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Home from the game.

Since I only live about 30 miles east of Nashville I normally try to make this one game each year to see the Cats. This is Cal's least talented team since the Noel - Goodwin team. Without our 4 star Alexander we would be in big trouble. He is the only player we have who is hard to guard. Everyone else allows themselves to be guarded. We allowed the worst Vandy team in many years to take us to the wire...thank goodness for three missed free throws by a 90% percent shooter. We are really long and play fairly good defense. On offense we just look slow and have no one other than Alexander who can create their own shot. Diallo makes horrible decisions..Knox disappeared the first half. Washington looked uninspired. Gabriel hustles his butt off. Richards and Jones are both very mediocre. We look like a 5 seed and may not make it past the first weekend. This team is the second worst team I have seen at UK since BCG left. Thankfully Vandy shot 9 % from three in the first half and 6-27 for the game or it would have been a long afternoon.. We did guard the three but they miss a bunch of shots I see them often make.

Regardless of our opponent's record, we just won an SEC road game with our starting PG out with injury, with the youngest team we've had yet, playing seven scholarship players, in an environment where even Cal's best teams have had to eek out victories.
Prior to today's game we were 5-2 @ Vandy since Cal took over, with our average margin of victory being 5 points.
I'll take it. I'm happy to see Kentucky leave with the W.
 
I think we should hold off on some of the criticism until we have our full contingent of guys.
Plus, road games are hard for even veteran teams. You get taken right out of your normal on the road and do uncharacteristic things and that's how good teams lose to bad teams on the road. But we won while missing 4 guys. Green and Vanderbilt give this team a huge boost.
But here's something else that grinds my gears. Why is it every time we beat a team that didn't shoot as well as they usually do, we have to make it seem like UK got lucky and caught them on a bad night? Yeah, they missed some open threes, but they miss open threes in every game, even when they're on fire. Our guys guarded the three point arch really well today, just leave it at that.
Also, just remember what we did to ULOL, those were our players in those Kentucky uniforms and they are capable of playing like that, yes.

The 2010-2011 team taught me to never take Conference road wins for granted. A good Final Four team, our best 3-Point Shooting team in Cal's tenure, and we couldn't buy a win on the road that year.
 
DO none of you folks remember the 10'-11' season? UK lost almost every road game they played in the SEC. Only played about 6-7 guys a game and that SAME coach is still here.
Green and Wynyard getting healthy helps UK's depth. Would be great if Baker could come back before the SECT.
 
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If I didn't know the outcome, I'd swear by OP's post we lost.

I'm glad it's only Jan. 14 and not March 8. There's still a lot of season to go and I see some individual guys "getting it" a little more each time. Gabriel and SKJ are starting to become garbage/glue/hustle guys, PJ is playing better on the block, Shai continues to play well, Knox is showing flashes and Hami has his moments. Richards is the only one who seems to be really struggling. We're gonna piss down our legs a few nights on the road in this league, but I still think this team has a chance to do some damage.

We've won two close games with 2 healthy guards. As of right now, Brad Calipari is the backup at both guard spots. Let that sink in.
 
Were you able gain any new insight into the "Langford situation"? Did you shout from mid-court at Cal for not recruiting him?
 
Some of the comments about the team looking this way or that way, I have the same feelings at times while watching the Cats play.
Without naming any player individually, we do take plays off, we are sometimes slow getting back on defense, we do take some head scratching shots at times.
But it is what it is, a young team that is learning on the fly as they say,

What I do to make sense of all this is look at other teams around the country and the scores from these games.
There are veteran teams ranked higher than us that lose games, win close ones, make questionable plays.
Take UL; we beat the crap out of them. They almost beat Purdue, yes almost is not a win, but people are saying Purdue is the real thing and the team we beat the crap out of almost beat them.
This same scenario is the same for many teams this year. More so than in years past.
In a perfect world, this would be a team fans would be loving; a young team knowing they are going to take some lumps but will be back the next year and be a real terror to be dealt with.
Those days are long gone. That is a debate for another day. It is the world be live in today.

