Patrick Patterson says he will be back in blue for the '09-10 Kentucky basketball season. His announcement was greeted by singing choirs of angels, confetti showers, and blaring trumpets. Shots were poured. Conga lines were formed. At least at my house they were. Probably yours too, since you're reading this blog. The idea having Big Pat on the roster for another year was enough to make my day just like Dirty Harry said.
Can you imagine Patrick after another off-season of conditioning and gym time? Starting his junior year without an injured ankle and finger? (and I don't care what anybody says, that d*mn finger is still bothering him). With a front line that would include incoming (stud) freshman Daniel Orton? Can you imagine? Patrick, bigger and stronger? Can you say giddy? Can I stop typing questions?
Yes, I know. Back to reality with LSU tomorrow. But let's celebrate this one for 30 seconds or so.
Again, normally Kentucky should not even have to play on Thursday of the conference tournament. But under the circumstances, and with Ole Miss putting together a pretty decent half, I was impressed with how the Cats were able to take care of first-round business. (True confession: I had to depart my regular game-watching venue with about 10 minutes left, so as to remain among the ranks of the employed. I make no apologies. I did listen on XM Radio on the way back to the office.)
I will say that it was very encouraging to see Kentucky attack a zone like it was something other than impregnable. Darius Miller was particularly effective in finding the soft spot around the free-throw line and then making pretty good decisions with the ball, taking shots as available and dropping a couple of dimes.
We also had a Perry Stevenson sighting in this game. He absolutely stuffed the stat line in 36 minutes, going 4 out of 6 from the floor, 5 of 6 from the line, 8 boards, 2 steals and an assist. (Also 2 shmurnovers with those 13 points.) I even enjoyed how Larry Conley and Tom Hammond were chiding him on one of those misses-- where Perry tried some kind of funky turnaround under the hoop, and the crew commented that most shots are easier to make when you're facing the basket. I will miss Conley and Hammond a little bit next year when the four-letter network takes over.
Of course Jodie got his 25, as Jodie tends to do. He also got UK's only 3-pointer of the game (in 10 attempts), a development that did not go unnoticed within our fan group. People get nervous about "the streak" being snapped when the second half is underway and the Cats haven't dialed in from long distance yet. Currently at 707 games and counting, the streak remains alive after Meeks was able to connect with 12:30 remaining.
The defense was excellent, particularly the second half, where Kentucky allowed only 20 points to a desperate Ole Miss team. The Wildcats only gave up 9 second chance points on the afternoon and only 2 fast break points. They outrebounded the Rebs 35-28, and let's pause here and give them some kudos for just basically bringing their lunch pails and doing some dirty work to get this win.
Friday will bring conference champ LSU though, and Tasmin Mitchell, Marcus Thornton et al should provide a much more difficult challenge. The good news is that the Tigers lost a couple of games themselves at the end of the regular season; so despite getting to rest today, perhaps Trent Johnson's group will have a bit of doubt creeping into their collective brains. On paper, they are better than Kentucky. Hopefully, Big Blue Nation can make it a de facto home game and turn the arena in Tampa into "Rupp South". I know I have a few friends over there that will be doing their part.
In closing, we give the Blue Grass Chemical Player of the Game Award to Perry Stevenson today. Perry gets a pair of steel-toed rubber work boots and some copper scrap that fell off of a pallet.
Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons by Fairocker
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment