SUPER BOWL 2012

UKFREAK00
WT Member

I am seeing a lot of negativity about this team after last night, and honestly a lot of it, I would agree with. However, let’s not forget that this is a John Calipari coached team. This is not the same team we are going to see in March. The talent is still here to be great.


Let’s start with the positives from last night:

• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. You cannot say enough about this kid. He seemed like the only freshman on the court that was truly ready to step in and play at a program like Kentucky from day 1. The moment did not seem too big for him.

• Speaking of Gilchrist, can a freshman step up and be the on the court leader? Sure looks as if we are going to find out as Kidd-Gilchrist took over the team on the court last night. On multiple occasions last night, I saw Kidd-Gilchrist in someone’s ear. There is some major confidence and leadership ability in this kid.

• Anthony Davis on the defensive end. We knew this going into the season, Davis is going to create havoc on the defensive end with his length and shot blocking ability. 8 blocks last night was one of the few positives I saw with Davis last night, but I will get to that in a minute.

• Kyle Wiltjer playing 18 minutes. I have to confess here, I did not see Wiltjer being a significant piece for this team. I thought Wiltjer was going to fall into the Stacey Poole situation. A good player, but would struggle to get minutes on a roster this deep with talent. Calipari having the confidence in Wiltjer to log some minutes will be a great asset. The difference between a 6 man rotation and a 7 man rotation is big for this team.

• Terrence Jones quietly had 22 points and 12 rebounds on 7-12 shooting. Terrence Jones looks like a completely different player this year. I was very critical of Jones’ selfishness, laziness, and low basketball IQ at times last year. This seems to be a completely different Terrence Jones, though. He is working hard, making extra passes, and playing his game. He is playing 15 feet and in, learning to play with his back to the basket, and being more physical. He is doing everything I criticized him for not doing last year. Like John Calipari said, Terrence Jones is one of the three best players in college basketball this year, if he keeps this up.

• Doron Lamb is a better all around player this year. Lamb looks to have added about 10-15 pounds from last year, and looks like he worked hard on becoming more than a shooter. Do not get me wrong, he is still a shooter, going 3-6 last night, but he is more physical this year. He is more willing to drive the lane, create, and dish the ball off. He is more willing to pull up for the 15 footer. Doron Lamb is right up there with Terrence Jones as far as improvement from last year goes.

• Kyle Wiltjer is the most fundamentally sound player on this team. This is what is going to get him playing time on this team. He does not have the athletic ability of the other freshman, but everything he does is smooth and fundamentally sound. I would not be surprised to see Wiltjer play down low with opposing powerful big men, such as Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger. While Wiltjer would give up size, strength, and athletic ability to a guy like Sullinger, he will make up for it by playing fundamental defense, and boxing out a bigger opponent on the glass. I see a lot of Josh Harrellson, though with a better offensive game, in Kyle Wiltjer

• Marquis Teague looks quick. If he is not as quick as John Wall, he is close. I will not say Teague played a perfect game, because there is room for improvement, and I will get to that, but I will say he looks to be ahead of where Wall and Knight were on Day 1 in this system. He drives the lanes, he sees the court, and he can pull up for the midrange jump shot. He does everything you ask out of a point guard in the Dribble Drive Offense.

• Darius Miller has more confidence in his jump shot. The Darius Miller of years past let his first shot of the game determine the rest of the game. If he made it, you knew you would get a good game out of Miller. If he missed it, you knew you should not count on him to contribute anything. Last night, Miller missed his first jump shot of the game. But he kept firing away, ending up with 10 points on 4-7 shooting.

• Back to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – The kid looks like DeAndre Liggins. I was worried about replacing Liggins’ intensity on the defensive end of the court this year, but Kidd-Gilchrist is just as good a defender as Liggins, maybe better. If you took the numbers off the back of the jersey, and told me that it was Liggins out there, the only reason I would not believe you is when I saw Kidd-Gilchrist’s polished offensive game. I cannot say enough positive things about this kid, he can do it all.

• After looking slow and unsure of ourselves in the first half, we came back in the second half and ran the Dribble Drive Offense pretty well. I spent the first half wondering where the Dribble Drive was, then in the second half, we saw it.

• Full court press. I am a big fan of pressure full court. I wrote the same thing last year in our exhibition games. I am excited about the willingness to press, even if it was not very effective. However, if I have learned one thing about Calipari, it is that we will not do this in the regular season.


The Negatives:


• Defense. I know Calipari will fix it; we have looked like this all three years in the exhibition games. I get it, but it did not look good last night. We looked lost at times, even playing man-to-man. No help defensively, guys cutting into the lane, etc. I am not worried about this, but this is another year of Calipari having to focus on defense. But, the athleticism is there to turn this into another top defense in the country.

• Free throw shooting. A common negative when it comes to Calipari coached teams. It is hard to criticize John Calipari for too much, but this is something that needs fixed. I understand where Calipari is coming from, as you should not have to teach kids to shoot free throws at this level. But at some point, it needs to be focused on, because 12-20 is not going to get it done.

• Marquis Teague’s shoot first mentality. You saw this start to slow down in the second half, but for awhile Teague was our leading scorer and was looking to shoot first and distribute second. That is not how the Dribble Drive works. Teague needs to look to be a distributor, get to the lane and find the open man. His points will come on defensive breakdowns when he drives the lane. And there will be plenty of them when he drives and the defense leaves him to guard an open man. Teague will get his points, but he needs to let them come to him, he does not need to “go get them”.

• Darius Miller’s lack of leadership. Darius Miller should be the leader of this team. He is the senior, he played in the Final Four, he needs to step up and take control of this team. If he does not do that, he will likely be on the bench at the beginning of games in favor of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. I just do not see the killer instinct that I would like to see out of Miller.

• Anthony Davis’ offensive game. Davis looked terrible last night on the offensive end, there is no denying that. There is a lot of panic in Big Blue Nation about this, but I think everyone needs to ease up on him. I saw Davis play in high school, and let me tell you this about Davis – His team was terrible. Davis played a lot of one on five in high school, and did get to play a lot of team basketball, and that showed last night. I do not think Davis is in over his head, I do not think he is going to be a bust, none of that stuff you are reading all over the internet today. I do, however, think he looked a little lost in the moment. He seems to be grasping this offense slower than the rest of the freshman, and that is fine. Like I said, this is not the same team you will see in March, and this is not the same Davis you will see in January. This is going to be like a Harrison Barnes situation at North Carolina last year. It is going to take a few games, but the light is going to come on, and when it does, the athletic ability is there to be great.