December 28, 2012
I guess I have to talk about the Kentucky-Louisville game

I’m loath to spend much time discussing tomorrow’s titanic struggle because I’m so down on Kentucky’s chances to win the game. My impressions of Kentucky basketball this year are borne out of the realization that last year’s NCAA Tournament winning team may have been one of the best basketball teams OF ALL TIME, but, try as I might, I can’t help but compare this team to that one. A fairer comparison is the 2010-2011 Cats, but I struggle with it.

Expectations for Kentucky basketball are always high, and are even higher now that Calipari turns in a top 3 recruiting class every year and hasn’t done worse than an Elite 8 appearance since he got to Lexington. I, we, am/are spoiled by success. This year’s recruiting class is excellent. Let me say that again: excellent. They’re obscenely talented, tall, and long. But, unlike last year’s team, their mental faculties may not be quite as developed. It seems like they struggle to apply lessons taught in practice to games, though there’s been marked improvement in that department since the Morehead State game. They settle on offensive possessions when they can’t seem to figure out a defense. They don’t fight hard for every loose ball or rebound. They’re slow on defensive rotations in the post.

I said it earlier this year, though: come March, this team will be really, really tough. But they’re still not very good now. And on the other side of the floor on Saturday, they’re playing a pretty talented Louisville team that is long on a few things Kentucky lacks: depth, experience, and mental toughness. It pains me to say it, but Louisville, right now anyway, is better than Kentucky. They’re merciless on defense, and, frankly, a bit better than I expected on offense. Man to man, Peyton Siva is probably better than Ryan Harrow; Russ Smith isn’t as talented but is probably craftier than Archie Goodwin; Luke Hancock and Kyle Wiltjer kind of cancel each other out even if Kyle is probably more talented; Chane Behanan is meaner if smaller than Alex Poythress; and Georgui Dieng is probably equal to Nerlens Noel, and more effective on offense. Montrezl Harrell is a scary sub off the bench, and the only way Poythress handles either him or Behanan is if someone tells him both of those guys slept with his twin sister or something, i.e., he needs to play pissed off, with a chip on his shoulder.

Louisville is the better team on paper, and probably on tape, too. Kentucky is improving, but I’m pretty sure they lose this game DAMMIT. Go Cats.

11:24am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwaNHYlV
Filed under: kentucky basketball louisville kentucky College Basketball 
November 29, 2012
Sporting goings on in the Commonwealth

This has probably been the biggest news week in Louisville and the rest of the counties for a long long time. Kentucky hires a new football coach, Mark Stoops. I’m pleasantly excited about what he may bring to the table for UK football. Louisville is the newest member of the ACC. That, in all honesty, is really great for UofL. Western Kentucky is now in the CUSA. Whatever, I guess that’s okay.

What does this all mean? It means Kentucky fans at least have a hope of seeing improvements in football; maybe even a commitment to the sport unseen since they actually started the program if we’re lucky. That’s big. Louisville is finally joining a real athletic conference, which you can’t help but be impressed with. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited at the prospect of Duke and North Carolina coming to town every year to play at the Chicken Palace. I’m hopeful that it might inspire Louisville to add men’s lacrosse, given the sport’s popularity here in Jefferson County and the history and tradition of the ACC’s programs (namely, UVA, Duke, and UNC, and soon to include Syracuse). I think that would be super cool and I’d actually go watch games.

Western improved its position, I guess, as all of the sudden the Sun Belt is imploding on itself, but I can’t imagine CUSA is really much of a step up. Hopefully they dominate, that would be fun.

It’s been a whirlwind week around here for sports, and I think that’s a good thing.

This was a poorly written post, sorry. I have a new infant and a two year old and I can barely complete a sentence. Whatever. Go Cats.

10:53am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwYIBna0
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Kentucky louisville college 
October 30, 2012
2012-13 College Basketball Season Preview

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way actually qualified to talk about most teams in college basketball because I have paid approximately zero attention to teams outside of the top 10 and/or the SEC. This makes me about as qualified as any idiot writing a column in your local newspaper.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the 12-13 season in general. The consensus is that, after last year’s NBA draft, a lot of the talent got sucked out of the top of college basketball. That’s obviously true at Kentucky and North Carolina, less so at UofL, IU, and sort of Duke. Most of the higher-ranked teams are in that position because they managed to keep most of their roster from last year. However, as we well know, experienced players don’t always mean good teams.

