KENTUCKY VS South Carolina Game Thread

[UKBoo]

I was very happy with the outcome today. USC's physical style was too much for several of the interior guys today but it didn't matter. I agree with Cal that they need to focus on post up production. I cringe when Towns or Johnson get the ball on the post and they force a move that has been low percentage for them. Those need to be 95%. Anyway, it simply didn't matter and that is a great thing.

[TrueblueCATfan]

OUCH...Florida lost again..they are now 10-9

[Pobilly]

Like a few have stated here. The middle of the pack teams in the SEC are beating each other. Not good for the Post Season. Hopefully we keep beating the rest of the SEC but maybe a team or two will step up and give us 4 teams for the tourney. Kind of doubt it.

[Matt Dillon]

Like a few have stated here. The middle of the pack teams in the SEC are beating each other. Not good for the Post Season. Hopefully we keep beating the rest of the SEC but maybe a team or two will step up and give us 4 teams for the tourney. Kind of doubt it.

I doubt it as well. The SEC is very weak in bb.

[Joneslab]

Arkansas averted disaster yesterday. They got a gift at Missouri with a guy missing two free throws with 3 seconds left. I think they're safe for the moment: 14-4, top 30 in the RPI. Georgia is probably still okay as well. Their RPI is pretty solid.

After that it gets pretty murky. LSU probably has the best chance but they're going to have to play well going forward. They and Tennessee are squarely on the bubble.

Florida is clearly out at this point barring a miracle.

[Matt Dillon]

What, in your opinion, has happened to Fl., Will?

[Katmendo]

Like a few have stated here. The middle of the pack teams in the SEC are beating each other. Not good for the Post Season. Hopefully we keep beating the rest of the SEC but maybe a team or two will step up and give us 4 teams for the tourney. Kind of doubt it.

Which is, to be fair, ANOTHER reason why these teams are all going to be playing out of their minds against UK. Many of them have few signature wins, or none. But, if they can knock off UK and get to 19 - 20 wins they have a glimmer of hope.

[ukwebfan]

Too many SEC games left to play but it appears 9 teams total are vying for 4-5 spots in the dance. Several of the 8 are playing catch-up but with UK on their schedule, all it takes it maybe a 11-7 record and an upset for the dream to be realized. Cal has a tough job fighting complacency and getting them prepared for tournament play. But if the defense plays the way it has, the odds of winning it all are looking pretty good to me. About 7 weeks left to clean things up also.

[JFCats22]

Too many SEC games left to play but it appears 9 teams total are vying for 4-5 spots in the dance. Several of the 8 are playing catch-up but with UK on their schedule, all it takes it maybe a 11-7 record and an upset for the dream to be realized. Cal has a tough job fighting complacency and getting them prepared for tournament play. But if the defense plays the way it has, the odds of winning it all are looking pretty good to me. About 7 weeks left to clean things up also.

I would VERY surprised if the SEC got 5 teams in the tourney. Right now you have UK, Arkansas, Georgia and probably one of Tennessee, LSU, and A&M. A team could get hot and make a run but the NCAA isn't going to take 2 or 3 very similar teams from the SEC.

[KevinHall]

Kentucky turned the ball over twice.

Cal is starting to play like Tubby Smith wanted to play when he was here. But this is Tubbyball on steroids.

I like that. This is Tubby Ball with better athletes. Superlative defense with a schizoid offense. This team is going to have to win on its defense. Its never going to be a offensive juggernaut. Saying that Booker is going to be a key player come tournament time. He seems to be the only one to give them consistent offense. Just a great shooter who can get open on his own. UK is 19-0 tied for the 3rd best start in all time history. Missouri is next up in Columbia. UK should win this one but any road game has the potential to be a tough one.

[Pobilly]

I used to get mad at Tubby Ball but I agree this is a higher version of Tubby Ball. I guess this is what it could have looked like with more that one or two 4 star recruits. Will and Kevin too right about that.

[Joneslab]

A poster named pascat on the Rivals free board is starting to put up some interesting, extensive posts about what Kentucky does and how we run our offense. They're highly entertaining and he has a great grasp on how the games are played. Here's his post after South Carolina:

Aside from the obviously dominant defensive performance by UK which drove the Cats to victory, the two themes of UK's offense were guard play and schematic adjustments to Carolina's defensive looks. I'm not totally ready to anoint this game the best of the year, but it may have been the most complete. A few notes…

(1) UK's guards were outstanding. Only 8 turnovers against an intense ball club that tried full court press, half court man press, and half court zone press for much of the game. And it was not just Andrew and Ulis. Aaron and Booker both handled the ball extremely well. Adding to their performance, Calipari hardly set a single high post screen for the point guards in the first half. They did everything virtually on their own in the offense. Truly, a virtuoso performance from UK's guards.

(2) Two very different halves for UK's offense. In the first half, UK scored 20 points in transition. In the second, they scored 5. This largely came from the fact that UK's defense was so dominant, Frank Martin had to abandon the plan to crash the boards and send everyone back in transition. UK scored 14 points on 17 half court sets in the first half and 19 points on 21 sets in the second half. Not earth-shattering, but enough to win.

(3) Clutch, once again. UK scored on 9 of its 15 final possessions, including 5 of its last 8 (this is counting the two shot clock heave plays in the last two minutes when the outcome was decided). UK is simply terrific down the stretch.

(4) In the first half, Kentucky ran 17 half court sets. 12 of these sets were not only different plays, they were completely different plays, that not only started out differently, but then evolved into yet another different play if the first look was not there. The second half was less innovative (Calipari "only" introduced four distinctly different plays), but that is because (a) South Carolina essentially forced UK into playing a spread/spaced offense because of the half court presses and traps, and (b) UK ran pass and cut plays for the last 6 minutes of the game, as it was effectively over by then. Overall, it is becoming difficult keeping up with all of UK's various looks in a game.

(5) UK's execution was better offensively against USC. Fewer busted plays and the players responded to running them more instinctively.

(6) IMHO, the most intriguing play of the game came at the 18:40 mark in the second half. Watch it just for kicks and tell me if you see what I think I saw. The play looks like it is going to be a Triangle (which I've not seen yet this year), but then it turns into two sequential screens set by Lee and Johnson that Ulis runs through in succession, before kicking it to Booker for a wide-open 3. To say that South Carolina was "confused" on this play would flatter The Game****************s' awareness of what was happening. It was basketball perfection, tainted only slightly by the possibility that UK set two illegal screens on the play (I'll let you all be the judge). Regardless, it was pure poetry.

(7) UK did not force feed the post like they did in the last game. Rather, it looked like Calipari trusted his guards to get the ball down low on their own without passing it there. As a result, there were several more ISO and clear-out plays than in the last few games.

(8) Some folks pointed out that Towns did not play many minutes. I'm not sure if this was the reason, but with 9:30 left in the first half, South Carolina ran a tightly packed zone defense that left no room for UK players on the interior. Towns got the ball and pulled a turnaround baseline jumper that missed, with his four teammates all around the perimeter. It wasn't just a bad shot, it came at a frustrating time in the game when USC had just obtained a lucky tip in off the glass to them us to within 3. Cal called timeout and let Towns have it. But after benching him he put him back in 3 minutes later, which I thought was a good sign.

(9) Booker's first step continues to dazzle. Lyles in the open floor continues to baffle. With the ball, he's a work in progress; without the ball, he does very well for himself.