm mean it like say if the score is 15-10 for first 10 mins of the game I feel it would be hard to come back on them for some odd reason. I also think they may get PJ and Johnson shooting bad shoots with the shot clock around 3 seconds a lot in the second half.

Give us UNC, we have good luck against them (most of the time) and they can't defend. They double inside to much and kick outs to our guards will kill them again.

 

[JStaff21]

If you have ever watched many interviews with Grant he is a class act and extremely intelligent. He was primarily recruited by Ive league schools. The dude has developed beyond belief.

I’m not saying he’s a bad guy or unintelligent. I just hate the way he plays basketball. I can’t stand flopping. When one of our guys does it, I cringe.

And in my experience as a UK fan, floppers usually get the call. It’s maddening. 2 flops may have cost us 2 titles.

 

[Shlomo]

It is what it is. Flop or not the last foul on Travis was blown. Replay showed he never touched the guy. All part of the game I know. Time to move on.

 

[JRCAT14]

If you have ever watched many interviews with Grant he is a class act and extremely intelligent. He was primarily recruited by Ive league schools. The dude has developed beyond belief.

He may be a class act off the court, but he is up there with Grayson Allen as one of my most despised players on the court. Wants to play physical on the offensive end and gets the calls and flops all game long on the defensive end. Not going to debate it with you so don't try to come back with your version of reality. If you don't want to acknowledge that fact, go back to your own board.

 

[IYAOYAS1]

That’s how I feel OP. Maybe add for me that Cal seemed to pull it back a little of offense when we had them on the ropes. Also, did EJ play much in the second half after that monster showing the first half? I can’t remember if he did...

 

[jimisize1]

2 things stand out the day after:
1) We still gave up 18 points with 2:58 remaining.
2) Did Tyler take a single shot from the 12 minute TV timeout until time ran out? He gave up a couple easy buckets down the stretch also. Think outside the box, Cal. Use Quickley.

 

[c-a-t-s-f-a-n]

I’m not saying he’s a bad guy or unintelligent. I just hate the way he plays basketball. I can’t stand flopping. When one of our guys does it, I cringe.

And in my experience as a UK fan, floppers usually get the call. It’s maddening. 2 flops may have cost us 2 titles.

Whew, I had forgotten how bad those 2 were. Smdh

 

[JStaff21]

Whew, I had forgotten how bad those 2 were. Smdh

I don’t understand how calls like that are made if some refs aren’t crooked/biased.

 

[c-a-t-s-f-a-n]

If you have ever watched many interviews with Grant he is a class act and extremely intelligent. He was primarily recruited by Ive league schools. The dude has developed beyond belief.

Flopping is actually pretty intelligent, it's just a trashy/cowardly way to play, especially when you play physically offensively yourself. Intelligence does not equal class.

On the other hand, I've seen him hit his head at least twice this year and hurt himself in other ways due to flopping. I keep saying he's going to really hurt himself by doing that someday. In that sense, it's dumb. But hey, works for him most of the time, and I guess he think he won't ever get hurt too bad doing it.

 

[c-a-t-s-f-a-n]

I don’t understand how calls like that are made if some refs aren’t crooked/biased.

That second one, with the ref right there in front.....sheesh

 

[TheWyldKat_rivals45219]

overall great game. 5 things stood out:

(1) PJ early foul trouble kept best player off court but EJ and Nick played well;

(2) Reid's last two fouls were bogus. Flopper Williams got benefit on both calls and both were wrong;

(3) two turnovers late by Hagans and Herro were critical in basically a one possession game:

(4) needed one rebound at 38 second mark to win game. EJ couldn't hold off flopper - Reid would have gotten that rebound; and

(5) UT hit three big 3s by three different people ... made plays when they needed to make them.

Overall - game could have went either way and both teams have a great chance to get to Final 4. Hoping for 2 seed in south with virginia or 2 in West against Gonzaga.

