So Kentucky and Kansas both lost yesterday. Both teams seem to struggle on the road and that will probably prove fatal for both teams in the national tournament. What's worse is that it's becoming apparent that Kentucky really has no half-court game. They're great in transition, great rebounders, and great on defense, but they simply don't perform consistently in a half-court set.
Some question Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's stubborn use of the 2-3 zone and find it archaic in modern basketball and the 3-point shot, but his squad gets the job done. With the exception of Pitt, they've beaten every single Big East powerhouse and haven't lost a road game all year. They're good in transition but more importantly, have a solid half-court game yielding them the best field goal percentage in the country. They're averaging 52% for the year. 52%. No other ranked team has an average over 50%. And they're doing that in the Big East against teams like Villanova and Georgetown. They absolutely crushed Villanova yesterday and had 6 players scoring in the double digits and +60% field goal completion. Far and away they're the best team in the country, and have been since January, but have had to take a back seat to a few teams with better W-L records. My guess is that come Monday, Syracuse will be the #1 team in the land and for my money are the team to beat for the tournament.
John Wall is pretty obviously the most dominant phenom of the moment, but it seems like at some point in the tournament a game will come down to having to draw up a good inbound play or make free throws...and Calipari can't do that. Of course, it's all a matter of match ups...he's still better than the majority of coaches, so maybe they never get in that situation...but it's what's always happened before...similar to George Karl in the NBA.
But in a year with no great teams, having the best player can count for a lot.
Why I suspect they underachieve is because they've been to the tournament 20+ times under Jim and have only 3 final four appearances.
I do think Calipari is doing an excellent job...but controlling them would be a problem for any coach.
There's a time and a place for the fast break and lightning plays...but it's not every run down the court.
I do hope they all stick around for another season. If they're smart, they'd see that if they got a tourney win, they'd all have even better contract prospects in the NBA.