How impressive is our last two games?

[kyboss360]

I want to hear some discussion but here is a few points of thought:

After a terrible road loss to Auburn we went into a undefeated at home and always hostile crowd at Arkansas and shut them down soundly. Then yesterday we follow up that win less than 48 hours later dismantle a Vandy team that is only a 6 point dog at Rupp and it looked to be a tough match-up with their mobile and sharp shooting big's.

Extra Note: we had struggled going into these two games defending the three and held the two best 3 point shooting teams in the SEC to a combined 7 three's.

Seems fairly impressive to me.

 

[BBUK]

They are good wins but UK will get better. Not getting overly hyped at this point. jmuo

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Lets put it this way:
Those were over all our best two gms of the season.

 

[bigblue7609]

Lets put it this way:
Those were over all our best two gms of the season.

Duke was hands down our best game of the season

 

[Hoskins91]

Id say we did what we were supposed to, if you think this team has a chance of doing anything in the postseason. Be happy, we took care of business, but it doesn't look like either of those teams are anything special.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Imagine Kentucky ends up a 3 seed, which may be close to the ceiling at this point: Beating Arkansas was roughly like winning the first game against a 13-seed, a decent team that had won a decent, non-BCS conference. Beating Vandy was roughly like winning the second game against a 6-seed or an 11-seed. Yeah, Vandy is no 6-seed but with an intact line-up that's not too far off -- its a line-up with fringe Top 25 talent, which would be a 6-seed.

So, winning the last two games might be compared to getting through to the Sweet 16 convincingly. Good start, long way to go.

 

[jameslee32]

Impressed with our defense and rebounding. Those go a long way in securing a win. No reason to throw in the towel as a few have done. It's a long season.

 

[uk78]

We have looked much better, no doubt. But, you have to analyze how we play when we face certain teams make up. Kentucky's weakness as we all know is no outstanding center. So, against teams either without a great front line or not the most athletic big men, Cal has been able to post on the baseline Poythress for moves to the front of the basket. Poy has looked great. But, when we have faced a team with a strong center, Poy has not looked that good. We will beat some of the weaker SEC teams but unless Skal or Lee can improve, or Poy remains consistent we are going to get exposed against a better team. As I have suggested in other posts, however, there really aren't that many great teams so that is the good news.

 

[CatEye2010]

We have looked much better, no doubt. But, you have to analyze how we play when we face certain teams make up. Kentucky's weakness as we all know is no outstanding center. So, against teams either without a great front line or not the most athletic big men, Cal has been able to post on the baseline Poythress for moves to the front of the basket. Poy has looked great. But, when we have faced a team with a strong center, Poy has not looked that good. We will beat some of the weaker SEC teams but unless Skal or Lee can improve, or Poy remains consistent we are going to get exposed against a better team. As I have suggested in other posts, however, there really aren't that many great teams so that is the good news.

I dunno. Poy posted up 7'1" Kornett pretty good yesterday.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

Duke was hands down our best game of the season

I really thought yesterday was our best game. We really executed at both ends, Duke is not very good in my opinion Vandy is better.

 

[Bkocats]

Imagine Kentucky ends up a 3 seed, which may be close to the ceiling at this point: Beating Arkansas was roughly like winning the first game against a 13-seed, a decent team that had won a decent, non-BCS conference. Beating Vandy was roughly like winning the second game against a 6-seed or an 11-seed. Yeah, Vandy is no 6-seed but with an intact line-up that's not too far off -- its a line-up with fringe Top 25 talent, which would be a 6-seed.

So, winning the last two games might be compared to getting through to the Sweet 16 convincingly. Good start, long way to go.

really like the way you think
works for me!

 

[uk78]

Kornet is good, but not exactly the most athletic especially when coming off a knee injury recently. But, if Poy can play like he did, I will be fine with it. I just am not trusting yet. Kansas will tell us a lot.

 

[The_Answer1313]

2 point underdog at Arkansas and win by 14
4 point favorite vs Vandy and win by 19

Yep. I'd say we are trending in the right direction

 

[ORCAT]

Much improved look by us and it was great to see that as OP pointed out, our defense against 2 strong 3 point shooting teams was impressive. But, I'm not getting overly excited just yet because neither of those teams are real good, gotta be honest there. As one above said, the Kansas game will be a real yardstick in measuring where we really are. A good strong showing at their place, win or lose, would be a big step forward for this team.

 

[Xception]

We put too much stock in individual games or games we care more about . There will be fluctuation throughout the season but keep the big picture in mind . When we have a good game it doesn't mean we have reached that plateau and will perform at that level or higher going forward . We'll make strides and then fall back but it doesn't mean we have regressed either . In the end I hope we become consistent enough to make a run .

 

[The_Answer1313]

We put too much stock in individual games or games we care more about . There will be fluctuation throughout the season but keep the big picture in mind . When we have a good game it doesn't mean we have reached that plateau and will perform at that level or higher going forward . We'll make strides and then fall back but it doesn't mean we have regressed either . In the end I hope we become consistent enough to make a run .

I totally agree and as fans we tend to make more of a big deal about individual wins and losses.

What I like to look for is strings of good wins or losses. Once we start stringing together good wins, then it might indicate we've turned the corner. If they blow out Missouri (which they should) and plays Kansas respectable, then we have gotten better than we were a few weeks ago.

 

[caneintally]

Duke was hands down our best game of the season

Duke was the best but Vandy was the easy 2nd. Vandy is hugely talented.

 

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

Duke and Arky the best, because neither was at home. Ole miss was solid as was vandy but coach Cal and myself both expect to beat middle to bottom feeding sec teams at home.

