Kentucky vs. Georgia Game Thread

[CurlyCat]

We are a better team without Briscoe. Even when he makes a good play he will negate it with something stupid. But his biggest liability is how he affects the whole team's flow. He ruins the spacing on offense. He's a ball stopper when he gets it. He doesn't have to be guarded so the other team can play 5 against 4.

I would play Mulder. He won't guard and he probably won't rebound like Briscoe but he also won't turn it over so much. And offense he won't hurt the spacing and flow, he will improve it. If you put Mulder in one corner and Monk in the other then there's no way they can double Bam in the post. You can't help off either of them.

That's if playing Diallo is off the table.

I couldn't agree more, these are great points. I never really thought about how he ruins the offensive spacing but you are so right, and I call that selfish play.

[George]

We are a better team without Briscoe. Even when he makes a good play he will negate it with something stupid. But his biggest liability is how he affects the whole team's flow. He ruins the spacing on offense. He's a ball stopper when he gets it. He doesn't have to be guarded so the other team can play 5 against 4.

I would play Mulder. He won't guard and he probably won't rebound like Briscoe but he also won't turn it over so much. And offense he won't hurt the spacing and flow, he will improve it. If you put Mulder in one corner and Monk in the other then there's no way they can double Bam in the post. You can't help off either of them.

That's if playing Diallo is off the table.

While some of what you're saying is true, we need Briscoe at his best if we hope to stand a chance of getting back to the Final Four. The guy's gotta play.

[KevinHall]

While some of what you're saying is true, we need Briscoe at his best if we hope to stand a chance of getting back to the Final Four. The guy's gotta play.

No doubt a terrible game by Briscoe. But if UK does anything in the tournament he has to be on floor and playing well. Almost every game is a positive for him. If you play Mulder more minutes his defense will be a severe liability. Cal just has to make sure Briscoe keeps his head in the game and leaves the personal stuff with the other team to the side. That is what gets him more than anything IMO.

Good gut check win. Every time UGA got that crowd going UK would match them with a big shot. That was as big as anything in this game. Hawkins and Willis gave UK a big game off the bench. Willis had a couple of huge rebounds down the stretch. Fox was great the last 8 minutes of the game. UGA couldn't guard him at all. UK also got clutch foul shooting when they needed it. Had to have every one of those. Give Frazier a ton of credit too. Some of it was poor defense but most of it was him. I doubt many teams could have done much with him on this night.

UK keeps pace with UF. So they are still on track for the showdown next Saturday.

[Blue Heaven]

Free throws baby!!!!!

This. I have not been shown that we can win a game at the line. We seem to always choke when we need points from the line.

[Ratt]

While some of what you're saying is true, we need Briscoe at his best if we hope to stand a chance of getting back to the Final Four. The guy's gotta play.

Let's be real first - this team isn't going to the final four. We'll start there.. People talk about Mulders lack of defense and it's not great but lets face it - Briscoe isn't much of a defensive player as well. In fact - none of these guys are other than Hawkins. They can't get around a screen, don't know when to go high or low, don't fight through them, don't take charges, don't play help defense, don't know how to defend a pick/roll or pick/fade and on and on. These guys are terrible on the defensive side of the ball and it's not going to get better. Sure - they'll play some good D for a few minutes and then boom. HOW many times tonight did we have to watch the high screen and watch the switch and then Bam leave the guy or the guard not get through the screen or the guy go high when he should have went low - go back and watch the tape at how bad and lazy this team is on defense. AND there is no rim protector like in years past. It's baffling. I would rather you knock a guy on his ass then to constantly sit there and let a guard drive from the top of the key and go all the way to the basket untouched. AND it happens way more than it should.

I agree that Briscoe needs to play but I don't think he needs to play as much as he is. What has he done that warrants that? IF Willis, Gabriel or Mulder even run down the court wrong, instantly they are pulled yet we have to watch game after game of Briscoe making turnover after turnover and not getting the same treatment. It's garbage. I really hate to be so negative but he has slowly turned into one UK player that I'm starting to not like at all - game wise or attitude wise. I just can't figure out how someone that is supposed to be so good and he can't flat out hit a shot. How is this possible? I know grade school kids that can knock down shots better than him. It's really pathetic.

Then - let's talk Cal. This garbage that he's not going to coach as much and let his assistants chime in - what the hell is that? Who does that? What college coach does that? I hate to say it but this season has been really unreal for me. It's almost to the point where I don't want to watch them. The offense is bad. The defense is bad. The coaching is bad. The talent is bad. It's just one of those years that we have to get through. Next years - let's hope that the kids coming in can play a little better than what's here.

