MBB: (2) Kentucky 81, Mississippi State 75 (f-ot)

[moonpie23]

miss state is taking it hard (physically) to UK.....they're down by 4, but they are attacking !!

[Acymetric]

Why is Mississippi wearing road jerseys at home? Something to pump up the crowd, or did UK bring the wrong jerseys?

[moonpie23]

miss state up 4, but.....we've seen this movie before...

[snowdenscold]

Wow those past 2 possessions for MSt just looked ugly...

[BlueintheFace]

Will the refs save UK?

[moonpie23]

they are trying.....miss st up 1 and vernado just fouled out..

[snowdenscold]

Will the refs save UK?

I dunno, 59-58 in favor of Miss. St. and Cousins just picked up his 4th foul.

Edit: 61-58.

[Acymetric]

Will the refs save UK?

Signs are pointing to yes...and missed an over the back on UK on the rebound there as I typed this...

[BlueintheFace]

Wow... good timing on my post. Ticky tack foul called on varnardo followed by an over the back on UK not called.

[moonpie23]

Miss State FIGHTING to stay in...

[diveonthefloor]

If the game comes down to coaching strategy in the last minute, I like Miss State's chances!

[Acymetric]

Holy crap! What a putback on the missed 3 for Miss. St.

[moonpie23]

miss state - up 5 3:15 to play....

[diveonthefloor]

It's so much fun to watch Calislimy actually have to try to coach in a close game. Watch his players when he talks to them on the bench....they don't even pay attention to him. It's hysterical!

[snowdenscold]

I saw that over-the-back as well - seemed pretty egregious from my brief glimpse thru my laptop screen.

Anyway, 5 point lead w/ 3:20 to go at the last TV timeout - pretty intense.

[BlueintheFace]

Miss St. playing posessed, but zero offensive structure. Need to hit some lucky shots

[moonpie23]

cats coming back...

[BlueintheFace]

Hey Rick, try drawing up an actual play

[diveonthefloor]

Miss State needs two more scores and one more defensive stop.

We'll see.

[snowdenscold]

cats coming back...

Uh oh, 7 point lead w/ 3 minutes to go disappeared almost instaly to 2...

Announcers just said Kentucky went rim-to-rim in 4 seconds!

[diveonthefloor]

Refs doing their level best to give game to Ky

[BlueintheFace]

Stansbury is incompetent. I can't believe how terrible this has been. Zero ball movement on key posessions. No set plays out of timeouts. Miserable

[moonpie23]

miss state needs to QUIT trying to take it inside....they are not going to score the ball like that..


uk has buckled down...under a min....MS up 2

[snowdenscold]

Stansbury is incompetent. I can't believe how terrible this has been. Zero ball movement on key posessions. No set plays out of timeouts. Miserable

Just keeps taking it to the rim and getting blocked.

[moonpie23]

tied 30.4 sec left

[BlueintheFace]

Who wants to bet stansbury says to Bost "just drive" instead of drawing up some movement.

[snowdenscold]

I see overtime in the future...

[BlueintheFace]

Who wants to bet stansbury says to Bost "just drive" instead of drawing up some movement.

hahahahahahahha. Stansbury is an idiot

[moonpie23]

horrible shot...

[diveonthefloor]

Oh Calislimy, prove me wrong and draw up a play for the win!

Gosh you guys were right, Stansbury didnt even give his guys a chance to win....awful!

[diveonthefloor]

Wow smartest timeout i've ever seen JC take!

[diveonthefloor]

nice defense by MST

[snowdenscold]

Like, I predicted - overtime. And I feel it favors KY.

[BlueintheFace]

Miss St. about to get slugged in OT.

[striker219]

Wow smartest timeout i've ever seen JC take!

And did he ever take advantage. Beautiful play he ran as time ran out.

[moonpie23]

charge on PP - not called

[DukeFencer]

Were they really just playing "Replay" over the sound system DURING live play?

[Bluedog]

Phantom foul calls on Miss St with Wall shooting them is dooming them. Plus, the inability to get a rebound in this OT...

Edit: Goaltend! Terrible call...Wall gets away with it.

[moonpie23]

that will be about all........

[1999ballboy]

Three straight horrible foul calls and a horrible goaltending no-call. Yup, that'll just about do it. Chalk another one up for KY.

[BlueintheFace]

Will the refs save UK?

uhhhhhhhhh... nvmd

[snowdenscold]

Three straight horrible foul calls and a horrible goaltending no-call. Yup, that'll just about do it. Chalk another one up for KY.

