I still think Louisville is a really good team. The 37 points they put up on us in roughly 10 minutes of play in the second half shows that. I would say we came in with a better gameplan and were very focused early on. Pitino said they weren't ready for our defense which to me says he got outcoached. I think we play better as a team, which is why we haven't looked dominant in hardly any win, but keep finding ways to win. Our defense is better overall. They're good when they can press (and don't get the whistle when they press), we're better in the halfcourt which helped throw their offense out of whack in the first half and allowed us to build a lead and kept them from using their press effectively. Louisville is still a team that can make a big run in my opinion (and I'm assuming yours). If they figure out the intangibles and put it all together they could easily make a big run. It just amazes me looking at their schedule that their best wins are Southern Miss and SMU.
To me UC deserves every bit of the #7 ranking they have but I, too, don't know if we are legitimately one of the best ten teams. We're late enough in the year where you can't ignore 21-2 with a handful of good wins mixed in especially with some good teams sitting out there with 5 losses. I think our team chemistry, everybody knowing and accepting their roles, good coaching and tough, tough defense means we can overacheive based on how we might look on paper. This team has some serious issues scoring the ball. While we seem light years ahead of last year I think it still is a liability come March. Most teams that make tournament runs don't do so with offensive flaws. Good teams will find a way to score against us, the big question for us is can we find the ways to score against them. We are a JJ in foul trouble game away from being one-dimensional on offense. I still think the reason we lost to X was JJ picked up a foul 13 seconds into the game, plus they shot lights out. We haven't gotten to the line some games like we were earlier in the year. We need to attack more on offense. Our defense is good enough that we can play with anybody. JJ and Kilpatrick are two go-to guys that can score. What we lack is a guy that can take over the game on offense. Someone that can score at will. Kilpatrick's 18 points a game are impressive but to me he doesn't fit that mold. For this team to be at the next level we need a guy that can score at will from about anywhere on the floor. Hopefully going forward one of Caupain, Mormon, Johnson or another newcomer can be that guy. I think our success come March will be obviously favorble match-ups but also if we can get to the line. Hopefully Kilpatrick becomes one of those faces of the tourney that will get his calls. I remember when UConn won it a few years back Kemba Walker turned into Kobe Bryant when it came to getting whistles. We need that to happen and to stay out of foul trouble and the sky is the limit for this team. That plus that third scorer that BearcatJeff keeps talking about. Between Shaq, Sanders, Guyn, Caupain, and even Johnson and Rubles we have guys that can step up on any given night.
