What I Saw vs. Clarion

UKFreak00
WT Member

It's hard to say anything bad about a team that wins by 65 points, but I will try to be objective.

I'll start with the positives.

I saw John Wall put everyone on notice. He's here. He is going to be an absolute star in the DDMO. He looks as if God came to Coach Cal and said, "Build the best basketball player for your system", and Cal came up with John Wall.

Defensively, I saw a team that is going to cause a lot of problems for opposing teams. We are long. I saw many Clarion jumpshots come up short due to them trying to adjust their shot to get over the long arms of our defenders.

I saw the DDMO begin to come together right in front of our eyes. Every possession, we began to look more and more comfortable in the offense.

I saw Patterson's ability to step outside and play away from the basket. Something I've felt he should have been doing more of the past two years.

I saw 50% shooting from 3 point range. If we can shoot well from behind the arc, this offense will be very tough to stop. After last night, I feel a lot more confident in our ability to knock down some 3's.

I saw John Wall show great court vision. He sees the court better than any point guard we've had since Rondo.

I saw DeMarcus Cousins prove his naysayers wrong, once again. His knock has always been that he doesn't play hard. I've yet to see that from Cousins. He plays very aggressive defense. He looks very good playing in the middle of our full court press.

I saw terrific passing down low from Cousins. Not only is he going to be a dominate scorer, but he is a great passer down low, and can dish it off when getting double teamed.

I saw Perry Stevenson play with a passion and determination that we've been lacking the past 2 years. He hustles more than anyone on this team, and that alone will get him some minutes.

I saw, speaking of hustle, a team full of guys who hustle. Diving after every loose ball, fighting for every rebound, etc. I haven't seen this much hustle on a Kentucky team since 98'. We have about 6 guys who play the game the way Chuck Hayes played the game.

I saw a very good free throw shooting performance. 25-30 as a team. The knock on Coach Cal has always been that his teams cannot shoot free throws. If we can continue to shoot anywhere around the 75% mark, it will be a huge bonus for this team.

Now for the negatives, which I saw very few...

I saw Daniel Orton, in his short time in this game, fail to be aggressive yet again. Orton needs to be more assertive down low if he's going to succeed.

I saw Darnell Dodson, once again, take too many bad shots. I've seen a lot of good out of this kid as well, but he has never seen a shot that he didn't like.

I saw a team who seemed to still be a little out of control. But, I think with time we will be more crisp in our offense. I'm not too worried about the lack on control, yet. If we still look like this in January, then I'll be very concerned.

I saw a few times where we failed to get back on defense. We definitely need work on our transition defense.

Overall, I feel much better today than I felt Tuesday morning after the Campbellsville game. I saw a team continue to grow, and begin to really come together. I think we're in for a special season.