ironman02;999730 wrote:Now that I'm finally on my computer instead of my phone, and I've had time to recover from the loss, I'd like to congratulate the Kentucky fans. Your team played an outstanding game today. Obviously I hated to see Carolina lose, and I hate losing to any of the "blue bloods", but UK has an outstanding team that will continue to get better as they gain more experience.
Kidd-Gilchrest played a great game. He gave UK a lot of energy, played very well defensively, and made some big plays on the offensive end when they needed them most. Doron Lamb and Darius Miller also stepped up at opportune times to make sure that UK held onto the lead late in the game. Jones was a beast in the first half, and even though he didn't do much in the second half, you can see how much he has improved since last season. Davis seemed to struggle on the offensive end somewhat, but I think that had to do with Zeller's defense, which was about the only positive from him today. Teague was able to get into the lane a lot, especially in the second half, and create a lot of opportunities for his teammates. Calipari has a talented bunch of guys, and as I said before, they have the potential to be great by the time March/April rolls around.
For the most part, I was pleased with Carolina today. I thought they were good enough defensively to win the game, which is saying a lot against a team the caliber of Kentucky, and I also thought they shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter. With Barnes, Hairston, and Bullock, I hope the Heels finally have found the outside game that they have been lacking. Henson played pretty well on the offensive end, especially in the first half. He showed that he has certainly improved his game from last season, but now he just needs to gain some consistency. Zeller was okay at times today, but I can't even remember how many times he turned the ball over. Davis and the other Kentucky guys are very tough defensively, but Zeller just couldn't hang onto the ball for anything, and it cost Carolina dearly at the most important point of the game. Hairston and Bullock, if they continue to improve, are going to be deadly from the perimeter, and hopefully McAdoo starts producing as the college game starts to slow down for him.
Other than Ohio State, I don't think there are any other teams as good as Carolina and Kentucky. That's not to say that there aren't other teams capable of winning it all, but when those three teams actually play their "A" game, I don't think anyone can beat them. I hope to see the Heels and Cats go at it again in March or April. Carolina has a lot of room for improvement, and while not as young as UK, they're still a young team at several positions. They'll get better, I'm sure. I do think Kentucky's ceiling may be higher than that of Carolina, but I still think that if they were to play again, it would be a very evenly matched game, especially on a neutral court.
The Heels now have seven straight home games before also playing their first two ACC games in the Dean Dome. They need to take care of business, avoid any other surprises (like UNLV), and get ready for conference play. Obviously I was hoping that they would be sitting at 8-0 right now, but there's certainly no shame in losing to #1 Kentucky at Rupp. This game will pay dividends down the road. Time to move on and get better.
tl;dr
Kidding as I did read it.
Pretty much dead on...and this from a UK Fan. We just have to remember it's still early. March is a long ways down the road.