There are good times to be a basketball fan in the state of Kentucky.
This is not one of them.
|
|
| Billy Gillispie is in the worst program to have growing pains. (US Presswire) |
Kentucky is really struggling worse.
Both once-proud programs are featured here in the Monday Look Back.
Best game of the weekend: Billy Gillispie's nightmare continued Saturday. Kentucky lost again -- this time by a 79-76 margin to a UAB team that has a loss to Georgia Southern on its résumé. A UAB team that is without one of its better players (Paul Delaney is out with a torn ACL). A UAB team that the Wildcats led by 14 points with less than 12 minutes remaining. Thus, UK still hasn't won in nearly three weeks and many of those rabid fans who spent the offseason raving about Gillispie have predictably turned on him like he's Tubby Smith or something. Next on deck is a Tuesday tilt at Houston, and what's wild is that if Kentucky loses it will have dropped more games to Conference USA schools in four days than Memphis did the past two seasons, which ought to have Ashley Judd contemplating whether she should ever step foot in Rupp Arena again.
Worst game of the weekend: A win at Maryland had Ohio feeling great about itself, but that only lasted four days, until Saturday's meeting with Kansas. The Jayhawks used a 19-0 run in the opening minutes to cruise to an 88-51 blowout in which Ohio missed 43 of 60 field attempts, and isn't it strange that there's this much of a difference between Kansas and Maryland?
Win to brag about: One thing obvious is that the post-Steve Alford era at Iowa is off to a horrendous start, making it seem unfair that Adam Haluska and Tyler Smith would each exit at the same time. But what Iowa calls a down year, Drake calls an opportunity, and the Bulldogs took advantage Friday to score a 56-51 win over the Hawkeyes that snapped a 20-game losing streak at Iowa. No kidding. It was the first Drake victory in Iowa City since 1967, which was five years before first-year Drake coach Keno Davis was born.
Loss to hide from: I believe Michigan made the right move in firing Tommy Amaker, but doing so didn't do much to make the Wolverines better this season. In fact, they're way worse, and the latest example came Saturday courtesy of a 78-67 loss to Central Michigan. Honestly, how did we ever reach a point where the Chippewas are dominating the Wolverines? Answer: I have no idea. But if the options are being clean and losing to Central Michigan at home or cheating and going to back-to-back Final Fours with a group of baggy-shorts-wearing ballers, I think I might strongly consider campaigning for a return to the glory days if I were a Michigan fan. I mean, yeah, it was dirty. But Chris Webber would never lose at home to Central Michigan, ill-advised timeout or no ill-advised timeout.
Player who deserves improper benefits: A.J. Graves entered the weekend with zero 3-pointers in his previous two contests, which was a major reason Butler had scored just 53 points and 43 points in games against Detroit and Wright State. Not good. But Graves looked more like himself Saturday while sinking seven 3-pointers and finishing with 25 points in a 79-68 victory over Florida State, and Butler now has five wins against opponents from BCS-affiliated conferences. (One of those wins came against Michigan. Yes, it still counts, technically.)
Player who should lose his scholarship: Earl Clark fell short of achievement if the idea was to fill any void left by Derrick Caracter. After scoring in double-figures in each of his first seven games, the Louisville sophomore missed all seven shots he took against Purdue and tallied just two points in Saturday's 67-59 loss that kept Rick Pitino stuck on 499 career wins for the second consecutive weekend.
Why I'm smarter than you think: Doc Sadler's Nebraska Cornhuskers entered the weekend with no victory better than its one against Arizona State and with losses to Creighton and Western Kentucky. Still, I told you in the Friday Look Ahead that they would upset Oregon. So guess what they did Saturday? They upset Oregon, just like I said. Consequently, Oregon is now 8-2 overall and 0-2 on the road against teams with starters from Australia (Saint Mary's Patrick Mills and Nebraska's Aleks Maric are both from the world's smallest continent), and if you're wondering which team I'm picking when the Ducks play at Washington State next month I'd advise you to look at WSU's roster (Aron Baynes is from Australia; that pretty much seals things, best I can tell).
Why I'm dumber than I think: In the Friday Look Ahead I also mentioned Quinnipiac would lose to UConn and explained how the pupil (in this case, Quinnipiac's Tom Moore) rarely beats the teacher (in this case, UConn's Jim Calhoun). Of course, that was totally correct (UConn pounded Quinnipiac 82-49 on Sunday), but I failed to highlight another example scheduled for the weekend. Specifically, the game between Arizona State and Xavier featuring the Sun Devils' Herb Sendek and the Musketeers' Sean Miller, who once worked for Sendek at Miami (Ohio) and North Carolina State. With that kind of setup, you know what happened Saturday, right? ASU clobbered Xavier 77-55, allowing Sendek to notch another victory for teachers everywhere.
