You give this team a DeAaron Fox and it goes to the final four.
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^ And for some reason we were getting the ball to PJ to far out. He did make some good drives, but the double team was waiting for him.John 3:3
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Yeah, we generally don't post right on the block. I think this is by design. They want the catch, the rip-through, the face-up, and then the attack downhill. It worked often for PJ but there were times you wish he would've gotten the ball deeper.
I thought Hagans was the difference as I said, and there were some major (MAJOR) issues with Tyler Herro today defensively for one of the first times this year.* But I also thought a massive play was the Reid Travis post-up when it was tied late. That was good offense and Travis whiffed on it. You've got to put that ball in. If he scores there and we go up 2 I have to think we win that game.
* Herro looked exhausted to me today. He just hurt us in every conceivable way defensively, and as I said that hasn't happened virtually all year. He just couldn't stay in front of anyone.Comment
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True but so was every guard. Hagans was getting smoked by all day long and there were no bigs stepping up... Honestly - put in Richards and tell him, when the little guy comes into the lane, block his shot or put him on the ground and stop that. There's one play where PJ just stepped back and gave him the layup later in the game. Of course - that's the way all of these games go - It's a lot easier to sit here and pick things apart.
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Lighthouse I appreciate your positivity. I try to be positive and realistic myself. But I feel "great season" is a bit of an overstatement for a UK team that didn't win the SEC season or tourney or make the final four. It was a good season with some nice moments. But not great. It's OK to feel unfulfilled tonight.Comment
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Can't be a great season without a Final Four at Kentucky.
Very similar to the Fox/Monk year. But the difference is that we didn't get any breaks that season. We got sort of a gift this year with the teams who lost and we still couldn't get it done.
I do think the PJ Washington injury came at a bad time. PJ was very good today but he definitely wasn't 100%.Comment
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No doubt of that. May have gone to the F4 with a Quade Green. It wasn't just the turnovers and lack of a scoring threat form Hagans...we just couldn't run a set with Ashton's man sagging off him so far. A brief set of about 4 games of good defense convinced Cal that Hagans was the man till the bitter end. And teams adjusted for that pretty quickly.Comment
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Not sure Quade Green was the man we needed in that game. Terrible defensive player unless he went through a magical transformation during the year.
We needed North Carolina Ashton Hagans. The point guard has to be a rock. Can't go out there and commit 7 turnovers in the biggest game of the year.
I give Tyler Herro more of a pass because Herro had been so solid, and because we aren't in that game at all without him. But the freshmen guards got abused by Auburn's upperclass guards today in sort of a profound way.Comment
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I also thought the adjustment UA made in the first half was a factor in our loss. We were playing good D outside the 3pt arc and they were clanking nearly try. We were prepared for that D. Then, they started penetrating and driving to the basket and our lead dwindled. Without that adjustment, we may have built enough of a lead they couldn't overcome.Comment
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This team also never quite recovered after Reid went down with that injury. They thrashed Auburn but it was never the same. In January this team looked capable of winning a title.
In any event, I enjoyed this team. After the Bahamas and then the opening night loss to Duke, this team went through a lot. PJ coming back from his injury and toughing it out has earned him a spot in UK lore.
Love my commonwealth, love my team.Comment
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UNC Hagans proved to be a fluke. Have to believe the 30 games, not the 3.
At some point I tired of hearing about him being a reclassify too. Must have been held back once or twice and then jumped back ahead. He'll be 20 in July and once teams had a scouting report he was never very effective again. At least not more than one game in a row.Last edited by Catsrock; 03-31-2019, 10:31 PM.Comment
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The number of points was a bit deceiving in that game. Pretty slow game.
The major problem became when Auburn's guards wanted to assert themselves, they did. Don't think Green would have helped with that. Maybe he could've hit those shots Quickley missed (which were huge) but I always sort of thought the team functioned better without him.
In the first 15 minutes we did a solid job defensively. Then Brown got going late in the half and they figured out how they needed to play. I felt this sickening feeling going into halftime because you could sort of see how the game was shaping up. We should've had a 15 point or so lead with the way they played early on but instead couldn't push it out. Auburn was in a great place at the half.Comment
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