3/19/2015 Kentucky vs Hampton Game Thread

[Joneslab]

Not much to take from that game other than Booker is in a bad way all of a sudden. Just in a funk and I wanted him to be Doron Lamb for this run, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. You can see the gears moving.

Otherwise not much happening in that game last night. It was a W.

Love the way Andrew is playing. Is that guy not a first round draft pick at this point? He clearly isn't a lottery pick but goodness gracious he's completely controlling games. When you put him and Ulis on the court together it's a thing of beauty. You can almost alternate possessions where one of them has the ball and UK doesn't drop off at all.

Oh, and:

Dunk the ball, Willie.

[George]

Not much to take from that game other than Booker is in a bad way all of a sudden. Just in a funk and I wanted him to be Doron Lamb for this run, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. You can see the gears moving.

Otherwise not much happening in that game last night. It was a W.

Love the way Andrew is playing. Is that guy not a first round draft pick at this point? He clearly isn't a lottery pick but goodness gracious he's completely controlling games. When you put him and Ulis on the court together it's a thing of beauty. You can almost alternate possessions where one of them has the ball and UK doesn't drop off at all.

Oh, and:

Dunk the ball, Willie.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Had a blast at the game.....WOW that was a late one..did not get home until almost 1:15

The place was all blue....

[Lighthouse]

Not much to take from that game other than Booker is in a bad way all of a sudden. Just in a funk and I wanted him to be Doron Lamb for this run, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. You can see the gears moving.

Otherwise not much happening in that game last night. It was a W.

Love the way Andrew is playing. Is that guy not a first round draft pick at this point? He clearly isn't a lottery pick but goodness gracious he's completely controlling games. When you put him and Ulis on the court together it's a thing of beauty. You can almost alternate possessions where one of them has the ball and UK doesn't drop off at all.

Oh, and:

Dunk the ball, Willie.

We were in that endzone, and it looked like Willie lost his grip on the ball just as he made his move.

[George]

We were in that endzone, and it looked like Willie lost his grip on the ball just as he made his move.

But he missed on back-to-back attempts. I'd buy that the ball slipped once, but not twice.

[kynut]

Not much to take from that game other than Booker is in a bad way all of a sudden. Just in a funk and I wanted him to be Doron Lamb for this run, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. You can see the gears moving.

Otherwise not much happening in that game last night. It was a W.

Love the way Andrew is playing. Is that guy not a first round draft pick at this point? He clearly isn't a lottery pick but goodness gracious he's completely controlling games. When you put him and Ulis on the court together it's a thing of beauty. You can almost alternate possessions where one of them has the ball and UK doesn't drop off at all.

Oh, and:

Dunk the ball, Willie.

Exactly the way I saw this fiasco. Booker is snapping into his shot instead of flowing into it. It's a miss as soon as it leaves his fingers. And Willie is shooting like a sissy. Gets up above the rim and then tries to finger roll or bank it in..........with lots of side spin no less! One little bump on the arm and the shot is missed. Where's the Willie that vowed to stop being soft and to dunk on everybody? If I were Cal I would absolutely forbid him to shoot any shot except a dunk.

kynut

[40bill]

ain't sports a wonderful thing? A little team that shouldn't have been there loses by twenty to number one and it almost sounds like they won.

This team has had blow-out wins, close wins, overtime wins, knuckle nibblers, laughers, shoulda losts....and they still haven't lost one.
One and out tourney. You win, you advance.
Whether you dominate like the other team shouldn't be there or not.

[Joneslab]

The reason Booker's important is that threes are so important for this team.

Threes are important period in this sport but threes for this particular team, with the way we defend, become these psychological grenades.

You get into this game with Kentucky. You make your decision that you're going to pack it in and force tough twos. You can generally score enough to keep you at a manageable distance when you're playing that way, but when the threes start coming all of a sudden those consecutive stops we'll invariably mount up--eight, ten, twelve possessions in a row--are made more explosive because we're getting 3 points to your 0.

This team gets you shots. Ulis, Andrew, even the big men--we can hand it to these shooters on a platter. But if we're not looking for threes at all and just getting 2s, then we can't really bury teams the way we normally would. There was a stretch early in that game last night for about 8 minutes when we didn't take a single three.

You don't want us to go three-crazy, but there's a balance. When we take virtually all 2s we tend to not be able to get separation, even if we're efficient.

[Wonderstruck]

The good news is that most of these teams can't shoot anyway. Add that in with the defense UK plays and Booker doesn't really have to get it going because the lack of threes from both team cancels out.

But since I'm sure Devin wants to get it going, I'd only have him shooting three's until he snaps out of the funk. No driving to the lane.

Setting up some plays where he actively looks to bounce off screens to get open would go a long way for him. As it is now, he stands and waits.

[Joneslab]

But since I'm sure Devin wants to get it going, I'd only have him shooting three's until he snaps out of the funk. No driving to the lane.

I've had this same thought.

You can see him thinking. He's unsure of whether he needs to be a driver or a shooter, and he's playing a kind of indecisive, in-between game. It's thrown off his rhythm.

The only thing about only taking threes is that sometimes you use that middle game to get you going from outside. But I definitely agree that he seems to just really be laboring about what his function is in the offense, which is crazy when you think back to January and February, when he was totally unstoppable.

[KevinHall]

Booker is the real X factor for this team. Somewhere along the way they are going to need some good three point shooting. This Saturday could be that day too. I hope he can get it going.

[Blue Heaven]

Love the way Andrew is playing. Is that guy not a first round draft pick at this point? He clearly isn't a lottery pick but goodness gracious he's completely controlling games. When you put him and Ulis on the court together it's a thing of beauty. .

Absolutely agree 100% on Ulis and Andrew in together. It lets Andrew have more freedom and Ulis is the consumate PG. Is it a stretch to say he's one of the best PGs in the country? I think not. That kid is an unbelievable passer. And what can you say about Andrew? He's really stroking it here lately. He's shooting it confidently and I love his demeanor.

[George]

Devin loves to drive the baseline from the left side of the basket. I can't count the number of times he's caught the ball in the corner and gone to the rim with either a clear lane or a good chance of drawing a foul. Problem is, he holds back and won't go strong to the basket. He usually goes for a weak finger roll and, lately, either gets blocked or misses.

Like I said elsewhere, he's a shooter and he needs to keep shooting.

[JFCats22]

This is kinda scary.....didn't realize this when watching the game last night. Wow, have to play better tomorrow.

The ugliness was in those other 22 minutes – the first 12 and last 10 – during which the Cats shot 32.3 percent and were outscored 38-30.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentucky/2015/03/20/unbeaten-cats-need-last-years-ncaa-edge-back/25073529/

[Joneslab]

This is kinda scary.....didn't realize this when watching the game last night. Wow, have to play better tomorrow.

The ugliness was in those other 22 minutes – the first 12 and last 10 – during which the Cats shot 32.3 percent and were outscored 38-30.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story...back/25073529/

The beginning of the game was just kind of mediocre but Kentucky quit playing when they got the big lead. Just shut it completely down.

Course those last minutes we had Marcus Lee out there almost the entire time, Dakari getting most of the minutes, and then the walk-ons for the last 3. But we had no intention of playing that game to the end and we just wanted to get on the bus.

Same thing LSU, Baylor, and Iowa State did yesterday. Difference was that we were up 35.