Are The Kentucky Wildcats a Better “Team” Without Nerlens Noel?
By Wayne
Mar 9, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) shoots the ball against Florida Gators center Patric Young (4) in the first half at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated Florida 61-57. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Alright Big Blue Nation, put down the tar and feathers for a minute and let’s talk about this ok? Listen, there is no question that Nerlens Noel was the best player on our team. He was our heart and soul on and off the court but the downside to his greatness was that the rest of the team was, how should I say this, lazy on Defense. Is there a statistical comparison that can be done to show this? Probably. Am I doing it? No and here’s why; I don’t care much for numbers and the proof is in the pudding.
And the “pudding” my friends, is NOT the team record but the team effort.
You may say, “Proof in what pudding? We’re 4-3 since Noel went down and have won no road games.” And if you’re thinking that, then yes that doesn’t track well but consider we were only 17-7 with Noel so we weren’t exactly tearing up the college basketball world. But Noel was. Do you follow me?
Nerlens Noel was a monster on the defensive block and his offensive game was coming along nicely as the season rolled on.
He averaged: 10.5 PPG (59%), 9.5 RPG (2.7 Off, 6.8 Def), 4.4 BPG (106 Blocks), 2.1 SPG, and 1.6 APG.
And though he hasn’t played since the road loss at Florida due to a torn ACL that he will have surgery on in the next couple weeks, he still leads the Wildcats in both average and total in the following categories:
Blocks (106), Steals (50), Rebounds (227 (65 Off & 162 Def).
So when you see one player put up the ridiculous numbers Nerlens has, though he hasn’t played the past 7 games, you would think the Wildcats should be undefeated and waxing fools left and right but alas, here we sit on the tourney bubble and a good bit of that bubble can be attributed to the success of Nerlens Noel.
Say what?
A good bit of the Cats bubble season can be attributed to Nerlens Noel’s success.
Now before I go on, hear me now:
NERLENS NOEL WAS NOT A SELFISH PLAYER AND DID NOTHING OF DETRIMENT TO THE TEAM
Did you catch that?
I’m not saying Nerlens play has been selfish or a cancer because he was precisely the opposite. He was the consummate team player and professional everywhere he went and in everything he did. He made his teammates better in many ways but the impact of his greatness was adverse caused a bit of an adverse reaction regarding the effort of his teammates, particularly on the defensive end.
With Nerlens in the game, our perimeter D was pretty shaky because we had the magic eraser back there swatting everything within a 7 foot radius. That’s why Nerlens numbers are so astronomically huge!
Much of the defensive scheme in games was spent funneling the ball to the middle for Noel to take care of.
Newsflash: Defense isn’t the onus of one person, it’s meant to be played as a team and with Noel, the Cats didn’t really have to have stout perimeter D to match Nerlens post dominance…or so they thought.
Nerlens Noel was so good that the rest of the team sat around lazily and watched with awe as one shot after another was turned away. This isn’t Nerlens’ fault. He did his job and he was a beast. Now another beast has emerged and the shock of being without Noel seems to be wearing off some and with Willie manning the post, each seems to understand the importance of their role on both ends of the floor.
So in the Second Half of the first Florida game, Nerlens goes down.
Enter Willie Cauley-Stein
Willie is as raw a talent as Calipari has had here in Lexington (think Nazr Mohammed), and playing behind Noel limited his growth early in the season and playing as part of the “twin towers” was a disaster so it was a virtual certainty that he should come back next season. That is until Noel went down.
Now Willie’s numbers are nowhere near the same plane as Noel’s (8.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG (2.3 Off and 3.9 Def), 2.1 BPG (58), .9 SPG (23)), but his defensive presence and importance to the team has been evident as his development has taken off like a rocket. The proof of his importance was highlighted in the Florida win at Rupp after he picked up his 4th foul and had to sit.
Florida immediately began attacking the post and went on an 8-0 run. With no choice left, Cal had to put him back in. The bleeding stopped.
Sound familiar? Sound like anyone else who plays on this team? Nerlens Noel perhaps?
Without equivocation, the greatest difference in the style of play for the Wildcats is that the team seems to have awoken and now realize that as great as Willie Cauley-Stein has been for them, as important as his defensive role has become and his presence on the block dictates the D, they have to play team defense if they want to go anywhere in either the SEC or NCAA Tourney.
After watching Willie Cauley-Stein play like a man possessed on the block, and smarter with 4 fouls than anyone I’ve ever seen, it’s clear that he belongs here and as my friend and colleague Jason Marcum put it in the podcast last night, WCS has played himself into the Top 14 Picks of the 2013 NBA Draft.
So what’s the take away here? The bottom line is that UK has the most talented players in college basketball and Nerlens Noel is perhaps the most ready for the NBA, yet when he went down the team the Cats seemed to realize how much work he did and how little work they did as a result.
Would I rather have Noel now? Absolutely. Why? Because he’s that good and Calipari would have worked out the rest like he always does.
Having said that, I like this team’s intensity and heart on both sides of the floor, without Noel, because they don’t have any choice but to bring it every single night.
And Willie Cauley-Stein is leading the charge with his fast developing game and undoubted leadership.
On, On, U of K