As with all things nowadays, work seems to be a dirty word. It’s all glitz over substance. Offense in basketball is the glitz and defense is the substance. UK has young players that are very gifted but all everyone wants to talk about is the great shooting that is not sustainable. When all UK players are hitting shot, making passes and assists IMHO they are unbeatable. But eventually a team has a bad night were they can’t depend on offense to win games. Last night was a prime example of not playing defense when the other team is making 3 after 3 and driving by their defender for uncontested baskets. Offense can’t be sustained but defense can. Everyone praises Reed for scoring 25 points but that won’t be the. Norm and if by scoring you allow the man you guard to blow by you that just won’t beat teams that you play that has a night of good shooting.

I’m no Cal lover but he is correct if you watch the game and how it was lost. Some nights you won’t be able to score and have to win with defense. That was last night. We had no Wagner, Edward’s was not shooting well, and it was Bradshaw first game. Playing man to man defense didn’t lose last nights game. It was playing it lazy. No matter how many points your guards score, you can’t depend on outscoring teams when you play.

UNC-Wilmington played at a high level today but this team lost to App St by 30 points and is coming off a loss to East Carolina.

They didn't play with as much intensity as we have sometimes seen. They did not shoot well in the first half. The ball didn't move like it has the rest of the year. Justin Edwards and Rob Dillingham did not play well. The defense was not good enough and big picture that's probably the biggest concern.

Those are the big takeaways. They probably did miss Wagner. They're adjusting to Bradshaw playing. But they aren't really good on defense and Edwards can't be this big a focal point on offense. After a game like this you wonder how Dillingham's season is going to go, he was very poor. The defense would be my biggest concern in the big picture.

Really didn't see this one coming. Again, it's still a team deep with talented guards and skilled players but if you aren't good on defense you can get beat by a lot of teams. Will hurt the resume and another bad loss for Calipari stacked with some of the other losses from recent years.

Sheppard was very good but the cast around him was not good enough. You just expect more, collectively, from the other parts they have outside of him.

Cats had five second chance points today. They weren't tough enough. Really a bad loss. I'll be honest, it doesn't change too much of how I feel about this team big picture because I still like the skill and the parts but there's a definite curve on the defense and that has to get a lot better.

I think you have your answer. We need all hands on deck. Everyone

I was a strong Cal defender up until about halfway through last year. I’d always preferred Cal over Tubby and enjoyed each team’s story (I like the seasons as much or more than the tournaments). By the end of last year, I was about ready to grab the pitchfork with most of the rest of you. I know many of you won’t know exactly how to feel until after the tournaments this year, but that said, right at this moment how do you think you’d feel if this turned out to be Cal’s last year coaching Kentucky?

Anybody who got their hopes up should have known better. Cal is too stubborn to ever stop clogging the lane, forcing it into big, playing man to man no matter what, and sh*tting the bed in the final 4 minutes.

It’s just who he is and he’ll never change.

Enjoy your annual terrible loss at Rupp.

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What I was so encouraged about to start the year was Kentucky playing 1 big guy, eliminating mid range shots, and playing lots of playmakers with pace.

Today, I understand it is different with Wagner out, you can’t put as many playmakers out there. And Bradshaw will take time to get acclimated.

But, there were possessions where Bradshaw reallly wanted to post up and the offense just watched around it. Edwards, who was very disappointing today, dribbled out of a wide open 3 or swing pass and took a pull up mid range. There was a lot of times where Dilly pushed, but did so out of control.

I think long term, this team has to play how it did the first games of the year. Fast, efficient, with great spacing and taking the right shots. Today was the first day where the play didn’t seem fast enough and the shots seemed like the wrong ones. Hope it turns around.

Don’t revert to old bad habits

That should help us a little bit, maybe top five? Arizona will probably be the new number one.

We have almost played a quarter and we have a combined one first down …. 2nd rate football thus far

Wtf has happened to him the last 5 years? Even with a team this loaded with talent he continues to rack up awful losses. We were all hoping maybe Kentucky was back but nope same ole same ole. If he can’t even win big with this team it ain’t happening. Gonna get real ugly now. It’s all gonna up to him whether or not he gets out before it gets intolerable.

Now they use it for another home game.

And give us more excuses why we lose to UNCW at home when we were favored by 20 points. After the Miami win, you cut the nets down in November and basically declared this team unbeatable.

Screw Louisville.

1 game per week. I guess it’s time for Camp Cal bull****

I saw Andrea Bocelli tonight and it was really, really good even if it isn't necessarily your everyday thing but come on. I know it was an older crowd (and I'm not young) but it's just not that hard. It kind of got humorous there for a while watching people bump into each other like rats in a maze. Follow the signs to your section, find your row, find your seat. Seats as you look at the floor will be 1 on the right and the highest number on the left.

It's had to be a lot of fun to have your 11 year old daughter on stage with you for a couple of Christmas songs and trust me, the apple didn't fall far from the tree on that one.

He just can’t help himself, he has to run a horribly ineffective offense when he has a big in the game. It’s why I’ve been saying for a while now “be careful what you wish for”. That was no knock on our 3 7 footers, but Cal.

He was forced to come into modern times with no center, but now that he’s got at least one, we are right back to the archaic and ineffective offense.

He’s become a terrible coach and there’s no fixing it at this point.

I thought it looked sharp. What did everyone else think?

With Cal’s unwillingness to play anything other than man defense (because the NBA only plays man) this team will have to get alot better staying in front of their man or we will be a fringe NCAA team with our brutal schedule.

Alot of it is want to and we have alot of guys that dont want to.

He mocked us in his post Miami presser. And then returns to his “drive it don’t shoot” offense. Even to a loss. I hate him.

Hard to believe but Reed leads the team in points , rebounds and assist ? 25 , 9 and 6 . Dilly goes for 2 points on 1-9 shooting . We got out rebounded 40-39 . We had more TO"s than them .. They took 20 3s to our 8 in half 1. , 31 to 17 for the night . They had a guy come off the bench for 27 points . also had a guy score 11 off the bench .. We got 5 points from the bench . Maybe we are not as deep and as loaded as we think we are ? Yes I know Wagner is out .. but Ugo is nothing more than project , and big Z is pretty untested ( ?? I think )
In Addition they didnt even shoot it very well 43 % from 2 , 35 % from 3 , and a sub par 65 % from the line ... and they still controlled this game for 80-90 % of it . Amazing .
They had 14 2nd chance points , we had 5 . We were out rebounded and didnt come close in 2nd chance points .. hate to say it , but shows severe lack of will power .

UK just scored to go up 83-81 on BC with 0.5 seconds left

I stopped caring when Cal bent the knee. When they lose this used car salesman, and get a real coach, I might check back in. Was a fan since the ‘75 final four when I was eleven. Don’t care anymore. They need to burn it down, and get new blood in Lexington.

FSU or U of L. Both offenses look sad

Is he our best on the ball defender?
Could he have slowed White down?
Do we have a lockdown defender this season?

Mavs went on a 30-0 run tonight and still lost. Guess it could be worse. I would cry myself to sleep for a week if that happened to UK.