Five thoughts from UK's 44th SEC championship

Five thoughts from UK's 44th SEC championship
By Eric Lindsey on March 3, 2010 11:14 PM | No TrackBacks


Five thoughts from UK's 44th SEC championship
By Eric Lindsey on March 3, 2010 11:14 PM | No TrackBacks
I didn't make the trip with the team this time, so you'll have to settle for my personal thoughts and notes from UK's 80-68 win over Georgia in Athens, Ga.

Here are the five biggest things to take from the win:

1.) Championships are always special: John Calipari hasn't made many missteps as head coach at Kentucky, but one of them may have came last week when he said winning the regular-season Southeastern Conference championship meant "nothing." No, Wednesday's night's SEC championship meant something.

The victory clinched at least a share of UK's 44th SEC title and 50th conference crown overall (six championships came in the Southern Conference). Only Kansas, with 50 conference championships, owns more than UK. Plus, a Vanderbilt loss or a UK win against Florida in the 16th and final conference game of the season would give the Cats the outright title.

Although the title might not mean a lot in the big picture, the championship - UK's first since 2005 - is another confirmation that Kentucky basketball is back. The Cats now have the hardware to prove it.

2.) What 3-point shooting woes?: UK's 8-of-25 shooting from the 3-point line probably wasn't enough to silence the critics that have pounced on the Cats for their abysmal perimeter shooting over the previous four games (12-of-73 prior to Wednesday). But it probably was enough to get a smile out of Calipari after the game. Almost as if it was by design, the Cats came out shooting from the 3-point line from the very first play of the game and rarely hesitated from that point forward.

Calipari seemed to scoff at the notion Tuesday that his team's 3-point shooting was a weakness in almost the same manner he used to laugh off his team's free-throw shooting woes at Memphis. His team appeared to use that same stubbornness in Wednesday night's victory by regaining (some of) its 3-point touch.

Sophomore guard Darnell Dodson broke out of a 2-of-21 3-point shooting slump with three critical treys and freshman guard John Wall drilled 3-of-5 perimeter shots. I don't buy Calipari's notion that his team is one of "the best 3-point shooting teams in the country," but I also don't believe it's a glaring Achilles heel.

We already knew coming into this season that this team didn't have a legit outside shooter. Plus, with all the weapons UK has, if the Cats can hit even 33 percent of their shots from behind the arc, as Calipari joked Tuesday, it's like hitting 50 percent. If they hit outside shots, they're unbeatable.

3.) Road warriors: The road wins at Vanderbilt and Mississippi State were mighty impressive two weeks ago. But this one might have topped them all.

Yes, Georgia is just 13-15 on the season and yes, UK has won 39 of 54 in Athens. But this isn't your father's Stegeman Coliseum anymore. What used to be a break in the SEC road schedule has become a trip to hell.

Just ask the rest of the SEC East. Prior to UK's win at Stegeman on Wednesday, Georgia was 4-0 at home against SEC East teams, including double-digit wins against the Volunteer State's brethren, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

Calipari had been pointing to the Athens trip for weeks as a potential trap game and called Georgia the most improved team in the SEC from the beginning of the season to the end. When considering the No. 1 seeds on Selection Sunday, the NCAA selection committee should take a closer look at Wednesday's win.

4.) A notch above the rest: Speaking of Selection Sunday, Kentucky has to be a No. 1 seed after Wednesday's win, right? In my opinion (for whatever that's worth), the win over Georgia locked up one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. At this point, only an epic collapse would bar UK from one of the top four spots, and even that might not be enough.

Just think of the worst-case scenario. Let's say UK loses at home to Florida on Senior Day (I know, seems unlikely, right?) and follows that with a second-round hiccup in the SEC Tournament. On most years, that would drop a team out of consideration for a top spot, but not this year.

If the season ended today, Kentucky, Kansas and Syracuse are hands-on No. 1 seeds. After that? Good luck finding a team worthy of the fourth spot. It seems like teams are more inclined to take a two seed than a one, because every time a golden opportunity presents itself, a team takes two steps back.

A few weeks ago Villanova had a strong case for a No. 1 seed, then the Wildcats went on to lose four of seven games. Duke seemed to be taking a stranglehold on the fourth No. 1 seed until losing to Maryland just moments ago. Purdue just lost one of its top scorers for the season in Robbie Hummel and appears to be damaged goods. And now Kansas looks like it knocked Kansas State out of contention with a butt whooping in Lawrence, Kan.

Who does that leave? Ohio State? The only question at this point is if UK can still claim the top overall seed.

5.) POY race far from over: A poll by AnnArbor.com that was released Wednesday would lead you to believe that Ohio State Evan's Turner is your runaway National Player of the Year.
In the words of the great Lee Corso, not so fast, my friend.

Wall once again proved his worth in Athens, scoring a game-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He added six assists in the win.

I'm one of those people that believe you don't have to tear down a player to make a case for the other one. Turner is a heck a player and would probably get my vote at this point, but this race is from a landslide at this point.

Wall, in my opinion, has re-emerged over the past two games and is playing just as well as he was at the beginning of the season. Against Tennessee, he went on a personal 7-0 to single-handedly get UK back in the game and Wednesday night he could do no wrong.

He filled it up from the outside, killed Georgia in transition and threw down a nasty one-hand dunk over Georgia's Travis Leslie.

That's the only slam dunk when it comes to this Player of the Year race.

http://www.ukathletics.com/blog/index.html

I have two more. UK plays better with Bledsoe on the bench and Cal still won't play Hood. Hood cant be that bad. UK was still 8 of 25 from 3 at least give the kid a shot. I don't think Cal likes Hood all that much.

rsmc wrote:I have two more. UK plays better with Bledsoe on the bench and Cal still won't play Hood. Hood cant be that bad. UK was still 8 of 25 from 3 at least give the kid a shot. I don't think Cal likes Hood all that much.

I agree I would like to see Hood play a little, Couldn't hurt from 3 point line. I did noticed Miller finally shooting more, Guess he got the hint.

Not a knock on Hood, but it could be he's just not that good. And I agree UK plays better with Bledsoe on the bench.

UK Maine-Iac wrote:Not a knock on Hood, but it could be he's just not that good. And I agree UK plays better with Bledsoe on the bench.

Hood may not be any good, we don't know because Cal wont play him.
But going 20 of 98 from three over a five game span is awful. I think I would try putting in my Grandma. If for no other reason than pissing off the other players who can't shot.

Here are Hoods Stats for the season and a link for game by game stats.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/players/playerpage/1715268/jon-hood?tag=pageRow;pageContainer

GP 12
PPG 1.2
FGM 5
FGA 15
FG% 33.3
FTM -
FTA -
FT% -
3PTM 4
3PTA 9
3PT% 44.4