Kentucky vs Morehead St.....A Preview

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Morehead St.(11/13/09)—Friday-6:30PM—ESPNU

Morehead St.

Head Coach--Donnie Tyndall
Career Record—47-49 (.489) 3 Seasons at Morehead St.

2008/09 Record--20-16
2008/09 OVC Record--12-6
2008/09 Postseason Record—1-1 (Lost in NCAA 1st Round)

Projected Starting Lineup (Last season PPG)

Brandon Shingles PG 6’3” SR (PPG-5.0)
Demonte Harper SG 6’4” JR (PPG-10.6)
Maze Stallworth SF 6’4” SR (PPG-12.1)
Steve Peterson PF 6’5” SOPH (PPG-1.8)
Kenneth Faried C 6’8” JR (PPG-13.9)

The Morehead St Eagles open the 2009/10 season as the favorite to win the OVC. The Eagles are fresh off their first NCAA appearance since 1984 and attempting to be the very first team in school history to have back to back 20 win seasons. Although the Eagles lost their top scorer, Leon Buchanan….importantly, the Eagles return 4 starters from last season’s NCAA team and add Ty Proffit, a 6’4” redshirt transfer from Notre Dame who is from London, Ky. Morehead St. will be led by Kenneth Faried, a 6’8” jumping jack, who averaged 13 rebounds and was the 2nd leading scorer hitting 55.6% of his shots. Faried is not only one of college basketball’s best rebounders, but is a solid shot blocker. Maze Stallworth returns as the Eagles leading 3 point shooter hitting 87 of 229 attempts for a solid 38%. Stallworth also averaged 12.1 points per game.

Morehead St. will enter Rupp arena as a veteran team that is very physical and plays solid defense. With Faried, UK will see one of the most underrated big men in the nation.A number of sports analysts have tabbed Faried as a future NBA player….he is the real deal…..and will be a force in the paint. However, the Eagles will need to improve their ball handling this season and their overall 3 point shooting. Look for a confident experienced Eagle team playing very loose knowing that no one expects them to win. However, UK fans, in recent years, have seen too many underdog teams come into Rupp arena, with nothing to lose, and shoot lights out. Morehead St. will be a dangerous initial opponent!

Rarely, if ever, have the excitement and expectations been higher than for this season’s UK team. The Cats will unveil a new coach, a new system and the number one recruiting class in America as they open the season against the Morehead St. Eagles. UK fans have been treated to an early look at this new team….blessed with great quickness, athletic ability and talent… and two easy exhibition wins over vastly inferior opponents. Certainly, there was definite improvement in the overall play of the Cats in running the DDMO and the defense from the 1st exhibition win to the 2nd win. However, now the official season gets under way against a veteran NCAA Morehead St. team this Friday. The competition will be far better and will give Cat fans truly it’s first look at how this exciting new UK team performs against a quality opponent. Unfortunately, John Wall will be sitting out this game, but hopefully Eric Bledsoe’s ankle will be fine for him to take the PG role.

Unquestionably, this UK team has tremendous overall talent and great potential, but like a great author or great painter….the book hasn’t been written and the canvass is yet blank. As the Cats are learning Calipari’s new system, the coaching staff is also learning how best to use all this talent. How will all this great talent best fit together….what combinations and rotations will produce the best result on the floor? All these answers will be forthcoming as the coaching staff observes and experiments in future games.
Coach Calipari recognizes that the team has a long way to go to master the new system and recently ordered early two a day practices to underscore that he has not been satisfied with early results on the floor. Coach Calipari wants a highly disciplined focused team playing hard and smart for 40 minutes.

It is exciting for UK fans to see the incredible talent not only starting for the Cats, but coming off the bench. It appears that with Wall out……that UK will start Bledsoe and Miller at the guards and Dodson along with Patterson at the forwards….. with Cousins playing the center spot. It will be very interesting to see how UK’s frontline handles the Eagle’s Faried.

The official season starts Friday and I look for a very enthusiastic UK team ready to start writing their own place in UK history…..to start painting a great portrait of success. There is a long way to go but success must start with one step forward…..and these hungry Cats are READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!! GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!