Opinion:
Bye Bye Big Dance Hello Junior Prom…
Had UK hit some of their shots early on and got on a roll then The Cats have a whole different outcome versus the Georgia Bulldogs. But, for whatever reason, they just couldn’t get it rolling. At this point the Cats will need to sweep the SEC tourney in order to make it to the Big Dance. If not, it’s off to the NIT this year.
Initially, when I first started watching the game, I thought that someone may have handed the coaching staff my post from a few days ago and forced them to read it. This one here. That was until about 5 minutes into the game I realized I was only dreaming. It was the same ole scheme as we’ve seen, game after game. Nothing changed.
Here Are Some Game Notes of What I Saw & Heard…
This below is a comment from Jimmy Dykes quoting Georgia Coach Mike White about Georgia’s game plan against the Wildcats.
“Everybody’s gotta hit somebody when the ball goes up and if you can’t find somebody to hit then hit Oscar.” – Georgia coach Mike White.
So, in my previous article, 14 Reasons Call Needs To Go, even the Georgia coach knows about imposing their brute force on teams. Get in there and BANG! Lance Ware didn’t get off the bench to be the enforcer.
Adou Gets Some PT…
One thing was good, Adou got some much needed playing time. He didn’t close on plays when he had the ball but he did make some fearless drives to the bucket. He’s got a lot of heart. He’s gonna be one to watch next year.
Early on, they did play some inside out as Oscar was banging down low for position and that resulted in some nice looks on the perimeter just like I mentioned in my article here.
The possession before the under 16:00 TV time out was a fast break, pass to the strong side wing, looking for Oscar down low but they didn’t get it to him, it was an InsideOut setup where they had the wing on the weak side wide open for three because everyone was collapsing on Oscar. They didn’t’ see it….
7th Year College Player?
This was interesting. The Bulldogs’ Jailyn Ingram back for his 7th collegiate season. I thought I was hearing things but it was true. Good for him. You can read more about him by clicking on his name above.
More In-Game Analysis…
At 14:03, Adou Thiero drives hard to the basket where he can bang down low. He’s showing some real heart. It’s almost like somebody read my comments on him.
12:40 GA gets a switch on a pick, mouse in the house, bucket for Georgia. Mismatch exploited.
At just above 11:00 min mark Oscar ran the court on the break, Toppin dumps the ball to Oscar down low, mismatch, gets the foul and a chance at the And-1. Unfortunately, he missed the And-1. Nice execution on the break. Needed to see more of it.
GA out of bounds play, spread court, isolation for Oquendo and he gets a bucket. Oquendo, thicker and a bully-ball player, exploited his matchup. Good out of bounds play call from Coach White under the basket.
Cal called a couple timeouts today in the first half when the game was getting away from the Wildcats. Good job. I was expecting him to let them play through it and go down by 20 in the first half.
InsideOut play after the timeout and a bucket by Livingston from 3. They did it two possessions in a row. Nice work.
Last few seconds of the first half, Cal lets his team sit back and watch Georgia run down the clock leading into the half. No pressure. Nothing. The Dogs just ran whatever play they wanted. Why not pressure and trap the ball and force a turnover?
The scouting reports on Oscar are all out now. Every team that plays Kentucky knows if they shut Oscar down then Cal can’t coach them out of that.
Still not showing any different looks on defense. Sticking with the man-to-man. Doesn’t make any sense. Why not flash some zone? Or zone half or full-court traps?
Down Two Men?
Jimmy Dykes,on-air commentator, mentioned that Cal said pregame that it was gonna be a tough game because the Cats were “down two men”. Really? Neither of those guys have contributed anything the last few games. I think we just got gaslighted.
More In-Game Analysis…
Jimmy Dykes was calling play strategy for Kentucky coming into the second half. SMH
If anyone sees Antonio Reeves at Applebee’s in Lexington, buy him free dinner for a year because without him, the Cats aren’t even in the game.
At 9:30 in second half, the Cats run the shot clock down to 3 seconds on a bad pass. Get the ball back and then run an out of bounds play, get the ball to Oscar, who never shoots 3s, and he shoots a three? Was that a designed play?
After the under 4:00 TV timeout, when the Cats return to the court to run a play, Kentucky fails to execute any type of play and take a 30-foot 3 pointer. They never tried to get the ball down low. Was there a play set up? Or, was that the play? I’m still scratching my head on this one….
Vaughts’ Views had an interesting article from Wally Hall, a well respected writer from Arkansas, on the Arkansas vs. Kentucky game. Here is a screen shot below from VaughtsViews and I’ve also put the link to their page here if you want to read the whole thing. Have a look at the tweet as well.
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