Well, men, after an always lengthy off-season, and a 3-second dry-hump of a football season, alas.... it's basketball time!
The Commonwealth's team stands on the shoulders of Calipari's first two teams -- teams that, despite their youth, were able to "put it all together" and treat us all to two memorable years of basketball and leave previous disappointments far, far away in the program's rear view mirror.
Without spending another second on the past, let me just state the obvious: these are great times to be a UK fan -- from the constant buzz in the program, to the pride we can always take when our guys step out onto the court. And all credit goes to Calipari, with some even deservedly going to Lee Todd and Mitch Barnhart for making a call that admittedly was (at least to me) kind of like asking the girl of your dreams to go steady after she's just spent 5 years away at Arizona state -- huge potential for boners, but also a fear of what might be hiding in the vagina that could end up burning you at some point.
But I digress...
I couldn't be much happier with where we've been the past two years, how we're positioned this year, and with the way Coach appears to have us set up for years to come.
I don't have much analysis or news at this point (although I look forward to our man Shane quenching our thirst when such opportunity avails). I do have great excitement, as always, and I know you dudes do as well.
Friday will be my 5th installment of Big Blue Madness, and I can't wait.
All my life, I've lived by a code. And the code is simple: honor the gods, love your woman, and cheer heartily and mightily for the Blue & White.
UK is mother to us all.
Let the games begin!
But I digress...
I couldn't be much happier with where we've been the past two years, how we're positioned this year, and with the way Coach appears to have us set up for years to come.
I don't have much analysis or news at this point (although I look forward to our man Shane quenching our thirst when such opportunity avails). I do have great excitement, as always, and I know you dudes do as well.
Friday will be my 5th installment of Big Blue Madness, and I can't wait.
All my life, I've lived by a code. And the code is simple: honor the gods, love your woman, and cheer heartily and mightily for the Blue & White.
UK is mother to us all.
Let the games begin!
13 comments:
Last night at BBM was GREAT!
Lindsey asked me about my favorite moment. I have to say that when Dirty Money's "Coming Home" started playing, I only HOPED that our NBA guys would get recognized with the background of that song's hook.
But then, seeing Cousins come on stage.... My hope came true, and I had goosebumps on my arms and a proud smile on my face.
It was great to see all of those guys come home.
As for the game, there didn't seem to be much defense. But hey, I'm only nitpicking. We looked fast, unselfish, and I get the impressing that our offense will be like a lit firecracker this season, and ready to go OFF at various ties in the game.... in a BIG way!
Twas a great tip-off to the season!
Gut wrenching. I type up a 20 plus minute post on BBM and how rad this season is gonna be and I lose it when I try and publish it. Needles to say I'm through the roof about this season and I'll try and recreate the post later.
Try this again. I had a blast at BBM, but that goes without saying. When it comes to ushering in a basketball season with an all out party, we own that ish. I'm also a big fan of the Cal UK State of the Union addresses, although I thought this year he was a little too in the recruits face. You know? I get what he was doing and I'm down with it, but I think you should be a little more subtle rather than just clubbing the recruits in the head with how much we are a players first university and the success our players go on to enjoy. Still if it's what it takes to land Shabbazz then throw subtly out the window.
Anyways the main event is always seeing this years group and I think the only word that does them justice is "dynamic". Our kids are going to be a nightmare matchup for everyone in the country, well for the good teams in the country. The weaker teams on our schedule its not even going to be a matchup, there aren't going to be any Arkansas or Ole Miss losses this year, or scares against Miami of Ohio or Stanford. If you can't match up with us you're done, you can adjust and try and send double but it won't matter because we will stroke the ball. Its debatable whether the 09-10 squad was more talented than the 2011-2012 incarnation, but I don't think theres any doubt this year the talent compliments each other better than that year.
