Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
Five minutes into today’s game I admit that I wasnt happy about the set of circumstances. It was looking as it Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley were not going to play, Kentucky looked like it was going to have a great deal of difficulty “scoring the ball” (an asinine phrase used by every announcer in every game nowadays) and Rupp Arena seemed to be headed towards the site of a 58-55 slugfest between the Cats and a 4-7 OVC team. But then all of a sudden, an entertaining game broke out and I became strangely enthralled by the process. The lineup of Michael Porter, Ramon Harris, AJ Stewart, Perry Stevenson and Patrick Patterson played with a great deal of intensity throughout the first half and all of the players (besides Patterson) showcased something we had seen little of this year…..offensive capabilities. Porter was hitting a three (and the side of the backboard on a layup), Harris was driving to the hole, AJ was getting post position and Perry was making the FT line jumper. No one could have mistaken this group for the Chicago Bulls, or maybe even the South Florida Bulls, but they were playing hard, diving on the floor and giving effort…..which is really all that you can ask.
As the second half started, we got word that Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford would play, which meant we were set up with the great “will Kentucky look worse with their two most prominent players playing?” And at first, it looked as if it could be yes. In a move that would only happen to the at-times cursed Joe C, he fouled a man shooting a three on his first play in the game and it looked as if a bad script was being written. But then all of a sudden the team clicked. With what is in my opinion, the best lineup that UK can put on the floor right now (Bradley, Crawford, Harris, Stewart, Patterson) in the game, the Cats took over….expanded a small lead to a blowout and gave Cats fans a welcome relief from the moaning and disappointment for Christmas. The intensity remained high, the effort was there throughout and execution continued. Not a perfect game, but a very good one…..which again, is all you can ask.
A few notes….
(1) It may be the case that you can simply cut and paste the following sentence for every game report throughout his career. Patrick Patterson is an amazing player. On a team that is cursed with inconsistency, he is a rock. He is giving a consistent 20 and 12 every night…..EVERY NIGHT. It is unbelievable. No one in America was a bigger Patterson fan when he was in high school than me, but he is even blowing me away with his production this year. He rises to every challenge, leads on the floor and controls the paint. The best low post big man at UK since Bennett is what one guy said to me today….that may even be an understatement. What a special player.
(2) So Billy Clyde said that Bradley and Crawford were “not where they were supposed to be” at a certain time this week, and thus set out the first half. Not knowing the specifics, I wont come down on the guys, but I was impressed with their demeanor. Both guys stayed into the game, cheered on their teammates and did not sulk. And when called to play in the second half, they responded with good performances. Whether this is a turning point or not, this was a good experience for the team and came out a net positive. That is good because when they were late joining the team for warmups, a lot more negative thoughts were buzzed than what ended up being reality.
(3) Huge props to Razor Ramon today. This game typifies why Billy Clyde plays him and is a perfect example of what he can do. He played all 40 minutes, had 8 points and 10 boards, played the best defense on the court and generally limited his mistakes. Ramon is not going to be a star….but he can be a contributor and a defensive specialist. He just must give a few points here and there and not be a turnover machine. Tonight was his best game as a Cat.
(4) You also have to love the performance of AJ Stewart. AJ is one of my favorites on the team and I think he has great potential going forward. But he is a guy who must be given time on the court and allowed to make mistakes. He is behind from a basketball IQ standpoint, but he is a tremendous athlete and has a knack for getting the ball in the basket. Over time he can develop into one of the best 5 on the team…..he just needs the PT….tonight he got it and his performance was strong.
(5) Thanks to the LHL, here is a link to some Billy Clyde postgame comments. Check them out. More later tonight as we move towards Christmas in the Bluegrass…..
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December 22nd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I wish I could have watched this game.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I mentioned Erik Daniels in one of my previous comments today, and it made me remember one of my fonder memories of him. I will never forget the day I had gotten out of class and was waiting on my ride, when E.D. went flying by. He was on what appeared to be a VESPA scooter. That alone was comical. What really made it funny was that he was riding it on the sidewalk, and Cliff Hawkins was riding b!tch. Ahh, good times.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 pm
PPat - the best.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Now that I look back at it, that just showed how much those guys liked each other. That was the epitomy of the word team.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:35 pm
i find it funny that almost immediately after both coury and porter are both on the bench the team goes off! i hate watching those 2. they scare me every time they look at the ball. bradley crawford stewart stevenson harris and meeks should be the only ones on this team that get the privilege of playing with patterson. theres no reason to still be playing coury and porter when meeks is fully healthy
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:50 pm
My assessment of today’s win:
-Patterson is a beast among boys.
