Well goodness we need our money back on most of them 2012 was a hell of a long time ago! Nike has hated us since didn’t do the Phil Knight Invitational.
Ugo and Bradshaw need to play well indeed to pull this off at UF. I think Mitchell is a big key to this game.
The fact that it took us this long to get a real front court just illustrates how bad Mike White was at this.
I find myself looking forward to this game more than any so far this season! Many seem to think this is Cal’s best offensive team yet - and also his worst defensive team yet. We really struggle against teams that rebound well and that appears to be something y’all are best at. UK really hasn’t been tested on the road yet and that makes me nervous as well.
Watched UK a little, but the pundits are very complimentary of UK despite the Cats having a few stumbles along the way. At least we have some height and depth in the front court big rotation. It seemed UF has always been at a disadvantage height, depth and physicality wise against UK in recent years. I'm hoping that is not true in this matchup. Coach Golden has a chance, at home, to pick up his #1 golden nugget win in the coming game against the Cats. I'm excited to see if UF is up for the challenge.
UF seems to be shooting the 3 ball better and Pullen has made a great case to be starting. It would be awesome if RK could adapt to an explosive 6th man off the bench, obviously he has to get his shooting touch back. But RK brings other skills to the table when not scoring.
I've convinced myself he's just been sandbagging everybody during preseason and he's going to explode Saturday.
Ah, a sort of 13-game twist on the ol' rope-a-dope! Brilliant! RK is playing the big-picture long game.
I like the effort put out by the squad. Yes we have lost three and had our share of dry spells, but from where I sit, I see a squad that is improving. I give much of that to the way Pullin has come on. The dude distributes, plays D, and is shooting the three pretty damn good the last few games. We are on a little win streak as well, ... 6? Just need RK to find his "Nitch" - Should that happen UF may very well be a tough out in the SEC. I love the way our bigs play though. Samuel is just a freaking beast. Fun team to watch with NCAA potential. Of course our opening SEC schedule is brutual. It won't take us long to see where we sit in the conference.
We'll soon find out, but I tend to think we have more than just NCAA potential. If the guys accept and embrace roles and everyone keeps improving (and makes free throws), we could be in position to go on a run the NCAAT.
Hadn't really hit me til I read your post, but I feel like we haven't had long dry spells in a good while. You know, like the ones that have plagues us for so long. Granted, I only skimmed the Quinnipiac game days later, but have we seen the ol' 3-5 min scoring drought in a while?
Florida has played at a faster pace than UK so far this season. Not by a lot because UK plays very fast, but we have played faster.
Which is why UK fans are being extra disrespectful with that claim. Honestly, as a basketball player I don’t even understand the “if they try to run with UK they will get blown out” rhetoric. You don’t “try to run” with your opponent. You play your game. You don’t look at a team and say let’s try to run with them. If you are a fast paced team, it’s just what you do. Also, what is the implication? That UK is in better cardiovascular shape than UF? That they are individually faster than all of our players? If both teams are fast paced, it will come down to execution of basketball activities, not cardio. UF players are not fat and out-of-shape.