All things considered.. Not worried OR upset

[LineSkiCat14]

• Conference Road Game. It will always be a struggle, and thankfully the entire basketball landscape is struggling in that regard.
• Auburn had to shoot lights out to win.
• They needed just a terribly one-side officiating game. As I said, a bad foul is worth more than just a few free-throws. It throws the player and the team off. Two games in a row with atleast an 8-point officiating differential.
  
• Poythress had another injury, was out for 5-10 games minutes (?), had rex-specs to come back. So he get's somewhat of a pass. He had an alright day, considering.
• Willis continues to get better. Every single game. He's not there yet, needs to work on defense. But this is the only way he'll get better.
• Skal, while very minimal and still way off the mark, showed growth and even some enthusiasm.
  
• Kentucky was knocking on the #1 seed door before this game. A lot of teams got upset this week, with Kentucky already a #2 seed according to Bracketology.
  
• One less road game on the year. As far as I'm concerned, that will always be Kentucky and Cal's biggest hurdle: SEC Road games. That should have been a win. Oh well. It's out of the way. We'll win a few, lose a few. But anytime we can play 8 on 5 during some teams superbowl and get away with a win is a HUGE victory. We should start6 looking at SEC games in that light.

The loss sucks. Auburn is annoying. Still looking at a 3 or 4 seed, which is a good position.

 

[Bill - Shy Cat]

Agree with LineSkiCat. Life's too short to be extremely upset by a road loss. Kicked the Card's dirty little asses, so I'll just chill and hope we improve some more before Tourney time.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Most importantly. I really don't think that was as bad of a performance as many think. No one TRULY laid an egg, like Poy, Briscoe, and Skal had done a few times this year.

The loss does hurt. It's not a good loss. Oh well. One less Road Game. Just try and steal as many as we can.

 

[ulismyman]

Poythress being out of the game is good for us...he stinks and Willis and matthews should get all his minutes...period...but to your point i am not upset about the loss

 

[Xception]

I'm fine , we'll be alright . 2011 dropped a lot of road games and eventually got things right by tournament . We have issues and are going through growing pains . Why people think everything is gong to be fixed all of the sudden is amazing to witness . We will improve in increments and get better over time but we will lose more games .

 

[.S&C.]

I'm totally cool with this. I said a few weeks ago, this team is going to lose on the road in SEC play. You've got to be a moron or a non-UK fan to not understand it. Home cookin calls against young guards and so so bigs. It is what it is.

 

[goforitcats]

Good posts all. We just have to get better,when it counts. I'd rather us steal us some games in the big tournament.

 

[billy keith]

Not upset Prepared for 23,,,,11 reg season Maybe 2 wins in big dance Its what it is

 

[jrpross]

In '14 we lost to a South Carolina team that went 5-13 in the SEC and 14-20 overall. Then we went to the title game.

That may not happen this year and make no mistake, this loss BLOWS. But it's not the end of the world yet. This is still midseason and our best wins this year are better than our best regular season wins in '14.

I gotta say though, it's pretty embarrassing when your 5'9" point guard outrebounds your 6'9" center and 6'8" pf combined.

 

[Atrain7732]

Most importantly. I really don't think that was as bad of a performance as many think. No one TRULY laid an egg, like Poy, Briscoe, and Skal had done a few times this year.

The loss does hurt. It's not a good loss. Oh well. One less Road Game. Just try and steal as many as we can.

Agree completely. I tempered my expectations for this team after the OSU game. Realized they were not an elite team at this point, and I will hope they get better and make a run come tourney time. Still frustrating to watch games like today, but not gonna lose perspective. It is a long season and there is much more ball to be played.

 

[dave5164]

Coach Cal has always been good in getting his team to turnaround before March Madness! We have seen this year that the NCAA Basketball as a whole is weak. Just look at this week alone since Tuesday night and there has been many upsets in this week alone in the Top 20. Look at #1 Kansas and they are beat at WVU and today didn't play well at home in winning against a bad TCU team 70-63. There last 2 games they have stunk, then you have Duke lose to Clemson on road another bad team and then come home lose to ND. Maryland lost at UM on Tuesday and UM hasn't been playing well and then they blow out OSU today. UNC is probably the most consistent team right now and playing the best ball in the NCAA right now. This is what is so interesting for this year is there are NO Dominating teams. Usually by now we have5 or 6 teams that are dominating play in the NCAA. This year is a weak year and that is why we need to continue to support our team and Cal will get this team turned around by March Madness.

 

[rodgerblue]

What is Cal's buyout? Too bad the stock market is teh suck, or I'd help him pack his bags

If you were coach, what would you have done differently? Please be specific.