-Harris is a good rebounder who needs to give up trying to shoot 3’s.
-Porter could easily start for Lexington Catholic.
-Carter is getting better with every touch but he still has a long way to go.
-Stewart could be an awesome post up player if they would work with him.
-Bradley and Crawford must be in the lineup in order for UK to win.
-Stevenson looked good from 12 feet out but he needs to keep shooting it to gain more confidence.
-Billy Clyde coached a great game and absolutely tore AJ Stewart a new ear hole during one speech.
-Overall it was a much needed win for the BIG BLUE and they looked very aggressive doing so.
PS: It was also nice to see OSU beat Florida.
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:22 pm
ramon harris- the 2nd coming of heshimu evans
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Don’t forget most of these guys are just a bunch of Sophomores and Freshmen. Better days are ahead!!
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I’m just glad the losing streak is over!!! I feel like I’m in AA meetings when it’s “One day at a time” with this team.
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:43 pm
9: Me too. Four consecutive losses for UK hoops is just unheard of.
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:52 pm
2- That was funny, I remember seeing Daniels rock the scooter on campus as well. I read an interview he did then where he said that all the guys made fun of him when he got it, but pretty soon they were asking for rides
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:59 pm
2) Nowadays you can see Patrick Patterson crossing Rose in a golf cart or if your lucky maybe even a UKAA Gator.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
I agree on the Porter/Coury dynamic duo. Immediately after they left the court things looked better. I think that they
are our own version of Bert and Ernie.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Jody Demling has some recruiting tidbits over on his blog,Hope you dont mind Matt.
http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:06 pm
13: I like Porter and Coury but I’m with you regarding the fact that they aren’t UK material. But the problem is, we don’t have any other options thanks to Tubby therefore we have to make the most of what we’ve got. Things are changing quickly however. Tyrone Appleton might be coming to UK after Christmas to run the point and Meeks should be healthy soon and Liggins and Miller are coming in next year. Until then, enjoy “Bert and Ernie”
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:16 pm
KyBub-
Appleton will join UK next season if he decides to sign with the ‘Cats. I think you misunderstood the comment about joining the UK family after Christmas. It meant signing, not playing.
And I like Stewart too. But, I don’t think the coaching staff is not working with him. He has shown progress and plays hard. He’ll continue to get minutes. His role will continue to expand as Stevenson gets pushed around like a grocery cart when we get back to playing more physical opponents.
Kuddos for BCG sitting RB/JC. It shows it doesn’t matter who you are, you better get your (stuff) straight!
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:22 pm
16: Thanks for the clarification. I was under the impression that Appleton could play after Christmas. I also thought Coach was bringing him in because of Jasper. I heard that Jasper’s injury is the same as Greg Oden’s and if so, he won’t be back this year. I also hope D/Jas doesn’t try to come back too quickly because he’ll only hurt it worse and possibly end his career.
At any rate, bring on Appleton. He can’t be any worse than Porter. Porter has 20 plus turnovers in the last 5 games!!!
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:39 pm
can somebody please tell me why we arent HOT after Rashanti Harris? 6-8 235 4-star who had one heck of a ball game the other night putting up 28pts and grabbing 13 boards against Greg Monroe! doesnt look like too may schools are goin after this guy.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:41 pm
and harris is class of 2008. he sure would be a nice complemint to PatPat and would make for one dang good recruiting class too with liggins and miller!
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:58 pm
18: Never heard of him. I do know UK is after Wesley Witherspoon from Berkmar GA. I watched Witherspoon play 2 weeks ago and he’s good. He’s like a taller version of Darius Miller.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:03 pm
muzzy) I read that R. Harris could be having issues qualifying
academically.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
well if he’s able to push around the likes of Greg Monroe then we atleast need to be talking to him…letting him know were interested. maybe having a chance to play alongside PatPat would inspire him to pull the grades up?
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:39 pm
John Riek finally has a picture up on Rivals. All I can say is HOLY HELL this guy scares me.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Rivals has Tyrone Appletons list of schools at 3.
Kentucky, Iowa State, and San Jose State.
This brings two thoughts to mind. 1) We SHOULD have no problem getting this kid on campus. 2) Are we sure we want him?
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
24: From what I’ve heard and seen, Appleton can’t hurt us. He has a video up on the KSR page. Scroll down to see it and you will probably be glad you did. He looks like an immediate contributor and that’s what we need.