Wow, brutal. I'd be pretty ticket about the goaltending.

[RainingThrees]

There will be a nice special on ESPN about how clutch and generally amazing John Wall and the whole Kentucky program is after this game. They will also proclaim Calipari the greatest coach of all time for that one time out and talk about his "development" of NBA talent. Following that they'll have a 10 second mention that UNC lost and move on.

[Duvall]

If Duke won a game like this, ESPN would have a Special Report airing by sunrise.

Oh well.

[moonpie23]

man i do not like these guys....


:(

[RainingThrees]

I forgot they also might thrown in something like "why wouldn't any recruit want to play there." After mentioning how Drake and Calipari are like 2 peas in a pod.

[Jderf]

You can fight for the win as much as you want, but you can't fight bad refereeing at critical end-game moments. With two non-existent fouls plus the missed goal-tending, a five-point swing sounds like game to me.

[1999ballboy]

I don't support anything the Mississippi State fans are doing, except, in this moment, for the loud "Ref you suck" chant. I can't remember seeing officiating that lopsided in a long time.

[InSpades]

The most egregious call was the "block" when Patterson basically took a step back to run into his defender more forcefully. So many terrible calls.

[striker219]

Who knew there were so many Mississippi State fans here...;)

I have to agree with pretty much everyone, that was not a well officiated overtime. But we almost had Kentucky players head into the stands post-game, that would have been interesting.

[loldevilz]

fans need to cool their necks....seriously

[hurleyfor3]

MSU ran some terrible sets in the last 2-3 minutes of regulation. They looked like a bad version of us in the JJ era, as if we didn't also have Shelden or something (pass it around the perimeter a bunch, find someone to shoot a 3 and don't bother with the concept of rebounding). They deserved to lose. Really disappointing after playing so well for most of the second half.

[crimsonandblue]

MSU ran some terrible sets in the last 2-3 minutes of regulation. They looked like a bad version of us in the JJ era, as if we didn't also have Shelden or something (pass it around the perimeter a bunch, find someone to shoot a 3 and don't bother with the concept of rebounding). They deserved to lose. Really disappointing after playing so well for most of the second half.

I don't know. I preferred their taking threes to the period after they went up 7 and immediately preceded to charge to the basket about four straight possessions only to have their tiny guards blocked repeatedly. They just have no inside presence, particularly once Varnado fouled out (and jeez, but did that guy play about as dumb a game as possible).

[hurleyfor3]

I don't know. I preferred their taking threes to the period after they went up 7 and immediately preceded to charge to the basket about four straight possessions only to have their tiny guards blocked repeatedly. They just have no inside presence, particularly once Varnado fouled out (and jeez, but did that guy play about as dumb a game as possible).

Fair enough, they were jacking up threes earlier too, but at least the shot selection seemed better earlier in the game. (I was flipping between this game and the Olympics while looking for updates on how badly unc was losing and wishing my dad happy birthday on the phone, so OK, I wasn't paying complete attention.) Still, I don't excuse teams who can't put opponents away like that -- including us against Uconn in 2004. The "try to penetrate against a defense a lot taller than you and get your shot blocked" is still a degenerate "JJ without Shelden" type of strategy too.

[roywhite]

After watching parts of several Kentucky games, I'm still not sure what to think of them:

They sometimes make plays that no one in the else in the country does, or can do, due to the individual talent of Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, etc.

They still seem like a little less than the sum of their parts, not consistent or not dominating when they should be.

They're unbeatable, but could easily lose to a good team playing a solid game.

Similar observations or explanations, anyone?

[hurleyfor3]

After watching parts of several Kentucky games, I'm still not sure what to think of them:

They sometimes make plays that no one in the else in the country does, or can do, due to the individual talent of Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, etc.

They still seem like a little less than the sum of their parts, not consistent or not dominating when they should be.

They're unbeatable, but could easily lose to a good team playing a solid game.

Similar observations or explanations, anyone?

So they're the Fab Five or Carolina '94 or.. hey this is it... Memphis '08. Yeah.

[crimsonandblue]

Fair enough, they were jacking up threes earlier too, but at least the shot selection seemed better earlier in the game. (I was flipping between this game and the Olympics while looking for updates on how badly unc was losing and wishing my dad happy birthday on the phone, so OK, I wasn't paying complete attention.) Still, I don't excuse teams who can't put opponents away like that -- including us against Uconn in 2004. The "try to penetrate against a defense a lot taller than you and get your shot blocked" is still a degenerate "JJ without Shelden" type of strategy too.

