The Cat Daddy: November 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

Kentucky knocks off North Carolina, becomes new No. 1 in AP Top 25

Kentucky is back at No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Saint Louis is back in the Top 25 for the first time since 1993-94.

The Wildcats (6-0) replaced North Carolina, which had been No. 1 since the preseason poll, on Monday, receiving 46 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. The Tar Heels (5-1) dropped to fifth following their 90-80 loss to UNLV in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Ohio State (6-0) moved up from third to second and had 17 first-place votes, while Duke (7-0), which won the EA Sports Maui Invitational, jumped from sixth to third and had the other two No. 1 votes.

Syracuse, North Carolina, Louisville, Baylor, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Florida rounded out the top 10.

UNLV (7-0) used the win over North Carolina to move in at 18th. The Runnin' Rebels were ranked for four weeks last season.

Saint Louis (6-0), which beat Boston College, Villanova and Oklahoma to win the 76 Classic, moves in at No. 23, the Billikens' first time in the poll in almost two decades.

North Carolina is at Kentucky on Saturday, a matchup that would have had No. 1 facing No. 2.

Cats take over the #1 ranking

Kentucky is atop college basketball once again.

The Wildcats officially took over the No. 1 ranking in both the Associated Press Top 25 and ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll on Monday. North Carolina’s loss to UNLV on Saturday night, coupled with Kentucky’s impressive 6-0 start, paved the way for UK to claim the top spot.

It’s the second time in three years the Cats have been ranked No. 1 under John Calipari. It’s also the 19th season UK has been ranked No. 1 at some point during the year in the AP Top 25.

“This early in the season it’s nice but it’s not that significant,” Coach Cal said of the ranking. “Obviously, not everyone thinks that we’re the best team. Starting three freshmen and two sophomores, they may be right. I’ll be anxious to see how the team accepts the challenge this week.”

Kentucky beat out Ohio State and Duke for the top spot with 46 of the 65 first-place votes in the AP Top 25. The Cats collected 22 of the 31 first-place votes in the Coaches’ Poll.

Ohio State, Duke, Syracuse and North Carolina followed UK in the AP Top 25. Syracuse was ranked No. 3, ahead of No. 4 Duke, in the Coaches’ Poll.

Five Southeastern Conference teams are in both polls.

1. Kentucky (46)
2. Ohio St. (17)
3. Duke (2)
4. Syracuse
5. North Carolina
6. Louisville
7. Baylor
8. Connecticut
9. Wisconsin
10. Florida
11. Xavier
12. Alabama
13. Missouri
14. Michigan
15. Kansas
16. Marquette
17. Pittsburgh
18. UNLV
19. Gonzaga
20. Vanderbilt
21. Mississippi St.
22. Memphis
23. Saint Louis
24. California
25. Texas A&M

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Freshman Davis sparks Kentucky in blowout win over Marist

CBSSports.com wire reports
Nov. 11, 2011

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Terrence Jones said he worked hard to show he was a leader on the court this season for Kentucky. He's the reason the second-ranked Wildcats will have less free time off it.

Jones, a sophomore, came off the bench for eight points in Kentucky's 108-58 season-opening win over Marist on Friday night after the university said he was involved as a passenger in an early morning car accident.

Coach John Calipari said earlier in the day that he would institute a curfew for the Wildcats.

"I felt I was doing a great example on the court. I still believe that way," said Jones, who like the rest of his teammates will be forced to be back in their rooms at 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. "I take blame for being out that late, but I mean, it's just something that happened to cause all that."

Anthony Davis had 23 points and 10 rebounds to join Jones and Sam Bowie as the only freshmen in Kentucky history with 20-10 games in their debuts.

Davis attacked the rim in the opener, finishing 10 of 13 with eight dunks as Kentucky shrugged off a slow start with a dominant second half that turned a single-digit lead into a 50-point blowout in their first game of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament.

Fellow freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 15 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals in his Rupp Arena debut.

"If Michael wasn't out there and Anthony wasn't out there, we're down at half," Calipari said.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Meet AP the newest Cat!

The Rivalry starting to simmer already!

Five Star Alex Poythress pick KENTUCKY

Alex Poythress' decision has been quite suspenseful.

Early in the week the five-star prospect set Thursday as his decision day and since then the Clarksville (Tenn.) Northeast standout has kept everyone in the recruiting game guessing.

