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This is Cal’s last stand…

You have to be Ed33333322222222222222 your equally as annoying.
UkBB is beyond special just like Ed.

He’s about the most predictable poster we have. You know which threads he will show up in and you know exactly what he’s going to say.

He has no idea how to talk basketball and he ONLY shows up to defend Cal.
 
Hardly any team ever "cruises" to a final four. I could let you pick your favorite team this year or coach and I'll take the field.
Agree. I haven’t seen a single team I’m confident will win six games in the tournament. But one of them will.
 
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If there is no team that can guard us, why do we have 8 losses?
I googled the question about which wins tourneys, offense or defense. The result is that 14 more champions have ranked better offensively than defensively. Meaning, its offensive efficiency was higher than their defensive efficiency. Their defensive efficiency wasn't top 10. We are just barely in the top 100.
 
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Your eyes have lied to you if you think offense wins championships. You show me a team that relies exclusively on its offense to win games and I will show you a team that isn't getting close to making an appearance in the final four. A good defense is always far more reliable than a team's offense.

As for the NBA drafting exclusively on offense, I have no idea which NBA you are referring to because it isn't the National Basketball Association.
Your (weak) argument is UVA won their Natty because of their defense. My relevant counter was you don't get 3 starters DRAFTED into the league solely on defense man . C'mon do better
 
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And I said..."I've seen no evidence of this"
Meaning.... I've seen no evidence that we can.
I thought we turned up the pressure some vs. Ole Miss. Resulted in 8 steals, but also funneled drivers toward a shot blocker, who had a record night.

Don’t know how much we’ll push that button, but I think we’re built for it.
 
@LmdCat dude is a 🤡 , don't waste your time.
One of those guys whose never wrong despite ample evidence to counter his folly.
Besides providing a portrait of yourself, provide some facts. I want waste my time waiting because you have none. UK just barely ranks within the top 100 in defensive efficiency, and you don't think that should be a concern. We had to go on a late game run at home to beat 14-14 Arkansas who isn't known for good defense and is 121st in adjusted offensive efficiency.
 
I thought we turned up the pressure some vs. Ole Miss. Resulted in 8 steals, but also funneled drivers toward a shot blocker, who had a record night.

Don’t know how much we’ll push that button, but I think we’re built for it.
Defensively....I have no confidence.
I will hope for the best.
 
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I googled the question about which wins tourneys, offense or defense. The result is that 14 more champions have ranked better offensively than defensively. Meaning, its offensive efficiency was higher than their defensive efficiency. Their defensive efficiency wasn't top 10. We are just barely in the top 100.
As I said, and is obvious to anyone, ☝️ (the proof you asked for) if your offense is good enough you can win a championship with less then stellar defense if you catch some breaks. No one wins a championship exclusively because they defend .
Maybe in football but not in CBB. You have to score eventually, and UK can put some points up. UVA is exhibit A, year in and year out, defense does not win championships are they would have more.
 
UVA doesn't win more championships because they don't have very good players.

If something happens isn't proof of something happening. If I had a billion dollars doesn't make me a billionaire if I never get a billion dollars for whatever reason. So, your proof is nothing more than ifs and buts.

If you think UK can score a 100 points per game throughout the tourney after only doing it 7 times to this point, you are really dreaming. After the first round, we will certainly be playing very good teams for the balance of our play in the tourney which greatly reduces the chances of it happening.
 
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UVA doesn't win more championships because they don't have very good players.

If something happens isn't proof of something happening. If I had a billion dollars doesn't make me a billionaire if I never get a billion dollars for whatever reason. If you think UK can score a 100 points per game throughout the tourney after only doing it 7 times to this point, you are really dreaming. After the first round, we will certainly be playing very good teams for the balance of our play in the tourney.
You first sentence says it all and is antithetical to your argument for a team and program that's staple is Defense
 
UVA doesn't win more championships because they don't have very good players.

If something happens isn't proof of something happening. If I had a billion dollars doesn't make me a billionaire if I never get a billion dollars for whatever reason. If you think UK can score a 100 points per game throughout the tourney after only doing it 7 times to this point, you are really dreaming. After the first round, we will certainly be playing very good teams for the balance of our play in the tourney which greatly reduces the chances of it happening.
If a team that is averaging 70 ppg scores 100 on you, you have a problem with your defense.
 
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For the second time in Cal’s UK career I believe he has caught lightning in a bottle. The first was obviously 2012 when he was lucky enough to combine a generational talent like Davis with the returnees due to the potential NBA lockout. That title doesn’t occur without those 2 exceptionally rare occurrences.

This season he finds himself in a spot where his two best players were his least heralded and a last second pickup in Z. No one (including Cal) thought those 3 would do what they’re doing. I believe Shep is also a generational type player with his extreme poise that I’ve never seen in a freshman or hardly any age player. He isn’t Davis from a talent standpoint, but very much the same level of impact.

