If both teams are giving their all, if both teams are out there executing their game plan, and the game is decided by that close of margin, one would think those teams are fairly equal. Except they’re not. UK is a much better basketball team than Houston. If you believe the last sentence like I do, then the first sentence can’t also be true. It’s true that upsets happen. That’s the main reason why I think the NCAA Tournament is a joke because it doesn’t crown the best team, it crowns the team who is playing well for the last month of the season and that’s a shame. But in an effort to not go off on that tangent again, I’ll just leave it at this. UK played a mediocre basketball game last night against an inferior opponent and scraped by with a win. Great teams find a way to win those types of games when they are having an off night. All I’m saying is UK can’t have any more off nights. If they score 62 against Auburn they lose by 20. I believe we’ll see a much better offensive effort tomorrow night, but to act like I don’t have concerns and just fall back on the concept that the only thing that matters is winning, is disingenuous. The only thing that matters is winning the last game. Yes you have to win 5 games before it, but if you fail to play those 5 games in a way that gives you the confidence and momentum to win that last game, then eventually the wheels will fall off. Because when UK steps on that floor tomorrow night they are going to be facing a team that they have already beaten twice, but since that time they have steamrolled 2 great teams. 2 teams that were playing championship level basketball prior to playing Auburn. UK isn’t playing championship level basketball right now. They will need to in order to beat Auburn.

 

Once again Houston is the top defensive team in the country. We just now seen another 3 seed just like Houston who is a great defensive team in Texas Tech. Just held the top offensive team in the country to almost 20 points below their average. Player by player Gonzaga is more talented, but when you play a top defensive team that is going to try to take away what you do well. Chances are you wont look as good in offense like normal.

 

As for the NCAA tournament, and how one lost can knock you out. That's exactly like college football. In the history of college football there has been plenty of teams who arguably may have truly been the best team. But yet one bad game or one great performance from another team could keep a team from having a chance to even play for the title. Or puts it in the hands of human opinion rather you can try to prove it on the field. One lost in a regular season in college football can end your chances, just like one bad day in the NCAA tournament.

The team of course does. It’s the fans that seem to be content with close wins over Houston.

 

In March, wins do make me content. Don't care how they look so long as the Cats come out on top.

In March, wins do make me content. Don't care how they look so long as the Cats come out on top.

I don’t care how the final game looks. But each game builds off of the previous game. I want to see signs of the team clicking in March and for me personally I’m not seeing it these past 2 games. Hopefully it does against Auburn.

Once again Houston is the top defensive team in the country. We just now seen another 3 seed just like Houston who is a great defensive team in Texas Tech. Just held the top offensive team in the country to almost 20 points below their average. Player by player Gonzaga is more talented, but when you play a top defensive team that is going to try to take away what you do well. Chances are you wont look as good in offense like normal.

 

As for the NCAA tournament, and how one lost can knock you out. That's exactly like college football. In the history of college football there has been plenty of teams who arguably may have truly been the best team. But yet one bad game or one great performance from another team could keep a team from having a chance to even play for the title. Or puts it in the hands of human opinion rather you can try to prove it on the field. One lost in a regular season in college football can end your chances, just like one bad day in the NCAA tournament.

Come on you can’t compare football and basketball with regards to being one and done. You can only play 1 game a week in football. There is no choice but for the regular season and playoffs to be one and done. It’s literally apples to oranges.

The point that seems to be missed is that Houston is a good team and was one of the better ones in the country this year. Apparently that doesn’t matter though.

So they are on par with UK this year? Disagree whole heartedly.

I don't think they are "content" they won. I think they are "happy" they advanced no matter the margin. It's the tournament, it's survive and advance. Auburn, Duke, Virginia, and UK have all survived and advanced at one time or another in this tournament. You keep talking about Auburn being dominate, they were very lucky to survive that 1st round game.

Auburn did barely survive that first round game. Honestly they should have lost that game but they found a way to win. They followed that up with back to back dominating performances. In 3 out of the last 4 games Auburn has played they have beaten 3 top 25 teams including 2 top 5 teams by an average of 17 points. I’ll excuse the close game against NMSt if you can bookend it with performances like that. I want to see UK put together a complete game because they won’t win tomorrow nor will they win anymore games this year if they don’t. Bottom line. I just want to see them put it together. That’s all.

I don’t care how the final game looks. But each game builds off of the previous game. I want to see signs of the team clicking in March and for me personally I’m not seeing it these past 2 games. Hopefully it does against Auburn.

 

In a one and out tournament, I don't care how it is done so long as the team I'm pulling for wins. Winning is the only thing that matters. UK could win 1 to 0 today and it could be the most boring game ever witnessed and I'd still be happy because they advanced.

 

You take wins any way that you can get them right now. One thing I have seen out of this UK team is that they know how to "grind" out a victory.

