Kentucky Wildcats 5 for Wednesday: Kentucky's poor shooting night similar to another big win edition
By Paul Jordan
Good morning BBN! Have a good night’s sleep? Are we ready for some more late night in Hawaii action? Nothing makes for a better night’s sleep for me than a big win by my beloved Wildcats so I am refreshed and ready to start my day of pretending to look busy at work and trying to stay productive before the holiday all while counting down the hours till 10 PM when the Cats face another type of Huskies.
I know that a lot of people are concerned about Kentucky’s poor shooting last night. as they shot 39.1% from the field and 61.8% from the FT line. Not to nitpick because they did win …. can you think of another game where Kentucky shot so poorly against a top 15 opponent … and won? Think about that just a minute while I go on to item number two of my 5 for Wednesday.
Tonight at 10:00 PM (right after the Magic destroy the Heat on ESPN), Kentucky will face the Connecticut Huskies for the championship of the Maui Invitational. I know, we wanted a shot at Izzo, but they lost to Kemba Walker and the Huskies. Keep in mind to keep checking the site today as Corey will have his “Inside the Numbers” and Alan will have his “Know Your Enemy” for today’s game … but I did want to step in the wayback machine and remind you of what happened the last time Calipari met Calhoun’s Huskies. Enjoy the last 6:00 of that classic game:
Wow. What a finish. Oh, I gave you a trivia question, didn’t I? Well I have to say that one of the benefits of running this site are the stat laden texts I get from stat guru Corey Price during the games. And he reminded me that the last time Kentucky shot so poorly against a top 15 team and won was the 1996 NCAA Championship game versus Syracuse. In that game, the Wildcats shot 38.4% from the field and 61.5% from the FT line. And that turned out OK as Kentucky beat the Orange 76-67.
I guess it’s official. I guess we can officially start the “Will Terrence Jones be the number one pick in the NBA Draft” talk. ESPN’s Chad Ford is already opening that can of worms:
"NBA scouts in attendance raved about his versatility, energy and basketball IQ. A number of scouts compared him to a young Lamar Odom. We have him ranked No. 9 in our Top 100 NBA draft prospects, and if he keeps this up his ceiling goes all the way to the top. One NBA scout wondered if he might be the best player in the country. “If he continues to play this way, he’s going very, very high in the draft,” a NBA scout who attended the game told ESPN.com. “He could even be the No. 1 pick in the draft. He’s does all the things Harrison Barnes does and he’s bigger and so far, he’s been better.”"
And so far, Jones is a winner and does not lead his team to two upset losses in the Holiday Tournament. Harrison Barnes … please. Anyway, there is the big question on whether there will be a NBA lockout and a NBA to go to next year … which could provide extra incentive for Jones to stay and team with that 2011 class.
Saturday’s football game at Tennessee is also a return to Neyland Stadium for former Volunteer National Champion QB Tee Martin, so he has to have tons of emotions about this game. Seems that he did talk to Derrick Dooley about returning to Tennessee at one time, but he was already a Wildcat:
"“We had conversations,” Martin said, “but I had already been offered the job at Kentucky and he was aware of that. I just welcomed him to Tennessee, said hello and lent my support.”"
We will show a lot more love to the football team on Friday, but for now, we are all basking in Kentucky’s win over Washington. John Clay has a lot more stats for you to peruse while you are pretending to work today.
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