One thing many forget on this forum...

[phoenix]

We cannot control the rise in quality of our opponents.

Sometimes hard to get a real solid hold on where we are in the face of competition. We might still be at the A level, but that does not mean our conference O's cannot be at the A level or the A+ level. We have absolutely no power to control that. Sometimes we are going to be in that position, and I am not apologizing or excusing by claiming we ARE in that position, however it is possible. Stallings and Vandy evidently have relaxed and taken what they have and decided to play to their potential strengths. GA is not showing up a bad team. I think it is the best conference we have played in for many years, ugly as it may be to accept such a hypothesis.

Or it may be us. It will be interesting to see what comes out of our conference at March. Interestingly enough, poor coaches are still poor coaches in the face of some bonus recruiting rewards.

[Mr. T]

My opinion on this can be found here...

http://www.wildcatnation.net/forum/view_topic.php?id=30929&forum_id=2

[jdeasy]

phoenix wrote: We cannot control the rise in quality of our opponents.

Sometimes hard to get a real solid hold on where we are in the face of competition. We might still be at the A level, but that does not mean our conference O's cannot be at the A level or the A+ level. We have absolutely no power to control that. Sometimes we are going to be in that position, and I am not apologizing or excusing by claiming we ARE in that position, however it is possible. Stallings and Vandy evidently have relaxed and taken what they have and decided to play to their potential strengths. GA is not showing up a bad team. I think it is the best conference we have played in for many years, ugly as it may be to accept such a hypothesis.

Or it may be us. It will be interesting to see what comes out of our conference at March. Interestingly enough, poor coaches are still poor coaches in the face of some bonus recruiting rewards.
UGA will not make the NCAA tourney.

[phoenix]

Mr. T wrote: My opinion on this can be found here...

http://www.wildcatnation.net/forum/view_topic.php?id=30929&forum_id=2


I read it and find your logic flawed. Previous decade doesn't have much influence on THIS YEAR.

Top to bottom this conference has talent and teams, but the coaching on one side of the conference does not live up to the talent imo, and it aint our side...



BTW next year will be a completely different landscape, always is, but right now I don't see any conference out there that makes me think the SEC would be outmatched down the line. Might be a couple of tops out there in certain conferences but not many teams could come into this conference and do much walking this year.

[Will Lavender]

jd&ez wrote: phoenix wrote: We cannot control the rise in quality of our opponents.

Sometimes hard to get a real solid hold on where we are in the face of competition. We might still be at the A level, but that does not mean our conference O's cannot be at the A level or the A+ level. We have absolutely no power to control that. Sometimes we are going to be in that position, and I am not apologizing or excusing by claiming we ARE in that position, however it is possible. Stallings and Vandy evidently have relaxed and taken what they have and decided to play to their potential strengths. GA is not showing up a bad team. I think it is the best conference we have played in for many years, ugly as it may be to accept such a hypothesis.

Or it may be us. It will be interesting to see what comes out of our conference at March. Interestingly enough, poor coaches are still poor coaches in the face of some bonus recruiting rewards.
UGA will not make the NCAA tourney.

What? Yes they will.

UGA is a solid NCAA Tournament team. RPI of 41, SOS of 13.

Locks in the SEC: Florida.

Probablys in the SEC: Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, LSU, Vanderbilt.

Possiblys in the SEC: Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn.

[Will Lavender]

phoenix wrote: Mr. T wrote: My opinion on this can be found here...

http://www.wildcatnation.net/forum/view_topic.php?id=30929&forum_id=2


I read it and find your logic flawed. Previous decade doesn't have much influence on THIS YEAR.

Top to bottom this conference has talent and teams, but the coaching on one side of the conference does not live up to the talent imo, and it aint our side...



BTW next year will be a completely different landscape, always is, but right now I don't see any conference out there that makes me think the SEC would be outmatched down the line. Might be a couple of tops out there in certain conferences but not many teams could come into this conference and do much walking this year.

Yeah, but that's sort of beside the point.

The SEC isn't "outmatched" by anyone, but that's indicative of college basketball in general. There aren't a lot of great teams out there anywhere. The SEC is a microcosm of that: there aren't a lot of very good teams in this league anywhere.

[andylaneatuk]

phoenix wrote: We cannot control the rise in quality of our opponents.

