...the leading scoring team in the country surpassing Arizona.
Good Cats: 90.8
Bad Cats: 90.6
Good Cats: 90.8
Bad Cats: 90.6
Kentucky is now...
- Thread starter BlueBomb
- Start date
The entertainment value with this team is very high. I really think I’d rather be 13-3 scoring 90 a game than 16-0 scoring 65 a game.
Quite the offensive turnaround this year - absolutely have to give Cal credit - I’m very pleasantly surprised and happy to eat all the crow as I didn’t think Cal had it in him.
Absolutely. It’s not life or death, it’s entertainment. I don’t want to watch a heavy drama twice a week, would rather watch an action film!
Fun team to watch. The most fun we've been since 2016-2017, for sure. Ratchet up the defense and this might be the team to break the Final Four drought.
I firmly believe if we could just avoid giving up so many offensive rebounds we’d cakewalk to the FF. This team can’t be stopped offensively… just gotta limit opponents possessions.
I would add that we also need to quit giving up so many drives to the basket. Other teams are still doing layup drills on us.
Agreed. But Ugonna is improving rapidly. Give him another 10 games and I think he'll be a top notch rim protector. I've said in other posts that by the end of the season Cal my have Ugonna on the court more often than Bradshaw. Depending on matchups, of course.
I would much rather be 16-0...are you saying you prefer losing high scoring games than winning all low scoring games?
If UK was 16-0 they would be the #1 team in the country with the inside track to the overall 1 seed. You wouldn't want that? You would prefer to be more entertained in a loss?
Not sure anyone would really take 13-3 over 16-0 but there is some merit to his point. Did you catch any of Virginia’s thrilling 65-57 win over VA tech last night. Rock fights are not fun basketball and wins are less satisfying. It’s like getting a root canal, the goal was accomplished but was it really fun?
That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’ve always been honest on here that I’m not a diehard anymore, way more apathetic than I used to be. There’s been years that I’ve barely watched games recently. This year, I look forward to our games and have only missed 1 so far. It’s entertainment to me, win or lose I gotta put my pants on the same way the morning after, might as well have some fun
Sorry, I do not find any merit to that point whatsoever. The goal is to win as many games as possible, by whatever means necessary. High scoring, low scoring, fast paced, half court oriented...it doesn't matter.
The goal is not to put out an entertaining product.
As a fan, I want UK to win. I couldn't care less what the entertainment value is.
False, pro sports is an entertainment business. UK players are paid now, they are professionals
False...if UK averaged 95 pts a game for the next 3 years but missed the tournament each year, the coach would be fired, the fanbase pissed...doesn't matter how entertaining the product is, results are what matter.
Losses aren't Deaths of a Loved One either, but around here every loss is a tragedy like the betrayal at Thermopylae. Much rather lose a high scoring game?! Have you already forgotten Rupp's Rubble after the A&M loss?
“The coach would be fired”
you new here?
I hope you’re not arguing that Uk players aren’t professionals and play for the name on the front of the jersey and the coach on the sideline wants to win above all.
College sports died long ago, I hate it too. But it is what it is, just enjoy it for the entertainment that it provides and don’t let it bother you so much
True. I thought we did a much better job defending the high pick last night though.
If teams beat us by getting creative and throwing the kitchen sink at us then I can live with that. It’s when every team beats us the same way by running pick and roll every damn possession that drives me - and hopefully our staff - batshit.
I agree, I don't want 65, either.
But that's not what Kentucky was the last few years. We were shooting 79pts/game in 2022 (roughly top20 in D1) and 74pts/game in 2023 (80's range in D1.). Last year was too low, but I'm more than OK with 79/game with better defense.
We were really freaking good before injuries derailed us in 2021/22. IMO, that team at it's peak, is beating this team as it stands now. But I do like this teams potential much more, and I think there's still lots of improvements to come. I expect our defensive numbers to start to take off as Ugo gets more acclimated and Silly works on becoming a solid defender.
That's our Achille's heel, defensive rebounding. We're not great at offensive rebounding either but defensive rebounding is our real weakness. The defense is not as bad as many want to say. But even when you hold them to 33% shooting it doesn't matter if you give them 3 shots per possession.
Nobody is arguing that college sports resembles professional sports. Nobody. Not sure why you keep brining that up.
The fact is collegiate sports and professional sports are based upon one thing, results.
Yes, Cal would be fired if the Cats missed the tourney 3 consecutive years.
I am glad you would rather be entertained in a loss than win a low scoring game. That is your preference, so have at it.
Winning is priority #1 but the entertainment value cannot be overlooked. Hell one of my favorite seasons was watching pitino lead a band of misfits to a 14-14 season (or something like that). The 100-95 victory over shaq and LSU was one of the most improbable UK victories in our history. Would it have been as memorable with a 60-55 final? You have your opinion, I have mine and I say there is value in both.
This is weird. 16-0 and headed for a 1 seed sounds amazing with a win over Kansas.
13-3 with a loss to UNCW doesn’t have the same ring to it.
It seems that was our biggest problem last night. MSU killed us on offensive rebounds and because of that, they had another 15 FGA on us. I'd love to know what their 2nd chance pt numbers were on us, because I bet it was high.
We fix that, and the outcome is drastically different, We might have won by 20-25.
