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I think we are the best team in the country right now!

I’ve been saying all season you can’t judge this team until Feb. 1st.

But if you put a gun to my head right now I say we’re a Sweet 16 team.

Whether that’s the floor or the ceiling TBD.
 
I don’t think Tennessee is any better than UK. They haven’t really faced a schedule that will tell you anything. Auburn on the other hand is the best team in the country. They should leap frog Tennessee in the rankings. Duke is also gonna be a problem come tournament time. The ACC is a joke and Duke rolls to the top #1 seed with Kansas being close behind. The SEC is gonna be punished for being so hard, we will get a lot of teams in but no really high seeds likely.
 
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I don't disagree with OP and am 0% scared of Auburn. We need to get better at foul line...it is the only thing that truly concerns me with this team.
Defense and rebounding concern me big time! Williams needs to get his mind right and forget about scoring! He has the talent to be a very good rim protector and rebounder. That's what he needs to focus on!
Pope needs to show him how Ben Wallace played.
That's what he should pattern his game after!
He would still score 8-12 PPG just from cleanup dunks/ lobs/put back ect
 
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I’ve been saying all season you can’t judge this team until Feb. 1st.

But if you put a gun to my head right now I say we’re a Sweet 16 team.

Whether that’s the floor or the ceiling TBD.
How can you say that after we have wins over 3 tourney teams in Duke, Gonzaga and Louisville?
 
Defense and rebounding concern me big time! Williams needs to get his mind right and forget about scoring! He has the talent to be a very good rim protector and rebounder. That's what he needs to focus on!
Pope needs to show him how Ben Wallace played.
That's what he should pattern his game after!
He would still score 8-12 PPG just from cleanup dunks/ lobs/put back ect

Our defense goes through some challenges at times. Not concerned about rebounding and don't understand why some are. Generally do a solid job there. Statistically one of the top teams in country at rebounding. On top of that our FG percentage is Top 25 which limits our offensive rebounding opportunities.

Defensively, one concern I do have is our lack of forcing turnovers.

Williams takes 6.5 shots per game and is shooting 58%. He is averaging a double double + a couple assists and blocks per game. He has been good. He also cut down turnovers...only 6 in past 5 games (and 4 of those were in one game).
 
I don’t think we are number 1. But I also don’t think there’s a team we can’t beat.

But there’s also several teams that beat us on s given night if we don’t fix our defense and especially defensive rebounding.

We can’t count on just out scoring every defensive mistake.
 
I'm not the best in picking up sarcasm but we are like one rebound per game from #1 in country in total rebounds per game. Our margin is Top 25.
Oh.. I thought our ( offensive ) rebounding was pretty bad? Haven’t looked up any stats, just noticed by watching..
 
Oh.. I thought our ( offensive ) rebounding was pretty bad? Haven’t looked up any stats, just noticed by watching..

Offensive rebounding is 11.7 RPG which is 128th in country. That is about 5 RPG less than Texas A&M who is #1. But, UK shoots 50% from floor whereas A&M is 42%.
 
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HH your belief in uk is the best and refreshing but auburn is the best team in the nation
The last time that was said we spanked them and ruined their home winning streak. They did lose to Duke. We didnt
I don't think so.

As it stands, we have an outside shot at a 1.

A 2 or 3 seed is very much in play.

We have those two good wins, but we haven't looked dominant against some of our easier teams, especially recently. Colgate, Western, and Georgia State were a bit uninspiring. Even beating UL by under 10 on our home court isn't outstanding. A top team should be expected to really drop hammer and make 1 or 2 of those want to quit basketball.
A top team is dimply expected to keep on winning
 
The last time that was said we spanked them and ruined their home winning streak. They did lose to Duke. We didnt

A top team is dimply expected to keep on winning
Good point, but auburn just seems like they have an extra gear nobody else does. Kentucky is right their with them, along with tenn, bama, and Florida in the SEC
 
How can you say that after we have wins over 3 tourney teams in Duke, Gonzaga and Louisville?
I will say this for sure. If Brea, Butler and Robinson are knocking down threes. Teams will not be able to keep Carr or Oweh from getting to the rim. Kentucky has been able to find and exploit the other teams weaknesses in each game. We just did not hit the shots at Clemson. We are going to be a tough out. But, not having Kriisa is going to take away a very big advantage depth/late game fresher legs.
 
