Kentucky Basketball: Match ups for the 2010 vs 2012 charity game

Apr 2, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Anthony Davis (23) celebrates with forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (14) and teammates after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 in the finals of the 2012 NCAA men

The charity match is set for Monday September 9, 2013. The game will be between two of Kentucky’s greatest teams within the past five years. The 2009-10 Kentucky basketball team is challenging the champions of the 2011-12 team. This will definitely be a great game when dealing with match ups.

The 2009-10 Kentucky Wildcats team is composed of many dominant players at their positions. The talented team consisted of John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Liggins, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton, and as well as Josh Harrelson. Other players such as Darnell Dodson, Ramon Harris, Perry Stevenson, and Mark Krebs played an important role as well. This could very well have been a championship team in 2010, but the only thing that these Wildcats lacked was three-point shooting.

The 2011-12 Kentucky Wildcats also possess many good players, and are known as “The Undeniable’s”. The players that make up the team are Darius Miller, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones, Jon Hood, Jarrod Polson, Twany Beckham, Kyle Wiltjer, Eloy Vargas, Brian Long, Sam Malone, and Ryan Harrow. Darius Miller had more of a role on this team than the 2010 team, and the senior lived up to his expectations following a championship season for the Kentucky Wildcats.

There are several interesting scenarios that many fans and I would love to see during the course of the game that involve match ups. Down low in the paint there will be a lot of physical play. What will DeMarcus do against Davis? Personally, I think DeMarcus Cousins is a very big man and has produced some very big numbers throughout his first few years as a pro. Other than the usual attitude problems we see from DeMarcus, he doesn’t lack much of anything as a center. Davis can defend as well as anyone, but I think Cousins is superior when it comes to size and physicality. Cousins gets it done against Davis in the paint, but a job like that won’t be an easy task.

Another good match up will be in the back court with John Wall guarding Marquis Teague. Will John Wall break Marquis Teague’s ankles? Teague guarding Wall will be fun to see, but Wall will ultimately come through in exploiting Teague’s weaknesses. Wall is too fast and athletic for Marquis Teague. John Wall getting into the paint shouldn’t be a problem at all, although it is what he does best.

The last thing that really gets me really intrigued with the match ups in this game is the defense. Who will defend better? Rebounding, steals, and blocks are most of the things that great defenses can do well. Once again, I give it to the 2009-10 Kentucky Wildcat team to win the battle. They are just simply a bigger, faster, and more athletic team on defense than the champions. When John Wall and his team needed stops, they just simply took over the game and ended up winning at all costs. Each close game that was won came from great defensive plays in the closing moments of regulation.

There will be plenty of speed and athleticism on the court, but what team will come out over the top of the other? Sorry national champions, but the 2009-10 Kentucky Wildcats are a dream team for a college program consisting in overall talent and NBA readiness. This was the team to either make it or break it in 2010, and they ended up leaving early out of the elite eight against the West Virginia Mountaineers. If a straight up shooter like Jodi Meeks returns for his senior season at the University of Kentucky, then things end up differently than what actually happened. I actually believe that the Wildcats were one piece away from having the greatest college basketball team of all time.

The charity game will bring back many fresh memories for fans on September 9th.