[Stardust]

He looked a little nervous to me, but that could've just been me. Was Terrence Jones in foul trouble during that time?

It was a minute and a half into the game, no fouls had been called yet.

[Aslan]

That's it. I'm tired of all this complaining about Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas. You guys want to kick them off the team? Let's just take their scholarships and kick them onto the streets. And then we'll have the power forward Terrence Jones and see if he can outstrengthen other centers. And I'd love to see who the backup center is, LOL!!! I can't wait to watch how that matchup ends up, LOL!!!! So keep on bashing Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas like you're doing. And I honestly hope they leave this team so that we can find out how important they really are to this team.

Do you guys even know that you're throwing mud not on basketball players, but on real people? And you think it's right to say what you're saying? I'm sorry that I'm upset about this, but you guys are doing exactly what they did to Tubby Smith. They continuously bashed him because he didn't "produce". Mr. Vitale even asked the Kentucky fan base to stop criticizing Tubby Smith, continuously stating that Coach Tubby Smith was a nice, humble guy and a great coach. But we didn't listen. Mr. Vitale even said that firing Tubby Smith would end this great program! And thankfully he was wrong, because Kentucky got lucky with finding Coach Calipari (My respects to the other coaches being considered for the Kentucky job, but they wouldn't last for three years in Kentucky. If you don't believe me, see Coach Billy Gillispie.). And now, Tubby Smith is in Minnesota being very successful. What happened to Coach Tubby Smith is happening now to Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas, and it's plainly disrespectful. Give these two guys some space like we should've for Tubby Smith!!

I hope they leave the team too! JH would be a decent back up center but he's being asked to do too much where Enes hasen't been freed. JH is only asked to play solid defense and rebound. Against UNC he didn't do either one of those. There's no disputing that. If he continues to play like that then he will be criticized. I'm not even going to mention what Vargas did because it was even less.
Also, what Tubby is doing at Minnesota is not good enough at UK. The standards here are much higher than there.
And BTW you did not upset me, were just having a friendly debate. We both want UK to win, even though we have different views on how they should do so.

You have to be ready to play at least 10 points better that UNC to have a shot to win in Chapel Hill.

Everyone knew that going into this game.

but UK didn't play well enough to win the game, and that's why they lost.

Also....

UNC had a big guy that is 33% from the FT stripe.

That is disgraceful on his part....
no one who has played enough basketball to make it to UNC should be THAT bad at free throws lol

Agreed. When you go on the road, you better be ready to being your A game. Your down at least 10 points before the game even starts.

[Aslan]

It was a minute and a half into the game, no fouls had been called yet.

Could have been bc of bad shot selection. Several of his shot attempts was off balanced or he forced a shot up on a double team.

[Shady Grady]

Overall, I think UK looked okay. We are a big man away from being a really good team in March. In Cal's defense, I don't think that Orton would go to the NBA, or Bledsoe. I think he was counting on Patterson, Walls, and Cousins. Put Orton and Bledsoe on this team and it is a different story. They are going to struggle in the paint this year. They just have to make the best of it and wait until next year. The refs made some questionable calls, but both ways. They are not perfect. The fouls were not that far apart and the total free throws attemped can be attributed to the fact that UNC probably shot 10 late when UK was fouling.

[MSU Eagle]

You all act like the officials are going to make every call right! Of course they will miss a few in the course of a game. And like whether it's right or not, playing a road game with Kentucky across your chest, the calls may be a little one-sided. But good teams overcome a couple of bad calls! Especially against mediocre teams like UNC.

[Deathstar 80]

I hope they leave the team too! JH would be a decent back up center but he's being asked to do too much where Enes hasen't been freed. JH is only asked to play solid defense and rebound. Against UNC he didn't do either one of those. There's no disputing that. If he continues to play like that then he will be criticized. I'm not even going to mention what Vargas did because it was even less.
Also, what Tubby is doing at Minnesota is not good enough at UK. The standards here are much higher than there.
And BTW you did not upset me, were just having a friendly debate. We both want UK to win, even though we have different views on how they should do so.


Agreed. When you go on the road, you better be ready to being your A game. Your down at least 10 points before the game even starts.

First, I'm sorry that I've been rude lately to both you Aslan and to RunItUpTheGut. I shouldn't have gotten upset like I did.

