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By: LONNY DEMAREE
As the old adage goes 'dynamite comes in small packages.' For the Kentucky Wildcats that package comes in the form of sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis.
At the beginning of this season it was thought that the Cats had a back-court that's in the vain of championship college championships. UK could go deep in March Madness. When you look at 2011 Connecticut's Kemba Walker swept through the Big East tournament and won six games in the NCAA tournament to win the crown. They beat the Wildcats along the way when that team had no stars on the front line.
Again in 2014's March Madness the Cats were victimized by a excellent back-court, again by Connecticut. It consisted of Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatwright with an average front-court that led them to another NCAA Championship. In the process they also took down the Florida Gators that had beaten the Cats three times that season.
Needless to say the great backs-courts are the driving force to championships in college. At the beginning of the season the thought was that UK had that kind of back-court. As this season progressed, after some bad losses that belief was shaken. But as per usual John Calipari's teams continue to progress on the defensive end of the court to the tune of locking down opposing team's offenses.
Now that premise has re-appeared that UK has a very good back-court and as the front-court has improved Tyler Ulis has in spades put his stamp on college basketball.
Now the question begs is Ulis overshadowing the performance of his running partner Jamal Murray. Murray is putting his stamp on being one of the best guards to ever play at the University of Kentucky. Watching him perform his Reggie Miller/Ray Allen maneuvers is something to behold. They both logged several miles a game of running around behind screens. The UK scoring duo is complimented by Isaiah Briscoe who is a high energy guy and great defender.
The best judge's of the UK back-court are Avery Johnson as a player and coach in the NBA and Calipari who coached in the NBA. Johnson said Murray and Ulis are hard to handle. He said of Ulis that he is a Pro. “He can do everything,” Johnson explained who played against 5-foot-3 Muggsy Bogues and 5-foot-7 Spud Webb in the NBA. “Ulis is better offensively than either one. He will have a long career in the NBA.” Both Webb and Bogues had long careers in the NBA. Calipari said the thing that Ulis does so well is that he controls the game. “Needs to become more consistent with his shooting and he will,” Calipari said. He will have a long career in the NBA.“ Ulis is 5-foot-9 (generous.)
Ulis was asked how it makes him feel when a guy like Avery Johnson says those things about him? “It's good when he says those things because he played and coached in the NBA,” the humble Ulis said.
So now is the time that the big payoff lays out there in the future and could there be the unexpected?
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