On Thursday afternoon Poythress made the call for Kentucky.

Poythress, a 6-foot-7 wing prospect, is Kentucky's third commitment of the 2012 recruiting class. He joins five-star recruit Archie Goodwin and four-star prospectWillie Cauley.

With Poythress' commitment, Kentucky jumps to No. 2 in Scout.com's 2012 recruiting class rankings. The Wildcats finished No. 1 in the past three recruiting class rankings.

Poythress ranks No. 16 overall in the 2012 class.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

John Calipari participated in a media conference call Wednesday for the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Tip-Off Tournament

John Calipari participated in a media conference call Wednesday for the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Tip-Off Tournament, which begins Friday with Kentucky’s regular-season opener against Marist. UK will then head to Uncasville, Conn., next weekend for two games before closing out the tournament at home on Nov. 23 against Radford.

Head coaches from all eight schools in the tournament were allotted 10 minutes of time to answer questions from the call’s mediator, Paul Lambert. Check out the summary of Coach Cal’s segment of the call.

Thoughts on Marist – Marist head coach Chuck Martin was an assistant to Calipari at Memphis, so the two are very familiar with each other. Cal thinks this may be the year Marist breaks through after a large turnover of seniors and a few transfers. “He’s doing a fine job,” Calipari said. “I know Chuck as a person, as a coach, as a recruiter and as a father and I have a lot of faith in him.”
On how the Tip-Off Tournament games will help the Cats – Coach talked about how important it is to have road games early in the season, especially for a young team. He said that sometimes teams that play nothing but home games in November find themselves in trouble once league play starts. It’s no coincidence that three of the Kentucky’s first four games are on the road. He mentioned that early road games go a long way in toughening a team up.
On Terrence Jones’ offseason improvement – Calipari basically summed up the key to Jones’ improvement in one word: change. He indicated that Jones worked hard to change his body this offseason, saying that he might be the best physically conditioned player on the team. He not only changed his body, but his mental approach to the game as well. “He’s got a competitive spirit, focus and concentration level that he didn’t have a year ago,” Calipari said. “He’s just way better. He’s not even the same guy in my opinion.”

TJ on the cover of SI at your local news stand soon!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

New York, New York

The Cat's face Marist on Friday night at Rupp. No one expects this to be a hugh challenge but it's the first regular season game. If the Cats take care of business as expected the focus with turn to the much anticipated clash with Kansas in New York on Nov 15th.

Here's a look toward Kansas and what awaits the Cat's in the Big Apple .

Kansas Starting Five

The starters are likely set with Tyshawn Taylor, Elijah Johnson, Thomas Robinson, Jeff Withey and Travis Releford expected to round out those five slots barring injury or someone else rising to the top.

If you had to pick one player that might have been a question mark in that group it would have to be Withey. Bill Self has never really shown a lot of confidence in the big man and he is a bit of a question mark headed into the season. But after last night I think a lot of those concerns have been answered. Yes Pittsburg State is undersized and a division II opponent, but Withey stepped up and put together a solid game. Kansas can go small with Kevin Young or Justin Welsey in the rotation if need be, but for the moment Withey looks to be a good choice.

In terms of minutes for the starting five, again you can look to last night for some indication of what that might look like. Last night Bill Self rode four of his five starters for 30+ minutes in the game. It's probably a safe bet to think that Taylor, Johnson and Robinson could be playing 30+ per game once things get rolling. Releford could very easily fall into that category as well due to his versatility and effort on the defensive end.

Front Court Rotation

That brings us to the remaining minutes in the front court. Withey hit 31 minutes last night but that might not be the norm for him throughout the year. It was interesting when discussing Withey after the game that Bill Self described him as a four along with Wesley and Young. The indication was that Robinson is the five for the Jayhawks and that the heavier rotation will exist at the four spot with Robinson expected to shoulder quite a bit of the load inside. Obviously minutes will fluctuate based on potential foul trouble but it's an early hint at the thinking of Self in terms of his inside rotation.

So underneath the basket you have a rotation that will primarily include Wesley and Young off the bench with Young also filling in at the three if Kansas goes big. Welsey can score from outside as well as rebound so at 6'8" he provides some flexibility at multiple spots just like Travis Releford.

