Indiana vs. Kentucky: Game Thread

[J.Jennings]

My take on the game was simple, no inside play forced our guards to pick up the load and when one of the two is off, this is what happens. I thought Alex got discouraged in the post with a few bad calls on him trying to make a move in the post. Just seems like he became hesitant from that point on. Lee was absolutely horrible today in my opinion and maybe a trip to the NBA or transfer is his best bet with the new class coming in. If this team has some kind of post play, perhaps we would be playing another day.

As for Alex Poythrees, felt sorry for him walking off into the tunnel. Young man had his head down the whole time and I know it hurt him to know he played his last game.

[J.Jennings]

Overall, I am usually fired up over a loss like this but this year I'm in chill mode. Cal is still a great coach and we could point to a lot of things that could have made this team different. What if D. Johnson had returned? What if Briscoe had a jump shot and took pressure off our other two guards? Also seems like the rims just wasn't very kind to us in this arena and Lee flat out stunk.

Oh well, anxious to see how it all turns out next year but I am already preparing myself for early season growing pains even with a great recruiting class coming in, just the way it is.

[UKtimefor9]

Really frustrating and disappointing way to end the season. Poythress was awful, Murray was really bad, Lee was laughable (incredible how much worse he has gotten in three years), and no one other than Ulis seemed to want to play.

IU was the better team despite not having 3 of their top 7 players available. Pretty shocking.

I guess we look forward to next season now. But with Ulis, Murray, and Skal, at the minimum, leaving it's hard to get excited right now.

[KCKUKFan]

I guess we look forward to next season now. But with Ulis, Murray, and Skal, at the minimum, leaving it's hard to get excited right now.

I think you're underestimating just how good the players that are coming in are.

The roster is getting a complete talent overhaul. If we could get Briscoe to stick around, the team will be ridiculously good next year.

[J.Jennings]

The class coming in is absolutely unreal, solid at every position next year and then some. Will still have Humphries, Willis, and Hawkins along with Matthews. If by the grace of God someone like Skal and Ulis both came back, may as well go ahead and start engraving the NCAA championship trophy now........

[Ratt]

The class coming in is absolutely unreal, solid at every position next year and then some. Will still have Humphries, Willis, and Hawkins along with Matthews. If by the grace of God someone like Skal and Ulis both came back, may as well go ahead and start engraving the NCAA championship trophy now........

Here we go again... Just because the class coming in is supposed to be awesome means absolute jack... AP was a very highly routed player too and look what he developed into. Skal, Goodwin, and many others. IT means nothing till they get here and prove it.

As for Cal - sorry fellas. There's a lot of things he does that I like but he was out-coached yet again. His offense is terrible. I don't buy this whole "well their one and done players so it's hard to teach them an offense". That's complete garbage. Go back and watch every single loss. It all stems from him not making the right adjustments and relying on one or two guys to make a play. IU was moving, screening, back screens, cutting to the basket. Our 3-5 stands around and watches Murray and Ulis try to make something happen. EVERY loss was this way. When they were moving the ball, others beside Ty and Jamal was scoring a little, the team was deadly.

Skal was over-rated but he simply was knocking that jump hook down lately when down on the left block. BUT, they wouldn't go to him, even when he had a little guy on him. Give him the ball, let him hit some of those shots and open up the floor. NOPE - Cal refuses to make adjustments and just wants Murray or Ulis to shoot. He did the same thing last season. I'm not a Harrison fan whatsoever, but Wisconsin's guards could not stop the penetration but he refused to do that and kept pounding the ball down low. Doing one thing and the same thing over and over becomes easily defendable. Simply fact is that Cal is not a great in-game x's and o's coach.

Lee is terrible. No offensive game at all. Briscoe - how this kid was so highly touted and simply can't shoot is beyond me. I like him a lot but he needs to stay 2 more years minimum and learn how to shoot and go right. Willis is average at best. AP - I really like the kid and it's been fun but he simply isn't that good. An athletic freak that just isn't overly good basketball player. Murray is a star in my mind in the making. Might take him a while and some work on his footwork but I think he's destined to better than some thing. And Ulis - he simply has become one of the most loved basketball players in UK history. I really think this kid is going to have a good career at the next level and will only get better. He will get exposed some because of his size but should end up having a solid career.

