The Good
* For the Ages. Usually Kentucky/Louisville games are relentlessly ugly, plodding affairs that have more in common with MMA fighting than basketball. Well, yesterday bucked that trend in a big way. That was a fantastic basketball game, and after the first few minutes it was extremely well-played. I usually hate "Both teams left it all out on the court!" syrupy politeness, but that was fun to watch. Much funner that we won.
* Nick, Redeemed. Not much needs to be said about Richards that hasn't been said over the last 12 hours, but what a game for the big guy. The and-one late was undoubtedly the biggest play of his career, but as much as the scoring was how he stood in there and got at least two Cardinals in foul trouble. We might not have had a better human being at UK during the Cal era than this guy, and it's always sweet when you see those types of people succeed.
* The Yard, Guarded. Kentucky had trouble defensively in movements of this game with Enoch, but I love what we did on Jordan Nwora. Kentucky had him completely puzzled from the start, and there were a couple of times I thought he looked downright scared. I saw a bevy of guys checking him, including Keion Brooks on a couple of big possessions. Just terrific team defense on a guy who's had huge games in his career against elite teams.
* Big Game Tyrese. An odd thing: Tyrese Maxey has been pretty pedestrian in 10 games this year. In two games he's looked like a lottery pick. We got Lottery Pick Maxey yesterday, as he morphed into Rex Chapman and took that baby over. If Kentucky has any chance to be a player in the SEC then we'll have to get that Maxey virtually every night out.
* The Quick and the Live. Immanuel Quickley was as tough as anybody on the court yesterday, playing what I think was his best game in a Kentucky uniform. He's another guy that's essential for this team given how few playmakers we have. I love the fact that he wanted the ball in big spots, and for the most part he made good on every opportunity he had. Huge game for a guy who badly needed it.
* They Call 'Em Free. Yesterday: 21-25 from the three point line. On the season: 79%. This team gets it done at the free throw line.
* Dream Game? More Like Nightmare Game for the Cards. Kentucky has pretty much dominated Louisville over the last 20 years in this series. Honestly, it isn't much of a rivalry if you look at how one-sided it's been.
The Bad
* I'll Be Screaming "Grab the ball!" When They Throw Me in the Insane Asylum. The play that I was sure that broke us was a late miss on a jumpshot that caromed off long. Ashton Hagans is right there in position to rebound it, but I guess he got a hot message on Insta or something because he stayed right where he was and didn't go for the rebound. Louisville got the ball, went to the other end, and Nwora knocked down that corner three. Friends, I'll admit it: I thought we were sunk right then.
* Tip-Out. How badly would Keion Brooks's unbelievable tip miss haunt us if we would've lost that game. I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it right now writing this stupid report. It was unbelievable that that ball didn't go down.
* The Stall. I have written about Cal's proclivity to get into the grind to try and sit on leads. Well, we saw a little of that yesterday when the Cats grabbed that double-digit lead. We got a rebound and had a chance to race downcourt, but Cal called for that grinding offense to try to chew clock. Predictably we didn't score, Louisville did, and then it was a game all of a sudden. I thought our best offense yesterday was getting downcourt before UofL could set the pack line.
* It Just Means More. Let's talk about Kentucky going forward for a second. UK has 19 games left including the game at Texas Tech at the end of January. There are two ways to look at this. One, the SEC isn't what you would call "good." But now that we've seen Kentucky beat two top ten-level teams and lose to two dogs, one thing is strikingly obvious: this UK team could lose to anyone at any time. What the Louisville game grants us is some cushion so that we don't have to fight for our lives in league play. We now have two pretty big chips to play when Selection Sunday rolls around. However, the downshot is that our margin for error as a team is so slim and we have so few offensive playmakers that we might slip into one of these dark arenas at 9:00 on a Tuesday night when it's T-shirt/towel/pom pom/blackout night and just lay an egg. If UK got out of SEC play with fewer than 5 losses I'd be shocked. That means we'll be sitting there on Selection Sunday with 8-10 losses in a mediocre league with losses to Evansville and an awful Utah team under our belts. That's probably 8/9 seed territory. So to put a Cliffs Notes on that post: Kentucky still has much work to do to wrestle its season out of mediocrity.
* Dragon or Lizard? Kahlil Whitney barely saw any action yesterday, and continues to look like the experts wildly missed the mark on him coming out of his school.
The Ugly
* It's All Pretty. Folks, there is no ugly. Kentucky is going to roar into 2020 with things looking much better than they did a calendar week ago. The temperature has been ungodly the last few days. I don't have to work until Thursday. I'm going back to Owensboro, a town that's near and dear to my heart because it was where my wife had her first teaching job and where we were living when we got married, tomorrow to watch my son play basketball. Things are pretty swell from where I'm sitting. If I absolutely had to throw out an ugly it might be this: don't take your wife to see Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems. I liked the movie but a crowd-pleaser it was not. My wife told me after she thought she was going to get sick all over the floor just watching it. Imagine the opposite of a "chick flick" and that's what that thing is. You've been warned.
