Kentucky Moves Up a Notch This Week

[KevinHall]

UK is ranked 9th this week. Up one spot from last week. South Carolina and Tex A&M are the only other SEC teams that are ranked. Kansas is number one and Oklahoma number two. They play each other tonight in Norman. Should be a goodin'.

[Joneslab]

Kentucky is still lower in the KenPom than it has traditionally been under Cal at this point in the season. Not sure, but I think that we may've even been higher in the Nerlens Noel year before he got hurt.

The reason is probably that we play a little faster than Cal's teams normally do, shoot a poor percentage, struggle with turnovers, don't block a lot of shots/get a lot of steals, and have an inconsistent defense on the whole.

If Kentucky plays slow then the Pomeroy metric would be more forgiving. But this team is generally at its best when it's trying to run.

[JFCats22]

Heard on the radio today that this is only the 2nd matchup ever of the AP #1 (Kansas) vs. the Coaches #1 (Oklahoma).

Hard to believe, but if true, pretty wild.

[JFCats22]

Kentucky is still lower in the KenPom than it has traditionally been under Cal at this point in the season. Not sure, but I think that we may've even been higher in the Nerlens Noel year before he got hurt.

The reason is probably that we play a little faster than Cal's teams normally do, shoot a poor percentage, struggle with turnovers, don't block a lot of shots/get a lot of steals, and have an inconsistent defense on the whole.

If Kentucky plays slow then the Pomeroy metric would be more forgiving. But this team is generally at its best when it's trying to run.

I have traditionally been a pretty big fan of KenPom. However, any ranking system that has UL as the #5 team in the country and ahead of UNC, Mich St, Xavier, and Maryland (amongst others) should be thrown out the window.

[Blue Heaven]

Heard on the radio today that this is only the 2nd matchup ever of the AP #1 (Kansas) vs. the Coaches #1 (Oklahoma).

Hard to believe, but if true, pretty wild.

What a fantastic game. Just went to overtime. Both teams are very solid. Buddy Hield is a star.

[KevinHall]

I have traditionally been a pretty big fan of KenPom. However, any ranking system that has UL as the #5 team in the country and ahead of UNC, Mich St, Xavier, and Maryland (amongst others) should be thrown out the window.

I think Ken Pom needs a near full season of games to be an effective tool to measure a team. About Feb will be a good time to look at this and see where UK is then.

[Joneslab]

All this said about KenPom, Kentucky is ranked about right if we're just judging how good teams are on the whole.

I think UK's 15th or so. That's fair. If we play like Ole Miss, we're a top 10 team. But that game is an outlier when you look at our entire season.

[TrueblueCATfan]

No more top 10 for the CATS

Lose on Saturday and we might just fall out all together

[KevinHall]

No more top 10 for the CATS

No more ever? That is sad. I was sort of counting on it next year. Oh well I guess I can move on with life now.

[surveyor]

lol............

[George]

So, yeah, about that upward momentum...

[TrueblueCATfan]

No more ever? That is sad. I was sort of counting on it next year. Oh well I guess I can move on with life now.

I didn't say ever

[Westtncat]

I think we take a hard hit in the next poll. Cant complain too much after that spanking.

[Joneslab]

Depends on what happens Saturday. If we lose two in a row we'll be out of the polls completely and probably in a tailspin.

Very important game.

[JFCats22]

Depends on what happens Saturday. If we lose two in a row we'll be out of the polls completely and probably in a tailspin.

Very important game.

Win Saturday and UK could set themselves up for a little winning streak. Miss St, Auburn should be wins...@ Ark is tough but they aren't very good, Vandy and Mizzou at Rupp should be wins. Could (maybe) go into KU game at 18-3. Don't think it's all that likely but it sets up nicely for UK going into that game.

Lose Saturday and things look MUCH different.