Backcourt Rotation

Moving to the backcourt you have two players who provided a large chunk of minutes as starters last night, but both will likely come off the bench when we move to the regular season. Naadir Tharpe and Connor Teahan. Both showed some very positive things while playing 34 minutes a piece in the exhibition opener.

Tharpe was a little careless with the ball at times but it's early and he's adjusting. He also provided eight assists and twelve points which is very solid for a collegiate opener. Bill Self certainly prefers experience and someone he can trust, but Tharpe is coming into the program at a time where Self has no choice but to allow him to learn on the court and honestly that might not be a bad philosophy for Self to adopt going forward considering some of the struggles on the recruiting trail. Good players want to play and to some extent you have to allow them to learn while doing.

For Teahan's part he was the leader of the team in a lot of ways last night. He's the counter argument to my argument above stating that Self should let young players make mistakes. Teahan is following in the footsteps of the Christian Moody's and Brady Morningstar's of the world and providing a very efficient and productive experienced presence on the court. It's only an exhibition game so expectations need to stay in line with reality but Teahan certainly looks like a player who will be coming off the bench for meaningful minutes in what appears to be a five guard rotation early on.

Kentucky rips D-II Morehouse 125-40 in exhibition

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Terrence Jones scored 22 points for No. 2 Kentucky and the Wildcats' five starters made their first 26 shots to lead the Wildcats to a 125-40 exhibition victory over Division II Morehouse on Monday night.

The Wildcats went on separate runs of 10-0, 16-0 and 29-0 while forcing Morehouse into 18 first-half turnovers to take a 74-13 lead at halftime.

In one sequence, Marquis Teague flipped the ball off the backboard across the rim to Jones for a dunk. Kentucky followed moments later with four straight 3-pointers before coach John Calipari pulled most of his starters, who received a standing ovation.

Kentucky's largest margin of victory in a game that counted is 77 against Georgia in 1956. The Wildcats open their season on Friday night against Marist.

Cats make improvements in all areas.

Better start? More toughness? Stingier defense?

How about a performance that would have given NBA All-Stars a run for their money?

John Calipari asked for all three after his team’s first exhibition game against Transylvania. What he got Monday night in the final tune-up before the regular season was a performance that may never be matched again at Kentucky.

Ever.

The Wildcats not only answered the call of their head coach, they picked up the telephone, threw it against the wall and smashed it with a baseball bat. Playing like they had lost by 20 to Transy, UK beat Morehouse into submission Monday night, walloping the Maroon Tigers 125-40 in front of 20,194 fans at Rupp Arena.

“We were better,” Coach Cal said so nonchalantly you would have thought he was joking. “That’s what I was looking for.”

The 85-point win was the largest margin of victory in an exhibition game, shattering the previous record of 71 points in a 119-48 smacking of China in 1982.

Yahoo Runs the numbers on UK's Morehouse amazing game.

Poor Division II Morehouse College was on the receiving end of a 125-40 shellacking that in many ways was even more one-sided than the final score suggests. Here are 10 numbers that better tell the story of what presumably will be the biggest mismatch of the college basketball season:

1. TWENTY-SIX: The number of consecutive baskets Kentucky's five starters made to start the game before Marquis Teague snapped the streak when he missed a three-pointer with 14:07 left in the second half. The starters finished 31 of 34.

2. FIFTY-SEVEN: The margin with 4:55 left in the first half after a three-pointer from Teague increased Kentucky's lead to a ridiculous 63-6. At that point, the Wildcats were on pace to score 168 points.

3. EIGHTY-NINE: Kentucky's largest lead, achieved on a Darius Miller jumper that made the score 125-36 with 2:06 remaining.

4. SEVENTY-SEVEN: Kentucky's largest margin of victory in a regular season game, a feat the Wildcats achieved against Georgia in 1956. Had this game counted in the record books, Kentucky's 85-point margin would have broken that record.

5. SEVENTY-FIVE: Percentage of shots Kentucky made from the field in the first half.

6. SEVENTEEN: Percentage of shots Morehouse made from the field in the first half.

7. ONE: Kentucky player who failed to score. Walk-on Brian Long did not attempt a shot in seven minutes of second-half playing time. Fellow walk-on Sam Malone got into the scoring column with a layup with 3:31 to play.

