The Good
* Welcome Home, Hami. Maybe the best thing about last night was Hami's performance and the smile at the end. I think we saw some of Cal's genius in that: his ability to take a player who is struggling beyond all comprehension, stick with him, and suddenly the player puts together a decent game. He's done that with a bunch of guys in the past, starting with Marquis Teague and moving up through guys like Terrence Jones and Cauley-Stein. It's usually called "stubbornness" when fans discuss it, but it could also be seen as patience. I just hope it's not a little of fool's gold and that Hami can use last night to keep helping us.
* Vand-O-Mite! Jarred Vanderbilt continued his animalistic ways, getting to essentially every rebound and actually putting together an offensive game. His spin move in the paint from 8 feet out was pretty special. If he could give us 9 or 10 a game going forward this team could make a run. Because you know he's going to hit the glass as if his everloving life depends on it. Matt Jones pointed out in the postgame that Pomeroy has Vanderbilt as the best offensive rebounder in America and there's really no close second. He's in the top 10 in defensive rebounding. The guy just works.
* Assists, Assists, and More Assists. Seventeen of them last night. Seventeen! There's no mystery as to why we're seeing these threes go down: guys are looking for each other. The ball is moving. Players are playing much more freely instead of standing around and watching Kevin Knox go one on four. It's basketball the way it's meant to be played. Unfortunately it took them three months to get it.
* Washington Crossing. PJ continues to flourish. I think he's being freed up by Vanderbilt in a lot of ways. He doesn't have to be the only one down there battling. With Vanderbilt in the game PJ can be more of what he is: a bruising scorer, a la Chuck Hayes. If Vanderbilt is the tazmanian devil then Washington is the guy who comes in after and performs the clean-up. He's the Wolf with a baby hook. It's so hard for these young big men to be down there on an island; Vanderbilt's emergence has been key to what this team has done the last couple of weeks.
* Three Boggles. I said above that we know why Kentucky has shot the ball like they have recently--the passing. But it's still wild to see these shots go down after watching some of the shooting we saw in the first part of the season. It proves an argument I've always made, which is that it's brutally difficult to win in college basketball when you hit just 2 or 3 threes. Kentucky is 18-37 the last two games. That's 49%. Yowza.
The Bad
* Gone to Seed. Kentucky is working itself up in seeding now, not that that matters this season. Everybody is kind of even this year after a group of maybe three or four teams. Still, there are some juggernauts out there. And the way UK is playing and its strength of schedule is showing that we're moving up to maybe a 4/5 seed. The team that I think we would have colossal problems with is Michigan St. So if you get the 4/5 in their region that's a team you might have to deal with if you make it to the second weekend. I know, I know: first thing's first. Finish out the season, play well in St. Louis, etc. But we're getting to the point where it's inevitable that we start looking ahead.
* Double Bye-Bye. I mentioned this last time, but it's still unclear if Kentucky is going to get that double bye to play on Friday of the SEC Tournament. We're tied for third right now with three other teams. But we're only a game ahead of two more teams in the fourth spot. This means a win against Ole Miss is crucial obviously, but also a loss on senior day at Gainesville may mean we drop into that group that will play on Thursday. Not the end of the world, but it makes a run to Sunday very difficult.
The Ugly
* Awful Announcing. Yes, I know it was a boring game if you were just a random observer. And yes, I know there are many things going on in the college basketball world that announcers have to talk about. But I thought ESPN's team last night was particularly bad. The segment about Michael Porter Jr. went on way too long, as did the running joke about the guy's shoes. And I've never understood why we have to see anything other than the game on the screen. We don't need split screens. When you're talking about a player, we don't need to see him while the game is happening. We don't need those shots of coaches that they show. Anything that takes away from the game is bad.
* Nick Richards, Mr. Zero. Richards almost put up an infamous billion last night, putting together a game lined with zeroes across the board. His confidence has left him, his function on the team is a mystery, and he's the only player now that Hami has shown signs of life who seems to be having a monumental problem out there. Just cannot play for long stretches without hurting us in some way. I love the smaller line-up, but this is a team that really can't afford to have anyone lay an egg. We need the big guy and I'd love to see him put up a decent game this week.
