Kentucky Basketball – how far do we go this year?

Everything I have read and seen says that we will go as far as John Wall takes us. From what I have seen of the games where John Wall wasn’t in the lineup; all I can say is UK is deep – they have another great PG in Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson will be a stud, there’s a couple of big freshmen; but how far they go may end up depending on how well guys like Perry Stevenson play.

Cousins and Orton both look like they will end up being serious men in the post, they are both also freshmen and will look like young  men in the post on occasion. During those times, it will be important for Perry to come off the bench and provide a bit of stand up – wham bam – I’m the man. Honestly, that seems to be his ready-made role. Last year for short periods he was a superman, sometimes he disappeared into the woodwork. When he was relied upon considerably the past couple of years, those periods of super-focus excited us, but those periods of less than super-focus cost us. With a couple of freshmen playing alongside Patrick Patterson, those superman moments will become important. They will provide us with some breathing space while the freshmen gather their wits and thoughts and the unexpected supremacy that bringing in a stud from that deep on the bench brings. If Perry can bring his A-game everytime he steps on the court, this version of the ‘Cats has as good a chance as any since the turn of the millennium to bring home one of those Naismith trophies.

In the long run, Perry will have to explain to the pros why he seems to take mental holidays. This year, if we can keep him hot coming off the bench; the sky is the limit.

It was great to see the season opener tonight, great effort by the Morehead State Eagles. I’m seriously stoked about the the team this year. I haven’t felt this kind of electricity since the early 90’s. Go Cat’s!

Facebook news feed #EPICFAIL

Why does Facebook insist on fixing what isn’t broken? The feeds functioned just fine, why did they decide that they needed to become more invasive by changing the way they show posted information. I had spent a fair amount of time “hiding” various things that I didn’t want to see in my news feed. I was able to filter out various game status’s without having to filter out the people who played them. It seems impossible (or at least much more difficult) to do that now.

This is a change that was not needed and takes Facebook a step or three backwards. IT is much less useful to me now and I will spend less time there.

Calipari Thinking About Kentucky

I get back from work to hear that John Calipari is “close to a deal” with Kentucky. I’m listening to Andy Katz speak about this as I type. It doesn’t sound like a deal is done, but that most everyone thinks he is leaning towards taking the job.

Source: Kentucky job on Calipari’s mind

Tigers’ Calipari meeting with Memphis boosters as Kentucky job looms

Calipari to Kentucky

I’ve seen a few bloggers welcoming coach Calipari to Kentucky. I think that is a good bit premature and shouldn’t be posted yet. I will say that I think coach Calipari would be a great, probably the best,  choice and I hope that this comes to pass.

Hunting for a coach at Kentucky…again

It looks like we won’t get the chance to see how Billy Gillispie would have built a team at Kentucky. After two seasons he just wasn’t the “right fit”. Personally, I think he should have gotten some more time, but apparently there were some real underlying problems going on that us fans may never truly understand. Like it or not, I guess we move on. Best of luck to Billy G, I’m sure he will land on his feet somewhere and succesfully continue doing what he obviously loves, coaching basketball.

The guessing games and hopeful wishing are really going in full stride already. I hope the university takes their time and gets this one right. What I really hope is that they already have a succesor lined up and ready to go and are just keeping that in their back pocket until the time is right. I won’t go into all of the folks that may or may not be interested in or in-line for a job interview. Instead, I’m going to mention the one person that I think is right for the job. Travis Ford, currently coaching at Oklahoma State. Two years ago, I wrote about John Pelphrey during our last search for a head coach. The same logic applies right now. We need a coach who “gets it”. One who intimately understands Kentucky Basketball. I mentioned Travis Ford in the piece I wrote on Pelphrey a couple of years ago, honestly, their roles are reversed now. I think Travis is the best man for the job. He played high school ball in Kentucky, he proudly wore KENTUCKY on his chest for four years and was a heckuva player. He has done wonderful jobs at Eastern Kentucky, the University of Massachusetts, and Oklahoma State. He is a bit young, but he has solid credentials, and as I said about Pelphrey two years ago. “He may not have the record nor experience right now that other potential Kentucky Coaches have, but he IS Kentucky”. John Pelphrey can say the same thing, but he picked a bad year to have a mid-season implosion.

