On ESPN.com (our favorite site)

[acusefan44]

This was posted on there by one of the "talking heads" (as I like to call them) - "1. I disagree with people who say there are a handful of elite teams that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack in college basketball. There is only one elite team, and that's Kentucky. After that I don't think there's much difference between the teams ranked 2-10."

I have watched Kentucky a few times - they are beating up on SEC basketball teams, how are they SO much better than any other team in the country? Is it just based on their potential? Their 3 toughest games this year (FL and UNC AT HOME (not on the road) and Kansas at a neutral site). Vandy is ok, but I just don't get it. Tonight is supposedly their toughest road game of the season Mississippi St (do the Bulldogs scare you?).

Obviously this is an SU site and I bleed Orange but I have been more impressed lately with Michigan St. and Missouri than Kentucky. I am not saying that SU has played an unbelievably tough schedule - the Big East is down this year but in my opinion it is WAY better than the SEC. Big East has 9 potential NCAA teams, the SEC has 5 potential NCAA teams. Just a slight difference.

Anyone have any thoughts? Why is Kentucky considered far and above everyone else? Who is the best team right now? Could it be SU - I mean the only loss came without Fab? True SU isn't winning pretty but they are winning.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

When they say best team, they mean most NBA talent guys. That is it. Does anyone bother to analyze how Kentucky would attack out zone. How will they score. If we played Kentuky and they pressed, I would not be surprised to see JB sit Scoop for a bit and give instructions to go right at Davis, et al at the rim with dunk attempts. Make them come up with plays. Either its points or fouls, with an occassional block.
The best team I have seen is Kansas. Whitey is a talented space eater and Robinson is just killing time until the NBA.

 

[jdubs30]

UK passes the eye test with flying colors. Obviously the competition isn't quite up to Big East standards, but their blowing out everyone while playing tremendous D combined with length, speed, size, awesome rebounding, an offense that can hold its own, a NPOTY candidate who also happens to be the best defensive player we've seen in a while.

If you want to crown em, then crown their ass.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Kentucky is not as good as FSU
FSU 90 UNC 57
Kentucky 73 UNC 72

 

[HakAttack]

UK passes the eye test with flying colors. Obviously the competition isn't quite up to Big East standards, but their blowing out everyone while playing tremendous D combined with length, speed, size, awesome rebounding, an offense that can hold its own, a NPOTY candidate who also happens to be the best defensive player we've seen in a while.

If you want to crown em, then crown their ass.

 

[jec1521]

UK passes the eye test with flying colors. Obviously the competition isn't quite up to Big East standards, but their blowing out everyone while playing tremendous D combined with length, speed, size, awesome rebounding, an offense that can hold its own, a NPOTY candidate who also happens to be the best defensive player we've seen in a while.

If you want to crown em, then crown their ass.

This, plus having "Kentucky" on their uniforms doesn't hurt.

 

[Marsh01]

Thats why the tournament is the greatest sporting event ever. Win and prove you are elite.

 

[TinyManInside]

you answered your own question here:

Anyone have any thoughts? Why is Kentucky considered far and above everyone else? Who is the best team right now? Could it be SU - I mean the only loss came without Fab? True SU isn't winning pretty but they are winning.

 

[moqui]

so many posters on this forum are obsessed with Kentucky, just because they are one spot ahead of SU in the polls. but take a look behind us, too. There are several teams playing at a very high level right now. If I was filling out my bracket today, I would probably pencil Michigan State in as the winner of the whole thing

 

[jekelish]

I honestly think that if people take off the orange shades, they'll agree Kentucky, right now, with the way they are playing versus the way we are playing, is the best team in the country. Frankly, while I think we could probably win 4 of 10 games with them, the point remains I think they are take far more dangerous team than we are right now.

I love our team. I have always been a Scoop detractor and am actually starting to really appreciate him. But if we played UK right now, I think we would lose by double digits. This does not make me a Cuse hater or a negative poster, by the way. I just realistically look at our flaws and their strengths and believe pretty firmly that they would work us right now, the way we have been playing.

 

[jekelish]

so many posters on this forum are obsessed with Kentucky, just because they are one spot ahead of SU in the polls. but take a look behind us, too. There are several teams playing at a very high level right now. If I was filling out my bracket today, I would probably pencil Michigan State in as the winner of the whole thing

Hell yes. I have a hard time picking against a Tom Izzo coached team in March.

 

[Victory Lap]

so many posters on this forum are obsessed with Kentucky, just because they are one spot ahead of SU in the polls. but take a look behind us, too. There are several teams playing at a very high level right now. If I was filling out my bracket today, I would probably pencil Michigan State in as the winner of the whole thing

Their dismantling of a solid but not great UW team is noteworthy. No one does that to UW. UW plays "ugly" but they compete in every game.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

Their dismantling of a solid but not great UW team is noteworthy. No one does that to UW. UW plays "ugly" but they compete in every game.

