Kentucky Wildcats basketball: Stop worrying about lineups
By Paul Jordan
Normally when things are going bad for a team, people start worrying about the starting lineups. Not so much with the top ranked Kentucky Wildcats basketball team. Maybe the writers are just bored or disappointed that their early season predictions of dissension among the ranks have not come true, but talking about the Wildcats starting lineup has become the new parlor game.
ESPN’s Jeff Goodman has been leading the charge against the Kentucky Wildcats all season, predicting infighting and saying a dozen times a day that Kentucky will not go undefeated. After the Wildcats breezed through their toughest three game stretch of the season, Goodman ramped it up, now declaring that Tyler Ulis should be point guard numero uno. It’s silly, because for the most part, Goodman agrees with what Eamonn Brennan wrote earlier in the week:
"Kentucky is playing to world-historic levels on the defensive end. It rampaged through its nonconference slate allowing just 0.82 points per possession (adjusted for competition), mostly because its back line simply does not allow easy interior scores. If the Wildcats keep that up, they will end the season as the best defense of the per-possession era. On Saturday, Rick Pitino saidthey were “one of the great defensive teams I’ve seen in my 40 years.” Meanwhile, the Wildcats grab 46 percent of available offensive rebounds, likewise the highest mark in the country. Perimeter shooting becomes less crucial when you turn half of your misses into second chances.Here’s a helpful thought experiment: Tomorrow, Ulis decides he no longer cares for the game of basketball. He announces his retirement at the ripe old age of 19, and he looks forward to spending more time with his family. Or whatever. Does Kentucky look any less likely to win the national title? Louisville in the Yum! Center presented Kentucky with by far its toughest test of the season, and with both Harrisons struggling, with its offense scoring less than a point per trip, the Wildcats still escaped unscathed. Do they look any more vulnerable to anyone in the SEC? Look at the Wildcats five toughest games going away: At Florida? At South Carolina? At Georgia? Come on. UK may or may not enter March undefeated, but any loss in the SEC would be a self-inflicted aberration. Are you really going to pick against them?"
What Brennan writes is pretty much gospel, but it’s just annoying that Goodman, a talented writer, just chooses to constantly be the fly in the Kentucky Wildcats ointment.
As of right now, Ulis and Harrison are doing basically an even share of the point guard duties. Harrison averages 22.4 minutes and Ulis 19.9 points a game. Both still basically play with the same group of players although the platoon system as we know it is gradually going away. It’s not like Tyler Ulis is a second option on this team as Goodman wants to portray.
Both point guards have their strengths and weakness and both get their moments in the game. The players have bought into the substitute system, so I really don’t see the point of what is working so far to a 13-0 record.
We are almost halfway through the season and entering conference play, there is no reason to change the system. If the team falters, maybe. But this team should not be in danger of losing until February 7-10, when the Cats embark on road trips to Florida and LSU.
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
And ignore the negative buzz and enjoy this ride.