Former Kentucky All-American Jack Givens worries it exposed UK’s weaknesses again after the Cats flexed their muscle in a road win at Tennessee to close the regular season.
“It just reminds teams of what could be the best way to beat Kentucky,” Givens said.
Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy has a little bit different take on the Texas A&M loss.
“The loss shows that Kentucky remains vulnerable on defense, particularly to guards who can both attack the lane and score from the perimeter,” DeCourcy said. “The Wildcats have won too many significant games, particularly lately, to forget what they're capable of achieving.
“But they'll need to continue to disguise their flaws. It's too late to fix them.”
The biggest flaw for Kentucky has been on defense and that has to be a major concern going into NCAA play. The Cats rank 108th nationally in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency. In the last five years, there has not been a team reach the Final Four with a defensive efficiency mark of 100 or higher
“I’m excited about going into this tournament. I am. When you can score the ball, you got a chance. Now, c'mon, let's just guard a little bit. And we did it at Tennessee. Tennessee is one of the best teams in the country. We did it at Auburn. Alabama in the end. So we can do it. It's are you locked into that more than anything else?” Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the loss to Texas A&M.
One also has to remember that Kentucky was not the only ranked team to lose in conference tournament
play. Tennessee, Auburn, South Carolina and Alabama all went down in the SEC. No. 11 Duke and No. 4 North Carolina lost in the ACC tourney. No. 1 Houston, No. 3 Purdue, No. 6 Arizona and No. 8 Creighton all lost.It has been a wacky season as Associated Press -ranked top-25 teams had their worst winning percentage against unranked teams since 1963. One week in February eight of the top-10 teams all lost to unranked opponents.
DeCourcy says not to write off Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament chances just yet.
“They have enough capable scorers that any three or four of them can produce enough to win,” he said.
However, DeCourcy believes one player might be a huge key for the Wildcats.
“I don't think it was a coincidence that Justin Edwards' emergence as an offensive threat led to UK's best basketball of the season,” DeCourcy said. “When he's able to play because he's scoring, he makes UK a better defensive team generally.
“But if he's off like Friday night (against Texas A&M), it's harder to leave him out there because there are so many others who could fill those minutes as a better offensive threat. UK needs his best.”
Edwards went 1-for-6 from the field against the Aggies and had just two points after scoring in double figures in four of the previous five games.
“As long as we stay together, anything’s possible with this group,” Edwards said after the game.
After losing its first SEC tourney game for the third time in four years, Kentucky has to hope it can regain the form that enabled it to beat North Carolina, Auburn and Tennessee — and none were home games. That could be the three most impressive wins any team in the country has had. But UK also lost three straight home games and earlier lost at home to UNC-Wilmington.
“Right but they've got NBA talent and the last two times Kentucky had nine future NBA players on their team they won a national championship in 1996 and went 38-1 in 2015. No way a team with this much talent should have nine losses,” former UK guard Jay Shidler, a member of UK’s 1978 national championship team, said.
The current players probably know almost nothing about 1978, 1996 or even 2015. They just know what they hope lies ahead.
“It's pretty simple. We're not done yet. It's that simple,” UK fifth-year senior Tre Mitchell said about his advice to younger teammates after the Texas A&M loss. “We'll get back in the gym, get back to work. We'll look at the tape. Coach will tell us what we did and didn't do, what worked for us, what we went away from.
“At the end of the day we have a team full of hungry dudes that are going to stay in the gym. This minor setback is going to motivate a lot of dudes to play that much harder come the tournament.”
Sounds good and I do remember in 2014 when UK was routed at South Carolina and guard Aaron Harrison said the Cats could “still write a great story” despite a topsy-turvy season. UK got on a roll and reached the title game before losing to UConn.
“It kind of comes back to things we dealt with earlier in the season. We're a completely different team when we don't move the basketball. I think this is just kind of emphasizing that for us,” Mitchell said after the SEC tourney loss. “I'm sure that will be something emphasized moving forward.”
Freshman Reed Sheppard said the team will learn from the loss and be ready for NCAA play.
“We're a fun group. I love all the guys. We got a really good team,” Sheppard said. “We're all really, really close. We want to win. No one likes losing.”
Now Kentucky is the point where having a “young team” doesn’t matter. Lose again and the season ends and for a team that Calipari said was “built for March” the Cats still have a lot to prove
“Every game is gonna be the last game. It’s gonna feel like the last game of our lives, so we gotta figure out how to compete with whatever team we have and try to fight as much as possible,” leading scorer Antonio Reeves said.
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Kentucky started spring football practice this week and a lot of attention will be on quarterback Brock Vandagriff, a transfer from Georgia expected to be UK’s No. 1 quarterback next season.
So what can UK fans expect from him when they get to see him hopefully play in the Blue-White Game next month?
“I’d probably see myself as a pocket passer,” Vandagriff said. “I think I was a dual-threat in high school or classified as that. Can extend the play if need be, but not a type that’s looking to run.
