January 13, 2010 –
by Brendon
Kentucky 89, Florida 77: With 5:13 left in Gainesville on Tuesday, Kentucky and Florida were tied at 72, and the O’Connell Center was in full voice. Over the last five minutes, though, Kentucky proved to have too much size and too much athleticism for a solid Florida team, going on a 17-3 run to put the game away.
|
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Off Reb |
FTR |
| Kentucky |
72 |
1.24 |
0.564 |
0.139 |
0.389 |
0.143 |
| Florida |
72 |
1.07 |
0.441 |
0.139 |
0.364 |
0.250 |
Kentucky remains one of two unbeaten teams nationally thanks to an overwhelming amount of top-of-the-line talent. They come in pairs. First, there are the two potential freshman All-American point guards in John Wall and Eric Bledsoe. Wall had an off shooting night, missing 6-of-7 threes, but he still scored 19 and dished out six assists. The less-heralded Bledsoe scored a game-high 25 on 10-of-13 shooting, including three 3-pointers. He also had three steals. Read More »
Posted in Game of the Night, SEC
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Tagged Dan Werner, Darnell Dodson, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Florida, Florida State, John Calipari, John Wall, Kentucky, Michigan State, Patrick Patterson, Richmond, SEC, Syracuse
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December 10, 2009 –
by Brendon
Games between evenly matched teams are not very common in November and December, which is why Wednesday’s matchup between Connecticut and Kentucky was so interesting. Close games eliminate some of the static that comes between us and the data in a blowout. How much would he have played if it were close? Would he really have taken that shot in a tight game? Close games get rid of the need for such speculation.
In Kentucky’s 64-61 win over UConn at Madison Square Garden, we learned several things — or had them reinforced, depending on your perspective. The first relates to the types of shots each team likes to take, the second to the problems with Connecticut’s offense against good teams and the third to a contrast in depth. Let’s start with the advanced box.
| Team |
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Reb |
FTR |
| Kentucky |
69 |
0.92 |
0.414 |
0.202 |
0.357 |
0.172 |
| Connecticut |
69 |
0.88 |
0.461 |
0.289 |
0.441 |
0.275 |
This point was pounded home by the television commentators, but it’s rare to see a college basketball game in which the 3-pointer had so little effect. The two teams combined to make just 4-of-18 3-pointers. Neither team attempted a 3-pointer on even 20 percent of its field-goal attempts. The national average is 32.5 percent.
The lack of 3-point attempts and makes is not a departure from how these teams usually play. Connecticut has not finished in the nation’s top 300 in 3-point-attempt rate since Ken Pomeroy began keeping these statistics for the 2003-04 season. This season, none of the 347 Division I teams come in lower than UConn’s 17.4 percent 3-point-attempt rate. So, 3-pointers on 11.8 percent of attempts is right in line. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Game of the Night, SEC
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Tagged Ajou Ajou Deng, Alex Oriakhi, Ater Majok, Big East, Connecticut, Darius Miller, Darnell Dodson, Duke, Eric Bledsoe, Gavin Edwards, Harry High School, Jerome Dyson, Jim Calhoun, John Calipari, John Wall, Kemba Walker, Kentucky, SEC, Stanley Robinson
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November 15, 2009 –
by Brendon
In sum: It wasn’t a pretty weekend for the SEC West against small Northeast programs. After Auburn nearly fell to Niagara on Friday night, Mississippi State did lose to Rider. A day later, Cornell knocked off Alabama in Anthony Grant’s debut. As a whole, the league went 8-2, and, in the most highly anticipated game, Kentucky defeated Morehead State behind terrific play from freshman Eric Bledsoe and junior Patrick Patterson.
Team of the week: Mississippi. There is great popular support behind Andy Kennedy getting the Rebels to break through and make the NCAAs in this his fourth season, and their opening performance won’t weaken that support. Chris Warren was back and healthy. He didn’t shoot well (1-for-7 from deep), but he did have seven steals in a 92-64 win over a decent Arkansas-Little Rock team. Mississippi forced 22 turnovers and, as a result, attempted 22 more field goals than the Trojans. Senior DeAundre Cranston scored 21 points in just 21 minutes. Read More »
Posted in Reviews/Previews, SEC
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Tagged Alabama, Alcorn State, Andy Kennedy, Anthony Grant, Arkansas, Arkansas-Little Rock, Auburn, Chris Warren, Cornell, DeAundre Cranston, Eric Bledsoe, Georgia, Indiana, Jarvis Varnado, Kentucky, LaSalle, Louisville, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri State, Morehead State, Niagara, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Patrick Patterson, Providence, Rick Stansbury, Rider, Rotnei Clarke, Ryan Thompson, SEC, South Carolina, St. Mary's, Tennessee, UAB, UCF, Vanderbilt
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November 4, 2009 –
by Brendon
2008-09 in review: It’s not a stretch to write that the SEC experienced the worst season of any major conference this decade with its showing last winter. The league played such a weak non-conference schedule and played so poorly out of conference that four 20-win teams didn’t get a bid to the NCAA Tournament — Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Auburn — and no one really complained. In mid-February, the first three of those teams looked like they had a pretty good shot at dancing, but Florida finished 2-4, Kentucky finished 1-5, and South Carolina finished 3-4. Those four teams combined for just six wins in 23 games against top-50 teams.
If it wasn’t for Mississippi State’s — umm, not sure “stirring” is the right word — successful run to the SEC title, the SEC would have gotten just two teams into the NCAAs. Even with the third bid, not a single SEC team got a seed better than No. 8, and none were left standing once North Carolina pulled away from LSU on the first Saturday of the tournament. The SEC’s NCAA Tournament Conference Score of 0.33 was the worst of any major conference this decade.
What shouldn’t be lost in all of the negativity is the bounceback from LSU. In his first season as head coach, Trent Johnson leveraged Tasmin Mitchell and Marcus Thornton into the Tigers’ second SEC West title in four seasons. The Tigers have won 14, 5, 6 and 13 conference games in the last four seasons — you gotta love consistency. Read More »
Posted in SEC
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Tagged 2009-10 season preview, Alabama, Alex Tyus, Alonzo Gee, Anthony Grant, Arkansas, Auburn, Billy Gillispie, Brendan Knox, Brian Williams, Bruce Pearl, Chris Johnson, Daniel Orton, Darnell Dodson, David Huertas, DeMarcus Cousins, Dennis Felton, DeWayne Reed, Dominique Archie, Eric Bledsoe, Florida, Frankie Sullivan, Garrett Temple, Georgia, J.P. Prince, Jeff Lebo, Jodie Meeks, John Calipari, John Jenkins, John Wall, Jon Hood, Kenny Boynton, Kentucky, Kevin Stallings, Korvotney Barber, LSU, Lucas Hargrove, Mark Fox, Mark Gottfried, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Murphy Holloway, NCAA Tournament Conference Score, Nick Calathes, Patrick Patterson, Quantez Robertson, Rasheem Barrett, Renardo Sidney, Rick Stansbury, SEC, South Carolina, Tasmin Mitchell, Tay Waller, Tennessee, Trent Johnson, Tyler Smith, Tyreke Evans, Vanderbilt, Wayne Chism, Zam Frederick
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