Some teams have one big man that can play like a guard, or shoot the ball well, or drive to the basket and those guys give opposing coaches headaches. Boys, we have 3 of those guys!! Nightmare I tell you!!! Jones and Davis are such an explosive and versatile combo, and the highly skilled Wiltjer is no slouch out there. I like the way the Jones, Davis, Wiltjer frontline fits what Cal likes do to more than the Cousins, Patterson, Orton honestly. Honestly I believe Cal has a team built for what he wants finally.
Year one we were built on the fly and we corralled some excellent pieces. Everyone knew our weakness however, a lack of consistent shooting. To Cals credit he changed his style up because he realized Cousins and Patterson in the post was too good to not play through, even though it would force teams to double and rely on 3 point shooting. If you recall when we were on from downtown we would stomp teams by 30 or so but when we were off it would be a grind. Because of the mass exodus to the NBA we were pretty much prepared on the fly once again last year, by Cals own admission he didn't figure out that it would be better to run the offense through handoffs to Knight rather than Jones till February.
This is year 3 and this squad looks like one Cal dreamt up. Explosive PG. Check. Rebounding.Check. Defense. Check. Versatile long big men. Check. 3 point shooting. Check.
Sure we are going to play 4 freshman a lot so there will be some learning curve, but nothing like the last 3 years. Because of the returning studs Lamb and Jones, plus a senior that posses every single conceivable tool you desire out of a wing player in Miller, and finally a core of young players who plug into Cals system perfectly I believe we hit the ground running this year.
It's gonna be hard as hell to bag #8 this year, so many factors go into winning it all, not to mention a ton of luck. Our schedule is tough UNC, Louisville, Vandy, UF, STATE, Alabama are all going to have legitimate shots of beating us in the regular season. Then who knows what will come our way in the post season. Still this is Cals best shot so far at Kentucky, possibly in his career, and the games are going to be played in the funnest conceivable manner. You can't do anything but be appreciative of where we are to start the season.
Great stuff, Shane.
I just saw the Davis dunk from practice. Was this the dunk that you referenced a few weeks ago?
Also, what was the deal on the gag rule placed on media for releasing practice reports. Maybe this is a mis-characterization of what actually took place, but I thought I heard Matt Jones say something along the lines of there being lots of stories coming out of the pick-up games and/or practices that the media was unable to report on.
Any truth to this?
Jlud, Greedo, Hubbs anyone!!! Please let's talk UK!!! a season like we're about to have deserves a blog!!! Just look through this blog, go to the older posts. Look how sweet this bad boy used to be, we can do it again!!
Shane, any truth/insight about the media gag rule?
I've been listening to more and more of Matt Jones's radio show and am getting more and more pumped to watch this team finally get out there and play.
I admit I got a little carried away this morning, though -- wondering if this team could be capable of surpassing the 86-point half accomplished by the 95-96 team, at LSU.
I have no idea if this is going to be a pressing team. IF not, I concede, that's a crucial ingredient.
Going back to that game though.... I remember we were the 9/9:30 pm game (after a BIG 10 match-up), and the previous game had gone into overtime and I think coverage of the UK game didn't start until like the 9 minute mark in the first half. At one point, the guys in the ESPN studio cut into the Big 10 game to update UK-LSU, but they just showed the score. By that time, UK already had like 50+ points, and I was furious -- like, "crap, I've already missed the entire first half". At this point the ESPN guy said something to the effect of "Relax UK fans, it's not halftime yet and we'll get you down to Baton Rouge is a few more seconds".
By the way, I think Antoine Walker had 30+ in the first half of that game.
86 POINTS IN ONE HALF!!!!
Can we do it again this year?
#think_like_kings
OK, it’s time for me to chime in and try my hand at starting a conversation on here. This season is gonna be sooooooooooooooooo sweet. I’m still a little puzzled as to who exactly our starting 5 will be (not that it matters all that much). I think the 3 locks are Teague, Jones, and Davis. Only 2 of the Miller, Gilchrist, Lamb trio can start… So who’s it gonna be?