 

Another thing, they just got they're best player back from injury. That can affect what a team looks like especially in the first game or two.

 

One thing that will not happen, is that if they lose today I will not think to myself "At least they were clicking".

 

Lastly, this is kind of how this UK team has played all year. They haven't blown many teams out. Even the games that looked like they had solid margins on the scoreboard, if most of those games are looked into you'd see that they were close games up until the under 4 minute tv timeout in the second half. So, "ugly" is sort of how this UK team wins.

So they are on par with UK this year? Disagree whole heartedly.

 

How much of Houston did you watch this year?

 

Do you understand sports? You do understand that it does matter how good the other team is right?

 

We saw in college football last year that Ohio State could put up 60+ in some games. Why didn’t they do that every game? They could do it so why didn’t they? I bet it has something to do with the other team and playing defense..

Without Okeke I think UK should win. With Okeke I’ve seen absolutely nothing from UK in a month that leads me to believe they can score enough to beat Auburn. It will take 85+ to beat Auburn. Auburn will force UK to play uptempo. UK is more than capable of flipping the switch and get back to playing a better brand of basketball than they have been playing, but I’m not going to sit here and act confident about it happening based on these last 2 games. Because I don’t think Okeke is going to play, I’ll go UK 85 Auburn 81.

 

I feel like its a lot harder to force the opposition to speed up than it is for a team to force their opposition to slow down. Kentucky will get out in transition some, but I don't believe they will be forced away from their half court game.

You do understand Houston played deep into the shot clock limiting possessions.

 

And Kentucky consistently did the same.

Edited March 31, 20197 yr by MJAlltheWay24

The team of course does. It’s the fans that seem to be content with close wins over Houston.

 

You would have been a great Hawks fan in the first Mighty Ducks:

 

"It's not worth winning if you can't win big".

 

It's too bad that Coach Reilly (Lane Smith) passed away or Calipari could have brought him in to talk to the tame.

If both teams are giving their all, if both teams are out there executing their game plan, and the game is decided by that close of margin, one would think those teams are fairly equal. Except they’re not. UK is a much better basketball team than Houston. If you believe the last sentence like I do, then the first sentence can’t also be true. It’s true that upsets happen. That’s the main reason why I think the NCAA Tournament is a joke because it doesn’t crown the best team, it crowns the team who is playing well for the last month of the season and that’s a shame. But in an effort to not go off on that tangent again, I’ll just leave it at this. UK played a mediocre basketball game last night against an inferior opponent and scraped by with a win. Great teams find a way to win those types of games when they are having an off night. All I’m saying is UK can’t have any more off nights. If they score 62 against Auburn they lose by 20. I believe we’ll see a much better offensive effort tomorrow night, but to act like I don’t have concerns and just fall back on the concept that the only thing that matters is winning, is disingenuous. The only thing that matters is winning the last game. Yes you have to win 5 games before it, but if you fail to play those 5 games in a way that gives you the confidence and momentum to win that last game, then eventually the wheels will fall off. Because when UK steps on that floor tomorrow night they are going to be facing a team that they have already beaten twice, but since that time they have steamrolled 2 great teams. 2 teams that were playing championship level basketball prior to playing Auburn. UK isn’t playing championship level basketball right now. They will need to in order to beat Auburn.

 

This was one of the worst teams that Bill Self has had in years (due in part because of injury). They definitely were not great, nor a team that played at a championship level.

 

A true statement about both teams they beat though...they don't play anywhere the defense that Kentucky does, which is hopefully going to be a major problem for Auburn. And even if Kentucky loses to Auburn, that doesn't make your opinion about the Houston game accurate.

I am supposed to work the Reds game today and with it being a high of 40 degrees, I am pretty mad at myself for having a good work ethic and not just calling in to watch the game.

 

My phone is going off when I walk into GABP. Praying that a fan doesn't tell me the score, but I don't think they will. All about avoiding a vendor telling me, especially our degenerate gambler (just kidding, but we like to talk spreads a lot). Even if I do hear the score, it will probably just be the half time score. And then no radio on the way home. Phone remains off until I finish the game on my DVR.

I think I actually feel better about this game than I did against Houston and what they could bring to their table with their offense. Going to take another pretty strong defensive performance by the Cats, but I believe they can get it done.

 

Hopefully lots of PJ, Keldon looks good attacking the basket, Travis is a beast inside, Herro is a bucket, Hagans locks down Harper, they limit their wide open looks, and our bench plays well. Let's get back in the Final Four.

This was one of the worst teams that Bill Self has had in years (due in part because of injury). They definitely were not great, nor a team that played at a championship level.

 

A true statement about both teams they beat though...they don't play anywhere the defense that Kentucky does, which is hopefully going to be a major problem for Auburn. And even if Kentucky loses to Auburn, that doesn't make your opinion about the Houston game accurate.

Tennessee and UNC were the two great teams I was speaking of...