UK vs. UCONN: heavyweight bout in the Garden

So is it that surprising now after 8 (some) hard fought games that we would go to anyone other than “JW” as some in the media is now putting it so as not to get tired saying his name? Perhaps they aren’t saying so much to prevent them from getting tired of it as they are for everyone else’s benefit. Is there another way to say John Wall is the man? The savior? The messiah? God? Okay I will take Blue Jesus. I like that one better for some reason.

Post game Cal spoke of riding JW at the end of the game. I don’t think he was just talking about the team. I think when he said his collective “we” he meant all of us who bleed blue. While its true the fortunes of this team ride heavily on Wall lets be honest and just all admit we are smitten. How many years has it been since you have loved a cat more than this guy? I hear some folks in the back talking about a skinny kid named Chapman? Wasn’t he also knicknamed the savior? It feels good to let someone inside our hearts to warm it up with basketball fire that hasn’t really been felt around here for many years or some would say 11 to be exact.

When he had his first spurt of the game it led to a 12-0 UK lead and many people shaking their heads at the Garden that maybe just maybe this guy is actually better than we currently think he is? That first run was what this team should be all about, taking the ball away and taking it up court fast and to the rim. When you are this much more talented than your opponents and don’t make stupid mistakes you can just look them in the eye and tell them you are taking it to the rim and they aren’t going to stop you. I think that describes John Wall in the open court with the ball in his hand, “stop me if you can”. Just like most of the great heavyweight title fights that the Madison Square Garden has hosted this wasnt over in the first round. As a matter of fact this bout would go the distance. All UCONN could do is call time outs to stop him and it sort of worked, and sort of worked well. After UK dominated and got a burst out of their system they sit back and let their opponent push them around for a while.

All UK could do is get out of the way of the husky rebounders it seemed on each play. The cats were manhandled on the inside especially on the offensive end where second chance points were non-existent because we were being whipped that bad on the boards and as a matter of fact being doubled up. All in all the first half wasn’t that great for UK and if it weren’t for our two workhorses we would have been in much worse position than down by 6 at half. Jerome Dyson’s experience and poise shown through as he ended up putting 17 on Kentucky (13 in the 1st half) and proving to a lot of folks out there that he is for real a great guard. He is the only reason UCONN made a stand against our early run and took the lead.

The second half belong to two freshmen, Cousins and “JW”. Cousins 7 rebounds and 10 points with only one foul in a solid second half gave us room to spread and let the blue baby do his thing. The turnovers are nothing new to this team especially Wall but he had half of the teams total to himself while he was busy dismantling a solid experienced backcourt. The offfensive effort by Dyson and Kemba Walker who had a solid game himself made UCONN a competitor throughout. Kentucky’s shooting could do nothing but improve from an anemic first half. Solid efforts by Harris on the defensive end and Dodson solidifying the shooting range threat really show how this team can be diverse in its efforts each night out. UConn didn’t slow down in the second half and shot the same % I just think we really clamped down and stayed aggressive after the ball forcing 8 more turnovers 5 of which were steals. I believe the lack of aggressiveness on both ends of the court by Darius Miller for the cats is the real catalyst for our grinding slow to a near stop during the first half. He didn’t show up to play in the 2nd half either compared with what he is capable of.

Overall the cats are making real strides in simple things like composure and poise when something needs to go our way. We outscored a team in the second half this time as Carolina did a good job outplaying us in the 2nd half of that game. With this win can we start to assume the pieces of this puzzle are coming together this early in the season? I am not for certain but I am trying to visualize a team that’s had a tougher week of basketball than what the cats are currently being tested under? Could a sleeper/trap game be in our future? Would it be a bad thing if we did get caught up? I say so. I want to be 14-0 when that team from up the road comes into town on Jan 2nd. Do I think we are capable? Yes. Will we make it to that mark. Yes.