First game thoughts

[3 fan]

Loved Derrick Willis game. Stayed "in" the game mentally second half without scoring

Glad to see Hawkins bad. Bad game but he has been out

Great game by Lee except of course FT's. He won't see the floor in a tight game

Murray. Wow!

Ulis is the key to this team. No surprise there

Poythress. Glad to see him back. Gotta shake the rust off

Humphries. Pleasant surprise. Could be on the floor in end of a tight game for FT's

Skal. Come to play in the first half big fella!

Mulder. Where was he? He is not in the rotation

Defense. Not great at all. Too many second shots

Turnovers. It's very very early but that has to be worked on

 

[UK2005_24]

Murray is unreal..

 

[UKWildcats#8]

I thought Murray, Willis, Lee, Humphries were all very good to great in their specific roles they are asked to do.

Ulis was blah, and Murray looked like the much better PG tonight. Both need to cut down on turnovers, as does the team as a whole.

Poy was mediocre as well, Skal was solid in the 2nd, but weak in the first half again Matthews was not that good, Hawkins was pretty bad, still nothing on offense and the D was good a bit early but he fouled a lot and got blown by a few times, but he was rusty. Mulder did not get hardly any run...probably wondering why did I come here to not even get any game time hardly even without Briscoe playing (Not trying to stir the point but JUCOs go somewhere they expect to play more).

 

[Dakota25]

I think it was a good game. First game of the year and playing against a likely tourney team that's veteran loaded. Just need to keep improving and need to get the turnovers down however as I mentioned it was just the first game.

 

[WeWant9]

We gots a ways to go, but we have the pieces for a great run. I thought we had some first game jitters with way too many turnovers and some soft defense. Yet you can see the talent in the new guys, and guys like Willis and Lee have put in some work to get better. I think Ulis will lead this team to some wins that they didn't deserve early, and I think his heart and grit will drive this team. Pothyress is going have to be an energy guy. We're going need him dunking and rebounding. I think he will be the X factor.

 

[catfan in loserville]

Add Briscoe and we are fine, he starts usually. Competition breeds excellence.

 

[3 fan]

Forgot about Matthews. He seemed to get Cal's wrath over fouls. Hope Briscoe plays tomorrow. I want him to have a game under his belt before Puke

 

[UKBrassowTipIN]

We'll be good by years end..so ppl should enjoy the season. Still alot to work on. Willis had a good game, but still has a ton to improve on..shot selection, recognizing the pass earlier..but he may get there and be able to contribute some. Murray is good. Ulis is good. Skal will be good by spring. Just watch the play and learn to compete together.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Forgot about Matthews. He seemed to get Cal's wrath over fouls. Hope Briscoe plays tomorrow. I want him to have a game under his belt before Puke

I hope so. I am driving up to watch in person from Nashville and think Briscoe will help this team out immensely. I agree on getting a game before Duke. That was always going to be a tough game, but after tonight I feel a little less confident.

 

[westerncat]

First real game for the young guys & I think some were nervous and maybe surprised by the speed of the game. We will be fine. Cal will have some things to work on but I like the way Murray and Willis, Lee played tonight.

 

[musrat59]

We had a number of careless turnovers that will need to be cleaned up before we play Duke. I was looking at the box score of the Duke game and their guards played 105 minutes with just three turnovers.

 

[M1 Tanker]

We are not big enough inside and I see double digit losses including tournament games.

 

[Blue Decade]

Loved Derrick Willis game. Stayed "in" the game mentally second half without scoring

Glad to see Hawkins bad. Bad game but he has been out

Great game by Lee except of course FT's. He won't see the floor in a tight game

Murray. Wow!

Ulis is the key to this team. No surprise there

Poythress. Glad to see him back. Gotta shake the rust off

Humphries. Pleasant surprise. Could be on the floor in end of a tight game for FT's

Skal. Come to play in the first half big fella!

