It wasn't that long ago we were beating UK

[mountaineers8893]

to get to the final four. There was an interesting piece I read the other day (sorry, no link) about how John Wall and D. Cousins and Favors were talking about how they think they were better than this year's UK team, and that everyone knows they were better.

With John Wall being one the NBA's elite PGs, Cousins being an All-Star as well, they may in fact be right. Even though Kentucky has a roster full of future pros, I don't know if they have 2 all-stars.

A good question though, is "is this year's WVU team better than 2010's?".. So far, I'd say no. Not better, but maybe harder to beat for teams who aren't prepared against our press, or who aren't great handling the ball.

We definitely have a better chance than what the majority of talking heads are giving us.

 

[High St. 4 life]

you don't understand we have NO chance against this team they are the greatest thing ever!!!

 

[bamaEER]

This is certainly the best team since that Da'sean Butler team....

But I don't think this team has the offense we had back then, but we're young. Maybe next year.

 

[STEVEGRO50]

Originally posted by mountaineers8893:
to get to the final four. There was an interesting piece I read the other day (sorry, no link) about how John Wall and D. Cousins and Favors were talking about how they think they were better than this year's UK team, and that everyone knows they were better.

With John Wall being one the NBA's elite PGs, Cousins being an All-Star as well, they may in fact be right. Even though Kentucky has a roster full of future pros, I don't know if they have 2 all-stars.

A good question though, is "is this year's WVU team better than 2010's?".. So far, I'd say no. Not better, but maybe harder to beat for teams who aren't prepared against our press, or who aren't great handling the ball.

We definitely have a better chance than what the majority of talking heads are giving us.

2 Things

1...You don't shoot as well as that team did
2...We have better 3 point shooters that we did back then

So it's not at all like that situation.. Besides that WV team should have been a 1 seed, you cant say the sane for this one.

 

[mountaineers8893]

Re: This is certainly the best team since that Da'sean Butler team....


Our halfcourt and shooting in general leave a lot to be desired. That 2010 team was loaded. I think this team is deeper though, and I think having Staten and Browne's senior leadership offset the youngness factor. By now DWilliams is playing like an upperclassman. Having a senior backcourt is worth its weight in gold when you count on winning the turnover battle in order to get extra possessions.. and having a guy like Williams gobbling up boards on both ends is akin to having KJones on the offensive glass.

We will see how we do against the unbeatable wildcats, hopefully we will keep it within 20.

 

[STEVEGRO50]

Re: This is certainly the best team since that Da'sean Butler team....

Originally posted by mountaineers8893:

Our halfcourt and shooting in general leave a lot to be desired. That 2010 team was loaded. I think this team is deeper though, and I think having Staten and Browne's senior leadership offset the youngness factor. By now DWilliams is playing like an upperclassman. Having a senior backcourt is worth its weight in gold when you count on winning the turnover battle in order to get extra possessions.. and having a guy like Williams gobbling up boards on both ends is akin to having KJones on the offensive glass.

We will see how we do against the unbeatable wildcats, hopefully we will keep it within 20.

So far this year we have handled pressure....If we can do it against WV remains to be seen....However if we do then the fast pace plays into our strength.

 

[Imurlouisvilleman]

Any team facing KY should be confident (at least portray that) and I love the support you all show your team. You all just may pull it off and I wish you luck. HOWEVER...what have you seen that makes you believe it's a lock for WVU??? You aren't the first team to press KY...far from it. They have VERY good ball handlers contrary to what some are saying. Arkansas pressed...Cincy pressed and Louisville pressed. They crushed us all. Physical...NO PROBLEM. I was also noticing who WVU has lost to. Shared opponents were CRUSHED by UK (see KU and Texas). Anyway...I just had to say....nice to be supportive and confident, but lets not get crazy guys.

 

[TarHeelEer]

It's the constant pressure as well

If you noticed, Maryland was grabbing their knees with 8:00 to go. We were just getting warmed up. They went 10 deep.

 

[mountaineers8893]

I don't think anyone has said it was a lock for WVU... No knowledgable fan would put money on WVU with no handicap. I think most of the sentiment is that Kentucky is touted as one of the best, if not the best, college basketball teams ever, and most of us are excited to have a chance to be the ones who knock them off... WVU has played the underdog role very well throughout the years, especially in big games, in both basketball and football, so it's no longer in our nature to expect defeat even when overmatched.

The point spread is probably going to be like 13-15 points, I think more WVU fans expect to us to keep it close than the general public would.. if that's being overconfident then yeah, that's us.

 

[crazyqx83]

UK fan here. First of all, good luck on Thursday.

Secondly, that UK team in 2010 was extremely talented but wasn't very balanced. We started 2 mediocre shooting point guards, our small forward position was a committee of players that were average at that point in their career, a pf who had only played center his first two years in college and a dominant center who couldn't stay our of foul trouble.

They also had no tournament experience. When they saw a defense that they hadn't really faced in their lives, they kinda panicked and thought they had to throw up threes to beat it.

That was also a very underrated WVU team. When the brackets came out I thought it was kind of a joke that they weren't a #1 seed over duke. Duke had one fewer loss, but had 3 blowout losses to mediocre teams.