I don’t think Tennessee is any better than UK. They haven’t really faced a schedule that will tell you anything. Auburn on the other hand is the best team in the country. They should leap frog Tennessee in the rankings. Duke is also gonna be a problem come tournament time. The ACC is a joke and Duke rolls to the top #1 seed with Kansas being close behind. The SEC is gonna be punished for being so hard, we will get a lot of teams in but no really high seeds likely.
I can't judge AU or TN but I will tell you without hesitation, very few teams could or would beat Illinois in their house. Illinois is a tough out in their place with Big 10 refs. I watches a small sample of their game last night. The last 8 minutes. Illinois got whistles if
I will say this for sure. If Brea, Butler and Robinson are knocking down threes. Teams will not be able to keep Carr or Oweh from getting to the rim. Kentucky has been able to find and exploit the other teams weaknesses in each game. We just did not hit the shots at Clemson. We are going to be a tough out. But, not having Kriisa is going to take away a very big advantage depth/late game fresher legs.
If a frog has wings!!! There are probably 10 or more teams that can say if X, Y, and Z are knocking down threes, their two other players can get to the rim uncontested. Really good defensive teams will slow down making threes. I read today the Lady Vols made 30 threes their last game. I'll bet they will not make 10 against LSU, South Carolina, Lady Cats, and most other SEC teams. I will agree that in a game that we hit a hig percentage of threes, we will be very hard to beat. I will also say, come March if we can't buy a three we may be packing our bags for home. My hope is come March we will be able to control the paint. Threes are so risky to depend on against an elite defensive team. We are big enough to dominate the paint. With that said, nothing will allow high percentage of made threes like controlling the paint. That will eliminate three dfenders to stay outside to defend.
 
I can't judge AU or TN but I will tell you without hesitation, very few teams could or would beat Illinois in their house. Illinois is a tough out in their place with Big 10 refs. I watches a small sample of their game last night. The last 8 minutes. Illinois got whistles if

If a frog has wings!!! There are probably 10 or more teams that can say if X, Y, and Z are knocking down threes, their two other players can get to the rim uncontested. Really good defensive teams will slow down making threes. I read today the Lady Vols made 30 threes their last game. I'll bet they will not make 10 against LSU, South Carolina, Lady Cats, and most other SEC teams. I will agree that in a game that we hit a hig percentage of threes, we will be very hard to beat. I will also say, come March if we can't buy a three we may be packing our bags for home. My hope is come March we will be able to control the paint. Threes are so risky to depend on against an elite defensive team. We are big enough to dominate the paint. With that said, nothing will allow high percentage of made threes like controlling the paint. That will eliminate three dfenders to stay outside to defend.
How do you think we have been winning since the WKU game. We have been winning the paint. We certainly have not beaten anyone with our 3pt percentage other than Louisville. We are going to take 25-35 threes per game. Pope’s offense revolves around spacing and hoisting 3’s. Indirectly, this means the paint is more open for drives and post play, whether that be a good pocket pass or drive from 3 point line. You take and make threes, those 2’s get much easier. If you pound the rock in the paint without spacing and 3 point makes, the defense sags and makes it very difficult to make a great percentage.
 
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Duke and Gonzaga will dominate their weak conferences and have a shot at 1 seeds with just 2-3 losses.

The winner of the SEC (I’m saying Auburn) will be a 1 seed and the winner of the Big 12 (KU, Iowa St., or Houston) will get the last 1 seed.

My prediction for 1 seeds:

South- SEC winner
Midwest- Big 12 winner
East- Duke
West- Gonzaga

We are looking at somewhere between a 2-5 seed, IMHO.
 
Our offensive rebounding is not a weakness. It might not be a strength but it’s not a problem.

Defensive rebounding is awful.


We are literally the #1 defensive rebounding team in the country right now. First link is total, currently #4. Second link is defensive, currently #1.
 
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You're missing the point. They will be #1 seed after they return to the confines of their weak conference and end up winning close to 30 games as a result.
Their resume bolstered no doubt by the much ballyhooed matchups with St. Mary's 🙄
 
Probably not the best team in the country but our SEC schedule could be worse. We play Auburn once, and it’s at Rupp. Kentucky could definitely win the SEC and get a 1 seed.
 
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Teams like UCONN, Duke and Gonzaga are not going to face the gauntlet the top SEC teams are going to face. While they are beating up on Quad 2 and 3 teams, every team in the SEC is quad 1. That will change as the season goes on, but only because we are beating ourselves and the committee will forget the SEC kicked the sh!t out of all the other leagues from top to bottom in the non-conference.
 
I think we are a top 15 team currently..........maybe top 10.

I don't think we are the best even in our conference. I'm not sure how one makes an argument that we are better than say Auburn currently.
 
It has been a wonderful start to the season, probably better than most of us dared hope.
I'll get blasted for this for this but I don't think we are as good as our record says we are.
Have we earned our current ranking ,yes we have. Colgate raised some red flags, UL is a
decent team at best, we have yet to hammer a decent or better team. How will we handle
things in the SEC is still a big question for me.
 
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You guys are great at hindsight bashing but not so good at acknowledging my Vikings.
Go over to the football board and give the Vikings a like!
 
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