note, as it stands next year we have a fairly simple roster change. 2 out, 2 in. 2 seniors out, two freshmen in. days and pinson out, philips and ree in. wade says he wants to coach "older" teams. that could happen next year. hope the transfer portal doesnt wreck our shit.
Don't get me wrong; I'm excited for the future too. Reid needs to put on some muscle. He's overmatched physically inside, and he doesn't explode off the floor like you'd like to see from a guy his size. I think he's strong fundamentally though. Williams...too small a sample size, but the taste we got the other night was a good one. He needs to be in the rotation, I think, especially if he can be a meaningful outside scoring threat. If I'm being negative, its because I don't want to write off this season after such a good beginning. But I'm afraid if we don't make a serious turnaround offensively, we're in for a big letdown. Defensively, we're elite.
Reid will have to play much bigger tomorrow night. Tishebwe (sp) will eat him alive if he doesn’t play to his size….
you can bounce it off the backboard and it still counts the same. https://www.ncaa.org/playing-rules/mens-basketball-rules-game this is basic stuff you should know as a fan. like for example a layup off the backboard counts the same as a nothing but net jumper.
Good write up in the athletic from the uk perspective: After four consecutive blowout victories, all by at least 27 points and by an average of almost 34, Kentucky has major momentum entering the meat of its SEC schedule. The Wildcats are 11-2, have a top-10 offense and top-20 defense nationally, and rank eighth overall at KenPom.com, which is highest in the league. They dominate the SEC’s statistical leaderboards: Sahvir Wheeler is No. 1 in assists (7.8), Oscar Tshiebwe is tops in rebounds (15.2) and field-goal percentage (.629) and Kellan Grady has the best 3-point percentage (.500). Kentucky must be the overwhelming favorite to win the league then, right? Well, it’s complicated. The SEC is stacked, and John Calipari’s team still doesn’t have a top-30 win (or any road win), so what do we really know about these guys? The good news is we won’t have to wait long to find out. By the end of January, COVID-19 willing, the Wildcats will have played at LSU, Auburn and Kansas and hosted Tennessee, all top-15 KenPom teams. A trip to Baton Rouge on Tuesday night is UK’s first road test since losing a nail-biter at Notre Dame on Dec. 11. “Another statement game,” super senior Davion Mintz called it. And what statement do they aim to make? “That we’re road warriors. We can come into your house, and we can dominate the same way we do here. We want to prove that we’re a legitimate top-10, top-5 team in the country, no matter whether we’re playing at home or we’re away. More so to ourselves than everyone else. The first step is proving it to ourselves … that we’re legitimate.” LSU (12-1) is No. 5 in the NCAA’s NET ranking, No. 13 at KenPom and No. 21 in the AP poll. Kentucky is 15th in the NET and 16th in the AP, both of which apparently want to see the Cats beat somebody before buying into this recent surge. The Tigers have something to prove, too, after starting 12-0 against a mediocre schedule and then getting cut down by Auburn last week. LSU has five KenPom top-100 wins but the best (albeit by 30) is against No. 54 Belmont. Will Wade has the top-ranked defense in the country — a swarming, pressing attack that is top 10 in steal percentage, block percentage and effective field-goal percentage defense — but his 80th-ranked offense is a major concern when the Tigers can’t score quickly in transition. It’s hard to lose the likes of Cam Thomas, Trendon Watford and Javonte Smart to the draft and not fall off a cliff offensively. But with veteran Darius Days (14.7 ppg) and Cincinnati transfer Tari Eason (15.8 ppg), LSU at least has a pair of viable threats. By naming the court at Pete Maravich Assembly Center after former coach Dale Brown on Tuesday, with ceremonies before the game and at halftime, the Tigers also hope to have a packed house on their side when Kentucky comes to town. “They’re doing a bunch of hype stuff,” Kentucky assistant Chin Coleman said. “Similar to what they did at Notre Dame (which inducted LaPhonso Ellis into its Ring of Honor against Kentucky). That’s what you’ve got to get used to playing here and coaching here: The opposing teams when you’re on the road are going to try to do whatever they can to muster up energy, muster up the crowd, try to give themselves an advantage to win the Super Bowl. And the Super Bowl is playing and beating Kentucky. I understand the mentality, (but) our mentality is we’re going on the road to get some roadkill.” The