Louisville Blogs

We were on the air on ESPN 680 until 2 a.m. last night. That is why this is a day late. But, it’s also given me time to reflect on what this season was. And what it means.

Here are my thoughts on Kentucky’s disappointing loss to UConn in the championship game.

For the first time since Kentucky played Kansas State in the opener, I thought the Wildcats were going to win. I thought they matched up too well with UConn. I thought their bigs would have a field day.

I was wrong. And it sucked.

As they did the entire tournament, the Cats fell down early. Cal blamed it on them being freshmen. I’m not sure what to blame it on, but at some point digging yourself a hole early is bound to catch up with you, right?

On Monday night. In the National Championship game, it did.

Yeah, the Wildcats got back in the game. Trimming that 15 point first half deficit to four at the half. Just as had been the case the entire tournament, you felt like Kentucky was in good shape at half time. Down just four in a game where you felt like it could be much more.

But, it felt a little different to me. In a game where I thought Kentucky’s bigs would dominate, I didn’t see it at all and that concerned me.

In the second half, the Cats trimmed it to one several times, but could never get over the hump. Every time they got the ball down one, they failed to score. The first time they got it to one was the first bucket of the second half, an Aaron Harrison three that cut it to 35-34. But, Ryan Boatright hit a crazy difficult shot to answer after James Young missed a jumper that would have given Kentucky the lead.

The Huskies then answered with a 14-4 run that gave them a 48-39 lead.

Then a James Young monster jam poster cram would initiate another Kentucky run, getting them right back into the game. This time an 8-0 run that would again cut the lead right back to one.

But, Aaron Harrison would miss a three that would give Kentucky the lead. Then UConn would sandwich a Julius Randle layup with two humungous threes. One huge answer by Shabazz Napier and the other a wide open look by Niels Giffey.

The lead was then 54-49 Connecticut with 6:19 to go.

Kentucky would not get it closer than four the rest of the way.

There are a lot of things you can point to as to why Kentucky lost this game.

The first of which is that their bigs didn’t really play a huge role. They were outrebounded by an undersized Huskies team and didn’t even come close to dominating the offensive glass. Something we have seen this Kentucky team do, even when they were struggling to beat the lower echelon teams of the SEC.

A lot of Kentucky’s struggles on offense can be credited to Randle not having one of his best games. You can look at his seven field goal attempts and say he didn’t get enough touches. But, how many of his field goal attempts this year came off of offensive put backs?

This just wasn’t the same Randle. He shied away from the rock at times. He shied away from the moment at times. And that is a big reason why Kentucky lost.

You also have to credit Connecticut with the way they guarded Kentucky. Remember, this is the same team that beat Michigan State and made Florida look entirely inept in beating them to get to the championship game.

Maybe I didn’t give them enough credit coming into this thing.

Their defense starts with their two guards up top as you must constantly be aware of Napier and Boatright’s ball hawking abilities. And while that did have a factor in the outcome, their team defense is really what did Kentucky in.

Unlike any of the teams that have faced Kentucky in the tournament, UConn found a way to crowd the lane and limit the Wildcats ability to get the ball into the middle. And when Kentucky couldn’t get the ball in the middle of the lane through penetration, it kept them from getting it up on the rim for those offensive rebounds to be had.

To me, that was the difference in the game. You can point at Cal’s insistence to not stay in the zone. You can point at Napier and Boatright’s big, tough shots. You can point at Giffey finally knocking down a few shots in the Big Dance.

But, all of that is no different from anything we have seen all tournament. All tournament, Kentucky’s opponents have refused to back down on the offensive end. Remember, Cleanthony Early did the same thing. Luke Hancock did the same thing. Glenn Robinson Jr. did the same thing.

All tournament long, Kentucky’s opponents have hit big shots down the stretch.

But, on this night, Kentucky ran out of answers. Aaron Harrison didn’t have one more miracle.

If you’re still looking for answers, yeah there are a few other things that you can look at. You can look at the Wildcats’ struggles at the line. It’s hard to win games when you shoot 13-24 from the line. Especially when you are facing a team that shoots 10-10 from the stripe.

You can look at Calipari not fouling late. To me, the issue was not fouling right away after Young’s layup cut it to 58-54 with 1:09 to go. The Wildcats had only committed five fouls at the point, meaning they would have to foul twice to send UConn to the line. If you foul right away, you are now at six fouls and the next one sends the Huskies to the stripe. Then you can play defense, try to get a steal, and be selective on who you send to the line.

Instead, they waited till :54 seconds remained on the clock to commit their sixth foul. Now the shot clock resets. You’re down four. If you don’t foul, the best case scenario is you get a stop after they run 30 seconds or so off the clock. Then you’re coming down the other way down four with 20 to 25 seconds left.

Meaning you just allowed nearly 50 seconds to come off the clock, with no chance to cut into the UConn lead. That’s just too much time.

Then they fouled anyways Kromah got behind the defense. And he knocked down both. Now you’re down six with :25 to go.

I understand Calipari’s reasoning. You play defense and get a stop and you have a chance. Plus, the Huskies simply were not missing free throws. But, the real issue was not committing the sixth foul until :54 remained. That was 15 seconds you needed and it hurt.

And this one hurts. Any time you get this far and lose it’s going to hurt. Getting this far is so difficult and opportunities to win championships simply are not there for the taking every year.

But, as I said all night long on the post game show last night, after the hurt goes away and you’re able to sit back and look at this run, you’ll realize how special this thing was.

The Wildcats entered the Big Dance with really no expectations. Yeah, we knew the possibility of them making a run was there. Simply because of the talent that this team had. But, we hadn’t seen it all year. Why would this time be any different?

But, it was different. This team came together. And boy, was it fun to watch. And boy, did they put on a show?

En route the National Title game, these Wildcats put on one of the greatest displays in the history of the tournament. They beat three of the four Final Four teams from a year ago. They beat a team that was the first team to enter the Big Dance undefeated for the first time since 1991. They beat the defending National Champion. They beat last year’s runner-up. They beat their rival.

And they beat all of these teams playing their best basketball. And they did it in dramatic fashion.

Win or lose in the National Title game, it’s still kind of tough because you’re never going to see that exact team ever play again. Of course, winning makes it easier. But, you can’t tell me there wasn’t a hint of sadness when you saw Anthony Davis cutting down the nets in 2012, knowing that him, MKG, Darius Miller and the rest of those Cats would never take the court again.

Louisville fans, tell me you weren’t a little sad last year that you’d never see Siva and Gorgui play together again while they were cutting down the nets.

The goal is to win a championship. At least that is the case when you play basketball at Kentucky or Louisville.

When you fall short of that goal, there is sure to be disappointment. Partially, because they lost. Partially, because the season is over.

But, let this loss by the Wildcats take nothing from this run. A miraculous run that fell just one game short.

And now we wait until November for the ball to be tipped again.

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