Adam Zagoria ‏@AdamZagoria

 

The Kentucky-Notre Dame game delivered a 9.0 rating for TBS, highest overnight rating ever for a college BB game.

 

 

Clyde beat me to it...

Also those saying Cal got out coached aren't telling the whole story. Yes UK couldn't adjust on the side pick and roll and that is on Cal.

 

But no one is talking about the bad defensive decision of Mike Brey. How does he play the whole end of the game with Auguste playing Towns with 4 fouls one on one. Auguste didn't want to foul out and Towns was getting layups .

 

How does he not adjust and make Kentucky shooters beat him. The ND fans sitting next me were upset the whole 2nd half on no double team

 

I think I said in the prediction thread I hope ND doesn't double the post like they did against Duke. I'm glad they kept that game plan that is why UK won.

Highest-rated college game in cable history.

 

With Notre Dame in a meaningful game and probably largest fan base in the country and the allure of an unbeaten team playing is a good recipe for this.

Watching the game again now. This 3 man crew calling the game is horrible. Stick with 2.

Watching the game again now. This 3 man crew calling the game is horrible. Stick with 2.

 

Not all 3 man crews are bad this one just happens to be terrI've. In the NBA with Van Gundy Mark Jackson and whoever the 3rd person is , is very excellent.

Kentucky's last missed shot came with 12:16 left in the game. Pretty incredible. Notre Dame was 6/16 in the same span, and missed their last three shots, going the final 2:36 scoreless.

 

If you count free throws, Kentucky went the final 8:43 with the ball going through the net each time it left their hand.

:thumb: This, along with the U.K. defensive effort in the last 10 min. of the game. Also, with the Cats Defense Holding N.D. Scoreless in the final 2:30 min of the game was key.

Highest-rated college game in cable history.

 

I know ESPN has had a bunch of big regular season and conference tourney games over the years but you'd have to think the NCAA games would normally pull a higher number. How many years now have the regional finals been shown on cable instead of CBS?

So, I was at a wedding and there was about 100 people crowded around my phone for the final 5 minutes of this game. Even though UK won it was a great time.

Someone scheduling a wedding during the NCAA Tournament ? ! ohbrother:..I have to question that move With all due respect to whoever it was .....are they Communist or something ??? :: ...(Just kidding of course.)

He did not say that instead of giving ND credit. He said they had a great team and played a great game several times. UK did play poorly I thought.

 

I'm not getting the UK played poorly thing. Kentucky shot 53.2% from the floor, 50% from 3, 70% from the line, they blocked 9 shots, only allowed ND to hit 4 3s on 28.6% shooting from deep and hit every shot they hit for the last 10 minutes. How about saying Notre Dame played great and nearly matched us big play for big play?

 

And for the record I have no problem with what Cal said. People are picking just part of what he said immediately post game. Given time to clarify he gave ND a lot of credit.

Who the heck has said Wisconsin isn't that good and not much of a threat to UK all year? Quite the contrary...

 

I guess you haven't paid much attention to college threads during the year. Over the last two months when people have talked about teams who could beat UK, for most of the year people on here have said Wisconsin is not that good, they are no threat to UK, they don't play defense. UK beat them last year with a worst team, and that shows UK should definitely handle them this year. I been saying most of the year that Wisconsin is a team that worries me, and those are some of the responses I have gotten back when I have said that. So since I assume you wouldn't want to take the time to look up how you are wrong on that, I would have no problem looking it up and bringing up the post and threads that shows this if you would like?

I like UK, I really do. Almost always root for them. That said, my takes on this one:

 

Ya gotta love UK fans. In the update thread and in this thread, people are actually questioning why no T on a dunk? How about don't give up the dunk, and it won't matter. Love that kind of stuff. I did like the Hoyle reference someone made though. Good get. My response would be, who the heck was guarding the Hoyle looking kid that gave up that drive?

 

ND played good, not great. Down the stretch they were hard to watch. Team was defined by shooting the 3 well, and they did not tonight. They exploited some UK weaknesses, but did so out of the base of their offense. Same thing they did to Wichita. .

 

On the points in the paint thing. Not like ND posted them and had their way. Offensive rebounds, and catches high into drives were the deal. With Wisconsin looming, that worries me. Big guys that can bounce it are trouble,

 

Harrison's 3 seemed big at the time, but was negated on Grant's 3. Irrelevant from then on, Grant's 3 put the game back in reset. You get what you get with the Harrison's. A big three, big foul shots. Two big turnovers down the stretch as well. Not sure if it was Webber or Elmore, but one of them mentioned "hero" plays after the live ball Harrison turnover late. I fear a hero play by one or both late as much as I think they will hit a shot.

