Sunday, December 12, 2010

Cats Close Out Hoosiers


Now that's how you finish a game! Absolutely going away! I love it! Indiana should be glad there wasn't another 5 minutes on the clock, or the Cats might have housed 'em by 30! Yeah!

*end sarcasm

So I was again stuck watching this one through the wonders of my DVR, which means that I missed a real large piece of the first half while a team that shall not be named finished up their win over Pitt. The four-letter network was kind enough to put Kentucky on t"The Tres" and also on standard definition, but that doesn't help a brother when he has holiday obligations and has to time-shift the game to Sunday morning.

Usually under such circumstances I will try to avoid seeing the score or listening on XM Radio if I am away from home. I will even pre-empt conversations with people who know me as UK fan by saying, "Don't tell me about the game, I'm watching it later."

However, by the time I got to viewing this one, I was aware that Kentucky had beaten the Hoosiers by 19. I tell you: it makes for a very strange perception of things. I wasn't necessarily surprised by the score being close at half, but watching the second frame unfold was pretty bizarre. I just found myself waiting.....and waiting....and waiting some more for UK to (finally) put Tom Crean's team on blast.

Obviously, the explosion came very very late. And you know, it really wasn't even much of an explosion. More like a small salvo. A cannonade, perhaps. UK just continued to execute down the stretch, make its share of free throws and force IU into some poor sets and low percentage looks on their end. Kentucky seemed pretty peppy in the final 5 minutes while the boys from Bloomington appeared exhausted. And by the time you add it all up, it was a 81-62 Big Blue victory that looked really good scrolling across the bottom of the sports channel feeds all evening.

True, it was a good day for a couple of upperclassmen in DeAndre Liggins and Josh Harrellson. I'm continuing to be stirred by the play of Liggins in particular, who's added (or at least upgraded) a fairly reliable three-point shot to his repertoire this season, and still always manages to scrap and scrape and leave his left ventricle out on the Rupp Arena floor defensively. Back in the Billy Gillispie days (what was that? 15 years ago?) I was more frustrated by Mr. Liggins than anything. But he dribble-drives it pretty good, and doesn't mind doing the dirty work of taking charges, getting after 50-50 balls, and setting solid picks for his more celebrated teammates.

And since I don't have a whole lot of analysis to offer on the win, and since he put up 19 points and 9 boards--we're concluding this post by giving DeAndre the Blue Grass Chemical Player of the Game award for Saturday's win. DeAndre gets a refurbished 55-gal steel drum, spray-painted in any color that he chooses. As long as it's black.

GO CATS!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Bobby Knight + Golf = Profanity Squared

Okay, to get you in the mood for tomorrow's showdown with the Hoosiers, I thought you might get a kick out of this old footage of former Indiana Coach Bobby Knight.

It should be obvious, but the language in this video is highly NSFW....in fact, that's the whole point. (So before you click, make sure the kids aren't nearby.)

Of course, the video's been around forever, but it never fails to gives me big, deep belly laugh to hear Bobby cursing away in all of his highly creative, extremely ill-tempered, four-letter glory. Coach Knight is known for many things, and I would submit that profanity is perhaps chief amongst them.

Now, I really do try to keep things clean around here, but anybody who's ever played a round of golf knows just how frustrating the game can be. And let's just say that Bobby gets a little more frustrated than most with the little white ball.

So without any further ado....ladies and gentlemen....the vocal stylings of General Robert Montgomery Knight....enjoy....

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Hansbrough Regains Conscisousness; UK Pulls Away


Apparently the Ben Hansbrough Show is only a brief sitcom rather than a full-length drama, and it was a good thing for Kentucky. The second-most famous of all the basketball-playing Hansbroughs was playing Wildcat-killer in the first half Wednesday night. However, UK eventually managed to cool him off in notching a 72-58 win at Rupp Arena West (aka Freedom Hall).

The annoying little Benjamin was practically running wild and tossing in three-pointers from Papa John's stadium (or at least trying.....witness that little "heat check" 30-footer he chucked up)-- but reality bites us all eventually. In the second frame, Cal's young squad put 'Brough and the rest of the Notre Dame squad on lockdown, causing the Irish to go 1 for 15 to start the half. Could it have been smelling salts?

UK frustrated the Irish with some excellent help defense, closing down lanes and denying the ball to potential shooters coming off screens. I noticed that DeAndre Liggins in particular was "shading" his man while dropping into the paint quite effectively, and UK's young guards showed boatloads of footspeed in preventing any easy buckets on fast breaks. Notre Dame had a tough time getting any great looks, and to be fair, they did miss some jumpers during Kentucky's defensive run that probably would normally fall a good percentage of the time.

Quickly going up 6 to start the second half, and with the defense on full alert, the Cats really didn't have to do much more to earn the win. Super-frosh Terrence Jones decided that he wanted to do plenty regardless. Nearly giving Jimmy Dykes an announcer-gasm, Jones absolutely bulled his way to 17 boards, nicely complementing his 27 points on the evening. The display was impressive in its variety, with Jones showing a decent outside touch for a couple of threes, getting to the free throw line on slick moves to the basket, and hammering in a dunk or two for good measure.

The poise that Kentucky showed down the stretch was a nice bonus. They milked the shot clock just enough, and continued to force Notre Dame to work for their points at the other end. Slightly shaky I guess, with some turnovers and just being weak with the ball on some possessions-- but for a team with few upperclassmen, they salted it away pretty good. 17 for 22 from the charity stripe is a number that most any coach would love. And keeping Notre Dame under 60 on the night-- that's a solid defensive game.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Depth An Issue For Young Cats


Let me first say that I thought UK's loss to North Carolina was a very entertaining game. It had a March Madness feel, despite the sloppiness, and overall the entire 40 minutes were plenty intense. Clark and Gus were pouring it onto their CBS microphones pretty thick.