Mulder. Where was he? He is not in the rotation

Defense. Not great at all. Too many second shots

Turnovers. It's very very early but that has to be worked on

Not a bad assessment. This game was a reflection of reality. Albany is a good, physical basketball team that could have tested us if they had shot better. It's hard to attribute Albany's long range shooting problems to our perimeter defense, which was not very good. But our interior defense was really good for most of the 1st half. Albany's physical guards bothered Ulis, and that wasn't the last time Ulis will struggle against stronger guards. We cannot afford 5 turnovers from Ulis. We missed Briscoe's physical play a little bit. Calipari keeps saying Poythress is struggling with the mental aspect, but Poythress' struggle in this game was more about not having enough lateral quickness back yet to get it done in a physical game. Lateral quickness is the last thing to return after an ACL. That's why Poythress racked up 4 fouls against a smaller opponent. You could see his frustration with the T. Willis' length bothered Albany on both ends of the court in the 1st half. But Willis fatigued and didn't play well after the intermission. Lee still can't hit free throws to save his life, and his offensive game hasn't come as far as I hoped. But Lee helps us in the defensive interior. Marcus intimidates shooters in the paint, and is by far the best rebounder on our team. Based on only 1 game, Hawkins hasn't improved much. Mulder didn't play enough for me to form an opinion. The story of this game was Labissiere and Murray. Labissiere is a cause for concern because he is just not a strong, physical player. Labissiere missed his senior year of play in high school in 2014, and still needs a ton of work in the gym. He gets pushed off the block easily by smaller players, and only plays about 10-15 quality minutes at this point. Developing Labissiere is the centerpiece of Kentucky's season. I expect Labissiere to be very inconsistent and get into lots of foul trouble when we play better teams. But I'll say 1 thing for Skal. He sure intimidates shooters inside the paint. Jamal Murray is easily our best player. We haven't had a player as good as Murray in several years. He can score all over the court, inside and out. Murray is a solid rebounder, a great passer, and will become a very good defender. By January, Murray might be the best player in the country. The Duke game next week will be interesting.

 

[chevyman 50]

Willis had a super game in fact he carried the team in the first half, there was a lot of fans that thought he should transfer before last night because he would not get to play ..

 

[Blue Decade]

Willis had a super game in fact he carried the team in the first half, there was a lot of fans that thought he should transfer before last night because he would not get to play ..

Willis had a great 1st half. It was by far his best half of basketball as a Kentucky player. Willis got nothing done in the 2nd half. You could tell that he fatigued. He lost his shooting touch, stopped rebounding, and started getting sloppy. But it was an interesting night for him. His length really bothered Albany at both ends. When he gets used to playing 20-25 minutes a game, he can be a weapon for us.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

We are not big enough inside and I see double digit losses including tournament games.

Lay off the Meth bru.

 

[Blue Decade]

We are not big enough inside and I see double digit losses including tournament games.

Not true. Labissiere and Humphries are 6-11, 7-0. Lee, Willis, Poythress 6-9, 6-9, 6-8. If you are worried about Labissiere not being physical enough, I agree with that concern until proven otherwise. But if you think we aren't big enough, you must be blind. We are huge. Maybe not quite as big as last year, but last year's Kentucky team was bigger than any NBA team other than Portland. Nobody has size like that every year. I would also remind you that Murray and Briscoe are 2 of the most physical guards in the country. This team is really inexperienced, but also the most talented team in the country. I would like to book your bet on all those double digit losses. LOL!

 

[qwesley]

Big Hawkins fan but he was brutal, the new foul rules are not good for him.

Cal is the perfect coach for Skal, he will look completely different by Feb. Until then he can use hus quickness and new fouls rules to face up....if Cal allows that to push him post harder. Interesting dilemma.

Will only see glimpses this year but Matthews is a steal. His first step is a blur.

Did not like Alex's body language, eager to see him tonight. Key to the team.

Our guards are salty and smart, typical of championship teams.

Cal likes Willis and AP together, so do I.

Key to Willis' shot is his feet, tends to shuffle them as he collects at times.

Murray passed up 3-4 threes trying to be unselfish, he shouldn't

 

[UKrazycat2]

Injuries and the back to back schedule forced Cal to play 10 guys to keep players fresh for tonights game against NJIT. We saw players together for the first time and it showed. Hawkins and Poy are like rust nails right now and will get better.

Anyone who thinks this team with all its talent isn't going to get better and better in the following months are forgetting who's coaching them. Trust in Cal.

 

[K_TIME]

- Murray looks be unreal. Very competitive kid as well. Seems to fight for balls, back tip steals, having a 2nd top notch ball handler is nice. And is stroke is so good looking.
- Skal is a good shooting big. But in the few games I've seen, his ability to rim protect/rebound is more than just a bit lower than Davis/Noel/KAT. There were a few shots he should have easily blocked but his motor isn't quite as adept as the three mentioned bigs. I don't think we have that defensive weapon we've had in the past.
- I liked Lee's game save the FT issues. Really fought on boards and some nice moves in paint...and one thing he's always done is pass nice for a big. I think he'll be a good glue guy this year.
- Willis's length was a problem for Albany especially at the 3 spot. I think there will be games that we need his length at the 3 spot to help us inside for another rebounder/rim protector..

