1 hour ago, Jack of all Trades said:

My one and only bone to pick with UK basketball.  Why on why does Cal start the five guys he does?

Because they are winning big games with that starting five?

4 hours ago, Kentucky Windage said:

I'm changing my 13 year old boy's name to Reed.... and my dog's name too. ?

Post of the Decade.

If Reed and Dilly start games, you don’t get off to slow starts at the beginning of both halves as they usually do, two to three minutes of playing time doesn’t allow a player to even get loose so why make this change? Just start the two that should be, another thing Cal refuses to do and why?

Reed had the best game a Freshman has ever played in UK basketball history!! Reward him with a starting role!!

1 hour ago, nikeman49 said:

If Reed and Dilly start games, you don’t get off to slow starts at the beginning of both halves as they usually do, two to three minutes of playing time doesn’t allow a player to even get loose so why make this change? Just start the two that should be, another thing Cal refuses to do and why?

Do you want us all to just cycle back through the same responses again?

They win games with them coming off the bench, they don't win very often when Sheppard starts. Why? I don't know but there has to be some value in having them come off the bench, almost like shock value to the opposing team or something. Maybe Calipari is just innovative in this line of thinking lol jk

He's not going to play 40 minutes. So I'd much rather him play his minutes when he's playing him than worrying about the first 3 minutes of the game, which have proven to not remotely matter.

1 hour ago, nikeman49 said:

Reed had the best game a Freshman has ever played in UK basketball history!! Reward him with a starting role!!

Team has had a pretty solid stretch here lately, picking up a lot of Quad 1 wins. Sure, let's just mess up their team chemistry and the mentality of any of their players.

Call me crazy, but I don't think Reed Sheppard thought to himself after the game last night, I should be starting.

11 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Amen, brother.

And while we're at it, fantastic coaching by Cal throughout that game.

I’’d agree on the first 38 minutes, I’d give him an A, the last 2 minutes, F- maybe.  It was pretty obvious he’s not put 2 minutes on the clock in practice and said, ok guys, let’s work on EOG situations, how we want to handle it with a lead, how we need to guard, where we want to pick them up, gotta go over that in practice, I’ve heard him say we’ll handle that when we get there, uh, no, not good 

Hope he finally sees Z needs to play 25-30 min, Reed was obviously great but they don’t win that game without Big Z playing the minutes he did, changed the whole spacing of MSU defense and opened up the floor

1 hour ago, nikeman49 said:

If Reed and Dilly start games, you don’t get off to slow starts at the beginning of both halves as they usually do, two to three minutes of playing time doesn’t allow a player to even get loose so why make this change? Just start the two that should be, another thing Cal refuses to do and why?

How did it work when Reed started in place of DJ? Didn't we lose most of those games?

It was obvious from day one that the players Calipari likes/trusts most are Sheppard and Reeves. They will be playing the bulk of the minutes and in the ball game when it matters most. There are hundreds of examples of this throughout basketball history. I'm thinking of Bruce Brown for the Nuggets last year. Manu Ginobili his entire career. Mike Dunleavy at Duke. Hell, the "original sixth man" Frank Ramsey (UK grad) made a HOF career of it. And so on. People view starting as a status symbol. And in fairness, it is to a degree. In this case, the decision not to start Sheppard is strictly about chemistry and messing up juju. No different than the guy who must put on a certain sock before the other or his entire day is ruined.

The irony in it all is that the first person to say they do not start would probably be Reed Sheppard.

8 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

How did it work when Reed started in place of DJ? Didn't we lose most of those games?

UK's worst stretch. On balance, DJ was not there to back up Sheppard.

One game to mess with everyone I hope Calipari starts Sheppard, plays him the first 38 minutes, and has him sit to finish the game.

Does anyone put up a quieter 20+ ppg consistently more than Reeves?

11 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

I like bringing in the shock troops 3 or 4 minutes into the game. It seems to work well. Plus I think you never have to worry about Reed or Rob coming in connected and ready to go. Some players don't come off the bench as engaged as they do when starting. I like our chemistry right now, why screw it up?

Because in most games they are trailing and dysfunctional at start of game.  Only guy that can score consistently is Reeves.  I get what you are trying to say, but they have lost 9 games.

10 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Because they are winning big games with that starting five?

Maybe so, but start of each game is a struggle because of the guys on the floor.  One consistent scorer and the rest are role players.

4 minutes ago, Jack of all Trades said:

Because in most games they are trailing and dysfunctional at start of game.  Only guy that can score consistently is Reeves.  I get what you are trying to say, but they have lost 9 games.

Again, when Sheppard was starting they were still coming out as dysfunctional and a lot of those losses are with him starting. I also think the "starting poorly without Sheppard" is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. If they start well, it is not exactly the first thing people come on here praising.