Hey thanks to all of you that have been pestering me relentlessly via email. Yes, I do plan to blog up the 2010-11 Kentucky basketball season. How could I do otherwise?
Fact is, I did not get to see the Canada exhibition games, missed the Pikeville game entirely and only saw a piece of the Dillard game online. (Nice suit, Dale!) So my early season prep has largely been of the "read up on all of the coverage that I can get online" variety. Would have loved to have seen them all from start to finish, of course, but circumstances conspired...
As for the opener against ETSU, my personal coverage was limited to viewing only the second half, at an undisclosed Texas location with some fellow UK alums. Okay, it was Bagpipes in Austin. Thanks to Brian and Darian, et al for your hospitality. If you're ever in the area, you should feel free to join the crew for any and all Kentucky games. I'd even give you a good food recommendation, but I was too stuffed from an early dinner to check out the menu there.
So my limited impressions of the Cats' victory over the Bucs are as follows: very pleased with Terrence Jones, first and foremost, and also highly encouraged by the team's 3-point accuracy. Mr. Jones had a pretty "loud" 25 points, and demonstrated a smoothness and confidence that surely belies his freshman status. He rarely hesitated on the offensive end-- and while not truly gunning the ball, or ignoring open teammates-- he seemed quite content to look for his own shot, whether by taking his man off the dribble, or by throwing a decent little ball fake to get up a quick jumper. I'm not ready to anoint him as a 20 ppg guy based on the competition, but I seriously liked the scorer's mentality that I saw from him. It's always nice when you can join the company of a guy like Cotton Nash in the UK annals, with Jones tying the Wildcat legend for second-most points in a Kentucky debut.
Better yet, UK managed a 50% rate from three, and wouldn't you have liked to have gone 13 for 26 against West by God Virginia last spring? In addition to Jones (who was 2 for 3), Miller, Knight, Liggins, and Lamb all tallied shots from beyond the arc. So it would appear that Coach Cal is not blowing smoke when he maintains that this squad will be a good-shooting group. I'm sure we would all take a 50% average for the season, if there were a way to have it spotted to this team right now. Shame it doesn't really work that way...
So thanks for catching back up with me here, and I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule as the season gets underway.
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