The official UK will beat UC thread!

[Sweetstop]

Once again, UK is the only SEC team going to the Sweet Sixteen.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

I think you forgot an SEC team there....

No I didnt.

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by WVRed

No I didnt.

Wow.....

How bad is uk then to lose TWICE to an unmentionable??

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

Originally Posted by RedRoser

Any chance that Huggins goes to UT?

Or he may go to the Cleveland Cavs to coach Labron James now that Paul Silas is fired.

Also, I don't understand why UC fans think that this wasn't the year to play UK. UC still won 25 games and was ranked in the top 25 all year. How is that a down year? Compared to what? I guess UC should only play UK when UC is ranked No. 1 and peaking in December and UK is having a "down" year. Let's face it...UC is second round material every year (including this year). Nothing ever changes in that regard. So how, exactly, was this not a good year to play UK?

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Reds/Flyers Fan

Or he may go to the Cleveland Cavs to coach Labron James now that Paul Silas is fired.

Cleveland native Flip Saunders is the front-runner for that job.

[Redsfaithful]

So how, exactly, was this not a good year to play UK?

I've been a UC basketball fan for the last fifteen years or so, and it was pretty clear that this team was one of the least talented that Huggins has coached. They seriously overachieved to win those 25 games.

We're talking about a team that was 8 deep. That doesn't happen at UC very often.

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

They seriously overachieved to win those 25 games.

Then that's exactly the team you should want to play Kentucky. I would always want my team to overachieve, no matter the talent level.

[Redsfaithful]

Originally Posted by Reds/Flyers Fan

Then that's exactly the team you should want to play Kentucky. I would always want my team to overachieve, no matter the talent level.

They overachieved to lose to Kentucky by nine. That's kind of the point.

Look at UC's seeds over the years. Seven is, I think, the second lowest of the past decade.

[Scrap Irony]

Sure, UC may have been a bit underwhelming this year, but, by the same token, so is UK.

The Cats have all kinds of talent-- serious, McDonalds HS All-American talent, but all of it is young. Freshmen young. Mistakes in pressure situations, inexperienced in the Big Dance, Adam's Apple bobbing up and down young.

Two starters-- center and point guard-- were freshmen. Neither can apparently hit a free throw in a pressure situation and both had struggled mightily in the SEC Tournament.

On top of that, the shooting guard is a transfer from a mid-level Division I program who's a step too slow offensively and incredibly streaky. A lamp post would score 25 against Sparks.

The small forward is a junior chastised in the past by the head coach for playing "like Jane" despite a body "like Tarzan". He wasn't that heavily recruited out of high school and was the fourth option last year on a good squad who made it only to the second round of the tournament.

The power forward is undersized, can't jump, and also failed to win McD's acolades after a great HS career at a small Christian school in California. (Kansas pulled its scholarship offer hours before Hayes was to accept it.)

The sixth man is a walk-on , so little thought of out of high school that he was ignored by most DI programs.

Not to mention no McD's AA's in sophomore, junior, and senior classes largely made up of projects (Woo, Alleyne) and role players (Carrier, Stockton, Perry).

And you say UC is experiencing a down year talent-wise, and that they overachieved?

In all likliehood, this would be the only year out of the next three UC would be able to keep the final score under 15.

[Redsfaithful]

In all likliehood, this would be the only year out of the next three UC would be able to keep the final score under 15.

UC's going to be much improved next year, so I'd certainly take that bet if the games were going to happen, which of course they won't.

The Cats have all kinds of talent-- serious, McDonalds HS All-American talent

Right. The Bearcats have no McDonalds HS All-American caliber talent, which is kind of the point I was making. Most years UC fields a much stronger team. This is a fairly typical Kentucky team, in my opinion, and it received it's fairly typical 2 seed in the tournament. UC generally is seeded much higher than 7.

[MWM]

UC has been somewhat down for three straight years, but 3 of the 4 years prior to that, UC finished ahead of UK in the final rankings. So yes, UC has been the better team plenty of times. It goes in cycles. Right now, UK is up and UC is down. It won't always be that way.

[Scrap Irony]

Cyclical?

Kentucky defies cycles.

They have been one of the top five teams in each decade since the 1940's, enjoying most dominant title in the 1940's (no one close), 1950's (two NCAA championships and an undefeated season), and the 1990's (arguably, as that decade also included the Dookie run).

Seven national championships.
1900+ wins.
Best winning percentage in basketball history, both regular season and NCAA Tournament.

Cincinnati is a good team with a fine pedigree.
But two or three years out of 40 is not a cycle.

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

Originally Posted by Biitner Pill

Kentucky defies cycles.

I have to agree. NFL football goes in cycles. The elite in college sports do not. Kentucky basketball, Duke basketball, Ohio State football, Michigan football. Down years for those programs are any year when they do not finish in the top 5.