Kentucky vs St Peter's Game Thread.

[Spiritof96]

Some of you failed to pick on SCBlu’s sarcasm

I suppose so...

My bad.

Some message boards have standardized font color changes to connote sarcasm or other fights of whimsy.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think Mitch Barnhart has been a great AD but that contract…

Matt Jones was talking about them this morning and the relationship between Cal and Mitch is not super chummy.

[George]

I think Mitch Barnhart has been a great AD but that contract…

Matt Jones was talking about them this morning and the relationship between Cal and Mitch is not super chummy.

Oh?

Losing Peevy hurt more than most people realize.

[Joneslab]

Seems like there's always been a bit of a rift with Cal and Mitch. I remember a few years back when Mitch handed over the day-to-day basketball duties to somebody else. I remember thinking that that was odd at the time.

[DA#23]

Definitely not a new development or trend.

When the title team returned and Barnhart made a few remarks prior to letting Calipari take the microphone, I thought he was almost extending an olive branch with his comment that the program was made for him.

That was a decade ago….

[Dwight Schrute]

^^
I think Cal is just a polar opposite of Mitch Barnhart in every aspect of the word. Cal loves to push the envelope, emphasize individual successes, encourage early departures etc. that Mitch doesn't care for. When the program is winning and is at the top of the sport it's one thing, but when the results start slipping and Cal's still doing that stuff, it probably rubs Mitch the wrong way.

[DA#23]

It probably belies a fundamental argument that exists with this program and its players first approach. At one point we seemed to do a good job of shaking all of the hands, having guys drafter high after a year here while also doing things that touched on “student athlete” and “program”. You saw guys return for classes, some graduate early, great APR, satellite camps, etc.

And we were winning big.

We’re still doing a lot of the great things off the court, but without the winning all of the sudden those successes seem less celebrated and more in the periphery.

I think that stinks.

[Joneslab]

An irony though is that this past team was pretty special until something happened.

Going into the last two weeks of the season I probably would've put this past team up in at least the top quarter of Cal's teams here.

Which shows that something really wild went on late in the season. Possibly due to the injuries, possibly some internal strife, possibly a combination of the two. Who knows really. But this team did some fairly incredible things that will be (rightfully) wiped away because of St. Peter's.

[DA#23]

An irony though is that this past team was pretty special until something happened.

Going into the last two weeks of the season I probably would've put this past team up in at least the top quarter of Cal's teams here.

Same here. I have to think that UT punking them twice destroyed some of their confidence and then the crap started to creep into the locker room. Cal's voice probably doesn't carry the same weight that it used to, and so bouncing back from beat downs and effectively coaching would have to be that much more difficult.

[Spiritof96]

An irony though is that this past team was pretty special until something happened.

Going into the last two weeks of the season I probably would've put this past team up in at least the top quarter of Cal's teams here.

Which shows that something really wild went on late in the season. Possibly due to the injuries, possibly some internal strife, possibly a combination of the two. Who knows really. But this team did some fairly incredible things that will be (rightfully) wiped away because of St. Peter's.

I have never thought Cal was a good manager of player game confidence and this year was not the first time he fielded a team that looked TERRIFIED for an entire game when it mattered (we lost at least one title over that). Still, he was asking them to reliably do dumb things and it's the best example I can think of regarding his coaching malpractice.

And yes Cal I know what our offensive numbers were. Running a three-player weave 35 feet from the basket is dumb. Ghost screens are dumb. Having the stated goal of planning to win with your 75% game and never seeking to rise to the situation to produce a 100% game is dumb.

[Joneslab]

The statistics and the analytics bear out that this was a very good offensive team.

But defensively they were always mediocre. In the last 7-10 games they were worse than mediocre.

When your defense is that bad you better be on point offensively. Better in fact than you've been at any point in the season. Because you've gotta suddenly make up for the fact that teams are scoring an outlandish number of points per possession.

That didn't happen, obviously. The ease with which St. Peter's--a team that came in as one of the worst offensive teams in the entire field--scored against us was enough to give a person heartburn.