Maybe that’s your goal or the coaches goal - it’s not my goal. And 13-3 scoring 95 points per game is still a great team. I’m not saying I would want us to be 5-7 scoring 95 a game. The 13-3 team scoring 95 a game would probably make it further in the tournament anyway. Honestly the argument is silly anyway, you need a good offense to win, just like how Alabama football adjusted some time ago seems Cal has too. You need to score a lot to win nowadays, and we’ve won more this year scoring more than the last 3 years so it’s a win win.
I didn’t care for the loss at A&M but it didn’t eat at me either. It’s still a crime that we lost to Wisconsin in 2015 while scoring a measly 64 points with 8 future NBA players on the roster.
We saw some hope last night in the first half. Like they can play some defense. Just have to be consistent.
Just get a little better defensively, and get a lot better on defensive rebounds. The keys to the season.
Tbh, I like UK basketball and hope they win but it doesn’t really bother me if we lose any more. I think the team is fun and I really like seeing Reed play, a Kentucky boy lighting it up is awesome to me.
I just don’t think 99% of players or our HC puts the name on the front of the jersey as the priority any more and so why should I care as much? Ya know
One and done killed it for me, now the transfer portal makes it free agency. I just don’t care as much. Let’s dunk and run and shoot 3s and make great passes and put up 95 and I’ll go to bed happy. Just how I am any more. Understand if yall haven’t gotten to that point
Yep and even against A&M… if we simply give up 18 offensive rebounds (still too many) instead of 25, we win easily in regulation. Even playing bad defense.
You be you I guess. Can’t imagine feeling this way.
Yep, and Im willing to give a little bit of a pass to our bigs. Bradshaw is a freshman, missed a lot of time with his injury.. Ugo barely played last year, also still coming off an injury. I think they will get better, and I think we're seeing that we should give Ugo plenty of minutes. If we can get the rest of the team to gang-rebound, box out, etc.. we will get the boards up.
I always forget how bad Cal's teams can look in the early goings of SEC play in January. Even the Fox/Monk team that went on a final 15 game tear? They were just 1-3 to finish out January, and were an OT away from losing 4 straight.
And you look at those games:
Loss to Tennessee - Then went on to wax them a month later
Loss to Kansas - Pretty sure we were better than them by seasons end.
OT win against Georgia - Beat them, on the road a month later, in regulation.
Loss to Florida in a blowout - Beat them by 10 a month later.
I bet you'd see a lot of this for all of Cal's teams comparing January to March. We are not very good in the early goings of SEC, but it's basically due to youth and inexperience, and it gets corrected, almost every single year, as the season progresses.
Like the tragedy of Agamemnon at the fury of Clytemnestra….
That A&M loss just sucked because of how we lost. If we could’ve guarded a lamppost just for ONE possession we win. Frustrating.
Not sure how many 2nd chance points they got but they didn’t exactly kill us on the offensive glass. Had 10 total offensive boards. Last year’s team with Oscar gave up just under 9/game.
I'm seeing 16 to 9 in their favor. We did have better defensive rebounding than they did, and it was even at the end. But their rebounding was much more balanced. For Kentucky, we were solid at getting their misses, but not good at all getting ours. So maybe their 2nd chance points were average, but ours must have been low.
Despite losing by double digits, MSU still had 15 FGA on us.
Really, the big difference this game was free throws, we had 17 more made.
Absolutely.
We've suffered through 3 years of bad offense. This offense is a dream come true.
I think we're more likely to improve a bad defensive team than a bad offensive team. I've seen bad offensive teams not get dramatically better the last 3 years. Calipari teams are typically pretty good on defense.
We have GOOD athletes. They should be able to play defense. They showed signs of it vs MSU, especially in the 1st half.
A team that scores 90 is less likely to get upset by a hot shooting team in rd 1-2 than a team that scores 65 but plays great defense. UVA has proven that one.
The best teams can play both styles I think. If shots aren’t falling, they can grind it out and get stops when needed. But can also go of hot spurts to bury an opponent with their firepower.
Everyone in March has a nail biter, I would much rather have a team that does not struggle to score to get buckets down the stretch, than one that is laboring trading contested shots against a team with nothing to lose.
The best teams can play both styles I think. If shots aren’t falling, they can grind it out and get stops when needed. But can also go of hot spurts to bury an opponent with their firepower.
Everyone in March has a nail biter, I would much rather have a team that does not struggle to score to get buckets down the stretch, than one that is laboring trading contested shots against a team with nothing to lose.
What kind of offensive rebounding team do you expect with 5 out? That's what putting your center and 4 near the paint does.
Square the circle. That's all Calipari has to do. Other coaches do it all the time. It's mere perversity that Calipari doesn't.
A lot of our rebounding problems (not all) are a result of not being able to guard anyone. After a blowby our other players have to come and help out (they're not good at that either) and leaves a shot wide open for an offensive rebound.
Nothing really matters except winning our last six games in March/April.
Nothing really matters except winning our last six games in March/April.
I don't think anyone is saying you don't need a good offense nowadays.
But why would your goal not be to win every game? What is the point of playing, lol...
I don't care if UK wins 60-59 or 100-99, the goal is to win.
Ludicrous for people to say they would rather be 13-3 then 16-0. Absolute insanity.
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