Yesterday's darlings, #1 Kansas gets blown out by 3 loss Creighton and #2 Auburn loses to Duke.

[Son_Of_Saul]

Looks like all the whining from last night was a bit misplaced.

There's no truly elite team this year.

But to you loser-mentality posters who jumped off the ledge last night, please tell me how inferior this UK team is for barely losing on the road to a top 30, 1 loss Clemson team whereas #1 Kansas gets beaten tonight by 13 to a 3 loss Creighton team.

It's fantasy land stuff to think that there's a legit collection of title contenders that are far and away better than the rest of the contending pack.

 

[Kenjiwing]

Them losing has nothing to do with us losing FYI

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Them losing has nothing to do with us losing FYI

The argument last night from some of the sludge posters around here was how weak UK is. But then #1 goes on the road and gets beaten by 13.

So yes, if posters are going to be consistent, they need to apply the same reasoning to Kansas and Auburn. It has everything to do with last night's negative thesis argument against UK. If UK has weaknesses, fine. We all accept that. But so does Kansas. So does Duke. So does Auburn. So does Bama. So does Gonzaga.

The panic last night was laughably premature.

But keep holding UK to a standard you don't hold the other "elite" teams to.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Yesterday's darlings, Auburn and Kansas, both go down tonight.

Some of you need to revise your panicky central thesis.

 

[chroix]

Lose a single road game where you stunk it up by two points and the season is over for some of these fools. Garbage.

 

[BBNinSC]

The #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament in March will all have 6-8 losses.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Lose a single road game where you stunk it up by two points and the season is over for some of these fools. Garbage.

There was probably 200 fans on here last night, and about 50 of them were writing about how inferior Kentucky is.

The same illogical posters aren't here tonight telling us how Kansas is a first weekend elimination tournament out or how Auburn just got punked by a bunch of freshmen.

 

[ukfan1622]

If Kentucky wins this weekend we might hit #1 before the second loss.

 

[VAWildcat15]

Lots of whiners and alarmists look even dumber tonight than they did last night. Four of the top five lost, all on the road, and we were the closest to winning in that group.

One road loss against an NCAAT team isn’t the end of the world. Our team still has work to do, it’s ok to point out deficiencies. But the doomers were absolutely out of control for the last 24 hours.

 

[Fox2monk]

Lose a single road game where you stunk it up by two points and the season is over for some of these fools. Garbage.

I think some are Cal fans, some have PTSD from Cal never improving the team weaknesses over the years.

 

[Fox2monk]

Bottom line is teams are so evenly matched now that home advantage is huge. It’s hard to win on the road any year. How many stacked teams have we had that struggle against bad SEC teams over the years on the road? It happens.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Some delusional fans thought we weren’t going to lose a game this season. LOL!

All the chicken littles and trolls came out last night.

Real(istic) Cat fans knew the game at Clemson was probably a loss.

It’s not the end of the world to lose a close game in your first road trip of the season, especially against a quality opponent.

It’s almost like some of these posters never watched college basketball before in their lives.

Some pretty ludicrous takes last night.

Par for the course on Rupp Rafters.

 

[bbncal02]

Some delusional fans thought we weren’t going to lose a game this season. LOL!

All the chicken littles and trolls came out last night.

Real(istic) Cat fans knew the game at Clemson was probably a loss.

It’s not the end of the world to lose a close game in your first road trip of the season, especially against a quality opponent.

It’s almost like some of these posters never watched college basketball before in their lives.

Some pretty ludicrous takes last night.

Par for the course on Rupp Rafters.

I expected a loss this week. Just expected it to be Sat.
My overall disappointment was the lack of offense. And Pope confirmed we didn't do what we should've.

The way we played last night will be a ticket home come March. Lots of time to get stuff fixed; just don't want to ever see that crap again.

 

[UKBrassowTipIN]

Them losing has nothing to do with us losing FYI

People on this board are insane unrealistic maniacs. Ppl lose games, you can be upset we lose, but no one has went undefeated in 45 years. There's a reason you play an entire season.

Let me fill you in, saying them losing had nothing to do with us...right, and us losing a GAME has nothing to do with our entire season. Tada!

The point is ppl were crying their eyes out that a first year coach, on a December 3 game, the first road game of the year, with a team that was thrown together lost by 4. So much pout.

It's a misplaced hysteria. Do we not get the first week of December banner to hang in Rupp or something?

 

[Rideordiewildcat]

Known of it matters. Its all about the Zags for our season.

 

[Haggin_Hall_1983]

The #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament in March will all have 6-8 losses.