Everyone else right now is clamoring for big name coaches to come in. “We have to have the best”. “We need (insert unavailable/unwilling coaches name here) to come to the ‘best program in the land’”! What I think is that we need someone who understands Kentucky basketball, intimately and thoroughly.

Folks, if we don’t get this one right, we are truly in danger of losing the dynasty.

Basketball Season is Over

After publicly booing my favorite team yesterday, I feel quite bad. Never have I done that before, however, I won’t apologize. That was just the way this team pushed me this year.

I reckon I should have seen it coming, but mid-year the Cats were looking like they were making progress, and might actually mature and become a decent ballclub. Somewhere along the way, they forgot that they were winning games with defense, the freshman never got enough gametime to mature and Stevenson and Porter just never really grew into Kentucky players. Porter has the heart and smarts, but struggles mightily against quicker guards. Perry Stevenson is just an enigma. I understand he’s lean and he might get forced away from the basket at times, but he just goes out there sometimes and goes on holiday. Its almost like, guard him hard and tight and he might explode on you. Leave him wide open and he loses focus, hesitates and just becomes a liability for his teammates. If I was the opposing coach, that’s an easy call. Double up on Meeks or Patterson and let Perry go to sleep.

Speaking of Meeks and Patterson, heckuva season guys. After his freshman year, I praised Jodie Meeks and called him a shining light during some dark times. Both Pat and Jodie were that this year. Why the other guys didn’t seem to learn by watching those two with their work ethic, demeanor, and focus; I’ll never know.

The pundits are crying that Gillispie is gone. If that is the case, I hope that the school has a new AD staff and a serious homerun hitting coach ready to go. What we don’t need right now, is a period of uncertainty with this team. Either keep BG, or clean house and bring in the ready-to-go new gun. Honestly, I think BG should be given another year or two. Only then can we make a reasoned judgement; two years is just too short of a time frame.

No matter what, I hope its another 50 years before I boo the Cats again.

Kentucky Kittycats

In my 49+ years of life, at least 43 years of which I remember watching Kentucky Basketball, I have been disappointed in the Cats before; but never have I done this.

BOO….BOO

…I’m utterly disgusted…

Go SEC

I’m about as down-hearted as I’ve been in a long time over the state of UK basketball. I remember a ton a  good basketball from UK.  What I don’t remember is a team that had talent that they obviously didn’t play up to.

I just watched Louisville and Villanova play in the Big East tourney and thought, “Wow, there’s our team.” Of course I’m thinking about those Pitino teams that would just wear you out. The only problem is that now they wear Red instead of Blue.

I’m not a fan of  throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I think Billy G, deserves a couple of more years. (On the other hand, if he doesn’t produce  – he should be gone). Still I remember Rick P, coming back from his 2nd go-around in the NBA with the Celtics. We should have snagged him back then, but we were too fond of Tubby to see that Tubby was slipping year-by-year. My point is, if we could get Rick P. or Billy D. or …. in the near future…, would we let our ‘dedication’ to our current coach cloud our judgment again.

It was painful today to see the loss to LSU. I hope there are better things in the future. This is the worst team I have seen at UK since the mid-60’s. I don’t know if it’s just a chemistry thing, or something else. They did not play to anywhere near their potential.

See you next year, Till then I’ll be bleeding Blue. Go Cards, Go Eagles, Go Hilltoppers. And as for my post title. Go Tennesee, LSU, USC, and or whomever represents the SEC this year. Go SEC! I’d love to show folks how good we are in a “down year”.