 

[jameslee32]

36-4

 

[billy keith]

This is a team that is short of the right pieces We have no combination that I feel will work well enough to go very far Hope im wrong

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

The SEC basketball side is ran by morons. There is a reason why the other conferences some what or even all out protect their best programs....... its because when the best programs are down...... no one cares about that conference.

 

[sluggercatfan]

• Conference Road Game. It will always be a struggle, and thankfully the entire basketball landscape is struggling in that regard.
• Auburn had to shoot lights out to win.
• They needed just a terribly one-side officiating game. As I said, a bad foul is worth more than just a few free-throws. It throws the player and the team off. Two games in a row with atleast an 8-point officiating differential.
  
• Poythress had another injury, was out for 5-10 games minutes (?), had rex-specs to come back. So he get's somewhat of a pass. He had an alright day, considering.
• Willis continues to get better. Every single game. He's not there yet, needs to work on defense. But this is the only way he'll get better.
• Skal, while very minimal and still way off the mark, showed growth and even some enthusiasm.
  
• Kentucky was knocking on the #1 seed door before this game. A lot of teams got upset this week, with Kentucky already a #2 seed according to Bracketology.
  
• One less road game on the year. As far as I'm concerned, that will always be Kentucky and Cal's biggest hurdle: SEC Road games. That should have been a win. Oh well. It's out of the way. We'll win a few, lose a few. But anytime we can play 8 on 5 during some teams superbowl and get away with a win is a HUGE victory. We should start6 looking at SEC games in that light.

The loss sucks. Auburn is annoying. Still looking at a 3 or 4 seed, which is a good position.

Worried...me neither . 8-12 seed out second round...this is going to happen the way JC is trying to do this...he missed on this bunch and JM is AG'S twin...never saw a shot he didn't like...he must have best of the best to do this

 

[sluggercatfan]

Coach Cal has always been good in getting his team to turnaround before March Madness! We have seen this year that the NCAA Basketball as a whole is weak. Just look at this week alone since Tuesday night and there has been many upsets in this week alone in the Top 20. Look at #1 Kansas and they are beat at WVU and today didn't play well at home in winning against a bad TCU team 70-63. There last 2 games they have stunk, then you have Duke lose to Clemson on road another bad team and then come home lose to ND. Maryland lost at UM on Tuesday and UM hasn't been playing well and then they blow out OSU today. UNC is probably the most consistent team right now and playing the best ball in the NCAA right now. This is what is so interesting for this year is there are NO Dominating teams. Usually by now we have5 or 6 teams that are dominating play in the NCAA. This year is a weak year and that is why we need to continue to support our team and Cal will get this team turned around by March Madness.

You do realize that Puke is playing without A. JEFFERSON...would not be at all surprised if they win b/b with him back in the lineup...

 

[LetsHang#9]

Pretty level headed responses, I'm impressed. Except for the usual moron that's always negative. Always...

 

[cal=8]

Hats off to Auburn.. They play out of their minds.. Your not gonna win too many games on the road when your opponent drops 12 threes. Tonight Auburn was a top 10 team.. Tomorrow they'll go back to being Auburn..

 

[deplion]

I'm dramatically scaling back my expectations for the year.

Up until this game, I thought all the losses were at least understandable. OSU was bad, but it was early on, and our guys were still learning the college game.

Today was a massive step back. That was a really, really bad Auburn team that beat us this afternoon.

I'm not upset. My expectations for this year weren't all that great to begin with, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about how the rest of the season plays out.

 

[anon_013cn8yrfncx2]

WEll I'm still extremely pi**ed. I've come to Louisville from Texas twice this year to watch a game with my dad. I've seen.

the two games have been OSU and Auburn.

 

[deplion]

WEll I'm still extremely pi**ed. I've come to Louisville from Texas twice this year to watch a game with my dad. I've seen.

the two games have been OSU and Auburn.

Ouch!!

Personal favor to ask. Don't watch any more games from Louisville. (just joking. sorry about your bad luck)

 

[TNCatfanforever]

I'm dramatically scaling back my expectations for the year.

Up until this game, I thought all the losses were at least understandable. OSU was bad, but it was early on, and our guys were still learning the college game.

Today was a massive step back. That was a really, really bad Auburn team that beat us this afternoon.

I'm not upset. My expectations for this year weren't all that great to begin with, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about how the rest of the season plays out.

My feelings exactly. I thought with a healthy Poythress and a super player in Skal We would be a contender. Now I would just lock to make the tourney and I hope next year's young men are as good as billed.

 

[55wildcat]

This loss hurt but what this team fails to understand is EVERY team gets up for UK. They should know that. The 4 teams that beat us played out their asses, circus shots going in from everywhere. This team has nowhere reached it's peak and hopefully that up-swing starts soon. What's really sad? Everybody knows how awful Auburn and Ohio State are, but LSU and UCLA really was not supposed to be as bad as they are but they are. How would you like to be the team that lost to the team that lost to those 4. Says a lot, amirite!