I don’t see Cal bringing in the vets off the bench personally unless one of them is struggling to hit the 3 or Lamb’s D is just not up to par. Everything I have read/heard has raved about the development of Miller and Lamb in the offseason. The thing about Miller has always been consistently bringing it though,and that’s not really something that you can go to the gym to work on. Will he have a tendency to defer like the prior years or will he step up and take charge? Lamb needed work on attacking and being strong with the ball. His J was always money so that shouldn’t really be a worry to anyone. Hopefully he got a little stronger physically and doesn’t shy away from attacking the basket or D’ing up on opposing guards.
I feel like Mike Gilchrist is gonna be Liggo 2.0. Coming in off the bench and locking down whoever is causing the most damage. He’s not going to put up the 3 point shooting % that Liggo did last year but from everything I have seen/read he’s fearless at attacking the basket. What he lacks in shooting touch he should more than compensate for with sheer athleticism.
I’m pretty pumped to see the development of TJ. Everyone can see the difference in his body, but how will that translate to the court? Can he go right? Will he dominate in the post? Has his extra muscle mass slowed him down a step in the open court? How improved will his jumper be?
I feel like a lot of people are still sleeping on Wiltjer too. This dude can flat out put the ball in the hole and should be a joy to watch.
So pumped.
greedo
Greedo,
I think Gilchrist coming off the bench would be great. That guy seems to play with limitless energy. Liggins was SO tenacious on D but at times timid and passive on offense IMO, whereas Gilchrist seems to be in attack mode. I'm really looking forward to seeing him grow, contribute, and even lead this year.
I also agree about Wiltjer. The only way anyone would sleep on a top-25 guy like this is a situation like UK, where 3 of his fellow Freshman are coming in with higher rankings.
I get the impression though that Wiltjer will not nearly be lost in the shuffle a la Stacey Poole. He looks like a guy who can compete for double digit minutes
We're going to be really REALLY good this year.
Lookin fwd to inviting myself over to Greedo's for quite a few games
Guys, I read earlier today that Gilchrist (I'm not going to refer to him and G-K, respectively) had a practice so good that Calipari had to stop everything because he had never before seen anything like it. Well, at least that's my paraphrase.
So what are you dudes hoping to see from our guys against Transy?
I'd kinda like to see a Lamb/Miller 3-point barrage and 50 rebounds from Gilchrist, Jones, and Davis
I'd also like to see Transy shoot under 30%, but I know our defense has tended to not really get going until we get a few games under our belt.
Speak now, merry gentlemen!
I'm just excited to see our guys out there. I dont really know how to put that into numbers. For instance, I didnt expect Jones to drop 52 in the last scrimmage, but he did and it was awesome.
I'm hoping for a performance like that from our top 7 guys. I wanna see them all do what they were brought here to do and I want to see how they do it while sharing the ball efficiently.
Of course I want to see a couple monster jams and someone making it rain 3 balls is always nice.
All in all, I'm just excited to see these guys take the court.
greedo
At one point, I saw Wiltjer loading up for a hook shot. Admittedly, it was a very slow load. So slow, that Zo joked that Kyle was muzzle loading his hook shot.
If the Morehouse game hadn't been an exhibition game, I'd make a new post.
Wow! Exhibition, yes; but, holy jeez!!! With just a few minutes remaining in the first half UK was shooting at a 77% clip. That's just ridiculous.
We beat a team by 85 points, and I can't remember us turning Morehouse over with a full court press. We just stole the ball in our half court D and got defensive rebounds, and then unveiled a transition offense that was a HUUUUUUGE improvement from our first game.
Wiltjer really showed his offense, and MKG brought his ballyhooed tenacity and energy.
I like this team. I do, I do, I do!
What'd you guys think?
Also, I kinda hope Calipari goes tie-less for the remainder of the season.
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