[SCBlu]

Agree, and the season stats show this. Who commits the fewest turnovers per time played? Hawkins. He averages only one TO per 40 minutes of play. And who commits the most TOs per time played? Briscoe, averaging one TO for every 12 minutes of time. Add to this his poor outside shooting and it cries for reduced playing time.

[KCKUKFan]

Let's be real first - this team isn't going to the final four. We'll start there.. People talk about Mulders lack of defense and it's not great but lets face it - Briscoe isn't much of a defensive player as well. In fact - none of these guys are other than Hawkins. They can't get around a screen, don't know when to go high or low, don't fight through them, don't take charges, don't play help defense, don't know how to defend a pick/roll or pick/fade and on and on. These guys are terrible on the defensive side of the ball and it's not going to get better. Sure - they'll play some good D for a few minutes and then boom. HOW many times tonight did we have to watch the high screen and watch the switch and then Bam leave the guy or the guard not get through the screen or the guy go high when he should have went low - go back and watch the tape at how bad and lazy this team is on defense. AND there is no rim protector like in years past. It's baffling. I would rather you knock a guy on his ass then to constantly sit there and let a guard drive from the top of the key and go all the way to the basket untouched. AND it happens way more than it should.

I agree that Briscoe needs to play but I don't think he needs to play as much as he is. What has he done that warrants that? IF Willis, Gabriel or Mulder even run down the court wrong, instantly they are pulled yet we have to watch game after game of Briscoe making turnover after turnover and not getting the same treatment. It's garbage. I really hate to be so negative but he has slowly turned into one UK player that I'm starting to not like at all - game wise or attitude wise. I just can't figure out how someone that is supposed to be so good and he can't flat out hit a shot. How is this possible? I know grade school kids that can knock down shots better than him. It's really pathetic.

Then - let's talk Cal. This garbage that he's not going to coach as much and let his assistants chime in - what the hell is that? Who does that? What college coach does that? I hate to say it but this season has been really unreal for me. It's almost to the point where I don't want to watch them. The offense is bad. The defense is bad. The coaching is bad. The talent is bad. It's just one of those years that we have to get through. Next years - let's hope that the kids coming in can play a little better than what's here.

People said the same thing about the Knight/Harrellson team and the Randle/Young team, too. Not saying this team is Final Four bound, but let's just wait and see, shall we?

Cal is taking a more hands-off approach in the games, because screaming at the team for forty minutes obviously wasn't helping the situation. I see no problem with letting the assistants take a more hands-on approach.

This team is 22-5 and tied for first in the SEC. Define "bad."

[George]

Let's be real first - this team isn't going to the final four. We'll start there.. People talk about Mulders lack of defense and it's not great but lets face it - Briscoe isn't much of a defensive player as well. In fact - none of these guys are other than Hawkins. They can't get around a screen, don't know when to go high or low, don't fight through them, don't take charges, don't play help defense, don't know how to defend a pick/roll or pick/fade and on and on. These guys are terrible on the defensive side of the ball and it's not going to get better. Sure - they'll play some good D for a few minutes and then boom. HOW many times tonight did we have to watch the high screen and watch the switch and then Bam leave the guy or the guard not get through the screen or the guy go high when he should have went low - go back and watch the tape at how bad and lazy this team is on defense. AND there is no rim protector like in years past. It's baffling. I would rather you knock a guy on his ass then to constantly sit there and let a guard drive from the top of the key and go all the way to the basket untouched. AND it happens way more than it should.

I agree that Briscoe needs to play but I don't think he needs to play as much as he is. What has he done that warrants that? IF Willis, Gabriel or Mulder even run down the court wrong, instantly they are pulled yet we have to watch game after game of Briscoe making turnover after turnover and not getting the same treatment. It's garbage. I really hate to be so negative but he has slowly turned into one UK player that I'm starting to not like at all - game wise or attitude wise. I just can't figure out how someone that is supposed to be so good and he can't flat out hit a shot. How is this possible? I know grade school kids that can knock down shots better than him. It's really pathetic.

Then - let's talk Cal. This garbage that he's not going to coach as much and let his assistants chime in - what the hell is that? Who does that? What college coach does that? I hate to say it but this season has been really unreal for me. It's almost to the point where I don't want to watch them. The offense is bad. The defense is bad. The coaching is bad. The talent is bad. It's just one of those years that we have to get through. Next years - let's hope that the kids coming in can play a little better than what's here.