The B1G figures to be a strong league (Ohio State, Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan are ranked), as does the ACC (Duke, UNC, Florida State, NC State). The Pac-12 is an unknown commodity outside of UCLA. The SEC has two or three teams that expect to do well in Kentucky, Florida, and maybe Tennessee, while Vandy is in for an off year after losing their entire starting lineup to graduation and the draft. The Big East features UofL this year, but usually omnipresent UConn is a question mark, as is Syracuse with Brandon Triche manning the point this year after being beat out for the starting role last season.

TO THE NOTABLE TEAMS, BARTMAN:

1. Indiana

Adjusted O/D Numbers from last season: 119 pts per 100 poss (#1) on offense, allowed 91.6 (15th)

Who’s coming back: IU has 17 guys on its roster, which is a lot, but the notable returnees are Will Sheehey, Cody Zeller, Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls, Victor Oladipo, and Derek Elston.

Who’s new: Yogi Ferrell, Hanner Mosquera-Perea, Jeremy Hollowell, and Peter Jurkin, none of whom I have ever heard of before. Ferrell is a top 20 guy and a point guard, where the Hoosiers needed help because Hulls can’t guard man to man particularly well.

What does it all mean, Basil? IU is ranked Number One for a pretty good reason: they return most of their impact players from a team that got to the Elite Eight last year, and brought in a top 5 recruiting class. However, they didn’t play great in the B1G, which is loaded this season. I don’t think IU will be able to stay in the top 5 come conference time, but they are definitely going to have an impact.

2. Louisville

Adjusted O/D Numbers from last season: 109.9 pts per 100 poss (34th) on offense, allowed 88.4 (2nd)

Who’s coming back: All Big East PG Peyton Siva, Gorgui Dieng, Chane Behanan, Russ Smith, Wayne Blackshear, blunt/sharpshooter Mike Marra, Steven Van Trease

Who’s new: Logan Baumann, Montrezl Harrell, Luke Hancock (Jr. transfer), Mangok Mathiang. Harrell was a good get, but otherwise the freshman class did not crack the Rivals Top 30.

What does it all mean, Basil? UofL returns most of its roster from its Final Four team last year, sans senior Chris Smith and leading points scorer Kyle Kuric. Points, however, were at a premium for the Cards, as they seemingly would go hours without a basket in 2011-12. Luke Hancock figures to help fill that void, along with a healthy Wayne Blackshear. This is going to be a really good team, make no mistake, but the Cards need to learn to create their own shots and otherwise score more efficiently come tournament time.

3. Kentucky

Adjusted O/D Numbers from last season: 117.4 pts per 100 poss (#2) on offense, allowed 89.3 (5th)

Who’s coming back: Jarrod Polson, Jon Hood, Brian Long, Sam Malone, Twany Beckham, Ryan Harrow (Jr. transfer). There’s a reason you’ve probably never heard of any of these kids.

Who’s new: EVERYBODY: Nerlens Noel, Archie Goodwin, Willie Cauley-Stein, Julis Mays (Sr. transfer), Alex Poythress; good for the #1 recruiting class in the country minus Mays.

What does it all mean, Basil? I have no idea. This team will probably look terrible in November and most of December, and it will probably lose its first two games - against Maryland and Duke, mind you, but still. However, I’ve never seen anyone get a bunch of young kids to play like a team like Calipari has, thus the high expectations for this team. They’ll probably take their lumps, but the ceiling is really high for these kids in March.

4. Ohio State

Adjusted O/D Numbers from last season: 114.6 pts per 100 poss (#6) on offense, allowed 87.9 (1st)

Who’s coming back: Aaron Craft (again), Deshaun Thomas, Evan Ravenel, Lenzell Smith, Jr.

