oldrambler

Thanks to @Colonels_Wear_Blue and all others for the schedules. Although I'm not sure if I will be able to be on here as much as in the past, I'm looking forward to high school football getting started again. Good luck to all teams (unless you happen to be playing Raceland on a particular night :popcorn: ) and most important, may all teams / players stay injury free.

" Jonny David leaving the Kentucky basketball program this offseason, the Wildcats needed to find a walk-on to replace him on the roster.

This afternoon, they found just the right fit."

Welcome, and Congrats to Brennan Canada out of George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester.

Kentucky basketball welcomes new walk-on Brennan Canada | Kentucky Sports Radio

I don't put much, of any value into spring games … anyone's Spring games. Having said that, imo the offense looked good, with some playmakers. Defensively …. :no: well, that may have been the reason that the offense looked good. Can't tackle, can't cover pass routes, D-line was consistently getting blown off the ball. So, I'm glad that I don't put much into a Spring game …..

First of all , welcome to bgp @Captain317 ! …. and Congrats on winning the bgp contest !

So …. the new member comes in and shows all of us up :popcorn: . Congrats again Captain.

I pulled myself out of the bgp tourney pickem cellar … I finished 6th, considering some of my past finishes ,,, I feel like I won :lol2:.

People are so caught up in the missed double dribble call just because they want the refs to be wrong. Yes, it was a missed call, but it still didn't determine the outcome. Even with the blown call, if Auburn doesn't foul a three point shooter, they win the game and nobody talks about the missed call on the double dribble.

Don't faint or go into a heart attack …. but I agree with you on this. :thumb: :lol2:

Bill Walton can no longer call just the Pac 12 the conference "The Conference of Champions" the ACC conference now has the same amount of titles at 15 each. The SEC has 11 and the Big 10 has 10.

I'm not sure what planet Walton is on, I'm really not sure if he knows what planet he's on, lol. Walton is one that was one of my all time favorites to watch play, few were better. At the same time, he drives me crazy having to listen to him call a game, there are times I have "muted" the sound to get a break. People talk about Vitale , I would take him over Walton anytime. …. lol

What a great game ! Both teams deserved to be there. This was one that you didn't want to see either team lose on the way that both played. I was happy to see Tony Bennet get the win, he's a class act as well as a great coach, I love watching his teams play … defense, rebounding, emphasis on "team" play. TTU played a great game as well. Both teams play the game hard and imo the way that it should be played.

He lied about having a grill out in his back yard lol. Every single coach almost in history is going to lie when they get accused of something, because they are going to make someone have to prove it. Just like Cal probably knew that Rose may have done something illegal with his SAT, but no reason to say he knew about it because it cant be proven. Just like Roy William's probably knew about the bogus class scandal for years. However, zero reason for him to say he knew about it. Same with Coach K, Pitino, Bill Self, Sean Miller and just any big name coach that has had accusations about them or their program. All will deny unless it gets proven they did. Shoot some even try to deny after it was proven lol. Pearl at least did admit it a few days later that he lied about it. All the things you just said you dislike about him, can be said about almost every single big name coach at big programs lies, possible scandals, etc. That's why I wondered why your hate was so strong with him, when same can be said about coaches with even bigger profiles than him. Which I get it though sometimes we all have people we just dont like for whatever reason.

 

Which good thing for you is that Cal is staying. If he were to leave soon, Pearl probably would have been on the short list of coaches UK would have reached out to lol

I know you have said multiple times you just dont like Pearl. Is there anything in particular that he has done that has made you not like him? He is a class act in both victory and defeat. Can tell he definitely loves his players. Plus he knows how to make basketball exciting at schools not known for basketball. He did that when he was at Tennesee and made it fun for Tennesee fans and was successful and now has done it at Auburn too. The way he handled how they lost today after the game was first class. So I wasnt sure what exactly he has done that has made you basically hate him lol.

BTW … before someone says that the same things were said about Cal, I know that it was. Truthfully, I had some of those same concerns and at least up to this point that hasn't been the case. Considering the recent Life Contract, I would say that the U of K admin. along with the U.K. / ncaa compliance staff thinks that Cal is safe. :sneaky:

I also have to laugh at C. Welsh keep making excuses, explaining away lousy baseball. He should say something like "we Suck right now and hopefully that will improve". :idunno: :lol2:

Reds score today and still same result. A loss. Igelias not getting the job done. Been terrible thus far. Last nine hitters for Reds made outs. Reds and Red Sox may be worst teams in baseball so far.

Yes, its still really early and I hope things do turn around, and soon. With hearing all the same every year for the past few cellar dwelling teams … I'll believe it when I see it.

Both teams are deserving to be there. Both play the game hard, rely on tough defense, rebounding to win and are very well coached. That's my kind of basketball and I look forward to watching the game.

I'll pick UVA by 6, hitting ft's down the stretch to close it out.

