Sunday, March 25, 2012

Back To The Big Easy

And speaking of easy...wow, the Cats just kinda rolled through that regional like my dad used to roll through the buffet at Ryan's Steakhouse. Talk about acting like you own the place. Make yourself at home, kids!

Western Kentucky: nothing to be ashamed of. Told my brother that had to be the most successful 16-win season anybody's ever had in Division I. Glad y'all made it.

Iowa State: probably had the single-best player that UK faced in this tournament run, and if you don't remember who I'm talking about, it rhymes with Boyce Kite. But no supporting cast, no problem for the Cats.

Indiana: keep the candy stripes in Bloomington. Thanks for trying to push the pace, Coach Crean. Backfire much?

Baylor: talented for sure, but offering little resistance for an Elite Eight squad. Kentucky absolutely out-toughed them.

So it's back-to-back Final Fours for Coach Cal, and he's done it with another young team, and let's face it... they're probably all going to be pretty young teams for Cal unless someone changes the one-and-done paradigm. Seems to be working out pretty good for Kentucky in year number three.

Big Blue looks like an absolute machine right now. One of those big rock-crushing machines, I guess. Or like a state of the art wood chipper that just shreds big logs and branches and stuff. I don't know, something powerful and masculine, but still precise. You know, not anything wimpy like a sewing machine....oh no, nothing like that.

Kentucky can run up and down, and they can win a slugfest too. And since we can now officially look forward to the Louisville showdown, if you don't think that's going to be a slugfest, you're crazy. I believe Rick Pitino would like to play this one with both teams wearing boxing gloves, except on a muddy track at Churchill Downs. Lots of fouls, I bet. Very physical.

But bring it on, I say. Kentucky is plenty tough, as I'm sure the Waco Bears will attest. And they're taking the show back to New Orleans.

Don't leave without the hardware, guys.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Going Out In Style


That's how you finish conference play.

Kentucky's 74-59 win over Florida capped off a simply wonderful regular season for the Cats, and a simply perfect conference season. The Gators of Gainesville did offer at least a modicum of resistance today, but the Big Blue juggernaut rolled on nonetheless. 16 swept without a loss. Makes up for football season every time.

Early on, it looked as if Terrence Jones might be able to defeat Florida all by his lonesome. Jones was muscling up shots to open the game with an extra-fierce determination, signifying this UK team's intent to close out SEC play without a blemish.

Steve Kerr (?) was gushing about TJ early on, and with good reason. (Anybody know why we had an NBA announcing crew working this game?) But the fact is, "good" Terrence clearly made the trip down from Lexington, and that was very bad news for Billy Donovan.

Jones is tough to handle for a lot of reasons, but he's such a strong dude going to the basket with a full head of steam, that most defenders are simply S.O.L. when he gets that clear path. He can also take considerable contact and still finish effectively, and his right hand has gotten so much better during his two years on campus.

And speaking of getting better, is it possible that Anthony Davis can show us yet another gear during post-season play? And what gear would that even be? Sixth? Seventh? That little hook shot would be just SO sick if he could break it out successfully and consistently. Unstoppable, even. Has Wiltjer been working with him on that move? (The three-pointers on the other hand: let's keep those in check please.)

But I should really spit out a few words about Darius Miller, who scored only six points today. The thing is, when UK really needed a bucket in the second half, Darius was the man to get it. And with him being the Cats' lone senior contributor (no offense, Eloy) it's got to be especially gratifying for the former Mr. Basketball to run the conference table.

Darius did have himself a great senior night against Georgia, with five three-pointers finding the twine last Thursday-- and all of the plaudits that he's gotten as his UK career winds down have been fairly earned. It's always nice when young men play their best basketball down the stretch, and you can tell that Mr. Miller has had more fun than ever this season, even though he's not playing 40 minutes a game. His contributions have not been at all meager, even amidst this stellar group of future NBA talents. Fact is that Miller has hit several clutch shots coming off the bench, and I expect several more as March plays out.

And quickly back to Eloy Vargas, in closing. Seems like a nice guy. Never really showed a whole lot, but you'd have to say that he does give plenty of effort. Any UK letterman gets my respect. I wish both him and Miller the absolute best of luck in the future. But when it comes down to it, perhaps Lucy Van Pelt would put it best: of all the Eloys in all the world, he's definitely the Eloyest.

GO CATS!