Watching last night...

[Bigkyfan10]

I still get feelings of anger and depression when I think of the end result last year. I had a ticket to the championship game so had to sell the ticket. It just baffles me that a top ten team of all time and best defensive and most talented team of all time couldn't win it all. What made it worse is that Duke had to win it. And they very well could win next year with Giles and Tatum. We've got to win it this year. And hopefully Ulis comes back next year too.

 

[UKDC80]

We aren't as good on the defensive end this year I believe. But, we have great spacing and speed on offense and guys who can get to the rim and finish. Our offense will flow much better this year and to me, that will more than make up for our lack of beef inside. Our athletic speed which allows us to full court press will also negate the need for such size inside.

I'm super excited and believe this team will have the ability to drop a 15-0 run on a team in the blink of an eye. Should be a fun year and yeah we will drop some games, but come March I LOVE our chances. Go Cats

 

[UKWildcats#8]

UK will probably lose 2-3 in the SEC and maybe 1-2 OOC. @KU, @LSU, @Vandy and @A&M and Duke are the 5 I could see...do not se the other 3 SEC losses though that one guy is blabbering about. No one is winning at Rupp, and UK is not going to just plain suck on the road.

 

[JerseyCat84]

I still get feelings of anger and depression when I think of the end result last year. I had a ticket to the championship game so had to sell the ticket. It just baffles me that a top ten team of all time and best defensive and most talented team of all time couldn't win it all. What made it worse is that Duke had to win it. And they very well could win next year with Giles and Tatum. We've got to win it this year. And hopefully Ulis comes back next year too.

Not sure what all the panic is over next year's Duke team, if we get commitments from our remaining targets we should at least have a comparable team.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

I still get feelings of anger and depression when I think of the end result last year. I had a ticket to the championship game so had to sell the ticket. It just baffles me that a top ten team of all time and best defensive and most talented team of all time couldn't win it all. What made it worse is that Duke had to win it. And they very well could win next year with Giles and Tatum. We've got to win it this year. And hopefully Ulis comes back next year too.

Unlike many posters, I'd actually prefer Fox over a junior Ulis, and it has less to do with direct impact on college basketball next season and more to do with future impact for Kentucky. To reiterate, I'm not saying Ulis would have a lesser impact than Fox on the college game, because I'm not sure that would be the case at all.

Fox is a future lottery pick. If Ulis is good enough to go pro at the end of this season, I hope he goes. The big picture is to acquire as many legitimate future NBA players as possible in the window that Cal creates while he is here. That's why I always take the elite freshman over the returning player if given the choice. The future dividends pay better. It's all about building the Kentucky brand as big as possible, and having 40 to 50 legit pros come through Kentucky under Cal is better than having 20 to 30.

 

[KyFord]

For me I am so glad to move on from the hurt of last season. I appreciate everything that was accomplished last year and I love those dudes but I am glad to move on. I deleted all of the games of last year from my DVR.

I love this team, I really like our guards and our quickness. It's nice having guys that can score and take care of the ball.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

For me I am so glad to move on from the hurt of last season. I appreciate everything that was accomplished last year and I love those dudes but I am glad to move on. I deleted all of the games of last year from my DVR.

I love this team, I really like our guards and our quickness. It's nice having guys that can score and take care of the ball.

I looked at last year as a team with success that should have never happened given the fact that UK was playing with house money the moment WCS, Poythress, and the twins returned. WCS and Poythress, at the very least, could have easily left after the 2014 season (or even the 2013 season).

I mean, had those guys left, UK probably win 25 to 30 games and loses before the Final Four. That's why I look at last season as a bonus Final Four.

It absolutely sucked losing, but I feel like Duke winning it all was perhaps even worse, because of the double-standard media frenzy for Coach K and his OAD troopers.

 

[Jazzycat]

Here is what I have observed from 2 exhibition games (practices):

• Great energy on EVERY play; no players taking off on a play
• A number of players that can create their own shots and make gutsy plays
• Attacking the basket at will and drawing fouls
• Good communication on offense and defense despite having very little time together
• Maturity in the young players - seem mentally tough and resilient - no pouting!
  
• Solid passing, ball movement, spacing and quickness
  
• Guys getting in the passing lanes - YAY! causing multiple deflections
• Love the full court press!

Needing work and goodness, this is true for most teams this time of year!:

• Defenders out of position and not sure what their roles are on defense
• Interior defenders, minus Lee and Poythress, are not there yet, which is normal
• Switching off was confused, but it will improve
• First half of free throw shooting was not good; second half was more focused
• Rebounding will fall mostly to Poythress, Lee and Humphries; Skal is going to be important, but pushed around alot under the basket until he learns how to use his quickness to get to the ball and know where it is going off the rim

By the middle of February, this team will be a juggernaut on offense and their defense will be much better! I love how they play basket to basket and hopefully, the 30 second clock will be a positive advantage accentuating this team's strengths. Love this team!