 

[ZenCatFan73]

I like this thread OP. We put this one behind us and get ready for the next one. Go Cats!!

 

[ORCAT]

I've already moved on from this loss. Don't get me wrong, I was upset and disappointed with the outcome but I, like others, have tempered my expectations for this team and feel they will just not be a good road team at all. Hell, we may even drop a home game or 2 this year. But, I'm ready to move on and just enjoy them as much as I can this year and not let the outcomes bother me for long periods of time. Maybe I'm just mellowing with age and realizing it's not the end of the world if we lose a bad game. Besides, I'm pretty excited about what's coming in after this year.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Lot of great responses. Can't address them all.

But my general reply is this:

They are 18, 19, and 20.. for the most part. It's still VERY early in their college career. I still think this was our only "bad" loss, and even then, it's not like we lost to a mid-major. This was a conference game on the road to a one-time revered coach. Despite how much we hate Pearl, he's probably widely considered a top25 coach.

We've had minor injuries all year, that affected lineups and cohesion. If I remember correctly, I don't think we had a full roster for any of our 4 losses.

It's a young lop-sided team. More losses are coming, sadly.

Every game will be an improvement, we've been here before. There's maybe 3-4 teams that are outright better than us right now. The only thing I'd like to see is a little more emphasis on getting our bench involved (Hump, Matthews, etc.) simply because our starters aren't there yet. Hump especially. He's a big body that we need now, and could even use next year.

We'll be fine. Still think this can be a Final4 team, just gotta get the frontcourt going.

 

[JohnnyGreen1975]

I probably wouldn't have been upset with this type of loss in our first 5 games. However, getting it at this point against a team that we should have beaten (albeit in the road) is the most alarming to me. My expectations weren't sky high. However, I can think of anyone that thought we would remotely be worried about losing to auburn this year.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

I said many times before the start of the season that this team is capable of being outstanding when shots are falling but when we struggle to shoot we could lose to anyone. We just don't have anyone to bang down low and can give us easy buckets like a Towns , Cousins, Davis or even Randle. And it appears I hit that nail on the head with a laser cannon.

 

[jockstrap_mcgee]

If Willis can continue the hustle, this team suddenly starts looking very familiar to 2011.
Which lost almost every road game and then went to the Final Four and tattooed Spalding on Sullinger's chest.

 

[JacksonPurchaseCat]

If Willis can continue the hustle, this team suddenly starts looking very familiar to 2011.
Which lost almost every road game and then went to the Final Four and tattooed Spalding on Sullinger's chest.

Exactly.

Being the hunter and not the hunted has worked out well for us in 2011 and 2014. I predict a fun march.

 

[PanzerV]

I don't know....I don't think Cal will get this team righted. Too many head cases, and underachievers. Ullis being the only constant. Just like in '13, the freshman revolving door will catch up to us some years. I'm thinking nine loses, a 9-10 seed. Maybe next year......Come on Summer!!

 

[KyFord]

I always try to stay positive but losing to Auburn is not ok

 

[Supreme Lord Z]

Listen. In a couple weeks you will realize that talk of a 1 or 2 seed were a pipe dream.

 

[Dakota25]

UK just needs to focus on getting to 19 wins. That should be good enough for a one seed and we get to play in Rupp for the first three rounds. I think UK can get to the final four in Madison square garden. NIT final four and championship still being played there right?

 

[KyFaninNC]

At this point I sit down and watch the game with a 50/50 attitude, where as I use to wonder by how many points will we win by. So, I do not get upset, because I now know we can lose any game we play at this point.

 

[Mojocat]

Trying to be optimistic:

1. It's a very down year, no teams to really fear in March.
2. There are no road games in March.
3. March is "guard time", and we have arguably the best backcourt in the country.
4. We have the best tournament coach. He didn't go 22-4 by accident.

But gun to my head, I suspect all that is overwhelmed by our lack of post play. We simply have a hole in the middle. Lee + Alex show no sign of being able to string 6 consecutive good games together. Cal said without post play a team is a "fraud" (reminded of when Pitino said we were "counterfeit" the year we lost Dent).

 

[Xception]

Auburns not good but any team that's banking in threes , hitting fade way threes is going to cover any shortcomings . You can't take a team hitting everything at home as any indicator of who we are . Ohio St was hitting shots they haven't hit all year and so has ucla . These teams are hyped with adrenaline to play UK , it is their game of the year . That adrenaline can put you in the zone , we have to deal with that until tournament . At that point the adrenaline combined with a one loss scenario calms the heroics down .

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

UK just needs to focus on getting to 19 wins. That should be good enough for a one seed and we get to play in Rupp for the first three rounds. I think UK can get to the final four in Madison square garden. NIT final four and championship still being played there right?

You had me there for a minute.