#3 Notre Dame vs. #1 Kentucky (Elite 8)

[Irish#1]

Does anyone not think that Wisconsin beats Kentucky this weekend? They aren't as efficient offensively as us, but they're probably pretty close.

More importantly, they don't have to decide what they're willing to give up on defense, as they're big enough to rotate bodies on Towns (and I'm guessing he doesn't go all Villanova on them).

This may sound blasphemous to the media, but I really feel that this Kentucky team is pretty poorly coached. From a fundamentals stand-point, they aren't good defensively. They make a bunch of mistakes that are cleaned up by just being so big and athletic. Same with rebounding. Go back and watch the game, count how many times a Kentucky player boxed-out. Over/Under is probably around 5.

Probably my favorite part of the whole game is, I believe it was after the Vasturia 3, they moved to a shot of Calipari. He was asking his assistants if he should call a timeout. Over and over again. He didn't know if he should. He looked almost scared.

I wonder if all those names he's held in high regard with, Coach K, Izzo, Pitino, if they have to ask their assistants if they need a timeout.

I'll take the +5.5 in a heartbeat, and I'm not sure it's very close.

I wouldn't read too much into that. He may have some guidelines established on when to use TO's in a game and was simply asking the coach if they were at a point where he prefers to use one. HC's give their assistants a lot of things to track during games that they base a lot of their game strategy on.

I also remember a game where Digger was coaching. Camera was in the huddle and Digger asks his assistants what defense they were running the last play. I was shocked at the time that Digger didn't remember what defense he had just called, but then I saw Dale Brown do the same thing later in the tourney.

 

[BobbyMac]

My family is from Kentucky, all 4 lines. I have to listen to their sh!t constantly. I was born and grew up in Indiana and they love to TRY and rub it in my face about how much better Kentucky basketball is than Indiana basketball. My response:

Indiana has more players in the NBA per capita than any state.

Indiana HS All Star's has won 21 of the last 22 games against Kentucky.

If IU had won even ONE national title with Kelvin Sampson I would have discounted it. Indiana schools starting with ND and IU down to my Crusaders do things the right way.

ND had more kids from Indiana playing for them (one) than Kentucky had Kentucky kids playing for them (zero).

Notre Dame will graduate more players off the current roster than UK will graduate in 100 years under Calipayme.

UK has six #1 recruiting classes and 1 national championship under Calipayme. Pathetic. HORRIBLE coaching.

Indiana has indoor plumbing and dentists.

Enjoy it while you can... your loophole will close and / or Coach Calipayme will leave you on probation just like he did at UMass and Memphis.

.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

Anyone see the video circulating of UK getting a free bucket? Looks like the shot missed but a hand brushes the bottom of the net making it look like it went in. Sorry, work computers won't let me link youtube.

 

[GoldenDomer]

I had a Kentucky fan tell me they would dominate the ACC just like they did the SEC. Sums up that fan base.

 

[IrishLion]

Anyone see the video circulating of UK getting a free bucket? Looks like the shot missed but a hand brushes the bottom of the net making it look like it went in. Sorry, work computers won't let me link youtube.

I've seen it. I'm not sure if they actually let those two free points stay on the board, or if they took them back off.

I'm gonna say they got taken back off, and the video was made just to rile people up.

 

[yankeeND]

I was told on Sunday by a co-worker that Calipari is all class... wtf?

I was really bothered by the post game comments he made, and the fact that he refused to give them credit. The only reason why he did eventually give any credit at all is because of the backash after the fact. Kentucky has a phenomenal team, and kudos to them for all that they have achieved, but as long as that arrogant and classless coach is there, I will be a Notre Dame fan and a fan of whoever is playing Kentucky. That dude was sweating bullets on Saturday and you could see the panic in his face everytime the camera flashed on him. It's one thing to be confident, it is another thing entirely to be a bad winner.

I may be hyper sensitive for our beloved Irish teams now though, living in the south. The day after the NC game in '12 a UGA fan told me that we weren't ready for "Big Boy" football and I flipped shit. It's funny, the last time UGA even played for a title was 1980, coincidently against us, and they won, but the Irish have won a title and been as close as you can get 3 other times since then. UGA has what 1 NC in their programs history? Perspective is a difficult concept sometimes I guess?

 

[NDWorld247]

Anyone see the video circulating of UK getting a free bucket? Looks like the shot missed but a hand brushes the bottom of the net making it look like it went in. Sorry, work computers won't let me link youtube.

I've seen it. I'm not sure if they actually let those two free points stay on the board, or if they took them back off.

I'm gonna say they got taken back off, and the video was made just to rile people up.