Who’s new: Amadeo Della Valle. Yep. That’s it.

What does it all mean, Basil? I’m biased against B1G basketball because, like B1G football, it’s slow paced, beat the crap out of the other team under the basket, limit possessions, no fun to watch basketball. That said, Ohio State was very good last year and I was surprised they didn’t make it past Kansas, frankly. I think they’ll have similar success this year, even with the loss of Jared Sullinger to the draft, because, outside of Cody Zeller, there really aren’t that many uber talented big men in the league. They bring back a lot of experience, that much is sure, and are going to be in the conversation for a one seed.

5. Michigan

Adjusted O/D Numbers from last season: 114.5 pts per 100 poss (#7) on offense, allowed 93.1 (25th)

Who’s coming back: Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Jordan Morgan, Stu Douglass, Zack Novak, Evan Smotrcyz or something

Who’s new: Michigan brought in a reallllly good freshman class, 7th in the country, including Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson III (look out Bristol Palin), Nick Stauskas, and awesomely named Spike Albrecht.

What does it all mean, Basil? Michigan was maddeningly inconsistent last year. Fun to watch, which is odd for B1G basketball, but they couldn’t defend anybody. That’s about all I know about them: they were pretty good, and, unlike most of the other top teams, added a really good class to get them into the top 5. Not confident they’ll be sticking around, but I think they will make some noise in the league for sure.

Other teams of note that I won’t do the whole diagnosis on because man it’s exhausting:

Duke returns a bunch of smart and talented white guys, but losing slasher/scorer Austin Rivers will make their top 5 offense from a year ago a little less efficient. Coach K didn’t assemble a top 30 recruiting class, but did pick up Amile Jefferson and Rasheed Sulaimon, top 5 recruits for their respective positions. This is Duke, they’ll be annoyingly good.

NC State signed a very good recruiting class, something Mark Gottfried was good at at Alabama, too. Problem was, he was a terrible coach. That said, they made some noise in the ACC last year, and with this talented recruiting class, the Wolfpack should be able to stay in the conversation around the top 10 all year.

Florida lost Bradley Beal, but they still have some great pieces in Kenny Boynton, Dan Murphy, and Patric Young. This was a strange team last year, losing some league games it shouldn’t have, but playing very well in the NCAA.

Kansas loses most of its scoring with Thomas Robinson and Tyshaun Taylor, but Jeff Withey surprised a lot of people with his skills around the basket last year, and Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson are solid, solid players. The Jayhawks also finally get to play a bunch of guys who were suspended for a variety of reasons last season, along with the addition of a strong recruiting class. They’re likely to win the Big TwelveTen conference for the 9th straight time.

Syracuse: I don’t really care.

That’s it. Guh. Hope you enjoyed it. YAY BASKETBALL IS HERE I HATE FOOTBALL SO MUCH RIGHT NOW.

1:40pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwWGw044
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: College Basketball kentucky florida duke louisville indiana Kansas syracuse michigan Ohio State 
June 26, 2012
Oh, FUN.

Oh, FUN.

9:05am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwO9CkyX
Filed under: louisville 
June 22, 2012
That’s an ambitious tip jar.

That’s an ambitious tip jar.

11:38am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwNuqPLY
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: louisville 
May 14, 2012
I’ve been watching the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship on ESPNU the last couple days and it sort of piqued my interest in the game again. I haven’t played since I was 18, but I really liked the game. I’d never actually seen it played in real life or anything, and I honestly still haven’t. That changed today when, after sort of fooling around college lacrosse blogs, I found out inadvertently that Bellarmine has a D-I lacrosse team! I had no idea, which is hilarious. They’re not very good, which is probably why I didn’t know it existed. Bellarmine’s a small catholic university in the Highlands area of Louisville where I spent a lot of time studying for the bar exam. It’s got a really good D-2 basketball program, but that’s about all I know about BU. However, count me in for at least a game or two in the 2013 lacrosse season, that’ll be fun. Go Knights!

I’ve been watching the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship on ESPNU the last couple days and it sort of piqued my interest in the game again. I haven’t played since I was 18, but I really liked the game. I’d never actually seen it played in real life or anything, and I honestly still haven’t.