loss in South Bend sparked a change in the way the Cats play offensively. They scored 62 that day but averaged 92 points over the last four games. The ball is moving, not stopping and stalling, as teammates actively hunt open shots for each other. Wheeler, Grady and Keion Brooks have led the team in scoring at some point during the win streak, but Tshiebwe, a national player of the year candidate, has not. Neither has five-star freshman TyTy Washington, who Calipari now calls the “silent assassin” for his consistently excellent but overlooked stat lines. And both Tshiebwe and Washington seem cool with that. Kentucky has averaged 20.5 assists on 36 made field goals over the last four games. “These kids are getting better and better at pushing out the clutter, leaving the rat poison alone, and focusing on each other,” Calipari said. “There are not many teams that I’ve coached that get along like this team.” Notre Dame did Kentucky another favor. It provided a necessary warning about what life away from Rupp Arena is going to be like for the next two months. “If you lose,” Coleman said, “there’s going to be a court-rushing. We understand the target that’s on our back. Experience is the best teacher, and now we know that our job is to go on the road with a different mentality, to have that roadkill instinct and to play with a swagger, to play to run the other team’s weekend.” One more important reality check, though: The SEC isn’t just Kentucky and everybody else anymore. The Wildcats have won 51 regular-season league titles, but only one since 2017. Auburn, Alabama, LSU and Tennessee have all won or shared the crown in that span. Each of those programs remains a serious contender for the championship this season. Auburn (12-1) is No. 6 in the NET and No. 9 at KenPom and in the AP poll. Bruce Pearl’s team owns six top-100 wins, including a 15-point pasting of LSU, and the Tigers’ only loss is a 115-109 double-overtime thriller against Connecticut. At 6-foot-10, five-star freshman Jabari Smith looks every bit like a lottery pick, averaging 16.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and leading the team in 3-point attempts, makes and percentage (.429). For good measure, the Tigers also have 7-1 North Carolina transfer Walker Kessler, another former five-star, who leads the league in blocked shots per game (4.2). Tennessee (9-3) is No. 10 in the NET, No. 12 at KenPom and No. 18 in the AP poll. The Volunteers got thumped by 18 against Villanova and lost in overtime against Texas Tech, both on a neutral court, but also beat UNC by 17, won at Colorado by 15 and upset then-undefeated, top-10 Arizona in Knoxville. Then, without five-star freshman Kennedy Chandler and sixth-year senior John Fulkerson, they nearly stole one at Alabama to open SEC play. Chandler (14 ppg, 5.3 apg, 37.2 percent from 3) has been as advertised, and Rick Barnes has again assembled one of the most talented rosters in the league. Alabama (10-3) is No. 15 in the AP poll, No. 16 at KenPom and No. 21 in the NET. Nate Oats and Co. have the weirdest résumé in the conference: wins over Gonzaga, Houston and Tennessee, but losses to Iona, Davidson and a dysfunctional Memphis team that had lost four in a row. The Tide is certainly missing Josh Primo, John Petty and Herb Jones, and they’ve died by the 3 as often as they’ve has lived by it this season: 27 of 86 (31.4 percent) in the losses. Still, the backcourt of Jahvon Quinerly, Jaden Shackleford and JD Davison is as lethal as exists in college basketball, and when those shots are falling, they can bury you in a hurry. And that’s just the top tier. Depending on which ranking you’re looking at, Florida (9-3), Mississippi State (10-3) and Arkansas (10-3) are top-50 teams with NCAA Tournament hopes too. The Gators beat Florida State by 16 and toppled Ohio State on a neutral court — but also somehow lost by 15 at home to 2-7 Texas Southern. The Bulldogs beat the Razorbacks (without Arkansas’ leading scorer, JD Notae), but Eric Musselman’s club, fresh off an Elite Eight appearance, started 9-0 with wins over Kansas State and Cincinnati on a neutral court. The point? This is another very deep SEC, and Kentucky has plenty left to prove against it. After the nightmare of 2020-21, the Cats aren’t going to apologize for pulverizing lesser opponents to this point. Nor should they. But the real season starts now. “Swagger is back,” Coleman said. “When we’re playing Kentucky basketball — and we’ve kind of identified what that is right now; we’re kind of comfortable in what it is that makes us really good — it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We’re playing at a high level right now, and it’s us against us.”