8. SIXTY-EIGHT: Kentucky's margin when Shabazz Muhammad, the nation's No. 1 recruit, tweeted: "86-18 with 16 mins to go all I can sa is wowwwww lol !!!!" Muhammad will decide in the spring between Kentucky, UCLA, USC, UNLV and others.

9. TWENTY-NINE: Unanswered points scored by Kentucky in one seven minute stretch to increase its lead from 34-6 to 63-6. Incredibly enough, Morehouse only called timeout once during that run.

10: TWENTY-FOUR: The margin of Georgia's 74-50 exhibition victory over Morehouse in an exhibition game on Friday night. Does that mean Kentucky is 61 points better than the Bulldogs? Probably not, but we'll find out for sure during SEC play in January.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

UK tops Pomeroy's stat-based college basketball ratings

Kentucky tops the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings at the Pomeroy Statistical Genius Laboratory.

1. Kentucky
2. Ohio St.
3. North Carolina
4. Duke
5. Syracuse
6. Connecticut
7. Pittsburgh
8. Louisville
9. Vanderbilt
10. Wisconsin
11. Kansas
12. Florida
13. Temple
14. Missouri
15. Baylor
Read More on http://www.ukathletics.com/blog/

KSTV: Willie Cauley talks UK

Marquis Teague Post Game Transy

Coach Cal right about the need to improve.

Let’s get something out of the way: John Calipari’s Kentucky team defeated cross-town school Transylvania 93-57 Wednesday night before 21,024 fans at Rupp Arena. Following a sluggish start, UK won its first game of the year, easily averting a 100-year upset in the waiting to a Division III school with the help of Terrence Jones’ 22 points and 12 rebounds.

But despite nearly doubling up the Pioneers, Coach Cal maintained a work-in-progress mentality following his team’s first real dress rehearsal.

“We have a long way to go,” Calipari said. “I think everyone knows it. … The good news is everybody in this building saw it; anybody that watched on TV saw it. They also see we’re not tough enough.”

Hmmm, sound familiar? Rewind one week ago to the Blue-White Scrimmage.

“Everybody’s excited because you saw a lot of high-flying dunking, blocking, tipping,” Calipari said after that scoring barrage last week. “That doesn’t win.”

Maybe Coach Cal wasn’t just blowing smoke. Maybe it wasn’t just coach’s speak. Maybe he’s got a point.

After all, 230 combined points in a scrimmage is a ton of points in whatever way you choose to look at it. If you choose to view it from a defensive standpoint, as Calipari did after the scrimmage, one begins to understand that Kentucky, in spite of its gargantuan size, towering length and scorching speed, is far from defensively sound in the early going.

Freshman forward Anthony Davis (his injury was just a cramp) finished with eight blocks, including a volleyball spike into a Transy cheerleader’s face in the second half, but Kentucky’s perimeter defense allowed the Pioneers to bury 12 3-pointers, most of them coming early.

Cats roll past Transy

Head coach John Calipari’s instant reaction from his office at Rupp Arena following Kentucky’s 97-53 exhibition victory over Transylvania.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Terrence Jones ready to lead UK

The idea -- or maybe more accurately, the hope -- was to take the all-boy bundle of energy and tire him out.

Run him like you would a golden retriever puppy.

And so Ava Mashia would pack everything she could get her hands on -- football, basketball, tennis racket, baseball and bat -- and grab hold of her nephew and head to the park. They would play for hours, feasting on a sports smorgasbord where neither deference for your elders nor charity to a child was allowed.

"I never let him win, not once,'' Mashia said. "He wasn't going to win at anything until he earned it.''

Eventually Terrence Jones earned it, his aunt the first victim in a basketball ladder climb that took no prisoners, only wins, across the state of Oregon.

Now in his second season at Kentucky, Jones is hoping to do the same to the college game.

With yet another loaded freshman class, Kentucky always was going to be good this season. When Jones eschewed the NBA and elected to return for his sophomore season, most everyone agreed the Wildcats could be great. "I told Terrence, you look at those freshmen and you say, 'You guys are really good, but you aren't better than me,''' coach John Calipari said. "He's practicing that way. He's trying to say, 'Look, I went through this. I just went to the Final Four.'''

It is more than Jones' experience that will determine Kentucky's results; it's his maturity.