My thoughts on the West Bracket:
Nice of the Selection Committee to put Duke as a 6 seed, and made sure if Duke and UK ever met in this region, it would be in the Regional Championship. Does this mean Josh McRoberts will stomp Perry Stevenson’s chest? And then Coach K doesn’t suspend him?
If UK were to get past this weekend — I know, I know, stop gritting your teeth — the sweet-16 matchups are very favorable. Out of all the teams, probably Virginia Tech is the scariest, due to their athleticism and ability to survive in a rough ACC. They were somewhat inconsistent (not UK inconsistant) but had a nice run to the ACC Championship Game Semi-Finals.
Southern Illinois doesn’t look like it was challenged very much this year. They beat one team from the AP Top 25, and that was Butler, who beat a inconsistent ranked Tennessee team and a slumping ranked Gonzaga team this year. The Salukis lost to decent major-conference teams (Arkansas, Indiana) who both made the tourney. They had some fantastic love from the number-crunchers, who awarded them a #6 RPI ranking in the final results. But I can’t complain about good RPI and SOS numbers. Maybe I’m wrong, and I’ll admit that I didn’t follow the Salukis very closely.
But back to the first game. Villanova is 21-10, #18 in the final RPI. They were 4-5 against the AP Top 25 according to ESPN, but it appears they lost the last five games against ranked opponents. According to the AOL Fan House, ‘Nova lives and dies with its fantastic freshman guard and Big East Rookie of the Year Scotty Reynolds. Senior forward Curtis Sumpter leads the team in scoring. ‘Nova’s third-leading scorer, senior guard Mike Nardi, has been dealing with injuries. All three average over 29 minutes a game. I doubt there would be fatigue reasons for the first game of the tournament, but a weak bench could be exploited if any of the three see foul trouble.
So is this the ‘Nova 3 versus the Chastised Kentucky 3 of Morris, Crawford and Bradley? Oooh, sports journalists! There’s your clever angle!
March 11th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
As I said earlier, if enough of these Cats show up, they can go far in this year’s Dance.
Go Cats!
March 11th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
We don’t have the players, or the coaching to get past Kansas. We MIGHT beat Nova’ which I think is very unlikely, but we can’t beat Kansas. IF we get past Nova’, we’ll lose by 15+ points to Kansas.
March 12th, 2007 at 7:11 am
I don’t know which bluegrass cats will show up, the slow starting team that gets too far behind in the first half, only to mount a late game rally that falls just short (-why can’t the second half be a minute or two extra?), or the quick out of the gate team that builds the 12-15 (-maybe 18-20) point lead, only to go up in flames during the last eight minutes of the game. Whatever happens, bad coaching decisions, poor leadership by the starting seniors and Bradley, and an overall lackluster performance will end up sending us back to lexington late friday night. (Maybe Tubby can take the boys to rupp on saturday to watch some real basketball TEAMS…. #6Louisville versus #3Texas)
March 12th, 2007 at 8:17 am
They so love putting Duke in our bracket. At least when I’m complaining about it it will be during the regional championship game with UK playing to get in the final 4. We’ve got a tough road ahead so let’s hope the Cats show up and play with the intensity they’ve showed of late.
March 12th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Barnhardt comes out with a vote of confidence for Flubby. We can just as easily get an AD and a new coach at the same time! Whichever Cat team shows up will lose to Nova in a pretty close game or be DESTROYED by Kansas. I’m thinking one and out so Flubby can get back to recruiting more Sharay Thomas caliber players. We’ll have two positions to fill when Stevenson and Meeks transfer!
March 12th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Virginia Tech didn’t make it to the ACC title game. They lost to NC State.
March 12th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Spanky Mitch is a great AD. Just look at the other sports and how they are doing good. He is a class act and after the season will make the proper changes to point the basketball team in the right direction.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:37 am
wilson, thanks for finding that error. I’ve corrected it in the post.
And, as always, we appreciate everyone for posting. Like webmaster has said, we may not agree with what you type, but we do want to read it. Especially since you bother to read our drivel.
March 13th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Having an elan for all levels of basketball, I will support the University Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University and University Louisville. When the athletic programs of these organizations obtain success, the entire Commonwealth reaps benefits in numerous areas. I admit my bias for UK, but let us just pull for the entire Commonwealth. The presidents of these fine universities have brought both tangible and intangible prosperity to the citizens of the Commonwealth.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:18 am
that was the gayes thing i have ever heard dr. dick
March 14th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
It won’t matter which UK team shows up unless they go find one of the former teams. The problem with this team is no killer instinct. The Cats of the past would smell blood in the water and go for the jugular. No player on this team is feared by the other teams the way players of the past were.
Examples: Chuck Hayes/ Gerald Fitch/ Tony Delk/ Jamal Mashburn/ Kenny Walker—–the list goes on. Tese guys would find a way to win! We simply do not have a go-to guy that other teams fear anymore.
Solution: Better recruiting and better player development=new coach!
March 15th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Earl if I am not mistaken didn’t tubby recruit hayes and fitch? That shoots your arguement in the foot about recruiting.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:28 am
A blind hog picks up a couple of acorns now and again.