Final 4? You know I really thought we had a chance at making it to the final 4. When you lose to Tennessee, in Nashville, which is basically a home game then you AINT going to the final 4. I really really hope I’m wrong. This team doesn’t have the killer mentality to finish out a tough game to a good team. They have the skill set to finish it, just not there mentally.

Team gave up with 3 min to go. Tennessee played hard up in your face defense. We would play defense for a couple plays then take off a couple plays. Very troubling.

 

[ruppcat]

overall great game. 5 things stood out:

(1) PJ early foul trouble kept best player off court but EJ and Nick played well;

(2) Reid's last two fouls were bogus. Flopper Williams got benefit on both calls and both were wrong;

(3) two turnovers late by Hagans and Herro were critical in basically a one possession game:

(4) needed one rebound at 38 second mark to win game. EJ couldn't hold off flopper - Reid would have gotten that rebound; and

(5) UT hit three big 3s by three different people ... made plays when they needed to make them.

Overall - game could have went either way and both teams have a great chance to get to Final 4. Hoping for 2 seed in south with virginia or 2 in West against Gonzaga.

UT was 7/9 on 3s in the first half

Outshot UK in FTs.

UK had double the TOs.

With all that we were a play or two away from winning.

I predict UT will be flat today. Yesterday was the SEC Championship game.

 

[RACdad]

Isn't their a pill for this?

 

[ALsays]

Think about this floppy top, you could win 20 straight sec tourny titles in a row and still be way short of uk. Let that sink in the year would be 2039.

 

[JStaff21]

That second one, with the ref right there in front.....sheesh

Pretty sure that’s Higgins... so no surprise there.

 

[c-a-t-s-f-a-n]

Pretty sure that’s Higgins... so no surprise there.

Whoops, meant first one, but I think you got it lol

 

[JC CATS]

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

What? PJ didn't play 14 minutes of 1st half. Travis had like 2 fouls, and the guy guarding Herro was hacking him all day. I am not going to use the refs as an excuse as to losing. They were leading by 6-8 with 2:30 left, should have put you away. But there was some BS calls

 

[JC CATS]

overall great game. 5 things stood out:

(1) PJ early foul trouble kept best player off court but EJ and Nick played well;

(2) Reid's last two fouls were bogus. Flopper Williams got benefit on both calls and both were wrong;

(3) two turnovers late by Hagans and Herro were critical in basically a one possession game:

(4) needed one rebound at 38 second mark to win game. EJ couldn't hold off flopper - Reid would have gotten that rebound; and

(5) UT hit three big 3s by three different people ... made plays when they needed to make them.

Overall - game could have went either way and both teams have a great chance to get to Final 4. Hoping for 2 seed in south with virginia or 2 in West against Gonzaga.

Great analysis. If only Reid and PJ had not had foul trouble. They cannot get in trouble in the NCAAT

 

[SophiesDad]

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

That is when the whistle blew on Travis’ 5th foul. No reason to complain at all...

 

[JStaff21]

That is when the whistle blew on Travis’ 5th foul. No reason to complain at all...

Keldon was lucky to avoid a flagrant on that play.

 

[KY_DO_ENT]

Don't forget 2 FT's based on a T on our bench...that one preventable thing changes the game.

 

[ManitouDan_anon]

2 things stand out the day after:
1) We still gave up 18 points with 2:58 remaining.
2) Did Tyler take a single shot from the 12 minute TV timeout until time ran out? He gave up a couple easy buckets down the stretch also. Think outside the box, Cal. Use Quickley.

Another question .. seems like IQ got very little run after playing really well against Florida . Was his minutes way down ? And seemed like Cal changed the guard rotation .. No Baker at all , very little IQ .

And another question , how does UT keep shutting down TH ? Like next to nothing from him , I'd like to find the guy that said " Oh we run all sorts of stuff for Tyler " no we dont , we run around with very little purpose until the shot clock dwindles .. thats our O . Pro set .. pick n roll .. repeat . Thats cool if you have pro players which we dont .

