Are the Kentucky Wildcats replacing Duke as college basketball’s most hated team

Mar 31, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Duke Blue Devils mascot performs before the finals of the Midwest regional of the 2013 NCAA tournament against the Louisville Cardinals at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

No matter what rules are changed in the game of college basketball, a hot topic among the Big Blue Nation involves team chemistry.  One aspect of that is chemistry within rotations so cardsandcatstats.com has broke the North Carolina game down ad naseum  to work that problem out.  Interesting results.

"Against North Carolina, Kentucky played 20 different lineups. The two most common lineups (the starters, and Poythress subbed in for Cauley-Stein) were +13 pts better than UNC in about 17 minutes; the other 18 lineups combined to be outscored by 18 points in the other 23 minutes. 12 of these other 18 lineups have a +/- rating worse than UK’s average this year; 7 of them actually have posted a negative +/- this year. What would UK’s rotation look like if we took away some of the time given to these subpar lineups, and tried to give more time to the most effective lineups? I took a stab at creating a rotation for UK by giving more minutes to more effective lineups. My guidelines were: 1) Keep the starters’ minutes about where they are now and 2) give heavier playing time to lineups with higher +/- ratings per possession. I divided playing time by possessions, and assumed a game would average 65 possessions (that’s what UK has averaged so far this year). Who would I play, and how much? 18 Possessions: Aaron/Andrew/Young/Randle/Cauley-Stein (+0.43 pts per possession so far this season) 7 Possessions: Andrew/Young/Poythress/Randle/Cauley-Stein (+0.76) Andrew/Aaron/Young/Randle/Lee (+0.50) 6 Possessions: Aaron/Andrew/Poythress/Randle/Cauley-Stein (+0.95) 5 Possessions: Aaron/Hawkins/Young/Randle/Cauley-Stein (+0.38) Aaron/Andrew/Young/Poythress/Cauley-Stein (+0.75) Andrew/Young/Poythress/Lee/Cauley-Stein (+0.81) 3 Possessions: Aaron/Hawkins/Poythress/Randle/Cauley-Stein (+1.13) Andrew/Aaron/Poythress/Randle/Johnson (+0.24) Aaron/Hawkins/Young/Randle/Johnson (+0.14) 2 Possessions: Aaron/Hawkins/Young/Poythress/Cauley-Stein (-0.20) Andrew/Aaron/Young/Poythress/Randle (+0.70) This implies the minutes would be divided something like this:   Julius Randle 33 James Young 33 Andrew Harrison 33 Aaron Harrison 33 Willie Cauley-Stein 31 Alex Poythress 20 Marcus Lee 7 Dominique Hawkins 7 Dakari Johnson 3 This is a bump of 2-3 minutes per game for the starters and Poythress, and a reduction of 7 for Dakari Johnson and 3 for Dominque Hawkins. Other bench players would only play in blowouts or emergencies, so that won’t have much of an impact. If you look at the lineup combos, you’ll notice I focused on a couple of ways to make some bench players more effective: playing Poythress almost exclusively alongside Randle, and playing Hawkins with Aaron Harrison. Both players have significantly better +/- numbers when used in these ways than with other combinations. If you assume these lineups will maintain their current +/- levels, this rotation would be about 22 points per game better than UK currently is. That’s just not reasonable, however; it’s likely that these lineups would regress towards UK’s average performance this year. However, even if you factor in some heavy regression towards UK’s average scoring margin, this rotation would improve UK by 8 points per game. The +/- numbers I list here are just averages; no lineup is consistent enough to post these figures every game. However, playing more lineup combinations that have had success together for more minutes should give UK more of an advantage. Stretch that out over a 65-70 possession game, and it’s not hard to see an opportunity to improve by a few points a game…and that can be the different between a W and an L."

Let’s get something straight: I hate the Duke Blue Devils.  I make no bones about it and don’t understand how anyone could like them and their aristocratic arrogance or their mousy little Coach K.  Their fan base is certain they invented college basketball so they channel their “elitist blue blood” into the the Cameron Crazies and become the most obnoxious fans in college basketball, well not the MOST obnoxious (thanks Indiana Hoosiers fans).  I say all this to under score exactly how it is that the Kentucky Wildcats could ever replace Duke as college basketball’s most hated team but Chris Mahr of LostLettermen.com gives it a shot.