As I said. You can go ahead and criticize Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas like Tubby Smith. Hopefully, they do leave us and they don't have to deal with all of this criticism. And something you have to admit is that we will be without a backup center. And the Kentucky lineup will be way too small. The lineup would probably look like this:

Position: 1st string / 2nd string / 3rd string

PG: Brandon Knight / Doron Lamb / Jarrod Polson
SG: Doron Lamb / Stacey Poole Jr.
SF: DeAndre Liggins / Jon Hood
PF: Darius Miller / DeAndre Liggins
PF: Terrence Jones / Darius Miller

Surprisingly, Kentucky would have to use all of their players in their rotation in order to give all of their starters some rest. The result of this lineup would be mismatches at the two power forward spots (including Terrence Jones because he would have to deal with the taller, stronger center position because no one else could) and tired players throughout the game. That's not a good formula for winning games. We would definitely be a fast-breaking team because we wouldn't be able to handle a half-court team.

And we shouldn't have fired Coach Tubby Smith. It just happens that I looked at the rankings and Minnesota is ranked 15th in the AP Poll with a 7-1 record. By the way, he beat UNC this season by five points.

I would continue to tell my side of the argument for Tubby Smith, but I'll let Mr. Vitale do it for me. I think this was written right around the time before we fired Coach Tubby Smith. Here's the link: http://espn.go.com/dickvitale/070103vita...tucky.html

I remember what Mr. Vitale said when he was talking on ESPN how Kentucky fans shouldn't demand Coach Tubby Smith to be fired. The reason for this is that if he was fired, who would come to Kentucky? If a guy who was winning 26.3 games per season was fired, who could coach in Kentucky? And that's why I mentioned earlier that we got lucky by getting Coach Calipari. If he didn't come to Kentucky, I think the next in line was Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford. And my respects toward him, he's a great coach. But as I mentioned earlier, he wouldn't last three seasons here in Kentucky. If you don't believe me, see Coach Billy Gillespie. And after we would fire Coach Travis Ford, that would've been it. The great Kentucky basketball program would've been officially over because no coach wants to go to a program that fired it's past three coaches. They would much rather go to Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, etc. And you can use Tubby Smith to see that we're criticizing Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas the exact same way, and we shouldn't. Let's give these guys some space and let them play basketball.

[zaga_fan]

Another good post by Zaga, I agree.

There's no such thing as a bad Zaga post

[theVILLE]

[quote=back_in_black]WE got beat but the fouls was one sided[/QUO
Care to explain that?

[zaga_fan]

First, I'm sorry that I've been rude lately to both you Aslan and to RunItUpTheGut. I shouldn't have gotten upset like I did.

As I said. You can go ahead and criticize Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas like Tubby Smith. Hopefully, they do leave us and they don't have to deal with all of this criticism. And something you have to admit is that we will be without a backup center. And the Kentucky lineup will be way too small. The lineup would probably look like this:

Position: 1st string / 2nd string / 3rd string

PG: Brandon Knight / Doron Lamb / Jarrod Polson
SG: Doron Lamb / Stacey Poole Jr.
SF: DeAndre Liggins / Jon Hood
PF: Darius Miller / DeAndre Liggins
PF: Terrence Jones / Darius Miller

Surprisingly, Kentucky would have to use all of their players in their rotation in order to give all of their starters some rest. The result of this lineup would be mismatches at the two power forward spots (including Terrence Jones because he would have to deal with the taller, stronger center position because no one else could) and tired players throughout the game. That's not a good formula for winning games. We would definitely be a fast-breaking team because we wouldn't be able to handle a half-court team.

And we shouldn't have fired Coach Tubby Smith. It just happens that I looked at the rankings and Minnesota is ranked 15th in the AP Poll with a 7-1 record. By the way, he beat UNC this season by five points.

I would continue to tell my side of the argument for Tubby Smith, but I'll let Mr. Vitale do it for me. I think this was written right around the time before we fired Coach Tubby Smith. Here's the link: http://espn.go.com/dickvitale/070103vita...tucky.html

I remember what Mr. Vitale said when he was talking on ESPN how Kentucky fans shouldn't demand Coach Tubby Smith to be fired. The reason for this is that if he was fired, who would come to Kentucky? If a guy who was winning 26.3 games per season was fired, who could coach in Kentucky? And that's why I mentioned earlier that we got lucky by getting Coach Calipari. If he didn't come to Kentucky, I think the next in line was Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford. And my respects toward him, he's a great coach. But as I mentioned earlier, he wouldn't last three seasons here in Kentucky. If you don't believe me, see Coach Billy Gillespie. And after we would fire Coach Travis Ford, that would've been it. The great Kentucky basketball program would've been officially over because no coach wants to go to a program that fired it's past three coaches. They would much rather go to Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, etc. And you can use Tubby Smith to see that we're criticizing Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas the exact same way, and we shouldn't. Let's give these guys some space and let them play basketball.

