The "UK effect"

[JonathanW]

Do teams "get up" for UK; do they play the game before us looking toward our game; do they have a let down after playing UK (especially if they beat us)?

Here is the SEC data for this season:

In the game prior to playing UK, SEC teams went 4-13. Wow!! This was not just teams from the bottom half of the league, Alabama lost before playing us BOTH times, UT did once, TAMU, Ole Miss, & Missouri all did as well. And we were Florida's 1st SEC game, so only Auburn and UT (2nd game) won the game before UK.
The 4 who won their prior game, went 1-3 vs UK;
and the 13 who lost their prior game, went 8-5 vs UK.

SEC teams have gone 10-6 in their following game.
SEC teams who beat UK, went 5-3 in their following game;
and SEC teams who lost to UK, also went 5-3 in their following game.
So at first glance, it looks like how they played vs UK did not affect them too much with a carry-over effect.


(A more detailed analysis would also look at the caliber of teams they played before and after.)

 

[TOMCATS1990]

We are everyone’s Super Bowl, especially SEC schools who KY has dominated for decades. Just look at how rival fan bases show out for a KY game versus anyone else.

 

[kats23]

In years past, especially in the SEC, if a team pulled an upset on UK, they would drop their next game especially if that team acted like they had never won a game when they did. Has not really been the case this year but Auburn is a good example of the Kentucky effect this year.

 

[SmyrnaCatFan]

Any data or speculation on "Rupp Arena Heroes" scoring pre and post UK games?

 

[JumperJack]

It’s a thing.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

I absolve Auburn from the UK "effect" for 2 reasons. They had won several games in a row prior to the UK game and by beating UK and with what happened over the weekend, they clinched the SEC regular season title. Went on the road and faced a desperate Texas A&M who had entered losing 4 straight I believe.....and Auburn has Bama upcoming on the weekend. That's a classic set up for a letdown. We saw that from '20 UK team before season ended only it happened at home with Tennessee when Cats had been fantastic in conference on the road...were playing at peak level and then had the 2nd Half from Hell due to Hagans being a prick. Thankfully they figured out a way to rally for the UF win which romanticized their potential for SEC/NCAA but that Vols game left a horrible taste.....going towards Postseason play and UF game was fantastic rally to salvage some things albeit with Hagans suspended due to being a prick.

Also think this year's SEC you'd have to go through and see who/where you were playing as these games have been brutal. I mean Alabama is a damn good team and they ended the SEC play by playing @ Missouri prior to home vs UK, @TN, UF, and @Auburn. Do I think they had UK "letdown"? No. I think they just had a brutal schedule. Past years I absolutely agree with this take and believe a lot more in it--but this year? Think it's the beast of the conference eating each other up and who/when you play and who is/isn't healthy playing huge factors.

 

[JohnnyGreen1975]

It's always a badge of honor to beat us because they are not like us.

 

[BradleyCrawford08]

Gotta love how teams go from looking like the 2017 Warriors against us to playing like they never picked up a basketball in their life the next game.

 

[canebreak]

Do teams "get up" for UK; do they play the game before us looking toward our game; do they have a let down after playing UK (especially if they beat us)?

Here is the SEC data for this season:

In the game prior to playing UK, SEC teams went 4-13. Wow!! This was not just teams from the bottom half of the league, Alabama lost before playing us BOTH times, UT did once, TAMU, Ole Miss, & Missouri all did as well. And we were Florida's 1st SEC game, so only Auburn and UT (2nd game) won the game before UK.
The 4 who won their prior game, went 1-3 vs UK;
and the 13 who lost their prior game, went 8-5 vs UK.

SEC teams have gone 10-6 in their following game.
SEC teams who beat UK, went 5-3 in their following game;
and SEC teams who lost to UK, also went 5-3 in their following game.
So at first glance, it looks like how they played vs UK did not affect them too much with a carry-over effect.


(A more detailed analysis would also look at the caliber of teams they played before and after.)

Yes. Interesting. Glad you posted this. Now we know. I think this is the kind of thing fans talk about when their program is becoming irrelevant. Makes me sad.

 

[JonathanW]

Yes. Interesting. Glad you posted this. Now we know. I think this is the kind of thing fans talk about when their program is becoming irrelevant. Makes me sad.

No, this is the kind of thing an admitted Stats-Geek posts about.
We are far from "becoming irrelevant".

 

[shaudyshaud]

Yes. Interesting. Glad you posted this. Now we know. I think this is the kind of thing fans talk about when their program is becoming irrelevant. Makes me sad.

People on this board have been saying this for a long time . JonathanW just gave us stats for it this year .

 

[shaudyshaud]

I absolve Auburn from the UK "effect" for 2 reasons. They had won several games in a row prior to the UK game and by beating UK and with what happened over the weekend, they clinched the SEC regular season title. Went on the road and faced a desperate Texas A&M who had entered losing 4 straight I believe.....and Auburn has Bama upcoming on the weekend. That's a classic set up for a letdown. We saw that from '20 UK team before season ended only it happened at home with Tennessee when Cats had been fantastic in conference on the road...were playing at peak level and then had the 2nd Half from Hell due to Hagans being a prick. Thankfully they figured out a way to rally for the UF win which romanticized their potential for SEC/NCAA but that Vols game left a horrible taste.....going towards Postseason play and UF game was fantastic rally to salvage some things albeit with Hagans suspended due to being a prick.

Also think this year's SEC you'd have to go through and see who/where you were playing as these games have been brutal. I mean Alabama is a damn good team and they ended the SEC play by playing @ Missouri prior to home vs UK, @TN, UF, and @Auburn. Do I think they had UK "letdown"? No. I think they just had a brutal schedule. Past years I absolutely agree with this take and believe a lot more in it--but this year? Think it's the beast of the conference eating each other up and who/when you play and who is/isn't healthy playing huge factors.

I agree on Auburn . I think the banked 3s made people feel like Auburn played out of their mind when honestly they didn’t . Like you said they were the number 1 seed but us committing a bunch of careless turnovers cost that game to get out of hand more than Auburn just playing great . Also A&M is a tough opponent to face on the road

 

[wmarkedwards]

Here’s my take…although many of these guys play in the SEC and they have big arenas (Thompson Bowling), they usually don’t play in front of a packed house. And as such, for most, this will be the most people that they will ever play in front of..

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

I agree on Auburn . I think the banked 3s made people feel like Auburn played out of their mind when honestly they didn’t . Like you said they were the number 1 seed but us committing a bunch of careless turnovers cost that game to get out of hand more than Auburn just playing great . Also A&M is a tough opponent to face on the road

Kelly is like that too. Most didn't know what a great pickup that was and I was kind of surprised he didn't go Pro last year. He was elite in a win over Duke last year for GA Tech and has that type of streaky component. Started out hot at Duke this year too until Pearl took him out for some reason???

Aggies were desperate which means they just get dirtier and the "whistle" they were getting was typical of any Aggie home game under Buzz. The stretch where Pettiford went on a heater and hit 3 straight 3's and kept cutting it to a 2 possession game and each responding Aggie offensive play was gifted a foul to add to their made shot-now one was a legit foul-but other two were "WTF....." which Buzz gets far too often. The "looks like he's going to miss so I'll call this a foul" and he makes it. Wade Taylor IV, Zakai Ziegler, have now joined my All GTFOH with that BS Team in SEC History. Mainly for the Scotty Pippen JR whistle they all seem to get for no reason.