* Welcome Home, Hami. Maybe the best thing about last night was Hami's performance and the smile at the end. I think we saw some of Cal's genius in that: his ability to take a player who is struggling beyond all comprehension, stick with him, and suddenly the player puts together a decent game. He's done that with a bunch of guys in the past, starting with Marquis Teague and moving up through guys like Terrence Jones and Cauley-Stein. It's usually called "stubbornness" when fans discuss it, but it could also be seen as patience. I just hope it's not a little of fool's gold and that Hami can use last night to keep helping us.
* Vand-O-Mite! Jarred Vanderbilt continued his animalistic ways, getting to essentially every rebound and actually putting together an offensive game. His spin move in the paint from 8 feet out was pretty special. If he could give us 9 or 10 a game going forward this team could make a run. Because you know he's going to hit the glass as if his everloving life depends on it. Matt Jones pointed out in the postgame that Pomeroy has Vanderbilt as the best offensive rebounder in America and there's really no close second. He's in the top 10 in defensive rebounding. The guy just works.
* Assists, Assists, and More Assists. Seventeen of them last night. Seventeen! There's no mystery as to why we're seeing these threes go down: guys are looking for each other. The ball is moving. Players are playing much more freely instead of standing around and watching Kevin Knox go one on four. It's basketball the way it's meant to be played. Unfortunately it took them three months to get it.
* Washington Crossing. PJ continues to flourish. I think he's being freed up by Vanderbilt in a lot of ways. He doesn't have to be the only one down there battling. With Vanderbilt in the game PJ can be more of what he is: a bruising scorer, a la Chuck Hayes. If Vanderbilt is the tazmanian devil then Washington is the guy who comes in after and performs the clean-up. He's the Wolf with a baby hook. It's so hard for these young big men to be down there on an island; Vanderbilt's emergence has been key to what this team has done the last couple of weeks.
* Three Boggles. I said above that we know why Kentucky has shot the ball like they have recently--the passing. But it's still wild to see these shots go down after watching some of the shooting we saw in the first part of the season. It proves an argument I've always made, which is that it's brutally difficult to win in college basketball when you hit just 2 or 3 threes. Kentucky is 18-37 the last two games. That's 49%. Yowza.
The Bad
* Gone to Seed. Kentucky is working itself up in seeding now, not that that matters this season. Everybody is kind of even this year after a group of maybe three or four teams. Still, there are some juggernauts out there. And the way UK is playing and its strength of schedule is showing that we're moving up to maybe a 4/5 seed. The team that I think we would have colossal problems with is Michigan St. So if you get the 4/5 in their region that's a team you might have to deal with if you make it to the second weekend. I know, I know: first thing's first. Finish out the season, play well in St. Louis, etc. But we're getting to the point where it's inevitable that we start looking ahead.
* Double Bye-Bye. I mentioned this last time, but it's still unclear if Kentucky is going to get that double bye to play on Friday of the SEC Tournament. We're tied for third right now with three other teams. But we're only a game ahead of two more teams in the fourth spot. This means a win against Ole Miss is crucial obviously, but also a loss on senior day at Gainesville may mean we drop into that group that will play on Thursday. Not the end of the world, but it makes a run to Sunday very difficult.
The Ugly
* Awful Announcing. Yes, I know it was a boring game if you were just a random observer. And yes, I know there are many things going on in the college basketball world that announcers have to talk about. But I thought ESPN's team last night was particularly bad. The segment about Michael Porter Jr. went on way too long, as did the running joke about the guy's shoes. And I've never understood why we have to see anything other than the game on the screen. We don't need split screens. When you're talking about a player, we don't need to see him while the game is happening. We don't need those shots of coaches that they show. Anything that takes away from the game is bad.
* Nick Richards, Mr. Zero. Richards almost put up an infamous billion last night, putting together a game lined with zeroes across the board. His confidence has left him, his function on the team is a mystery, and he's the only player now that Hami has shown signs of life who seems to be having a monumental problem out there. Just cannot play for long stretches without hurting us in some way. I love the smaller line-up, but this is a team that really can't afford to have anyone lay an egg. We need the big guy and I'd love to see him put up a decent game this week.
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