UK wins 89-77! I will be at Auburn on Saturday and it will be exciting walking in there with undefeated 17-0 UK on my chest.Another thriller and we won it in what will likely be the most hostile SEC environment of the season. At South Carolina will be nuts, as they usually have some pretty insulting and creative chants and signs, not to mention that you have to hear their rooster crow over and over again; yes, it's quite annoying.
Then there is at UT, who will likely do something crazy like a white out or black out. Pat Summit will dress up crazy, but their gym is similar to Rupp... big but not as hectic as Florida. Florida is the closest we have to a Duke environment, more of a high school experience with rowdy fans right on top of you.
The best part is this... these first 17 games should have been UK in their roughest form, the time when teams should have gotten us rattled because of our inexperience. Yet we are sitting here undefeated. I'm not saying we will go undefeated, but to be 17-0 with such an inexperienced team is quite an achievement in itself.
Let me get my ref complaints out of the way real quick... if I was coaching Div 1 basketball, I would not ever ever ever have my bigs trying for charges, because about 75% of the time they call a block on you. Of all the people on the court we can't risk fouling out, its probably Cousins and Orton. They should just play good defense, and don't give them a chance to draw a blocking call. Orton got a foul last night, and they got a block and it should have been a charge, but they are not going to call that and Orton and Cousins should quit trying to get it. It's just not going to happen and the refs have already proven this.
Anyway, I loved how Wall and Cousins waved to the crowd at the end of the game. It reminded me of a funny story that J.P. Blevins mentioned this week. When Magloire came to Florida as a Wildcat, during warm ups, he went over to the hostile fans and just stood there staring at them. They were going at him, calling him name after name, but Magloire continued to just stare at them with an expressionless face. Then he went out on the floor and took care of business. Also, Fitch and Bogans, after a UK win at Florida, went up to the crowd holding out their jerseys taunting them. I love a little intense rivalry like that as long as violence isn’t involved.
The funniest moment for me last night was when I had to put the game on pause on my DVR for like 20 seconds and then I came back and pressed play and I saw UK had the ball and was inbounding underneath Florida’s basket and Florida didn’t press so I expected Wall to walk it up the court. So I went to fast forward it a little bit just to pick it up on the other side of the court and in a split second I’m missing the action! Wall took it up the court so fast, I couldn’t press the play button fast enough. I had to rewind it so I could see the play. He is just crazy fast. I never like it when they show a Wall replay in slow motion because it doesn’t look as impressive as it was because you can't appreciate just how fast Wall is when you're watching him in slow motion.
Bledsoe went off last night with 25 points. This is the first time since 1975 UK has had three freshman score 25 points at some point during the season. Those three of course being Wall, Cousins and Bledsoe. Wall had 25 against UCONN and Cousins had 27 against Sam Houston St. Bledsoe seems to feed off hostile environments because his best game prior to last night was at Indiana. Bledsoe’s grandmother was in attendance. Cal said after the game he was going to track her down.
At one point, Bledsoe was thinking about going to Florida, and it came down to UK, Memphis and Florida. When Cal went to UK, his interest in Memphis went down, and Florida seemed to be the leader. He loved Cal but when he switched schools that can kind of turn you off a little just because that isn’t a situation you have been recruited for. So when this happened, Florida seemed to rise to the top of his schools. Then Bledsoe was impressed by Pastner getting the Memphis head coaching job. Pastner is very likable and is a great recruiter because of that. Bledsoe was comfortable with Pastner but that's when Cal started recruiting him hard.
Then Billy D pulled out of the race, and their people claimed it was because they didn’t think he would be eligible but the truth was Billy D was struggling with recruits and Calathes decking and they knew they weren’t getting him. So, it came down to Memphis and UK and Memphis kept telling him he would sit on the bench behind Wall, but Cal showed him how they both could co-exist and we are seeing how that works as both get to start each game.
Anybody notice Urban Meyer during the game, his wife and him just playing with their phone…it’s obvious that it's Florida and they just don't care about football.
So what did you think of Orton’s crazy blocks? I have a unpopular feeling about it; I realize its fun to stick it in a defenders eye like that, but I’m all about results. Orton made three phenomenal blocks out of bounds and then Florida hits a three.
Now was the result a positive one? No, it wasn’t. So if you want to see UK be more successful and use Orton’s blocks in a better way, he should have blocked it easier, trying to keep the ball in-bounds and giving UK a chance to get the possession. Blocking it hard out of bounds may be nice at home to get the crowd excited, but as we saw with Orton tonight, it looked impressive but really didn't help much in the end. Sure, I was like most of you and didn't care about that and wanted the big intimidating block to the third row, and I get that, but a few years ago I saw something that made me think more like a coach than just a fan. Have you heard the name Roy Hibbert?
Hibbert played for Georgetown not too long ago and lead his team to the Final Four. There was a short special on ESPN about how he had mastered the art of blocking. It showed him over and over blocking shots but they went into detail about how he kept the ball in-bounds and how many times that deflection allowed his teammates to pick it up. That allowed his blocks to count for so much more.
Now, if the only thing you can do is block it out of bounds that is better than giving them the shot but Orton taking a little off it and then turning his arm a little would allow him to deflect the ball in bounds. When we see Orton master this, which I believe he can, and when you start seeing Wall taking that deflection and flying down the court with it, then you will say, oh…I guess I do like that better!
I have to say when Dan Werner chose Florida over UK, I was upset. I didn’t know a whole lot about Werner, other than he was a four star recruit, but I knew Florida beat us out. I can now say I am glad he didn’t come. He is a classic case of a role player at best. When he put up threes last night, I already had a half smile on my face because I knew Florida just missed their shot. Florida’s problem is that they live and die by their crazy long threes. This will not win you many games, and it's why they lost to some really poor teams. They got hot at the end and got back in it, but ultimately they couldn’t stay that hot for the whole game.
Cal’s thoughts: "I liked our will to win but the problem is being up 15 and then its all back tied up again. We need to find a way to make that 15 into 20 and on and on." Cal claimed it is lack of experience, and he mentioned the fact, you can’t do that and expect to continue to win every time. Wall was getting pressed which required Bledsoe to step up. Cal complimented him for willing to say “hey I’m going to step up.” Cal also believes Orton may be the difference for the season. He didn’t get a few lose balls that he probably should have but that’s ok when you play hard like he did.
We have Auburn next and they are not very good but neither was Georgia and we saw how that worked out. Auburn is very much a football school, but it may be a packed house because it being the hot UK team will be in town. However, it most likely won't be a crazy intense environment like many places of the places will visit in the SEC. Some reporters are wondering if this might actually hurt UK. UK is coming off a big win in a hostile environment, but now to go to a place where there won't be as much excitement. Even when it’s a hostile crowd like at Florida you can take that and feed off that energy and that may not be much of an option on Saturday. My family will do our part, but I'm just warning you, it might be an ugly game.
Anyway, it’s great to be a Wildcat! Go Cats!
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