Kentucky, Don't Freak Out

At this point in the college basketball season last year, the Kentucky Wildcats were rolling over non-conference opponents. Led by freshmen Anthony Davis, Doron Lamb, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, along with super sophomore Terrence Jones, the Wildcats of the 2011-2012 campaign reeled off eight straight wins to open the season before losing to a potential Final Four Indiana Hoosier squad. The 'Cats of yesteryear went on dismantle the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA Tournament on their way to a national championship victory over a veteran Kansas team. A person can string off many reasons why it is great to win a national championship, and rightfully so. But can they point out a negative? There is but one negative. The only place to go is down, and the media has found this negative and put it on the shoulders of this year's young freshman crop of Kentucky Wildcats.

This year's squad is full of young talent, but when compared to the talent of last year's Cats, they don't measure up at this point in the season. Key words: "at this point in the season". They are, without a doubt, loaded with talent. Players such as Nerlins Noel, Alex Poythress, and Archie Goodwin are all looking to become first round draft picks after their spurts as stars in the college basketball world. However, it takes time to become a team and to adjust to the differences between prep basketball and basketball at the Division 1 collegiate level. So far, they haven't adjusted well.

Kentucky opened the season with a narrow victory over a pesky Maryland team from the ACC. Even with the slim margin of victory, this was a solid win for the program. It got the new crop off to a good start with winning their first game. That's usually the goal, right? Their next time on the court, they dropped a close game to the Duke Blue Devils, another team from the ACC. This is an acceptable win, in my opinion. Duke is a veteran team with a Hall of Fame coaching staff. They know how to win and have been in tight situations before, where as the core from Kentucky were playing in their second collegiate game. Experienced talent beats inexperienced talent every day of the week. The Wildcats wasted no time in getting their feet back under them, however, stringing together three straight victories with an average margin of victory of thirty. Dominance. This is when the metaphorical wheels fell off.

The Wildcats fell to a rugged Notre Dame squad at Notre Dame. What Notre Dame does well is control tempo, taking Kentucky out of their gameplan of running and gunning. The Wildcats fell in a low-scoring affair by the score of 64-50. Just a hiccup, right? Wrong. The Cats traveled back to the friendly confines of Rupp Arena to square off against the Baylor Bears, an Elite Eight opponent from the previous year. Baylor, however, returned most of their talent whereas literally all of Kentucky's talent is in the NBA. The Cats had plenty of chances to win, but fell yet again, 64-55. Two losses in a row is unheard of in the state of Kentucky. Maybe the Mayans were right?

Some words of advice to Kentucky fans; don't freak out. The team is full of first round draft picks again this year. Give them time to progress and mature. They are merely 18 and 19 year old boys, not even legal to drink. I'm not predicting a National Championship, by any means, but if anyone in the nation has the raw talent to make a run at it, that team is Kentucky. In a world that is hungry for results, be patient.

Signing off,

The Sports Guru