There was a time when I used a bicycle with my teams to show them how to stay focused.
Each player would stand up, other teammates would tell them what they bring to the team. That player would take a part of the bicycle, the handle bars, the seat, etc.
Then for a week, we would start practice off by putting our bicycle back together. As we did this, we talked about each of them make up our team; how each of them are connected to one another.
Then, I would tell one of the players to leave their part home one day. The others would freak out, saying things like, "what we do, we don't have a seat", "we don't have any handle bars"?
Great I would say. This is what most people would do, focus on what they don't have; For us, focus on what we do have, find a way to make that bike work. What are you going to do when someone gets hurt, someone is sick in a game? Stay focused on what we have, find a way to win the game.

We are very shorthanded right now. Coach built this team to have all the parts working together and since our first game, we have not had the handle bars, the seat and these kids are finding ways to win.
Stay thirty my friends as the man says, better days are ahead.
While we are figuring out how to build our bicycle, the top teams are not getting that much better either.
 
Since I only live about 30 miles east of Nashville I normally try to make this one game each year to see the Cats. This is Cal's least talented team since the Noel - Goodwin team. Without our 4 star Alexander we would be in big trouble. He is the only player we have who is hard to guard. Everyone else allows themselves to be guarded. We allowed the worst Vandy team in many years to take us to the wire...thank goodness for three missed free throws by a 90% percent shooter. We are really long and play fairly good defense. On offense we just look slow and have no one other than Alexander who can create their own shot. Diallo makes horrible decisions..Knox disappeared the first half. Washington looked uninspired. Gabriel hustles his butt off. Richards and Jones are both very mediocre. We look like a 5 seed and may not make it past the first weekend. This team is the second worst team I have seen at UK since BCG left. Thankfully Vandy shot 9 % from three in the first half and 6-27 for the game or it would have been a long afternoon.. We did guard the three but they miss a bunch of shots I see them often make.
Youngest team in UK history, second youngest in NCAA history and some on here say Cal was out coached at our three losses. 3 losses, and oh yeah, 14 wins so, does that mean he out coached 14 other coaches? Sounds pretty good to me.
 
Youngest team in UK history, second youngest in NCAA history and some on here say Cal was out coached at our three losses. 3 losses, and oh yeah, 14 wins so, does that mean he out coached 14 other coaches? Sounds pretty good to me.
I in no way was attempting to be negative but realistic in what I saw. They are young but not Cals typical freshman.
 
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It’s a pretty idiotic take. This team has some warts and if they remain the same team we see today in January that we’ll see in March they may be home early. Hell they may go home early anyway. The 2011 Final Four Team was a bucket away from going home in the first round. But everyone who remains postitive about this team knows the potential they have and what they can turn into. If you don’t think this team has the potential to be a solid team, you aren’t paying attention and you haven’t been paying attention for the past 8 years. They need to get better defensively, they need to getter better at executing the little things at the end of games. But the thing I like about this team is they make plays at the end of games. From Diallo’s 3 to Gabriel’s putback. This team has done those type of things several times this year. Put it all together and this becomes a solid team. Good news is there’s no solid teams this year.

It’s laughable to say this is one of the least talented teams you’ve seen here under Cal and bring a BCG team into the conversation. Were you in a coma for the 2016 team that basically had 2 guards and got to the sweet 16?
 
Geez dude...we're 14-3 and we won the game on the road without a key player. It's OK.
1. Good news is we're not without SGA...he's on our team and isn't going anywhere (this year anyway).
2. Hami, SGA, and Knox look slow to you? Really?
3. Well, Vandy was 17-18 from the line at one point so maybe LaChance was reversion to the mean.
4. Knox and Diallo can't create their own shot? PJ can't drive and make something happen? This team is nearly 50% from the field for the year and were 54% today.

I respectfully submit the glass half full take.
You and I would get along....the OP must be a blast to be around, lol.
 
I didn’t go to the game, so I can’t report the facts. I watched it on tv, so I can only give my opinion.

I kid.

I would not have made the pessimistic predictions the Op made. I never want to go on record (post) disparaging the heart, effort, intent, talent or potential of our players, team or coach. I’m only a fan. I don’t know these young men. I have no desire to predict disappointment for our team or suggest we won’t overcome our faults. These players inspire me every year.
 
I only got to watch he 2nd half as I was with Cuse fans and their game went to double OT,

Like many times throughout the year, we played a crappy team that made us into their Superbowl. Vandy is a tough place to win and it was one of the earlier SEC road games. I thought we did pretty well. We are 2-1 on the road
 
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