And if the same team that showed up against UT begins to appear with consistency, you'd still be willing to say they can't make a deep run?

If so, you'd be wrong. I'm not guaranteeing anything, because I'm no longer confident in these guys, either. But to say they CAN'T do it is to discount their proven ability to (at times) play some very high-level basketball.

[BJD]

While some of what you're saying is true, we need Briscoe at his best if we hope to stand a chance of getting back to the Final Four. The guy's gotta play.

I disagree. But I think we are final four bound even with Briscoe. But a much easier road without him.

I've got a room reserved in Phoenix. And have had it for a while. Nothing has made me cancel that reservation.

I'll see the team up close in Nashville. I've had my room downtown since last year for that. And I just bought tickets. I usually don't buy in advance since tickets on the street are so easy to come by in Nashville but a guy offered me 2 lower level books for $750 each and I took them.

There's a group of 10 of us that always go to the SEC tourney. When we left Atlanta in 2011 I was the only one of our group saying that we were headed to the FF. Then we all stopped to eat around Chattanooga and the brackets had come out and it looked as though we would play the number 1 overall seed, Ohio St, in the sweet sixteen and they were really giving it to me then that our journey would end there. Had the last laugh on that one too.

A poster at another site said exactly what I'm saying about Briscoe now back early in the season. I didn't completely agree with him then. I do now. I'm not a Hawkins fan either but he doesn't hurt us when he not helping. Briscoe hurts when he's not helping. And he clogs up the offense. he did 2 good things for us yesterday. He took out their big and he fouled out. We are a different team when he sits. And it's a better team.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the game last night.....heard all about it and will watch sometime later today

Heard the officiating was Terrible.....but way to tough out a road win CATS!!!!

[CurlyCat]

Let's be real first - this team isn't going to the final four. We'll start there.. People talk about Mulders lack of defense and it's not great but lets face it - Briscoe isn't much of a defensive player as well. In fact - none of these guys are other than Hawkins. They can't get around a screen, don't know when to go high or low, don't fight through them, don't take charges, don't play help defense, don't know how to defend a pick/roll or pick/fade and on and on. These guys are terrible on the defensive side of the ball and it's not going to get better. Sure - they'll play some good D for a few minutes and then boom. HOW many times tonight did we have to watch the high screen and watch the switch and then Bam leave the guy or the guard not get through the screen or the guy go high when he should have went low - go back and watch the tape at how bad and lazy this team is on defense. AND there is no rim protector like in years past. It's baffling. I would rather you knock a guy on his ass then to constantly sit there and let a guard drive from the top of the key and go all the way to the basket untouched. AND it happens way more than it should.

I agree that Briscoe needs to play but I don't think he needs to play as much as he is. What has he done that warrants that? IF Willis, Gabriel or Mulder even run down the court wrong, instantly they are pulled yet we have to watch game after game of Briscoe making turnover after turnover and not getting the same treatment. It's garbage. I really hate to be so negative but he has slowly turned into one UK player that I'm starting to not like at all - game wise or attitude wise. I just can't figure out how someone that is supposed to be so good and he can't flat out hit a shot. How is this possible? I know grade school kids that can knock down shots better than him. It's really pathetic.

Then - let's talk Cal. This garbage that he's not going to coach as much and let his assistants chime in - what the hell is that? Who does that? What college coach does that? I hate to say it but this season has been really unreal for me. It's almost to the point where I don't want to watch them. The offense is bad. The defense is bad. The coaching is bad. The talent is bad. It's just one of those years that we have to get through. Next years - let's hope that the kids coming in can play a little better than what's here.

In the 2013-14 season we had 11 losses and still managed to play for the National Championship. We were lamenting about the ineffectiveness of our bigs and how we could never make a tournament run without them.

I'm not yet ready to throw in the towel on this team.

About the only thing we can agree on is a decrease in Briscoe's minutes. He needs to stop thinking he's the superstar of this team and discover we need him to stop taking so many shots, distribute the ball better to our far superior offensive weapons, stop turning the ball over and defend and rebound like his life depends on it. And for heaven's sake he needs to stop trying to penetrate the lane with 2-3 guys defending him.

[George]

I disagree. But I think we are final four bound even with Briscoe. But a much easier road without him.

I've got a room reserved in Phoenix. And have had it for a while. Nothing has made me cancel that reservation.

I'll see the team up close in Nashville. I've had my room downtown since last year for that. And I just bought tickets. I usually don't buy in advance since tickets on the street are so easy to come by in Nashville but a guy offered me 2 lower level books for $750 each and I took them.