Hey, I'm not saying they aren't jackers, clearly they are. But here's the gamelog of the possessions once they went up 7, with three minutes to go. They essentially tried a hideous version of stall ball, culminating in a bunch of forced drives and then Stewart's hideous double-pump-in-mid-air futile three point effort:

3:00 Foul on Darnell Dodson 60-65
3:00 60-66 Dee Bost made Free Throw.
3:00 60-67 Dee Bost made Free Throw.
2:44 DeAndre Liggins made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by DeMarcus Cousins. 63-67
2:14 63-67 Romero Osby missed Two Point Layup.
2:14 Patrick Patterson Block. 63-67
2:12 John Wall Defensive Rebound. 63-67
2:04 Eric Bledsoe made Two Point Layup. Assisted by John Wall. 65-67
1:57 Mississippi State 30 Second Timeout.
1:49 65-67 Foul on Dee Bost
1:49 65-67 Dee Bost Turnover. Note - I think this was a charge.
1:32 DeAndre Liggins missed Two Point Jumper. 65-67
1:32 Patrick Patterson Offensive Rebound. 65-67
1:27 John Wall missed Three Point Jumper. 65-67
1:27 65-67 Barry Stewart Defensive Rebound.
1:02 65-67 Barry Stewart missed Two Point Layup.
1:02 DeMarcus Cousins Block. 65-67
1:00 DeAndre Liggins Defensive Rebound. 65-67
0:51 Kentucky 30 Second Timeout.
0:40 Patrick Patterson made Two Point Jumper. Assisted by DeAndre Liggins. 67-67
0:31 Mississippi State 30 Second Timeout.
0:07 67-67 Barry Stewart missed Three Point Jumper.
0:07 Kentucky Defensive Rebound. 67-67

As for Kentucky overall, they are so insanely arrogant that I think they will overlook someone in the sweet sixteen and get a real test. If they run into a team that has any size and can zone them, that would be interesting. I'd love to see them draw Cornell as an 8/9 seed. Or someone like Georgia Tech, who has bigs capable of combating Cousins and Patterson.

[dukebluelemur]

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMh6O7HuI08) sums it up for me...

Bleh.

[KyDevilinIL]

After watching parts of several Kentucky games, I'm still not sure what to think of them:

They sometimes make plays that no one in the else in the country does, or can do, due to the individual talent of Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, etc.

They still seem like a little less than the sum of their parts, not consistent or not dominating when they should be.

They're unbeatable, but could easily lose to a good team playing a solid game.

Similar observations or explanations, anyone?

This just about hits the nail on the head. Kentucky's weak schedule hasn't posed many significant challenges this season, but the ones they've had, they've passed, with the exception of a clunker at South Carolina. If there are questions, they stem from the fact that UK simply hasn't looked all that impressive in a few of those wins.

There's a ton of energy propelling this team forward – some of it internal, some of it external. That's a huge intangible with this team. This is Kentucky, after all, and there's a sense that the entity known as "Wildcat basketball" is trying to correct a decade of disappointment in one out-of-this-world season. This entire state is absolutely beside itself with this team, and it certainly has had a positive influence on the players' confidence to this point.

That said, people can rip on the ACC all they want this year, but the SEC is really, really bad. Tennessee has exceeded expectations after its trouble, but the Vols are, to my eyes, pretty average. Vandy is good but nothing more. The rest of the league ranges from middling to gross.

Most of the national media seems unconcerned, but I think the fact Kentucky has played easily the worst schedule of any of the title contenders can't be ignored. UK has thrived on physical intimidation and (barely controlled) bursts of speed and athleticism. So I think there are plenty of teams that could knock off UK as early as the second round. It seems a lot to ask the freshman core of Wall/Cousins/Bledsoe to suddenly play tighter, smarter and slower in a tournament environment than they have all season, and it's not like UK's veterans have a ton of tournament experience.

On the other hand, when these guys get going, just get out of the way. They have shown flashes that have been absolutely terrifying this year.

A lot of folks on this board seem to want a matchup of Duke's maturity and brains against UK's youth and athleticism. I don't. I think Duke would have a shot if we play well and UK isn't sharp. But Kentucky at its best plays a game I'm not sure we can handle.

[dynastydefender]

And uhhhhhh :)

[dynastydefender]

Sounds to me that if what you describe is true..then the college basketball world would be set right. I kid because I love!