Florida welcomes Kentucky basketball to the SEC meat grinder
Talent and competition have Cats trending down
Kentucky basketball has two problems. Not enough talent to satisfy the Big Blue lust for basketball domination, and SEC basketball that is too good to dominate.
About that talent thing
For the first time since since Derrick Rose was drafted in 2007, a John Calipari team will likely not have a top ten NBA draft choice, and Calipari is hearing about it.
How could that happen? No one knows, but it is notable that Collin Sexton, the top guard in the country and a freshman, plays for Alabama, and that Michael Porter, the top forward and the likely number one top pick in the NBA draft, is on the Missouri roster.
The recruiting shift intersects with Kentucky’s uncharacteristic inability to dominate the SEC this year. The thirteen other teams that Kentucky usually decks its basketball pageant with are having none of it. They’re getting players. They intend to be good, and Kentucky is paying in 2018.
Is Kentucky a bad team? Certainly not, Kentucky fans are just having a bad time if it now. The reason is simple. The Cats don’t put the ball in the basket often enough.
It’s called basketball
Against the Gators and in the friendly confine of Rupp Arena, Kentucky scored 64 points, shooting 40 percent from the field, 23.5 percent from three-point range, and committing 16 turnovers, of which six were traveling violations.
The numbers explain it all, and they trend down.
Kentucky ranks 30 nationally in field goal percentage at 48.1%, ranks 58 in offensive rebounds per game with 10.4, ranks 117 in assists with 12.2, ranks 182 in assists to turnovers at 1.00, ranks 201 in three-point shooting percentage at 34.3 percent, and ranks 275 in free throw shooting percentage.
There is nothing that has anything to do with putting the ball in the basket that Kentucky does particularly well. It’s a miracle from Big Blue Heaven that Kentucky has won 14 games.
Next: South Carolina basketball is bringing the ugly
There is no doubt Kentucky can pick the season up from here and run far in March. With Coach Cal, they probably will, but in 2018, Kentucky is not the SEC meat grinder. Kentucky is in the SEC meat grinder.