Kentucky vs. Gonzaga: Takeaways

Despite a midweek win the vibes around Kentucky are at an all-time low in the Cal Era after another home loss.  This time to just an ok Gonzaga team.  I don’t really know where this team goes from here but lets dive into the game yesterday.

The Defense Is Not Improving

For years the calling card of a Calipari team was molding superstar recruits into a connected defensive unit.  While plenty of NBA draft nerds mocked his offensive strategy, they failed to account for his defensive gameplans and how well he taught that side of the ball.  The last few teams have been disappointing by those lofty standards, but this team has fallen off a cliff and shown no real sign of improving.  All the missed time from so many guys have certainly impacted that, but at some point you just are what you are.

I know it drives Cal crazy, but this team plays soft for too many stretches.  Poor rebounding, refusing to fight through screens, and lack of attention to detail all plague this team.  It’s not just one or two guys either.  Yesterday it was Rob’s turn to be cooked so bad that it made him virtually unplayable.  Reed wasn’t much better.  The runway has basically run out on this team figuring out the defensive end, might be time to just focus on being the best version of what they are.

Another Slow Start

When you struggle to get stops you can not afford to start the game in a hole.  Kentucky has now done that twice in 7 days at home.  Handing both Tennessee and Gonzaga 10 point leads in the first half makes a difficult task monumental.  To Kentucky’s credit they were able to overcame it yesterday and were able to take a 2^nd half lead but instead of having a 10-12 point lead over a stretch where you badly outplay Gonzaga, Kentucky just had just a 6 point lead.

That has to be figured out in big games.  Just playing teams even for the first 10 minutes would open the potential to bury teams with an offensive explosion.  This team is having to use it’s offensive explosion just to get back into games.

Adou Has His Break-out

The one guy who showed up for the full game was Adou Thiero.  Adou is clearly playing through some intense back pain but he kept Kentucky within touching distance.  Part of me wonders what this team would look like if he was fully healthy and playing 25-30 minutes all season.  Going forward I think Cal probably has to look at going small (need Tre healthy for that though) and Adou needs to be a big part of that.  He’s the kind of player winning teams rely on.  It’s a shame an injury robbed this team of his presence for so long.

What Does It Mean

It seems like after every game there needs to be a “State of the Program” style dissertation.  Personally, I don’t find this kind of discourse in the middle of the season helpful.  There will be time for that in April/May, but right now our job as fans should be to support the players and coaches.  Nobody is getting fired or traded midseason so the only thing that really does is make things toxic.  This team is having to find itself on the fly due to all the missed time.  There have been mistakes but even if everything on the court had been handled perfectly I’m not sure the record would be much different.  All the missed time would be a killer for any team and coach.

Kentucky is now in full-on desperation mode.  Ole Miss comes to town Tuesday and Kentucky would be in serious danger of missing the tournament if it loses that one.  We’ll have a preview of that one in the next day or two but I’d encourage all fans to stay on board with this team.  Poisoning the well of the program just to win internet points is not the way to go.  Future recruits and their families as well as other coaches are watching closely how we treat our own.  You may think you’re “upholding the standard” of Kentucky basketball but you’re actually doing it damage.  You’re helping turn us into Indiana where no one good wants to step into the frying pan and deal with that scrutiny.

Go Cats