 

[Teachable Moe]

Last year's team was Sonny Liston. This year is Sugar Ray.

 

[Bigkyfan10]

Not sure what all the panic is over next year's Duke team, if we get commitments from our remaining targets we should at least have a comparable team.

I'm worried because the only top 10 players we are recruiting are Fox and Monk which both only shoot the 3 at 29%. Plus we wouldn't have a player as good as Wall, Cousins, MKG, Davis, Towns, Skal, Murray, Randle. Plus we don't even know if we are getting Monk or not. And we don't really have a back up plan for Monk. Say we have Fox, Matthews, Gabriel, SKJ, Humphries as are starting five, do you really think that would be a better team than the Harrison's freshman year team or 2011 team? I'm not so sure

 

[Bigkyfan10]

Unlike many posters, I'd actually prefer Fox over a junior Ulis, and it has less to do with direct impact on college basketball next season and more to do with future impact for Kentucky. To reiterate, I'm not saying Ulis would have a lesser impact than Fox on the college game, because I'm not sure that would be the case at all.

Fox is a future lottery pick. If Ulis is good enough to go pro at the end of this season, I hope he goes. The big picture is to acquire as many legitimate future NBA players as possible in the window that Cal creates while he is here. That's why I always take the elite freshman over the returning player if given the choice. The future dividends pay better. It's all about building the Kentucky brand as big as possible, and having 40 to 50 legit pros come through Kentucky under Cal is better than having 20 to 30.

i would take Ulis all day everyday ahead of Fox. Ulis had the third highest A/T ratio ever for a freshman in college basketball history. He had the third highest from any player last year. Cal said he's the best floor general that he has coached. He also shot the 3 at 42%. Fox shot the 3 last year in high school at 29%.

 

[Pope John Wall II]

Oh hey, HI Bkocats, see you're online this morning too, putting in quality input for us! Good to see you this morning, and thanks for your likes and good comments when I'm around!

Have a great day!

Damn dude you thirsty

 

[KyFord]

I looked at last year as a team with success that should have never happened given the fact that UK was playing with house money the moment WCS, Poythress, and the twins returned. WCS and Poythress, at the very least, could have easily left after the 2014 season (or even the 2013 season).

I mean, had those guys left, UK probably win 25 to 30 games and loses before the Final Four. That's why I look at last season as a bonus Final Four.

It absolutely sucked losing, but I feel like Duke winning it all was perhaps even worse, because of the double-standard media frenzy for Coach K and his OAD troopers.

I agree, Duke winning it all made it that much worse. Beating Duke later this month should make us feel a little better though.

 

[JerseyCat84]

I'm worried because the only top 10 players we are recruiting are Fox and Monk which both only shoot the 3 at 29%. Plus we wouldn't have a player as good as Wall, Cousins, MKG, Davis, Towns, Skal, Murray, Randle. Plus we don't even know if we are getting Monk or not. And we don't really have a back up plan for Monk. Say we have Fox, Matthews, Gabriel, SKJ, Humphries as are starting five, do you really think that would be a better team than the Harrison's freshman year team or 2011 team? I'm not so sure

Duke would have 3 Top 10 recruit (Frank Jackson is #10 recruit on Rivals), UK would have 2.

1. Your assuming Tatum and Giles will play at the same level of any of those players you listed above.

2. Your assuming Giles will recover 100% and will return to pre-injury level.

3. Great Duke teams have lost before. Winning the tournament is not automatic, you should know that by now.

4. Unlike you, I trust Cal will put another formidable product on the court again next year.

 

[Aike]

Cal is exactly right. By the end of the year this team will be vastly improved but our fans had better be ready for more than a few losses along the way and the SEC is much better.

Last year we had some amazing escapes in league play, we're not going to get lucky like that again.

Who knows how lucky we might get?

As I recall, there were 3 league games last year where luck played much of a role. Ole Miss, LSU, and A & M were all late game coin flips, essentially, that we won.

Say we have 4 coin flip games this year and split them, and legitimately get whipped a couple times. That would be 4 league losses, which I think should be close to the over/under.

Of course you may be completely right. We just disagree.

 

[Catclass15]

I like this year's team better honestly, going to be a fun season.

 

[WildMoon]

People kind of exaggerate our interior capability of last year's team.

Our blocking was at 6.88 per game, which was #2 in the nation. Our Blocks per foul was .4, which is #3 in the nation.