"Let’s face it: A team’s likability, in any sport, stems in large part from its fan base and how it’s perceived by the public at large. If you thought that Blue Devils fans embodied self-entitled and douchey, that’s nothing compared to what we’ve seen and heard recently from Wildcats fans. Before the season even began, a handful of UK fans launched 40and0.com, so named for their collective goal not just to win the national title but to also go undefeated in the process – only to see the Wildcats’ quest for perfection end after just three games. More recently, a Kentucky diehard named Chester exclaimed on a radio show that the student attendance problem at home games stemmed from UK placing too much emphasis on trying to be a school. Think of Kentucky basketball fans and Alabama football fans as being brothers and sisters in arms. They are, by far, the most zealot fan bases in their respective sports. But when that zealotry begets deluded thinking and self-righteousness, it makes the entire fan base look bad. Then again, if you cheered for a team that was fawned over as much as Kentucky was leading up to this season, you’d likely have an inflated sense of self-worth as well. The moment that the 2012-2013 season ended, the dominant topic of discussion across college basketball was of the Wildcats’ prized freshman class for the following year, one that many thought could challenge Michigan’s “Fab Five” of 1991-1992 as the best crop of first-years ever assembled by one team. Never mind that Kansas, Duke, Arizona and Syracuse (among others) had stellar incoming freshmen of their own; the conversation began and ended with UK. With all that hype comes a downside: A backlash if it’s not fulfilled. After starting the season ranked No. 1, the Wildcats (8-3) are now down to No. 19, having lost to all three ranked opponents they’ve played. And while their freshmen have been good, they haven’t been consistent. This has no doubt been a source of great joy to those who dislike John Calipari’s habit of snatching up the top recruits every year, coaching them for a season or two and sending them on their way to the NBA before going through the process all over again. Coach Cal might be even more insufferable than Coach K with his Armani suits, slicked back hair and the whole Gordon Gekko feel to him. Meanwhile in Durham, the sea change that’s been evident in recent years for college basketball’s most polarizing program is taking hold even more. “Where are the unathletic white guys who take charges and slap the floor?” Mark Titus wrote for Grantland in November. “Where are the punchable faces? As an American, I demand to know what happened to the Duke I grew up hating.” Gone are Blue Devil stars along the lines of Steve Wojciechowski, J.J. Redick, Greg Paulus and Jon Scheyer, i.e. those aforementioned “unathletic white guys.” They’ve been replaced by the types of players you never used to see in Duke uniforms: NBA-ready athletes. There might not be a more enjoyable player to watch in college basketball right now than Jabari Parker, who so many quickly forgot was once anointed by Sports Illustrated as “the best high school basketball player since LeBron James” before the hysteria surrounding UK’s incoming freshmen – not to mention that of Andrew Wiggins – surpassed his. He’s joined in the Blue Devils frontcourt by a capable No. 2 in Rodney Hood, and both of them are fed by a creative distributor in PG Quinn Cook. And let’s be real: Isn’t it just easier for the general public not to hate Duke as much as they usually do when the Blue Devils don’t start a single white guy? This isn’t to say that they’re completely immune to the usual criticism. Many a fan were likely left nodding in agreement at the recent “Is your college basketball team relevant to Dick Vitale?” flowchart that recently came out – one in which relevant teams were limited to Duke, teams that beat Duke and teams that beat teams that beat Duke. But the chorus of critics is noticeably quieter than years past. Most likely because they’ve shifted their focus to another blue-and-white blue blood that calls Lexington, KY, home."

Shock of shockers, North Carolina’s P.J. Hairston might actually have to SIT the rest of the season while the NCAA investigates some rental car shenanigans that’s dogged him for months.

"Junior forward P.J. Hairston’s eligibility remains in limbo,according a report from Yahoo Sports, which cites a source in saying Hairston “is unlikely to play this season.” Both players were held back from playing this season due to ongoing investigations from the NCAA. Hairston was pulled over twice by police last spring while driving rental cars connected to an ex-convict named Haydn “Fats” Thomas. McDonald’s likeness was used to sell mouthguards. McDonald has to pay back $1,783 he impermissibly earned, and that money will go to the charity of his choice. “North Carolina discovered the rule violations on Oct. 24 and then submitted a reinstatement request to the NCAA for McDonald on Dec. 11,” according to the NCAA’s release. “The NCAA then worked with North Carolina to finalize the facts before the university submitted its complete request for McDonald’s reinstatement on Dec. 17.” McDonald took benefits “from numerous individuals during the spring and summer of 2013,” according to the NCAA’s finding. “These benefits included the use of luxury cars, payment of parking tickets, a cell phone and lodging,” the NCAA said. He has to pay back the benefits prior to UNC’s final game of its season, which falls on March 8 against Duke. If a verdict does come down on Hairston that prevents him from playing in the near-future for UNC, declaring for the NBA draft could be the next step for the Heels junior, who is seen as first-round material by many. Yahoo’s source said as much, too. Meanwhile, Thomas told USA Today Sports on Wednesday that he has not and will not interview with the organization regarding its investigation surrounding Hairston."