[outdoorsman43]

This loss is a tough to pill to swallow for Kentucky.

I want to make something very clear right now. Kentucky did not in any way lose this game because of youth or inexperience. When you shoot that poorly from the free-throw line/three-point line, you will get beat; especially to a team as good as West Virginia. WVU should have won this game by 20+ the way UK was shooting. I think Coach Cal was outcoached tonight, but I am in no way about to turn on him. He is the man for the job and there will be more opportunities in the future such as these. The thing is, why take so many three's? I seriously don't understand. I mean, dribble into 15-17 feet and shoot a mid-range jumper. You don't have to shoot 30+ three's, especially if they're not falling.

Bob Huggins played a very effective 1-3-1 zone to keep the ball out of the paint. This made our guards think (they only thought they had to shoot these three's, they should have penetrated the zone) they had to jack up three's to force WVU out of the zone. I'm not sure why our guards couldn't figure out that penetrating the zone was the only answer. UK had the size to get offensive rebounds. It's a lot easier to offensive rebound when you're shooting shots that are closer to the basket. The thing about this was rebounding wasn't the problem. UK outrebounded WVU 51 to 36. It's pretty sad when you dominate the glass like UK did and get beat.

Free throws also killed UK tonight. This is the only thing I put on Coach Cal. I have said all year that when there is a tight game and the game is on the line, I really don't trust our guys to knock down shots from the charity stripe throughout the game. Overall, a pitiful performance from the line and there is absolutely no excuse for it. Don't think free-throw shooting won't get you beat and it's not important, because it can and it will. Why Coach Cal (and all coaches for that matter) don't emphasize that more, I will never know.

WVU wasn't really that impressive on the offensive end. They were hot and knocked down a few three's in the first half to get an early lead. They maintained this lead throughout when UK literally let Joe Mazzulla have four or five layups. I mean, Mazzulla literally had layups that were easier to make than when in warmups before a game. WVU kept running a play where UK's defensive players (usually Cousins or Dodson that I seen) went around the screen instead of under it and that led to the easiest of layups for Mazzulla.

Mazzulla pretty much had the game of his life at the right time of the year. He played pretty good defense and knocked down some key free-throws that made his 55% shooting from the line look like a misprint. All of WVU's players for that matter made their free-throws down the stretch and kept UK a distant 6-10 points away.

I will say this one more time: Kentucky DID NOT lose this game because of playing so many freshmen and they were inexperienced. I don't want to hear that garbage. Shooting beat this team tonight, NOTHING ELSE. Being young had absolutely nothing to do with it. I don't care what Jay Bilas, Pat Forde, Doug Gottlieb, or whoever says about it. It's garbage. This team had a whole season of experience and winning close games. Look what experience got Kansas: a big second-round exit. So, don't tell me anything about experience. It shouldn't even be mentioned. It's a bunch of horse manure.

I really hate to see this season end because of how incredible it was. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and Eric Bledsoe were a pleasure to watch and it will be tough seeing them go. Ramon Harris, Perry Stevenson, and Mark Krebs will be remembered as well for putting playing time aside and just accepting their roles on the team.

It was an incredible year and UK's "Glory Days" rebirth have just begun. Go Big Blue!