Bane of the Bluegrass: A UK Anti-Dynasty

[Bryan Swartz]

DECEMBER

12.1 @ Alabama State(2-3) -- W 59-51. We got off to a fast start and had just enough to hold them at arms length throughout.

12.5 @ Utah(5-1) -- L 62-61. We got out to a good lead in both halves, only to see it evaporate each time. A good look by McKnight with 27 seconds left would have put us in front, but he missed and the Utes were able to run out the clock.

Freshman reserve C Doug Scott picks up his third suspension of the year, he's the gift that keeps on giving.

12.8 @ Wake Forest(4-3) -- W 60-54. Our second meeting with the Demon Deacons was a disaster. We trailed 21-4 out of the gate before mounting a huge comeback. Kareem Green led us with a career-best 18 points off the bench(9-11 fg), most of them in the second half. His game was made necessary by the second injury of the year to starting center Dylan Stuart. Stuart will miss almost two months this time with a broken ankle, and I'll take Green playing over him any day, espescially with how it limits our already shaky depth.

12.13 @ #4 Georgia Tech(8-2) -- L 76-56.

12.13 vs. #17 Memphis(6-1) -- W 57-53. Down 21-5 early, it looked like we were about to get blown out for the second time in one day. Then Damion Davis(15 points, 6 rebounds) went off and Kareem McKnight(24 and 7) found his range in time to be the closer as we staged another huge comeback. Despicable. Davis is unfortunately proving to be not at all the weak link we imagined him to be.

The win moves us into the Top 100 RPI for the first time this year.

12.19 vs. Rice(4-5) -- L 61-53.

C Doug Scott and F Joe Johnson have been declared ineligible for poor grades, and G Jason Evans isn't happy with my treatment of him. We'll see how much he likes me after a suspension. None of them are key players, but any chance to sabotage our already thin bench I will take.

12.26 @ Pittsburgh(5-4) -- W 67-63. Bliss kept us afloat by scoring our first seven points en route to a season-high 15, McKnight lit up the scoreboard for the middle half of the game, and we did just enough to hang on to the lead at the end. Even a career-worst 11 turnovers by our star couldn't blow this one as we shot 52% for the game.

We won more than our share of competitive games in December for a 4-3 mark on the month, 5-6(108 RPI) on the year. Kareem McKnight is putting up 'just' 19.7 ppg with his free-throw and 3-point shooting off noticeably from previous seasons. Our defense is horrid(dead last in the SEC by any measurement) but offensively shot selection has actually been quite good and we've been a decent rebounding team as well. Everybody taking three or more shots a game is shooting well except for Johnson(ineligible) and Bliss, who takes three-quarters of his attempts from 3-point range and still is getting 1.03 points/shot because of it. I don't know any way to further destroy our offensive execution. All of this is with Dylan Stuart(team-high 59% fg) having missed a good part of the year so far.

[Bryan Swartz]

JANUARY

1.2 @ Tennessee(7-4) -- L 65-55.

1.5 vs. Georgia(5-8) -- W 84-81. The Bulldogs exploded out of the gate, and we spent the rest of the game mounting a devastating rally. When I say we, I really mean of course Kareem McKnight(33 points on 8-16 fg). It was his three-ball with two seconds left that broke a tie and set us to an improbable victory. Damion Davis scored 16 in a supporting role.

1.9 @ Arkansas(5-8) -- W 63-58. Another 25 for the bane of my existence despite missing eight of his first ten in a defensive struggle. His late-game flourish broke open a close game once again.

1.12 vs. Vanderbilt(7-7) -- W 80-68. We have scored 80 points twice this year, both in the last three games. Today the role of secondary scorer was played by Shannon Broadnax(13 pts, 12 reb.) with Davis and Green each adding 11 as well. A trend is developing, and not a good one. We are above .500 on the year with three straight wins, and 3-1 in the SEC at the quarter pole.

All evidence suggests this has as much to do with a weak conference as it does with us, but we still need to get some losses in now with Stuart returning in February. There is a real threat of this team making it back to the tournament if this keeps up.

1.16 vs. Mississippi State(9-6) -- L 63-58. Our defense was inept enough to counter J.R. Bliss's finest game of the year(17, 6, and 5) and an even better one by McKnight. The frontcourt did nothing in this one.

