I have a problem.
I don’t know what to think about Kentucky’s inability to dominate an opponent.
Sure, the Cats are winning games, and winning them often. Some wins are a struggle, some wins are ugly, and some wins they get outplayed, although their talent carries them in the end. So far this season, I’ve not really gotten frustrated when the team plays a sub-par game, but yesterday I couldn’t help myself.
I was on the verge of rooting for Kentucky to lose.
Not because I’m giving up on the team, mind you. I’m not one of those fans. But I know that a loss is a great teaching tool, and this seems to be a team that needs to learn a thing or two. Such as how to play against a physical opponent. Or how to act like you want to be there. And until this team loses again, I don’t see anything changing.
Now, a couple guys on the team have that blue-collar, winning mentality, but many don’t. It’s one of the reasons this team comes out flatter than a Justin Bieber fan’s chest pretty much every time they take the court. And, so far, they’ve been able to get it together in the second half, managing just enough to win. But a team as loaded as Kentucky shouldn’t need to do that.
Unfortunately, it’s an ugly byproduct of being “One & Done U”. There is so little carry-over from year to year that you are constantly trying to get teams to mesh and find an identity, and that’s exactly what’s happening now.
Let me say this: I’m not complaining that the Cats are 17-1. I’m complaining that the team doesn’t seem to be learning from its mistakes, at least not so far. Granted, there’s still time to get it together. For proof of that, just look to last year’s edition that went 2-6 on the road in conference play, but got it together in time to win the SEC tournament and make a Final Four run.
Of course, tournament games are played on a neutral site, so road struggles may be an unfounded worry. But, again, it’s the inability to learn from mistakes that I worry about.
Now, had the team lost in Knoxville yesterday, it wouldn’t have been a bad loss by any means. I could have lived with it, just like I can live with the Indiana loss. Tennessee is a good team that is playing hard for a good coach. But just like Indiana, it would’ve been a loss due to very poor play, and that’s what bugs me.
But here’s the thing: maybe it doesn’t matter anyway.
Maybe that’s just what this team is: a young team that struggles on the road, just like last year’s team. Maybe the grumblings about Marquis Teague are just a product of the success of John Calipari’s last four point guards. Maybe Terrence Jones really is a known quantity, and we’ve seen the extent of what he can do. Maybe Darius Miller is never going to be the consistent player we want him to be.
And there’s nothing wrong with any of that. It’s our fault as fans to project on this team what we think they are capable of. We have no idea. Sure, they have a #2 ranking, and will most likely be in the Final Four, if not winning the whole thing. We know they have as much, if not more, talent than any other team in the country.
But it’s the nature of the beast as a fan to want more. If Kentucky went undefeated for 3 straight years, we would gripe about margin of victory. And as soon as they lost, we would flip our lids wondering what’s wrong with the team. Just like we’re doing right now. This team has lost one game in 18 tries, and that road loss took a top effort and a buzzer beater from the other team.
Yes, Kentucky gets pushed around by physical teams. Yes, Marquis Teague often takes bad shots. Yes, Terrence Jones got run off the court yesterday by a kid who had been on the team for a week. But you know what?
They still won. And they always find a way to. And I’m sure they’ll find a way to win in the NCAA tournament as well. After all, the tournament is as much about matchups as it is who is the best team. And Kentucky has shown they can beat running teams (UNC), they can beat physical teams (Tennessee), and they can when when the officials decide to embarrass themselves with their whistles (Tennessee and Louisville).
So, in spite of rebounding stats, or effort, or officiating, or the “on/off” switch, this team finds a way to win.
Let’s just hope they can do it when it matters.