The rest of team was solid...even Ulis was OK.

 

[stenchymouse]

We're gonna be really good this year but we're definitely gonna take some losses.

Obviously match-ups are going to dictate how we look this year much more than last year because we're just not physical in the post.

I still think that we're going to have a great shot to win it all because of our guards.

We aren't going to commit 20 turnovers a game!

 

[MdWIldcat55]

This game confirmed what I thought I knew: Cal's Kentucky teams have come in two types: One type is truly special, able to overwhelm other good teams through pure talent and size. 2010, 2012 and 2015 fit that category.

The other type is a team that has strong talent but is not clearly one of the top one, two or three teams in the country. Those teams either find their cohesion and identity and do well in March, like 2011 and 2014, or, in one case, 2013, never jells.

This year's team is in the second category. There will be times the team will have us worried. It may fall out of the top ten or so. I doubt it is a 1 seed. But the pieces are there --especially the great guards but also Skal -- for a deep NCAA run if it all comes together as I think it easily could.

 

[WallMashKyBall]

I am a huge murray fan (I was on this board singing his praises since Nike Summit). But I'm a little worried about his on-ball defense. He's more Harrison Bro than Liggins. His man was getting a step on him all night. And this was albany. I bet Coach K sees this on tape and will tell his man to drive every time.

 

[BostonCat2001]

defense is about what i thought it was going to be. we arent a defensive team and not really going to be.
we arent going to get deflections and steals at will like we did in the exhibition games because those games are a joke.

disappointed in the offense. thought it would be smoother and run better in the half court. lots of dribbling by the guards. didnt get poythress and skal touches in the first half. this team needs to play faster. not much transition. team needs to push even after makes

too many turnovers for a team that is has to be excellent on offense to win.

 

[Bkocats]

This game confirmed what I thought I knew: Cal's Kentucky teams have come in two types: One type is truly special, able to overwhelm other good teams through pure talent and size. 2010, 2012 and 2015 fit that category.

The other type is a team that has strong talent but is not clearly one of the top one, two or three teams in the country. Those teams either find their cohesion and identity and do well in March, like 2011 and 2014, or, in one case, 2013, never jells.

This year's team is in the second category. There will be times the team will have us worried. It may fall out of the top ten or so. I doubt it is a 1 seed. But the pieces are there --especially the great guards but also Skal -- for a deep NCAA run if it all comes together as I think it easily could.

I think several of us said early on that this team is more like the 2011 team than any other. I do believe we have a bit more talent, though. The reason I don't think it'll be a repeat of 2013 is because of how we see these guys interact: they talk to each other, they are not selfish, the bench cheers for the players on the floor - and they obviously like each other and defend each other. They will work together to make the whole team better. We will have some head scratching losses, I'm sure (hope I'm wrong!) but I'm also sure that we won't miss the tourney and we should make a decent run.

 

[thebluestripes]

We're going to take some losses but I feel like by years end we'll be in the mix for a final 4.

 

[chroix]

I think the Ulis Murray combo will be unstoppable. Two guards that can shoot from the perimeter, drive and score or kick it out are a deadly combination.

 

[CUT-NETS]

Cal still struggles against zone. It's his Achilles heel no doubt about it. He said in his post-game presser that he and the team hadn't worked on how to attack the zone yet. I'm kind of shocked at that. It's been the key to beating UK since Cal got there and he didn't think Albany would zone us? Anyone else surprised at this? Newsflash to Cal: please reserve time in practice everyday to work on zone offense. YOU WILL GET ZONED. Sheesh

 

[CoachR35]

I think they still look like they did back in November.....oh, wait. Seriously, the game was about what I expected. With that many new players, it will take time to build team chemistry and become comfortable with each other. The strong non-conference schedule will help them grow as a team. There will be losses, but they'll be hitting on all cylinders in March.

 

[turkeywildturkey]

Loved Derrick Willis game. Stayed "in" the game mentally second half without scoring

Glad to see Hawkins bad. Bad game but he has been out

Great game by Lee except of course FT's. He won't see the floor in a tight game

Murray. Wow!

Ulis is the key to this team. No surprise there

Poythress. Glad to see him back. Gotta shake the rust off

Humphries. Pleasant surprise. Could be on the floor in end of a tight game for FT's

Skal. Come to play in the first half big fella!

Mulder. Where was he? He is not in the rotation

Defense. Not great at all. Too many second shots

Turnovers. It's very very early but that has to be worked on

I know it's the first game, but I was surprised by Ulis. 5 turnovers with very little pressure on him. That's the one thing I was least concerned with going into this year. If he can't protect the ball better, we're in for a long season. No way he's drafted this year if he plays anywhere close to how he played last night.

