Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Observations Following the UK Loss

Let me just get a jump on what everyone else is going to be saying.

That was quick.

So UK barely had the No. 1 position, what, 36 hours before a South Carolina team that played like its life was on the line exposed the youthful Wildcats as, um...youthful. 

The good news: DeMarcus Cousins was once again a behemoth and had a typically awesome game. The bad: Just about everything else. I'm not going to compare stats, since these are just my observations.

1. Where was Patrick Patterson? I was surprised that he was such a non-factor offensively, especially since he spoke as if he wanted some payback for South Carolina's sweep last season. I expected him to assert his will under the hoop as usual, but he didn't seem to play with the same intensity I have seen all season. He came alive somewhat later in the second half, but it was too late for the Wildcats.

2. Downey is a great player, but he wasn't so much the deciding factor as the role players like Raley-Ross and Muldrow, who took up the challenge and played above themselves. I figured Downey was good for his average, though I held out hope that the Cats would be able to shut him down, a la Rotnei Clarke. 

3. UK did not win enough of the 50/50 balls. I thought they fought hard for them, but for whatever reason USC came up with most of them. Also felt the defensive rebounding left a lot to be desired. 

4. The Wildcat players at the three position have to be able to score more points. The Miller/Dodson/Liggins/Harris four-headed monster needs to be able to contribute four to five ppg apiece.

5. Just too many wasted opportunities. Missed layups. Missed dunks. Good defensive efforts that somehow result in the other team getting a score. Things like that happen sometimes.

6. I'm not about to make excuses, and I absolutely want to give South Carolina credit for the most important win in their history, but I think the team may have been overwhelmed a little with the events of the day, what with President Obama calling and everything. Darn ol' President.

One of the usual criticisms of the UK fan is that we take every game too seriously, as if that's remotely possible. The celebrated story is of the radio show caller who, in 1998, told Tubby Smith, "I haven't given up on this team yet," after the second loss of a 32-4 championship season. I'm not quite that bad. 

Besides, if we have been listening, we have heard Coach Cal warn us that this was liable to happen if UK didn't take care of business, which frankly, they didn't. My only concern is how this young team reacts after a loss. I expect them to rebound quickly, but only the next few games will tell.

The lesson that we can take away from this is that it would be hard for even a veteran team to go undefeated in today's college basketball world, and this should in no way take away from the fact that a team with three freshman starters, with another freshman first off the bench, was undefeated longer than every other team in the nation. That's not too shabby. 

There still is quite a lot of season left. I like Kentucky's chances to become reacquainted with the paramount spot in the polls real soon.