Bleacher Report - Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

John Calipari, Young Kentucky Team Starting to Mesh

Jonathan Lintner — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:42:44 -0500

Kentucky’s defense was so bad against Sam Houston State, even the Wildcats found it funny.

So Head Coach John Calipari said Kentucky (4-0) responded Friday by learning how to defend the three, how to communicate on the court, and find what it’s like to play with a sense of urgency.

“We watched film of the three point shots from the Sam Houston game,” Calipari said. “We showed them the lack of communication and transition defense where we did not match up well. Some of it was almost hysterical, they were laughing at each other.”

A day later, the result was a Kentucky team that lived up to its billing.

The Wildcats knew they were bigger, stronger, and more talented than their first three opponents, but they waited until Saturday’s 92-63 win over Rider (2-2) to show it. In a game of massive Kentucky runs, the Wildcats outscored the Broncs 51-26 in the first half, never allowing Rider to have a say in the final result.

John Wall led Kentucky with his second straight 21-point performance and added 11 assists. Wall, an 18-year-old freshman, said his success has all to do with how he responded to Calipari’s criticisms.

Wall turned the ball over only twice Saturday. Coming into the Rider game, he was averaging 5.5 turnovers a game.

"We felt much better about today's game,” Wall said. “In practice we watched film and coach showed us where we were making mistakes. None of us have played under Coach Cal and we didn't know how he taught. We’re just learning from our mistakes and listening to what he's telling us.”

Calipari said Wall isn’t alone in being lost, four games into the season. He’s just another part of the first-year coach’s five-player recruiting class trying to adjust to college basketball.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, there wasn’t much time to learn before they were tested.

Miami of Ohio’s Nick Winbush pushed Kentucky into a one-possession game last Monday, setting a record for three-point field goals by an opponent in Rupp Arena with eight. Sam Houston State’s Corey Allmond set a new standard on Thursday night with 11 threes.

After fighting off some pesky opponents, implementing Calipari’s “dribble drive” offense was put on the back burner in favor of teaching youth to play defense.

“We talked about it and said to find your men early and keep your head up,” Calipari said. “This is old. John (Wall) is 18-years-old. I have a whole team of 18-year-olds. It is a learning process for us all.”

From the other side, Rider coach Tommy Dempsey said Kentucky’s defensive woes aren’t as bad as Calipari makes them out to be.

The Wildcats forced the Broncs into 31 percent field goal shooting for the game and 23.5 percent from three. Rider’s 63 points were the second lowest the team has scored this season.

“I think they took their foot off the gas here and there, but when they are engaged, start playing the big-time programs and start locking in, they are going to have a special team,” Dempsey said.

Senior guard Ramon Harris, however, is taking Calipari’s words to heart. Following the Wildcats’ 102-92 win over Sam Houston State, Calipari said that at this point, this is the worst defensive team he’s had since 1988.

Harris, one of three seniors on Kentucky’s roster to play under three different coaches, said the Wildcats have more work to do despite a good outing against Rider.

“We still made our mistakes, and like I said before, it's the beginning of the season and we have a lot of new guys and we are all still trying to learn a new coach’s system,” Harris said. “I think once the season goes on, we will become a better defensive team.”

Kentucky hosts Cleveland State next Tuesday.

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Kentucky's Opening Games Present Reality Check on Defense

Jonathan Lintner — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:59:09 -0500

The Kentucky Wildcats’ first two games may not have yielded the overwhelming victories Big Blue fans anticipated.

But if coach John Calipari truly expects Kentucky basketball to make a full recovery, two squeakers were just what the doctor ordered.

On Monday, Miami of Ohio finished 15-of-26 from three-point range. Their star forward, Nick Winbush, opened a perfect 6-of-6 from deep. The Wildcats found themselves down 36-18 to the visiting Redhawks—in Rupp Arena, no less.

Yet Kentucky fought back to win 72-70 on a last-second field goal by John Wall, the highly touted touch in Calipari’s first recruiting class in the Bluegrass State.