“Obviously, if something presents itself, I think I can get down the field a little bit. Move the chains, but nothing spectacular on the ground.”
Vandagriff liked what he saw from his new teammates in offseason workouts
“It’s just a statement to the culture that’s already in place here. Just a couple different plays need to happen, and hopefully they will this next year. Hopefully that will be us,” the Georgia transfer said.
Running back Chip Trayanum, an Ohio State transfer, has been impressed by Vandagriff.
“He is a great guy on and off the field. You can tell he has that spark in him to show people what he can really do. We both have the same chip on our shoulder,” Trayanum said.
Texas A&M transfer Ray Cottrell said the quarterback has an “amazing arm” to guide the UK offense.
“Probably the best arm I have seen from a quarterback and I have seen a lot of great ones believe it or not. He is a leader. He is not a selfish guy at all. You can tell he loves his guys, especially his receivers. He really loves us,” the freshman receiver said. “We have a lot of fast guys. We are going to have a very fast offense.”
North Texas transfer Ja’Mori Maclin is another receiver who likes what he’s seen of Vandagriff so far.
"He's a funny guy to be around. He's not always serious. We joke around a lot. We got a class together and we've built a good relationship playing Fortnite with each other outside of football and even in the weight room and just being around him,” the UK receiver said. “He's a pretty cool guy.”
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Kentucky’s Jensen Castle will be back at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in Augusta, Ga., April 3-6 along with teammate Laney Frye. They’ll be part of a 72-player international field that includes the 30 highest ranked players from the U.S. on the final 2023 Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings and top 30 from the world amateur rankings.
Every player will get a practice round at Augusta National —home of the Masters — and those who make the 36-hole cut will play the final two rounds at Augusta National.
This is Castle’s third straight appearance in the event and she’s made the cut both seasons. Castle has 47 career rounds of par-or-better, including 19 career rounds in the 60s, which is the second-best in program history.
“It’s a big deal to be invited back. It’s easy to take for granted but not many get to go to this event,” Castle said. “To get to play in another great field is amazing. Just being able to play Augusta National is something I dreamed of. Being there is special but I don’t just want to participate. I want to compete. I know all the pressure I am going to feel and know what to expect.
“I enjoy pressure and love when there are tons of people watching me. When you play golf you are out there for six hours. You are not thinking about golf every second. In between shots I am analyzing the crowd. I may see people that are friends of mine talking and wonder what they are thinking. Or I might have just random thoughts. But I thrive in pressure situations.”
She thinks handling pressure has helped her make the cut at this tourney the last two years.
“That golf course is unlike any golf course in the world. Certain locations have more people than others but that suits me and I do have an understanding of what that will be like,” Castle said.
Castle said she has been playing “pretty good” despite recently starting to use a new driver that did not work out great. Now she is using her old drive again.
“What I won’t do is make this tournament a bigger deal than it needs to be. For me, it’s just another event. Personally, I want to play my best golf every event. This one is no different,” she said.
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Louisville Butler 6-4 center Ramiya White is one of two players scheduled to join the Kentucky women’s basketball team next year after signing with the Wildcats in November when Kyra Elzy was still the coach.
White averaged 11.4 points and 7.6 points per game this season while shooting 56 percent from the field and helped her team reach the state championship game before it lost to Sacred Heart.
White smoothly avoided any possible change in her plans when asked if UK’s dismissal of Elzy would change her recruitment status.
“Right now I’m not really worried about it,” White said. “I’m worried about the state tournament. There’s no pressure on me right now with that.”
White scored her team’s final 10 points in a 39-36 quarterfinal win over Franklin County when she had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
“She started calling for the ball and was frustrated when she did not get the ball,” Butler coach Candyce Wheeler said. “At the start of the season, she did not do that.
Franklin County coach Joey Thacker said there was not much his team could overcome her size advantage.
“She is way better than she was last year,” Thacker said. “Any time she wanted to score against us, she scored. She did a good job positioning herself and she is going to get better and better. She has improved with better footwork and is a much better free throw shooter.”
Butler was eliminated in the state semifinals by McCracken County. White had 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting along with nine rebounds and two assists in the loss.
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Quote of the Week: “We were prepared. It's just a matter of when the moment hits, you got to show up and perform. You have to be able to adjust on the fly. Coaches were giving us adjustments throughout the entire game. There were moments where we listened and it was effective, and moments where we shot away from it. You see the result from it,” Tre Mitchell on Kentucky's SEC tourney loss to Texas A&M.
Quote of the Week 2: “I think he plays so loose and free. He doesn’t change when there are two minutes to go and sometimes you have too,” Kentucky coach John Calipari on freshman Reed Sheppard.
Quote of the Week 3: “He’s the same person every day. And every day is a good day for him. He always has a smile on his face. It’s incredible. It really is. Every day, he’s just upbeat and happy,” Kentucky assistant coach John Welch on Aaron Bradshaw.
