Beech Tree News Network

Just when it looked like John Calipari’s team had figured out what it took to be a consistent winner, the Cats reverted in the 80-67 loss at Florida. The Cats once trailed by 23 points and fell apart on defense.

Calipari has never been a fan of the SEC Tournament but he has to like UK’s bracket that will have the Cats playing either Georgia, Vanderbilt or Missouri in the first game on Friday about 3:30 p.m. If the Cats get to the semifinals, they would have to play either Alabama, Texas A&M or Auburn. Auburn won the league but it seems to me A&M would be the most difficult matchup for UK.

However, Calipari made it clear after UK beat Ole Miss and certainly re-emphasized it after UK lost to Florida that the Cats had to do two things much better — pass and play defense. 

“This could be a great tournament,” said Chris Dortch, editor of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. “Kentucky had looked like it was peaking. Tennessee is a team I think is built to win this. I never thought Tennessee could sweep Kentucky this year, but it did. Some of it was luck. But they also beat Florida twice, beat Purdue and could have beat North Carolina. They have some depth and enough size. The play good good and they have fixed their offense, so they could definitely win it all.

“This is a tough league. There really has not been many games that you look at and say it would not be a good game. It has been like that all year. It’s been the strongest year top to bottom in the league I can remember other than maybe Ole Miss.”