The Goat Pen

I'll flip it around and say that if Davis stayed for 4 years, he'd be dancing with comparisons to Timmy. He's still just a baby, with so much he can improve on.

I agree, but I suspect he'll improve in the league. He's no Brandan Wright...

Oh, no doubt. I'm just saying that talking Camby is most likely seriously selling his potential short.

Our game ended appropriately, considering Marshall's injury, and really, considering the season as a whole. We clearly were not the dominant team that many, including myself, thought we might be before the season started. It was almost like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I even thought that shoe was the FSU debacle. But it didn't turn out that way, somehow the other shoe didn't drop and we actually got better, culminating, IMO, with the destruction of Dook in the regular season final. The team had shown some signs that it could play like that on several occasions, but they finally put it all together. But then when Marshall went down, the other shoe finally did drop, although we (as fans) were kept hoping with all the reports that Marshall "might" be able to play. We almost got beat by Ohio, but played great in OT and put them away. We obviously learned something in that game b/c we came out and played pretty damn good for 30+ minutes (and very damn good for 20) against KU. But the last 5 minutes were pretty much an encapsulation of all the frustrating aspects of the entire season. Shots would not fall, the other team made plays and we couldn't get anything going. I think we'd be playing next Saturday if Marshall hadn't gotten hurt, but who knows? All in all, not a bad season, but compared to expectations (including those of the players and coaches), it has to be considered a disappointment, even factoring in the loss of Marshall (which was obviously the biggest disappointment of all)...

I agree, Bklyn, and I was also agreeing with your comparison of Davis to Duncan if he stayed 4 years (easily). I just think Davis is the type of player who will improve in the NBA maybe even more than if he stayed in college. Kinda like Durant (not comparing Davis's game to Durant's, just saying that they are both clearly NBA caliber players in a way that, say, Brandan Wright is not, Wright being an example of a guy (there are plenty of others) who would've benefited much more with a couple of more years of college play rather than going to the pros before he was ready and thereby squelching his chances for improvement)...

I've been thinking of this passage from Blood Meridian all week in light of Marshall's injury, this weekend being "the last hour we had". Sadly, in our case, the cloud passed directly over the sun and blotted it out completely...

"We had I would suppose an hour. We watched the savages and
we watched the judge's foul matrix drying on the rocks and we
watched a cloud that was making for the sun. One by one we
give up watchin the rocks or the savages either one, for the
cloud did look to be dead set for the sun and it would of took
the better part of an hour to have crossed it and that was
the last hour we had. Well, the judge was sittin making
entries in his little book and he saw the cloud same as
every other man and he put down the book and watched it and
we did all. No one spoke. There was none to curse and none
to pray, we just watched. And that cloud just cut the corner
from the sun and passed on and there was no shadow fell upon
us and the judge took up his ledger and went on with his
entries as before."

Vintage Roy from the post game presser:

"But I can't fault my team for trying. My gosh, the little rascal sitting beside of me, Stilman, just competed his rear end off. It wasn't smooth for him because it's hard all of a sudden to be thrust into this role, three practices before this regional. But, boy, he did some really good things and I just admire him and admire what he did and admire how he competed. And you look down there and he played 28 minutes today and 32 yesterday, that's 60 minutes. And the little rascal had zero turnovers and hadn't been in this position all year. "

hedge wrote:Vintage Roy from the post game presser:

"But I can't fault my team for trying. My gosh, the little rascal sitting beside of me, Stilman, just competed his rear end off. It wasn't smooth for him because it's hard all of a sudden to be thrust into this role, three practices before this regional. But, boy, he did some really good things and I just admire him and admire what he did and admire how he competed. And you look down there and he played 28 minutes today and 32 yesterday, that's 60 minutes. And the little rascal had zero turnovers and hadn't been in this position all year. "

on one hand White probably did about as well as could be expected, but whatever turnovers he *didn't* have, the rest of the team made up for it. His inability to penetrate and hit a 3 point shot consistently made it a 5 on 4 situation.

You can blame the year on Barnes and Henson. Neither one improved over last year. In fact, Barnes digressed. No one expected Zeller to be ACC POY, and Marshall, MCAdoo, Bullock, and Hairston did better than expected.

If I'm an NBA GM I'm taking McAdoo over Barnes, Henson, or Marshall any day. He has an NBA ready body now and I see signs of explosiveness. Barnes has an NBA body, but no drive in him. Henson is still skinny and soft. If he went to the NBA now, they will eat his lunch physically. Marshall needs to work on his shot and there will be doubt about his injury.

