Blue Tinted Point of View: Rider Broncs Got Bucked

Even the dark side would have a hard time finding too many negatives from yesterday's game. Before I get into the many great things that we can take away, I will touch on the two biggest negatives.

Cousins getting into early foul trouble for the third game in four is something that he will have to grow out of. In the half-court game, throwing it to Cousins down low is probably the most sure fire offense we have right now. Cousins shot isn't as developed as I thought it was, but he is more than making up for it with his soft touch down low. His shooting percentage might not be as high as Patterson's (73.8% vs 56.8%) but I think this can be attributed to Cousins seemingly passing it to himself off the rim on his first shot and going for the put-back, as well a couple ill advised outside shots. He scores or gets fouled almost every time he gets the ball on the block. He has to stay on the floor and average more than the 19.8 minutes he has seen so far. 25-30 minutes a game is more like it.

Eric Bledsoe has got to cut down on his turnovers. It almost seems like he is confident to a fault, in that he thinks he can make any play. It is great to have that confidence and fearless attitude, but he needs to value the ball more and cut back on his turnovers. Coach Cal said he wants him to limit it down to two turnovers a game, and he can easily accomplish that goal by slowing down a little bit and making the simple play his first option.

That is about it for negatives. We need to find more depth on the bench to allow Bledsoe, Wall, and Patterson a few more minutes of rest a night, but I am not going to complain too much about Coach playing our best players heavy minutes. I am simply going to give you a Top Ten list of things I liked about the game against Rider.

1. The Smiles. Great to see the Wildcats enjoying themselves this year. J Wall's smile is infectious.

2. Cousins giving Orton the second half start. I can see where some of the question marks about Cousins' character came from coming out as a prep, but I have seen enough to believe he was misunderstood. He isn't perfect by any means, but he is showing that he is a good teammate. There was potential for conflict between he and Orton, but Cousins has shown in his actions that he has Orton's back. Whether it was getting fired up to dominate Miami Ohio after Orton's blood was spilled, or giving him the second half start against Rider, Cousins has shown his true colors.

3. Bledsoe continuing to shoot with confidence. He was only 3-10 overall, but 3-6 from deep. His shooting has been one of the biggest surprises in the early going. Since Wall entered the lineup, Bledsoe is 8-13 from behind the arc. If he can shoot 40% or better from deep for the rest of the year we will be almost impossible to stop.

4. Orton gained some serious confidence. He has had some minor injuries in just about every game so far, but came away unscathed from the Rider game. Hopefully as he gets more comfortable he can continue to be a big contributor off the bench.

5. Unselfishness. We saw it with Cousins giving Orton the nod in the second half, but also in how the team shared the ball. At times certain players can almost be unselfish to a fault, passing up easy opportunities trying to find a teammate. That is the kind of thing you can live with though. We did a lot better job getting our big guys going with easy opportunities.

6. Ramon Harris has earned himself minutes with his defense and rebounding. He might not be an offensive star, but he can make up for that with his defense. If we force the opposing team into missed shots, we have instant offense in the one man fast break John Wall. Harris is used to taking on the opposing team's best player, and he does a great job comminicating on defense. It would be nice if Ramon can find some easy opportunities on offense, but even if he doesn't he brings value to this team.

7. For the second straight game we have had a player get 18 rebounds. There is no reason we shouldn't be a dominant rebounding team, and so far so good in that department.

8. John Wall

9. Patrick Patterson

10. John Calipari

Enough said. These three will be the catalysts for this team all year. For now, it is off to Cancun and a date with Cleveland State. More about that game and the great win by the Football team later.