Crawford unlocks his game; Bob Perry unlocks a Sudoku

by:John Dubya01/07/07
'Woo' dishes to Stevenson for an easy two, in this really, really dark arena Well, we all knew this game in Oxford was going to be short on vanity, but Kentucky did what they had to do, and escaped with an imperative SEC road win. I’d like to offer further insight into this 68-58 Kentucky triumph, but, well, I couldn’t really see the game. Come on Fox Sports South…does Rupert Murdoch know what’s going on here? It’s like they hand Barry Booker and crew an empty coffee can, a string of yarn and a kalidescope and expect to get a decent broadcast. And was the Tad Smith Coliseum running on a generator? I know that place is always dark, but it seemed like I was watching dust-caked reels of footage from the Naismith era. It’s as if they were playing this secret game of basketball that nobody could know about, thus infuriating the Czar. Anyway, I digress, there was in fact a bit of ball played last night, and Kentucky played it better. As the score would not indicate, UK shot the ball pretty well, 55% FG and 47% from three, or as Dave Baker would say, “somewhere around Georgetown.” Good to see you Joe Crawford, it’s been a while. The junior guard was true from the get-go, and displayed that silky, versatile game that has been locked inside of him only to peer out every 10th game or so. Crawford finished 8-10 from the field, and 4-5 from 3, for 23 points. What I really liked about his game last night, was even after hitting his first 2 threes, he didn’t camp out behind the arc like he’s been doing this season. Anyone can be a spot-up shooter, but only a select few can both shoot and wreak havoc in the lane; Crawford is one of them. Joe C also went up strong last night, a nice vacation from the tentative, shoot on the way down and hope to draw contact Joe C of games prior. No, Joe Crawford was not the only one who suited it up last night: Morris was his royal self, Bradley made big shots and turned it over like 18 times, Bob Perry slept, Sheray went unnoticed (where we want him to be), and Razor Ramon got a rare first half cameo and proved he can, if nothing else, rebound; but the resurgence of Crawford was the story last night, and in my opinion, could be the prophecy of the season. With a confident Crawford, Kentucky goes from being slightly better than average bunch to a legitimate thorn in Florida’s side. I really believe that UK is a consistently effective Crawford away from being and Elite 8 type of team. Crazy? Yesterday we saw that Alabama is forever a football school, UCLA might not even be the best team in their conference, neither Duke nor UConn is good enough to be ranked, and Joe Crawford played like an All-American. Crazy indeed.

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