Kentucky’s journey to the Title
Published on April 14, 2012 by Scott Shirley · No Comments
The Kentucky Wildcats looked unbeatable in their run to winning the National Championship. As well as they played I don’t know if some of the bad NBA teams could beat them. There was no weakness to their game. This is the best championship team since the 2009 North Carolina team. Guards Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb played their best basketball of the season in the tournament. Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd Gilchrist could be the first two players taken in this year’s draft. Terrence Jones joins Davis and Gilchrist to form the best frontcourt in the country. Anywhere else Darius Miller would have been a starter. Below is a recap of Kentucky’s wins in the tournament.
Second Round
Kentucky-81 Western Kentucky-66
- As of late Terrence Jones has been playing lights out. In this game he had 22 points and 10 rebounds. He shot 9 of 13 from the field.
- Doron Lamb also had a breakout game with 16 points on 7 of 12 shooting.
- Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd Gilchrist were their usual dominate self’s. They combined for 23 points and 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 8 blocks; 7 of those blocks where from Davis.
- Kentucky out rebounded WKU by 12. The only negative was their three- point shooting and only having 6 points of the bench.
Third Round
Kentucky-87 Iowa State-71
- This game was all about Kentucky’s point guard Marquis Teague. This was by far Teague’s best game in a Kentucky uniform. For the game he finished with 24 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds. He was 10 of 14 from the field. No one can stop Teague off the dribble. If Teague plays like this Kentucky might be unbeatable.
- Doron Lamb continued his hot play with scoring 16 points again. 15 of those points came from three.
- Anthony Davis was his usual dominant self; he finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks. Is there any question he is the best player in the country?
- Darius Miller gave the Wildcats a big spark off the bench. He had 19 points and 6 rebounds. He also hit 3 three’s.
- Kentucky shot 55 % from the field and 50 % from three, while Kentucky defense held Iowa State to 41 % shooting. For the game Iowa State only shot 3 of 22 from the field.
- The Wildcats were also dominant on the glass outrebounding Iowa State by 9.
Sweet 16
Kentucky-102 Indiana-90
-This was by far my favorite game of the tournament because it was all offense and up and down basketball. They didn’t need a shot clock for this game.
- Kentucky’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was just unstoppable in this game. He finished the game with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Six of those rebounds were offensive. He was also 10 for 10 from the line. He was a man, and Indiana had no one who could stop him. This was a huge game for Gilchrist because in the first two tournament games he was struggling.
- Guards Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb are playing their best basketball of the season right now. Teague finished with 14 points and 7 assists. While Lamb had 21 points and was 8 for 8 from the foul line. For the tournament Teague is averaging 16.6 points and Lamb is averaging 17.6 points. If Kentucky guards are playing like this the Wildcats are unbeatable.
-Darius Miller had a huge game off the bench. He finished with 19 points and including two three’s. Kentucky needs production off their bench and tonight Miller gave that to them.
- Anthony Davis got in foul trouble early and sat most of the 1st half. He only took 4 shots in the game and finished with 9 points. He also finished with 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. Davis can play a lot better and that is scary for future opponents of Kentucky. Terrence Jones also added 12 points and 5 rebounds.
- Kentucky was money from the free throw line. They shot 35 out of 37 that is 95 %. Kentucky held a plus 9 advantage on the glass. They also took care of the ball only committing 6 turnovers.
- The only negative for Kentucky was they allowed Indiana to shot 52 % from the field.
-What a job Tom Crean has done with this Indiana program. They should be here again in the years to come.
Elite 8
Kentucky-82 Baylor-70
- This game wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated. The Wildcats were down 10-5 early but after that they went on a huge run and had leads of 20 plus. Right now they just look unbeatable. I don’t know if some of the bad NBA teams could beat them right now.
- Kentucky’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was just unstoppable in this game. He finished the game with 19 points and 5 rebounds. He shot 7 of 10 from the field. He was a man, and Baylor had no one who could stop him.
- Anthony Davis had a scare with a knee injury but lucky for him it was nothing serious. All he did in this game is score 18 points, bring down 11 rebounds and have 6 blocks. Davis is also showing off his all-around game as he hit a couple long jump shots in this game.
- Sure Terrence Jones only scored 12 points, but he dominated the game in every other area. Jones finished with 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Now that is filling out the stat sheet.
- Marquis played lights out in the first three tournament games but not so much against Baylor. He finished the game with 4 turnovers.
