UKWildcats1987 said:

To be fair, UK has had freshmen make huge plays in numerous ncaa tourney games. The issue is its one and done so one bad close game can doom you.

It did in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Those 6 teams all had the ability to win it all. One bad close loss cost them n each though but there were also clutch close wins to get to those losses.

Flagg will be fine. Duke needs to not lean on him so much though. They have other talented players.

Click to expand...

I think the world changed so much. NIL and the transfer portal becoming what it's been: College basketball is an upper classmen game now.

John Wall an Julius Randle will always be good in college. But some of these less elite freshmen were able to play well because they weren't going up against these teams full of grown men every single night. Some still struggled in spite of that.

Now we're in a world where every SEC team has experienced guys that know how to play physical, smart, high level basketball. You can't just out-talent that like we used to.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

My best guess is if it's real, it's a statistical fluke.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

If you win a race, then you should conditionally be in the playoffs. HOWEVER, if you fall out of the top 16 in points by the time the playoffs come around, you should be out. Does it already work like that? McDowell (for example) winning Daytona and then being 25th in points by the time September rolls around should not put him in.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

I'll grant any leader about 3 months leeway on trying to figure out what Covid was and how to handle it. But by June of 2020, DeSantis had the threat level assessed and had Florida fully back open. Trump continued to call for lockdowns and argued that Kemp, Abbott and DeSantis were in the wrong for opening as late as August of that year. By summer of '20 the fog of war had lifted and Trump was on the wrong side of the ledger longer than he should have been.

He's also still taking credit for the worthless jab, which is ridiculous but in typical Trump fashion, also acknowledged on Rogan and few other long form podcasts that the data on vax injuries cannot be ignored and he's open to looking into the the mRNA spike.

^ There would have been zero retrospective if the status quo remained in power and with this recent announcement of DOGE, appears it will not be an empty campaign promise.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This year is probably going to be an outlier for us. I think it doubtful that Pope will be forced to look for seven (7) veteran players (Seniors) in the portal again ... at least, I hope he won't. He'll continue to recruit top talent, like Calipari did, but the key will be the overall roster construction and if youth can blend with quality experience and continuity. To me, that will be Pope's biggest challenge, much the same as it is for all coaches now, with NIL$$$ and immediate eligibility via the portal.

Kentucky: 106
Lipscomb: 66

Tiebreaker: 32

Fitch44 said:

And I was super impressed with Carr’s ability to guard Flagg. He did hit a couple pull up jumpers on Carr but Duke in the second half was running those ball screens to get Carr off of him. The way Pope talked about Carr since the day he committed I knew he could be good, but I was so damn impressed with his overall game on both ends.
This team will do nothing but get better and better.

Click to expand...

Duke has a Flagg. Kentucky has a Carr. Carrs run over Flaggs.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

7 missed FTA

To be fair, UK has had freshmen make huge plays in numerous ncaa tourney games. The issue is its one and done so one bad close game can doom you.

It did in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Those 6 teams all had the ability to win it all. One bad close loss cost them n each though but there were also clutch close wins to get to those losses.

Flagg will be fine. Duke needs to not lean on him so much though. They have other talented players.

I mentioned the other day that I thought Carr would be a big part of the game plan since he had experience against Duke.

You can watch a team, but on court experience against a team is invaluable.

I think he will be big against Clemson in some way as well. He had 17 pts, 5 rebs, and 3 ast in his one game against them last season.

know1 said:

You listen to announcers? How cute?

Click to expand...

I'm here for the hard hitting facts that only Seth Greenburg, Jay Bilas and Jay Williams can provide.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Wonky said:

Good thing Pope HAS an A game, unlike your lover Cal.

Click to expand...

Lol I moved on from Cal a long time ago, unlike a lot of people here. But being excited for a new era shouldn't make legit criticism unwelcome. Pope did an amazing job assembling a team from a group of transfers and they looked very good in the second half last night. But they will get out-talented this year on occasion and it'll probably cost them a few games. Which is fine. They'll probably win a few they shouldn't with hustle, playing as a cohesive unit, and coaching.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

John Calipari: Look at all the NBA players on the wall and how much money they've made.

Pope: Look at these basketball games.

Really shows you how far we had fallen.

K-mac18 said:

Should check the Raw spoilers for next week regarding updates with Rhea. (Or Not)

Looks like AEW is going to use some Guns 'N Roses music for the month of November. Also assuming unlike Heyman, he's actually going to pay them for it.

Login to view embedded media

Click to expand...

Tony has no problem paying for music - didn’t he pay some absurd amount for Daniel Bryan’s music?

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.