Droppin' Dimes is a new feature we are trying out at BIAH this year. A couple of times a week, we are going to catch up with the bloggers behind the best team-specific sites on the web. If the internet really is becoming the new newspaper, then the writers at these sites are the de facto beat writers. They know their teams inside and out, and hopefully will provide you (and us) with some detailed insights. If you would like to recommend a site or pose a question for a certain team, you can reach us at contactbiah@gmail.com or @ballinisahabit.
In our newest edition of Droppin' Dimes, we had a chance to catch up with Glenn Logan, the mind behind A Sea of Blue, a Kentucky basketball blog and a must-read for any hoops fan in the Commonwealth. Hit the jump to hear Logan's thoughts on UK2K, Kentucky's freshman class, and the way Calipari has been treated by the media (trust me, it is more than worth the read).
1. Kentucky won their 2,000th on Monday night, the first program to do so. While this is clearly an impressive statistic, there has been some debate around the blogosphere as to whether it matters to anyone other than Big Blue Nation. What does this number mean to Kentucky fans? In your opinion, is it an accurate way to rate the greatest program of all-time?
I think it is a significant milestone, much as the 1,000th victory was. Of course it will be a bigger deal to fans of the UK program than it will be to non-fans, and in a real sense, I don't know if it is a huge factor toward "greatest program of all time" status. After all, North Carolina is only a few games behind, and so is Kansas, so does the fact that UK got there first by eight games mean that they are 0.4% better than UNC, for example? That's not much of an argument.
Kentucky was the first school to wins 2,000 games.
(photo credit: Examiner)
So in a real-world context, winning the race to 2,000 by such an insignificant amount is little more than a reason to celebrate, and UK fans have not had a lot to celebrate in terms of basketball for the last four years. But it is reasonable to assume that winning the race to 2,000 victories is one more small argument to add to the case that the Kentucky program is the best in the country from a historical standpoint.
2. When Kentucky hired Coach Cal, one of the criticisms from media-types was that Kentucky was hiring a coach that has had both of his Final Fours erased from the record books. Big Blue Nation has rallied around their new coach, citing the fact that Cal never actually was implicated at either UMass or Memphis. Are Kentucky fans at all concerned about this happening at Kentucky?
Some are, remembering the horrors of 1989 and the reputation Kentucky has had over the years for NCAA rulebreaking. Make no mistake, UK fans do not want a rulebreaker here who will win a championship only to have it forfeited by the NCAA, nor do fans want a coach who will constantly be answering questions from the NCAA Committee on Infractions. Kentucky has had a record clean of major NCAA infractions for 20 years. At some point, it's time to recognize that.
Calipari gets a very bad and unfair rap for NCAA compliance, and it is becoming a downright witch hunt. People choose not to remember that it was Calipari who reported Marcus Camby to the NCAA, who essentially said that Calipari was a victim of Camby's misbehavior.
When players hide lawless behavior from coaches and get arrested, nobody blames the coach. When players hide NCAA rulebreaking from the coach and the school gets punished, everybody blames him. That's unfair and unethical. Either the coach, as the man at the top of the program, is responsible for both, or neither, and obviously lawbreaking is far more serious. This "coach is responsible for what the players do" is simply a cudgel selectively used by wrong-thinking people to bludgeon those coaches they happen to dislike. If the coach is responsible for everything their players do, then it's everything, not just NCAA compliance.
Kentucky fans have embraced Coach Cal.
(photo credit: Wildcats Thunder Blog)
In addition, I don't get how the Calipari detractors can ignore the fact that Calipari was exonerated on both occasions. Oh, they mention it, but somehow, they decide that it's justified for them to substitute their own judgment for that of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, and fair for them to ignore germane and important facts selectivly under the questionable rubric of "The buck stops here (with the coach)." It's a sad commentary on the Calipari detractors, and not on Coach Cal himself.
As a parting shot on this, North Carolina coach Roy Williams was held responsible by the NCAA for Kansas' going on probation when for giving gifts just as Williams was leaving Kansas for the UNC job. Directly, knowingly responsible. Yet everyone wants to talk about Calipari, a man whom the NCAA has specifically exonerated in both instances of NCAA difficulties, and in the UMass case Calipari was actually characterized as a victim of Canby's shenanigans. That mostly goes unmentioned by Calipari's critics. If that doesn't illustrate a clear double standard, nothing does.
3. A lot of the pundits have said that DeMarcus Cousins is the x-factor for the Wildcats, whether or not he can show the maturity and intensity during games to allow him to live up to his potential. What are your thoughts on Cousins through 12 games?
Well, I hardly think intensity is his problem any more, but I think that the Kentucky team and fans do have to worry about that intensity morphing into behavior that will get him thrown out of games. In the most recent game when UK played Long Beach State at Rupp Arena, one of the 49er players seemed to bait Cousins with a little touch and some smack-talk. It worked, and both he and Cousins got a technical. He nearly got another on a bad block-charge call when he went bounding around in disgust.