Point being, Cal will almost certainly never hit the lottery like this again. It’s well known he needs extreme talent to win, and he’s got it. So it’s now or never. This is a special group and I hope it ends like it did in 2012.
This team plays ZERO defense....No it ain't going to end like 2012...more likely 2022.
 
I have eyes. And an understanding--
Wisconsin worked our historically good '15 "defensive" team over WITH OFFENSE.

players get drafted into the league almost exclusively for their offense. UVA had 3 players during their run that made big shot after big shot ...and were drafted for their OFFENSE.

It takes both truthfully, but more O then D imo

Hardly an offense vs defense lab experiment LOL! Wisconsin’s coach took our HOF recruiter to school! It was a huge coaching mis-match; Then throw in the refs that can’t stand CCC (and/or corrupt) and you get what we got.
 
Hardly an offense vs defense lab experiment LOL! Wisconsin’s coach took our HOF recruiter to school! It was a huge coaching mis-match; Then throw in the refs that can’t stand CCC (and/or corrupt) and you get what we got.
I just remember the outcome and the pomeroy stuff is easily accessible
 
We could lose in the first round and Calipari will still probably be back next year
 
For the second time in Cal’s UK career I believe he has caught lightning in a bottle. The first was obviously 2012 when he was lucky enough to combine a generational talent like Davis with the returnees due to the potential NBA lockout. That title doesn’t occur without those 2 exceptionally rare occurrences.

This season he finds himself in a spot where his two best players were his least heralded and a last second pickup in Z. No one (including Cal) thought those 3 would do what they’re doing. I believe Shep is also a generational type player with his extreme poise that I’ve never seen in a freshman or hardly any age player. He isn’t Davis from a talent standpoint, but very much the same level of impact.

Point being, Cal will almost certainly never hit the lottery like this again. It’s well known he needs extreme talent to win, and he’s got it. So it’s now or never. This is a special group and I hope it ends like it did in 2012.
Cal has built a really good roster. If we had a Liggins or MKG on this team we'd be unstoppable.

He's also changed his offensive approach, embracing the modern game as fans wanted to see. He's even playing zone which a lot of his critics swore he'd never due. He's definitely trying to please BBN and has built a much more thoughtful roster, brought in some new assistants. I like what he's doing.

If he makes a deep run I hope fans give the guy credit. This could be his best job coaching since maybe the Umass Final 4. But, let's face it, if he fails to get this team deep into March the pressure is going to reach the boiling point. The pressure on him has to be through the roof. He knows, the guy is a legend.

As I've said before, Coach Cal restored Ky Basketball to it's glory days and I want to see him go out a winner. It does nor the school, the program or the fans any good if he fails. If your a fan of Ky Basketball you can't be happy with the job Coach Cal has done over the past few seasons but you should be happy at his effort to put Ky Basketball back were it belongs. Lets Go!!
 
Who told you offense wins championships? I have never heard those words out of a coach. I think UVA would disagree with you. UVA won its championship with defense.
That UVA team was top 10 in offense efficiency as well. The one who lost to UMBC wasn't. Offense was the difference.
 
For the second time in Cal’s UK career I believe he has caught lightning in a bottle. The first was obviously 2012 when he was lucky enough to combine a generational talent like Davis with the returnees due to the potential NBA lockout. That title doesn’t occur without those 2 exceptionally rare occurrences.

This season he finds himself in a spot where his two best players were his least heralded and a last second pickup in Z. No one (including Cal) thought those 3 would do what they’re doing. I believe Shep is also a generational type player with his extreme poise that I’ve never seen in a freshman or hardly any age player. He isn’t Davis from a talent standpoint, but very much the same level of impact.

Point being, Cal will almost certainly never hit the lottery like this again. It’s well known he needs extreme talent to win, and he’s got it. So it’s now or never. This is a special group and I hope it ends like it did in 2012.
Laughable that people continue this narrative about him needing extreme talent. Cal is a HOF coach that wasn’t getting multiple first rounders at UMASS and Memphis every year, yet was still putting up great win percentages.

Agendas. Ignore the facts.
 
The competition and rupp helped. Ncaa tournament competition won't be so nice on a neutral, if nuetral, floor.
Our guys will be playing tourney games in front of crowds that will be at least 50% UK fans, and that's if they're playing in one of the early regional games when multiple teams are still alive. The deeper UK goes, the more UK fans will dominate the stands.

If UK needs greater than 50% crowd support in order to win a title, they were never going to win a title anyway.
 
