UK in 2004-2005

[UKTopher23]

UK plays UNC 12/4/2004

UK plays IU and UL back to back 12/11 and 12/18

UK plays KU 1/9/2005 and this is the only home game of these super matchups

then its on to SEC play...no Notre Dame this year.

The young Wildcats have 2 exhibition games and 4 warmup games before they take on UNC in Chapel Hill, and we are all hoping they can get it gelled together quickly, anyway, kickass OOC schedule considering 4 powerhouse opponents as I believe IU will make a good showing this year. You can tell with some of the other OOc teams that Tubby knows this team is gonna need some time to gel. Ill bet UNC gets a better game from us than anyone here expects, including the UNC players. Got some pics of our 6'3" PG Rondo jumping over our combo guard Bradley to win the Midnight Madness Dunk Contest, and the white boy that bleeds basketball Patrick Sparks. By the time the KU game comes around, its gonna be scary how good the Cats are, maybe even sooner. CANT WAIT

[UKTopher23]

No matter what happens this year in the UK-UNC game.....Hayes will shut up all of this talk about May being so much better.....lost weight or not, Hayes will negate him if he guards him, which Tubby will probably do, and let Morris guard Marvin Williams or whoever else, cause May wont be able to guard Morris, and anyone knows that.

[Rock]

I think everyone in Chapel Hill knows that Kentucky is loaded this season, I don't think your going to suprise us with players we were recruiting, but I do think that Sean May can handle his own in the post. The one thing Morris doesn't have on him is strength, and this matchup will be won by the post posistion he is able to get, or Sean is able to deny.
I hope Sean puts up monster numbers this season, but he has gotten a bad rap from a bunch of fans so far into his career. He averages a nice double double his first full year of basketball while fighting off a broken foot, and I think if there is going to be a suprise in this game it will the suprise Kelvin Sampson and the Junior USA ball club got from Mr. May being an absolute beast now that he is finally injury free.
The key to Sean having a big game and big season is just what you said, Morris will gaurd Marvin, or even if Hayes gaurds Marvin, the key is two people won't be gaurding Sean for the first time in his career, and more than one Tarheel will be crashing the glass for the only time in his career since Jawad got his second concussion in 2 weeks last year.
I think Kentucky is going to be scary good this season, but I think Carolina is going to be just a good, and hopefully with another year under his belt Raymond constently plays the way he has shown promises of doing from time to time, Rashad keeps his mouth shut, and Sean dominates the paint. Jawad is also going to have a monster year getting to move down to the 3, in the blue-white scrimmage he was 3-3 from the arc and looked good shooting and driving.
We'll see how everything pans out before the game, but I am excited about it allready, Carolina has their first exhibition tonight and I can't wait.........

[UKTopher23]

Rock,

I appreciate the candid reply and am shocked we agree on so much. However, while I do agree May will get some help on the boards, I must say that he was never consistantly doubleteamed by UK...Hayes played him strait up. If I were Tubby, Id let our Freshman play your Freshman and keep Hayes on May because we all know May has enough saavy to score on any Freshman...even Morris. But if Morris and May do guard each other, strength will be nuetral at best, but you cant teach size, and Morris has that. 1 more thing, Im sure alot of people are going to be surprised to see what Patrick Sparks can do, even though weve all been tryin to tell you guys, and Dickie V even says Bradley gonna surprise alot of folks. But then again, if you play UK and are surprised by them beating you, or giving you a really tough time, you dont know squat about College BBall. Tubby struggled with his young early teams, but as soooo many people like to point out, they werent his young guys, they were Pitino's. These young guys are his, he picked em..........

Best SG not to go Pro....Crawford
Best PG not to got Pro...Rondo
Best C/PF not to go Pro..Morris
Jr Transfer that dominated practices all last year(UK was #1 last year)Sparks
Underrated Combo Guard Bradley that plays sick D
Returning Azabuike ready for a breakout year, and Mr. Hayes...The May killer.... sorry, had to say it

[Crash_44]

I can't wait until KU & UK knock heads in January. Can you believe that will be KU's first game outside of Kansas since their trip to Canada this summer? Guess it's better that they have half the season under their belts before then. Both teams should be at the top of their game by then. Could be the regular season game of the year. That or KU & GT.

[UKTopher23]

Originally Posted by Crash_44

Could be the regular season game of the year. That or KU & GT.