The question comes back to WHY they were so bad defensively. Was it the fact that they didn't have a rim protector? Was it a lack of effort? If you think about the maddening number of times a guy just went off on us in the last three weeks of the season it's crazy. With the exception of the two really bad teams Cal had, we haven't seen that in March with any of his other teams.

Why this one?

[Spiritof96]

The statistics and the analytics bear out that this was a very good offensive team.

But defensively they were always mediocre. In the last 7-10 games they were worse than mediocre.

When your defense is that bad you better be on point offensively. Better in fact than you've been at any point in the season. Because you've gotta suddenly make up for the fact that teams are scoring an outlandish number of points per possession.

That didn't happen, obviously. The ease with which St. Peter's--a team that came in as one of the worst offensive teams in the entire field--scored against us was enough to give a person heartburn.

The question comes back to WHY they were so bad defensively. Was it the fact that they didn't have a rim protector? Was it a lack of effort? If you think about the maddening number of times a guy just went off on us in the last three weeks of the season it's crazy. With the exception of the two really bad teams Cal had, we haven't seen that in March with any of his other teams.

Why this one?

Part of it is avoiding foul trouble with Oscar (see our stupid two-dimensional offense) and part of it is Oscar isn't a great rim protector.

Part of it is Wheeler is small, neither Grady or Washington are great defenders, and Brooks... (what exactly is Brooks good at?)

It's almost as if Cal has built an offense and defensive philosophy that is TOTALLY predicated on having superior athleticism and talent and he didn't adjust to a team that didn't have it.

[DA#23]

It's almost as if Cal has built an offense and defensive philosophy that is TOTALLY predicated on having superior athleticism and talent

That's the whole deal.

"I'm here because I can recruit the Best of the Best".

It's ironic to me that he hasn't adjusted given his early UMass teams. Pre-Camby.

But then again we've seen even his very good teams with physical specimens get blown by and pushed back on their heels many times. Joe Mazzulla just raised his glass to us both.

(Oh, and Mazzulla is currently an assistant coach with the Celtics)

[Joneslab]

In the autopsy he did the other night on Twitter after the game, Jonathan Givony pointed out that Oscar was out of position defensively a ton in the pick and rolls.

Just on the eye test I threw a lot of blame at TyTy. Seemed to be really struggling out there, on both ends.

But when you're that bad there's probably blame to go around to virtually everybody.

Think about the litany of players who torched us going back to early February. Scottie Pippen Jr. got 33. Two weeks later Keion Ellis got 28. Next game Xavier Pinson got 26. Then J.D. Notae got 30. Then Matthew Murrell got 25. Colin Castleton scored 23. Jordan Wright got 27 in the SEC Tournament. Then we couldn't stop Kennedy Chandler. Then Daryl Banks got 27 in the NCAA Tournament.

That's virtually every game. It was one of the more mystifying runs of the Calipari era.

[Spiritof96]

In the autopsy he did the other night on Twitter after the game, Jonathan Givony pointed out that Oscar was out of position defensively a ton in the pick and rolls.

Just on the eye test I threw a lot of blame at TyTy. Seemed to be really struggling out there, on both ends.

But when you're that bad there's probably blame to go around to virtually everybody.

Think about the litany of players who torched us going back to early February. Scottie Pippen Jr. got 33. Two weeks later Keion Ellis got 28. Next game Xavier Pinson got 26. Then J.D. Notae got 30. Then Matthew Murrell got 25. Colin Castleton scored 23. Jordan Wright got 27 in the SEC Tournament. Then we couldn't stop Kennedy Chandler. Then Daryl Banks got 27 in the NCAA Tournament.

That's virtually every game. It was one of the more mystifying runs of the Calipari era.

And our offense is an anachronism. A dumb anachronism.

When we are making shots and running on bad defensive teams... fine Cal, do whatever you want but everyone with a pulse shut us down toward the end of the year when it mattered. (and Wheeler has all-time at UK low basketball IQ for a PG)