2 hours ago, bugatti said:

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.

Darius Miller in 2012.  James Lee in '77 and '78.  Ron Mercer and Wayne Turner the last half of '96.  Don't mess with the JuJu.  

If we want to change the starting lineup, my vote is start Z at center.

32 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

If we want to change the starting lineup, my vote is start Z at center.

What is the status of Mitchell?  I haven't heard anything about him.

1 hour ago, Voice of Reason said:

We'll agree to disagree on a chunk of this. Cal doesn't control every play or misplay that his players make.

Ugo's foul is not on Cal.

Sheppard's stupid turnover is not on Cal. Reed needs to break the habit of jumping in the air and passing the ball. He does that far too often and it too often becomes a turnover.

Going into that game Z would be one of the last players anyone expected to be a factor. Way too physical a game and bad matchups. Z got tossed around like a rag doll a half dozen times. But Z showed toughness and that he can contribute in a physical game. I agree with you that Z earned minutes going forward with his play in this game. Kudos to Cal for sticking with him through the misplays and learning Z got last night.

Yes we will.  Didn’t say a word about Ugo’s foul. Are you saying Ugo and AB don’t get out muscled some??  If you are c’mon!!!  
Z played just as good D as either one of those last night, fought back, blocked shots, fought around White and stole an entry pass, he acquitted himself really well.  AND if you go back and check my posts I’ve been saying for 3-4 weeks that Z is gonna HAVE to play if we’re going anywhere in the postseason because of the spacing and scoring he creates on the offensive end. 
With 1:09 to go we’re up 6, we go 8-8 (to go up 8!!) from the line, have 1 TO AND STILL GET CAUGHT because we didn’t handle ANY of the 5 possessions defensively the way they should’ve and you’re saying NONE of that is on Cal???!!!  Again, c’mon, I’m sure you know BB better than that!   Like I said, after watching some of Cal’s practices I’m gonna say he hasn’t went through 2 min of EOG situations, well, if he hasn’t, obviously then it is on him!!  Yes, dumb TO by Reed, but, it was obvious that he was getting out of whack so why didn’t our Hall of Famer call a TO, we had 2 left!!!

Can I say that when Kentucky loses Sheppard, Dilly, Reaves, and maybe Wager...I'd welcome Josh Hubbard with open arms if he'd like to come to Lexington haha

4 hours ago, Randy Parker said:

* There was a recent post someone made, perhaps bugsy, talking about how Reed Sheppard is good for one horrifyingly bad turnover every game.  It's strangely so true.  For all his intelligence, passing ability, knack for getting steals, and running the offense pretty well...one super ugly turnover seems to happen every game.  It's so weird.  I chuckled when it happened last night in the closing seconds, simply because it hadn't happened yet.
 

I've been barking up that tree. Ball watching, which he got caught really bad in the 1st half on and his 1-2 really just awful turnovers a game, which unfortunately one seems to come at the worst times. He had a pretty bad one in the first half too. But I'll take the bad for all the good he brings.

I shook my head when he threw it late too. Was like, "welp, there it was".

12 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

Can I say that when Kentucky loses Sheppard, Dilly, Reaves, and maybe Wager...I'd welcome Josh Hubbard with open arms if he'd like to come to Lexington haha

He is horrendous on defense. A match made in heaven!

2 minutes ago, bugatti said:

He is horrendous on defense. A match made in heaven!

We've learned how to win without playing good defense haha!

I just saw that Kentucky is 25th in defensive efficiency in their last five games, which includes Auburn and Bama.

19 hours ago, futurecoach said:

Great win! Now the real question is was Cal dumb for not taking a timeout at the end to set up the last shot? I know if Sheppard missed that we would have heard people on here say he was dumb for not taking a timeout to set up a play. So is it only dumb not to take a timeout when it doesn’t work? Or did Cal do the wrong thing by not taking the timeout even though they won?

I can't recall in recent times Ky. ever being successful calling a time out either at the half or at the end. So based on that, yes they did the right thing.

3 hours ago, bugatti said:

He is horrendous on defense. A match made in heaven!

Cal wisely had guys exploiting him last night.  He really struggled defending.  That said, his shooting was something else to watch.

2 hours ago, theguru said:

That's a great picture. 

6 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

That's a great picture. 

It is, it captures something most of us can relate to.