Here we are again, on the bubble

It has been awhile since I’ve written anything about the Cats on this forum. I must admit that this year has been one of the most frustrating experiences I have ever had watching these Cats play ball. They have been one of the most schizophrenic teams ever. The loss at Vandy this week was one of the worst displays of basketball I have ever seen. Billy G must have told his kids that after a gritty 30-30 tie in the first half, with some weird officiating, that they could slack off on defense. I have never seen a team come out from the break and just get blown out that badly. They dug a hole that they could never have dug out of.

Its obvious that Patrick Patterson is an All-American. I had no idea, how dependent this team was on him being in the game in the paint. Without him we are a bunch of 8th graders trying to play with men.

Jodie Meeks had an off night, but WOW – what a season! If only he could get some help.

Its bubble time and Tennessee is just about 30 minutes away. I hope these guys have got their game face on. After Jodie’s outburst in Knoxville, I’m sure he’ll be dogged all over the floor. (A strategy that has worked well for opposing teams the past few weeks). Come on Cats, it getting to be do-or-die time. Let’s roll.

Ice is good (or not)

Ice is good if you have a case of beer that needs cooling down. Ice on trees and power lines, on the other hand, is not so good. I’ve got a bunch of family spread around Kentucky, I hope by now power has been restored to most everyone.

I realize that Kentucky is pretty rural, but the response on this one seems awfully slow. Where was the help from all the electric cooperatives from places farther south where the weather is a bit warmer? Here in the mid-altantic area, come hurricane season we see trucks from all different areas staging around as the storms decide where they are going to go. Where was that extra help in this case?

I hope the best for everyone there, and while I’m thinking about that neck of the woods, Go Cats! We really need a win versus Mississippi State tonight.

The Inverse of 2+2=5

I have two CD’s in my collection that collectively aren’t as good as just one could have been. Somehow, after listening to either albums of these I feel cheated; Nightwish’s “Dark Passion Play” and Tarja Turunen’s “My Winter Storm”.  I’ve waited a couple of years to actually write this, as I really wanted to find that my impressions would improve over time. Don’t get me wrong, both of these are very good albums and should have a place in your metal catalog. “Dark Passion Play” in particular has grown on me considerably over the past couple of years and is one of my favorite CD’s.

“My Winter Storm” has several outstanding selections on it, although it is a bit more uneven in its overall quality. On the other hand, I would listen with rapt attention to the Happy Birthday song and the Sesame Street theme if Tarja sung them. Her voice is worthy of a listen no matter where or how she applies her efforts. Somehow however, the music on “My Winter Storm” seems a bit sterile. The musicians gathered for this project just don’t seem to have the passion that Nightwish generates. The songs are all well played, but there just seems to be something missing. Some of the music is truly wonderful, such as ‘Boy and the Ghost’ and ‘I Walk Alone’. Most of the songs are very good, it just seems that after listening to Tarja play with Nightwish, that this effort is a bit of a backslide.

“Dark Passion Play” also has several outstanding songs and overall is a terrific album. I’m getting used to Annette Olzon’s voice, but it is just not as well suited to this symphonic metal style as Tarja’s or any of a group of other singers. I really like the two songs with a bit of highland feel to them. Marco’s lead on ‘The Islander’ and the follow on instrumental are a nice change of pace for Nightwish. It is good to see them stretch their wings. I would have really liked to see them stretch their wings with Tarja still in the band or at least someone with the pipes to do their music justice. Tuomas Holopainen really wrote a great score for this CD, perhaps his best ever. It just suffers from a subpar effort on the vocal front.

These are two of the best albums to come out in recent years, yet I still feel cheated. I can almost hear what “Dark Passion Play” would have sounded like had Tarja been singing. That one album would have been worth more than both “Dark Passion Play” and “My Winter Storm” combined.

For the sake of the art, I hope that Tarja and Nightwish can set aside their differences and return to making music together. Together, they are so much better and still have so much room to grow, that hearing them apart is just a tease of what could be.

On the bright side; being disappointed for the past couple of years has given me a chance to appreciate a band that may eventually come to replace the ‘classic’ Nightwish as my favorite artist in this genre, Epica.