I haven't seen the video, but IIRC, the game was tied at 19 and UK missed the shot. The scored changed to 21-19 and I was like WTF just happened...they took the points off before the end of ND's possession.

 

[yankeeND]

http://watchnd.tv/#!/videos/J4OGJhdDrYbpEK7UFRTJUgw3dFuzLpsf

 

[Woneone]

I wouldn't read too much into that. He may have some guidelines established on when to use TO's in a game and was simply asking the coach if they were at a point where he prefers to use one. HC's give their assistants a lot of things to track during games that they base a lot of their game strategy on.

I also remember a game where Digger was coaching. Camera was in the huddle and Digger asks his assistants what defense they were running the last play. I was shocked at the time that Digger didn't remember what defense he had just called, but then I saw Dale Brown do the same thing later in the tourney.

I didn't respond to this after the game because I felt it would lead to an unneeded debate at the time. Now however....

John Calipari got flat out-coached again. Keep running high ball screens for the Harrison twins John. Keep doing it. Let them chuck it up, not even drawing iron. Keep Calley-Stein on the floor, even though he is giving you NOTHING (his block on Kaminsky was due to the help side defense holding him up after he got beat).

He's the best recruiter in the game.

He's an average (at best) game coach.

Can anyone name a player who came back for another year under Calipari who got better? Or was it as good as it gets when they arrive?

 

[NDgradstudent]

How does this change our view of the near miss last week?

 

[IrishSteelhead]

#3 Notre Dame vs. #1 Kentucky (Elite 8)

How does this change our view of the near miss last week?

I don't think it changes much. Last week gave me the opinion ND was one of the best teams in the country this year, and that opinion stands. That's why the tourney is so great. The best team rarely wins. There were about 6 teams at the end that could all have easily claimed the throne with an extra break during crunch time.

 

[NDgradstudent]

I don't think it changes much. Last week gave me the opinion ND was one of the best teams in the country this year, and that opinion stands. That's why the tourney is so great. The best team rarely wins. There were about 6 teams at the end that could all have easily claimed the throne with an extra break during crunch time.

I basically agree. This is what would have happened last week if (1) they didn't call a couple soft fouls against us early and (2) two more of our 3s had fallen. Both of those (especially (2)) could have easily happened. Alas, that's the way the tournament goes.

 

[Woneone]

How does this change our view of the near miss last week?

It shouldn't. We got beat by a really good team. We played good. They went Villanova on us for the last 13 minutes of the game. It happens. The problem I have is that the narrative got skewed. Somehow, because it was an undefeated Kentucky team, we played perfect yet it just wasn't enough.

That's crap.

It took a perfect, literally, a perfect last 13 minutes for this apparently unbeatable foe to beat an undersized, out-maned ND team. It wasn't some miracle, it was a day at the office. They were not unbeatable. They were good.

What sucks is knowing that we were one of the best 3 or 4 teams in the country at the end of the year. We just got matched up against another team from that group in the Elite 8.

I think if you replay the Kentucky / ND game 7 times, Kentucky wins the series.

But, if you replay the last 13 minutes of last weeks game, ND wins 5 out of 7.

It's unfortunate that one of, if not the best ND team that I'll likely ever see didn't get to the Final Four, but there may be one less talented that does. It's the luck of the draw sometimes (looking at you Michigan State).

We lost to a really good team.

Just not a historic one, no matter what ESPN says.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Harrison didn't finish that statement with 'dude'........

 

[NDGOLDEN]

Harrison didn't finish that statement with 'dude'........

What did he say? I missed the post game interviews

 

[Irish Insanity]

What did he say? I missed the post game interviews

When Towns was asked about Kaminski(sp?), one of the Harrison wispers 'fuck that n....' and it's picked up by the mic. Everyone in the PC heard it.

 

[Circa]

Andrew Harrison on Frank Kaminsky after Kentucky's loss to Wisconsin: 'F*** that n****' - SBNation.com

 

[IrishLax]

It shouldn't. We got beat by a really good team. We played good. They went Villanova on us for the last 13 minutes of the game. It happens. The problem I have is that the narrative got skewed. Somehow, because it was an undefeated Kentucky team, we played perfect yet it just wasn't enough.

That's crap.

It took a perfect, literally, a perfect last 13 minutes for this apparently unbeatable foe to beat an undersized, out-maned ND team. It wasn't some miracle, it was a day at the office. They were not unbeatable. They were good.

What sucks is knowing that we were one of the best 3 or 4 teams in the country at the end of the year. We just got matched up against another team from that group in the Elite 8.

I think if you replay the Kentucky / ND game 7 times, Kentucky wins the series.

But, if you replay the last 13 minutes of last weeks game, ND wins 5 out of 7.

