The Road To The 2010-11 SEC Title Runs Through Lexington.

[hatvol96]

Originally Posted by LawVol13

Yes, to most of us, that's a significant accomplishment, but according to Cal, SEC championships don't matter.

Since this thread is about the SEC title race next season, what significance John places on the trophy doesn't really matter.

[LawVol13]

Originally Posted by hatvol96

Since this thread is about the SEC title race next season, what significance John places on the trophy doesn't really matter.

I wasn't aiming anything at you; I just still can't get over that statement by him. His arrogance knows no bounds. However, it looks like they will be a force again next year.

[hatvol96]

Originally Posted by LawVol13

I wasn't aiming anything at you; I just still can't get over that statement by him. His arrogance knows no bounds. However, it looks like they will be a force again next year.

It's not arrogance. It's a mission statement. Kentucky and John both have plenty of conference titles on their respective resumes. As it is at Kansas, Carolina, Duke, UCLA, and a few other places, it's about Final Fours and National Championships. If Kevin Stallings said it, that's arrogance. The head coach at Kentucky saying it, that's truth.
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[Hardwood_fanatic]

Originally Posted by roswellvol

That's what they said about Renardo Sidney also. He really dominated the bench and nacho cart when UT played in Starksville... in March.

Of course that is little different story because he was having to continuosly donate money to Greenpeace for his entourage that prevented his spearing for blubber and oil.

Bad comparison. Enes Kanter is a turkish player dealing with amateur status, and even if not eligible in November, will probably be in January. Much like Deniz Kilicli.

Neither of them have a resume full of crap like Sidney.

[Hardwood_fanatic]

Originally Posted by hatvol96

It's not arrogance. It's a mission statement. Kentucky and John both have plenty of conference titles on their respective resumes. As it is at Kansas, Carolina, Duke, UCLA, and a few other places, it's about Final Fours and National Championships. If Kevin Stallings said it, that's arrogance. The head coach at Kentucky saying it, that's truth.
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Truth.

[golfballs]

Originally Posted by hatvol96

It's not arrogance. It's a mission statement. Kentucky and John both have plenty of conference titles on their respective resumes. As it is at Kansas, Carolina, Duke, UCLA, and a few other places, it's about Final Fours and National Championships. If Kevin Stallings said it, that's arrogance. The head coach at Kentucky saying it, that's truth.
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more like wishful thinking

[hatvol96]

Originally Posted by golfballs03

more like wishful thinking

Yeah, because he missed those marks so badly in year 1 in Lexington.

[Hardwood_fanatic]

Originally Posted by hatvol96

Yeah, because he missed those marks so badly in year 1 in Lexington.

Not to mention he stated publicly that he really was considering scaling back and resting starters some during the SEC tourney, until he saw that 30,000 plus blue clad maniacs descended upon Nashville.

[arTfuldodger]

Said it in another UK thread. We've faced and beat the best UK team we will likely see for at least the next 5 yrs. I'm excited. Bring those boys on, ill take my chances with Shop,Cam,Bwill,Melv +, emphasis on the + our freshman. Over just their freshman ANY day. We made it just as far as their most talented squad, depleted as ish. Man, I was just thinkin about that, why are our FB and BB programs always losing sooo many guys. Geez. I know there's always some turnover, but man.
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[arTfuldodger]

Originally Posted by Hardwood_fanatic

Not to mention he stated publicly that he really was considering scaling back and resting starters some during the SEC tourney, until he saw that 30,000 plus blue clad maniacs descended upon Nashville.

Maybe 30 in and within 20 yds of the arena. There were damn nere 50K in town. Crazy man. I wanted yall to lose soo bad. Ergh. =)
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[JZVOL]

Originally Posted by Orangekush423

Said it in another UK thread. We've faced and beat the best UK team we will likely see for at least the next 5 yrs. I'm excited. Bring those boys on, ill take my chances with Shop,Cam,Bwill,Melv +, emphasis on the + our freshman. Over just their freshman ANY day. We made it just as far as their most talented squad, depleted as ish. Man, I was just thinkin about that, why are our FB and BB programs always losing sooo many guys. Geez. I know there's always some turnover, but man.
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and the last time we played them we lost 74-45

[Wise-Vol]

We do need Tobias to be everything he is supposed to be.

