Only the most pessimistic of fans will find something not to like in UK's 117-52 victory over Clarion

To be honest, I am really not sure what “those UK fans” are going to do tonight. You know the ones I am talking about. The ones that like to reside in the shadowy darkness of their parent’s basement, wax eloquently on their 40 years of UK fandom and complain incessantly about the Cat’s performance that night. Tonight they will have to release their pent up aggression on whatever erotic fare that Skinemax and Showtime are showing because simply put, there is nothing to bitch about in UK’s performance tonight.

Sure, we could nitpick some but I don’t play the “nitpicking in a blowout victory game”. Hell, my name is not Urban Meyer. So let’s savor the UK debut of John Wall and look at some of my observations for the first half of the game.

• Wall’s first half as a Wildcat could have not gone any better. Wall had 17 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. To say that he and DeMarcus Cousins have a very special chemistry already is an understatement and I am being selfish in saying I do not want to Wall to Cousins show to end after just one season. It probably will, so enjoy it Wildcat fans.
• The game vision and basketball IQ of Wall is off the chart. Wall was driving to the basket and moved to the left, saw that he drew both defenders with him, and flipped it back to Patterson for a nice dunk.
• With Wall, passing is contagious. I think I saw this UK team make some of the best passes they had in a few years and no one was immune from the crispness of their passes: Jon Hood made a nice pass to Perry Stephenson. A few plays later, it was Miller to Cousins.
• I don’t think that any team will be successful trapping us with the speed of John Wall. And if they can contain Wall, Bledsoe will be on the court as well. In short, you will get burned trying to trap.
• You have to love the offensive aggression of Patterson taking the ball to the rim and even Ramon Harris, who stole the ball and took the ball to the hoop ala Wall.
• The defensive intensity of this team is insane. You have to love the hustle of players diving for loose balls with a 49-20 lead.
• John Wall is contagious for this team. You notice the hustle of his team mates increase significantly when he is on the court and when his is gone, the players try to be like him. And how refreshing is it to see a PG drive down the court and nail a wide open jumper without hesitation?
• The half time score was 58-22 UK and the Cat’s shot 58.3 from the field, 86.7 from the line, and won the turnover battle 15-7.
• The only downer of the first half was the mysterious injury to Daniel Orton. He left holding his left chest, but reappeared after half on the bench and he is apparently day to day.

I must admit as the second half got underway, I got a bit distracted and realized that somehow my dog had escaped getting a bath for half an eternity so I gave the dog a bath and checked in on the game while getting ready to head out after the game. So in that time, something may have happened to complain about but I missed it. Anyway, more thoughts from the second half:

• Patrick Patterson started to get more involved in the second half, after just four points in the first half. He asserted himself into the offense a good bit more and drained 2 3 pointers. Take that haters. I am not concerned about Patterson in exhibition games. Tom Brady does not throw for 320 yards in the preseason and I don’t think we have to worry about #54 when the games are for real.
• Even on a night when his shots are not falling, (3-11), Darnell Dodson does a lot of good things on the court as he had 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
• Darius Miller is very effective, even when it seems like he is playing timid and being overshadowed by his team mates. Like Dodson, he does a lot of good things when he is on the court. He showed a flair for the dramatic getting UK to the 100 point mark with a 3 pointer.
• DeMarcus Cousins is amazing to watch. He missed a three and then went and got his own rebound and slammed it home in one nice motion.
• Lots of guys can shoot on this team. I think a lot of fears about UK having to see a lot of zone defenses will go away if we have Patterson and Cousins able to play zone busters.
• How quickly Rob Bromley forgets. Michael Porter was the last Wildcat to wear a headband.
• For those of you wondering about possible dissension due to players not getting enough points, UK’s starting lineup was good for 83 points and no one played more than 28 minutes.
• I don’t know what is going on with Calipari and DeAndre Liggins, but I will reserve judgement on trying to insert my opinion. I just hope that whatever it is gets resolved soon because I’d love to see DeAndre have a good season.
• UK ended up shooting 58.2% from the game, 8-16 from 3 pointers, and had 24 assists to 12 turnovers. Impressed yet?

Finally, let’s look at the key stats:

• Darius Miller: 11 points, 4 boards, 7 assists
• Darnell Dodson: 11 points, 9 boards, 4 assists
• John Wall: 27 points, 4 boards, 9 assists
• DeMarcus Cousins: 20 points, 6 boards, 2 assists
• Patrick Patterson: 14 points, 6 boards, 0 Assists
• Daniel Orton: o points, 1 board, 0 assists
• Ramon Harris: 11 points, 7 boards, 2 assists
• Perry Stevenson: 8 points, 2 boards, 1 assist
• Jon Hood: 7 points, 4 boards, 1 assists
• Josh Harrellson: 3 points, 3 boards, 1 assist
• Mark Krebs: 5 points, 0 boards, 0 assists

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