After everything shakes out. I would not be surprised if the only two guys UNC loses to the NBA this year are Zeller and McAdoo.

"on one hand White probably did about as well as could be expected, but whatever turnovers he *didn't* have, the rest of the team made up for it. His inability to penetrate and hit a 3 point shot consistently made it a 5 on 4 situation."

We kinda knew he wasn't going to turn into Ty Lawson just b/c Marshall broke his wrist...

I thought Henson was quite a bit better offensively this year. Extended his range significantly and seemed more consistent closer to the basket, and just more assertive in general. I think he may have had more blocks last year, not sure, but he still got plenty this year. I felt like he was a pretty good shooter from the 15 - 20 ft. range. Being able to hit that shot consistently would be a huge asset in the league, esp. with this length...

I hope UK fans can truly appreciate what kind of team we have.

Think about UNC for a moment - unanimous preseason #1. College basketball was supposed to be them and everyone else.

They have Zeller, Henson, Barnes and the emergence of Marshall is virtually the blueprint for what you want in a college basketball team. A veteran 7 footer at center who ends up being ACC POY, A polished combo forward pre season all American, all everything in Barnes, A tall wing man with a hook shot and a jumper in Henson, and then a bench full of role players. Strickland is their slasher/pentrator and Quincy? Their shooter.

This should have been their year.

And yet UK with a group of freshmen and sophomores eclipsed their season playing them in the game of the season at Rupp, and then UNC goes on to have a very good year but was always in the shadow of Kentucky and Syracuse (and sometimes Duke). They ended up being less than the sum of their parts in some games, embarassed by Florida St, beaten by Duke which isn't really an upset in a rivalry game but Duke has been overhyped all season. Talk about a dysfunctional team. Coach K is trying to merge Blue Chips with Hoosiers and ends up with an AAU team. He is out of his element with a rogue me first NBA wannabe. He should have known that with Maggette.

I can't remember a team with as much talent as UK has actually play as a team. There have been comparisons to the UNLV team but they weren't freshmen. I also don't care what anyone else has done, Cal should be COY. UK can beat you in a fast game, they can beat you in a grinder, you make them shoot 3's, you make them shoot fouls shots, you isolate, you play zone, nothing that has been tried has worked other than the IU game where it was their first road game of the season, and it took a last second shot and foul trouble for IU to win that game. (I discount the Vandy game - Vandy was a very good team but it was clear UK wasn't in it to win it) and its all because these kids buy in on defense and are prepared on offense. There are good coaches that can't get a veteran team to do that day in and day out, and Cal is doing that with freshmen.

They may very well lose to UL but I'd still enjoy this season more so than any say '97 and '98. Beating Duke in '98 was great but this season has just been amazing.

Cal doing everything he can to keep the fans from putting pressure on the team

from his twitter

"Folks, please kick back, relax and enjoy the ride. It's been a great run. We're going to play a basketball game in New Orleans on Saturday. That's it."

wow roy didn't have a clue kansas was in the triangle and two the last 9 minutes of the game

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball ... win_032512

I think OSU is your only obstacle. You've already beaten both Louisville and Kansas and Louisville especially has been playing well above their level combined with some plain good luck. They should be no problem. Aside from their outside shooting, Kansas played about as well as they can against us and even without Marshall we took them to the wire. Well, maybe not the wire, but within site of the wire. They're a good team, but I don't think they can hang with UK, although their combination of big men could cause some problems. OSU has Sullinger, a senior guard with good size, and a bunch of upperclassmen (mostly sophomores, but these days that counts). I'm not sure how much difference having played for 2 years together is going to make, but it's about the only advantage they have. And they are a good team. But UK shouldn't really have any problems with any of the teams left. It's not quite 2009, where we were clearly the best team and the next best teams weren't even close. UK is clearly the best team, but the next best aren't quite as far below them as it was in 2009. They're close enough to generate some hype this week for ESPN (unlike Nova and MSU in 2009, the only thing they had then was the financial crisis and the auto industry depending on MSU to lift everybody spirits - please), but UK should be able to handle anybody left..

saw this and it cracked me up

crashcourse wrote:wow roy didn't have a clue kansas was in the triangle and two the last 9 minutes of the game

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball ... win_032512

that will go over well with Goldenbrea

Enjoy your season wins while you can Kentucky fans...until the NCAA makes you vacate them...

eCat wrote:saw this and it cracked me up

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!