Compare that to 12 team, it's laughable. which had 8.79 Blocks per game, which was #1 in the nation. Our Blocks per foul was at .62, which was #1 in the nation. That's what you call a blocking team.

Our rebounding in 15 was 38.2 rebounds per game, which was #21 in the nation. Considering we had one of the best field goal %, why isn't our rebound per game higher? Our defensive rebounding per game was #50. Obviously pace of play is a factor, but so is field goal defense.

People tend to exaggerate a bit about last year's team. I think we did great job defending, but all those stats didn't look as good once Poythress got injured. He provided versatile defense that really brought our defense to whole another level. Huge strong and quick guy who's able to defend the perimeter and then defend interior play if needed. As a 3, he had 1.5 bpg in 20 mpg. He was struggling in offense, but defensively he was what made us historically great defensive team. Without him that team was great defensive team, not historical at all.

 

[BlueRunner11]

We're soft and we're going to get into foul trouble in the middle. Going to drop a couple before league play even starts then a half dozen more in league play. I see an 8-9 loss team, to be perfectly honest.

Zero chance this team loses 9 games unless heaven forbid major injuries occur.

 

[Blue Decade]

We aren't as good on the defensive end this year I believe. But, we have great spacing and speed on offense and guys who can get to the rim and finish. Our offense will flow much better this year and to me, that will more than make up for our lack of beef inside. Our athletic speed which allows us to full court press will also negate the need for such size inside.

I'm super excited and believe this team will have the ability to drop a 15-0 run on a team in the blink of an eye. Should be a fun year and yeah we will drop some games, but come March I LOVE our chances. Go Cats

Our interior defense isn't as good as last year. But we have a chance, given more time and development, to have a better transition defense than last year. This will be a better offensive team because more weapons. Murray is the most complete, dominant scoring threat we have had in 30 years. Labissiere will also be really good, and I wouldn't be surprised to see 5 Wildcats average double figure scoring.

 

[EvilMD]

I don't have any negative feelings about last year, other than the last four minutes of the Wisconsin game, which I will never watch again. We went for it and came up short. But we made some amazing memories along the way. I will never forget the wins over Kansas, UCLA, West Virginia and Notre Dame. The Kansas and UCLA games rival the LSU beatdown from 1996. The West Virginia beatdown was unprecedented for a Sweet 16 game. And the Notre Dame game was a classic.

Also, watching the Duke/Wisconsin final confirmed my suspicions....we were going to get the mother of all screw jobs if we had beaten Wisconsin. The refs handed that game to Duke. For K to go into halftime and say "we need to do something about this foul disparity" and then see the refs calling fouls on Wisconsin players standing with their hands straight up in the air was sickening. How many times have you seen two great coaches (Izzo and Ryan) either blatantly complain about the refs or make innuendoes about them in a Final Four? Not since the 2001 Final Four, when Duke beat Maryland and Arizona.

If you think the Wisconsin loss hurt, imagine having 40-0 stolen from us by the refs when we were 20 minutes away from immortality.

 

[Bodvar Bjarki]

Skal will have 3 on him before the first TV timeout against Duke.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Two totaly different teams.
Last yr was bulit around bigs, this yr will be built aroung guards.
This team has a very good chance of going further than last yrs team.

Agree. Last years team had a higher floor. This years team has a higher ceiling.

Our interior defense/shot blocking wont be as good, but it wont have to be. The twins werent great defenders and Lyles was playing out of position. As a result there was alot of penetration by opposing perimeter players. Wont be the case this year.

Cane, we had 4 lottery picks last year. Several players besides Towns were better than "good."

Drafted on potential. Towns was the only elite talent while playing for UK. This year both Skal and Murray are elite. Can probably include Ulis too.

We saw games last year where Ulis was being abused by bigger, stronger guards and had to be subbed out.

When did this happen??

 

[Bkocats]

Skal will have 3 on him before the first TV timeout against Duke.

I don't entirely agree with your comments on how many losses we'll have; I think 5-7 is more realistic. And I don't entirely agree with your thoughts about fouls. Admittedly, they do have merit and bear further thought.

I do however, have to agree with this, somewhat. Maybe not by the first tv timeout - but midway to 2/3 the way through the first half.

Has everyone forgotten how much KAT fouled at the beginning last year? I think Skal is more prone right now - he'll improve. But it IS Duke

 

[Aike]

"Drafted on potential. Towns was the only elite talent while playing for UK. This year both Skal and Murray are elite. Can probably include Ulis too."


WCS was an elite talent last year. All American. Defensive player of the year.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

"Drafted on potential. Towns was the only elite talent while playing for UK. This year both Skal and Murray are elite. Can probably include Ulis too."


WCS was an elite talent last year. All American. Defensive player of the year.

Sadly we could only put 5 on the floor at a time.

