The House of Blue

Poor shot selection also can cause a drought. Were the ifficials good, no, but they did not cause the loss. Selfish play and bad shots at the rim by our two driving guards were our main problem

How bad is it when you complain about the refs in a game vs. Alabama. Thats like Alabama complaining about the refs in a football game against us. Sure the game got physical. I think we should be complaining about how we got pushed around and didnt push back. This is the softest team we may have ever had. We have too many guys that want to be the star and drive the ball. How many times could Archie make a pass when he drives and gets fouled? Ill take an open WCS or Noel under the basket any day over him shooting 2 free throws. Alabama just exposed us for what we are, soft.

Actually, after a time out UK isolated Wiltjer three consecutive trips and got a Noel put-back off a Wiltjer miss, a Wiltjer basket, and Wiltjer going to the line (where he missed the front end of the one-and-one) on the next three offensive possessions. Good coaching by Calipari. That sequence cut the lead to one with just over a minute left and would have given UK the lead if Wiltjer made the FTs.

They followed that sequence with a quick shot by Mays, and two drives and misses by Goodwin (the first of which he had a wide open Wiltjer at the three point line for a shot that would have tied the game.

Someone else noted the fast break where Goodwin had Noel ahead of him for an alley oop but instead he drove into the defender for a missed shot. I'm not sure whether Goodwin's problem is selfishness or a low B-Ball IQ. I believe that he usually plays hard but he seems to think that he must be the hero by taking shots.

Losses on the road don't worry me. If we would have taken care of business at our place this loss would be no problem. You gotta expect bad calls on the road. You have to beat team convincingly on the road to get a W. Like I said just like two years ago when we dropped so many road games not a problem because you don't play tourney game on the road. But we've dropped a couple games at home so these road losses are now a problem because we most likely have to win some of them just to get into the tourney.

Wiltjer's strong first half didn't come from isolating him in the post. It came from Wiltjer being aggressive with the ball from the perimeter. In the first half, Wiltjer took eight shots (from the perimeter, driving past his man, backing his man into the lane, etc). He was aggressively looking to score and take advantage of the mismatch -- he was the one guy who had a clear mismatch. He did not take a shot in the second half until Cal ran those low-post plays for him.

Unfortunately, Cal does not have enough time outs to set up plays throughout the half. He has to teach the players in practice and hope that they remember what to do when they get in the game. And his system is based on breaking guys down defensively -- i.e., beating them in one-on-one situations. That is not generally Wiltjer's strong suit but he had a matchup against Bama that allowed him to do that in the first half. He just stopped doing it in the second half.

Goodwin can do that but does not react well to what the defense does after he beats his man. I have said previously that this leads me to believe that Goodwin does not have a high basketball IQ. He seems to have already made up his mind as soon as he starts his drive. Usually that decision is to shoot, leading to many bad shots. But it's just as bad when he has predetermined to pass because he has made up his mind to pass and the pass may not be there leading to bad turnovers (bad because they often lead to fast breaks the other way).

Harrow has shown some ability to break down the defense and makes generally good decisions when he does but he does not do as well when the defense gets physical. Bama had physical guards and if the hard hand-checks and body fouls are not going to be called it renders Harrow ineffective on offense.

All that said, the one guy who showed the ability to break down his man effectively against Bama was Wiltjer. When he was aggressive, Kentucky was controlling the game. He did not attack in the second half and Kentucky lost. Now I am not blaming Wiltjer but when guys that have the willingness to attack (i.e., Goodwin) are ineffective then this team needs guys like Wiltjer to step up.

At the end of the day, however, the only chance for this team to advance far in the tourney is for Goodwin to begin to understand how to make his team better (and by extension, himself better) if he is capable of that improvement.