Our freshmen have a long history of freezing under the bright lights (stats inside).

[Son_Of_Saul]

With the obvious exception being the 2012 national title game, here's a look at how our freshmen have done in closeout games in the NCAA tournament. You'll notice that only eight of these pivotal rotation freshmen have had games where they shot over 50% in these closeout games. Others, like Murray, Herro, SGA, Ty Ty, Fox, Knight, Dillingham, Sheppard, Wagner, etc., have been absolutely mind-bogglingly woeful.

It's true that some of these same players carried UK in earlier rounds and played great basketball (2011 and 2014 obviously come to mind), but more often than not, the major issue for our pre-Final Four collapses is because young players freeze under the biggest lights.

SGA's closeout game: 2/10 from the field.
John Wall's closeout game: 7/18 from the field.
Eric Bledsoe: 3/9.
Reed Sheppard: 1/5
Rob Dillingham: 2/9
DJ Wagner: 0/5
Brandon Knight: 6/23
James Young: 5/13
Julius Randle: 3/7
Andrew Harrison: 3/9
Aaron Harrison: 3/7
Jamal Murray: 7/18
Bam Adebayo: 4/10
Malik Monk: 4/10
De'Aaron Fox: 5/14
Skal Labissiere: 2/6
Dakari Johnson: 2/5
Justin Edwards 4/9
PJ Washington 8/20 from the free throw line
Hamidou Diallo: 1/4
Tyler Herro: 3/11
Keldon Johnson: 5/13
Ashton Hagans: 7 turnovers
Ty Ty Washington: 2/10
Chris Livingston: 5/13
Trey Lyles: 3/7


DeMarcus Cousins: 6/11
Kevin Knox: 5/10
Doron Lamb: 5/10
Terrence Jones: 5/8
Cason Wallace: 9/11
Karl Towns: 7/11
Devon Booker: 3/6
Tyler Ulis: 2/4

 

[know1]

It's a coaching problem. Don't blame the players.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

It's a coaching problem. Don't blame the players.

Yes, that's obvious.

I think the players feel Cal's nervousness. It's only getting worse over time.

 

[Fox2monk]

Yes, that's obvious.

I think the players feel Cal's nervousness. It's only getting worse over time.

Before that UNC game Fox was on fire. Just shows how much strategy bites us in the arse. It would be nice to have an opportunity to choke in the final 4 again.

 

[know1]

Yes, that's obvious.

I think the players feel Cal's nervousness. It's only getting worse over time.

No, they don't feel his nervousness. They just don't know what to do and the coach makes no adjustments during the game. He hangs them out to dry with no coaching.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

No, they don't feel his nervousness. They just don't know what to do and the coach makes no adjustments during the game. He hangs them out to dry with no coaching.

It's clearly both. It's strategy, and yes, they absolutely do feel his nervousness. Just look at the last four minutes of the Wisconsin game when he was ready to rip his player's heads off while belching orders from the sideline. Same can be said for 2019 Auburn, 2022 St. Peter's, and this year.

 

[JonathanW]

I realize you have an agenda. And I am not arguing with the point you are trying to make.
But you are ignoring an important FACT. That for most teams, a loss means your team didn’t play (shoot) well that game.

For example look at Knight who is highlighted on your list, and Aaron Harrison who is on your list too. NO UK fan would say Aaron H folded under pressure in possible season ending games!!! I also recall Knight doing the same vs OSU.
Secondly, your 50% mark may be a bit high, especially for perimeter players (which your list is full of) since it’s not common for a perimeter player to average 50% (I doubt we’ve had more than 5 over past 15 seasons).

A better analysis, removing bias (cherry picking), would be to calculate the shooting % change (over past 15 years) of UK FR from regular season vs tournament, and compare that to the same for the UK non-FR. I think there is a good chance that would support your claim.

 

[ace on the river]

Teague played great in the tournament, he was a mentally tough freshman

 

[hartfoundation08]

What I see the last 10 years is that the players play loose and free at the beginning of the year and we look great and we get our hopes up but as the year goes on we start to get tight. They play afraid to make a mistake

 

[UKWildcats1987]

You can post similar stats about experienced players choking over the decades as well. We choked in 2005, 2004 and 2003 and 1999 with Tubby to name a few. 97, 95, 93, 92 with Pitinos players. You can do the same with a lot of Hall teams as well.

 

[NociHTTP]

What I see the last 10 years is that the players play loose and free at the beginning of the year and we look great and we get our hopes up but as the year goes on we start to get tight. They play afraid to make a mistake

NBA draft status worries.

 

[Kuhldaddy]

Julius Randle had big time stage fright before the championship game

 

[tug1543]

With the obvious exception being the 2012 national title game, here's a look at how our freshmen have done in closeout games in the NCAA tournament. You'll notice that only eight of these pivotal rotation freshmen have had games where they shot over 50% in these closeout games. Others, like Murray, Herro, SGA, Ty Ty, Fox, Knight, Dillingham, Sheppard, Wagner, etc., have been absolutely mind-bogglingly woeful.

It's true that some of these same players carried UK in earlier rounds and played great basketball (2011 and 2014 obviously come to mind), but more often than not, the major issue for our pre-Final Four collapses is because young players freeze under the biggest lights.

SGA's closeout game: 2/10 from the field.
John Wall's closeout game: 7/18 from the field.
Eric Bledsoe: 3/9.
Reed Sheppard: 1/5
Rob Dillingham: 2/9
DJ Wagner: 0/5
Brandon Knight: 6/23
James Young: 5/13
Julius Randle: 3/7
Andrew Harrison: 3/9
Aaron Harrison: 3/7
Jamal Murray: 7/18
Bam Adebayo: 4/10
Malik Monk: 4/10
De'Aaron Fox: 5/14
Skal Labissiere: 2/6
Dakari Johnson: 2/5
Justin Edwards 4/9
PJ Washington 8/20 from the free throw line
Hamidou Diallo: 1/4
Tyler Herro: 3/11
Keldon Johnson: 5/13
Ashton Hagans: 7 turnovers
Ty Ty Washington: 2/10
Chris Livingston: 5/13
Trey Lyles: 3/7


DeMarcus Cousins: 6/11
Kevin Knox: 5/10
Doron Lamb: 5/10
Terrence Jones: 5/8
Cason Wallace: 9/11
Karl Towns: 7/11
Devon Booker: 3/6
Tyler Ulis: 2/4

In my view the stats you see above are the result of Cal's statement from day one that his primary objective is to break the poverty cycle by improving his players NBA draft position rather than winning championships for UK. Consequently, I believe the players have bought in to Cal's philosophy and view the NCAA tournament as a last chance opportunity to showcase their individual skills to the NBA scouts rather than focusing on teamwork and winning tournament games. Too often during tournament games players such as Wall and Bledsoe ignored wide open team mates to jack up a contested 3 point shot or attempted to drive against a zone and throw up an acrobatic, circus style, "gee whiz" underhanded lob rather than run a pick and roll pattern. Thus, Cal's convoluted player's first philosophy is directly responsible for the post season disasters we have witnessed for most of the years he has been here.