With the loss to Virginia Military Institute on Friday, Kentucky probably also lost any chance of being in The Associated Press top 25 poll this coming week. Deadline for ballots from the 72 voters is Sunday night, although a few votes are cast as late as Monday morning.
I was one of 13 voters who placed Kentucky on a ballot in the first poll two weeks ago. I voted UK No. 15, which, surprisingly, wasn’t the best vote the Cats got. One voter put Kentucky at No. 10.
Now with the next vote due Sunday night, I contemplate reasons to keep Kentucky in the top 25 and reasons to join the majority.
Three reasons to keep Kentucky on the ballot:
1. Although Billy Gillispie dismissed style of play as a factor, VMI’s style of play is unusual. The Cats probably won’t see another opponent with such a wide-open style that keeps constant pressure on a player to perform. At this early stage of the season, UK was not ready for such a test. Clearly, point guards Michael Porter and DeAndre Liggins were not ready to make snap judgments again and again. So as VMI freshman Michael Sparks suggested, the game was a “surreal” experience.
2. Early-season defeats can be meaningless. Kentucky lost to Gardner-Webb on Nov. 7 last season and went on to a 12-4 record in the SEC. In 2004-05, the Cats got drubbed at North Carolina and went on to win the SEC and came within an offensive rebound of reaching the Final Four. Then in 2002-03, fans howled when a loss to Louisville dropped UK’s record to 6-3. Thereafter, the Cats won 26 straight and came within a Keith Bogans sprained ankle of reaching the Final Four.
3. Kentucky gets an immediate chance to erase the loss to VMI by winning at North Carolina on Tuesday. No doubt, that’s a tall order. But the game will be basketball as Kentucky knows it. And there will not be the weird matchups of VMI that saw big men Patrick Patterson and Perry Stevenson guarding guards on the perimeter.
Three reasons to leave Kentucky off the ballot:
1. There must be consequences when a team loses to an unranked opponent picked to finish seventh in the Big South. VMI had not beaten a SEC team since 1976.
2. Kentucky was already a shaky top 25 pick. Now the Cats must be banished to the basketball wilderness. The Cats had not been left off the pre-season top 25 since 1990. The loss to VMI confirmed the skepticism surrounding the UK team.
3. There’s plenty of time for a revival. Denny Crum famously used early-season losses to get the attention of his Louisville teams. Gillispie showed last season that he can get a team to overcome obstacles. Meanwhile, it’s more important to get improved play from the players, especially the point guards.
Conclusion: I’m going to drop Kentucky from my top 25. If VMI plays well at Virginia Sunday afternoon, I’ll include the Keydets in the top 25.
Look for my ballot here on Monday morning.
1 comment so far ↓
Good article Tipton. As much as I love the Cats and honestly believe the VMI game is no indication of this team’s talent or potential, I agree, you pretty much have to leave them off the ballot…for now. Maybe if they put up a good show against UNC, people will accept the VMI game as an upset, not a “here we go again” scenario. I would have been concerned had UK not come back from the 20+ pt deficit. Unfortunately, a UK slow start coupled with a VMI red hot start, dug too much of a hole for them to get out.
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