I’m not disagreeing, UK has been under more scrutiny than any program and have paid the price more than most programs, I just hope folks in Lexington get ahold of the situation and turn it around sooner than later.

36 minutes ago, The_Bull44 said:

Elite Eight, Final Four, National Championships still doesn’t replace that UK was up close to50 games ahead of an program in early 2000’s and now UK has been passed by.

If Kentucky won as many games as Kansas has won over that stretch and had other programs surpass them in all those other things that matter - you know, more than what has happened in reality - do you really think the fanbase would take that better? Kansas has won a lot of games but have really blown it a lot when it really mattered.  Kentucky has underperformed of late relative to what they probably should, but they've still outperformed Kansas over that stretch everywhere that counts.  Not to mention that Kansas has played a good deal more games in their history than Kentucky.

Having the most wins all-time is an achievement to be proud of, and I don't like that Kansas has it now, but very few people are going to remember who held it at a certain point of time in the future.  It matters a whole lot less than the other achievements. 

5 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I would think that most reasonable people could easily say that its not true.  If any UK fan thinks below looks pretty average then I don't know how that UK fan will ever be happy again.

From December 18th - February 12th, Kentucky went 14-2. The only two losses were to LSU & Auburn (both tournament teams) and Kentucky sustained injuries to starting players early in the games and still had a chance to win both, especially LSU.  Injuries aren't excuses for losses, but part of the narrative.  During that stretch, they had the following marquee wins:

Beat North Carolina (probably a Final Four team) by 29 on December 19th on a neutral floor.

Beat Tennessee (SEC Champs) by 28 points on January 15th at home.

Beat Kansas (probably a Final Four team) by 18 on January 29th at their place.

I have no idea how a rational person can look at that nearly two month stretch and still say Kentucky was pretty much just average all season.  They were pretty average the last few weeks of the season and heading into the tournament, no argument there.  But to say they were pretty average all year is just very disingenuous.

Trust me, I'll be fine.

Another thought on the matter regarding how Kansas reached on passing UK as the all time leader in wins is that SEC has been very competitive year after year for the last two decades plus.  With the Big 12 being very good the last few years, how did The Conference Kansas played in from 2000 to 2015 hold up to the SEC over those years?

20 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I'm not forgetting anything.  Losing to Tennessee two times and losing to the 15 seed wasn't between 12/18/21 - 2/12/22, thus has nothing to do with the stretch I describe when they were must better than average.  Average teams don't go 14-2 over almost two months and have the huge wins that they had.

The statement, "they were pretty average all season" is just blatantly inaccurate and I feel bad for any Kentucky fan that thinks otherwise because you'll probably rarely ever find happiness cheering for the Wildcats if you thought this team was just average throughout the two month stretch I described above.

If you want to be unhappy about the final few weeks of the season and the tournament, you'll get no argument from me but saying they were pretty much average all year is just foolish.

For about a month span Kentucky was the best team in college basketball. That is not a controversial take. Obviously that means nothing now, but there is a reason several pundits were still picking them to cut down the nets... it was because they looked the most impressive of any team for a several week stretch.

UK peaked to early, put the bullseye on their own back, then the pressure ate them up!

The last 5 minutes and overtime of the St. Pete game, they looked like a JV team because of the pressure IMO.  

UK didn't have that "DOG".  Ty Ty was never the same after  his injury and he was the "DOG" they were missing.  Oscar is a Machine, but not the "Give me the ball and get out of my way" player they needed.

Teams figured out if you could get UK in a half court game, they struggled.  Teams gave up offensive rebounds in order to keep UK out of transition where Wheeler was at his best.  Wheeler only knows how to play one way and that never changed.  

4 hours ago, okie1 said:

UK peaked to early, put the bullseye on their own back, then the pressure ate them up!

The last 5 minutes and overtime of the St. Pete game, they looked like a JV team because of the pressure IMO.  

UK didn't have that "DOG".  Ty Ty was never the same after  his injury and he was the "DOG" they were missing.  Oscar is a Machine, but not the "Give me the ball and get out of my way" player they needed.

Teams figured out if you could get UK in a half court game, they struggled.  Teams gave up offensive rebounds in order to keep UK out of transition where Wheeler was at his best.  Wheeler only knows how to play one way and that never changed.  

See I honestly think Oscar by the end of the year  was a get me the ball and get out of the way type player. Problem is he can’t pass the ball to himself, the guards have to get it in to him. Which they failed to do, much like how the Harrison’s failed to give Towns the ball the last few minutes of that Wisconsin game. 

13 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

See I honestly think Oscar by the end of the year  was a get me the ball and get out of the way type player. Problem is he can’t pass the ball to himself, the guards have to get it in to him. Which they failed to do, much like how the Harrison’s failed to give Towns the ball the last few minutes of that Wisconsin game. 

I agree with that, but Oscar wasn't demanding the ball...at one point in the season, Cal ran some good stuff isolating Grady and Oscar on the same side of the court...Didn't see any of that toward the end of the year.

The last couple of entry passes from Wheeler to Oscar were the worst I have seen from that level of player.  It's like Cal panicked and said get the ball to Oscar and then it became a hot potato. 

Wasn't sure where to put this but I read today that Grady was dealing with plantar fasciitis in his feet throughout the last several weeks of the season, might explain why his performance fell apart.

So TyTy and Grady not at 100% down the stretch.

2 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

Wasn't sure where to put this but I read today that Grady was dealing with plantar fasciitis in his feet throughout the last several weeks of the season, might explain why his performance fell apart.

So TyTy and Grady not at 100% down the stretch.

That would be a good explanation.  Maybe Cal should have used his bench a little more and not played guys 36-40 minutes per game.

Just now, okie1 said:

That would be a good explanation.  Maybe Cal should have used his bench a little more and not played guys 36-40 minutes per game.

North Carolina and Villanova played a shorter bench than UK.

13 minutes ago, okie1 said:

That would be a good explanation.  Maybe Cal should have used his bench a little more and not played guys 36-40 minutes per game.

Knew this would be the response and you're not wrong.  But with TyTy being out the stretch that he was and Dontae Allen's complete lack of defensive ability, what real choice did Cal have?

People should also keep in mind, not having CJ Frederick all year.

So what happened to Kentucky?

Their best two guards weren't anywhere near 100% and playing through injury.

Always excuses for a team and coach that underachieves, some things have to be accounted for besides making up excuses.

18 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

Always excuses for a team and coach that underachieves, some things have to be accounted for besides making up excuses.

I'm kind of with you on this one. And I am not saying some of the "excuses" aren't legit, but I don't like it coming out later like this as being a big reason for late season struggles. You see teams do this all the time.

For the record, I think the TyTy injury really did disrupt his and the team's flow and he never seemed 100%, evident by him not being able to stay in front of anyone. With Grady, he became oddly gun shy and would always pump fake and sidestep, often into a worse shot than what he did have. He seemed to be overthinking things. Now maybe it was plantar fascia related, but he seemed to drop off after the other guys came back from injury and the flow was just not there from then on... injury related or whatever the reason may be.