Calipari said he didn’t mind the 18-point first-half deficit, enduring his getting-to-know-you period with the Wildcats in the most trying fashion.

“I was ecstatic that we got down 18 points because I wanted to see what we were made of,” Calipari said. “When this team wouldn't go away, the thing I loved about my team was they would say, ‘We are not losing this. We are not losing this game.’”

The Wildcats visited the National Invitational Tournament last March in their second season under Head Coach Billy Gillispie. With Calipari, they inked the top recruiting class in college basketball—including Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Jon Hood, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton—and entered the season No. 4 in the nation.

Expectations are running high, but Calipari said some tight contests to start the season are good for keeping his players—and him—down to Earth.

“We needed this,” Calipari said on Monday. “When you are not in a situation coaching that is life or death and you are trying to get your team better, you can feel the way I was feeling out there. Yeah, I wanted to win the game. But I needed to learn.”

Thursday night’s 102-92 win over Sam Houston State didn’t go over as well with the coach, who said that right now this is “the worst defensive team that [he has] had since 1988.”

The Bearkats’ Corey Allmond broke former Kentucky player Tony Delk’s Rupp Arena three-point shooting record in his 37-point performance, once again shredding the nets on the Wildcats’ home court.

At halftime, Sam Houston state had recorded only two two-point field goals. The rest were threes.

The offense was there for Kentucky, but Calipari was less than high on his team’s defense after the game.

“They have no urgency defensively—none,” Calipari said. “There is not enough time in the day for me to teach all the habits that these guys need. I am going to try like heck.”

Without watching the tape, the players knew the Wildcats’ biggest problem defensively: communication.

“We have to talk,” Wall said. “The next couple teams we play can shoot threes. Rider can shoot threes better than [Sam Houston State], so we have to work on it. I'm not really concerned, but we're nowhere where need to be as an offensive team or a defensive team. They main thing we need to work on right now is our defense. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Kentucky hosts Rider this Saturday at 1 p.m. With less than two days to prepare, Calipari said he knows how much the Wildcats can improve between now and then is limited.

But according to Bledsoe, the players know where to start.

"Communication is a big problem,” Bledsoe said. “Ramon [Harris] did it and we have to start feeding off of him. Teams are going to come in a lot this season trying to go at John [Wall], and that's when everybody else has to step up and start making plays.

“You can't just let teams come in and break records like they did tonight. It definitely gets everybody's attention.”

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Kentucky Wildcats Get Win Despite Giving Up 92 Points

Rick Gillispie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:29:35 -0500

The Kentucky Wildcats raised their record to 3-0 with a 102-92 win over Sam Houston State. The Wildcats gave up 18 three-point shots by the Bearkats.

Kentucky had five players score in the game with all the players scoring 15 or more points. DeMarcus Cousins led the Wildcats with 27 points.

Thru three games now the Wildcats are giving up an average of 73 points a game. As the season unfolds the young Wildcats will need to drop this number to around 60 a game to contend with the best teams in the country.

Kentucky has the ability to score a bunch of points on every night but to win the National Title the defense will have to get better.

Kentucky will be back on the court Saturday against Rider.

For all the SEC news check out my blog .

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SEC Starting Out Slow With Bad Hiccups!

Rick Gillispie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:29:30 -0500

Coming off a year where you only had three teams earn a spot in the NCAA tournament the last thing the SEC wanted was a slow start.

But, a little over a week into the season and the conference already has five losses with four to lesser opponents.

Mississippi St., Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia have all lost this year.

Arkansas did lose to a quality opponent in Louisville, but when you lose by 30 that is unacceptable.

With loses to Rider, Missouri State, Cornell, and Wofford, and a close call against Miami(OH) for the team believed to win the league Kentucky this could be a very long season for the conference.

The Conference is sitting at 17-5 for the season so far with LSU leading the way with a 3-0 record.

Earlier in the season players are rusty and you are trying to get the players adjusted to playing with each other if you have a young team. With that said at no time should you lose to an inferior opponent.

The SEC needs at least six teams to go dancing this year to give the conference the emotional boost the need.

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