For all you RPI guys

[FatCatDaddy]

class=sidebarBy Brett Dawson
bdawson@courier-journal.com (mailto:bdawson@courier-journal.com)
The Courier-Journal


ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Kentucky basketball team is struggling in second halves.

But it's a final third that ultimately will tell the tale of the 2006-07 Wildcats

Now the Cats (15-5, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) face an uphill climb.

UK is No. 7 in the Ratings Percentage Index -- a system that's part of the formula for selecting and seeding the NCAA Tournament -- according to www.realtimerpi.com (http://www.realtimerpi.com/).

But the Cats' first 20 games were against teams with an average RPI of 89.3. Their 15 wins have come against opponents with an average RPI of 111.3.

UK's 10 remaining regular-season games come against teams with an average RPI of 37.4.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/SPORTS03/701260530/1002/SPORTS

[Rockober]

UK's 10 remaining regular-season games come against teams with an average RPI of 37.4.

The season will be tougher in February. We will know very soon if this UK team is a pretender or will they play themselves into being a contender.

Currently they are a pretender imo but I do believe they possibly can be a contender after this 10 game stretch. The proof is in the pudding. Time will tell.

[poodoo]

Brett Dawson's first sentence makes me think. Dawson says that UK is struggling in second halves of games. Could Tubby possibly be counting on his veterans too much in those second halves, and those veterans are not coming through as much as Tubby has counted on them to do?

It's just a thought. Tubby has always substituted more during the first half than the second half. In some years his teams would tend to lose the lead fairly quickly when the substitutes were inserted. This year, frankly, I have not seen that. When the substitutes came in the Georgia game, we played better. Too, during the blowout at South Carolina, I loved how the five freshmen performed during the last few minutes, pushign the tempo and playing with intensity and continuing to score.

If those freshmen were playing late in the second half in a tight game, perhaps they would not perform so well themselves. However,most wouldprobably agreethat the veterans did not play well in those situations against Vandy or Georgia.

It's just a thought. PERHAPS Tubby is playing the veterans a bit too much during those second halves in which we are struggling. In other words, I would not mind seeing more of the youngsters during those second halves and seeing what happens. GO CATS!