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Muzzy - How do you know UK is not talking to him? Who knows? As Matt noted, BCG does not broadcast who they are interested in, so things happen quickly.
Japrick - Yeah, if we don’t get Appleton over SJS or ISU, gracious. I think his offense (lack thereof) scared some of the bigger programs away, but right now BCG is searching for some lockdown defenders. Plus, being a JUCO kid, you hope he is ready to go. I also think this signals that Liggins may not be destined to be a PG like people thought or UK thinks there may be some concerns getting him qualified. Regardless, Appleton could help right away - even assuming Jasper returns to 100% next year. And if they do get him, Porter is done. (Jasper, Appleton, and the Porter) Think about it. If Liggins is destined to play the 2, we have a number of people at the 2/3. With Meeks, Liggins, Miller, Harris (cough), Witherspoon (maybe), Hopson (who knows?), Porter gets 0 minutes at the 2. I am looking forward to the end of the Porter-Coury connection!
I am still praying for a miracle to find a true 5 that would allow PP to move to the 4. Maybe one of the foreign big men, but I am starting to lose hope in that regard.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Merry Christmas everyone! The Cats won today. I’m drunk off my ass post Christmas party. Sigh. All is good in Chris’s world.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:38 pm
maybe i need to find a hobby, but watching the people go to the floor after loose balls made me teary eyed today. If the effort continues to improve, things WILL get better. We still won’t be much of a threat to make a serious run at anything, but its better than losing to all these NAIA schools we’ve been playing. I must admit how big of a relief winning today was. I feel much better and my ulcer bled a little less than the previous foru post-games.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:54 pm
It did me good to see some SCRAP instead of CRAP. I thought it was cool when Stevenson was ready to throw down after he tied the dude up, then Michael “The Hit Man” Porter came in to get his back like a red rooster in at a cock fight. It is pretty clear the Clyde the Glyde Gillispie is starting to get his point across. We might suck, but at least we’ll go down swinging!
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Go CAT!!! Good WiN!
Glad to see some gel action going on.
Get well soon. EVERYONE! lol Jodie. That means you too.
GO CATS!!!
I’m rooting for you guys all the way from Afghanistan!
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:05 am
I think we can see why Williams is not getting more playing time right now….lol.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:06 am
Has anyone ever heard of this book? Anyone read it?
Are You Watching, Adolph Rupp? by Dan Doyle
http://www.resourcebooks.net/si/015652.html
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:09 am
The Cat’s win a game and all of a sudden this board is dead.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:12 am
Yea 31. My question is, why do we have players like that on the team? Two years ago, we had 3 players over 7 feet, and I don’t think they could have scored 10 points each in a game if they had been the only ones on the floor. Everyone wants to blame Tubby I guess, don’t know if he was the problem or not. But boy, you watch some of these kids play, and you got to scratch your head. I try to support everything about the Cats, but with some of these kids it is painfully obvious that they don’t have enough talent to play at this level.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 am
34, I have a question. You say “everyone want to blame Tubby I guess, don’t know if he was the problem or not.”
Tubby recruited these guys. If it’s not his fault, then whose fault is it? I’m curious to know the answer to that question. Tubby was the coach. Tubby made the ultimate decision to offer or not to offer. Who else is responsible for it if not Smith.
I find it interesting that people can actually state the problem and then deny it’s existence all in the same sentence. lol
Ya gotta laugh. Nothing else to be done.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:46 am
35: There’s no doubt in this world that Tubby is responsible for our 5-5 record. Heck, if he was still here, we’d be 0-10. But I like the fact that Billy Clyde called this year’s team “My guys.” That means a lot and I’m sure the guys will respond come March. Tubby should have been gone 3 years ago. Better yet, Tubby should nave never been hired.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:04 am
I finally got to see the ‘Cats in person for the first time this year (Could have been the third time, but
we won’t go into that NYC tourney mishap…). Anyway, the thing that stood out to me in this game was the
all out hussle. EVERY guy was going for loose balls, and the crowd appreciated it, as evidenced by the HUGE
ovation for Perry Stevenson after he showed some nads by getting physical for the first time ever with a
Tech play over a loose ball.
Random comments:
After the game, I stayed to try to get BCG and Patterson’s autographs. I got a good spot on the bleacher
next to where they come out. A few players came out to sign the autographs of about 75 people
waiting around. I have to tell you, Pat and AJ were two of the nicest guys in the world. They went out of
their way to sign and AJ kept a constant smile on his face. It’s nice to see we have quality kids on the
team. BCG on the other hand seemed to be signing because it was the politically correct thing to do.
