Comments on: An Early Look At North Carolina vs. Kentucky 2011: #1 vs. #2

By: BOtskey

BOtskey — Sat, 14 May 2011 03:33:11 +0000

Ah, gotcha. You can certainly make a case for that.

By: AKIN

AKIN — Sat, 14 May 2011 00:29:19 +0000

I disagree that Henson gets the edge over Jones. Jones is a better offensive player and rebounds as well if not better then Henson. Yeah Henson’s shot blocking is awesome, but overall edge to Jones. I think Kentucky wins because it’s at Rupp. A neutral floor and it’s whoever brings their A-Game! Can’t wait!

By: KDH

KDH — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:00:57 +0000

I with all of the analysis except 1 point: UK has the advantage at the power forward position. Jones outplayed Henson in the Elite Eight last year by a wide margin. Granted, that could be an atypically bad game for Henson, but Jones offensive versatility and defensive pressure caused a healthy percentage of that bad game. Given that this game occurred during Jones’s late season slide and he still outplayed Henson plus Jones gets the benefit of a full offseason of workouts for the first time (he had broken ribs last summer), Jones is the clear choice.

You already mention the location being a factor, but I think its worth adding that UK currently has a 34 game home court winning streak. They haven’t lost at home in 2 years. I don’t know how long it would be if they keep it going up to the game, but that will add even more at stake to the proceedings.

I think the biggest unknown is the point guard matchup. UK will be fine on offense if Teague struggles due to a variety of capable ball-handlers, but Teague needs to be ready to play quality defense. Liggins is gone. Miller is a quality defender, but not quick enough for Marshall. If Lamb’s not any better at defense next season, that probably puts Gilchrist as the alternate defender for Marshall if Teague struggles to contain him.

Obviously I’m a UK fan. Can’t wait for next season and this game in particular. I’ll spend the offseason trying to decide how much I’ll be willing to spend for a ticket (it’ll be my first year without $5 student tickets).

By: zhayes9

zhayes9 — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:47:10 +0000

Yeah, I meant NCAA Tournament experience. You’ve seen plenty of rosters that haven’t sniffed the bright lights of March make deep runs in recent years.

By: nvr1983

nvr1983 — Fri, 13 May 2011 04:53:57 +0000

I’m not sure I would use VCU as an example here because they could be argued either way. The 3 years before this year ended with the following results:

2008 = NIT (1st round exit)
2009 = NCAA (1st round exit)
2010 = CBI (champs)

Having the 4 seniors and 1 junior is nice, but they didn’t have much good experience. You can give them credit for the CBI championship, but I think it is a joke.

I think their NCAA run was a one-off situation. If they had really benefited from their experience they would have been better than 23-11 before they got one of the last NCAA Tournament bids. It seems to me that the VCU run this year was more of a fluke than anything.

I do think experience is valuable in some situations, but usually when it is “good” experience rather than being mediocre. UNC probably falls more towards the former so I would give them a slight edge based on that factor.

By: BOtskey

BOtskey — Fri, 13 May 2011 03:49:58 +0000

Wow for a moment I thought it was late November/early December and this game was a week or so away. Oh well, back to reality. This game will be off the charts assuming both teams come into it undefeated.

“Experience has long been overrated.” You know this but I could not disagree more. How did VCU’s run prove this? Their top 5 scorers were 4 seniors and 1 junior.