Injuries and toughness of schedule as well as location of games and 4 new players transitioning into the 7 man rotation.
Im not a big excuses guy but the first half of this UK basketball season has been wrought with peril:
-Oscar’s knee surgery
-Wheeler’s knee injury
-Collins Dad passing
-CJ’s dislocated shooting finger
-Wallace’s back problems
-Toppin and Wheeler’s shoulder injuries
I realize most teams have to deal with injuries and sometimes tragedy but what I listed is more than a team’s fair share, especially in less than half a season.
Now, couple that with basically 4 key players (Reeves, Frederick, Livingston and Wallace) trying to acclimate themselves into the Kentucky system.
Finally, look at the schedule amount of tough games and where those tough games were played:
at Gonzaga
v Michigan St
v UCLA
at Mizzou
at Alabama
at UT
6 of UKs toughest 10 games of the season before mid Jan. all away from Rupp.
A + B + C = 12-6.
Now, look at our schedule the rest of the way. Potentially zero games left v ranked teams on the road and only 2 more games v ranked teams at Rupp (KU and UT).
UK has a Generational Talent in Oscar, easily one of the five greatest to ever play at Kentucky and maybe the best.
We have 4 really good guards.
The team has found their lineup and if we can stay relatively healthy the rest of the way UK has the horses to potentially get back to the FF and then who knows after that?
Im not a big excuses guy but the first half of this UK basketball season has been wrought with peril:
-Oscar’s knee surgery
-Wheeler’s knee injury
-Collins Dad passing
-CJ’s dislocated shooting finger
-Wallace’s back problems
-Toppin and Wheeler’s shoulder injuries
I realize most teams have to deal with injuries and sometimes tragedy but what I listed is more than a team’s fair share, especially in less than half a season.
Now, couple that with basically 4 key players (Reeves, Frederick, Livingston and Wallace) trying to acclimate themselves into the Kentucky system.
Finally, look at the schedule amount of tough games and where those tough games were played:
at Gonzaga
v Michigan St
v UCLA
at Mizzou
at Alabama
at UT
6 of UKs toughest 10 games of the season before mid Jan. all away from Rupp.
A + B + C = 12-6.
Now, look at our schedule the rest of the way. Potentially zero games left v ranked teams on the road and only 2 more games v ranked teams at Rupp (KU and UT).
UK has a Generational Talent in Oscar, easily one of the five greatest to ever play at Kentucky and maybe the best.
We have 4 really good guards.
The team has found their lineup and if we can stay relatively healthy the rest of the way UK has the horses to potentially get back to the FF and then who knows after that?
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