* For the Ages. Usually Kentucky/Louisville games are relentlessly ugly, plodding affairs that have more in common with MMA fighting than basketball. Well, yesterday bucked that trend in a big way. That was a fantastic basketball game, and after the first few minutes it was extremely well-played. I usually hate "Both teams left it all out on the court!" syrupy politeness, but that was fun to watch. Much funner that we won.
* Nick, Redeemed. Not much needs to be said about Richards that hasn't been said over the last 12 hours, but what a game for the big guy. The and-one late was undoubtedly the biggest play of his career, but as much as the scoring was how he stood in there and got at least two Cardinals in foul trouble. We might not have had a better human being at UK during the Cal era than this guy, and it's always sweet when you see those types of people succeed.
* The Yard, Guarded. Kentucky had trouble defensively in movements of this game with Enoch, but I love what we did on Jordan Nwora. Kentucky had him completely puzzled from the start, and there were a couple of times I thought he looked downright scared. I saw a bevy of guys checking him, including Keion Brooks on a couple of big possessions. Just terrific team defense on a guy who's had huge games in his career against elite teams.
* Big Game Tyrese. An odd thing: Tyrese Maxey has been pretty pedestrian in 10 games this year. In two games he's looked like a lottery pick. We got Lottery Pick Maxey yesterday, as he morphed into Rex Chapman and took that baby over. If Kentucky has any chance to be a player in the SEC then we'll have to get that Maxey virtually every night out.
* The Quick and the Live. Immanuel Quickley was as tough as anybody on the court yesterday, playing what I think was his best game in a Kentucky uniform. He's another guy that's essential for this team given how few playmakers we have. I love the fact that he wanted the ball in big spots, and for the most part he made good on every opportunity he had. Huge game for a guy who badly needed it.
* They Call 'Em Free. Yesterday: 21-25 from the three point line. On the season: 79%. This team gets it done at the free throw line.
* Dream Game? More Like Nightmare Game for the Cards. Kentucky has pretty much dominated Louisville over the last 20 years in this series. Honestly, it isn't much of a rivalry if you look at how one-sided it's been.
The Bad
* I'll Be Screaming "Grab the ball!" When They Throw Me in the Insane Asylum. The play that I was sure that broke us was a late miss on a jumpshot that caromed off long. Ashton Hagans is right there in position to rebound it, but I guess he got a hot message on Insta or something because he stayed right where he was and didn't go for the rebound. Louisville got the ball, went to the other end, and Nwora knocked down that corner three. Friends, I'll admit it: I thought we were sunk right then.
* Tip-Out. How badly would Keion Brooks's unbelievable tip miss haunt us if we would've lost that game. I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it right now writing this stupid report. It was unbelievable that that ball didn't go down.
* The Stall. I have written about Cal's proclivity to get into the grind to try and sit on leads. Well, we saw a little of that yesterday when the Cats grabbed that double-digit lead. We got a rebound and had a chance to race downcourt, but Cal called for that grinding offense to try to chew clock. Predictably we didn't score, Louisville did, and then it was a game all of a sudden. I thought our best offense yesterday was getting downcourt before UofL could set the pack line.
* It Just Means More. Let's talk about Kentucky going forward for a second. UK has 19 games left including the game at Texas Tech at the end of January. There are two ways to look at this. One, the SEC isn't what you would call "good." But now that we've seen Kentucky beat two top ten-level teams and lose to two dogs, one thing is strikingly obvious: this UK team could lose to anyone at any time. What the Louisville game grants us is some cushion so that we don't have to fight for our lives in league play. We now have two pretty big chips to play when Selection Sunday rolls around. However, the downshot is that our margin for error as a team is so slim and we have so few offensive playmakers that we might slip into one of these dark arenas at 9:00 on a Tuesday night when it's T-shirt/towel/pom pom/blackout night and just lay an egg. If UK got out of SEC play with fewer than 5 losses I'd be shocked. That means we'll be sitting there on Selection Sunday with 8-10 losses in a mediocre league with losses to Evansville and an awful Utah team under our belts. That's probably 8/9 seed territory. So to put a Cliffs Notes on that post: Kentucky still has much work to do to wrestle its season out of mediocrity.
* Dragon or Lizard? Kahlil Whitney barely saw any action yesterday, and continues to look like the experts wildly missed the mark on him coming out of his school.
The Ugly
* It's All Pretty. Folks, there is no ugly. Kentucky is going to roar into 2020 with things looking much better than they did a calendar week ago. The temperature has been ungodly the last few days. I don't have to work until Thursday. I'm going back to Owensboro, a town that's near and dear to my heart because it was where my wife had her first teaching job and where we were living when we got married, tomorrow to watch my son play basketball. Things are pretty swell from where I'm sitting. If I absolutely had to throw out an ugly it might be this: don't take your wife to see Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems. I liked the movie but a crowd-pleaser it was not. My wife told me after she thought she was going to get sick all over the floor just watching it. Imagine the opposite of a "chick flick" and that's what that thing is. You've been warned.
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