University of Kentucky Men's Basketball -- 7th Edition

[WVRed]

From an outsider's viewpoint, its a little hard to assess UK's greatness right now. The SEC is just really, really weak this year, so it makes you wonder if a lot of the "men against boys" appearances are just because they are playing such poor competition night after night. Heck, Georgia wasn't even a good scrimmage partner last night.

I'm not saying anyone should have them off their top 5 list, but I'm seeing some posts in this thread where some folks are going too far in the other direction as well. I've watched quite a bit of their SEC play, and man, there just isn't much stiff competition in the conference. And I don't think that is because UK is just so much better, but the other teams are barely average NCAA squads.

I don't disagree about the SEC, but UK has played a pretty formidable out of conference schedule, especially with UNC, Kansas, Indiana, and Louisville all locks to make the tournament. Throw in Florida and Vanderbilt twice, Mississippi State, and possibly those teams another time in the SEC tournament, and UK is plenty battle tested.

I would have agreed with this assessment two years ago as Kentucky played a pretty weak non-conference schedule (although nobody would have predicted UNC and UConn would miss the tournament), but this years team is in much better shape come NCAA tournament time.

[WMR]

nm

[ervinsm84]

I'm not even a Kentucky fan, and normally root against them. Still, this team has been one of the best teams of the past 12 or so years up to this point and its really not up for debate.


Here is UK's efficiency margin in conference play only, and doesnt include the most recent Ga game bc the screenshot is from an article on Tuesday


I'll Let Gasaway from Basketball Prospectus' Tuesday Truths Summarize their performance.

Outscoring your major conference by a quarter of a point per trip is just sick. In recent years the standard here was set by the Kansas team that went on to win the national championship in 2008. The Jayhawks outscored that year's Big 12 by 0.24 points per possession. So, yes, UK is pretty good at basketball. For instance their offense in-conference has been two standard deviations better than the league average. (Cough, cough, unheard of!, cough.) Should I keep going? Fine. In two-point shooting, three-point shooting, turnover percentage, offensive rebound percentage, and free-throw rate in SEC play, the Wildcats rank first, second, first, second, and second, respectively. When was the last time we saw an offense this potent all the way across the categorical board? Chris Paul-era Wake Forest comes to mind, certainly. Anyway, for an offense to be this good is improbable. And for the same players to then turn around and play their league's best defense is simply unfair. Life is ridiculously good in Lexington.

That scoring margin you see up there next to Kentucky's name is ridiculous. It doesn't happen, at least not in major conferences.

http://basketballprospectus.com/arti...articleid=2087
http://basketballprospectus.com/arti...articleid=2100

[WMR]

But then, as a Buckeyes fan, I know all too well how that gets exposed come tourney time.

Buckeyes had a nice team last year, just had the misfortune of running into the JORTS Express.

[jmac]

Found this snippet :

How good is Kentucky? The Wildcats are No. 1 in the polls, the Bilas Index, our College Basketball Power Index (BPI), KenPom's power index, LRMC and Sagarin. Basically, computers and humans actually agree on something -- Kentucky is the best college hoops team in the land. (RPI has UK at No. 2, but RPI is a "blunt instrument," as Jay Bilas calls it, not a computer or a human.)


Kentucky currently has the highest pre-tournament BPI we've seen over the six years of analysis we've run.


Another thing we see with Kentucky is that it is consistent. Last week, we talked about the inconsistent teams -- Notre Dame and Florida State -- both of whom made BPI look good by playing poorly since then. Kentucky is not only the best team in the land, but the most consistent on our variation scale. In fact, they are the most consistent good team in the six years of BPI.

[traderumor]

And how cool it is that teams have to prove it on the court, unlike the BCS mess.

[jmac]

It's fun to debate and talk about rankings all thru the year but all it takes come tournament time is one great shooting game or foul trouble our a bad call etc and it's over. Yeah I think UK has the best team this season but I think there are 3-4 teams that could win on a given night and several more that could win on one of those execeptional nights like I listed.
Thats why I am not one of those who say if you dont win a Championship in a particular year, you are a failure.
I think as a Number 1 seed though, you should definitely advance deep and not have a early exit.

[traderumor]

It's fun to debate and talk about rankings all thru the year but all it takes come tournament time is one great shooting game or foul trouble our a bad call etc and it's over. Yeah I think UK has the best team this season but I think there are 3-4 teams that could win on a given night and several more that could win on one of those execeptional nights like I listed.
Thats why I am not one of those who say if you dont win a Championship in a particular year, you are a failure.
I think as a Number 1 seed though, you should definitely advance deep and not have a early exit.

I think people generally understand that winning the NCAA tournament is not the sole measuring stick of success/failure for a season. However, UK is now in that unenviable position of anything less will certainly cast a shadow on the season because of what they have accomplished in the regular season.

[Scrap Irony]

I think people generally understand that winning the NCAA tournament is not the sole measuring stick of success/failure for a season. However, UK is now in that unenviable position of anything less will certainly cast a shadow on the season because of what they have accomplished in the regular season.

Horsecrap.

If Kentucky doesn't make it to the Final Four, it may be considered a disappointing season. But once you get to the Final Four, it's successful.

Any "fan" that thinks otherwise doesn't understand how truly grueling it is to get there.

[WMR]

Horsecrap.

If Kentucky doesn't make it to the Final Four, it may be considered a disappointing season. But once you get to the Final Four, it's successful.

Any "fan" that thinks otherwise doesn't understand how truly grueling it is to get there.

Yep.

[jmac]

As good as this team has played, it really shows the determination to win on the road at Vandy-Miss St- and Fla. I really figured they would lose at least one of these games.
Nice job guys !!! You have made it a very enjoyable season !!


Now let's keep it going !

[Sea Ray]

Thanks for the win against Florida today. That enabled my Vols to move into the #2 seed of the SEC tournament. I never would have guessed that after we lost to UK and were limping home 2-5 in league play. To think where we were at this time last year, weak league or not, we've come a long way. Your coach even gave us props after the game!

[traderumor]

Horsecrap.

If Kentucky doesn't make it to the Final Four, it may be considered a disappointing season. But once you get to the Final Four, it's successful.

Any "fan" that thinks otherwise doesn't understand how truly grueling it is to get there.

"fan" huh? I'm hurt.

For some teams, that would be true. I would feel that way at this stage if the Buckeyes made it. For the lofty expectations now bestowed on UK, I'm thinking "just making it there" will leave a nasty taste in UK mouths, regardless of whether they are just idiot "fans" like me or sophisticated students of the game like yourself.

[Scrap Irony]

"fan" huh? I'm hurt.

For some teams, that would be true. I would feel that way at this stage if the Buckeyes made it. For the lofty expectations now bestowed on UK, I'm thinking "just making it there" will leave a nasty taste in UK mouths, regardless of whether they are just idiot "fans" like me or sophisticated students of the game like yourself.

I say "fan" not for you, but for those misguided few who don't understand what it takes to get there, then to win.

You're not a fan of anyone but OSU-- first, last, and only. You're here to troll only.

[traderumor]

I say "fan" not for you, but for those misguided few who don't understand what it takes to get there, then to win.

You're not a fan of anyone but OSU-- first, last, and only. You're here to troll only.

Nice, name calling. I think the record shows that I have been nothing but civil, no trash talking, no "OSU is the greatest and everyone else stinks." But whatever. And btw, as to being a loyal fan but commenting on other teams, so what?