There's a group of 10 of us that always go to the SEC tourney. When we left Atlanta in 2011 I was the only one of our group saying that we were headed to the FF. Then we all stopped to eat around Chattanooga and the brackets had come out and it looked as though we would play the number 1 overall seed, Ohio St, in the sweet sixteen and they were really giving it to me then that our journey would end there. Had the last laugh on that one too.

A poster at another site said exactly what I'm saying about Briscoe now back early in the season. I didn't completely agree with him then. I do now. I'm not a Hawkins fan either but he doesn't hurt us when he not helping. Briscoe hurts when he's not helping. And he clogs up the offense. he did 2 good things for us yesterday. He took out their big and he fouled out. We are a different team when he sits. And it's a better team.

So BJD, honest question here: back in 2011, did you see something in that team that convinced you they were making a run, or was that just fan faith? And if the former, do you see something in today's team?

[Ratt]

People said the same thing about the Knight/Harrellson team and the Randle/Young team, too. Not saying this team is Final Four bound, but let's just wait and see, shall we?

Cal is taking a more hands-off approach in the games, because screaming at the team for forty minutes obviously wasn't helping the situation. I see no problem with letting the assistants take a more hands-on approach.

This team is 22-5 and tied for first in the SEC. Define "bad."

Believe me - I hope I'm totally wrong and they do go further than I expect... I'm just not seeing it. I agree that 22-5 is not really a terrible record and I do agree that there is some good talent in spots on this team. But this team's defense is terrible and I just think it's going to kill them in the tournament. There's a reason why so many 'non-relative' players are having career games non-stop against Kentucky. Go look at all of the games and look. The defense is just bad. If Monk hadn't went off in several games - there would have been a few more losses added to the record as well.
I get it - this team is good. Has some explosive talent and if clicking - would be almost unstoppable. But we are in mid-February and over the last 6-8 games - this team has had a lot of breakdowns - tons of them.

And lets face it - Briscoe has more talent than Hawkins. I get that. Briscoe needs to play and improve. I just think he has been hurting UK as much as helping them a little. Maybe a little tough love and bench time here and there would do him good.

And - Say whatever you guys want - I don't agree with Cal at all. I'm fine with him tuning down the yelling if he thinks that works but not to the point where I'm just going to sit there and let my assistants coach. Sorry - I don't agree with that whatsoever. IF he's going to do that - I would rather watch him get a few technicals early in the game and get thrown out. Then maybe the team would respond more to him.

[CATHYnKY]

I disagree. But I think we are final four bound even with Briscoe. But a much easier road without him.

I've got a room reserved in Phoenix. And have had it for a while. Nothing has made me cancel that reservation.

I'll see the team up close in Nashville. I've had my room downtown since last year for that. And I just bought tickets. I usually don't buy in advance since tickets on the street are so easy to come by in Nashville but a guy offered me 2 lower level books for $750 each and I took them.

There's a group of 10 of us that always go to the SEC tourney. When we left Atlanta in 2011 I was the only one of our group saying that we were headed to the FF. Then we all stopped to eat around Chattanooga and the brackets had come out and it looked as though we would play the number 1 overall seed, Ohio St, in the sweet sixteen and they were really giving it to me then that our journey would end there. Had the last laugh on that one too.

A poster at another site said exactly what I'm saying about Briscoe now back early in the season. I didn't completely agree with him then. I do now. I'm not a Hawkins fan either but he doesn't hurt us when he not helping. Briscoe hurts when he's not helping. And he clogs up the offense. he did 2 good things for us yesterday. He took out their big and he fouled out. We are a different team when he sits. And it's a better team.

My friends that make the trip from Louisville annually for the SEC tourney have had rooms since last spring. Gotta in Nashville if you want close to downtown. Gripes the heck out of me that the room prices are so outrageous. Helps that I split the cost with my buddy. Several of us meet up daily. Am going to start a thread on Nashvegas 2017. Would love to meet folks I haven't.

[Matt Dillon]

People said the same thing about the Knight/Harrellson team and the Randle/Young team, too. Not saying this team is Final Four bound, but let's just wait and see, shall we?

Cal is taking a more hands-off approach in the games, because screaming at the team for forty minutes obviously wasn't helping the situation. I see no problem with letting the assistants take a more hands-on approach.

This team is 22-5 and tied for first in the SEC. Define "bad."

I didn't see much hands on from the assistants last night.