Anyway - it was a fun season.

[Matt Dillon]

Did not think he would this year. He should have last year. He was hoping to ride Ulis and Murray as far as he could this year. He is not coming up with game plans for our offense. He is not learning from his own mistakes. He is not learning from his same coaching mistakes. Last year with talent he tried to ride the Twins with a roster full of NBA players. This year he does not develop Lee or AP. He knew all summer and fall what he had. He did not learn much if you ask me. Is IU's bigs better than ours. no. Did IU just beat us with a makeshift team Yes. They had 3 guys get hurt today. Down 3 guys and he does not change one thing during the game. If you ask me he is not much different than the other Wildcat Coach out west. He can recruit better but for the past couple of years he has been out coached too many times.

I agree with pretty much all you say, except the part about IU's bigs not being better than ours, BC. Put Bryant on our team, and we're an Elite Eight perhaps FF team, in my opinion.

[Matt Dillon]

Only thing making me feel better right now is Kansas is destroying UCONN

Me to, because my wife has Ks. winning it all in her office pool.

[Joneslab]

We're going to be one of the top two or three teams next year. Problem is the field is going to be loaded. Duke is going to be just as good as we are with what they return and what they have coming in. Michigan State is going to be very good.

We need Briscoe to put in work in the offseason. He could be a truly special player if he could keep people honest with his jumper.

But people need to chill with the "What if next year's guys are overrated like Skal?!?" stuff, because that simply isn't going to happen with these guys. Skal was such an unusual case with a unique backstory.

[TrueblueCATfan]

I hate UCONN a ton more than KU. So I am happy that KU is beating them.

They made a run at Kansas but wasn't enough

[Dwight Schrute]

Considering the pieces Cal had to work with, I don't know what you can criticize him for. This team was far better than I expected, and with a better draw could have made a run in the tournament. Simply put, Cal didn't get outcoached, his front court wasn't very good.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Considering the pieces Cal had to work with, I don't know what you can criticize him for. This team was far better than I expected, and with a better draw could have made a run in the tournament. Simply put, Cal didn't get outcoached, his front court wasn't very good.

THANK YOU.......great post

[lilproUK98]

We're going to be one of the top two or three teams next year. Problem is the field is going to be loaded. Duke is going to be just as good as we are with what they return and what they have coming in. Michigan State is going to be very good.

We need Briscoe to put in work in the offseason. He could be a truly special player if he could keep people honest with his jumper.

But people need to chill with the "What if next year's guys are overrated like Skal?!?" stuff, because that simply isn't going to happen with these guys. Skal was such an unusual case with a unique backstory.

Yep. I'm sure there will be a "who's staying, who's going" thread, but I will say if we get Briscoe and Willis back we will be right there with a chance to win it all. Next year's team will be dominant and very exciting.

Fox, Monk, Adebayo, Gabriel, Killeya-Jones, Willis, Briscoe, Hawkins, Matthews, Humpries, Wynyard....

And likely Bolden IMO

That team has it all, just has to get it done when it matters....

[Joneslab]

Interesting comments from Cal about Thomas Bryant yesterday after the game.

I never really knew what the deal was with Cal and Bryant. I kind of just thought he chose IU over UK. But Cal seemed to say that he wasn't sold on Bryant, particularly his defense. He talked about how Bryant was really a different player now than he was when UK recruited him.

It's ironic that Cal, as great of a recruiter he is, has been really knifed in the NCAA Tournament by two guys he didn't go hard after on the recruiting trail: Kemba Walker and Bryant.

Thomas Bryant was the key to that game. His play in that stretch when they took the lead killed us.

[BobS]

Cal taking Skal over any big kid with a pulse was a mistake in retrospect. Has to be in the top 10 of the worse 5 star hyped players ever. And when he leaves for the draft it will only prove what a joke this whole OAD process truly is.

And we will be going through it all over again next year. I just hope we don't have the same over hype issues then.