Friday, December 17, 2021

Once Again, Kentucky Fans Are Discussing the Basketball Schedule

Three points to keep in mind:

1. North Carolina cheats, and I don't see much point in playing a school that cheats.

2.  According to Ken Pomeroy, from 1997 to 2020 Indiana was the 26th best program in the country, and the 8th best Big Ten program, trailing Michigan St. (5), Ohio St. (12), Michigan (13), Wisconsin (15), Maryland (17), Purdue (21), and Illinois (23).  We already have arrangements to play Michigan St. and Ohio St. on a regular basis.  I see absolutely no reason to create a home-and-home series with the eighth-best program in the Big Ten.

3.  Until Kentucky gets better players, the schedule isn't going to matter all that much.

37 comments:

  1. Apparently tomorrow's game against Ohio State is being replaced by a game against UNC. So Kentucky gets the chance to lose to Duke and UNC in the same season.

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    1. At least we aren't playing Indiana. On the other hand, we were just swept in a home-and-home series by Notre Dame.

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    2. From December 1, 1990 to January 25, 2004, UK won 10 games in a row against Notre Dame. Since then we've gone 2-5 against the Irish.

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  2. Here are UK's last six games against ACC competition:

    12/11/2021: Notre Dame 66 - 62 Kentucky
    11/09/2021: Duke 79 - 71 Kentucky
    12/26/2020: Louisville 62 - 59 Kentucky
    12/19/2020: N. Carolina 75 - 63 Kentucky
    12/12/2020: Kentucky 63 - 64 Notre Dame
    12/06/2020: Georgia Tech 79 - 62 Kentucky

    The Cats have not beaten an ACC opponent since December 28, 2019, when they beat Louisville 78-70 in Overtime. They haven't beaten an ACC opponent in regulation since December 14, 2019, when they beat Georgia Tech 67-53.

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  3. Last year the Cats were 354th in the nation in "Luck," according to Ken Pomeroy. So far this year they are 326th.

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  4. Here's UK's recent three point shooting:

    11/26 (N. Florida): 6-25
    11/29 (Cent. Michigan): 7-26
    12/7 (Southern): 6-20
    12/11 (Notre Dame): 2-19

    That's a total of 21-90, or a percentage of .233.

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  5. Here are UK's main three-point shooters, along with their stats from behind the arc for the whole season so far:

    Grady: 18-45 (.400)
    Washington: 11-29 (.379)
    Mintz: 7-23 (.304)
    Allen: 6-27 (.222)
    Wheeler: 4-18 (.222)
    Brooks: 3-13 (.231)

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  6. Are you for pasturing Coach Calipari because of the recruiting?

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    1. I'm willing to see what next year's team looks like.

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    2. Obviously he has to recruit much better -- we haven't really had top-tier talent since 2017.

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  7. Congratulations to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, who beat Louisville 82-72 in Bowling Green. Huge win for the Tops!

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  8. Ken Pom has UK winning this game against UNC by the score of 74-73. I have the Tar Heels winning 75-69.

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  9. Indiana beat Notre Dame 64-56 in Indianapolis today, thus underscoring what a bad loss that was for Kentucky. Notre Dame is now down to 55 on Ken Pom, putting them just below Belmont. Although, to be fair, I don't think UK would win at Belmont either.

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  10. UNC has turned up in black uniforms with Carolina blue numerals. They look terrible.

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  11. Kentucky leads 11-6 with 15:26 left in the first half. Wheeler has six early points.

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  12. Kentucky leads 19-6 with 11:37 left in the first half. Tshiebwe had 7 rebounds in the first seven minutes of the game, but he has two fouls and is gone for the rest of the half.

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  13. Cats lead 28-13 with 7:36 left in the first half. Wheeler has 8 points. Washington has 5.

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  14. UK now leads 35-17 with 4:18 left in the first half. Wheeler has 12 points. Washington has 7. Cats have out-rebounded UNC 25 to 10.

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  15. UNC's offense has sprung to life because they decided to put Armando Bacot into the game with two fouls. He has 17 points. UK leads 40-29 with 21 seconds left in the first half.

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  16. Cats lead 40-29 at the half. UK out-rebounded UNC 26-14, and that was the most important stat because it allowed the Cats to take nine more shots than the Heels. UNC was also 0-6 from three-point range, while UK was 3-7.

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  17. The good news for UK is that Tshiebwe will be back in the second half. The bad news is that he probably won't play very much before getting back into foul trouble. The other bad news is that UNC probably won't miss all of its three-point shots in the second half.

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  18. Wheeler was the hero of the first half for UK, with 14 points on 7-10 shooting. Washington has 7 points and 3 rebounds. Tsiebwe had 3 points and 7 rebounds.

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  19. With Tshiebwe back in the game, UK opens with a 13-6 spurt to start the second half. UK leads 53-35 with 16:17 left. Wheeler now has 20 points.

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    1. To me, this was the key stretch of the game. UNC had some momentum coming into the locker room, and the Cats made it clear that with Tshiebwe in the game, the Heels had no chance. You could see the energy go out of UNC after this stretch.

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  20. UK leads 55-37 after an exchange of baskets and the first TV timeout. 15:17 left in the game.

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  21. Wheeler has been spectacular, getting to the rim over and over. He has 24 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. UK leads 67-46 with 11:28 left.

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  22. I'm not sure I've ever been more wrong about a game. UK leads 80-52 with 7:33 left. Wheeler has 24 points. Tshiebwe has 16 points and 12 rebounds. Grady has 13 points on four three-pointers. Just amazing.

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  23. 88-58 UK with 3:54 to go. Unbelievable. I wonder if UNC will try these black uniforms again.

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  24. For me, seeing UNC in the black uniforms was much less intimidating. It was like we weren't playing Carolina at all.

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  25. UK scored 48 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half. Just incredible.

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  26. Cats win 98-69. Biggest win ever over UNC. Cal now 7-4 over the Heels since he came to UK. That was an incredible performance. It's hard to beat any Power 5 team by 29 points.

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    1. Correction. Second-biggest win over UNC. UK beat UNC 83-44 on January 9, 1950.

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  27. UK jumps from 21 to 14 on Ken Pom. Cats go 31-57 on two-point shots, 8-15 on three-point shots, and 12-17 from the line. UK outrebounded UNC 44-26. Cats had 20 assists and only 9 turnovers. Just a spectacular performance.

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  28. Pomeroy classifies games as A games, B games, or unclassified. A games are the hardest games of all. Today's game -- against a top 50 team on a neutral court -- was an A game. UK won by 29 points. That's really rare. The last time UK won an A game by 29 points or more was March 26, 2015, when the Cats beat West Virginia 78-39 in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament to move to 37-0 on the season.

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  29. Cats are now 1-2 in A games this year.

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  30. Cats are now 4-4 in the CBS Sports Classic: 1-1 against UCLA, 0-2 against Ohio State, and 3-1 against UNC.

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  31. Cats are 5-6 in the Champions Classic: 2-2 against Kansas, 1-3 against Duke, 2-1 against Michigan St.

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