 

[Joneslab]

Ulis looked gimpy.

The offense would kind of get into those curls in the DDMO, but because Ulis couldn't turn the corner and Skal was getting pushed out, having to go to the third option confused them. It often devolved into Ulis taking a three or Murray trying to force something. Thus the turnovers.

I see him probably moving away from the DDMO as we go along and starting to do more pick-and-roll. A lot of what we saw last night was simply the random set. Cal won't stick with that and we'll look radically different by January.

But it doesn't matter what sets we run if Poythress is going to be the void he was. Has to play better and be more of a factor in the offense.

 

[SmyrnaCatFan]

Hawkins played as if he was out of practice for four weeks. A little behind the speed of the game, a little rusty with his handles, and a lack of offensive confidence. I think some are a little too critical at this point.

 

[Bodvar Bjarki]

Murray is going to be one of the most popular players ever at UK. He is exactly what we want Wildcats to be.

I think we're too soft in the middle and we're going to lose more games this year than the fans think we are. I say we lose 6 in SEC play for sure.

That said, come tournament time this team will be devastating. What is huge is that I think in crunch time when games are won or lost we will be able to ride Murray to the winner's circle. We have great guards so while this team will take its lumps it will do extremely well in the NCAA tournament. I will be shocked if this is not a FF team.

 

[Cawood86]

Good flashes and some bad. To be expected this time of year. Very young team. Very young. Skal will be fine. Gotta remember he hasn't really played like this in two years.
Awfully tough schedule for this team. Expecting some bumps right now. Defense will get better.

 

[Joneslab]

Murray is going to be one of the most popular players ever at UK. He is exactly what we want Wildcats to be.

He plays incredibly hard. Always working off the ball, and he isn't afraid to get in there and tear out tough rebounds. I liked Aaron, but Aaron did a lot of standing. Murray is more of a Jodie Meeks type; kind of twitchy, always moving, and has a powerful kind of athleticism that we just didn't see with the twins. Plays with a lot of juice.

OTOH, I also found myself appreciating Andrew Harrison a lot during that game. Ulis is going to be great, but having to virtually be out there 35+ minutes a night is going to be a shock to the system. The power that Andrew could play with in close quarters was obviously missing last night. A lot of times in that game Ulis would kind of get in there and instead of driving into somebody's body he would be left to pound the ball as the others stood around and watched.

Will obviously be an adjustment for him.

 

[Bodvar Bjarki]

Way too much dribbling by Ulis. We cannot have that with the shortened shot clock.

 

[FlCATFan]

There are definitely some kinks and glitches that need attention. But who better than Cal to address those. We'll almost certainly drop a few along the way. I'm fine with that. At least then these kids won't carry a 38-0 record into the Final Four with all of that extra burden riding on their shoulders.

 

[KY Long Rifle]

Skal needs to take major strides for this team to be where they need to be. He is way to soft right now. We have other areas to improve on too, but weak play in the paint is glaring at the moment.

 

[Ky_Bred_Cat]

Poythress will never become the beast of a player everyone keeps waiting for. He isn't the x-factor because what we've seen from him pre-surgery is what we'll see after. It's understandable to expect more from such a tremendous physical specimen but he doesn't posses the temperament or demeanor to be the beast everyone wants. I love they guy but other than a big game here and there he will remain the enigma on the court that he's always been.

 

[M1 Tanker]

Not true. Labissiere and Humphries are 6-11, 7-0. Lee, Willis, Poythress 6-9, 6-9, 6-8. If you are worried about Labissiere not being physical enough, I agree with that concern until proven otherwise. But if you think we aren't big enough, you must be blind. We are huge. Maybe not quite as big as last year, but last year's Kentucky team was bigger than any NBA team other than Portland. Nobody has size like that every year. I would also remind you that Murray and Briscoe are 2 of the most physical guards in the country. This team is really inexperienced, but also the most talented team in the country. I would like to book your bet on all those double digit losses. LOL!

I watched Labissiere get pushed around all night by a much smaller player at North Laurel last year.By season end he may mature into a complete player but his defense will take most of the season.When he gets in foul trouble where do you see the inside scoring come from?Humphries and poythress will not dominate inside against normal competition.Sorry if I do not wear blue tinted glasses as some of you.This team is really weak offensively and defensively on the inside.Reminds me a lot of the Noel team.I did not say double digit point losses.I said 10 losses including post season games.So,8 losses regular,1 sec tournament and 1 ncaa tournament.