Agree in that we have not dismantled or embarrassed anyone of note. St John's at MSG was close, but the Johnnies really aren't very good this year.

In December of 2002, we dismantled Georgia Tech. That sent a message that we were for real. That season turned out OK. We could use a blowout like that to boost our confidence. We have been playing tentatively of late.

 

[jdubs30]

I don't get the MSU love at all. I know they're a solid team but I don't think they enough to win 6 games in a row. Izzo is great, but I don't think the talent is there.

 

[jdubs30]

Agree in that we have not dismantled or embarrassed anyone of note. St John's at MSG was close, but the Johnnies really aren't very good this year.

In December of 2002, we dismantled Georgia Tech. That sent a message that we were for real. That season turned out OK. We could use a blowout like that to boost our confidence. We have been playing tentatively of late.

Seton Hall was a throttling

 

[Garbs]

I don't get the MSU love at all. I know they're a solid team but I don't think they enough to win 6 games in a row. Izzo is great, but I don't think the talent is there.

I mean a hot shooting team can take anyone out

I want them on the other side of the bracket from us though, they are a top 5 defense and rebounding team aka not a team we want to face

 

[orangenirvana]

We'll find out in 41 days who the one elite team above everyone else is.

 

[Fjoinkay]

As much as I disagree with the assertion about #2-10 the SU team would benefit from seeing the field as very close from top to bottom. Keep winning and improving and get that #1 seed, and then survive and advance.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

I don't get the MSU love at all. I know they're a solid team but I don't think they enough to win 6 games in a row. Izzo is great, but I don't think the talent is there.

They just whipped OSU pretty good, and Izzo has a great track record of getting to the Final Four. Draymond Green is a load, and will give Melo all he can eat. I thought they looked pretty solid against OSU, and Izzo gets his teams to peak at the right time.

 

[Madbiker]

UK is winning just about every game by wide margins. The fact that the SEC isn't as strong as the B1G, Big East, or even the Big12 gets lost on most of the media. They are impressed by big margins of victory against lesser competition. UK also has the most players likely to be NBA draft picks. The media likes to evaluate teams based on how many you have and how good they will likely be at the next level.

 

[baggerbob]

Of the big 6 conferences only 2 are competitive year in and year out the big 10 and the big east, in the big 12 its always Kansas, sec Florida or kentucky Acc duke and north carolina pac 12 ucla and arizona big 10 ohio st mich st purdue wisconsin occasionally illinois and mich, big east louisville , connecticut, syracuse , pitt , villanova, georgetown West virginia occasionally notre dame.

 

[SBU72]

Agree in that we have not dismantled or embarrassed anyone of note. St John's at MSG was close, but the Johnnies really aren't very good this year.

In December of 2002, we dismantled Georgia Tech. That sent a message that we were for real. That season turned out OK. We could use a blowout like that to boost our confidence. We have been playing tentatively of late.

SU does NOT need a blowout to boost their confidence. They would begin to feel invincable and should win by walkin gout on the court. Always a down fall. No, having to scrape for wins with good defense and timely offense is just what this team needs. Confidence that they can get the job done but knowing it take hard work to do it.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

SU does NOT need a blowout to boost their confidence. They would begin to feel invincable and should win by walkin gout on the court. Always a down fall. No, having to scrape for wins with good defense and timely offense is just what this team needs. Confidence that they can get the job done but knowing it take hard work to do it.

You are looking at this as a glass half-empty. The glass half-full part is that basketball, like all endeavors, is a game best played when confident (not cocky or "invincable" [sic]). Confident that you can stop your man, get that rebound, nail that 3-pointer, beat your defender, make that free throw. Having to "scrape" for wins is nice, but it is an admission that you don't have better athletes than the other team, and you are forced to play a game of strength of will, not athleticism. At that point you are not playing to win, but playing not to lose - a huge difference in attitude. A team with better athletes can always use this as Plan B. But Plan A should be to be confident, and play by play, demolish the other team with a killer instinct, a swagger. Calipari knows how to get his guys to do that, as does Coach K. It is not a strength of JB.

 

[moqui]

UK is winning just about every game by wide margins. The fact that the SEC isn't as strong as the B1G, Big East, or even the Big12 gets lost on most of the media. They are impressed by big margins of victory against lesser competition. UK also has the most players likely to be NBA draft picks. The media likes to evaluate teams based on how many you have and how good they will likely be at the next level.

yeah, that idiot Bilas only looks at margin of victory and is swayed by potential NBA star power. He never does any real analysis of the teams before he ranks them. what a hack.