I think this Kentucky team is solidly better than the 2010 cats and it's also my humble opinion that WVU is not nearly as good as that year's mountaineers. I think you all would agree with me that when you aren't turning people over and grabbing a high percentage of rebounds that your offense and defense kinda struggle. Our team hasn't struggled against pressure all season. Our team high in turnovers is 18 and we have only turned it over more than 15 times 3 games all year. Our starting pg has just 2 turnovers in the past 5 games and is averaging a paltry1.6 on the year. Our backup only averages 1 turnover. Our other two guards only average 1 per game. when teams have tried to press us this year, weve basicalky just blown them off of the court (arkansas comes to mind, who typically force 16 turnovers a game - 13th in the ncaa). Obviously anything can happen in a one and out tournament, but it's my opinion that we should win the game this week.
This post was edited on 3/23 1:04 PM by crazyqx83

 

[crazyqx83]

Re: It's the constant pressure as well

Originally posted by TarHeelEer:
If you noticed, Maryland was grabbing their knees with 8:00 to go. We were just getting warmed up. They went 10 deep.

If you think you're going to wear us down, then I don't know what to tell you. We have consistently blown teams off the court from the 8 minute mark on. All of our players have basically played half of a season. Our leading minute guy has averaged 25.8 minutes this year. Yours, 31.6.

Cincy thought they'd use their depth and physical play to wear us down. That helped them a lot. We had a 5 point lead with 12 minutes to play and a 19 point lead by the 3 inute mark.

 

[HammEERman]

Re: It's the constant pressure as well


There's a reason why they play the game - good luck!

 

[TruWVblu]

Re: It's the constant pressure as well

It cannot be much fun being a fan of a team that can do absolutely nothing to surprise anyone every year except lose. I suppose some people need to be fans of teams like that. I personally love that WVU is competitive in absolutely every sport, with anyone they play but those really special years make it just that...special. Winning with players that cannot even really be called student athletes has to be a bit empty.

As for your confidence, you should have it. We have absolutely no chance. Of course, our football team had no chance in the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, etc and I am sure you know how those turned out. If you watch college football. Being a UK fan I'm not sure why you would. Our BB team had no chance against Wake Forest a few years back and against UK in 2010 and according to ESPN, against Maryland. I love it when we have no chance, and I think our players do as well. The pressure is all on UK .

And Cincy's style of play did them a world of good. They just simply didn't have the depth and firepower to pull it off. I would like to think we have a bit more of both than they had. We play a much more physical game with more depth than any team you have played thus far. Do we win, likely not, but just imagine if we do? The average UK fan's world will be over.

 

[the poster formerly known as kat]

Originally posted by crazyqx83:
UK fan here. First of all, good luck on Thursday.

Secondly, that UK team in 2010 was extremely talented but wasn't very balanced. We started 2 mediocre shooting point guards, our small forward position was a committee of players that were average at that point in their career, a pf who had only played center his first two years in college and a dominant center who couldn't stay our of foul trouble.

They also had no tournament experience. When they saw a defense that they hadn't really faced in their lives, they kinda panicked and thought they had to throw up threes to beat it.

That was also a very underrated WVU team. When the brackets came out I thought it was kind of a joke that they weren't a #1 seed over duke. Duke had one fewer loss, but had 3 blowout losses to mediocre teams.

I think this Kentucky team is solidly better than the 2010 cats and it's also my humble opinion that WVU is not nearly as good as that year's mountaineers. I think you all would agree with me that when you aren't turning people over and grabbing a high percentage of rebounds that your offense and defense kinda struggle. Our team hasn't struggled against pressure all season. Our team high in turnovers is 18 and we have only turned it over more than 15 times 3 games all year. Our starting pg has just 2 turnovers in the past 5 games and is averaging a paltry1.6 on the year. Our backup only averages 1 turnover. Our other two guards only average 1 per game. when teams have tried to press us this year, weve basicalky just blown them off of the court (arkansas comes to mind, who typically force 16 turnovers a game - 13th in the ncaa). Obviously anything can happen in a one and out tournament, but it's my opinion that we should win the game this week.

This post was edited on 3/23 1:04 PM by crazyqx83

That is a well reasoned, fact based post. And I agree with everything you said. Especially the part about "...anything can happen in a one and out tournament..."

Yea, it would take a minor miracle for WVU to win Thursday. Kentucky really IS that good. But miracles do happen. And the IS, afterall, why they play the games.

 

[STEVEGRO50]

Re: It's the constant pressure as well

Originally posted by TruWVblu:
It cannot be much fun being a fan of a team that can do absolutely nothing to surprise anyone every year except lose. I suppose some people need to be fans of teams like that. I personally love that WVU is competitive in absolutely every sport, with anyone they play but those really special years make it just that...special. Winning with players that cannot even really be called student athletes has to be a bit empty.

As for your confidence, you should have it. We have absolutely no chance. Of course, our football team had no chance in the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, etc and I am sure you know how those turned out. If you watch college football. Being a UK fan I'm not sure why you would. Our BB team had no chance against Wake Forest a few years back and against UK in 2010 and according to ESPN, against Maryland. I love it when we have no chance, and I think our players do as well. The pressure is all on UK .

And Cincy's style of play did them a world of good. They just simply didn't have the depth and firepower to pull it off. I would like to think we have a bit more of both than they had. We play a much more physical game with more depth than any team you have played thus far. Do we win, likely not, but just imagine if we do? The average UK fan's world will be over.

You know criticizing the team and players for having one and done is getting old. There isnt one player on our top 10 that Huggins wouldnt have on his team if he could. Also look at the roster again. There are more Upper Classmen than Freshman. So get your facts straight. And if any of your players could leave after 1 yr to be a first round pick....HE WOULD. So get over it. Try comparing the two teams based on how they play and not on when they will go pro.

 

[TruWVblu]

Re: It's the constant pressure as well

Again...UK is win at all cost and their fans are ok with it. Too bad you cannot get the same results from your football team. You may actually have a reason to watch UK sports for more than a couple of months each year.