Interesting article, but one thing I disagree with:
I’d rather have Mo Bamba as a missing piece to this team than Trae Young.
I look for Young to get exposed in conference play going against Kansas and West Virginia twice. The only defense he has seen so far is Wichita State. Come March, I think he and Quade Green will be equal.
Bamba is essentially Nerlens Noel but with a better offensive game. He would be an upgrade over Richards.
Trae Young is the best college basketball player in the country. Kentucky would be insanely scary with him. Now? Not so much.
Kentucky sure disposed of Louisville easily today
Assembly Hall (12-29-2017),Joseph (12-29-2017),Revering4Blue (12-29-2017)
I sure didn't see this coming. UK's defense had been awful the last two games. UL is down and will be even worse but hopefully UK took some major strides today.
Reds Fan Since 1971
Kentucky hit its shots, and Louisville couldn't stop penetration from Green, Diallo, and Alexander. Kentucky also played an entire game defensively.
It helps when you're athletically superior at pretty much every position. Card guards couldn't turn the corner, for the most part. Almost every shot was contested.
This was a much better effort than most games in the early season. The 'Cats played a full game and didn't take many plays off.
This is what they're capable of.
It should be noted, however, that Louisville's talent cupboard is pretty bare. I think Virginia Tech is a better team by a fairly significant amount at this point. UofL might not win 7 games in the ACC and is in danger (IMO) of even making the NCAA Tournament. We'll see, of course.
I'm too lazy to look the series results, but I can't recall a beat-down of this magnitude in this series, although, IIRC, UK slaughtered the Cards in Freedom Hall during Rex Chapman's freshman year.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
It doesn't happen often.
Kentucky beat Louisville by 34 in 1986.
Louisville beat UK by 22 in 1988.
Btw, Kentucky pretty much owns this series. 14 - 6 in their last 20, stretching back to the turn of the century. 26 - 13 since they started back up in 1983.
When I was a kid, you could have made a lot of money betting the exact opposite. Louisville was probably the premier CBB program in the nation (with apologies to the IU fans here and perhaps UNC). UK was decidedly in the second echelon, with Kansas and others.
The '86 game was/is the game that sticks out in my memory.
'88-'89 was obviously a season that UK fans would rather forget. No use going there.
My earliest memories of CBB (or sports altogether) date back to the final two seasons of the Wooden era. So I do remember Louisville losing to UCLA at the horn during the '75 FF. UCLA, more or less, remained if not the top dog, one of them through the Gary Cunningham era through the Brown era, which predictably ended in disaster. Out of all of the schools that you mentioned, Louisville is the only one in which I cannot recall a sustained (two or more seasons) down period - given the (fair or not) expectations of such programs. You could say the same for UNC were it not for the Doherty era.
It's interesting to look back at Kansas at the time. While I vaguely remember a very deep NCAA run for Kansas circa '74 or so - and I distinctly remember rooting for the '78 Kansas team with Paul Mokeski against UCLA in the NCAAs - the last eight seasons of so of the Ted Owens era at Kansas roughly equate with the overall state of the IU program for what seems like forever:
1)Both historical Bluebloods.
2)Programs that were/are underachieving (Obviously, Archie Miller is in the process of rebuilding IU) and not considered elite programs, and deservedly so.
3)Despite the above, both were/are still elite jobs.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
The 86 game was the biggest margin of victory since the series resumed. UK also won by 30 in 99-00 season which,IIRC, was Crums last season. UL biggest win was the 88-89 game which was Eddie Sutton's last season at UK and the only UK team to have a losing record since the 1920's. But most games do come down to the wire. It may take a few more years for great games again since UL is looking at certain probation and other penalties.
Reds Fan Since 1971
This is the same Louisville team, minus Donovan Mitchell, that beat Kentucky at the Yum Center last year. Granted, they did have a HOF coach on the sideline.
I thought the Kentucky game would be a measuring stick for Padgett. If he could have rallied the troops and at bare minimum kept it close I thought Louisville would likely keep him beyond this season. Still may happen depending on how hard the NCAA comes down on Louisville though.
I wonder if Bobby Hurley is going to be on Louisvilles radar.
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