I usually post these directly after the game but directly after the game I turned my attention to the Packers game. I liked that game much better. But I also wanted to rewatch the UCLA game again this morning just to see what went wrong.
1. Don't Panic: There will be plenty of negativity in this post, but let's start with the big picture. This team will be fine. It's still one of the most talented teams in the country. The Cats didn't have the luxury of a preseason trip like UK did last season. They're still figuring things out and came up short in their first true road game of the season. If you want to look at the really big picture, all that matters is that UK can get in the Louisville regional. As a one seed, two seed, three or four. If the Cats can do that I still think they get to the Final Four. Let's not let one loss change the season expectations and goals.
2. Lee-less: Losing Marcus Lee killed Kentucky. He was the only big that went out with a fighting mentality and looked like he was up for the challenge. When he went out with concussion-like symptoms it was a huge blow for UK's chances. Here's an interesting tidbit, he had two rebounds in four minutes and UK's leading rebounder (Humphries and Lee) finished with six. Lee in four minutes had more rebounds than Labissiere. That's completely unacceptable.
3. Skal: Speaking of Skal, I thought there was a chance for him to have a big game, and after rewatching the game I still think he should have had a big night. I had said after the Illinois State game it's time to lower the expectations for Labissiere. Hopefully you all have done that.
He's great offensively, one of the best in the countries, but I really think his lack of competition in high school is starting to catch up with him. He's scared of contact. He doesn't go after 50/50 rebounds and just seems disinterested in any physical play. He looks like a college freshman, but not a UK freshman. UK desperately needs him to get stronger, or play stronger, as soon as possible.
4. The Game Plan: Some of the blame does need to fall on Calipari. What Illinois State did, what UCLA did is what teams are going to do. It's what every team will do moving forward. They're going to just load the paint with bodies, dare Kentucky to shoot and try to keep the Cats off the glass. You know what UK shouldn't do? Try to desperately get inside that mess and see what happens. Because that's what it seemed like UK did a lot of last night.
I'm still not convinced this is a bad shooting team. Yes, I know 8-of-25 from deep isn't good and I know the season numbers are suggesting this isn't a great shooting team, but I'm still confident that Murray, Ulis and Willis will knockdown open threes. And if teams are going to just pack things in the Cats will have to knockdown outside shots, pull Labissiere away from the basket. Not a great game plan last night.
5. Officiating: I'm not one to complain about officiating, and that's not the reason Kentucky lost, but it was certainly a takeaway from last night so I'm going to write about it.
It doesn't get worse than college basketball officials. That's not an exaggeration. I've never heard of the officials that called the game last night (Verne Harris, Randy McCall, David Hall) but UK fans should hope not to see them again unless it's a game at Rupp.
No other sport has officials that are so influenced by the crowd. And yes, UK gets an favorable whistle at home, but enough is enough. I know UCLA outplayed UK last night, but do you really think Kentucky fouled 27 times and UCLA only 18 (and refs tried to balance that out late in the game)? I don't think it was the best strategy for UK to drive into that mess and hope for fouls, but there were a lot of fouls and of course they weren't called. But on the other end they were calling hand checks, which shouldn't be called unless both hands are on a player. Incredibly frustrating how officials are so influenced.
6. Ulis: This game would have been a lot closer if Ulis didn't have such a poor shooting night, but the game would have been a lot worse if Ulis wasn't out there. I continued to be impressed with his leadership and ability to make the smart play. If shots aren't falling, they aren't falling, but he stay composed, found open guys and kept UK from being beaten by 25+.
The moment where he pushed Labissiere I thought was telling but also kinda cool to see. Ulis is going to hold these guys accountable and that's one of the reasons I feel confident with post No. 1, is because of Ulis.
7. UK's Defense: After going back and watching the game I'm still unsure what happened. Give the Bruins some credit, they hit a lot of shots, but the Cats just seemed out of it on some possessions. Guys that never get beat off the dribble were getting smoked. One guess is that the players were so worried about getting called for fouls that they had to play soft. Not having Lee inside obviously hurt some of the interior defense but I was surprised with how poorly the guards played. Let's hope this was just one bad game defensively because UK will lose a lot of games with that defensive effort.
8. Move Forward: It's a bummer we have to wait until Wednesday to see UK play again. Last night was one of those performances where if you're a player you just want to get back out there ASAP to forget about it. These guys will have to let the UCLA loss sink in for almost a week. But when UK does get back on the floor, we'll learn a lot about this team. They need to start putting bad teams away and we need to see a killer-instinct. We saw it against Duke, but haven't seen much of it since.
Wish we could see UK in a true road game again, but sadly we'll have to wait until Jan. 5th for a tough test against LSU. My guess is the Cats will be fine at home and on a neutral court (bodes well for the NCAA tournament) but I need to see UK be competitive on the road but for now I'm thinking the Cats may pick up a few losses on the road.