That changed today when, after sort of fooling around college lacrosse blogs, I found out inadvertently that Bellarmine has a D-I lacrosse team! I had no idea, which is hilarious. They’re not very good, which is probably why I didn’t know it existed. Bellarmine’s a small catholic university in the Highlands area of Louisville where I spent a lot of time studying for the bar exam. It’s got a really good D-2 basketball program, but that’s about all I know about BU. However, count me in for at least a game or two in the 2013 lacrosse season, that’ll be fun. Go Knights!

2:31pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwLTn3R8
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: louisville bellarmine lacrosse lax lax is a stupid acronym for lacrosse 
May 8, 2012
Vanderbilt and UofL play baseball in Nashville tonight. Winner gets a new bourbon barrel. Pretty cool; go Dores.

Vanderbilt and UofL play baseball in Nashville tonight. Winner gets a new bourbon barrel. Pretty cool; go Dores.

2:52pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwL6oP9f
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: bourbon Vanderbilt Kentucky tennessee louisville 
May 3, 2012
beneaththisbowlofstars: Ready to take Churchill Downs by Storm! (Taken with instagram) Louisville is great (mostly) year round, but April heading into May is my favorite time to be a Louisvillian because of the Derby. Is it an overblown spectacle centered around a horse race that most spectators don’t even see? Yes, and that’s proof that Louisville is perfectly able to take any old event and make a huge party out of it. I gamble a little on horses, and I’m interested in the race, but I like the Derby more just because the buzz around town is so electric during the two weeks of Derby Festival. You see all kinds of people around, drunken rednecks, giggly un-chaperoned high schoolers, prepsters in their pastels, hipsters, goths, they’re all in the same places doing the same things and having a good time doing it. I love Derby time. As for the race: it’s almost always impossible for me to handicap it. There are 20 entrants, they’re almost all very good, and the favorites usually have only raced five times or less so it’s tough to know how they’ll perform at a given distance on a given track. Bloodlines help, but often you can just throw that out the window after they’re loaded into the gate. My pick this year is Creative Cause, a colt sired by European legend Giant’s Causeway. It was honestly a coinflip for me between him and Gemologist, but I like the way Creative Cause ran in his past few races and I think he’s got the pedigree to knock it out of the park in ten furlongs. Others that I like are Daddy Long Legs (make him your longshot if you’re betting exotics) and Dullahan, winner of the Bluegrass Stakes at Keeneland. I know the rail is not where you want to be in the gate in this race, but if he gets a good break, Daddy Long Legs could make things interesting. Dullahan really impressed me in coming from behind to edge out Hansen, who failed to find another gear in the final furlong in that race. I’m avoiding Union Rags and Bodemeister, just because the favorite rarely wins the Run for the Roses and Union Rags hasn’t impressed against good competition since the Breeder’s Cup last fall. My pick for Oaks is (/pulls name out of hat) On Fire Baby, for no other reason than she’s a 4/1 favorite, has a great name, and drew the 1 post which is usually pretty good for Oaks. Obvs, none of my handicapping prowess will prove successful come Derby Day, and that’s the fun of it. Everyone in Louisville is a horseman during these two weeks; I at least can say I go to the track three or four times a year. Happy Derby!

beneaththisbowlofstars:

Ready to take Churchill Downs by Storm! (Taken with instagram)

Louisville is great (mostly) year round, but April heading into May is my favorite time to be a Louisvillian because of the Derby. Is it an overblown spectacle centered around a horse race that most spectators don’t even see? Yes, and that’s proof that Louisville is perfectly able to take any old event and make a huge party out of it. I gamble a little on horses, and I’m interested in the race, but I like the Derby more just because the buzz around town is so electric during the two weeks of Derby Festival. You see all kinds of people around, drunken rednecks, giggly un-chaperoned high schoolers, prepsters in their pastels, hipsters, goths, they’re all in the same places doing the same things and having a good time doing it. I love Derby time.