So yes, controlling and harnessing Cousins' emotions is a concern. He seems to have gotten well past the lack of intensity that plagued his early games, but now the fear is becoming the flip side -- will his intensity result in on-court demonstrations that get him technical fouls? Cousins is growing up, but he still has some growing up to do.
As far as his game goes, it is still a bit raw. For 6'11"/260+ pound guy, Cousins has astonishing quickness and body control. That's why he gets nearly half of his own misses back for another try. Not only that, Cousins is single-minded around the rim -- he won't stop until somebody gets clear control of the ball away from him, or he scores. Relentlessness is an underrated characteristic in a ball player, and Cousins defines it.
I would like to see DeMarcus pass out of the post more. He is a bit of a black hole in there -- when the ball comes to Cousins in the post, it rarely comes back out. Part of his maturation needs to be passing out of double- and triple-teams to the open shooter, rather than running over or through them.
4. After the UConn game, Cal had a quote where he said that Kentucky was "a 4-5 team", referring to the struggles Kentucky has had this season. A large part of that can be attributed to the fact that so many freshman are playing such significant roles and that everyone on the roster is learning a new, and complicated, system. Will this be a problem as the season progresses? Where have you seen a positive change?
Wasn't it the irrepressible Al McGuire who said, "The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores."? The question becomes, then, when do Kentucky's freshman mature into sophomores? Will it be next semester, or next school year? I think that answer will define the Wildcats' success this year.
If Kentucky hopes to win, or even compete for a national championship, they absolutely must defend better. Very few college freshmen at this level have ever had to defend anyone in their lives -- their job in high school or AAU was to score a lot. John Wall, for example, should be a great defender with his size and quickness, but he is absolutely not any good at defense yet. Everyone notices his breathtaking speed and ambidextrous ball handling but nobody says boo about the fact that he still can't defend a decent high-school player.
But Wall is not the only one -- in fact, Darius Miller, a sophomore, has had struggles defensively, and lack of defense has cost Darnell Dodson a ton of playing time. To his credit, Cousins is improving faster defensively than either John Wall or Eric Bledsoe, and that even though that is great, all one has to do is look at Kentucky's defensive 3-point percentage (UK is giving up 36% from the arc, 235th in the nation) to see how vulnerable the Wildcats are to good shooting teams.
Kentucky fans have seen improvement, especially versus Drexel the other day, but then UK regressed against Long Beach State. It is a work in progress, and when the SEC season gets here, everybody will know if that progress has been enough.
5. You knew that I was going to ask a question about John Wall: through 12 games, can you call him the best Kentucky freshman of all time? If he continues to post these numbers, continues to hit as many big shots, and the Wildcats win a national title, where do you see him in terms of greatest Wildcats ever?
It is a little awkward to use the words, "of all time" when freshmen haven't always been allowed to play as freshmen, and the rules of college basketball have been changed so significantly over the years. But if we confine the answer to recent history (let's say since the advent of the 3-point shot), I think I can make an attempt.
It kind of depends how you rate players. Based on the Tendex rating system, DeMarcus Cousins actually eclipses Wall by a fairly wide margin. On the Prouty System, Wall is substantially ahead of Cousins. But I can say, with relative confidence, that the best freshman player UK has ever had is on this team, at least at this point in the season.
Statistically speak, is Cousins having a better year than Wall?
(photo credit: Kentucky Sports Radio)
If this Kentucky team wins a national title, I think Wall will be lauded as one of the best players ever, but I don't know if his jersey will ever be hoisted into Rupp's Rafters, even if he leads the Wildcats to a win. As far as I know, UK has no "one and done" players who have retired jerseys, and for a fact, I believe Wall will be the first "one and done" that I can actually remember at Kentucky.
Bonus: In a number, what are the chances that John Wall returns for his sophomore season? DeMarcus Cousins? Patrick Patterson? Daniel Orton? What are the odds of Coach Cal landing Brandon Knight?
John Wall returning: 5% (injury only) -- It would be irresponsible of Wall to return, and Calipari will not let him barring extraordinary circumstances.
Demarcus Cousins: 60% -- His game is not NBA ready, even if his body is.
Patrick Patterson: 5% (injury only) -- Patrick Patterson will have no reason. He will graduate this year, one year early. See John Wall above.
Daniel Orton: 95% -- Orton is not ready, his knee is still only about 95%, and he doesn't have a pro game. Plus, he is a smart kid to whom a college degree means something, much like Patterson.
Chances of landing Brandon Knight? I am not a recruiting analyst, it isn't my thing, but I would say that our chances are a bit better than 50%. You can never tell what these kids are thinking, and Selby may beat him to the punch. Other factors may also figure in, such as closeness to home, other good recruiters, etc.
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