bugatti

It has always been a source of frustration with me. I am cool with whatever the rule is, but make it consistent. I think of the Zion Williamson season. I will never forget the Blue Devils getting the benefit of the doubt and capturing a #1 seed because of Zion's absences. Cool. Then two minutes later UNC was awarded a #1 seed because of their run in the ACC and twice beating Duke (without Zion). So Duke's losses were discounted, but UNC's victories against a discounted team got rewarded. You can't have it both ways.

He needed another year or two. Or five.

Following up with this, on the Mismatch podcast yesterday, KOC was saying a comparison given to him about Sheppard was a better shooting Fred Van Fleet. I like that! Again, not generally a caliber player you would take at the top of a draft board, but the timing for Sheppard, et al. works out well. Tangent to this, you are going to see a lot of international players and several G-Leaguers drafted come June. We are getting lapped by other countries as far as talent entering the NBA now. I believe within the decade the NBA will be half foreign-born players if not more. We are about ready to hit six straight seasons of a foreign-born MVP.

I am still crossing my fingers with this team. Despite having a couple of lottery picks, you ain't going to win when it matters most unless you can get stops. UK is going with the, "well, you can't stop us" approach. Seriously, would it be a total shock if UK only had two games left this season?

It was super cringe.

Was that press conference real or AI generated? I can’t think a real life person would say those things.

Not sure if you read Kevin O’Connor or actually saw what his mock was based on, but it was assuming San Antonio lucks into the top spot and they draft on need. It was not a prospect ranking. I would LOVE it being a Spurs and Wemby fan, but I’m not sure an NBA team would have the gumption to do it. The last PG to be drafted in the top spot was Kyrie Irving 13 years ago. Again, this is a historically bad draft so who knows what will happen. I did find it fitting that Sheppard (despite being tragically humiliated to come off the bench, yet playing the second most minutes of any UK player in SEC play), was put on the second team all-SEC. Nor did he make all defense despite being one of the nation’s leaders in that category.

I think everyone took notice of his play today. Calipari recognized it early on and rode with him. If we are talking sneaky good performance, that goes to Edwards. 16, 6, and 3 in 37 minutes of action.

Sheppard was on a heater shooting the ball in the second half. Damn. The good comes with the bad as he had four terrible turnovers. His handle still has a ways to go before playing at the next level, as evident by him needing to pick up his dribble way too often.

They play a lot higher caliber defense than he has faced this year, I assure you of that. I could see a poor man’s Bojan Bogdonovich.

I get this is a big game for UK, but it is equally, if not more big of a game for UT. They've already won the SEC regular season title, which probably wraps up at least a #2 seed. A win gives them an argument for a #1 seed.

It's not about the ppg, it's about the durability and longevity of it all which will put it way out of reach when you consider 1) players do not play the number of games each year as they used to; 2) LeBron is still playing at a high level setting the bar even higher.

Saying this award is longevity based is not a slight against LeBron. It’s a testament to the kind of physical freak he is and his commitment to the craft and taking care of his body. The only parallel we have to playing at this high of level for this long is Brady.

I just looked it up and the tiebreakers work like this: 1) Head-to-head 2) Best winning % versus the highest seeded common opponent 3) Coin flip Three-team (or more) tiebreaker 1) Best winning % of games played among the three teams 2) Best winning % of the tied teams vs. the highest seeded common opponent 3) Coin flip 4) Blind draw If I am looking at it correctly, not one team has a top-four seed locked up. The path for UK to get a top 4 seed looks challenging. That LSU loss is going to come back to bite them. You can say the same about the Florida loss, but they stole the game in Gainsville, so I am treating that as a wash.

Off by about 16 ppg. UK is averaging just under 90 points per contest.

Maybe the most anticlimactic record breaking moment ever. Congrats!

It’s horrifying how easy teams can get to the rim.

That entire late game surge came without Reeves playing a single minute. Cal found some action he liked with the middle screen and they wore it out. Edwards had three steals in a short span to effectively close the door on the Razorbacks.

That would be about right. A few years later he ended up on UK's bench.

Maybe.... I would like to see it. The grind of college seems so much worse for me than the NBA. The college game is cratering with diminishing prestige for coaches. It ain't the same college landscape he was once coaching in.

It's crazy, but Billy Donovan has been in our lives as a coach now for 30 years (going back to Marshall) and he is still just 58. 10 years have been in the NBA. Normally, once these guys get out of the college coaching game and in the NBA mix, they remain there. Given the hand he has been dealt, he has proven to be a solid NBA coach.

Players make boneheaded plays when the action is tight. The clock in their head moves faster and they sometimes lose their minds. Chris Weber, Bill Buckner, Dak Prescott in the playoffs, etc.

I'm fine with it as long as UT is not playing at home. Then it's obnoxious.

Yep. UT losing gave UK an outside shot of still winning the SEC regular season title, but Auburn losing was more advantagous from a double-bye standpoint.

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