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Kentucky Team Report

Mar 16, 4:15 am EDT


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GETTING INSIDE

Kentucky will go into the 2011 NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed as compared to last year’s No. 1 seeding, but the Wildcats may be in just as good a position for another deep run into the tourney.


This year’s team doesn’t have the dominating player inside as the 2010 group did with DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson, but it does have one thing over that club.


“This team can shoot,” coach John Calipari said when asked for a comparison. “Last year if you played us, you played zone. Or you sagged in.


“And you ran back real fast and you tried to make us shoot jumpers. If we were making jumpers, you knew you were getting beat. If we weren’t, you had a chance to beat us.


“And there were games where we could not make a shot. We went 0-for-32 from the three point line in back-to-back games—0-for-32. It’s never been done in the history of our sport. Even when they had baskets up there nailed to a wall it’s never been done.


“So that’s what we didn’t go. But we were athletic, we were long, and we were deep.”


The Wildcats of a year ago, who lost to West Virginia in the regional final, shot 47.8 percent from the field but only 33.1 percent from behind the three-point line.


This year’s club is shooting 46.0 percent overall going into its NCAA tourney opener against Princeton but 39.7 from behind the arc.


“This team is skilled,” Calipari said. “We play a different game. I’m doing stuff with this group, handoffs, and I’ve never done that. But we’re trying to create space.


“They’re not imposing like to go by you and bump. And where we were a year ago, this team needs a little space and then they will make plays.


“So we’re going stuff to create space for them.”


If the Wildcats can get by Princeton in their NCAA opener, they could face West Virginia again in their next game. West Virginia will play the winner of the opening round game between UAB and Clemson.


NOTES, QUOTES

• Kentucky will take a six-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament after capturing the SEC tourney. The Wildcats beat Ole Miss by only nine points in their first game in the quarterfinals but then polished off Alabama and Florida, both division winners, by double-digit margins. The Wildcats are making their 51st appearance in the NCAA tourney and have won seven titles.


• Kentucky has played Princeton three times, the last time in the 1977 NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia. The Wildcats won that first-round matchup 72-59. The Wildcats also beat the Tigers in their holiday invitational tourney in 1972. Princeton won the inaugural meeting in 1936.


COACH: John Calipari, two years at Kentucky, second postseason appearance (second NCAA)


Keys To Victory: Kentucky was blowing late leads and losing close games, especially on the road, earlier in the season, but the Wildcats seemed to have corrected those deficiencies recently. As long as G Brandon Knight continues to run the show and F Terrence Jones plays under control, the Wildcats will make a deep run and are a team that No. 1 region seed Ohio State must be very wary off if they meet in a regional semifinal.


Quote To Note: “What we are is a speed team that grinds it out. That’s what we are. It took my five months to figure it out, but these guys are all new.”—Coach John Calipari, on what he has learned about his team as Kentucky heads into the NCAA Tournament.


STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Game Preview:


vs. Princeton, March 17, NCAA Tournament second round.


Key Matchups: Patience on offense and discipline on defense will be the key for the Wildcats against Princeton. The Wildcats look to have a big advantage with freshman F Terrence Jones up front. Defending the perimeter and watching for the Tigers’ cuts to the baskets will be key factors. It won’t be easy, but the Wildcats have the talent to prevail in what is an intriguing second-round matchup.


Scouting Report: With all the notice the Wildcats had a year ago with a team that featured six NBA draft picks, including the No. 1 overall in G John Wall, they may have a team that is better built to advance in the NCAA than that group. This is a better shooting team, especially from the perimeter with freshmen guards Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb, than last year’s group. The crucial factor will be avoiding injuries and staying out of foul trouble because this is not a deep Kentucky team. Coach John Calipari has been going with essentially six players, though he had to like what he got out of backup F Eloy Vargas (four rebounds and a steal in just 10 minutes) against Florida in the SEC tourney title win over Florida.


Player Notes:


• Junior G Darius Miller was named the MVP of the SEC tourney after averaging 13.3 ppg in Kentucky’s three wins.


• Freshman G Brandon Knight joined Miller on the all-tournament team after handing out 17 assists in the three SEC tourney games. With 16 points against Florida in the title game, he has scored in double-figures in 28 consecutive games.


• Freshman G Doron Lamb played 23 minutes on a gimpy ankle and scored six points against Florida in a reserve role. He had been starting until injuring his ankle in the semifinal win over Alabama.


• Senior F Josh Harrellson, who averaged 10.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in three games, was Kentucky’s third selection to the All-SEC Tournament team.