[Ballers]

Making this because I want to know what everyone thinks.. Maybe you don't care.. Oh well... Who would have won if these two teams would have met in regular season or tourney play?? Your thoughts?? This is an IMO thread so please feel free too say whatever you please about either team and who you think would have really won. Let's try to keep it clean.

[Jarons]

I personally don't care. They didn't play each other UK choked on the chance to play Duke. No sense in beating a dead horse and playing the what if game.

[Scotty doesn't know]

It does not matter now nor will it ever matter but I have all confidence that UK would have beat Duke. I am not taking anything away from Duke and their national championship but I did not think Duke was the best team last year. They deserved it for taking care of the teams in front of them and fighting hard to get that last 1 seed before the tourney but I felt at the beginning of the tourney that they got an amazing draw.
Like we have said before it doesn't matter and it will never effect Duke's title but I really do think that UK had the better team.

[Stardust]

I personally don't care. They didn't play each other UK choked on the chance to play Duke. No sense in beating a dead horse and playing the what if game.

I agree. I guess when it counted, UK was not the better team, thus kudo's have to go to dUKe for getting the job done. Bottom-line, UK did not play better than the Devils when it mattered, so edge does not belong in Lexington.

[Ballers]

I respect your opinion, but I'm sure there is ppl out there that think differently either way.

[Stardust]

I respect your opinion, but I'm sure there is ppl out there that think differently either way.

That's what this is all about, opinion. We will never know, thus just looking at how the two teams played when it mattered, the answer is obvious. I'd trade those two losses for 10 as long as the final loss was not in March.

[PC_You_Know]

LOL...I can't believe you started this. I hope UK wins this poll.

[Scotty doesn't know]

Seeing that this is a Kentucky Sports forum, I would bet money that UK would win. But hey a lot of people may go ahead and put dont care.

[dangerousdaneerfan]

LOL...I can't believe you started this. I hope UK wins this poll.

Anything to make themselves feel better after losing to West Virginia. :lmao:

[Aslan]

UK will definitely win the poll.
UK had more talent than anyone last year, few teams should have come within double digits of beating them. Duke was a solid team but is the weakest national champion we've had in a while. IDK who would win. Duke would probably win due to Cal getting out coached.

[Stardust]

UK will definitely win the poll.
UK had more talent than anyone last year, few teams should have come within double digits of beating them. Duke was a solid team but is the weakest national champion we've had in a while. IDK who would win. Duke would probably win due to Cal getting out coached.

I am fearful of this and have been asking this in recent posts. Maybe we need a poll that asks, is Cal a great coach, or a great recruiter. I want both, but over the years and with the talent he has had, he has yet to win a title. Like it or not, all coaches and players are graded on how good they are based on titles won. In an interesting article that I posted in another thread, it asked if UK fans agreed with Cals assertion that the 2010 was a success because UK developed 5 round one draft picks. The article argued that UK fans would have traded 5 first rounders for a banner. Me too!

[Jarons]

UK will definitely win the poll.
UK had more talent than anyone last year, few teams should have come within double digits of beating them. Duke was a solid team but is the weakest national champion we've had in a while. IDK who would win. Duke would probably win due to Cal getting out coached.

I voted that I don't care and I posted that I don't care, but if I was forced to choose, I would have picked Duke and for the same reason.

[Ballers]

I truly understand why everyone is picking Duke over UK right now.. They won the national title.. This isn't what this is about.. When you size up the players on each team, IMO Duke wouldn't had stood a chance.. Therefore having 5 first round draft picks shows the talent we had. Yes we lost to WVU in the tourney, did I also mention that the Cats played like **** in the game? Or did anyone miss that? Got beat by South Carolina in season play then turn around and dog stomp the **** out of them. Bad games happen, on a good day for both Duke and UK, UK would have prevailed end of story.. Or else I guess the ESPN analyst and Drafters are crazy for picking all these UK players in the Draft so high.

[Ballers]

I am fearful of this and have been asking this in recent posts. Maybe we need a poll that asks, is Cal a great coach, or a great recruiter. I want both, but over the years and with the talent he has had, he has yet to win a title. Like it or not, all coaches and players are graded on how good they are based on titles won. In an interesting article that I posted in another thread, it asked if UK fans agreed with Cals assertion that the 2010 was a success because UK developed 5 round one draft picks. The article argued that UK fans would have traded 5 first rounders for a banner. Me too!