It sure looks that way right now!

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

The #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament in March will all have 6-8 losses.

The only exception is Gonzaga. Very good team in a putrid conference = 5 losses or less. Hopefully we can add to their overall loss column Saturday.

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

Excellent post, OP.

Obviously, I love this place. I check in daily during the season and have been here since the Tubby days. I’ve never seen a more panicked group after a loss though. Glad our players have much more resolve than some here.

 

[BC_Wader]

Some posters don't even have Big Blue Goggles. They have Big Blue deep sea helmets and think we should win every single game without taking into consideration how hard it is to win on the road these days. Truly elite teams can overcome most any obstacle. Problem is there hasn't been a team like that in a while. It's a different game now in more ways than one.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

The argument last night from some of the sludge posters around here was how weak UK is. But then #1 goes on the road and gets beaten by 13.

So yes, if posters are going to be consistent, they need to apply the same reasoning to Kansas and Auburn. It has everything to do with last night's negative thesis argument against UK. If UK has weaknesses, fine. We all accept that. But so does Kansas. So does Duke. So does Auburn. So does Bama. So does Gonzaga.

The panic last night was laughably premature.

But keep holding UK to a standard you don't hold the other "elite" teams to.

To an unranked Creighton I might add.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

The #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament in March will all have 6-8 losses.

Do not believe this Fester.
Gonzaga for one and another mid major that goes undefeated ala Wichita St in ‘14.
Plus, we aint losing that many either.

 

[jwphelps]

Looks like all the whining from last night was a bit misplaced.

There's no truly elite team this year.

But to you loser-mentality posters who jumped off the ledge last night, please tell me how inferior this UK team is for barely losing on the road to a top 30, 1 loss Clemson team whereas #1 Kansas gets beaten tonight by 13 to a 3 loss Creighton team.

It's fantasy land stuff to think that there's a legit collection of title contenders that are far and away better than the rest of the contending pack.

I don't think there is a clear cut favorite for winning it all in March. I would say there are about 10 or 12 teams and the one who puts it all together and is clicking in March wins it.

 

[kywildcat41035]

Excellent post, OP.

Obviously, I love this place. I check in daily during the season and have been here since the Tubby days. I’ve never seen a more panicked group after a loss though. Glad our players have much more resolve than some here.

I know everyone acted like the sky was falling I mean my goodness we aren't winning every game. It's a great learning experience for all the players playing for a team like UK. They will now understand what it means to absolutely get a teams best shot on the road. I guarantee their demeanor will be a whole lot different come Saturday night.

 

[BBNinSC]

Do not believe this Fester.
Gonzaga for one and another mid major that goes undefeated ala Wichita St in ‘14.
Plus, we aint losing that many either.

Last season, the total losses among the 4 #1 seeds was 20 games. Houston only had 3 that lowered this number.
As conferences expand and absorb some of the highly ranked mid-majors like Houston or scheduled tougher pre-conference like Gonzaga, I expect the total losses among the top 4 to be north of 25 games.

 

[YardCat]

Bottom line is teams are so evenly matched now that home advantage is huge. It’s hard to win on the road any year. How many stacked teams have we had that struggle against bad SEC teams over the years on the road? It happens.

This is so true, everyone knows when UK comes to town it’s going to be a sellout. There aren’t any bunnies in the SEC this year.

 

[Cleatortoises]

Known of it matters. Its all about the Zags for our season.

So, with a loss we should just wrap it up?
No shot to improve?
Don't even try it against AL, auburn, tenn, louseyville?
Talk about pressure.
Well let's go get em then.
Gonzaga is our superbowl?!

 

[Fox2monk]

Some delusional fans thought we weren’t going to lose a game this season. LOL!

All the chicken littles and trolls came out last night.

Real(istic) Cat fans knew the game at Clemson was probably a loss.

It’s not the end of the world to lose a close game in your first road trip of the season, especially against a quality opponent.

It’s almost like some of these posters never watched college basketball before in their lives.

Some pretty ludicrous takes last night.

Par for the course on Rupp Rafters.

I swear, you would think after watching college ball for so long people would know what to expect.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I didn't see too awful many posters falling off the cliff, there were definitely some for sure. I know I showed some disappointment due to the way we lost (lack of effort, missed free throws, turnovers and bad shooting). But I certainly didn't crap on the team or MP. Nope.

I think a lot of us, me included, expected this team to handle the road environment better since they're seniors and with this being the 3rd game in a row with really bad outside shooting and 8th game with poor ft shooting, it's a little bit of a downer. That's a game we should have won, we beat ourselves and that will always fire up BBN.