 

[Catzman]

Flopping is actually pretty intelligent, it's just a trashy/cowardly way to play, especially when you play physically offensively yourself. Intelligence does not equal class.

On the other hand, I've seen him hit his head at least twice this year and hurt himself in other ways due to flopping. I keep saying he's going to really hurt himself by doing that someday. In that sense, it's dumb. But hey, works for him most of the time, and I guess he think he won't ever get hurt too bad doing it.

Thats just it. Its part of the game just like soccer. Part of the game is selling the contact. Flopping due to contact more than necessary. Kicking your leg out on a 3 to catch a defender. Pump faking and jumping into defender who left his feet. Sliding to take a charge as opposed to playing actual defense. TONS of teams teach these traits and Williams is a master at it. I hate him for it but hes mastered it on defense and offense yet can still play solid defense or go up strong on offense when the time comes.

As someone else said hes gonna hurt himself one day. Towards the end of the game UT fans and bench were in an uproar about him being on the ground and no foul call. Rewound it to see and sure enough, Williams goes up strong amongst Travis and PJ and before the ball is released he begins to flail and ends up horizontal with the floor and lands flat on his back, head grazes the floor and grimmicaes at ref. Nothing happens and we score on the other end in transition. He would rather take a shot focused on fouling in that situation more than just attempting to make the shot. He wasn't 100% dedicated to making the shot, he was busy trying to sell contact too and it hurt his team. UT fans think we got away with a lot because hes so busy selling it that he ends up fooling a lot of them too. He's an outstanding player at 6'7 and 240 lbs. Plays bigger than he is yet also plays more smooth than he looks. And by all accounts a great kid. But damn do I hate that chicken little style of play despite my respect for how good he is at it.

 

[awf]

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

F##K You!

 

[c-a-t-s-f-a-n]

Thats just it. Its part of the game just like soccer. Part of the game is selling the contact. Flopping due to contact more than necessary. Kicking your leg out on a 3 to catch a defender. Pump faking and jumping into defender who left his feet. Sliding to take a charge as opposed to playing actual defense. TONS of teams teach these traits and Williams is a master at it. I hate him for it but hes mastered it on defense and offense yet can still play solid defense or go up strong on offense when the time comes.

As someone else said hes gonna hurt himself one day. Towards the end of the game UT fans and bench were in an uproar about him being on the ground and no foul call. Rewound it to see and sure enough, Williams goes up strong amongst Travis and PJ and before the ball is released he begins to flail and ends up horizontal with the floor and lands flat on his back, head grazes the floor and grimmicaes at ref. Nothing happens and we score on the other end in transition. He would rather take a shot focused on fouling in that situation more than just attempting to make the shot. He wasn't 100% dedicated to making the shot, he was busy trying to sell contact too and it hurt his team. UT fans think we got away with a lot because hes so busy selling it that he ends up fooling a lot of them too. He's an outstanding player at 6'7 and 240 lbs. Plays bigger than he is yet also plays more smooth than he looks. And by all accounts a great kid. But damn do I hate that chicken little style of play despite my respect for how good he is at it.

Best take I've seen on this

 

[c-a-t-s-f-a-n]

Another question .. seems like IQ got very little run after playing really well against Florida . Was his minutes way down ? And seemed like Cal changed the guard rotation .. No Baker at all , very little IQ .

And another question , how does UT keep shutting down TH ? Like next to nothing from him , I'd like to find the guy that said " Oh we run all sorts of stuff for Tyler " no we dont , we run around with very little purpose until the shot clock dwindles .. thats our O . Pro set .. pick n roll .. repeat . Thats cool if you have pro players which we dont .

Pretty sure they were trailing/denying Herro all day. Took that away. He still had double figures.