People were giving him love and he never even said “Thanks” or acted like he gave a crap about that person
who wanted to meet him.
Appleton was there with his dad and the fans were asking for his autograph, too.
He was eating it up! I overheard his dad ask a security guard something to the effect of “are the fans
always like this?” And the guard said, “Yes, they love their players here. This is an every game event.”
I told Appleton that he’d look good in Wildcat blue and he flashed me a big smile. If by watching that
first half he didn’t see we desperately need a point guard, I’m not sure there is anything else that
could convince him.
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:15 am
I listened to the link of the press conference. I like gillispie a lot. he mentioned that Bradley would be out to talk later, is there a link to bradley?
December 23rd, 2007 at 10:27 am
#36. A player’s performance is far more than simply what Coach recruited him. Don’t be simple. All the following contribute:
Natural Talent
Skill Improvement
Conditioning
Current Health/Sickness
Coaching Gameplan
In-Game Coaching Directives
Teammates on the Floor
Opponents on the Floor
Crowd Support/Opposition
Mental Toughness
Luck
Basketball IQ
and more
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:09 am
[...] Cats Rebound with 69-47 victory over Tennessee Tech [...]
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:00 pm
tubby, tubby, tubby. tubby was a great coach. just didnt get it done on the recruiting trail consistantly. will gillispie be a better coach? i hope. denny crum was a great coah, but he was years behind tubby in recruiting in the end. i dont think the cats would be 0-10. the only game i beleive they would have won with tubby of the ones they lost is gardner webb. i will trade a few more lumps this year with a coach in his 1st year at a new school, for what i believe is to come. look at the guys that have already comitted. there hasnt beenthat kind of buzz around here in a while as far as recruiting. go ahead scotland and give me some star ratings but it may be the old notre dame football efect where a persons star would rise because of who they comitted to.
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Tubby, Tubby, Tubby. Tubby signed #6 class (RSCI) in 1998. #3 in 1999. #12 in 2000 and 2001. #2 in 2004. And #14 in 2006. That’s 6 (of 9) in RSCI Top 15 - no coach signed more than 6 such classes. None. Zero. Nada. Zip. Squadoosh. 0.
Tubby signed the #8 (HoopScoop), #12 (Hoopmasters), #19 (Bob Gibbons ESPN Scouts), or #20 (Rivals) class this year. Each of those is a higher rating than Gillispie/UK class got.
Oh.
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Scotland, you were a great coach! Thanks for taking the UK tradition to the lowest level i can remember seeing. i’m very happy you are gone now to Minnesota. please stay there. i watched your team play last night. i laughed quite a bit : )
it was funny. keep up the good work.
keep throwing up your BS numbers because that is all you have. you sucked and still suck. what about that you don’t seem to understand who frigg’n knows…but thanks for leaving!
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Tubby + scotland divided by Tubby’s recruiting = sucks
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:44 pm
44) Scotland + commonsense divided by 100 = 0
i do think it’s funny that the tubby lovers have only numbers and can’t acknowledge the simple known fact that in his tenure we had no guts, no balls and nothing about us made teams fear us at all.
he started off well (due to pitino) and then got worse each year. finally we were left with shit. he was a coach that had no attitude, no balls and nothing about him made our players better and nothing about him made Kentucky’s status better. Tubby would get his ass kicked in a fist fight, Gillispie wouldn’t…and that’s a huge difference in the coaching style we have now versus the p*ssy style of Tubster. How ya’s do’in there coach Scotland? cold up there in Minnesota? go gophers go!!! watching discovery channel is more interesting than watching our team !
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Amen to that 45! the dip-cup coach Tubby! Thank God you are gone man. I’ll enjoy reporting on your every F*ck up this year! : ) happy new year loser!
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
who is scotland? scott rigot maybe. anyway, i went to the game and was dissapointed with the starting lineup. that being said i really saw alot of effort. when crawford finally got in i saw him make a few passes im not sure he would have made otherwise. ive not checked the box score but i thought i saw 4 assist from joe. ramel looked good too. call me crazy, but if meeks gets healthy (im giving up on jasper for this season), and joe c. does more of what he did saturday, plus more minutes. i think the cats are gonna beat loserville, and put up a good, maybe great sec record. i have been overly optimistic before but who knows. patterson is awesome. maybe as the year goes on harris, stewart, and p.stevenson, not to mention carter improve. i was impressed with carter the other day especially considering how little college b-ball he has played due to injuries.
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
porter tries hard. i bet he is a solid role player as a senior. mike williams looked terrible. i hope he does well in school.