Thursday, November 25, 2010

Post Maui Musings

     Maybe we should have seen this coming.  Any time an entire team gets only 7 assists in a game and the point guard doesn't get any (as the Cats and Brandon Knight did in their Maui semi-final win over Washington) it's not a good omen.
     Kentucky was in good company in Maui.  Nobody had an answer for UConn's Kemba Walker.  I don't think I've ever witnessed a more spectacular three day run.
     Brandon Knight definitely had a bad tournament in Maui, but he's so athletically gifted and so intelligent that he will make the necessary adjustments to come back and have a great year.  It's also worth noting that Kemba Walker didn't play as a freshman the way he's playing right now.
     I've always felt that coaches need to be more flexible in their policy that puts any player with two fouls on the bench for the rest of the first half.  It was pretty obvious that UK was in deep trouble with Terrence Jones sitting instead of playing, and a 6'9" player with long arms should be able to still be a defensive presence without picking up more fouls if he plays smart.  I really think more often than not coaches would be better off going with their regular substitution patters and asking their players to go as hard as they can for as long as they can.
     Coach Cal says Josh Harrelson is probably as good a three point shooter as they have on the squad.  If that's true, why in the world would you let him go through the first three games of the season without taking a single one.  It makes sense to me that having a big man with the ability to take his tall defender away from the basket to defend the three would open up lanes for the dribble drive.
     Lack of depth finally reared its ugly head in the Land of Leis.  With an 8 man rotation, this Kentucky team ran out of gas on their last day on Maui.   3 games in 3 days was just too much them to maintain their edge.  I look for them to bounce back strong when they get their feet back on Kentucky soil again.

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