Who Thinks We Can Beat Duke In Basketball and Why
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I have to think we have "a chance" because of the extensive amount of college-game experience UK will put on the floor. The Duke game will certainly be a valid test of the hypothesis that "experience matters."
But ... whether or not ... GO 'CATS ! ! !
I'm excited. I don't expect us to look as disjointed as Cal's teams did early in the season. We've got veterans and a coach that cares about winning and the program.
Jon Scheyer is far from the coach that K was. It's an early game in the season, and Duke has a lot of freshmn who will be getting a lot of the minutes. Almost no returning guys other than Proctor and someone else I'm probably forgetting.
Cal did not take games like this seriously - if you win them - bonus to his brilliance. If you lose them - young team needs time. He just rolled the dice and watched/hoped to see if his team's talent level could pull it off.
As previously said - this team will be far better coached and prepared from the jump - not full of excuses until January. New pride in the actual program and UK jersey - so I expect to see a very different approach and a very different UK team and product... and such a different result.
Win? I certainly will be pulling for that and expect experience this early on to pay off some. That said - these games in the past seem to have always had someone "No one saw on the radar/scouting report" have a career game vs UK. I attribute much of that to our previously coach, his lack of preparation, his acceptance of mediocrity and low expectations of winning games like this. I never put a "W" in the win column until the buzzer sounds - but like our chances so much better than in the past seasons... that record vs top 25 teams was embarrassing.
Go CATS - show them a new way!
As previously said - this team will be far better coached and prepared from the jump - not full of excuses until January. New pride in the actual program and UK jersey - so I expect to see a very different approach and a very different UK team and product... and such a different result.
Win? I certainly will be pulling for that and expect experience this early on to pay off some. That said - these games in the past seem to have always had someone "No one saw on the radar/scouting report" have a career game vs UK. I attribute much of that to our previously coach, his lack of preparation, his acceptance of mediocrity and low expectations of winning games like this. I never put a "W" in the win column until the buzzer sounds - but like our chances so much better than in the past seasons... that record vs top 25 teams was embarrassing.
Go CATS - show them a new way!
You saying he will get the Okafor/Filipowski whistle? That's the DUKE way...
I’ll admit, I haven’t watched anything from their incoming freshman. But we’ve seen how freshman can struggle in their first game under the bright lights. I also think Pope and the staff will have a gameplan in place to try and disrupt Flagg. I would hope UK makes it a physical game.
Beating duke would be a lovely start to the Pope era.
Beating duke would be a lovely start to the Pope era.
With Pope on the bench coaching i feel good about winning against Duke. Cooper Flagg will not beat UK by himself. I remember when Pistol Pete was playing for LSU he got his points and Rupp just told the UK player he will get his points just hold the rest of LSU player down. I would love to beat Duke !
Duke is going to be good. But I think we are catching them at the right time. We have the experience advantage, and I think the better coach.
Some of you guys are leaving out the part where Duke brought in quite a few quality transfers.
They won't merely be featuring freshmen.
They won't merely be featuring freshmen.
Duke will beat Kentucky, in games like that the team with the best player on the floor wins. Duke will have the best player by far on the floor for that game
I was waiting for someone to bring up the fact that Duke was very successful with the portal bringing in some very talented players. My concern with this UK team is we just don’t have that singular talent that can take over a game and get you that big basket at crunch time.
What UK player this coming year would be most capable of doing that?
What UK player this coming year would be most capable of doing that?
You know what’s funny, last years team came out on fire and still lost because they couldn’t guard a fence post.
They did bring in few quality transfers though. It’s gonna be a tough game to win for sure. I don’t know what to think about our chances honestly.
Without Flagg, this game is a push from a talent level. With Flagg, Duke is about three possessions better.
I don’t blame your line of thinking. I won’t make a prediction one way or another until how I see we play against a top team. I know Pope will keep us competitive because of his record in the big 12 but it’s a whole new team.
We will and should be a dog, but we can absolutely beat Duke. I don't buy the Flagg hype. He's elite, don't get me wrong. He's more Banchero than Zion or AD though imo.
Be efficient, make shots, and limit easy baskets. All things we have the personnel to do.
Be efficient, make shots, and limit easy baskets. All things we have the personnel to do.
Of course we have a chance. We have all this experience so I think we can win. Doesn't mean we will.
They dont have a traditional point guard on the roster and I think Butler will give them fits and turn them over quite a bit.
If the big guy from Africa is what they expect him to be then Duke is even better. But big guys take time to develop, so I agree
UK has enough elite shooting to beat anyone. But if they’re off, they can also lose to quite a few teams because of what others have said…we don’t have a dominant superstar. Robinson is the closest thing to a star….but there’s a reason he’s still playing college basketball. He’s a borderline NBA player.
Put one good defender on Flagg, if he gets 30 so be it, keep everyone else sub par and you have a great chance to win…. And we’re Kentucky we can beat anyone, anywhere, anytime!
I think we win this early in the season. I just hope we don't see them in March. They could be really good. Robinson should be our go to guy in this early matchup but if anyone else gets hot say a Brea or Krissa I like our chances. I'm sure Flagg will get his but I don't think he's gonna have a crazy 30 points 20 rebound 10 block game or anything like that.
If we can shoot 40% from 3 as a team, I like our chances against most teams this season. Long gone are days of the long 2. We will be shooting 3's, and scoring at the basket.
Banchero is pretty legit, don’t know if you watch the NBA. It he’s a rising star. I get what you mean from a college domination standpoint although he was pretty damn good as well.
That is one reason I do have hope because he can play defense on anyone. He proved it year after year in the tournament too against legit teams.
Pope’s offense doesn’t need a go get a bucket guy as bad as most. The offense creates open looks. Pope recruited guys that can make those baskets.
But if you ask us if we want six or eight, we break into "who do we appreciate".
Better Players better Coach better TEAM!!! Go CATS already taking that day off to watch and have a few beers. I wouldn’t have done that had CAL still been here
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