I am more Disappointed and Troubled than Angry........

[blueblood65]

I honestly can't and couldn't believe what I watched last night. Total meltdown. I know there isn't a miracle worker for this team but a 12 point lead at Auburn and a 21 point lead at Tenn and lose both? Yes, I am very disappointed and troubled by this. I know this team is what it is but after Saturday's game I didn't expect that kind of performance. Oh well, I'm not jumping off the ship and never will. That game is still in my mind but now it's time to get ready for Florida........GO CATS!

 

[TriCountyCat]

Three things make me angry...I get angry that shitbag teams in the SEC only get up for one game a year and it's against us, officials are influenced by crowd noise and even though we are the face of SEC basketball, we are treated like red headed step children on the road. You think Alabama football deals with this? I don't see it. Finally, I get pissed when I hear "wow, what a shot, this guys hasn't made a three all year and he is 3-4 against UK." We really do seem to have some bad ass luck.

 

[uk78]

Or, maybe it is called defense. Willis is Kyle Wiltjer without the offense. His man was able to drive, or get open looks which caused other players to sag and rotate which again allowed wide open looks. You can typically tell who is doing well when the offense is within a certain rhythm and flow. Tenn. had plays, passes with players cutting to the basket, etc. Kentucky had Ulis and Murray trying to create looks through one on one plays in the second half or one dimensional offense whereas in the first half there were perimeter passing with crisp ball movement. When we still had a lead in the second half and Poythress entered I said out loud (but of course to myself) don't trust in just him. Dribbles off his leg, made other poor moves, and turn-over city.

 

[ManitouDan]

Several points I'll throw out .. first to point the finger at one guy ( willis) only as a poor defender is just not accepting the fact that we don't defend well at all as a team . I mean as a TEAM we suck at consistently keeping dribble penetration from killing us ... and that isn't on the bigs . Secondly we are quickly building up a slew of games we lost that we had no business losing . NONE . Tosu , Auburn, UT and this after last year escaping several times with razor thin W's that never should have been that .. I was at the Notre Dame game last year , we didn't win it , we stole that game , they completely outplayed us but we had big KAT down low to save our skin. ( honestly how many times are we going to have a roster that much better than everyone else ??) We came within a single basket of not making the FF with that team. Last year the OT game with Texas-AM , and the Wisc loss . Heck I'm sure I'm forgetting a few horrible games where our talent was far superior to the opponent but we barely escape . We are losing to many we shouldn't be losing . That's not opinion its just fact . Having said all that I'm not saying we need a new captain. NO , Just that the captain might change his way of thinking in his approach to a few small things .. zone up a few times to save our bigs from foul trouble . Play the freaking bench a TON more early in the year and STICK WITH WHAT WORKS .. we stay with the up tempo and platoon system last year we win # 9 . Go zone on OOB plays . Have a couple offensive sets that you can go to anytime to get exactly the shot we want .. NOT some impromptu dive and see what happens stuff .. no , an exact set to the player we want taking the shot we want .. I swear I rarely , if ever , see that out of us this year. and recruit a few more shooters .

 

[Cawood86]

Some teams and players have that desire and fight. To me, this teams lacks that from most of its players. You can't make guys care. I just don't think winning a game is that important to some of them. Truly hope I'm wrong. A guy that truly wants to win more than anything is very hard to beat.

I saw a video from years and years ago about a baseball team and the Manager was being interviewed. He was asked why his team was so successful. He answered "Go ask any of them what is their batting Avg, how many hits they have, etc" . The reporter did and none of them knew.

 

[BlueBomb]

I'm really not angry at all. I guess I've reached a point in my life where I don't let it affect me as much as it used to.

But I'm concerned about this: Cal seems to require LOTS of top tier talent to win. If you're like me, you used to point out every chance you got about how Dean Smith needed five McDonald's All Americans to be able to even sniff a Final Four. Well, sometimes it seems Cal needs eight All-Americans. And you can bet that fans of other teams say the same things about Cal that we said about Smith.

I know we're always young, I get that. But the talent level between UK and UT is considerable. That bothers me.

 

[trinity45]

Or, maybe it is called defense. Willis is Kyle Wiltjer without the offense. His man was able to drive, or get open looks which caused other players to sag and rotate which again allowed wide open looks. You can typically tell who is doing well when the offense is within a certain rhythm and flow. Tenn. had plays, passes with players cutting to the basket, etc. Kentucky had Ulis and Murray trying to create looks through one on one plays in the second half or one dimensional offense whereas in the first half there were perimeter passing with crisp ball movement. When we still had a lead in the second half and Poythress entered I said out loud (but of course to myself) don't trust in just him. Dribbles off his leg, made other poor moves, and turn-over city.

I can't just blame Willis but I know there are some out there just waiting for that chance, this was a total team melt down. It seems once we get up we stop creating offense as a team and get more one on one sets and the flow of the offense gets blown out of the water, Defense, guards get taken to the rack, bigs don't rotate over fast enough and pick up the foul, nobody seems to know how to take a charge..... could go on but why the game is over just hope Cal can get this figured out.

 

[the stat man]

I have to agree I am not really angry (was during the game though lol ) I am just really disappointed, but not in the same way I was after the lost to Kansas. I just can't find any reason on earth Kentucky should have lost that game.

 

[docholiday51]

I'm really not angry at all. I guess I've reached a point in my life where I don't let it affect me as much as it used to.

But I'm concerned about this: Cal seems to require LOTS of top tier talent to win. If you're like me, you used to point out every chance you got about how Dean Smith needed five McDonald's All Americans to be able to even sniff a Final Four. Well, sometimes it seems Cal needs eight All-Americans. And you can bet that fans of other teams say the same things about Cal that we said about Smith.

I know we're always young, I get that. But the talent level between UK and UT is considerable. That bothers me.

I am in the same boat except I actually lost sleep after last night not being mad but trying to figure out how we lost that game from the 10 minute mark of the first half.

On the board here we spend way too much time posting about draft stock and if certain players should go or stay and we don't stand to make a dime either way.The players have a million times more on the line than we do so you know they think about it,the players at UT or Auburn are worried about winning the game or outplaying that 1st round SOB just to show him and the world that I can.

How important is it to these guys to win an individual game,the AAU mentality creeps in 'win or lose it doesn't matter there is always another game to play' How much do all the guys want it,you have to wonder a little as we watch what we watch.

 

[kitkoodle]

All teams have slumps some come out of it like our 2014 team did or some do not like our 2013 team..we can be there every year regardless how much WE all want to believe we can..we need to quit being hard on the kids and just face it..not all highly recruits can play at the next level