futurecoach

Senior day, and even though they have the SEC one seed wrapped up. They are still playing for a one seed in the big tournament. So there definitely would be no over looking UK by then.

Is Highlands current coach the same coach that won a state championship just a couple years ago at Highlands.

That is why I said it would “magically” just work out that way, because they would never do such a thing on purpose lol.

Completely off topic, but I wish we could put money on predictions for first round matchups for the NCAA tournament. I would put money on that somehow it would “magically” work out that UK and St. John’s would play each other in the first round. With St. John’s looking to be one of the last teams that could make it. It is setting up perfectly for the committee to have a 4 seed vs. 13 seed type matchup between them two.

I have heard they have interviewed some people, but that’s all I really have heard.

That was a very fun game to watch last year. As you all have said if Highlands gets hot from the outside, they could make it interesting. So will Highlands revenge last year loss, or will Cooper continue ending sport seasons for the Highlands Bluebirds. First last year in basketball in the regional tournament, then in football in the state semi-finals, and now once again the season is on the line between these two schools. Go Jags!

Only problem with catching South Carolina is South Carolina will have the tiebreaker. If UK catches Tennessee, then that means they would have split their games for the year and I have no idea how the tie breaker works for that. I would assume they may use NET rankings, which doesn’t help UK then.

What hurt them in the NET rankings I heard was that Mississippi State fell to 31st, which took away a Quad 1 win from UK when UK beat them earlier in the year at home.

Even with that salary cap increase I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Higgins agent is the same as Bates. Which that agent is big on getting big guanrteed money for his clients, and the Bengals aren’t big on giving huge guanrteed money besides for up front in the form of signing bonus. So with them knowing they also need to extend Chase. The Bengals are going to have a number in their head and won’t really go much above it for Higgins even with the increase. So if Higgins isn’t back, I don’t think it’s cause he don’t want to be a Bengal. It would be because the Bengals still didn’t structure the contract to meet the money Higgins agent thinks he can get. Which probably is even higher now, since now all teams could offer more.

It seems like this team has always struggled some the first game someone returns back from injury and the rotation changes. I know I am thrilled Mitchell is back, however he has been at this best when he has been at the 5. When he is at the 4 with another big, they struggle. IMO Cal needs to stay away from having two bigs on the floor and just go with either Theiro or Edwards at the 4 most of the game. Then just rotate the four bigs at the 5 spot and go with whoever seems to be rolling in that game.

Good win even though the defense was bad again. With that said the one good thing is going into the tournament our offense is going to be use to close games and having to make plays at the end of games. So just need the defense to find away to get a stop or two at the end.

It honestly is sort of becoming an NBA type thing. With basically free agency with the transfer portal, NIL, etc. So depending how a coach wants to approach things. You don’t have to go out and recruit as much, if you are a coach that likes having veteran players and uses the transfer portal more. Which Donovan was never really a one done type coach. Plus he is use to the NBA game now, so may not be that hard of an adjustment for him, as it has for coaches that basically have always been in college.

The Thunder did move on from him, and currently about to finish below .500 for the second year in a row now with the Bulls. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if both he and the Bulls look to move on after this year. With that said though the NBA does love to recycle coaches, so he probably would get another NBA job if he wanted to stay. I just for some reason believe for the right job he would come back to college now after 10 years. Which UL or UK would be jobs I think he would strongly consider.

I do think he will be back in college soon and honestly UL or UK if Cal left after this year are two of the places I could see him going to.

I will throw a name out there that could be a possibility IMO, and that is Billy Donovan. He is currently about to finish with a losing record for the second year in a row with the Bulls. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he and the Bulls both want to go in separate directions. He may be a long shot, but I think there could be a possible fit there.

He still shouldn’t play ahead of Wagner? What? Wagner is a very key piece to this team. While Wagner may have been the higher recruit coming in and probably more upside if he puts it all together. Sheppard has definitely been the better college player out of the two this year, and is usually why he is in the game at the end and not Wagner. Sheppard by his play on the court has shown he deserves to play ahead of Wagner. Right now UKs best lineup is when Wagner is on the bench and Sheppard, Dillingham, and Reeves are on the floor together.

They have started slow and dysfunctional when Sheppard has started this year too. Just for whatever reason this team starts slow. So at least they have two guys that come in the game and bring instant energy and scoring off the bench to counter the slow starts.

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?

Couldn’t they have done that this past season if they wanted to with Benke and Rio? I know they did a little bit, but not much. I will say while it always sounds like a great idea having two QBs getting reps in games. It is also very rare where you actually see it work out well, and seems to usually have an offense never fully click when switching back and forth between QBs. Usually a play here or there or maybe a series, but usually offenses that truly try to use two quarterbacks never works out that well.

I would think if any team loses a D1 QB there would be some drop off. I mean that is why he won the QB battle as a freshman to begin with, because he is that good. Just answering the question on if they have other guys that could step in at QB if absolutely needed.

Well it’s a good thing that basically every team in the country this year has flaws that have led to a lot of losses for everyone this year. UK has also now beaten three teams in the top 10 of the NET rankings. So while yes the defense definitely is still a weakness. This teams strengths has also shown they can beat anyone. So besides maybe Purdue and UConn, UK is similar to most teams entering the tournament and has flaws, but also most likely a higher ceiling than most of those teams.

I truly believe there are some that get truly excited about them losing and can’t wait to post after a loss. The sad part is those people that seem to be excited to post after a loss, are UK fans.

That was a fun game to watch. I know I said this after the LSU loss and I will say it again. This team is definitely capable of making a deep run in the tournament and possibly winning it all. This team is also very capable of losing their first game. Either way I think we as UK fans should be very excited about this years team when it comes to the tournament. This team has all the pieces, just have to keep putting it all together.

Cal gets a lot of hate from people on here. However, rarely does he seem to get credit. Cal has to get credit for developing Theiro right? Theiro has shown that he is one of the most important pieces on the team. So Cal has to get credit for developing him right? Also I would say Cal deserves credit for sticking with Edwards. Most people including myself was wanting him to stop really playing him, but he stuck with him. Now we are seeing his confidence really start to grow, and showing signs of the highly ranked player he was. He is not always going to go 10 for 10, but with his game stepping up. It just gives this team another weapon.

Mike Mulville a transfer from Ohio last year played QB and LB and was conference player of the year before transferring to Cooper last year. Unfortunately he tore his hamstring before the first scrimmage last year and basically missed the whole regular season before starting to play in the playoffs. Which he was used only on defense for the playoffs since he still wasn’t fully healthy. So they would have him that could play QB if something happened to Cam. Also Coopers stud WR Isaiah Johnson was also a stud QB his whole life before switching to WR his sophomore year after he lost the QB battle to another stud QB in Cam O’Hara. So they have two other guys who start varsity at other positions that could be pretty good options to fill in at QB if O’Hara suffered an injury that takes him out longer than just a possession. Plus have Drew Hartman who was the JV QB last year that will be a Junior. Then also their QB from the freshman team last year.