Vicky Graff Photo
Has there ever been a more important March?
It is the middle of February and over the past six weeks the pendulum for Kentucky basketball has been swinging back and forth. The Cats have gone from the possibility of being a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament to the possibility of being sent to Spokane for the first round and even a remote possibility the Cats do not make the tournament.
I think the only certainty is that the Cats will be playing on Thursday in the SEC Tournament.
While the statement “nothing matters until March” has some truth, what happens in January and February determines your path to the championship.
The Cats travel to Auburn, LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi State and host Alabama, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt to finish out the season. Normally Vanderbilt would be an automatic win. However last year the Commodores beat Kentucky at home and a week later knocked UK out in the first game of the SEC tournament. Nothing is a given with Kentucky basketball anymore.
This team has shooters, bigs, and veterans. This team has a Kentucky kid with Kentucky basketball DNA on both sides. This team has a flashy kid that can cause the crowd to cheer and cringe within a 15-second time frame. This team has a kid that left his country to come be a part of the BBN.
Yet this team has not developed even though all the pieces see to be in place.
I honestly feel sorry for the players. They are good kids. They came to Kentucky for the experience and all the accolades. I am sure their expectations were high. The Rupp Arena crowd booing coach John Calipari was not on that list I am sure.
So how important is March?
Lose in the first round of the NCAA and the fan base will check out. Social media will explode and it will be one of the longest off-seasons in the history of UK Basketball.
Make it to the Sweet Sixteen and the chatter will continue. Kentucky plays for championships not to make it to the round of 16.
An appearance in the Elite Eight would calm the fan base. There would still be a percentage calling for a coaching change but at least the backlash would be tolerable.
The future of Kentucky basketball will be determined in March. The results could be rewarding or devastating depending on the outcome.
It is sad that Kentucky has reached this crossroads … but here we are.
22 Responses
❤️💙🏀💙 GO BIG BLUE 💙🏀💙❤️
Nothing truer ever written–the crossroads is here–it begins tomorrow at AUB and continues through the remaining games–there is still room and time to improve, and the chance to get a few quality wins–the remaining games and amount of wins will determine NCAA tournament positioning, which, more than anything else, will determine where this team finishes in the tournament. It begins tomorrow…….
Beginning of the end starts tomorrow.
Can’t hang a banner in the rafters just by having a number 1 recruiting class.
Truth
Tina doesn’t pull punches James
I agree with everything you said, but I think we have a coach that does not value the January and February games like he should. We know for a fact he doesn’t value the SEC tournament. He likes to state the that his teams are built for March, but how does he think that happens if not for the games before March?
OdlFan I think Cal wants to win. Just doing that has been hard for many, many reasons
He wants to put these kids in the NBA PERIOD
He doesn’t care about the program. He doesn’t care about the fans. He doesn’t care about winning.
Why can’t a reasonable thinking person see this?!
BINGO……
Tina does not mince words James
He does like doing that WildWest
The rest of February is what will do in this team.
Game at Auburn will tell us a lot
this team revealed its character in November. Nothing has changed since then. Nothing will change between now and the end of the line, which is all probability, will occur the first weekend of the tournament yet again.
Standards have been successfully lowered by the fraud and all his minions.
7 games left, 3-4. two more losses in the post season, and end with 12 losses.
Over the next 5 weeks, we will here an endless litany of excuses from the fraud and his minions. These will be the same excuses we have been force fed for years by this fraud and his minions.
Saturday’s game, win or lose, will make no difference in the final outcome, only change the total number of losses by 1.
You did warn us Professor and no one wanted to listen then
It depends on what is considered rewarding. My idea of rewarding is the national championship. The reason I say what I said is , I’m a pittsburgh steeler fan and our new standard is that the head coach not have a losing season not winning super bowls. So I measure success on championships . Anything less is just less.
That is a tough standard Goose but I get it
We have become irrelevant! Sorry that is the state of our program.
What are the chances UK loses in the NCAA Tourney to a lower seeded team?
At this point, I see UK as a 6 or 7 seed. As a 6, UK would face an 11 seed, and as a 7 the opponent would be a 10 seed.
A 10 and 11 seed will be teams like Mississippi St., SMU, Utah, and Butler.
I believe UK would be favored by 3 to 5 points on a neutral court. The probability of winning would be about 60-40.
Survive round 1 and the 2nd round would be 6 v 3 or 7 v 2. The 2 and 3 seeds are going to be teams like Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Baylor, North Carolina, and Baylor.
I believe UK would be the dog by about 6 to 8 points on a neutral court. The probability of winning would be about 30-70, maybe lower.
The only time UK can lose to a team with a worse seed is in the first round.