 

[Aike]

Sadly we could only put 5 on the floor at a time.

Why was that sad? We overwhelmed teams with our depth of talent all year.

It was sad that Poythress got hurt. I'll give you that.

 

[EvilMD]

Look I'm all for turning the page, but 38-0 never happened before. Ever. Not the Jordan/Worthy/Perkins team. Not the 96 UK team. Not the 12 UK team. Not even by a team like UNLV or Cal's Memphis team, where the majority of games were against mid majors.

This team is not going to be better than that team. They might go farther in the tournament, we all hope they do, but they aren't close to last year's team in terms of overall talent and experience. We HOPE we have a lights out shooter like Booker and we PRAY we have two bigs we can keep on the floor at all times. The main thing this team can hang its hat on is the improvement of Ulis. But remember, he still has to guard someone, and what if that someone is 6-5 with handles?

 

[Aike]

Look I'm all for turning the page, but 38-0 never happened before. Ever. Not the Jordan/Worthy/Perkins team. Not the 96 UK team. Not the 12 UK team. Not even by a team like UNLV or Cal's Memphis team, where the majority of games were against mid majors.

This team is not going to be better than that team. They might go farther in the tournament, we all hope they do, but they aren't close to last year's team in terms of overall talent and experience. We HOPE we have a lights out shooter like Booker and we PRAY we have two bigs we can keep on the floor at all times. The main thing this team can hang its hat on is the improvement of Ulis. But remember, he still has to guard someone, and what if that someone is 6-5 with handles?

I agree with your premise - expecting this team to be better than last year's is blue-tinted glasses analysis at best.

But we have more to hang our hat on than the improvement of Ulis.

And if a guy is 6' 5" with handles, he is probably being guarded by Briscoe or Murray or Matthews.

Team full of those guys? Watch out, I guess. Who is that team? I'm comforted by the fact that if Ulis ever has to go to the bench for defensive reasons, we will be able to hand the ball to a lottery pick.

 

[EvilMD]

But we have more to hang our hat on than the improvement of Ulis.

.

I misspoke. I meant the only thing it can hang its hat on compared to last year's team. Murray looks like an awesome player, but Aaron won three consecutive games with clutch shots late in March, and hit a big one against Notre Dame, too. Aaron lost his shot last year, but Booker was off the charts for two months. So it's not like we were awful at the 2 last year. Inside we had the Defensive Player of the Year (first team All-American) and we had the number one pick.

Skal is unique. He shoots more than AD did, and with good reason. Like Bodnar says, I hope we can keep him on the floor, because the well coached teams will exploit us inside this year. Think what Indiana did to us twice in 2012. Went directly at AD and got him out of the game early (on bogus calls, mind you, but that's what we have to be ready for).

 

[caneintally]

I wouldn't call it great. I would say that if we lose 5-6 in SEC play that we didn't catch many breaks, or didn't finish games as well as one might expect given our level of talent at guard.

I brought up 2011 for a reason though. That backcourt was talented but young. Possibly their close losses taught them how to win close games in March.

Or maybe it was dumb luck and the ball bounced our way when we needed it to.

I will say this. If this team is 12-6 in conference play, this board will be unbearable.

this is in response to aike's post to mine above .... Yes but the NBA is about what you can do years down the road. Last year we had one guy who could go get it for us - Towns . This year we have Skal, Murray , Ulis , and Briscoe and Poy is borderline . We are in for a special year. Yes we might lose 3 games at most but still special.

 

[Hoskins91]

"Drafted on potential. Towns was the only elite talent while playing for UK. This year both Skal and Murray are elite. Can probably include Ulis too."


WCS was an elite talent last year. All American. Defensive player of the year.

Meh, Towns was our only elite player. WCS was another good but not great guy who got most of the media attention on a great team because he was a returning junior, which is rare for us. He would not have been an all-American if he didn't play for us. He was too inconsistent.

 

[Aike]

Meh, Towns was our only elite player. WCS was another good but not great guy who got most of the media attention on a great team because he was a returning junior, which is rare for us. He would not have been an all-American if he didn't play for us. He was too inconsistent.

WCS was an elite defender. He was drafted 6th last year.

People want to argue that guys like Booker and Lyles weren't elite but were drafted on potential. Fine. Why was WCS, 2 years their senior, drafted earlier?

WCS was drafted ahead of guys like Stanley Johnson and Justice Winslow. Was Winslow an elite talent last year?

Maybe only Towns, Okafor, and Russell were elite. Ok, splitting hairs. But you are going to drop WCS all the way to "good not great."

Lot of Willie hatin' going on .


Edit to add: WCS has transitioned smoothly into an NBA starting lineup. Looks like his high draft status was warranted so far.