Kentucky junior Keion Brooks and his teammates fit together better this year than the team did last season according to Mike Pratt. (UK Athletics Photo)
UK Radio Network analyst Mike Pratt, a former Kentucky All-American, says the lack of preseason buzz for basketball this year is understandable and no cause for concern.
“There has been a hangover from last season. Fans have not lost faith but they still cannot comprehend last season. I do think a lot of fans are excited about what Cal did in the offseason, but don’t want to be fooled like they were last year,” Pratt said.
“Football buzz was always in August and September. If football stumbles early, talk turns to basketball. This football team had a little more juice. It was an attractive team to start the season with a new coordinator, new quarterback, new juice.”
So will there soon be more “juice” for this basketball season?
“A dead man would have more juice than we had last year,” Pratt joked. “Nobody was more disappointed with last season than (John) Calipari. He was torn up about the year. I think he took the necessary steps to get the train back on the track. I don’t know how far the train will go but I can assure you it will not be a year like last year.”
Pratt said the “pieces didn’t fit last year” for Calipari’s team and that it does not matter whose fault that was.
“Pieces that did not fit left,” Calipari said. “(Davion) Mintz stayed and he delivered last year. When you have a turnover in players, you either fix the problem or you don’t get it fixed no matter who the players are.
“You cannot judge this group against last year’s group except when they start playing. It sure looks to me like the pieces fit a lot better. I am not saying they will win a national championship. Who knows about that? There are a lot of good teams out there. I think it will be a dogfight to see who wins the championship but Kentucky has players to have a chance to do that this year.”
3 Responses
9-16
#49 (Pomeroy)
No Post Season
Anything will be an improvement over last year.
The question should not be whether this team will be better than Mike Pratt’s dead man, but what quality of play is necessary to put an end to the 6 year slide that culminated with 9-16, #49, and no post season play?
Will 21-10 with a 3rd place finish in the SEC be enough? I don’t think so!
Will an exit the first weekend of the NCAA tournament? I don’t think so!
Will a Sweet 16 exit in the Big Dance? I don’t think so!
Will a Final Four trip? Probably would do it for me.
Will it take #9? This is long overdue given the meltdown in 2015.
The bar for the UK basketball program has been set high. It was high before Calipari arrived. It remains high despite Calipari’s excuses.
As he said when he arrived, the BBN and this program measure itself with final four trips and the goal is national championships.
Therefore, if he wants to regain his credibility in leading this program, it is Final Four or bust.
Players 1st program evidently does not win national titles. I’m for the players but he’s turned NCAA roundball into a stepping stone to the NBA. As Mike would say "you gotta let the cake bake" other teams with seasoned veterans win championships. Look at teams like Baylor & Virginia. UofK will be better this year and they’ll gain alot of experience against the parity in the SEC.
Most of these guys coming in know they won’t want to be around for more than 2 years barring injury. Strength/conditioning coach will have his hands full.
Boston was a HUGE bust. So we’re all the departed players(minus Clarke). But even Clarke being hurt almost the entire season didn’t sit well with BBN
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