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When one looks at this addition of the Wildcat basketball team it becomes a case of Who in the SEC is going to beat this team? With the finest of probes it's hard find a weakness at this point in the season that will result in a Cats defeat. This is a very deep Wildcat team that can come at teams in waves. Defensively there are no equals so much so that time could prove them to be the greatest defensive team in college history.
Having said all of that when you take a step back history slaps you upside the head and reality takes precedent over perception. There are many freakish things that can happen over a long haul from now to the final game in March.
Perception: During the Calipari era by comparison UK recruiting has gone through roof. And you look at the 2014-15 addition of the Wildcats and several coaches that have fallen victim to this group of Cats come away with glowing opinions. Opposing coaches have proclaimed this team as perhaps the best they've ever coached against. They are one of the greatest defenses I've seen in 40-years, said a stunned Rick Pitino.
Reality: It's been said by Pikeville coach Kelly Wells - Who is going to beat this team?. But most all of the raves have been about the defense and little about the offense. Given the amount of dunks they get it goes without saying how good the offense is. The question is when it is strictly needed that hitting a bunch of outside shots will it be there?
Perception: Calipari's first team that went 35-3 went into March Madness on a roll.
Reality: They hit a snag in the NCAA East Regionals when they had an atrocious shooting night and got upset by a average West Virginia team. During that season UK suffered two road losses to South Carolina and Tennessee. That team had all five starters go on to play in the NBA and four are still playing at a high level.
Perception: In 2011 with six regular season losses the Cats did what most team like to do and that's get on a roll approaching tournament time.
Reality: They were 10-6 in SEC play and swept through to the NCAA Championship game and a Connecticut team featuring 6-foot-1 Embank Walker a draftee of the Charlotte Bobcats took the Cats down. This was a unexpected turn of events.
Perception: Always expected the unexpected and when things don't work out quite the way you would've thought the disappointment won't be so great. Even the championship run with maybe the greatest player UK ever, Anthony Davis, has ever produced the 2012 38-2 team had a couple surprises along the way.
Reality: There are some raucous venues that can trip you up. The Cats losses to Indiana and Vanderbilt on the road. Yours truly has been to the Vanderbilt Memorial Gym on several occasions when they (the Commodores) were suppose to lose and the Cats got behind. The crowd got fired up and the Cats took a fall. This goes without saying, the fall the Cats the took same season that the Cats went to Indiana and the fired up crowd hungry to get some Cat blood that they don't often get a chance to partake of.
Perception: Last season they looked a team that was a unlikely NCAA Championship team but the way the Cats went into the tournament fans saw the light at the end of the tunnel when they got to Dallas. And they got to the big show on the heels of some fantastic last second shots by Aaron Harrison.
Reality: The Wildcats again got taken down by a small guard in the person of Shabazz Napier. The makeup of this Kentucky team has a ingredient to counteract what has been the fly in the ointment Tyler Ulis. Ulis can break down a defense and score and at on the other end his defense can keep the other teams out of the lane, much like Napier and Ryan Boatright did to the Cats in the last tournament. Cal said he focused on what the guards were doing and what they want, ala, needed to
add to their game.
Devin Booker said - He want us to finish around the rim better. When we get into the lane we are throwing a lot of lobs and teams are going to back up off of us so we have to shoot the floater and layups better.
Cal has just come out of the last Camp Cal working, no doubt on the offense they will need to achieve the end of the season results. He said he focused a lot on his guards and what he knows the college game hinges on for the ultimate success.
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