Serious disappointment. After struggling against a team that we should have been beating up on, Bradley manages to hit a key shot to put UK into overtime. Maybe the guys remembered how hard it was to beat Vanderbilt in two overtimes. For whatever reason, they came onto the floor for overtime and, well, they came onto the floor. They didn’t do much while on the floor. They limped around like wounded animals and watched as the Gators taught them how to close a game.
Why do they do this to themselves and to us? They turn the ball over like they don’t want it. They couldn’t feed the post if their lives depended on it. When crunch time comes, they revert to schoolyard, one on one, my ball and I’m gonna score. Why don’t the key players get a blow on the bench at critical junctures? With both Stevenson and Patterson in foul trouble in the 2nd half, why didn’t Patterson get a blow while Stevenson was out on the floor for his last go? I know our bench is thin, but when Bradely commits some of his bone-headed plays, why doesn’t Billy G, sit him down and make him think about it, especially now that Jasper and Meeks are getting a bit of playing time? I’m very frustrated with this team, and I just don’t see much improvement. Yeah, they are leaving no engergy behind, it’s all on the floor at the end of the game. But it’s time to do something with that effort! Effort for efforts sake is nothing. Heady, intelligent effort will win games. Just running up and down the floor as hard as you can won’t.
And giving up in overtime is just not acceptable. You fought hard to get there. “Oh we have 5 minutes now, we can take a small mental break for a minute or two”. “Oooops, now we’re in a two or three possession game, what happened?” That kind of attitude and effort will not endure you to what the media is saying is the most demanding fanbase. Why? Because this fanbase understands basketball. And this team isn’t playing basketball.
We didn’t become rabid fans by watching schoolyard ball. You can see that anywhere. We became fans by learning to appreciate selfless, hard charging players become more than the sum of their parts. By watching as our five guys played on the same page and played together as one. A team of five playing hard and as one can beat any five guys out there. You can’t see intelligent, selfless, intense ball played anywhere but a handful of places. Is it time to strike Kentucky from that list?
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