Kentucky 71 Mississippi State 68

[MJAlltheWay24]

Final.

[MJAlltheWay24]

Cats made us sweat down the stretch but come up with a Quad 1 win on the road.

I don't think its any coincidence thag Wallace has been struggling scoring/shooting with Wheeler out.

Livingston really coming into his own. If he comes back, I love how he'd fit with next years class.

[Voice of Reason]

If UK beats Tennessee Saturday, they are looking good to get in. 

[16thBBall Fan]

Good win for the Cats I agree with VOR and win over the Vols Saturday especially with their over Bama tonight and we’d be solidly in. 

[futurecoach]

Good win tonight getting that quad one win to add to their resume. They get another quad one win or two and they should be in. 
 

MJ said it, but I do think we are seeing the effects of not having Wheeler. I love Wallace, but he has struggled some these last two games not having Wheeler to come in and give at least 10 to 15 minutes. 
 

I also think Fredrick is important still too. The best plus minus lineup for UK most of this year has been a lineup Wallace, Reeves, Fredrick, Toppin, and Oscar. 
 

With that said Cal needs to have a quick trigger with Fredrick. If he is clearly off and not giving you much. He needs to pull him a lot quicker, and give Theiro those minutes then. 
 

 

[Voice of Reason]

Florida's Castleton broke his hand tonight. That sets up another win for UK.

[futurecoach]

2 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Florida's Castleton broke his hand tonight. That sets up another win for UK.

UK may have picked up two Quad one wins tonight. Texas A&M was ranked 35th going into tonight and they just beat 20th ranked Arkansas. So Texas A&M may move into the top 30. Which if they do, that makes UKs win at home over them a Quad one win. So UK may be at 3 quad wins, once the NET rankings are updated tomorrow morning. 

[Voice of Reason]

Good points being made about Wheeler minutes helping Wallace. Wheeler has to be held under 10 minutes IMO unless there is a matchup that allows him to play more. 

I want more minutes for Theiro. I want less minutes for Reeves. I want Reeves in the 30 minutes per game range. I am going defense over offense. UK must get better on defense. Reeves also needs to be off the floor at the end of games if UK has the lead, unless the opponent is behind so far they are going to foul right away. I like his free throw shooting but he can't be trusted with the ball.

Livingston is improving by the game. Great hustle plays. The Cats need him on the floor for more offense and better defense. 

 

[futurecoach]

10 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Good points being made about Wheeler minutes helping Wallace. Wheeler has to be held under 10 minutes IMO unless there is a matchup that allows him to play more. 

I want more minutes for Theiro. I want less minutes for Reeves. I want Reeves in the 30 minutes per game range. I am going defense over offense. UK must get better on defense. Reeves also needs to be off the floor at the end of games if UK has the lead, unless the opponent is behind so far they are going to foul right away. I like his free throw shooting but he can't be trusted with the ball.

Livingston is improving by the game. Great hustle plays. The Cats need him on the floor for more offense and better defense. 

 

I agree with most of what you are saying here. I think 30 minutes a game is perfect for Reeves, and I definitely want to see Theiro start to get more consistent playing time. With that said I still think I would want Reeves on the floor at the end of the game even with a 4 to 6 point lead.

Cal has always loved his slow down offense the last 5 minutes of a game and always taking it down to the end of the shot clock. Which leads to droughts and forced shots. Reeves has been one of their better players all year at making some shots when needed. Plus he is one of the few players that can create his own shot, and can get in the lane with that little floater and spaces the defense with his three point shooting. If  take him out and go with a lineup of Wallace, Theiro, Livingston, Toppin, and Oscar. It is going to allow a team to pack it inside defensively against us and force a wild shot most likely at the end of the shot clock in the end of game slow down Cal does and leading to droughts and teams chipping away into the lead. 
 

 

[bugatti]

11 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Livingston is improving by the game. Great hustle plays. The Cats need him on the floor for more offense and better defense. 

 

I think one thing Cal discovered last night is that he can post Livingston as a physical off guard. He seemed comfortable in the post.

[gchs_uk9]

13 minutes ago, bugatti said:

I think one thing Cal discovered last night is that he can post Livingston as a physical off guard. He seemed comfortable in the post.

The fan base has been screaming this for three months. This "discovery" is akin to Columbus discovering the new world and it being full of natives.

[bugatti]

15 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

The fan base has been screaming this for three months. This "discovery" is akin to Columbus discovering the new world and it being full of natives.

History has shown Calipari to be loyal (or too proud) to a fault. In this instance you can see where he would not want to upset Oscar. Just like it was obvious early this year Wheeler is not the PG answer. Another great example is the Harrison twins. 

[bugatti]

12 hours ago, futurecoach said:

Good win tonight getting that quad one win to add to their resume. They get another quad one win or two and they should be in. 
 

MJ said it, but I do think we are seeing the effects of not having Wheeler. I love Wallace, but he has struggled some these last two games not having Wheeler to come in and give at least 10 to 15 minutes. 
 

I also think Fredrick is important still too. The best plus minus lineup for UK most of this year has been a lineup Wallace, Reeves, Fredrick, Toppin, and Oscar. 
 

With that said Cal needs to have a quick trigger with Fredrick. If he is clearly off and not giving you much. He needs to pull him a lot quicker, and give Theiro those minutes then. 
 

 

Yeah, Wallace's shot has been off. Some I think is fatigue, but it is from the onset when he shouldn't be tired. Wallace also recorded 11 assists and only committed 1 turnover last night. That will work!

[futurecoach]

31 minutes ago, bugatti said:

History has shown Calipari to be loyal (or too proud) to a fault. In this instance you can see where he would not want to upset Oscar. Just like it was obvious early this year Wheeler is not the PG answer. Another great example is the Harrison twins. 

Agreed with Cal being too loyal or proud at times to make changes that need to be made. However,  I will say with the Harrison twins it’s easy for us now to say he should have obviously had Booker and Tyler in. However, if they would have lost still in the final four. People would probably complain about how he didn’t go with twins at the end, when they had literally won them games to get to the finals just the year before in the same situation. So in that case I see why he went with them, since they had been in that position before and won them games. 

[Voice of Reason]

37 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Agreed with Cal being too loyal or proud at times to make changes that need to be made. However,  I will say with the Harrison twins it’s easy for us now to say he should have obviously had Booker and Tyler in. However, if they would have lost still in the final four. People would probably complain about how he didn’t go with twins at the end, when they had literally won them games to get to the finals just the year before in the same situation. So in that case I see why he went with them, since they had been in that position before and won them games. 

On the Harrison twins, it was easy to see in the game that they lost in that tournament that Cal should have stuck with Booker and Ulis in the last 6 minutes of the game. But as we are discussing, Cal gets too deeply entrenched with his rotations and player loyalty, and is not good with in game adjustments to what he is watching.