Kentucky Wildcats Farmer's Almanac for Sunday (2/13/11)

There is one thing Richie and I hate about mid-day games when we lose, you still have the rest of the day to think about it. It was a long day that has brought us to having a morning headache. So while Richie goes to get us some Tylenol, I’ll get to the news.

If you recall yesterday, I said for the Cats to pull off the win the key was for DeAndre Ligggins to have an amazing game. Well his heart and defense showed up but early foul trouble limited him. While he was still the heart and soul of the team yesterday showing more heart than anyone, even getting a technical from all the emotion, he feel short. Down the final stretch of the game Liggins took a couple questionable shots and had a few turnovers that shouldn’t have happened. He had early fouls which limited his minutes and also allowed John Jenkins to have a better day without him on the foul to defend him.

Calipari has given a hall pass to Liggins because of him playing his hardest. Yesterday was the first game this season when he put up double figures and the team was still unable to pull off the win.

“He’s not the issue for us,” Cal said of Liggins. “He’s trying as hard as he can. Anybody who tries that hard, you give (a pass).”

Cal wants the rest of the team to have the heart of Liggins and play with everything it has until the final buzzer. Some guys just don’t have that in them according to the coach.

“You’re in a dogfight (and) we have a couple guys who don’t have that mentality,” coach went on to say. “They don’t come up with balls, maybe don’t attempt to…”

Some think the leg injury to Darius Miller had a lot to do with the loss, and it possibly did. Miller was limited to a season low 18 minutes. Miller suffered from a right groin injury that would keep from playing in more than spurts. With Miller out of the lineup coach was forced to be play Daron Lamb who was limited to eight points.

Postgame Interview:

We are down to the final stretch of the season and it looks like the Cats may be out of the race for the SEC regular season but there is still a chance. The rest of the schedule we have four homes and two more road games. We need to run the table in the final games and take advantage of the home court if we plan to have a high seed going into the SEC tournament. During the final weeks for the season the cats have to learn to lose out close games and every day is another day of experience for freshman and this will be important to winning the SEC tournament.

It looks like freshman Brandon Knight may be sticking around for another year. I know it is early to say this but a report came out about him not focusing on the NBA. Knight is only focusing on this year’s team and not worrying about the future.

“We always tell him that what may or may not go on next year should not be his focus right now. What happens next year is next year,” said Tonya Knight, Brandon’s mother. “His focus is on this team and this season.”

With the possibility of a lock out I say several freshman will continue to look at this year’s season first and for most. Some people believe Knight will be a first-round draft pick if he does decide to enter the 2011 draft. Knight has a heart to play the game and I believe he will be successful in the NBA, but if he was to stay at Kentucky for a second season and develop his skills a little better at this level that he would be able to go straight into the NBA at this point I feel he will be draft and be on the bench for most of the first year.

Speaking of the NBA it looks our beloved Big Cuz had some problems last night. DeMarcus Cousins was thrown off the team plane last night after being involved in a fight with team mate Donte Greene. He was furious because Greene inbounded the ball to Tyreke Evans instead of him for a last second shot that lead to the Kings loss. It looks like Cousins was trying to demand respect even though he was a rookie and wanted to be trusted with big game moments. While I love the heart of Cousins but fighting with teammates is an extremely poor decision. It looks like Cousins will be suspended one game after this situation; hopefully Cuz will figure out that fighting teammates is not the way to gain respect.

Lastly I would like to congratulate the UK Softball team for going undefeated in their first three games of the season in FIU Combat Classic in Miami, FL. The team hopes to continue the winning streak in their final game of the classic against North Florida, we here at WBN wish them the best of luck.

Ke
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