re: Shooty Hoops is 12-3 (last game W vs Kentucky - 1st Rupp win, 2-0 in SEC Play)

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Beat the refs and a completely inept Wildcat team.

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The officiating was terrible for about the first 10-12 minutes of the second half! Coincidentally that is when UK was having most of their success... so I could be a little biased.

Seriously - officiating wasn't that bad. We did pick up 4 fouls in the first 2.5 minutes of the second half and it seemed like nothing was getting called on UK there for a bit, and I think things settled back down and they let the teams play to see who won. In the end they had one less PF than we did and shot like 6 more free throws. I think that is pretty normal for the home team to have a slight edge. Had we made a few more front ends we would have had several more FT attempts. Of course the foul and FT gap did narrow as they fouled several times at the end.

I think realistically, and this is bad news for both UK and MU, we are essentially the same team (overall the stats were pretty close). UK looked lost and out of sync and really couldn't handle defensive pressure and didn't shoot well (sound familiar?). Hopefully the difference is we seem to be trending up with the return of some key pieces, Kentucky seems to be floundering and rudderless.

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don’t sneeze at any road

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Truth! - they are not easy to come by, even for elite teams. Really difficult for good teams. Rare for mediocre and bad teams. We need to take them when we can (should have had another at ND).


Great having Stone and Pearce - I think these guys are still shaking off some rust. Another big positive that may not be as obvious was Phillips picked up foul 4 (at least one of those fouls was questionable) with over 9 to play, but he was able to play under control and was on the floor and a factor for most of the last 5 minutes without picking up number 5. Gates managed that well, and Phillips showing some growth playing under control. He also seems to be getting more confident in that jump hook.