It's unfortunate that one of, if not the best ND team that I'll likely ever see didn't get to the Final Four, but there may be one less talented that does. It's the luck of the draw sometimes (looking at you Michigan State).

We lost to a really good team.

Just not a historic one, no matter what ESPN says.

This is such a well put post. Before that game, I wasn't sure how truly great Kentucky was. After that game, I was convinced that the margin between them and other top teams was razor thin.

Their record was inflated by playing in a crap conference. Their best win, Kansas, was an equally overrated team. They didn't play a single top 10 team all year if you don't count the Jayhawks.

They don't play team basketball. They don't run any kind of offense. They rely on their defense to fuel their offense unless the Harrisons get going playing hero ball or they're able to feed Towns inside. Just an extremely flawed team that relies on being able to outsize and out depth the opponent while getting stops. And horribly coached.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

Andrew Harrison on Frank Kaminsky after Kentucky's loss to Wisconsin: 'F*** that n****' - SBNation.com

Haha what a joke. So immature. Gotta love the kids calipari molds together

 

[Grahambo]

But imagine if Kaminsky said that about the Harrison's.

 

[ACamp1900]

I'm super stoked they lost but in that kid's defense he is owning up and apologizing...

 

[EifertPower]

I'm super stoked they lost but in that kid's defense he is owning up and apologizing...

Let's not give Harrison credit here. I'm sure Kentucky immediately ordered him on how to handle this mess he created and that if he doesn't his NBA draft stock would plummet. It's a shame because i thought a lot of him before that moment.

 

[Irish#1]

I'm super stoked they lost but in that kid's defense he is owning up and apologizing...

I agree with Eifertpower. As soon as the school heard that, they went in damage control mode.

UK was a very good basketball team, just not one of the elite. The '76 IU team would have beat them. Wilkerson and Buckner had the size and strength to give the Harrison's fits. Benson was quite 7', but he was a great defender and had a variety of post moves including a hook shot. Scott May was the POY. He was as good a defender as he was scoring. Knight could go pretty deep on his bench as well.

Their discipline and motion offense would have ate up UK's defense the same way the Irish did.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I agree with the above that UK was not unbeatable, they played a crap schedule this year, and they're horribly coached. But lets give them a little credit for what they achieved.

With that said, ND had that game in the bag. UK just executed better down the stretch. It's a shame they got matched up in that bracket, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

Also:

Wisconsin did not shock anyone this weekend. If anyone watched them play the last couple of years, they are a very solid team. UK is actually lucky Wiscy wasn't making their 3s. ESPN and all the other analysts can gripe all they want about the championship matchup and how it would've been better with UK, but Wisc is a great team. That shouldn't be down played.

Tom Izzo is a legendary coach. MSU was not good this year yet he got them to the Final Four. Classic March Madness. But also classic Izzo. They just couldn't keep up with Duke who is:

1) Super talented
2) Coached by arguably the greatest college basketball coach in history (Yes, that's my opinion...even when compared to Wooden).

To toot my own horn for a bit...I had UK, Wisc, Duke, and UL in my Final Four. MSU came out of no where to ruin my perfect pick. I did call the Duke vs Wisc championship matchup though. I have Wisc winning it all.

I'll be sad when another CBB season comes to an end. The good news? It's Masters week!

 

[irishfan]

I'm super stoked they lost but in that kid's defense he is owning up and apologizing...

What other choice does he have?

 

[connor_in]

Let's not give Harrison credit here. I'm sure Kentucky immediately ordered him on how to handle this mess he created and that if he doesn't his NBA draft stock would plummet. It's a shame because i thought a lot of him before that moment.

Reading those tweets, do we think it was actually Harrison either a) coming up with the wording himself; or b) actually the one posting them

 

[IrishLax]

What other choice does he have?

Seriously. What's the alternative? Doubling down?

"That's right. You heard me. F*** that n**** . Any more questions?"

 

[Henges24]

The word should be banned from society all together. Whether it's the "a" or the "er." It's unfairly used by both races and has taken the meaning of "dude" or "guy" now which is absolutely ridiculous.

But seriously though, Kaminsky says it and he's tossed for the NC game plus more. And constant media/ Sharpton. It just isn't used fairly. Edit: And shouldn't be used at all.

 

[BeauBenken]

The word should be banned from society all together. Whether it's the "a" or the "er." It's unfairly used by both races and has taken the meaning of "dude" or "guy" now which is absolutely ridiculous.

But seriously though, Kaminsky says it and he's tossed for the NC game plus more. And constant media/ Sharpton. It just isn't used fairly. Edit: And shouldn't be used at all.

lol Ban a word.

 

[BeauBenken]

What other choice does he have?

Let's be honest. We've seen kids screw up the apology process. At least he handled it correctly.