When they gave the job to Billy G they gave an interview to Mark Few but both parties weren't interested.
If they could have landed him they would have been in great shape

I know everyone and their brother wanted Cal but I'm just not a fan of his work.

[Deathstar 80]

I want to say sorry again to Aslan and RunItUpTheGut. I was too rude and I regret what I did.

[Jarons]

WE got beat but the fouls was one sided

UK only had 6 more fouls than UNC. Many of UK's fouls were at the end trying to stop the clock.

[nikolas2010]

UK only had 6 more fouls than UNC. Many of UK's fouls were at the end trying to stop the clock.

You have to actually watch the game an not look at the stats. There was way to many no calls on UNC players and it really hurt UK. One of their players was standing out of bounds at one point and they didnt even call it. That was right after the offensive foul on one of them.

[MVP2]

I understand,we all want Kanter. I just dont get how JH dont get any credit from UK fans. He isn't a star player never was , never will be. He was a Juco player that Gillispie recruited and probably never really thought he would ever start at UK. He and Vargas are both are role players and are being ask to come in and fill a spot where it was supposed to be Kanter who was one of best bigs coming out of high school last season. I like Harrellson, he is a player that gives it a 100% percent at all times, even though we all know it aint much but if Harrellson was anywhere else and player of his caliber which is honestly a 2 star, came in and started he would get much more credit, the guy has 26 offensive rebounds this season through 7 games. I did a little research last season through 7 games , Patterson had 26 and big Cuz had 23. I think people look to much of scoring, no Harrellson nor Vargas has put up a lot of points so far but we have our guard play to do that. I think if Kanter doesn't get eligible than if we can get those rebounds and smart defense and maybe 6-8 pts from these two roles players at the starting center position will be better than most think. I hope Kanter gets eligible so it takes all the pressure off these guys and I think they do better but only time will tell until the decision is made.

[Aslan]

I want to say sorry again to Aslan and RunItUpTheGut. I was too rude and I regret what I did.

No apology necessary. :Thumbs:

[RunItUpTheGut]

I want to say sorry again to Aslan and RunItUpTheGut. I was too rude and I regret what I did.

Dont sweat it man, its just a convo, it never personal.
Good and heated discussion is what keeps this site going!:Thumbs:

[Ballers]

The refs did play a part in this loss. If they woulda just let the boys duke it out, we woulda won this game. UNC is terrible, this loss will haunt us for the rest of the season.

[Deathstar 80]

When they gave the job to Billy G they gave an interview to Mark Few but both parties weren't interested.
If they could have landed him they would have been in great shape

I know everyone and their brother wanted Cal but I'm just not a fan of his work.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!! :p

[Ballers]

We were 16-21 from the FT

They were 26-37...

So yeah there was a pretty big difference in getting to the foul line.

[zaga_fan]

We were 16-21 from the FT

They were 26-37...

So yeah there was a pretty big difference in getting to the foul line.

True...
however I did notice we put up a lot of weak junk around the rim that they sent a few rows deep on several occasions.

The blocked shots were a big part of this game as well.

[Stardust]

True...
however I did notice we put up a lot of weak junk around the rim that they sent a few rows deep on several occasions.

The blocked shots were a big part of this game as well.

It didn't help that our best interior player, Jones was firing up shots outside of the paint all game

[Deathstar 80]

Terrence Jones couldn't effectively score inside and was forced to make outside shots because 6'8" Terrence Jones was matched up against 7' Tyler Zeller and 6'10" John Henson. North Carolina had more size on the inside. That's why Tyler Zeller and John Henson got eight blocks together.

In other words, Terrence Jones had a bad matchup.

[zaga_fan]

It didn't help that our best interior player, Jones was firing up shots outside of the paint all game

We got cheated again, SD.
That's all it was.
plain and simple!!

[Wildcatk23]

Terrence Jones couldn't effectively score inside and was forced to make outside shots because 6'8" Terrence Jones was matched up against 7' Tyler Zeller and 6'10" John Henson. North Carolina had more size on the inside. That's why Tyler Zeller and John Henson got eight blocks together.

