The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, The Egregious: Vanderbilt Edition

[BJD]

Diallo needs to play. He should have played last night. No, he doesn't know the system but we weren't running a system last night. It was all hero ball. What did we have? 8 assits? OK, not all hero ball, just mostly.

No way he's worse at this point than Hawkins or Willis. Or Mulder. We could just play 4 guards and Bam.

As for the officials, that's SEC officiating. They have to be the worst in college basketball. If an official can't get work in another conference the SEC will hire them. I know as biased fans we think they are against us. They aren't. They are just bad. Bad officiating affects the flow of the game so it does affect the better team more but that's just a consequence, not intended.

The SEC is all about football and it always will be. I'm not a fan of college football so I don't watch enough to know but I would bet the SEC has the best college football officials.

[GOCAT15]

All we have seen is highlights of Diallo jumping through the roof playing against boys in highschool and AAU. No way he can jump into the college game, especially during conference play and be this huge difference maker. Now if he practices and come March Cal feels he can help the team, then maybe....but if he progresses that fast you might as well count him as a half and done.

[KCKUKFan]

Diallo needs to play. He should have played last night. No, he doesn't know the system but we weren't running a system last night. It was all hero ball. What did we have? 8 assits? OK, not all hero ball, just mostly.

No way he's worse at this point than Hawkins or Willis. Or Mulder. We could just play 4 guards and Bam.

As for the officials, that's SEC officiating. They have to be the worst in college basketball. If an official can't get work in another conference the SEC will hire them. I know as biased fans we think they are against us. They aren't. They are just bad. Bad officiating affects the flow of the game so it does affect the better team more but that's just a consequence, not intended.

The SEC is all about football and it always will be. I'm not a fan of college football so I don't watch enough to know but I would bet the SEC has the best college football officials.

Let's say Diallo comes in and plays this year and is just good enough to be taken up in the lottery of the draft.

All of a sudden, we're out of a shooting guard next year and we're REALLY in trouble.

Guard play is not our biggest concern on this team, and it's not like we're really struggling, anyway.

We should keep him on the bench and get him ready for next year.

[BJD]

Let's say Diallo comes in and plays this year and is just good enough to be taken up in the lottery of the draft.

All of a sudden, we're out of a shooting guard next year and we're REALLY in trouble.

Guard play is not our biggest concern on this team, and it's not like we're really struggling, anyway.

We should keep him on the bench and get him ready for next year.

We are never in trouble as long as Cal is here. And Diallo could very well go to the draft if he never plays a minute here this season.

Guard play is not our biggest concern. Team defense is. And rebounding is close. No one currently coming off the bench is helping with either. Diallo is like 6'6" with an over 7' wingspan. If he's not more help than Hawkins, Mulder and Willis then he shouldn't be here at all.

[KCKUKFan]

We are never in trouble as long as Cal is here. And Diallo could very well go to the draft if he never plays a minute here this season.

I agree with this statement in theory, but there are literally no elite level shooting guards left in this class.

If we lose Diallo, we're going to have land Knox and play him out of position, or go and try to get a fifth year transfer, and we both know what a gamble that is. At worst, they don't play and at best they're Julius Mays. Not enough to take us where we need to go.

Team defense is a problem, but I'm not sure personnel is the issue (aside from Gabriel and/or Willis). The problems defensively (if you consider there to be a problem -- we're in the top 5 in KenPom defensively) lies in our inability to switch successfully and getting destroyed on those side screens; both of these issues can be shored up in practice.

Hammidou Diallo is a great player, but he's not going to come in and fix these issues.

[BJD]

I agree with this statement in theory, but there are literally no elite level shooting guards left in this class.

If we lose Diallo, we're going to have land Knox and play him out of position, or go and try to get a fifth year transfer, and we both know what a gamble that is. At worst, they don't play and at best they're Julius Mays. Not enough to take us where we need to go.

Team defense is a problem, but I'm not sure personnel is the issue (aside from Gabriel and/or Willis). The problems defensively (if you consider there to be a problem -- we're in the top 5 in KenPom defensively) lies in our inability to switch successfully and getting destroyed on those side screens; both of these issues can be shored up in practice.

Hammidou Diallo is a great player, but he's not going to come in and fix these issues.

I didn't say anything about his coming in and fixing those issues. I said he should play instead of Hawkins, Mulder and Willis.

I never worry about recruiting now that Cal is here. I don't even follow it now. Cal has that under control.

