Men Keep Rolling, Women Rebound (Finally!)

Ole Miss Recap
As many announcers/writers/analysts/adolescent bloggers/etc. have stated before us, Ole Miss played the type style Saturday that a team will have to play to beat UK. Sports writers and announcers have been saying for at least half the season that physical play and getting us in foul trouble were the secrets to our downfall. Other teams have tried that strategy with little luck but Ole Miss was able to execute it well and send Davis to the bench halfway into the first half which opened the game up for them and led to them taking the lead. As we all know though, UK was able to regain the lead without Davis thanks to some hot hands by Lamb on the outside and Jones taking over on the inside.

While we were able to overcome the loss of Davis this time, it nonetheless shows a major vulnerability we have with little we can do about it since Davis' defense is reliable game in and game out but other factors are not. Yes we have many versatile weapons on our team but seldom is every player playing at their peak in any given game but Davis' defense is one thing we can always count on...unless he's on the bench. We were 10-18 on 3 pt shooting against Ole Miss which is pretty hot for us. Think back to when UT came to Rupp though and Lamb had our only three for the game. Who led that game? Davis with 18 pts.

So far we have been lucky in that if one area of our play is down in a given game (ex. Davis or our 3 pt shooting) then we do well in other areas to make up for it. Give us a game where Davis picks up some quick fouls and our 3's are falling and then we're in trouble. In that situation, in my mind, Teague and MKG can be major wildcards since Teague has gone from scorer to true PG, focusing more on being a floor general and dishing out assists than scoring and MKG who was early on one of our top scorers has dropped off some as of late. If Davis is sitting on the bench and our 3's aren't falling, we need MKG to be his old self on the inside and Teague to go back into scoring mode and looking to drive instead of pass.

Most analysts focus on Miller and Jones as wildcards and while they can be at times, I think of them meeting what is expected of them in most games (although Jones getting his first double-double of the season with Davis having to sit was a very nice sign). MKG used to fit into this category but his recent slump makes me move him into a wildcard category. It's almost like of late he has traded places with were Jones was (meaning we know what he is capable of and it is scary when he's meeting his potential but as of late he's fallen off a bit) and thus in my mind takes the wildcard spot formerly occupied by Jones. Can Teaque become a huge scorer (like Wall or Knight) when the rest of the team is struggling is certainly an important question too. That's why I put them in the wildcard category in a game where we are struggling. It's just a matter of how you look at the team. As a final note on wildcards, what about Wiltjer??? That kid stepped up big time and made 5 of his 6 shots with 3 of those being 3 pointers. For right now the question is whether that was a sign of huge improvement or a lucky game. There is no doubt he has improved on the season and if his play against Ole Miss was truly more about improvement than luck, he becomes the x-factor for our team come tournament time.

Mississippi State
Tonight at 9 EST we take on Mississippi State (19-8, 6-6 SEC)on their home court in another 'test' game for UK (telecast on ESPN). Miss. State has been ranked at times throughout the season and usually proves to be a challenging team for UK (think back to the OT SEC tournament game that we won in Calipari's first year). UK has proven itself in road games since Indiana especially after beating Vandy at home but will be taking on another team that marked this game as their 'Super Bowl' game. They should provide a good challenge but most likely not enough in the end to ruin our perfect SEC record.

UK Hoops
The UK Hoops team hit a really rough stretch and dropped 3 games in a row losing to LSU, UT, and Alabama (the WORST SEC women's team) all on their respective home courts. Those three loses took us from being a lock for winning the SEC regular season title to being tied with UT. As long as we don't lose another game and UT doesn't either, the best we can hope for is to now share the regular season title with UT. UT still has to play Florida and Arkansas (the best of the west) so there's still a slim chance they drop one, most likely to Arkansas, and we get the title all to ourselves. Thankfully, the women ended their skid when they beat 24th (ESPN) ranked Vandy and have settled into 13th in the AP polls and 10th in the ESPN polls. Their next game is Thursday at 7 pm against South Carolina in Lexington.