In other words, Terrence Jones had a bad matchup.

I think its more of jones having the big head. He wouldnt pass the ball and was taking bad shots.

[Aslan]

Terrence Jones couldn't effectively score inside and was forced to make outside shots because 6'8" Terrence Jones was matched up against 7' Tyler Zeller and 6'10" John Henson. North Carolina had more size on the inside. That's why Tyler Zeller and John Henson got eight blocks together.

In other words, Terrence Jones had a bad matchup.

He should have used his speed and athleticism to blow by those guys. He settled for bad shots the entire game. In the NBA he's going to have much better defenders than those two guarding him.

[Deathstar 80]

He should have used his speed and athleticism to blow by those guys. He settled for bad shots the entire game. In the NBA he's going to have much better defenders than those two guarding him.

He can't use his speed and athleticism when he's down in the post. When he's down near the post, he's playing their game (which involves size and power). Therefore, he went away from the post to shoot. That's where he had trouble.

In the NBA, he's most likely going to be a small forward. Therefore, he won't worry about the 6'10" power forwards.

[Aslan]

He can't use his speed and athleticism when he's down in the post. When he's down near the post, he's playing their game (which involves size and power). Therefore, he went away from the post to shoot. That's where he had trouble.

In the NBA, he's most likely going to be a small forward. Therefore, he won't worry about the 6'10" power forwards.

He got the ball out on the wing or top of the key several times and settled for the 3 or off balanced jump shots.
In the NBA there's plenty of small forwards around 6'10". Kevin Durrant, Rudy Gay, Lamar Odom, Lebron James, Duol Deng, and so on. There much better defenders than anyone on UNC's team and Jones needs to get used to playing against that kind of size.

[Deathstar 80]

He got the ball out on the wing or top of the key several times and settled for the 3 or off balanced jump shots.
In the NBA there's plenty of small forwards around 6'10". Kevin Durrant, Rudy Gay, Lamar Odom, Lebron James, Duol Deng, and so on. There much better defenders than anyone on UNC's team and Jones needs to get used to playing against that kind of size.

Before that game, he had 7 made out of 16 attempted three-point shots. That's just under 50% accuracy. If I were coaching him, I'd tell him to go ahead and shoot the 3-point shots if you're left open. He was having trouble against the taller forwards in the paint, so he took the outside shots.

And, of course, if he can learn how to score against 6'10" and even 7' power forwards, then he should definitely learn that. But the fact is he was having trouble in that specific game, so he accepted that and took the outside shots. And that's what he should've done. Because if he kept shooting in the paint, he would've just continuously had his shots blocked.

[RunItUpTheGut]

I know its not really Cal's style and after the WV game last year, doesnt seem to be in the playbook anywhere, but why dont we press any?

It seems like with a lineup this small, it would work in our favor to full court press teams and make them work to get the ball in every time we score. If we would have pressed WV last year we would have blown them out, they didnt even really have a true ball handler that was any good. Instead, we just set back and watched. Does anyone else think a good press would help this team?

[Aslan]

I know its not really Cal's style and after the WV game last year, doesnt seem to be in the playbook anywhere, but why dont we press any?

It seems like with a lineup this small, it would work in our favor to full court press teams and make them work to get the ball in every time we score. If we would have pressed WV last year we would have blown them out, they didnt even really have a true ball handler that was any good. Instead, we just set back and watched. Does anyone else think a good press would help this team?

I completely agree. We pressed WV like 5 mins last year and forced all kinds of turnovers and almost made the comeback. If we pressed the entire year we would of won the title.
This year's squad has one weakness that might not allow us to press much: lack of depth. UK gets in a lot of foul trouble playing half court defense, it'd be much worse playing an aggressive full court defense. If we did press JH and Vargas wouldn't be as much a defensive liability though.

[RunItUpTheGut]

I completely agree. We pressed WV like 5 mins last year and forced all kinds of turnovers and almost made the comeback. If we pressed the entire year we would of won the title.
This year's squad has one weakness that might not allow us to press much: lack of depth. UK gets in a lot of foul trouble playing half court defense, it'd be much worse playing an aggressive full court defense. If we did press JH and Vargas wouldn't be as much a defensive liability though.

Agreed, Your right about this year. playing a full court press would definitely mean fouling two to three players out every game and we simply cannot afford that this year.

But, I still can for the life of me figure out why we didnt last year against WV. It just made no sense to me.