[KCKUKFan]

I didn't say anything about his coming in and fixing those issues. I said he should play instead of Hawkins, Mulder and Willis.

I never worry about recruiting now that Cal is here. I don't even follow it now. Cal has that under control.

Not at the risk of losing him for next year, when he will be needed a lot more than he is now.

But we could go round and round on this.

If I thought Diallo was the missing link between us and a guaranteed championship this year, I'd be all for playing him. But he's not, so why risk it?

If he doesn't play and still leaves, then he was just using Kentucky and Cal from the jump, and I don't think Cal would let that fly.

[GOCAT15]

I just love UK fans....were #6 in the country, one of the funnest teams to watch and if you read some of these posts the sky is falling and we are NIT bound. I truly feel sorry for the coach that tries to follow Cal here.

[KCKUKFan]

I just love UK fans....were #6 in the country, one of the funnest teams to watch and if you read some of these posts the sky is falling and we are NIT bound. I truly feel sorry for the coach that tries to follow Cal here.

I'm not sure anybody is saying the sky is falling and/or that we're NIT bound.

I see some concerns about our defensive breakdowns, which resemble defensive breakdowns that have plagued us in the recent past. Valid concerns.

[GOCAT15]

I'm not sure anybody is saying the sky is falling and/or that we're NIT bound.

I see some concerns about our defensive breakdowns, which resemble defensive breakdowns that have plagued us in the recent past. Valid concerns.

I'm being sarcastic....but it is just funny how we are trying to figure out how to fix our problems when 95% of college basketball is jealous of us right now.

We start out conference play with three 20 plus point wins, which hasn't happened since the 50's and win AT Vandy which is never easy for us, so it's hard to complain too much.

Don't get me wrong, I do the same thing, it's just our culture now.

[Joneslab]

The Diallo thing is an interesting discussion.

Cal doesn't seem as concerned about depth at guard as he is about interior depth. He never mentions Hawkins so I can only guess he's fine with his production. Mentions Humphries a lot.

That may or may not mean anything. I'm of the mind that if you feel you can get a championship, chase it. Whatever you can do under the rules. If getting the championship means a bottomed-out roster next season that lacks an elite 2G, then I think many would be fine with it. I would be.

But that's assuming Diallo raises our level of play just by being out there. I'm not sure if he would or not. It might just be wishful thinking. Kid will need to spend at least some time getting in the kind of shape it takes to play at this level.

[GOCAT15]

There isn't a team out there that I don't think we can beat.....IF.....we play the high intensity defense we are capable of. The stretch at the end of this month and going into February is going to tell me a lot, we have two big home games and a tough game in Gainesville, if we win them I think a lot of people's confidence in this team will go up that we can make a run in March and hopefully April.

I still think Duke is the team to beat, someone can correct me but I don't think they have lost a game yet where they were at full strength, wasn't Jefferson out last night?

And UNC and UCLA still scare me because they can flat out score and we can't count on Monk pushing the half century mark if we play UNC again.

[BJD]

I said before I think we are the best team in the country and I still say that. But we are not a finished product. We were doing much better on our help defense. But we fell back last night. Part of it was the officials, part of it was the environment. Very little had to do with Vandy. We were our worst enemy. That's to be expected with freshmen leading the way and people that aren't overly concerned with UK basketball are most likely not on a UK message board.

[GOCAT15]

I said before I think we are the best team in the country and I still say that. But we are not a finished product. We were doing much better on our help defense. But we fell back last night. Part of it was the officials, part of it was the environment. Very little had to do with Vandy. We were our worst enemy. That's to be expected with freshmen leading the way and people that aren't overly concerned with UK basketball are most likely not on a UK message board.

Can't argue with that!

[Joneslab]

I still think Duke is the team to beat, someone can correct me but I don't think they have lost a game yet where they were at full strength, wasn't Jefferson out last night?

Believe they were at full strength when they lost to Virginia Tech.

Duke is in trouble right now. They have the same issues we have defensively, but theirs seem to be worse.

They also have no point guard, which is always a risky gamble in college basketball.

The field looked uber powerful a month ago. Now it has thinned out some. Not really a super powerful team up there except maybe UCLA when they click. Villanova can be at times but I think their margin for error is a little smaller.

Kentucky is right there regardless of what happened last night. Every team UK has ever had has gutted out ugly road wins. It's basically just a thing you have to do.