Not sure about IQ though; my guess is Cal ran with Hagans since he was dropping dimes

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

overall great game. 5 things stood out:

(1) PJ early foul trouble kept best player off court but EJ and Nick played well;

(2) Reid's last two fouls were bogus. Flopper Williams got benefit on both calls and both were wrong;

(3) two turnovers late by Hagans and Herro were critical in basically a one possession game:

(4) needed one rebound at 38 second mark to win game. EJ couldn't hold off flopper - Reid would have gotten that rebound; and

(5) UT hit three big 3s by three different people ... made plays when they needed to make them.

Overall - game could have went either way and both teams have a great chance to get to Final 4. Hoping for 2 seed in south with virginia or 2 in West against Gonzaga.

Very good analysis.

 

[ManitouDan_anon]

Pretty sure they were trailing/denying Herro all day. Took that away. He still had double figures.

Not sure about IQ though; my guess is Cal ran with Hagans since he was dropping dimes

Well we need something to get Tyler open , its late march and we dont have sets to overcome that ?

 

[catsfan3383]

Floppier Williams? Talk to anybody that watched the game on TV and they will tell you the officiating went blue slanted in the 2nd half. TN might have gotten the benefit of a couple of calls the entire game. Big blue should never complain about officiating. It’s like Bama in football.

I have respect for Admiral. I have respect for Bone. Hell, I’ll even go so far as to give props to Turner. 1 for his last 19 threes and he made the biggest shot of the game. Not sure about “crowing” about “being a big shot guy” and the stuff on the interview but heat of the moment that’s what’s supposed to be said I guess.

That being said, I have absolutely ZERO respect for Grant Williams and his flopsies. He completely makes a mockery out of the game of basketball and the point is, he doesn’t have to. He has developed and become a very good player, but all his flops, head snaps and falls are completely embarrassing and takes away everything from a respect point of view. You could, off camera,ask any analyst, broadcaster or fan and they’ll 100% tell you the same. He is a complete joke and everyone knows it.

Believe me, the UT fan base are the only ones anywhere who’d use words like integrity or class when describing Grant Williams’ on the court antics.

 

[jimisize1]

Another question .. seems like IQ got very little run after playing really well against Florida . Was his minutes way down ? And seemed like Cal changed the guard rotation .. No Baker at all , very little IQ .

And another question , how does UT keep shutting down TH ? Like next to nothing from him , I'd like to find the guy that said " Oh we run all sorts of stuff for Tyler " no we dont , we run around with very little purpose until the shot clock dwindles .. thats our O . Pro set .. pick n roll .. repeat . Thats cool if you have pro players which we dont .

Agree. The armchair coach in me wishes we would’ve buried Tyler in one of the corners when UT went zone. He could’ve got some good looks against the 1-3-1 under 4 minutes.

 

[Old Blue Fart]

Everybody has their opinion on why this and why that.
Here is my take.
I thought it was a really good game until about 5 minutes left. Why in heavens sake would the refs change the way they were calling the game is anyones guess. And that is exactly what they did.
Given that, you have to give UT credit for adjusting to that crap better than we did.

Still, we had the lead, up 8 with 2:58 left. UT goes into a zone, we did something at that moment we didn't do all game and that is stand around. When UT went zone, we stopped moving without the ball; only once did anyone flash into the middle of the zone (PJ), we scored.
Why didn't Coach Cal call timeout and get the team re-focused is something I would like to ask on his call in show. I know his thinking, let the players play thru it, but it was clear they were not playing thru it. Their youth showed up.
If Reid was still in the game, who knows, his leadership could have been a difference.
There were questionable calls, yes, but we still had the lead.
Going zone and our inability to adjust to it and the refs the last 5 minutes is why we lost.

 

[Jamal Mercer]

PJ and Travis with foul issues yesterday killed us. And It was a perfect storm to end that game for Tennessee. Travis fouling out, Tenn making clutch shots, questionable calls, UK turnovers, etc....

I still think we have a great shot to win it all.