The Good
* I failed to do a TAMU GBU because I wanted to do a regular-season wrap-up. Also: I was lazy yesterday and it's Girl Scout cookie season. Team Thin Mint for life.
* Mr. Malik Monk. We all knew that Monk would be a dynamic player. That was obvious if you watched ten seconds of his highlight videos. But he came in with the reputation of being a "scorer, not a shooter," which is what basketball people say when they want to come up for code for "can't shoot." Monk shrugged off that label early on, with an incredible performance in Madison Square Garden, and he continued to pile up three pointers as the season went on. He's sitting at 92 threes right now and 40%, both much better numbers than I ever thought we'd see. He's not the all-around player I thought he might be, but his defense has improved and for me he's sitting behind Davis, Ulis, Towns, and Wall as probably the fifth best Calipari player I've had the pleasure of watching.
* 26-5. Kentucky went through a late January/early February swoon, losing three of four, but you can't be too mad about 26 wins. This team whiffed on its opportunity to be a 1 seed, but it has hung in there and has won six or eight games when it didn't play well--something that's so crucial in this sport.
* The improvement of Bam Adebayo. Bam went through a rough middle of the season. He had a tremendous game at Tennessee and then he just kind of collapsed. In the losses to Kansas and Florida and the close win against Georgia in Rupp, Bam was hovering around 9 points and 5 rebounds per game--way under what a guy with his athletic ability and strength should be putting up. Recently though he has roared back, beginning with the 22 and 15 game against Missouri, and has been a solid double/double threat for the last couple of weeks.
* The seniors. The three seniors on this team haven't had it the easiest. None of them are ever mentioned when the most talented players on the team are talked about. All have been complete afterthoughts for much of their careers. Well, here we sit with the senior class averaging 16 points a game, with Dominique Hawkins becoming a steady hand virtually every night. They aren't going to drive the bus, but you can't win titles without navigators who can help the driver keep the thing on the road.
* The improvement of the defense. The defense has been much-maligned by UK fans, as we all know. "We don't have a rim protector." "We can't guard line drives." "We don't communicate." "I can't wait until next year when we have some big guys." For all that, this team has slowly and surely crept up the defensive rankings, until now, low and behold, they have a better Pomeroy ranking defensively than offensively.
The Bad
* Kentucky suddenly having an incredibly difficult time starting games. I'm not sure what the deal is with this, but it's a tendency that could easily get us beaten early in the NCAA Tournament. It's almost like if our first couple of shots don't go down, we panic. The other day we were in one-on-one mode at about the 18:00 mark, with guys trying to do things they aren't capable of doing. This is an issue that has crept up on Cal's teams here before, and it really needs to be fixed if we want to see any semblance of a run.
* The defense. For all the improvement I mentioned above, if you look at the entirety of the season you see a lot of blown assignments, nonexistent help, and easy baskets that don't happen a whole lot for Calipari coached teams.
* De'Aaron Fox, Mr. Matador. Nobody has struggled as much on the defensive end than Fox. He definitely wasn't helped by the injury and his illness, but he tends to be involved in a lot of situations where he just is either out of position or he's a step late. Whereas Monk and Bam have progressed to the point where they can usually hold their own, Fox remains a step behind and has never seemed to be as comfortable on the defensive end as he needs to be. This is another thing that has to change, because the way Kentucky loses is when a team hits 10 or 12 threes or somebody goes off J.J. Frazier style and it's adios in the tournament.
* The foul-choked games of the SEC. Luckily there were only three, maybe four games in SEC season where the game devolved to a whistle every thirty seconds, but in those games Kentucky tended to struggle. This really affected Bam, as he went through a stretch where he just looked like he didn't know what to do on the defensive end. You could at times see the agony on his face as he was caught between putting his hands up, blocking a shot, or trying to get in front of somebody.