This was a great game. I really thought that UVA would win by around 15 or so. UVA did a great job in shutting Auburn's Brown down until the latter part of the 2nd half, Brown's a heckuva player. Auburn played better in the half court that I thought they would vs. an excellent UVA defense. There was no doubt that was a foul on the disputed call at the end. I honestly didn't see the double dribble by UVA earlier, I doubt that a lot of people saw it. After the replay, yes it was and the official should've seen / called it and clearly missed it. I would be a liar if I said that I felt for B. Peal bc I don't and was thrilled to see UVA win . Coach Bennett is a class act and one of the top 3, 4 coaches in America, jmo. Should I have a son with that kind of talent then I would be proud if he could / would play for Coach Bennett.

I thought that this one would be very close w / MSU getting the win bc of Tom Izzo. TTU proved that they were the best team on the floor and Beard proved that he deserved the COY award. Good game, I love the way that both teams play.

I still have a sick feeling in my gut over this one.

Something dumb. How come they wheeled in Okeke during the 2nd half? Why couldn't he have just been there for the whole game? It's not like he was on his death bed or something. Seemed weird unless they wanted to orchestrate some type of emotional/motivational thing for the rest of the team.

I agree with @John Anthony on this question. Peat, imo had that move set up / scripted before hand.

How long are Gonzaga fans going to accept Gonzaga falling short of expectations? They couldn't even score 70 points in their loss yesterday to Texas Tech. Texas Tech! Come on. How can they lose to that team?

 

The Zags consistently underachieve. They underschedule and don't get prepared for March. Is it time for a change at Gonzaga?

Washington, Johnson, Herro and Richards. One or two may test the waters but return for next season. All depends on what info they receive from the NBA after try outs. Should they receive a first round projection then imo, they leave.

What if he doesn’t? Objectively, how will his last 8 be measured?

Good but failure to get back or another couple of championships. I personally believe that he should have had another couple already. This season, the 38-1 team that lost to Wisconsin and another would be the season that the Cats lost to UConn.

I voted yes, that was more of imo Cal will be around for a few more years. I also think that after next season, that may be it for Cal. Only reason I say that is bc his son red shirted for this season and I was thinking that after he finishes next / 2020 season, that Cal may go out with him. …. just a thought.

Same as the U.K. / Auburn game ….. MSU was more prepared, ready to play than Duke was in this one.

Auburn won this game bc they flat out played us. The Tigers looked more ready to play than the Cats today. The last 4 min. of the first half, Auburn closed the UK. lead to just a couple of points… the first 4/5 min. of the second half Auburn went on a 10-0 run. Those two stretches were imo very telling, important. Another telling numbers were 15 turnovers and 9 missed free throws, including some important ones down the stretch.

As others have said and I agree on the Cats poor guard play. Hagans, Quickly and Herro ….. they just didn't get the job done. Herro was a huge factor in previous games, looked good and frankly put the team on his back at times in getting to this point. I guess what disappoints me the most is that I honestly believed that this U.K. team would be in the final game (vs. Duke) with a very legit shot at a Championship. Turns out that neither made it, both beaten by a more mentally prepared / more focused team today. I thought that the refs swallowed their whistle more than once on some no calls on what imo were Auburn fouls coming down the final 7-10 min. of the second half on U.K.'s end of the floor. Those certainly didn't beat the Cats, the play of Auburn along with the poor play described by myself and others beat U.K..

I saved this praise for last …. P.J. Washington played his tail off today. Obviously exhausted towards the end of the game, I thought that was a big factor in his late ft misses. Fighting through an injury, working his way back with little time, PJ showed the "heart of a Wildcat" all season and certainly in this tournament.

Another thanks to Reid Travis, his inside play and leadership was a big reason for the Cats success this season. Reid was a pleasure to watch play, he took care of a lot of what I call the "Grunt work" …. inside defense, rebounding, etc..

On to next season, I hope that I'm still around by then …. GO CATS.

I don't necessarily believe that Okeke is Auburn's best player but he is a leader and top rebounder. I've made it well known that I can't stand the snake oil salesman coach but Pearl is a motivator and will have his kids ready. The 2nd game with Auburn, the Cats really stepped up the defense on all of their 3pt. shooters and that basically shut them down.

I've heard it said that all hot streaks come to an end but the one that Auburn's been on sure hasn't from the SEC tourney to this point. Hopefully, Cal's defensive game plan on Sunday will slow the Auburn shooting enough to get the W. After coming back, how P.J.'s foot feels and if he can go and play effectively on Sunday will be a key. Those type things tend to stiffen up, hurt much more on the next morning. I'm sure that the U.K. training and medical staff will be working around the clock to have Washington ready to go.

U.K. wins by 9.

YES ! That's the way a team finishes a game ! After Houston erased the Cats lead and went up (by three I think?), Washington blocked a shot late and that was followed by Herro's huge 3 pointer. Also after falling behind, the Cats finished the game on a 7-0 run. U.K. dominated the boards by outrebounding Houston by 16 rebounds. Defense also played a big role, making Houston work for every shot / point they had.

Survive and Advance … Auburn's up on Sunday for a trip to the final four....