1.19 @ #16 Florida(11-6) -- L 64-54. A ten-minute scoreless stretch began the second half as the Gators broke free.

1.23 vs. Alabama(9-8) -- W 58-46. We stole 13 errant passes by the Tide, most of them in the second half.

1.26 @ LSU(14-6) -- L 76-74. Kareem McKnight was unstoppable, hitting his first five shots and eventually unloading for a new career-high of 39(14-23 fg) to go along with 8 boards. Even that was not enough to overcome 22 turnovers, with LSU coughing it up just six times.

1.30 vs. Texas A&M(9-10) -- W 59-50. We started on a 15-2 run over the first 11 minutes, and the Aggies got within four a couple times late in the game but no closer. We shot just 34% for the game, but were +7 in turnovers in an ugly affair.

5-4 in an up-and-down month, leaving us 10-10(5-4) on the year with a 127 RPI. I'd say we've been just bad enough to leave us out of the tournament so far, but with Stuart just starting to work his way back into the lineup it is certainly no time for complacency. We're tied with Alabama for sixth in the SEC at the moment.

[Bryan Swartz]

FEBRUARY

G Jason Evans starts out the month by whining again, I suspend him again.

2.2 @ South Carolina(10-10) -- W 72-62. Another fast start today, and we led wire-to-wire.

In terms of the Bubble Watch, we debut on the outside looking in with 10 at-large teams ahead of us. NIT quality is a pretty good assessment of our status.

2.6 vs. Mississippi(6-15) -- W 72-54. Dylan Stuart returns to the starting lineup, and while we don't get much from him McKnight has 29 on 13 shots and 7 boards to lead us to an easy win, our third in a row to tie the best streak this year.

2.9 @ #15 Missouri(17-5) -- L 85-62. Just what we needed. We have a player -- the Tigers have a team.

The number of teams between us and the bubble is halved to five after a split last week. The team just on the outside? Vanderbilt, who we beat once and will not see again in the regular season. With three of our last four at home, this could go right down to the wire, and realistically speaking an NIT berth is the worst I can hope for.

2.13 vs. Auburn(10-14) -- W 49-40. The first half was a brickfest with the teams combining to make one of every three shots and nobody hitting twenty points until about 30 seconds were left. It was more of the same until we hit a few to pull away in the final 3-4 minutes.

2.16 vs. Tennessee(12-12) -- W 68-51. This was really a must-lose for us. Unfortunately, while the Volunteers hit the boards they couldn't hit a shot, and the McKnight/Bliss backcourt was at it's scintillating best in the second half, finishing with a combined 48 points on just 27 field goal attempts.

Five wins in six games, we are now guaranteed to have a winning conference record and a non-losing record at the end of the SEC tournament. Shockingly, the latest projection drops us to 12th on the 'Out' list ... I'll take it but I don't know how we dropped that far with two wins.

2.20 @ Georgia(10-16) -- L 64-63. Our final road game of the year. Ten minutes in, McKnight had the same score(7) as the Bulldogs -- with all of his points coming from the free-throw line as he was 0-2 from the field. He can't even stop himself! Turnovers and poor defense were just enough for us to give it away in the second half as we continued to shoot well all game long. Too close for comfort, but I'll definitely take it.

2.23 vs. Arkansas(8-18) -- W 55-36. We didn't make a 3-pointer in the first half, yet still led by six. You've got to do a lot of things wrong to lose at Rupp to the Hogs, and we barely had to score in the second half to win this one.

We finish off the regular season winning six of our last eight, 5-2 in February, for a mark of 15-12(10-6). That's good for fifth in the SEC. Our RPI stands at 111, which should be enough to keep us out of the field but it's far from a sure thing. Still 12 teams out according to the latest projections, but I'll feel a lot better if we can manage to lose our first tournament game.

[Bryan Swartz]

SEC TOURNAMENT

3.7 vs. Mississippi(7-21)[2nd Round] -- A mild upset of Auburn extends the Rebels' miserable season, which included a blowout loss to us at our place. Clearly this would be a big challenge. In the first half we couldn't hit much of anything and they didn't miss much, counterbalanced by our dominance of the boards. The second half remained surprisingly competitive, and this one went right down to the final possessions. With exactly one minute left, McKnight split a pair at the line to tie the game at 61-all.

