2009-10 Result: 35-3 (14-2 SEC) lost to West Virginia 73-66 n East Regional final.
Coach: John Calipari 438*-142 in 18 seasons. Last season was his first with the Wildcats.
Sixty-seven Wildcats have laced them up in the National Basketball Association. Currently, Kelenna Azubuike, Keith Bogans, Chuck Hayes, Jamaal Magliore, Jodie Meeks, Nazr Mohammed, Randolph Morris, Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo all play in the N.B.A.. Three Wildcat alums have a spot in Springfield: Cliff Hagan, Dan Issel and Frank Ramsey.
Kentucky has made 51 appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats have scratched their way to the title seven times: ’48, ’49, ’51, ’58, ’78, ’96 and ’98. UK has also made three appearances in the finals: ’66, ’75 and ’97.
Notable non-conference tilts: 11/19 at Portland State, 11/22 vs. Oklahoma, 12/4 at North Carolina, 12/8 vs. Notre Dame, 12/11 vs. Indiana, 12/31 at Louisville
Stat of Identity: 79.3 points per game (15th in the nation). Kentucky finished less than that total in six of their final eight games a season ago. The Wildcats want to dictate tempo and create as many possessions as possible. In other words, they don’t know many shots they don’t like.
Key Returners:
Darius Miller 21.2 mpg, 6.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg
DeAndre Liggins 15.3 mpg, 3.8 ppg
By Paul Casey Gotham
Can Kentucky Wildcat fans explain what it feels like to be a lame duck? Are they buying tickets and making plans to cheer for a team that will go through the process of vacating wins? Will this season prove to be just another in a growing list of asterisks in the career of John Calipari? Time will tell. After leading Massachusetts and Memphis to the Final Four only to have those seasons nullified, Calipari’s road show continues in Lexington. This time, Coach “Refuse To Lose” found a school district that doesn’t take price in keeping academic records.
Six incoming freshman will tell the tale of the 2010-11 season. Miller and Liggins were nothing more than afterthoughts on offense last seaason.
Expect the Wildcats to bring a track meet feel to the hard wood. They will run every chance they get in hopes to diminish the significance of their execution on offense.
Brandon Knight is the flavor of the year. Much is expected from the freshman. Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones and Stacey Poole will get a chance to prove they are ready to be drafted by the N.B.A..
Casey —
All that (young) talent, but no better than #20 ??? Are we possibly seeing your anti-Kentucky and anti-Calipari bias coming through??? Or do you sincerely think this is simply a rebuilding year … ala last year’s North Carolina squad?
Does Kentucky have any more talent than last year when they last in the round of 8?
Careful, or you may fall into the same trap that you accuse the BCS of being in.
Just because Kentucky belongs to a so-called major conference, should not make them any better than anyone else. They get a lot of sexy headlines, and people just assume they are a great team. Honestly, if you put Richmond’s Kevin Anderson in Kentucky Blue, people would call him the best point guard in the country. But because he’s on Richmond, people look at him differently.
Look above. UK scored less than their season average in six of their final games. What does that tell you? It tells me that things were starting to get rough for them. People were starting to figure out their scheme. They were no longer playing in the SEC. Don’t forget, their Sweet Sixteen match-up against Cornell was a 6-pt. game with 5:00 remaining. Kentucky might have been the weakest of the Elite Eight.
You can call it bias. That will stir up some controversy and get some more reads. I am looking at it honestly and saying here is a program that supposedly had enough talent for two teams and lost in the Elite 8. Now that talent is gone, and they are starting anew. Here’s the big difference – they don’t have Patrick Patterson this year. While Cousins, Wall and Bledsoe grabbed headlines, Patterson bailed them out on at least two occasions. They don’t have any veterans this year.
Okay. Thanks for the answer. You’ve obviously given this quite a bit of objective thought. Well done!
But I still think Kentucky should be ranked ahead of Dayton!
Ha … jk ! 🙂