* Adversity. Kentucky has had its share of misfortune this season, from the injuries to Fox to having a couple of guys who didn't improve in the offseason, and then there was the Bubonic plague that hit the lodge during the winter. With the exception of the pummeling at Florida, Kentucky has been able to stave off a complete collapse and has overcome most of these things--not easy to do for a young team.
The Ugly
* Second half fade. This team, more than any Cal team with the exception of the Nerlensless bunch, has really struggled to guard in second halves. For awhile until very recently teams were just getting whatever they wanted after halftime. Teams were coming down, running their stuff, and scoring in long, unbroken movements of the game. Ten, eleven, twelve possessions straight where they got points. This has been remedied a bit recently, but for whatever reason this Kentucky team doesn't bring intensity out of the locker room--early on or after the half.
* Guarding the ball screen. If there's one motif I'm going to be left with from this regular season, it's Malik Monk rising up to hit a tough, contested shot in somebody's grill. If there's a second one, it's this team failing--over and over and over again--to contain the ball screen. We've been picked and rubbed off and nudged away from our line by high screens all year long, and we haven't gotten a whole lot better. If we see J.J. Frazier and the band in Nashville, then we're going to get so much more of this later in the week.
* Disappointments in individual progression. This team has seen some really significant jumps from a couple of players, notably the seniors, but it's also had a couple who just did not improve in the off-season. The lack of improvement from Isaac Humphries was the most disappointing for me; after the TAMU game last year it looked like he was ready to become a contributor. (The technical foul notwithstanding.) But now he's been relegated to spot time, and even that PT is hit and miss. It's obvious that if he's going to find a niche on next year's team--which should have a much deeper front line--then he's going to really have to get in the gym and work off some of the baby fat the way Dakari did. Jorts is the ceiling for this guy, but he's still quite a ways away from that.
* Missed opportunities. Kentucky had two major chances to get a 1 seed, with the UCLA game early and the Kansas game in January. Win either of those, and we are probably sitting here with a 1 seed in hand. But we failed both those tests and now it looks like we're heading for a 2--not the end of the world, but losing those two games, particularly at home, seriously hurt the chances for a magical regular season.
* I failed to do a TAMU GBU because I wanted to do a regular-season wrap-up. Also: I was lazy yesterday and it's Girl Scout cookie season. Team Thin Mint for life.
* Mr. Malik Monk. We all knew that Monk would be a dynamic player. That was obvious if you watched ten seconds of his highlight videos. But he came in with the reputation of being a "scorer, not a shooter," which is what basketball people say when they want to come up for code for "can't shoot." Monk shrugged off that label early on, with an incredible performance in Madison Square Garden, and he continued to pile up three pointers as the season went on. He's sitting at 92 threes right now and 40%, both much better numbers than I ever thought we'd see. He's not the all-around player I thought he might be, but his defense has improved and for me he's sitting behind Davis, Ulis, Towns, and Wall as probably the fifth best Calipari player I've had the pleasure of watching.
* 26-5. Kentucky went through a late January/early February swoon, losing three of four, but you can't be too mad about 26 wins. This team whiffed on its opportunity to be a 1 seed, but it has hung in there and has won six or eight games when it didn't play well--something that's so crucial in this sport.
* The improvement of Bam Adebayo. Bam went through a rough middle of the season. He had a tremendous game at Tennessee and then he just kind of collapsed. In the losses to Kansas and Florida and the close win against Georgia in Rupp, Bam was hovering around 9 points and 5 rebounds per game--way under what a guy with his athletic ability and strength should be putting up. Recently though he has roared back, beginning with the 22 and 15 game against Missouri, and has been a solid double/double threat for the last couple of weeks.
* The seniors. The three seniors on this team haven't had it the easiest. None of them are ever mentioned when the most talented players on the team are talked about. All have been complete afterthoughts for much of their careers. Well, here we sit with the senior class averaging 16 points a game, with Dominique Hawkins becoming a steady hand virtually every night. They aren't going to drive the bus, but you can't win titles without navigators who can help the driver keep the thing on the road.