I don't think GT is gonna b able to repeat last season's intensity/results, but UK/UNC could be a surprise, we can be pretty sure that UNC will have it together as those boys have been together a while now, and only have to find Marvin a spot, If UK can get a rythym (yes I know it's unlikely) by then that could turn out to be a hiiiiiigh level basketball game, tough to beat these two teams playing well. UK plays UNC, IU, and UL sooooo early, if the new guys dont come together enough and early enough, UK could have 3 losses before SEC play...and that would suck!

[Rock]

Topher I agree with almost everything you said, except that(and this is probably due to an extreme biase) I just gotta believe that Sean busted his butt this offseason and will be stronger and better than last year. When Jawad was mentally tough for the first stretch of the season, and granted we didn't have any big time opponents before then, May was a terror in the post, once Jawad broke his nose one week, got a concussion the next week, and followed that up with another concussion against y'all I think, it really hurt what Sean could and couldn't do offensively. Plus even though y'all weren't double teaming Sean, when 6'4 David Noel is your power forward it leaves alot of extra people to crash the boards and keep Sean occupied..........Anyway like I said I really think Morris is going to be an absolute stud this year, I am amazed he is in college this season, and he alone would have given y'all the top class in the nation, I watched Rondo play a little in the all star circuit and I like his game, I think y'all are going to be fun to watch, and it's a shame that we are ending our series with y'all after y'all have spanked us the last however many years we are finally getting back to putting a quality team on the floor every season, I wish they would continue this series on a permanent basis.......

[Rock]

As far as games of the year go I got a couple........
UNC UK
UNC Wake Forest(too bad they only get 1 go around this season)
Wake Georgia Tech
UNC Georgia Tech
UK Louisville
KU OSU
UT OSU
KU UT
KU UK

[Rock]

Topher,
I wouldn't worry about 3 losses even if that happens, I would consider with that freshman talent a run like Syracuse with Melo, by the time March rolls around y'all are definetley not on anyone's wish list for teams to play.....

[UKTopher23]

10 losses for Tubby this year? no fn way

anyway, The awful happened last night, Morris showed his youth by getting into foul trouble in an exhibition game, but....then comes in 7'3" Shagari Alleyne and blocks 8 shots in 12 minutes :allpraise , the record for blocks in a game at UK is 9 by Sam Bowie, and Im sure he played more than 12 minutes. Man, if he could give UK 12 minutes a game like that throughout the season, it could get really ugly :3-sick2: for anyone we face.

[UKTopher23]

OK, finally got to see a UK game. The opener vs Coppin St. OH man am I happy. Morris is really good, and that is where our biggest deop off in talent is with Shag and Woo. They got better over the summer, but playing behing Morris makes them look worse. Somebody get Woo some stickum for thos Iron hands. Anyway, we look great. Even better, is Kansas, UL, and Wake all looked weak, and Arizona (whom Ive doubted from day 1) lost, as well as UNC, what a letdown, Ray or no.

Tubby brough back the full and 3/4 court press for 22 Turnovers

Chuck filled every spot on the score sheet exept 2, what were they, he had 0 3ptrs and 0 Fouls, thats when you know a guy can D up.
Hayes Line 12pts 13 rebs 6OFF 3stls 1 assist 1 block. HORSE!!!!!!

UK shot 43.5% (10-23) from 3 pt land, and only allowed 1-12 OPP 3ptrs, an area we struggled in last year.

I think Morris needs to learn alot about rebounding with position from Hayes, in High school, Morris was always bigger, that doesnt work in Div-1, Hayes will show him the way to rebounds and keeping his fouls down.

Dec 4th at UNC, then Indiana nuetral at Freedom Hall, at UL, then KU at home....tons of fun

[Rock]

Looking forward to Saturday, glad we're at home, but ought to be a heck of a game....so glad college basketball is back

[UKTopher23]

Hey Rock, why is UNC getting all these raves for being able to "win ugly", they should have destroyed IU, I watched the second half and IU did alot more losing of that game than UNC did winning (70/30) May does look better than ever, but he had a McCants mental lapse last night, and speaking of attitude, McCants needs to learn how to take a foul. Acting like he was gonna go Artest on Ewing, that was so weak. Anyway, is Felton gonna have that cast off soon? I hope so, I hate when people have an excuse to fall back on ya know Anyway, I thought it was hilarious watching Wake being exposed for their lack of defense. Their first real opponent was Arizona(who lost to Virginia) and they almost exposed em, but Illinois did, a bit of a coming out for them boys even though they were ranked #3. Ouch, as usual the SEC is gettin no love early, but well be there with the ACC at the end of the year, hopefully we'll show a bit better in the tourney though