SEC Tournament

The Cats played a very strong tournament and it payed off. UK beat the University of Florida for the SEC championship. Allthough UK star, Terrance Jones, did not play as strongly as he normall does, the rest of the team picked up the slack. Each playeer who got on the court made a significant contribution toward the victory. Although UK beat Florida in the SEC tournament, Florida somehow managed to recieve a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament while UK recieved a mear 4 seed. The Cats play their first game of the tournament on Thursday and it should be an easy victory as long as we play to our abilities.

SEC Tournament Time

Calapari finally coached his team to a road victory over Tennessee. This is a very good step for the Cats as the SEC Tournament begins this week, and as a result of the win over Tennessee, UK receives a first round by. Hopefully Kentucky can pull it together in Georgia this weekend and bring home the hardware. I believe this is very possible so long as Brandon Knight and Terrance Jones can play well.

Home Team

UK has continued to play very well in Rupp Arena. I actually recieved the oppertunity to go to watch the Wildcats beat the Florida Gators on Saturday. I realized at that game why the Cats play so well on the road. The crowd in Rupp Arena is so intense and gives the team a burst of energy when they really need it. UK also beat Vandy last night on Josh Harellson's (UK's loan senior) Senior Night by two points. Josh played a great last game at Rupp.

Recovery?

The Wildcats seemed to be taking a step in the right direction after a dominating performance against South Carolina on Saturday. The Wildcats continued to play very good at home and hopefully they will learn to playas well on the road. UK fans will find out on Wednesday if the Cats can continue this stride forward in their game at Arkansas.

What is the Difference?

Over the past few games I have been trying to figure out the difference between this year and last year's team. I have came to the conclusion that this year's squad does not have the team chemistry that last year's team had. Watching the highlights of John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson, and the rest of the 2009-2010 team, each of the players seemed to communicate and actually enjoy playing together. They were always smiling, laughing, and just having fun playing the game that we all love. The players of last year's team seemed to try their very best to compliment eachother and try to make every player on the team better. The tean this year, to me, seems to only care about their individual stats, and not only do they not seem to play well together, but it seems to me that they do not even like eachother. Without team chemistry, UK is going to continue to lose against team which have much less talent and athleticism than the Cats do. Something needs to change.

Ridiculous!

Kentucky's performance on the basketball court is beginning to disgust me. We seem to only give a full effort when we absolutely have to. If we are trailing in a game, we will fight to come back but as soon as UK regains the lead or gets within a few points they stop playing hard and get lazy again. It is ridiculous. Calapari needs to get his team to play for a full 40 minutes or it is going to be a short  NCAA tournament for the Cats.

Bumpy Road

Recently, The Cats have been struggling to play together as a team and win games. As a fan, it was not easy watching Kentucky lose to Georgia and Alabama, which are teams that should not be on the same floor as Kentucky. Although UK has had a few tough losses, Calapari said that his team could still have a "special season" if his players can start playing to the best of their abilities.
All of this being said, UK will not be a successful team unless someone can teach Terrence Jones (Freshman) how to be a team player. He is an extremely athletic young player with all of the talent that anyone could ask for; however, he is extremely selfish. Jones ALWAYS looks to shoot before he looks to pass. If he does not have an open shot, he will generally throw up a crazy shot that he has no buisness taking, or he will attempt to drive to the lane. Calapari showed his disgust in Jones' decision-making skills by yelling some "bad words" at Terrence during the loss to Alabama.
The Cats are struggling now, but if the can come together and play solid team basketball, this season will turn around for Calapari and his team.