I agree totally.. I would have much rather had a banner than the 5 first round draft picks.. The only thing we have for show is the talent that UK had, the records that were broke, and the special games they had against rivals like Louisville and UNC.. With a normal UK team we usually lose those battles with those teams. That just goes to show you how talented these young men were, and how good UK really was.

[Stardust]

I truly understand why everyone is picking Duke over UK right now.. They won the national title.. This isn't what this is about.. When you size up the players on each team, IMO Duke wouldn't had stood a chance.. Therefore having 5 first round draft picks shows the talent we had. Yes we lost to WVU in the tourney, did I also mention that the Cats played like **** in the game? Or did anyone miss that? Got beat by South Carolina in season play then turn around a dog stomp the **** out of them. Bad games happen, on a good day for both Duke and UK, UK would have prevailed end of story.. Or else I guess the ESPN analyst and Drafters are crazy for picking all these UK players in the Draft so high.

I think what you are missing is what college basketball is all about and leads into the question that I posed above. To be a great college basketball program, you have to play as a great team. Duke proved that they can play as a team, where UK did not. UK did not have very many quality opponents this year, so it is really hard to justify how great this team was. Duke by far played better team basketball, yet UK by far had the best roster in the nation. So, if you question is who would win, how could you not say that the squad that plays better as a team in tough situations is going to come out ahead?

I'm not arguing with you Ballers, I see where you are coming from. UK won most of their games because they were more talented, not because they were a better team. The games they struggled in and lost were all proof that this team did not know how to play team basketball in tough situations.

[Jarons]

I truly understand why everyone is picking Duke over UK right now.. They won the national title.. This isn't what this is about.. When you size up the players on each team, IMO Duke wouldn't had stood a chance.. Therefore having 5 first round draft picks shows the talent we had. Yes we lost to WVU in the tourney, did I also mention that the Cats played like **** in the game? Or did anyone miss that? Got beat by South Carolina in season play then turn around and dog stomp the **** out of them. Bad games happen, on a good day for both Duke and UK, UK would have prevailed end of story.. Or else I guess the ESPN analyst and Drafters are crazy for picking all these UK players in the Draft so high.

Talent alone does not win championships. Playing as a team and good coaching wins championships. UK had out of the world talent but did not play as a team much of the time.

[Stardust]

I agree totally.. I would have much rather had a banner than the 5 first round draft picks.. The only thing we have for show is the talent that UK had, the records that were broke, and the special games they had against rivals like Louisville and UNC.. With a normal UK team we usually lose those battles with those teams. That just goes to show you how talented these young men were, and how good UK really was.

You are right, but as I said in my earlier post, they beat teams that really were not that good on pure talent. They were outplayed by a single individual and both the coach and the players had no idea how to stop USC. Would dUKe have lost to USC, probably not. UK made plenty of mistakes against WV, that dUKe did not. So, talent alone does not make a great team.

[Stardust]

Talent alone does not win championships. Playing as a team and good coaching wins championships. UK had out of the world talent but did not play as a team much of the time.

Looks like we were going in the same direction at the same time

[Jarons]

Looks like we were going in the same direction at the same time

Great minds think alike:Thumbs:

[Aslan]

Talent alone does not win championships. Playing as a team and good coaching wins championships. UK had out of the world talent but did not play as a team much of the time.

:Thumbs:

[Scotty doesn't know]

No body can take the title from Duke nor can anyone take the title away from Kentucky in 98. Fact is in the tourney you have to string together games and allow the other teams to take care of business. This is exactly what happened last year. UK did not beat a team that was under them after playing a sub-par game. Duke beat the teams placed in front of them and took care of business with out having a sub-par game. Alot like UK in 98 where Duke was probably the best team in the nation. The is just the glory of the tourney and ultimately effects programs at different times. Think if each of the big name programs would have won the title in the years they were suppose to, UNC would have 8 or 9, Duke would have 7 or 8, Kansas would have 6 or 7, and UK would have 9 or 10. ( I leave out UCLA on purpose )

[PC_You_Know]

I see the series between these two going 7-3 in Duke's favor simply because UK would not be allowed to shoot the ball that well against Duke's defense consistently. Maybe in 3 games they could knock down a bunch of 3's, but you also have to account in a few offsetting games and a few games when Duke would be hot from 3. So that's why I say UK wins 3, because Duke is the better team overall so I'll say they take all 4 games when it's even, and they win all 3 when they're hot. I think an Elite 8 team beating a national championship team 3/10 times is pretty good, no need to hang your head on that or attack me and call me names.

