The Rebels of Ole Miss. (18-5) (5-5) travel north to Lexington to take on the Cats of Kentucky (16-7) (6-4). The Rebels are currently on a two-game losing streak and have lost at home to Auburn and on the road at South Carolina last Tues. (2/6) they are 3-4 in their last 7. The Cats are coming off their 3rd straight home loss vs. unranked Gonzaga on Saturday. The Cats are 4-5 in their last 9 games. This game is on ESPN on Tuesday night with tip scheduled at 9:00pm. Go Cats!!

It is decision time. First week of February. Everything up to now is finding strengths and weaknesses and getting to the best rotation. I expect Cal to work into his 8 man rotation from here on out.

Who is your rotation?

Who starts?

Who gets 10 minutes every game?

Who is on the bench with maybe, on the right night, 4 minutes?

For all the heat on Calipari as a coach, there are two things that he is good at:

1. Team chemistry. He gets the prima donnas to buy into the team and play hard for each other.

2. He has good defensive teams.

So why is this team so bad at defense? Can it be fixed, or at least improved? How? 

52 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

For all the heat on Calipari as a coach, there are two things that he is good at:

1. Team chemistry. He gets the prima donnas to buy into the team and play hard for each other.

2. He has good defensive teams.

So why is this team so bad at defense? Can it be fixed, or at least improved? How? 

The defensive issues this year are a head-scratcher.  And I also think they are inexcusable. 

Chemistry is a big reason why this season is frustrating.  These guys are fun to watch, seem to like each other, and they come across as a likeable bunch. 

Ole Miss 88-84.

I was offered two tickets for the game and had to turn them down, 9pm on a work night is just to late. I'm going to be curious how crowded it is. 9pm on a work night against a non-sexy opponent and on a 3 game home court losing streak against a team that could be the Cats. It'll be tough to get pumped up for. I'm all over the place with should Reed and Dilly start or not. They came off the bench the first half of the season and certainly brought the energy, but we were also down by then. Also the bigs were all hurt. Now Reed starts, which I believe he has earned, and the Cats record with him starting is terrible. Since our bigs can't rebound or protect the rim I'd just play 4 guards and Mitchell, if healthy. 

UK 90

Ole Miss 80

22 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

For all the heat on Calipari as a coach, there are two things that he is good at:

1. Team chemistry. He gets the prima donnas to buy into the team and play hard for each other.

2. He has good defensive teams.

So why is this team so bad at defense? Can it be fixed, or at least improved? How? 

I think Cal's best defensive teams always had a top-tier rim protector. That allowed Kentucky to overplay and put more pressure on the ball because they knew there was protection in the back. They haven't had those top-tier shot blockers in recent years (even this year with 3 7-footers) and I think it has made the defense look even worse.

4 hours ago, Breds82 said:

Since our bigs can't rebound or protect the rim I'd just play 4 guards and Mitchell, if healthy. 

If we are counting Theiro as a guard. I like him in the #4 spot.

1 hour ago, gchs_uk9 said:

I think Cal's best defensive teams always had a top-tier rim protector. That allowed Kentucky to overplay and put more pressure on the ball because they knew there was protection in the back. They haven't had those top-tier shot blockers in recent years (even this year with 3 7-footers) and I think it has made the defense look even worse.

Ugo is the best option for a defensive big who can block shots. If Ugo isn't getting it done, I like Mitchell, Theiro, and 3 guards.

My goodness the officials in the North Carolina and Syracuse are going to the monitor on every out of bounds call.

Justin Edwards 7 Ole Miss 5 with 17 minutes left in the first half.

Syracuse game finally finished, GO CATS

Cats trail 15-13 at the under 12 media timeout.

Ball must be slippery!!! Crazy how many mishandled balls so far