Sometimes hard to get a real solid hold on where we are in the face of competition. We might still be at the A level, but that does not mean our conference O's cannot be at the A level or the A+ level. We have absolutely no power to control that. Sometimes we are going to be in that position, and I am not apologizing or excusing by claiming we ARE in that position, however it is possible. Stallings and Vandy evidently have relaxed and taken what they have and decided to play to their potential strengths. GA is not showing up a bad team. I think it is the best conference we have played in for many years, ugly as it may be to accept such a hypothesis.

Or it may be us. It will be interesting to see what comes out of our conference at March. Interestingly enough, poor coaches are still poor coaches in the face of some bonus recruiting rewards.

I know you're probably talking about the SEC as a whole and not as much about UGA, but I gotta be honest and say after watching UGA, in myopinion,they don't have a lot of truly skilled players. That Bliss guy just looked like a muscular guy with a little raw basketball talent throwing his body around, and several others just looked like good athletes but not great basketball players. Kentucky should have won the 2nd half by 13 or more (like they did the 1st half) as well...and crushed this team.

[Art Vandelay]

Obviously we can't control the improvement of other programs, but Kentucky has historically competed well nationally, not just in the SEC. Besides, the SEC has been a tough league for some time now, not just the last couple of years.

We can control the team that takes the floor for UK and the coach that guides them. I find it hard to believe that anybody thinks Kentucky is doing everything it can to compete. Recruiting is the most obvious problem, but there are others. That's why we're struggling and that's why people are upset.

We should welcome strong competition, but we should expect a quality product for UK.

[BowlingGreenUKGrad]

jd&ez wrote: phoenix wrote: We cannot control the rise in quality of our opponents.

Sometimes hard to get a real solid hold on where we are in the face of competition. We might still be at the A level, but that does not mean our conference O's cannot be at the A level or the A+ level. We have absolutely no power to control that. Sometimes we are going to be in that position, and I am not apologizing or excusing by claiming we ARE in that position, however it is possible. Stallings and Vandy evidently have relaxed and taken what they have and decided to play to their potential strengths. GA is not showing up a bad team. I think it is the best conference we have played in for many years, ugly as it may be to accept such a hypothesis.

Or it may be us. It will be interesting to see what comes out of our conference at March. Interestingly enough, poor coaches are still poor coaches in the face of some bonus recruiting rewards.
UGA will not make the NCAA tourney.

Name your price. I will bet any amount that Georgia DOES make the tourney. They'll probably win a game or two, also.

[phoenix]

Will Lavender wrote: phoenix wrote: Mr. T wrote: My opinion on this can be found here...

http://www.wildcatnation.net/forum/view_topic.php?id=30929&forum_id=2


I read it and find your logic flawed. Previous decade doesn't have much influence on THIS YEAR.

Top to bottom this conference has talent and teams, but the coaching on one side of the conference does not live up to the talent imo, and it aint our side...



BTW next year will be a completely different landscape, always is, but right now I don't see any conference out there that makes me think the SEC would be outmatched down the line. Might be a couple of tops out there in certain conferences but not many teams could come into this conference and do much walking this year.

Yeah, but that's sort of beside the point.

The SEC isn't "outmatched" by anyone, but that's indicative of college basketball in general. There aren't a lot of great teams out there anywhere. The SEC is a microcosm of that: there aren't a lot of very good teams in this league anywhere.

No it isn't. Conference teams would be top half of most conferences this year and I think the whole conference would be in the top half of some conferences. Not always the case in past history. This year the SEC has several teams playing tough ugly basketball, and LSU, ARK and ALA are not three of those teams but come with talent. Overall I think there is a good case to be made for SEC basketball this year, and that it will be made by seasons end. This is a BETTER conference than years past.

[Buck_Naked]

phoenix wrote: We cannot control the rise in quality of our opponents.

Sometimes hard to get a real solid hold on where we are in the face of competition. We might still be at the A level, but that does not mean our conference O's cannot be at the A level or the A+ level. We have absolutely no power to control that. Sometimes we are going to be in that position, and I am not apologizing or excusing by claiming we ARE in that position, however it is possible. Stallings and Vandy evidently have relaxed and taken what they have and decided to play to their potential strengths. GA is not showing up a bad team. I think it is the best conference we have played in for many years, ugly as it may be to accept such a hypothesis.

Or it may be us. It will be interesting to see what comes out of our conference at March. Interestingly enough, poor coaches are still poor coaches in the face of some bonus recruiting rewards.


While I'm guessing it wasn't your intention, you're postwill undoubtedly"fuel the fire" for the Tubby bashers who will agree and say "yeah, you're right, the SEC has improved, and UK -- the alleged Flagship -- isn't keeping pace".

