Ky Cat Stats

This comes up when you google image search “college basketball.”  Seemed applicable.

Listen, college basketball has a serious problem.  Yeah, we don’t like admitting it.  In fact, we try to push the other way so hard that we completely are missing the point.  What’s the problem, you ask?  Well, it’s pretty simple, actually.  College basketball, in short, is an extremely watered down product.  It is basically like any Wal-Mart brand of pop that you buy.  You’re buying it on the premise that it tastes like Mountain Dew/Pepsi, but really, it doesn’t.  Unless you pop open a Mountain Dew/Pepsi and but some water in it.

Why is it watered down, you ask?  It’s too big.  There are too many teams in division 1 basketball.  Sure, we all love watching the March tournaments between mid-major teams that really have no business playing in the NCAA tournament except for a rule that says they automatically get in (or at least us hardcore basketball fans do).  The reality is however, most people really don’t want to watch Norfolk State play against Loyola.  They just don’t.  What do people want to watch?  They want to see the University of Kentucky play against North Carolina.  They want Duke travelling to Ohio State.  They want UCLA taking on Indiana.  They want Kansas taking on Syracuse.  They want the big boys playing against each other in more than 2 marquee non-conference match ups a year.

College basketball needs a BCS of college basketball.  Look, I don’t really agree with everything college football does, but one thing it does right, is making sure every game matters.  If you really took the top 120 basketball programs and only had them play each other for 30+ regular seasons a game, do you really feel like the product would suffer?  Absolutely not.  Can you imagine watching the big boys play against each other 5-10 times a year…….BEFORE THE NCAA TOURNAMENT?

Some of you will say “well that would just kill mid-major basketball programs.”  And you’d be right, it most likely would.  Really though, outside of alumni of those schools, who really cares that much?  Those teams really have no chance of ever winning NCAA championships, or even competing for them on a consistent basis.  Yes, those teams beat the big boys every so often, because basketball is a sport that parity is more evident than college football.  However, if you went to a format like this, more top 250 kids would go to major colleges than they would mid-majors, because they would know it was their only chance of playing on the big stage.  The mid-major schools can still have a major national tournament, and it would still be widely viewed.

So here’s the plan, we’re trimming the fat.  Take the top 120+ schools, the ones who have had success at basketball or have the basketball facilities/budgets to compete at a regular basis for a national championship.  See, under that premise you could keep schools like VCU and Butler, guys.  Then, let’s trim the NCAA tournament.  Let’s cut it from 68 down to 16.  That’s right, just 16.  “But Brad,” you say, “what about the first round, what about the 5/12 match-ups and upsets!!”  Understood, but forget about it.  The sole purpose of this is to pick a national champion.  Let’s take the teams who actually had good regular seasons, as opposed to those who get hot at the right time.  Let’s make the regular season matter.  Let’s make each game important.  Then, let’s get even more extreme, let’s not start the season until January, and run it through May.  Yeah, I know I’m crazy.  But I care about college basketball.  I care when UK/UNC doesn’t get good ratings because it’s played on a Saturday in December.  I care that sometimes games aren’t televised because of Monday Night Football or other college football games.  The fact is, college basketball will never compete with football for center stage, until the NFL is sued so many times that it is broke from player concussions and head injuries.  So let’s drop the competition.  Let’s get basketball its own limelight.  What do you say?

You can send your outrage to: kycatstats@gmail.com

Go Big Blue!

As we prepare for the upcoming season of Kentucky basketball (only 5 months away now), we wanted to take a look at the roster, to determine which of the guys on the roster are going to have the biggest impact on the team this season.  In our first look at the roster, let’s take a look at who we believe is going to lead the team in scoring.

One thing to keep in mind about this UK team, is that they will be replacing 91.35% of their scoring from last year, or 72.8 of the 79.1 points they averaged last season!  That is remarkable in and of itself.  Only one player returning averaged more than 2 points a game, Kyle Wiltjer at an even 5 points a game.  So since Kyle is returning, he has got to be the favorite for leading scorer right?

Not exactly.  To me, Kyle absolutely has the potential to be the leading scorer, but I am looking at one of the incoming freshman to actually fill that role this season.  His name: Alex Poythress.

Why Poythress?  He brings a combination of athleticism and smoothness that no one else on next year’s team really possesses.  He’s a better shooter than advertised, and has the ability to get to the rim at will.  He is good in transition as well.  I feel like Poythress will be the guy this season as games come to an end, that UK will utilize the mismatch that he presents to their advantage.  If you put your Small Forward on Poythress, he can post you up and utilize his wide variety of post moves to score.  If you put your Power Forward on him, he can take you out of the paint, and take advantage of his quickness and ball handling ability.

Similar to last season, I really don’t see anybody on this team averaging more than 10 shots a game. Between Poythress, Goodwin, Harrow, Noel, and Wiltjer, all of them are going to have several games where they lead the team in scoring.  To me though, being the leading scorer is about consistently being that top 2 or 3 scorer, game in and game out.  That has to be Poythress, in my opinion.

What do you guys think?

Go Big Blue!

Last year there was an epidemic, a plague if you will, that was slowly trying to suck the life out of college basketball.   It was the block/charge rule.  With the implementation of the arc under the basket, every collision between a driving offensive basketball player and a defensive player was deemed a charge as long as the defender was outside of the arc, regardless of whether the player was really in a position to draw the charge or not.  Some games became borderline unwatchable because of it, and athletic teams were hampered because of their ability to drive in to the lane, because so many players with drawing contact and getting charges called.

No longer.  The NCAA has changed their rule on block/charges so that the defender has to be set square to the oncoming player, both feet have to be set, and the player has to be outside of the arc, before the offensive player becomes airborne.

So what does that mean?  It means that power is given back to the offensive player, where it was taken away last season.  The advantage that we thought UK was going to have last season, will be granted this season.  All I have to say is that opponents are going to be fouling out of a lot of games this season thanks to Archie Goodwin, Alex Poythress, and Ryan Harrow.  And they will be getting dunked on a lot too.  Bring it on.

Go Big Blue!