We can argue about the number of points we give up all day long, but this team is 98th in defensive efficiency and giving up over 1 point per possession. The only way you get to the Final Four with numbers like that is if you have the ability to absolutely flip a switch for four straight games. Maybe when it's lose and go home they can do that, but so far they cannot.
He said they were giving up 96 pts a game. I was pointing out that we are actually giving up 79.2 a game. We suck defensively but it's not going to magically change. We are who we are and hope we can outscore them
 
Looking at next year's class, it's not "great" by Calipari's standards, either, so he has to get lucky with an unexpected Reed Sheppard return, probably joined by Z or someone else, or go nuclear in the portal or it will be another disappointing effort. The 2024 class rankings are currently 10, 11, 20, 44, 92 from Rivals' latest updates. That's a GREAT class on paper by everyone's standards except maybe UK or Duke in the last 10 years. Cal has to have the best of the best, using his words ... to overcome his failures on the sidelines, and barring something unexpected for the roster, as it stands, he'll be losing games next season to teams like Clemson, Marshall, and Georgia.
 
If the team catches fire and somehow makes a run, don't put it past the NCAA to Rooferee another banner away from the Cats. Typically, we usually look a bit better in the NCAA tournament because we are away from SEC officiating. But only up to a point.
 
For the second time in Cal’s UK career I believe he has caught lightning in a bottle. The first was obviously 2012 when he was lucky enough to combine a generational talent like Davis with the returnees due to the potential NBA lockout. That title doesn’t occur without those 2 exceptionally rare occurrences.

This season he finds himself in a spot where his two best players were his least heralded and a last second pickup in Z. No one (including Cal) thought those 3 would do what they’re doing. I believe Shep is also a generational type player with his extreme poise that I’ve never seen in a freshman or hardly any age player. He isn’t Davis from a talent standpoint, but very much the same level of impact.

Point being, Cal will almost certainly never hit the lottery like this again. It’s well known he needs extreme talent to win, and he’s got it. So it’s now or never. This is a special group and I hope it ends like it did in 2012.
I love positive people.
 
UVA doesn't win more championships because they don't have very good players.

If something happens isn't proof of something happening. If I had a billion dollars doesn't make me a billionaire if I never get a billion dollars for whatever reason. So, your proof is nothing more than ifs and buts.

If you think UK can score a 100 points per game throughout the tourney after only doing it 7 times to this point, you are really dreaming. After the first round, we will certainly be playing very good teams for the balance of our play in the tourney which greatly reduces the chances of it happening.
Yes our defense is an issue, BUT maybe not 100 points, but we have scored way over what teams usually give up per game. Now some where in losses, but they still scored a lot.

Miami 95 scored / averages 73 points allowed (+22)
UNC 87 scored / averages 68 points allowed (+19)
Kansas 84 scored / averages 68 points allowed (+16) 84 while not 90's or 100 is still a very good offensive output.
Texas A&M 90 scored / averages 70 points allowed (+20)
Miss St. 92/90 scored / averages 69 points allowed (+23) (+21)
Gonzaga 85 scored / 68 points allowed (+17)
Tenn. 92 scored / averages 67 points allowed (+25) I know they scored 103, but still UK scored 25 more than UT averages giving up.
Arkansas 111 scored / averages 79 points allowed (+32)
Alabama 117 scored / averages 79 points allowed (+38) Yes they give up points , but 117 ? By far their worst, nobody else scored 100 on them.
Purdue(92), Creighton (85), Arizona (87), UT (91/81), Auburn (75 /99),

UK had a collective +23 more points scored than the team averages giving up. The worst was +16 and +17 against Kansas and Gonzaga. And yes I know some of these are losses, BUT the argument was when we play better teams, UK will have trouble scoring. Not the case.
Average points per game 94.3 / average points the teams average giving up per game 71. That is +23 points over what the teams average giving up. I did not use the 100+ ppg against the lesser opponents (other than Arkansas), but they are a conference opponent. But the 105 vs Georgia and 109 vs Vandy, they both only average giving up 74. UK was +31 and +35 in those games. Georgia only gave up over 100 to one other team, UF,102. Auburn scored 97 on them, no other team scored 90 or more. UK scored 105 and let up the last 8-10 minutes of the game. Vandy their 2nd highest points given up was 88 to UT. Nobody scored 90+ against them. they only gave up 78 to Bama, 80/81 to Auburn, UT 75 in the 2nd game. UF 77. Other than UK, those are the best offensive teams in the conference.
With all that said (it was a lot), we need more Auburn games, gave up 59, Auburn averages 83 ppg. (-24).
 
For the second time in Cal’s UK career I believe he has caught lightning in a bottle. The first was obviously 2012 when he was lucky enough to combine a generational talent like Davis with the returnees due to the potential NBA lockout. That title doesn’t occur without those 2 exceptionally rare occurrences.

This season he finds himself in a spot where his two best players were his least heralded and a last second pickup in Z. No one (including Cal) thought those 3 would do what they’re doing. I believe Shep is also a generational type player with his extreme poise that I’ve never seen in a freshman or hardly any age player. He isn’t Davis from a talent standpoint, but very much the same level of impact.

Point being, Cal will almost certainly never hit the lottery like this again. It’s well known he needs extreme talent to win, and he’s got it. So it’s now or never. This is a special group and I hope it ends like it did in 2012.
Hopefully you are right and the season ends with the same result.
 
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