The BBL has surveyed the college hoops landscape and we see only a handful of teams that can beat UK provided that UK is on their game.
In no particular order:
Villanova
This is a really good team in the backcourt. Scotty Reynolds is a deadeye 3-point shooter and a savvy veteran. Their other guards are athletic and super quick, allowing Nova to employ constant traps in the backcourt. Their inside guys are young but big and athletic. UK would have to bring their A game to beat Jay Wright’s club in the tooney.
Texas
This is the closest team athletically and in size to UK. Texas has three really good frosh who play major minutes as well. They have two beasts in the low post in Wangmene and Pittman. Damian James is a smaller, better shooting version of Pattrick Patterson. This could very well be the NCAA title game should seedings hold in the tournament.
Syracuse
This is the one team because of their amoeba matchup 2-3 zone that every team fears in the Big Dance. They are extremely athletic in the low post and have good gap shooters in Rautins and Triche. They are not as deep as UK, Texas or Villanova but the zone allows them to get away with playing fewer players.
Kansas
This team is deep but slow. Collins, Henry and the Morris twins are the real athletes they possess. They are also not nearly as tall or long in the backcourt as UK, and we see them struggling against guards like Kentucky’s. But they are well coached and have solid tournament experience. They will be a tough out either way.
UNC/Duke/Miss State/UConn
All four of these teams have the depth, size and shooting to compete against UK. Each team has serious flaws and would have to be firing on all cylinders to take out UK in a tournament matchup. UNC is small and thin in the backcourt. Duke is slow and unathletic in the frontcourt. Miss St is just raw and very inconsistent. UConn has lots of size and talent but shoots very poorly from the perimeter and the line.
Next Tier: Georgetown/West Virginia/Vandy/Tennessee/Michigan State/Kansas State
These teams each have a few crucial shortcomings that make them a bad matchup for Kentucky. But each of them possesses enough talent and depth to possibly make a move as the season progresses. We see these six teams as being poised to make a run in March. Keep an eye on them.
This is how we see things today. Obviously, UK could lose to anyone on any day, as the close margin with Auburn illustrates. But if Kentucky is on its game, we don’t see anyone outside the teams mentioned above that can put together the kind of effort it will take to beat the Cats.
Onto Rupp next Saturday vs Arkansas.
Let’s hope that traditional powerhouses Kansas and Kentucky are on a collision course to meet in the NCAA finals.
These two programs, steeped in tradition and currently ranked #1 and #3 respectively, have a number of story lines in common that would make for an eventful tournament matchup. It’s UK vs. KU, two of the top 5 all-time winningest programs and a battle for respect, pride and historical supremacy.
Another subplot is the rematch between Kansas Coach Bill Self and UK’s John Calipari, who met in the 2008 finals when Kansas defeated Cal’s old team Memphis in overtime. The two have often competed for recruits and, during the last off season, exchanged a few lighthearted barbs.
But now we can add another dimension to the list: the battle for who is the top freshman in the country.
While Kentucky’s John Wall has dominated the headlines, KU’s own super frosh Xavier Henry has quietly (relatively speaking) put together a spectacular first month. Henry leads the top ranked Jayhawks in scoring at 18 ppg, and if you listen to some of the headlines, seems to be motivated by the attention aimed thus far at Wall.
Both players are studs and future high impact NBA players. That’s for sure. But will one be remembered for a Carmelo Anthony-like run?
Here’s a nice piece from KUsports.com that elaborates:
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2009/dec/15/henry-or-wall-both-freshmen-having-big-years/?mens_basketball