I'm sure there are a lot of factors, butI believe the 11-game win streak (against mostly suspect foes and the dregs of the SEC) has clouded the judgement of a lot of fans -- and players -- as to the actual progress this year's team is making. Morris is still the last guy down the floor every time, Perry still couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat, and Bradley has shown he is still capable of pulling a "disappearing act" at any time.

So, I'm afraid I have to revise my SEC regular season prediction for the Cats after these last two embarrassing losses. No way they'll go 11-5, as I originally predicted, when they still have 2 games each against TN and FLA, and games at AL, ARK and VANDY, andback home against LSU.

Of course I hope I'm wrong, but I'm now going to have to say 9-7, at the very best...

[phoenix]

Art Vandelay wrote: Obviously we can't control the improvement of other programs, but Kentucky has historically competed well nationally, not just in the SEC. Besides, the SEC has been a tough league for some time now, not just the last couple of years.

We can control the team that takes the floor for UK and the coach that guides them. I find it hard to believe that anybody thinks Kentucky is doing everything it can to compete. Recruiting is the most obvious problem, but there are others. That's why we're struggling and that's why people are upset.

We should welcome strong competition, but we should expect a quality product for UK.


NO we can't control the team that takes the floor, only the coach that recruits and guides them. Recruiting a problem? My gosh, I never heard or thought about that before. What an insight. It is possible for the quality of other teams to rise when UK might be in a dip and it can appear that we are in a severe decline.

One long, quality athletic forward added to this team and what would you judge our record to be? I can see it. You can see it. Everyone can see it. Even a couple good 6'7" guys with good hops would probably be enough. I am not going to die waiting for one but I will be glad when one arrives.

In the meantime. I think I am right about this years conferencequality.

[Mr. T]

phoenix wrote: Will Lavender wrote: phoenix wrote: Mr. T wrote: My opinion on this can be found here...

http://www.wildcatnation.net/forum/view_topic.php?id=30929&forum_id=2


I read it and find your logic flawed. Previous decade doesn't have much influence on THIS YEAR.

Top to bottom this conference has talent and teams, but the coaching on one side of the conference does not live up to the talent imo, and it aint our side...



BTW next year will be a completely different landscape, always is, but right now I don't see any conference out there that makes me think the SEC would be outmatched down the line. Might be a couple of tops out there in certain conferences but not many teams could come into this conference and do much walking this year.

Yeah, but that's sort of beside the point.

The SEC isn't "outmatched" by anyone, but that's indicative of college basketball in general. There aren't a lot of great teams out there anywhere. The SEC is a microcosm of that: there aren't a lot of very good teams in this league anywhere.

No it isn't. Conference teams would be top half of most conferences this year and I think the whole conference would be in the top half of some conferences. Not always the case in past history. This year the SEC has several teams playing tough ugly basketball, and LSU, ARK and ALA are not three of those teams but come with talent. Overall I think there is a good case to be made for SEC basketball this year, and that it will be made by seasons end. This is a BETTER conference than years past.
My opinion is that it just LOOKS this way because there aren't any great teams in the conference like their used to be. Great teams made the conference look worse than it was, but come tourney time in the nineties the SEC held its own pretty dang well. Mid 90's Arkansas would lay waste to this years version of the conference.

[Art Vandelay]

Yphoenix wrote: Art Vandelay wrote: Obviously we can't control the improvement of other programs, but Kentucky has historically competed well nationally, not just in the SEC. Besides, the SEC has been a tough league for some time now, not just the last couple of years.

We can control the team that takes the floor for UK and the coach that guides them. I find it hard to believe that anybody thinks Kentucky is doing everything it can to compete. Recruiting is the most obvious problem, but there are others. That's why we're struggling and that's why people are upset.

We should welcome strong competition, but we should expect a quality product for UK.


NO we can't control the team that takes the floor, only the coach that recruits and guides them. Recruiting a problem? My gosh, I never heard or thought about that before. What an insight. It is possible for the quality of other teams to rise when UK might be in a dip and it can appear that we are in a severe decline.

One long, quality athletic forward added to this team and what would you judge our record to be? I can see it. You can see it. Everyone can see it. Even a couple good 6'7" guys with good hops would probably be enough. I am not going to die waiting for one but I will be glad when one arrives.

In the meantime. I think I am right about this years conferencequality.
You're right stating the obvious, that our coach is a pathetic recruiter, lacks insight. Likewise, opining that our woes owe more to the supposed increased quality of our opponets' than it does to the soft lineup Tubby puts on the floor is not particularly sagaciouseither.