 

[Hopmix]

I guess I don't have blue colored glasses on yet. These are unranked teams. We have a bench of top 100 ranked players and all Americans. These are wins. That's all. Not good resume building wins. The teams shot bad. Just w's we were supposed to get. And by double digits. I want to see us win when the team is shooting like crazy and playing a "Super Bowl" game. When we get those wins. Now we are talking. Until then we are ranked right where we should be.

 

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

. Vandy is hugely talented.

really...that explains why they're 11-8. Just like Skal being one of the top 2-3 talents Cal has ever recruited explains why he played like 2 minutes yesterday

 

[The_Answer1313]

I guess I don't have blue colored glasses on yet. These are unranked teams. We have a bench of top 100 ranked players and all Americans. These are wins. That's all. Not good resume building wins. The teams shot bad. Just w's we were supposed to get. And by double digits. I want to see us win when the team is shooting like crazy and playing a "Super Bowl" game. When we get those wins. Now we are talking. Until then we are ranked right where we should be.

Human polls are terrible. Vandy was ranked 26th in Kenpom and 25th in Sargarin.
Arkansas was 57th in Kenpom and 59th in Sargarin but when you factor playing the game on the road, it's equivalent to facing a top 25 team.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Also, it wasn't like we sweaked by these teams, we blew them out.

 

[ZenCatFan73]

Agree Duke was the most impressive. The UL win was a good one too. They're no slouches. To the OP's point, the way we just beat Vandy down was pretty impressive.

 

[caneintally]

really...that explains why they're 11-8. Just like Skal being one of the top 2-3 talents Cal has ever recruited explains why he played like 2 minutes yesterday

LOL LSU has 4-5 pros on their team yet they have 7 losses . You can't be that dense or can you? Things happen and just b/c you are talented doesn't mean you make a great team. Vandy was top 15 preaseason for a reason as they have 2 top 20 picks , a good 7 footer and 2 other guards who will be all sec before they leave. LSU and Vandy are walking advertisements for how talent doesn't matter without a coach .

 

[kyjeff1]

Duke was hands down our best game of the season

Nah, that was ugly basketball by both teams. It was a good win but performance wise the way we played the last 2 games is ten times better than what we looked like in the duke game.

 

[kyjeff1]

I love where this team is at this time. It's January and we are starting to see what we have seen so many times out of Cal's teams. They seem to improve by leaps and bounds from here. Based in what we were seeing a few weeks ago I feel like this team is much better than what I thought they eould be at this time. Lets hope they can sustain it.

Look around the cbb landscape. Even the best teams are struggling against Middle of the road conference teams. North Carolina (who hasn't played a ranked team since 12/3 by the way) allowed Va Tech to put 70 on the board and almost lost. That is the supposed "best team" right now. UK beat a better team than VT at their house by 16 and it wasn't even that close.
The emergence of Willis and the fact that we have Ulis gives me enough reassurance that this team has what it takes. They have 2 months to grow even more. They could be really good.

 

[IL Wildcat]

There is no question we're headed in the right direction right now. Perhaps the news of UK's demise were a bit premature and exaggerated. Perhaps the sky wasn't falling after all.

Now the team knows what they must do to win games. So, they just need to keep working, remain desperate and hungry, and keep improving.

 

[LowCountryCat]

We have looked much better, no doubt. But, you have to analyze how we play when we face certain teams make up. Kentucky's weakness as we all know is no outstanding center. So, against teams either without a great front line or not the most athletic big men, Cal has been able to post on the baseline Poythress for moves to the front of the basket. Poy has looked great. But, when we have faced a team with a strong center, Poy has not looked that good. We will beat some of the weaker SEC teams but unless Skal or Lee can improve, or Poy remains consistent we are going to get exposed against a better team. As I have suggested in other posts, however, there really aren't that many great teams so that is the good news.

We had the tallest team in the world last year and still didn't win it all, due to *ahem* GUARD PLAY.

 

[WildcatDJ]

The teams shot bad. Just w's we were supposed to get. And by double digits. I want to see us win when the team is shooting like crazy and playing a "Super Bowl" game. When we get those wins. Now we are talking. Until then we are ranked right where we should be.

The teams shot bad because we were aware that they were good three point shooting teams and our three starting guards are all elite level defenders at their best.

It's up to us. If we play the way we're capable of playing defensively, we can really limit the opposing team's offense by shutting down their guards.

 

[Estil]

Imagine Kentucky ends up a 3 seed

Heh, they won the 1998 championship as a 2 seed and came just a couple 3's short of winning it in 2014 as an eighth seed. I'm not saying they shouldn't get as good a seed as they can to improve their chances but really anything can happen in the NCAA's.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

The UL win was a good one too. They're no slouches.

To paraphrase from Caddyshack......Don't sell UL short. They're TREMENDOUS slouches.

 

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

LOL LSU has 4-5 pros on their team yet they have 7 losses . You can't be that dense or can you? Things happen and just b/c you are talented doesn't mean you make a great team. Vandy was top 15 preaseason for a reason as they have 2 top 20 picks , a good 7 footer and 2 other guards who will be all sec before they leave. LSU and Vandy are walking advertisements for how talent doesn't matter without a coach .

You spend too much time regurgitating the smoke that recruiting analysts blow up your ass about who is projected to be awesome. That's why you thought skal was going to be so great.

Vandy and LSU are walking advertisements for what teams look like when the scouts over hyped them. a lot of guys look sensational in hs or AAU where there's no defense.

 

[Kydude04]

Also, we barely turned the ball over those two games. I hope we can steal one at Kansas.

 

[ZenCatFan73]

To paraphrase from Caddyshack......Don't sell them short. They're TREMENDOUS slouches.

LOL.