- Doron Lamb had zero points in the 1st half but in the second half he scored 14 points. He got half of his points from the free throw line.
- Darius Miller had another solid game off the bench with 8 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
- Everyone always talks about the Wildcats defense but they can really defend. In this game they held Baylor to shot 39 % from the field. Kentucky also had 9 blocks and forced 14 Baylor turnovers.
Final Four
Kentucky-69 Louisville-61
-The star for the Wildcats was once again Anthony Davis. Just like Kentucky is clearly the best team in the country Davis is clearly the best player in the nation. All the freshman did against Louisville was finish with 18 points, bring down 14 rebounds, and block 5 shots. He was 7 of 8 shooting from the field. Two of those field goals were highlight real alley oops.
-Guards Doron Lamb and Marquis Teague once again were solid for the Wildcats. These two have played their best basketball in the tournament. Teague finished the game with 8 points 5 assists, and only 2 turnovers. He had 2 driving layups early that really set a tone for the game. Lamb finished with 10 points. He needs to make some threes if the Wildcats are going to cut down the nets on Monday.
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist picked up two fouls and sat the rest of the 1st half. He never got into a rhythm but he still finished with 9 points all in the second half. Gilchrist got most of the points late in the half that sealed the victory for Kentucky. Most of those points were on strong drives to the basket. Terrence Jones struggled on offense this game finishing with 6 points on 3 of 8 shooting. He did bring down 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
-Darius Miller was once again a star off the bench. He finished with 13 points on 4 of 7 shooting. Miller was also 4 of 4 from the free throw line. Miller hit a key three when Louisville made a run. He would a starter at every other school in the country. Kyle Wiltjer also gave Kentucky solid plays off the bench with 5 points including 1 three.
-For the game Kentucky shot lights out from the field. They were 28 out of 49 that is 57 %. They also played excellent defense holding the Cardinals to 35 % shooting from the field. As a team the Wildcats finished the game with 7 steals and 7 blocks.
- The Wildcats do need to clear some things up if they want to win the championship on Monday night. First they were outrebounded by 5 and gave up 16 offensive rebounds to the Cardinals. Kentucky only shot 11 of 20 from the free throw line. They also didn’t shot the three very well they were just 2 of 7. Lastly they need to take better care of the ball. They had 14 turnovers compared to only 9 assists.
Championship Game
Kentucky-67 Kansas-59
- First congrats to John Calipari for winning his first NCAA championship. Give him tons of credit for bringing a lot of young players together and getting them to play hard and as a team.
- The star of this game was once again Anthony Davis and he was only 1 of 10 from the field and had 6 points. However, Davis brought his A-game in every other area. Davis had 16 rebounds, 6 blocks, 5 assists and 3 steals. Talk about filling out a stat sheet. Davis averaged 13.6 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4.8 blocks, and 3 assists for the tournament.
- Doron Lamb could also be considered Kentucky’s best player in this game. Lamb, one of the best shooters in the nation finished with 22 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the floor. He also nailed 3 threes with two of those coming late that sealed the victory for the Wildcats. He averaged 16.5 points per game in the tournament compared to 13.2 points in the regular season. He also shot about 50 % from three.
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was once again solid for the Wildcats he finished the game with 11 points and 6 rebounds. He was 4 of 7 from the floor. For the tournament he averaged 12.3 points and 6.6 rebounds. He just overpowered everyone with his strength in the tournament. Gilchrist is so versatile.
- Freshman point guard Marquis Teague has came a long way since the beginning of the season. He finished the championship game with 14 points and 3 assists. He also made 2 big threes. Teague averaged 13.3 points, 4.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds during Kentucky’s championship run.
- Terrence Jones was inconsistent sometimes at the beginning of the season but at the end of the season he was playing his best basketball. In the championship game against Kansas he finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. For the tournament Jones averaged 11.5 points and 8.2 rebounds.
- If Darius Miller played anywhere else in the country he would be starting. He didn’t score in double digits this game but he still had 6 rebounds. In the tournament Miller is averaging 11.6 points and 3.8 rebounds. He is also shooting 17 out of 18 from the free throw line. Not bad for a bench player.
- Everyone always talks about Kentucky’s offense but their defense is pretty darn good. They forced Kansas to shot 35 % from the field and had 10 block shots. Another key for the Wildcats was they outrebounded Kansas by 5.