1. Don't Panic: There will be plenty of negativity in this post, but let's start with the big picture. This team will be fine. It's still one of the most talented teams in the country. The Cats didn't have the luxury of a preseason trip like UK did last season. They're still figuring things out and came up short in their first true road game of the season. If you want to look at the really big picture, all that matters is that UK can get in the Louisville regional. As a one seed, two seed, three or four. If the Cats can do that I still think they get to the Final Four. Let's not let one loss change the season expectations and goals.
2. Lee-less: Losing Marcus Lee killed Kentucky. He was the only big that went out with a fighting mentality and looked like he was up for the challenge. When he went out with concussion-like symptoms it was a huge blow for UK's chances. Here's an interesting tidbit, he had two rebounds in four minutes and UK's leading rebounder (Humphries and Lee) finished with six. Lee in four minutes had more rebounds than Labissiere. That's completely unacceptable.
3. Skal: Speaking of Skal, I thought there was a chance for him to have a big game, and after rewatching the game I still think he should have had a big night. I had said after the Illinois State game it's time to lower the expectations for Labissiere. Hopefully you all have done that.
He's great offensively, one of the best in the countries, but I really think his lack of competition in high school is starting to catch up with him. He's scared of contact. He doesn't go after 50/50 rebounds and just seems disinterested in any physical play. He looks like a college freshman, but not a UK freshman. UK desperately needs him to get stronger, or play stronger, as soon as possible.
4. The Game Plan: Some of the blame does need to fall on Calipari. What Illinois State did, what UCLA did is what teams are going to do. It's what every team will do moving forward. They're going to just load the paint with bodies, dare Kentucky to shoot and try to keep the Cats off the glass. You know what UK shouldn't do? Try to desperately get inside that mess and see what happens. Because that's what it seemed like UK did a lot of last night.
I'm still not convinced this is a bad shooting team. Yes, I know 8-of-25 from deep isn't good and I know the season numbers are suggesting this isn't a great shooting team, but I'm still confident that Murray, Ulis and Willis will knockdown open threes. And if teams are going to just pack things in the Cats will have to knockdown outside shots, pull Labissiere away from the basket. Not a great game plan last night.
5. Officiating: I'm not one to complain about officiating, and that's not the reason Kentucky lost, but it was certainly a takeaway from last night so I'm going to write about it.
It doesn't get worse than college basketball officials. That's not an exaggeration. I've never heard of the officials that called the game last night (Verne Harris, Randy McCall, David Hall) but UK fans should hope not to see them again unless it's a game at Rupp.
No other sport has officials that are so influenced by the crowd. And yes, UK gets an favorable whistle at home, but enough is enough. I know UCLA outplayed UK last night, but do you really think Kentucky fouled 27 times and UCLA only 18 (and refs tried to balance that out late in the game)? I don't think it was the best strategy for UK to drive into that mess and hope for fouls, but there were a lot of fouls and of course they weren't called. But on the other end they were calling hand checks, which shouldn't be called unless both hands are on a player. Incredibly frustrating how officials are so influenced.
6. Ulis: This game would have been a lot closer if Ulis didn't have such a poor shooting night, but the game would have been a lot worse if Ulis wasn't out there. I continued to be impressed with his leadership and ability to make the smart play. If shots aren't falling, they aren't falling, but he stay composed, found open guys and kept UK from being beaten by 25+.
The moment where he pushed Labissiere I thought was telling but also kinda cool to see. Ulis is going to hold these guys accountable and that's one of the reasons I feel confident with post No. 1, is because of Ulis.
7. UK's Defense: After going back and watching the game I'm still unsure what happened. Give the Bruins some credit, they hit a lot of shots, but the Cats just seemed out of it on some possessions. Guys that never get beat off the dribble were getting smoked. One guess is that the players were so worried about getting called for fouls that they had to play soft. Not having Lee inside obviously hurt some of the interior defense but I was surprised with how poorly the guards played. Let's hope this was just one bad game defensively because UK will lose a lot of games with that defensive effort.
8. Move Forward: It's a bummer we have to wait until Wednesday to see UK play again. Last night was one of those performances where if you're a player you just want to get back out there ASAP to forget about it. These guys will have to let the UCLA loss sink in for almost a week. But when UK does get back on the floor, we'll learn a lot about this team. They need to start putting bad teams away and we need to see a killer-instinct. We saw it against Duke, but haven't seen much of it since.
Wish we could see UK in a true road game again, but sadly we'll have to wait until Jan. 5th for a tough test against LSU. My guess is the Cats will be fine at home and on a neutral court (bodes well for the NCAA tournament) but I need to see UK be competitive on the road but for now I'm thinking the Cats may pick up a few losses on the road.