I didn't see the KU game, but Auburn, even though they lost, still played really good, but yeah, the road is definitely a different animal.

That KU loss is an eye opener for sure, they got beat badly by a mid major that was struggling.

 

[WeWant9]

This is one of those years that it’ll come down to whoever is peaking around mid-March.

 

[anonymous_2011]

This is one of those years that it’ll come down to whoever is peaking around mid-March.

Well, we all know one coach that builds his teams particularly for March.

 

[KAB Cats]

We are still in the prelude...

SEC is going to be an absolute gauntlet

 

[Big BlueBeard]

Lots of parity now is CBB. Lots!

 

[uk78]

Son of Saul, No disrespect. But, every year and especially during the latter part of the Cal era, I would see posts about other teams losing (and meaning see it happens to them too). How did that work out for us? It means nothing to me about how that makes our losses OK. I follow the eye test. Auburn looked damn good in their loss. We did not.

 

[Bungalow Bill]

Son of Saul, No disrespect. But, every year and especially during the latter part of the Cal era, I would see posts about other teams losing (and meaning see it happens to them too). How did that work out for us? It means nothing to me about how that makes our losses OK. I follow the eye test. Auburn looked damn good in their loss. We did not.

So Auburn looked damn good and lost to a team we beat and we did not look damn good, actually played poorly, and lost to a very tough road opponent by 4. That tells me we have a lot more upside from here than Auburn. If we had played damn good against Clemson and lost I would be a lot more disappointed and worried.

 

[Digger-Cat]

So Auburn looked damn good and lost to a team we beat and we did not look damn good, actually played poorly, and lost to a very tough road opponent by 4. That tells me we have a lot more upside from here than Auburn. If we had played damn good against Clemson and lost I would be a lot more disappointed and worried.

If we played duke last night in Cameron with the game we brought to Clemson, we get wrecked badly.
Auburn played really well, they jumped out to a big lead and played extremely hard all game long.
I didn't see guys ball watching, a ton of missed free throws, or guys turning the ball over trying to do things they can't do.
Clemson isn't really a good team, they're low on talent and we let them out tough us.
It is what it is, doesn't mean our team sucks, but they have things to fix and right now, Auburn is way ahead of us when it comes to effort, toughness and quality depth.
I'm hopeful that we can catch up with them by the time they come to Rupp.
Maybe it's a good thing we lost the way we did, if it means we beat Gonzaga, I'll take that in a heartbeat.

 

[Bluegrassking]

I'm mildly encouraged that as poorly as we shot, as much as we got pushed around, with how struggled to dictate the pace, and they seemed to seize the initiative about everytime that we still had our shots to win against a decent team on the road.

Clemson ain't Bad, bad Leroy Brown but neither are they garbage.

Any better pulse and we beat them no matter what.

Learn and grow.

 

[gharding07]

I'm still concerned. Clemson isn't a good team, I don't care what kenpom or the NET says. We only have a Duke win to look back on, no other even remotely close games or competition so far. If we can beat the Zags I'll feel a lot better.

 

[jeffky]

I'm still concerned. Clemson isn't a good team, I don't care what kenpom or the NET says. We only have a Duke win to look back on, no other even remotely close games or competition so far. If we can beat the Zags I'll feel a lot better.

You may need to be reminded this team was built from scratch in two months . I think it's unbelievable what Mark has done so far be patient this team is coming . What no one discussed the other night was the fight in this team they never quit and they kept coming . We are a dangerous team come conference time . Enjoy the ride

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

I'm still concerned. Clemson isn't a good team, I don't care what kenpom or the NET says. We only have a Duke win to look back on, no other even remotely close games or competition so far. If we can beat the Zags I'll feel a lot better.

Serious question then.

When the Mark Pope hire was announced, and you saw the team he put together, did you think we would be 7-1 at this point? Did you think we would have reached #4 ranking in the country this quickly? Were you super confident at first and this concern is new?

I’m interested because I think Pope has crushed all expectations thus far. I wasn’t sure we’d make the tournament at first. Then I guessed 10 losses. I also thought Duke would crush us. Enjoy the ride

 

[Cleatortoises]

I'm still concerned. Clemson isn't a good team, I don't care what kenpom or the NET says. We only have a Duke win to look back on, no other even remotely close games or competition so far. If we can beat the Zags I'll feel a lot better.

I'm still concerned...
I don't care...
I'll feel a lot better...
Our coach teaches a team concept.
He specifically says team concerns outwiegh individual accomplishment and accolades.
GBB!