2010 Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball - 5th edition

[WMR]

Let's get this new thread started off right today.

[dabvu2498]

Regarding something you said on the other thread, Pearl has not been afraid to run guys off. Duke Crews, Ramar Smith, and Wayne Chism come to mind.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by dabvu2498

Regarding something you said on the other thread, Pearl has not been afraid to run guys off. Duke Crews, Ramar Smith, and Wayne Chism come to mind.

I know that and I agree. Like I said, I'll be watching with some interest what is done with Tyler Smith.

With UT, however, the problem seems to be endemic to the athletic department.

[Scrap Irony]

Pearl has done a great job kicking players off the team after screwing up. (Moreso, I'd guess, than any coach in America, in fact.) The question is why do his players continually screw up? Is it that he eschews character when recruiting? And does character really matter?

[WVRed]

Six fouls in the first 45 seconds, and an unsportsmanlike technical on Cousins (already 2) for an elbow that he should have been kicked out for. Unreal.

[joshnky]

Ugly game. UofL can't buy a basket in the half court and UK is having similar struggles on their end. I thought this game was going to be especially memorable (in a bad way) at the beginning with Cousins showing his immaturity but they've all calmed down. And I don't get all of the commentary about throwing him out of the game. I've never seen a player thrown out of a game for something like that.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by joshnky

Ugly game. UofL can't buy a basket in the half court and UK is having similar struggles on their end. I thought this game was going to be especially memorable (in a bad way) at the beginning with Cousins showing his immaturity but they've all calmed down. And I don't get all of the commentary about throwing him out of the game. I've never seen a player thrown out of a game for something like that.

CBS is the only ones throwing a fit over it. I turned it on SportsCenter after the game and it was shown but barely mentioned.

What I am more interested in is what happened with Eric Bledsoe and Reginald Delk eight seconds into the game. Bledsoe is the opposite of Cousins and is a lot more mild mannered. Don't really know what was said that Cal had to pull him out that quick.

As for Cousins, and I can say this given we had Slick Rick before you guys, that was Pitino's gameplan going in was to try to get Cousins to lose his temper and get him to go off and get tossed. It almost worked, but Cousins tore Louisville up something fierce. Had Cousins been tossed, I would venture to say Kentucky likely would have lost.

[joshnky]

Originally Posted by WVRed

As for Cousins, and I can say this given we had Slick Rick before you guys, that was Pitino's gameplan going in was to try to get Cousins to lose his temper and get him to go off and get tossed. It almost worked, but Cousins tore Louisville up something fierce. Had Cousins been tossed, I would venture to say Kentucky likely would have lost.

This is going to be the game plan for every coach facing UK this year. Cousins is one of the best big men in the country but he is also the most immature and volatile.

Kentucky played a great game and, as much as Wall gets the hype, the trio of Cousins, Patterson, and Orton will be the ones to deliver a memorable season for the Cats. UofL is very solid and deep at those positions but they still struggled to hold all three down.

On a UofL note, if the Cards can learn from that second half and play that way in the Big East they'll quickly make fans forget the early losses.

[Boston Red]

Originally Posted by WVRed

As for Cousins, and I can say this given we had Slick Rick before you guys, that was Pitino's gameplan going in was to try to get Cousins to lose his temper and get him to go off and get tossed.

In 45 seconds? Pitino must be a damned strategic genius.

[dabvu2498]

Originally Posted by Boston Red

In 45 seconds? Pitino must be a damned strategic genius.

Nah, Cousins is that mental. Physically, he may be as good a pro prospect as Wall. Mentally, he is on par with the 6th graders I watched this morning.

[BRM]

Originally Posted by dabvu2498

Nah, Cousins is that mental. Physically, he may be as good a pro prospect as Wall. Mentally, he is on par with the 6th graders I watched this morning.

That's pretty much how I see him too. Guy is an amazing talent but he's very immature. If I were a UK fan, I wouldn't worry much about it though. The guy is going to be a force inside in SEC play.

[jmac]

Originally Posted by Boston Red

In 45 seconds? Pitino must be a damned strategic genius.

From reports, this all started ( both teams jawing ) in the tunnel and continued in warm-ups so it went deeper than the first 45 seconds.

[WMR]

The end of that first half could be huge for Louisville.

[Reds4Life]

17% shooting for Louisville? Good lord that's bad.

[WMR]

John Wall is an unstoppable force of nature.