As for the race: it’s almost always impossible for me to handicap it. There are 20 entrants, they’re almost all very good, and the favorites usually have only raced five times or less so it’s tough to know how they’ll perform at a given distance on a given track. Bloodlines help, but often you can just throw that out the window after they’re loaded into the gate.

My pick this year is Creative Cause, a colt sired by European legend Giant’s Causeway. It was honestly a coinflip for me between him and Gemologist, but I like the way Creative Cause ran in his past few races and I think he’s got the pedigree to knock it out of the park in ten furlongs. Others that I like are Daddy Long Legs (make him your longshot if you’re betting exotics) and Dullahan, winner of the Bluegrass Stakes at Keeneland. I know the rail is not where you want to be in the gate in this race, but if he gets a good break, Daddy Long Legs could make things interesting. Dullahan really impressed me in coming from behind to edge out Hansen, who failed to find another gear in the final furlong in that race. I’m avoiding Union Rags and Bodemeister, just because the favorite rarely wins the Run for the Roses and Union Rags hasn’t impressed against good competition since the Breeder’s Cup last fall. My pick for Oaks is (/pulls name out of hat) On Fire Baby, for no other reason than she’s a 4/1 favorite, has a great name, and drew the 1 post which is usually pretty good for Oaks.

Obvs, none of my handicapping prowess will prove successful come Derby Day, and that’s the fun of it. Everyone in Louisville is a horseman during these two weeks; I at least can say I go to the track three or four times a year. Happy Derby!

1:33pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwKoqPf2
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: derby louisville Kentucky horse racing 
March 26, 2012
This is happening.

For the first time ever, Kentucky and Louisville are playing against each other in a Final Four. The intensity, emotion, and anticipation throughout the Commonwealth this week is already palpable. It was there the minute Louisville somehow managed to beat Florida on Saturday afternoon. It’s gonna be oppressive to the point of collapse from Friday until the tip on Saturday at 6:09 p.m. in New Orleans.

Let’s get one thing straight: Kentucky is the better team. Vegas thinks so, KenPom thinks so, and even the most delusional Cardinals fan thinks so. Kentucky is far more talented at every position, except point guard, which may be a wash. Kentucky is favored to win, and it should be. Calipari is right when he says most of the players aren’t really affected by the in-state rivalry or know what it means because they’re from places like Oregon, Chicago, New Jersey. When Anthony Davis says “they’re just the next team,” he probably means that.

But for me, I might just die. I know Kentucky is better, but I also know the better team doesn’t always win the game. I know Louisville’s trip to the Final Four, its first in seven years, was totally improbable. I thought they’d lose their second game in the Big East Tournament, and was sure they wouldn’t survive the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Yet here we are. Of the four remaining teams in the tournament, Louisville is the worst one - and that’s borne out of statistics, not my distaste for UofL. Their offense is terrible. I mean, it’s not even in the top 100 in efficiency. The Cards have struggled to score all season long against average teams, much less a top 10 defense like Kentucky’s. Their defense is swarming, but Kentucky’s offense, in this tournament especially, is absolutely staggering. The Cats, in their four games this tournament, have posted efficiency ratings of 117 (WKU), 132 (ISU), 142 (IU), and 117 (BAY). The defense hasn’t been quite as good, but with an offensively challenged (and yes, UofL is offensively challenged) team like the Cards, that should be okay.

Really, Kentucky got a break here. Which is why if the Cats lose on Saturday, there won’t be a fence high enough to keep me from jumping off the Clark Memorial Bridge. (Kidding, I won’t do that, but I probably will dig a hole somewhere and lie in it for a while.) Go Cats.

10:40am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwIbLmD1
(Notes: 9)
  
Filed under: Kentucky Louisville college basketball kentucky basketball NCAAT 
December 30, 2011

stormingthefloor:

“KF: We got Knight, we got Gilchrist comin’, we got this guy from Europe who picked Cal and the Cats over Phil Jackson and the Bulls.”

—

A Kentucky Basketball Fan Talks Recruiting - Card Chronicle

Okay, that’s funny.

9:31am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZgqfcwD-f60U
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: kentucky basketball dream game louisville 
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