[NYY10]

I think what you are missing is what college basketball is all about and leads into the question that I posed above. To be a great college basketball program, you have to play as a great team. Duke proved that they can play as a team, where UK did not. UK did not have very many quality opponents this year, so it is really hard to justify how great this team was. Duke by far played better team basketball, yet UK by far had the best roster in the nation. So, if you question is who would win, how could you not say that the squad that plays better as a team in tough situations is going to come out ahead?

I'm not arguing with you Ballers, I see where you are coming from. UK won most of their games because they were more talented, not because they were a better team. The games they struggled in and lost were all proof that this team did not know how to play team basketball in tough situations.

:Thumbs:

[Ballers]

I see the series between these two going 7-3 in Duke's favor simply because UK would not be allowed to shoot the ball that well against Duke's defense consistently. Maybe in 3 games they could knock down a bunch of 3's, but you also have to account in a few offsetting games and a few games when Duke would be hot from 3. So that's why I say UK wins 3, because Duke is the better team overall so I'll say they take all 4 games when it's even, and they win all 3 when they're hot. I think an Elite 8 team beating a national championship team 3/10 times is pretty good, no need to hang your head on that or attack me and call me names.

Your so right.. They have a number of big men that can play good defense on Demarcus Cousins........ :zzz:

[PC_You_Know]

Your so right.. They have a number of big men that can play good defense on Demarcus Cousins........ :zzz:

Don't have to shut Cousins down, just take away the 3-pointers UK would try to throw in the ocean and it would be game over. Cousins only played about 20 minutes a game, let him go off while he's in there and shut down everything else, simple plan. The same way it was against WVU. You have to play team ball to win in the tourny. UK, as long as Calipari is there, will be a team of individual stars, not a TEAM.

[cuppett777]

all depends on how many 3's they give up or hit them self

[dangerousdaneerfan]

Don't have to shut Cousins down, just take away the 3-pointers UK would try to throw in the ocean and it would be game over. Cousins only played about 20 minutes a game, let him go off while he's in there and shut down everything else, simple plan. The same way it was against WVU. You have to play team ball to win in the tourny. UK, as long as Calipari is there, will be a team of individual stars, not a TEAM.

I cannot believe I must agree with our Dookie V fan.

[BlackcatAlum]

Don't have to shut Cousins down, just take away the 3-pointers UK would try to throw in the ocean and it would be game over. Cousins only played about 20 minutes a game, let him go off while he's in there and shut down everything else, simple plan. The same way it was against WVU. You have to play team ball to win in the tourny. UK, as long as Calipari is there, will be a team of individual stars, not a TEAM.

Difference between Duke and WVU is that WVU is 10x more athletic than Duke. WVU beat Kentucky because they were hitting their jump shots and Kentucky wasn't. Duke also has no one, and I mean no one that could stop Patterson & Cousins - so UK would probably dominate the boards.

I do think that Duke will get their 3s, but can Kentucky knock down their jump shots? If they do, UK wins rather easily, but if they aren't then I'd give Duke a slight edge.

I'd say if the two played 50 times, UK would win majority of the games. But in reality, only one game matters.

[PC_You_Know]

Difference between Duke and WVU is that WVU is 10x more athletic than Duke. WVU beat Kentucky because they were hitting their jump shots and Kentucky wasn't. Duke also has no one, and I mean no one that could stop Patterson & Cousins - so UK would probably dominate the boards.

I do think that Duke will get their 3s, but can Kentucky knock down their jump shots? If they do, UK wins rather easily, but if they aren't then I'd give Duke a slight edge.

I'd say if the two played 50 times, UK would win majority of the games. But in reality, only one game matters.

You really believe Calipari coaches well enough that Coach K couldn't come up with a gameplan to win atleast 26/50 against UK? You're definitely an 18%'er as well. Take off the Blue shades.

[Aslan]

I don't trust Cal in big games. Actually I don't trust Call period. How can ya? He don't have an official final 4 under his belt. He's won nothing. He's always been able to recruit great talent but never win, when it matters.