I put almost no stock in early-season polls but Kentucky has looked a lot better than I thought they would through two games. The reason is obvious: defense.
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Interestingly Louisville got the only first place vote that didn't go to Kentucky. -
5 of the top 10 from ACC. Maybe they deserve it. Maybe it's media favoritism. I don't know. This year it may actually be accurate.Comment
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Think it's mainly because they return one of the nation's eight or ten best players.
Also think Stephen Enoch is a player who looks like he could have a break-out year. I liked him a lot last season. Not sure if he can stay healthy though.
There's also the fact that if not Louisville, who? It's a very weak year. There will be teams that separate as the year goes along, but on paper there ain't that much out there. That's why Kentucky has a shot.
Florida looked like one of those teams but they looked atrocious yesterday at home against Florida St.Comment
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Where are all the Blackshear lovers' at today??Comment
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Sportswriter explains his decision to put Louisville at #1.
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Pretty wild stat that UK only had one week as AP #1 in Tubby's tenure. The flip side is that Tubby is Joe B, Rick, and Cal's equal in # of Championships....
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Impressive.
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To take this a step further, how many teams did each coach have that let a title skip away? They all had similar length tenures. Rick definitely handicapped by probation and only 8 seasons but I would say this
Joe B had 2, maybe 3 almosts
Rick had 2, maybe 3
Tubby had so many Elite 8 losses, but 02-03 was a huge missed opportunity and bad luck
Cal has had 2, maybe 3 or 4...
I would classify a definite almost as getting to the FF or Title game as the favoriteComment
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This is crazy.
Of course the two behemoth years Tubby had--1998 and 2003--he was chasing other teams. Arizona pretty much stayed on top most of the year in '03. North Carolina was the team in '98.
Kentucky was very good in '04 and '05 as well but not #1 good. Actually that whole Chuck Hayes era was strong and a lot of fun to watch.Comment
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One interesting thing that nobody saw coming is that Richards may be more valuable simply because of his defense. He plays the pick-and-roll in a way that I'm not sure Blackshear could.
Richards' mobility has really impressed me so far. It's only been two games but he seems to move a lot better than he did in the past. He's been a big key to our defense even though UK as a team isn't blocking many shots. (One reason is that it's hard to penetrate and get shots off to be blocked.)Comment
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I'm pleased to see how Richards is playing, but I'm being cautious too. I think he will help us a lot as long as he is playing. One thing that concerns me is his fouling. He commits some of the dumbest fouls and they're not when he's trying to block a shot or rebounding fouls, He fouled out against MSU but had few fouls in the other games. We need him in the game against good competition.John 3:3
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