Kentucky, OTOH, needs Kanter, Knight, Jones, Lamb, and Poole (or at least the vast majority of them) to be everything they are supposed to be. Each one who is not leads to big trouble for KY, especially if any one or more of those first three don't meet expectations.

The difference is that we won't be relying so heavily on our other new players (Golden, McCrae and Maymon). It certainly will be nice for Golden to be a quality backup at PG, but we at least return 2 guys who played PG a bunch last season.

I loved Chism and (toward the end of the season) Prince, but Kentucky has to replace 4 top 15 Draft Picks (including 2 in the top 5) and 5 1st round picks overall with 5 freshmen.

Seems to me that best case scenario for these teams are:

Vols -- Harris is a legitimate top 5 HS player, Tatum stays healthy and continues to improve, Maymon is better than Woolridge as a PF backup, and Golden and McCrae contribute some meaningful minutes, along with quality improvement in Hopson, Goins, Williams, and Hall.

Kentucky -- Knight is a quality replacement for Wall, Kanter is a legitimate top 5 player coming in, Jones can come close to replacing Patterson, Miller continues to improve and be a steady player, and Liggins, Lamb or Poole can replace the production from Bledsoe and Liggins last season.

Looks like a lot more question marks for the Blue to me. Plus, there is no hope that Kentucky has anyone to replace Orton off the bench. To ask Kanter, Knight, and Jones to replace Wall, Cousins, and Patterson is big enough.

I suppose Pearl would say that the SEC title always runs through Lexington. But, based on what I see, it will be a much harder run for Kentucky this season than last.

Kentucky is going to face many challenges, including:

1. The same challenge from last season when utilizing so many freshmen in the starting lineup, except there is no Patterson as a steadying force. There is only one explanation for WVU blowing up KY in the Elite 8 (other than coaching) and that is the freshmen factor. As great as Wall and Cousins were, they were still freshmen capable of wild inconsistency, especially when not coddled by SEC refs.

2. A significant decrease in low post power -- even if a Cousins clone was coming in instead of Kanter, one guy can't replace the power of Cousins, Patterson, and Orton. But when the one guy is Kanter, who is more of a perimeter player, it is even worse.

3. KY will suffer in FG percentage, FG percentage defense, and rebounding (led the league in 2009 in all of those categories). Opponents FG percentage and point totals should go up. They were 2nd in blocked shots -- that will also change. Patterson and Cousins were 2 and 3 in FG % (Wall was 10th) and in the two bigs were both in the top 6 in rebounding. I bet KY doesn't have a single player in the top 6 this season.

4. PG issues. Wall was #1 in the SEC in assists and he's going to be the #1 pick in the NBA. But he also had a whopping 4 turnovers per game (that isa freshman for you). Now, instead of having two future NBA first rounders handling the ball (Wall and Bledsoe), at best KY will have one in Knight. One can expect KY turnovers to go up and assists to go down. Simply by substituting Knight for Wall and Jones for Patterson, assists should fall and turnovers increase significantly. If Knight gets any injury or gets in foul trouble, KY is hosed at the PG position. I guess Liggins is the PG at that point.

I like our chances going up against 5 freshmen plus Miller, Liggins, and Dodson. Our first 8 on the court might include 2 freshmen.

I'll say this -- if I have to rely on a freshman meeting expectations, I'd rather he play any position other than PG or Center in this league.

[Hardwood_fanatic]

Originally Posted by Orangekush423

Maybe 30 in and within 20 yds of the arena. There were damn nere 50K in town. Crazy man. I wanted yall to lose soo bad. Ergh. =)
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Oh yeah, no doubt. I was down there, and counting all the blue in all the bars on 2nd Ave, there was every bit of 50,000 thousand there. Insane.

[arTfuldodger]

Wise vol, you did a great job explaining what I was trying to. Ill take my chances with our vets+ a couple newcomers, VS all their newcomers.
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[arTfuldodger]

Originally Posted by JZVOL

and the last time we played them we lost 74-45

What round did they exit in? What about us? How many 1st rounders did they have? How many DRAFTEES did we have?

Thanks.
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