Mississippi missed, Broadnax grabbed the board and we worked it in to Dylan Stuart, who missed but followed his own shot to give us the lead with 25 seconds left. A quick score by the Rebels tied it again, and Broadnax missed for us at the buzzer! A new lease on life, we're headed to overtime against the SEC's worst team!!

Stuart(19 points, 6 rebounds) and McKnight(34 points, 8 rebounds) owned the extra session and we win it 77-67 in overtime. Sigh. We were so close.

3.8 vs. Mississippi State(17-10)[Quarterfinals] -- This is the kind of matchup that could sway the selection committee if they were on the fence. Defense + Kareem McKnight(27 pts) was enough to give us an early lead but not enough to hold it as the supporting cast was brilliantly inept. We now await the judgement of others after losing 56-51.

SELECTION SUNDAY

For the first time we are actually unsure of what will happen, but I'm still leaning NIT. It might have been that quarterfinal loss that did it, as Vanderbilt and Mississippi State both made the dance but we did not. We went to the NIT East as a 5-seed, drawing Virginia in the first round.

3.13 vs. Virginia(14-14)[NIT First Round] -- This event is always a crapshoot. Always has been, always will be. I think we're better than most of the teams here, so the danger for a deep run is very real. This one was no contest, with McKnight scoring 21 of his 30 in the first half en route to a 66-51 rout.

3.15 vs. Oklahoma State(15-14)[NIT Second Round] -- The hot-shooting Cowboys torched us at the start and led by 20 late in the first half. We never recovered, ending our season 61-49 with Kareem McKnight going out meekly, 3-13 for 11 pts and 12 pts 7 boards from Dylan Stuart leading the team.

17-14 is our final mark, just the second time I've had a winning record here. The national scoring chase was extremely close, with Kareem McKnight's 22.4 getting him third place, just behind Cornell's Dion Arrington(also 22.4) and Michigan State's DeVeren Jones(22.5).

[PointGuard]

Better (bad) luck next year.

[Bryan Swartz]

I think that with the passing of the McKnight era, horrible days will be here again .

[Bryan Swartz]

After our season was over, G Jason Evans decided it was time to whine again. I decided it was time to show him the door, the first player I've had the justification to outright cut.

AWARDS

Kareem McKnight(22.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg) repeated as a 1st Team All-American, but was beaten out for SEC POY this time by Missouri freshman Paul Towns.

BOARD REVIEW

We were disgustingly successful. They wanted an NCAA bid, which we barely missed, but we were in the top half of the SEC, had a winning record, and improved the school's prestige standing. Three out of four.

STAFF

Everybody returns for next year.

PRESTIGE CHANGES

Kentucky: 69(no change)
Personal: 71(+1)

TRANSFERS

Both of our academic suspensions, C Doug Scott and F Joe Johnson, have elected to transfer out. This gives me a total of three scholarships available, but only one player we needed to pursue: C Alfred Lang(junior, Kennesaw St). The first team All-Atlantic Sun honoree told us to shove our offer immediately, which was just fine by me. We'll be three walkons heavy this year.

RECRUITING

After boasting the #2 recruit in the nation three years running, Kentucky has nobody in the Top 50 this year -- a very lean group for us to get our five scholarships from. Not that we need concern ourselves with elite players anyway at this point.

C Julius Demory was the staff favorite for hidden talent this year, with no real impressive players that we saw as impact guys. The first week went great, with no commitments and two players scared off. That knocked us down to six on the list, five scholarships to hand out. The next week, one more bit the dust leaving us with no margin for error left as practices began.

In the end, we got three commitments including Demory, and one player remains outstanding. We'll carry 1-2 extra scholarships into next year depending on how that one turns out. This looks to be the least impressive class we've brought in, Demory's the only guy we can say with confidence is even decent.

[Bryan Swartz]

MEET THE DEPRESSED: THE 2018-19 KENTUCKY WILDCATS

With the departure of our two best players, we'll switch to a balanced offensive approach as I have no need to take the ball out of the hands of anyone. At least, not that I know of.

Back at the point is senior J.R. Bliss, 8.8 ppg a year ago. However, he shot less than 36%, had more turnovers than assists(2.4 to 2.1), and pulled down less than three boards a game. Better yet, he's considered the only 'star' of this year's team! Oh, this could be fun.