The UNC crowd was quite vocal in their support the wrong shade of blue, and it all came down to the wire and some great free throw shooting by the Tar Heels at the end. It was a much better college basketball game-- in a frantic, back and forth way, than you might normally see on the first weekend in December.

Sure, the loss stings. You never want to have to learn through losing. Especially to those guys.

But what I have as a real concern for UK right now, and it's no secret to anybody that follows the team, is simply frontcourt depth. Josh Harrellson played 21 over-performing defensive minutes but eventually fouled out in trying to contain Tyler Zeller today. Likewise, Eloy Vargas and Terrence Jones were eventually disqualified via personals (perhaps mercifully in the case of Jones, who did not seem to have his A, B, or even C game at the Dean Dome.)

Being pessimistic about the Kanter situation, and knowing that Daniel Orton, his family, and everybody else obviously has to deal with Daniel's (ill-advised?) decision to enter the NBA draft, (why was that again?) I figure that Kentucky is going to have to find some methods to keep its "bigs" on the court.

For starters, Josh especially needs to learn the difference between good fouls and bad. His fifth was an attempt to deny an entry pass in the waning minutes of the game, in a situation where Zeller was not exactly established way down on the block. Better for Josh to not try and reach over top in that particular situation, and just play straight up "D" after the catch. Don't give the ref a chance to call that one....and that goes double knowing that you've already got four.

Crazy as it sounds, I think UK also needs to just spread the fouls around a little more when facing teams with size. Doron Lamb logged 32 minutes, and played a tremendous game-- especially scoring the ball-- but he didn't commit a single foul. Usually a guy would accidentally pick up one or two just by playing solid defense. No, I'm not implying that you want a guy to just hack it up for the sake of hacking, but the Cats don't have the luxury this season of just running another 6'9" guy out there like Perry Stevenson to absorb some contact.

I really believe the guards are going to have to help out and double down more when it's necessary. UNC was only 1 for 11 from 3-point land, so it's not like the Cats were asking for a bunch of trouble by selectively abandoning the perimeter. Pick your spots and help out down low, backcourt. They will occasionally need the assistance.

But truly, another big part of the answer is that the Cats are going to have to go small for larger stretches than Coach Cal may prefer. That's where Kentucky's more talented players are anyway, and the current roster simply has more guys at the 1, 2, and 3 spots. I'm sure Cal can strategize for some extended periods of uptempo, pressing, dribble-drive type basketball. The season looks to demand it.

Terrence Jones has already had several much better days in his brief UK career, and will surely have many more. Josh/Jorts will give you everything that he can, including some questionable facial hair. And Vargas will develop into a solid contributor; I'm confident of that as well. But if you want to give yourself a mini-panic attack as a UK fan, imagine one of those guys going down with an injury for a few weeks, or missing a big chunk of the conference schedule. Depth is a concern, isn't it?

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Kanter Fatigue


I wish that Enes Kanter had been declared eligible by the NC2A months ago. How cool would that have been? He could have played with the UK team in Canada and totally terrorized our neighbors to the north. All the Midnight Madness/Undertaker hoopla wouldn't have left a funny taste in everyone's mouth. Perhaps even the Cats would have beaten UConn and thus won the Maui Tournament again. We'll never know.

Because Enes hasn't been declared eligible. And maybe he never will be.

But what I do know is that this particular eligibility saga has me completely and entirely worn out. It's been going on now for what, four score and seven years? I think there are kids in this nation that were born, potty-trained, sent off to school, and are now eligible to vote since the first time I heard about Lexington's favorite Turkish import, and his possible eligibility baggage.

I honestly appreciate Dick Vitale stating the other night to an ESPN audience that he personally found it ridiculous that Kanter might not be able to ever play in a college game while Auburn's Cam Newton prepares for an SEC Championship and possible BCS title on the gridiron. Note to the NCAA: Hypocrisy ain't just a river in Egypt.

The Kanter kid was literally a kid, a mere 16 years old, when affiliated with a Turkish pro team, and his family did what they thought would best prepare him to eventually attend college and play ball in the US....and as such they are all victims of a very funky European basketball system that has its own interests to protect.

And I can also see where a reasonable person could look at the facts at hand and determine: you know what, the "kid" played (and was paid) as a pro....salary, benefits, compensation, expenses, whatever you want to call it....money changed hands, and nobody denies it, and that's that. No Division I eligibility for you. Sorry.

But really, what's got me completely exhausted is the ongoing saga-ness of it all. The near daily rumors. The reports of "legal strategies" and appeal processes and compliance issues. The t-shirt and sign-based FREE ENES movement (kinda funny, but still.) It's become a total drag to me. It really has.

I just want a Decision. With a capital D. (Insert your own "taking my talents to South Beach" joke here.) Seriously....ANY decision, with some finality and some closure and preferably some fairness. This hot mess has got to come to an end.

Yes, I'd love to have Kanter on UK's roster against North Carolina and every remaining game this season. That would be great. He sounds like a nice guy, a talented baller, and a young man who's truly interested in contributing to the UK program and giving his absolute best for Coach Cal and his teammates.

But honestly, I've just got to have a conclusion, melodramatic or not, to the Enes Kanter soap opera. Soon. Or I may lose what remains of my fan sanity.