* The improvement of the defense. The defense has been much-maligned by UK fans, as we all know. "We don't have a rim protector." "We can't guard line drives." "We don't communicate." "I can't wait until next year when we have some big guys." For all that, this team has slowly and surely crept up the defensive rankings, until now, low and behold, they have a better Pomeroy ranking defensively than offensively.
The Bad
* Kentucky suddenly having an incredibly difficult time starting games. I'm not sure what the deal is with this, but it's a tendency that could easily get us beaten early in the NCAA Tournament. It's almost like if our first couple of shots don't go down, we panic. The other day we were in one-on-one mode at about the 18:00 mark, with guys trying to do things they aren't capable of doing. This is an issue that has crept up on Cal's teams here before, and it really needs to be fixed if we want to see any semblance of a run.
* The defense. For all the improvement I mentioned above, if you look at the entirety of the season you see a lot of blown assignments, nonexistent help, and easy baskets that don't happen a whole lot for Calipari coached teams.
* De'Aaron Fox, Mr. Matador. Nobody has struggled as much on the defensive end than Fox. He definitely wasn't helped by the injury and his illness, but he tends to be involved in a lot of situations where he just is either out of position or he's a step late. Whereas Monk and Bam have progressed to the point where they can usually hold their own, Fox remains a step behind and has never seemed to be as comfortable on the defensive end as he needs to be. This is another thing that has to change, because the way Kentucky loses is when a team hits 10 or 12 threes or somebody goes off J.J. Frazier style and it's adios in the tournament.
* The foul-choked games of the SEC. Luckily there were only three, maybe four games in SEC season where the game devolved to a whistle every thirty seconds, but in those games Kentucky tended to struggle. This really affected Bam, as he went through a stretch where he just looked like he didn't know what to do on the defensive end. You could at times see the agony on his face as he was caught between putting his hands up, blocking a shot, or trying to get in front of somebody.
* Adversity. Kentucky has had its share of misfortune this season, from the injuries to Fox to having a couple of guys who didn't improve in the offseason, and then there was the Bubonic plague that hit the lodge during the winter. With the exception of the pummeling at Florida, Kentucky has been able to stave off a complete collapse and has overcome most of these things--not easy to do for a young team.
The Ugly
* Second half fade. This team, more than any Cal team with the exception of the Nerlensless bunch, has really struggled to guard in second halves. For awhile until very recently teams were just getting whatever they wanted after halftime. Teams were coming down, running their stuff, and scoring in long, unbroken movements of the game. Ten, eleven, twelve possessions straight where they got points. This has been remedied a bit recently, but for whatever reason this Kentucky team doesn't bring intensity out of the locker room--early on or after the half.
* Guarding the ball screen. If there's one motif I'm going to be left with from this regular season, it's Malik Monk rising up to hit a tough, contested shot in somebody's grill. If there's a second one, it's this team failing--over and over and over again--to contain the ball screen. We've been picked and rubbed off and nudged away from our line by high screens all year long, and we haven't gotten a whole lot better. If we see J.J. Frazier and the band in Nashville, then we're going to get so much more of this later in the week.
* Disappointments in individual progression. This team has seen some really significant jumps from a couple of players, notably the seniors, but it's also had a couple who just did not improve in the off-season. The lack of improvement from Isaac Humphries was the most disappointing for me; after the TAMU game last year it looked like he was ready to become a contributor. (The technical foul notwithstanding.) But now he's been relegated to spot time, and even that PT is hit and miss. It's obvious that if he's going to find a niche on next year's team--which should have a much deeper front line--then he's going to really have to get in the gym and work off some of the baby fat the way Dakari did. Jorts is the ceiling for this guy, but he's still quite a ways away from that.
* Missed opportunities. Kentucky had two major chances to get a 1 seed, with the UCLA game early and the Kansas game in January. Win either of those, and we are probably sitting here with a 1 seed in hand. But we failed both those tests and now it looks like we're heading for a 2--not the end of the world, but losing those two games, particularly at home, seriously hurt the chances for a magical regular season.
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