Manning the perimeter with him are senior walkon Clayton Madic and redshirt freshman Jason Ballinger, neither of which are particularly great causes for concern. Junior Shannon Broadnax(5.6 ppg, 47% fg, 4.7 rpg last year) and senior walkon KenKay Evans inside are more of a concern. Interior depth is there with proven, if inconsistent, commodities junior Kareem Green and sophomore Damion Davis. They are the only two quality subs though, and Bliss is literally the only half-decent guard on the team.

No redshirts this year, as only three are eligible on an upperclassmen-heavy roster and none are worth the effort.

MEDIA OUTLOOK

For the first time, we are not ranked, a visible sign of the post-McKnight era 'dawning' here at Kentucky. We slide only to third in the SEC predictions, behind Florida and Missouri and ahead of Arkansas. It is actually quite amusing the way they are making a career out of overestimating our success, which they've done every year but one in my time here.

[Bryan Swartz]

NOVEMBER

11.14 vs. UNLV(0-0)[Preseason NIT First Round] -- L 67-64(OT). I don't know that I'd call it entertaining, but it was a competitive game between two unimpressive teams. Most of the early offense came from our backcourt, and then KenKay Evans turned it on in the second half. His free-throws with about ten seconds left in regulation sent it to OT after we'd failed to get back on defense on an out-of-bounds play(A thing of brilliance, that, and it almost lost us the game). They made more plays at the end, and we crash out in the first round for the second time. Clayton Madic(18 pts) was our surprise top scorer, with Evans putting up 17 and 8 and J.R. Bliss scoring 15. The forwards combined to shoot 1-8, so it was pretty much just those three.

11.23 @ North Carolina(1-1) -- W 68-62. A week after leading us in scoring in our opening game, Madic is benched, with Ballinger moving over to off-guard and Clint Wheat starting at small forward. A big edge in free-throw shooting kept us in striking range, and then we suddenly couldn't miss in the second half. Bliss's 12 led a balanced attack.

11.26 @ Wyoming(2-1) -- L 65-63. A role reversal of our last game as it was the Cowboys who staged the comeback, overcoming a career-best(by a mile) 30 points on 11-15 fg by J.R. Bliss. He had never scored 20 points in a game before, let alone 30.

11.30 vs. Pennyslvania(2-2) -- L 64-50. Another second-half collapse suitably ruins our home opener.

1-3 on the month. Too early to really have a handle on this bunch, but it looks like Bliss has no qualms about stepping into the primary scoring role. Wheat has stuck as a starter, and is our #2 scorer at the moment so it's hard to fault the move, but still weird to bench a guy after he scores 18 in his first start.

[Bryan Swartz]

DECEMBER

12.3 vs. Western Michigan(2-2) -- W 63-53. Good defense and 20 from Clint Wheat. The junior walk-on is proving to be disgustingly effective.

12.7 vs. Penn State(1-5) -- W 63-56. We were almost bad enough to lose this one, but never quite gave up the lead. A 9-point edge at the line was the difference.

12.10 @ Charleston(2-4) -- W 60-47. Given the fact that they didn't score for seven and didn't hit a shot from the field for almost eleven minutes, we did well to keep our lead small early. Ultimately it was futile effort. Three straight wins have moved us above .500 on the year.

12.13 @ Memphis(1-5) -- L 57-55. Close game throughout, but the dominance of Memphis's bigs was eventually decisive.

12.17 @ Rhode Island(3-4) -- W 72-70(OT). Crazy game. We were down 13 early in the second half due to having almost twice as many turnovers as field goals. Rhode Island scored only ten points in the next 16 minutes and we took the lead, both teams had clutch shooting down the stretch and we went to overtime for the second time this year. We just barely held on at the end with Shannon Broadnax taking his turn(20 points, 6 rebs).

12.21 @ Georgetown(6-2) -- L 67-51.

Clint Wheat, at present our #2 scorer(12.2 ppg through 10 games, 9 as starter) has been declared ineligible for the rest of the year!!

12.28 @ Massachusetts(6-5) -- L 73-72. Clayton Madic returned the starting lineup as I expected, and was much less effective than his earlier start. We made a parade to the free-throw line in the first half, but the well dried up in the second half and a complete lack of defense allowed us to drop this game.


4-3 in December, for 5-6 on the year with a 177 RPI. Still not sure what to make of this group. Seems like it's close almost every time out, and no matter how the game starts we might lose it or win it at the end.