No We Can't..... Go Undefeated

Tonight, for the first time, our young squad pooped something other than ice cream. They pooped their pants. It was a comedy of errors, and a clinic on how to lose to an inferior opponent. Horrible rebounding? Check. Missed bunny layups? Check. One has to wonder if the weight of rising to the top of the polls, along with the nationwide attention following President Obama's glowing praise for our fund-raising efforts lead us to drink the poison. I don't buy into the crowd that might say Obama was to blame or a jinx (although just to be safe you might ignore that call next time Obama dials you up for a late night chat), but I can see an argument that it could have gone a little further to feeding our big blue egos.

This Kentucky team has looked at the opposing team all year like they didn't belong on the same court, and it finally caught up to them tonight. South Carolina had the kind of heart and determination you expect to see from experienced teams come March, and our talent wasn't enough to bail us out on this night. You have to wonder if tasting defeat was needed for this team to reach their potential. We can't expect teams to roll over and die, or to simply turn on the jets the last five minutes and still beat a game opponent like we have several times this year. That isn't going to happen six straight times in the tournament, and I would rather our team learn that lesson sooner than later.

Hopefully this loss will galvanize this team and cause them to re-evaluate their greatness. There are so many nuances this team can improve upon over the next 10+ games before March Madness to grow as a team. Our defense has improved leaps and bounds, but now we have to finish off that hard work and block somebody out. To get beat on the glass the way we did tonight simply can't happen, especially against a team as small as South Carolina. Hard to understand how that team got 16 offensive rebounds like they did tonight. If this game can serve as a wake up call for the rest of the year, we might all look back and be thankful for that bunch of Cocks that handed it to us tonight.

As good as we have been at times this year, this team has got a laundry list of things it can improve upon. We have got to do a better job of making each other better and setting each other up. We need our guards to help set up easy opportunities for our big guys, and for Cousins not to be such a black hole when he gets the ball. It is time for Patterson to take Cousins aside and let him know he better start dumping him the ball when the double team comes. That kind of selfish, or at the very least unintelligent play is going to keep us from being the team we can be if it isn't corrected. Both Wall and Bledsoe are great just how they are, but both get out of control more times than you would like. A lot of this comes from the break neck pace Cal wants them to play, but hopefully they can come to understand how to stay under control and make smarter decisions with the ball.

The Indianapolis Colts seem to be pretty smart. They thought better of taking the added pressure of being undefeated into the Playoffs, choosing rather to rest their players over chasing history. Considering our team was unable to handle two days of the burden of being #1, we are better off not carrying the burden of being unbeaten into March. Now Calipari should have the teams undivided attention. Cal can use the detractors words as motivation and give the team a reason to prove the world wrong. It was going to be tough for this team to believe they pooped anything but ice cream if they could just out-talent everybody at the end of games. As sweet as it would have been to take one of the last vestiges of Bobby Knight away from the consciousness of college basketball (Indiana was the last to have an undefeated season), a loss was probably needed for this team to get to that level.

I don't think this game needs to be some great signal for our demise like some might want to make it out to be. It was a hostile environment, and we missed a ton of shots that are almost always going to go down. It was a lot like the Madden game where nothing goes right which costs you your undefeated imaginary video game season. The signs were out there. I was nervous about this game when I saw Vegas had the line at 5.5. When the line seems to be low like that it always makes me nervous. In my opinion, Vegas wanted the action to be on UK for this game, because they liked South Carolina's chances. That coupled with Cats fans being way over-confident (my Facebook page was blowing up with people coming out of the woodworks about how we were about to hammer the Cocks) and Karma didn't really have any choice but to knock us down a notch. We were overdue for the Madden game where nothing goes right. Here is to hoping we can put the wake up call to good use and get back on track for a tough Vanderbilt squad on Saturday. We don't want to drop both of our games atop the polls ala Texas!