 

Huge plays by UK and Cal. Starts a different lineup in the second half. Two set plays to Towns, one for a bucket one for a kick out three. Without those 5 points to start the half, UK is sunk with the ND run that followed.

 

I don't get ND not doubling down on Towns at some point the in the second half. I get it cost you a three (see above), but don't you have to stop getting beat at two feet?

 

Grant for ND is really good. UK couldn't turn him over, and had to work like heck just to contain him. Defense was much better the last several minutes thanks to the Cal offense/defense subs and the fact that WCS ended up on Grant a lot of those possessions. Every high school team in Ky. will now go to offense/defense subs next year. Brey should have done the same.

 

On the somewhat debated last play. WCS did a great job running with/funneling Grant to the dead baseline. If he hadn't done such a good job, an NBA guard gets a better look from a better angle or gets to see more of the floor to throw one pass to another shooter. Nobody dribbles to the dead corner of the court to shoot a step back three because they want to. Nice job WCS.

 

Grant did appear to get shake WCS though. Fortunately, Harrison and another defender both came to contest. Nice job by both following the ball late in the play. Nice thing for UK, the guy was being funneled to the dead corner of the court. Otherwise, three guys guarding/chasing the ball could be a bad thing.

 

I know the turnover when Andrew stepped out of bounds, however you said they made two bad turnovers down the stretch? What was the other one?

I'm not getting the UK played poorly thing. Kentucky shot 53.2% from the floor, 50% from 3, 70% from the line, they blocked 9 shots, only allowed ND to hit 4 3s on 28.6% shooting from deep and hit every shot they hit for the last 10 minutes. How about saying Notre Dame played great and nearly matched us big play for big play?

 

And for the record I have no problem with what Cal said. People are picking just part of what he said immediately post game. Given time to clarify he gave ND a lot of credit.

 

 

Some of the numbers you're noting came about because of the finishing kick. I don't think people are disputing that they closed well, hitting nine straight shots. That boosted their shooting percentage by 11%. Two of those shots were made threes, moving them from 2/6 (33%) to 4/8 (50%). But you can see the contrast in those numbers from the majority of the game. 42% from the floor and 33% from three are not good or at best, just below average. That was how Kentucky played offensively for the first 29 minutes of the game.

 

But besides that, when people are saying UK played poorly they are talking about the aspect that they have made their name for this season, and that is defense. Their defense was nowhere near as good as what we're used to. A significant part of that was Notre Dame's gameplan and execution. But it was still jarring to see a team much, much smaller than Kentucky go 20/37 from around the rim and to see the Irish grab 13 offensive rebounds. That simply shouldn't happen. Kentucky gave up a decent amount of wide open dunks, layups, etc. Yes, they defended the perimeter well and Notre Dame is the type of team that can bury you if they get hot from out there, but for me personally, I'd rather risk you shooting a shot from 22-24 feet than give up a dunk.

 

Three of the last four attempts Notre Dame had were three pointers and they only hit one. The other one was a 17 foot jumper that missed. Before that, Notre Dame started the half 6/8. Only one of those makes was not a dunk or a layup. One of the misses, they got the rebound and scored. They tightened both up in the last 10 minutes, especially the last five.

What about a little zone defense every now and then? Cal was outcoached very badly.....no changes during the game....just sat there and hoped his size and talent would make him look good....not impressed!!!

 

So UK has been undefeated all year long and has one of the best defenses of all time by playing man to man. Yet you say they should have switched to a zone sometime during the game when the man to man was having trouble? You want them to switch from what has worked all year to something that they probably haven't practiced much if at all, all year because of how dominant their man to man defense is. Yeah that sure seems like it would have been a smart move. Just imagine if they switch to a zone and Notre Dame makes a few three's during that switch. Then the talk would be what a bad coaching move by Cal to go to a zone, when they haven't ran it all year. Makes sense...

Yeah switch it up to something you haven't done a single time this year and never practice. That should go well.

 

You beat me to it! Agreed!

If Wisconsin can penetrate it will be a very long night for UK. But to me they seem like they pass the ball around to find the open shot more than having a guy try to make a play. If Wisconsin tries to beat UK by living with the three UK will win. Going to be a really really tough battle.