Friday Roland Ratings Review III

Today is Friday and that means it’s time for Friday Roland Ratings Review, a semi-weekly post that will recap and breakdown the Kentucky Wildcats basketball players by examining the +/- stat. If you’re not familiar with the plus-minus, it’s pretty simple: the number represents the team’s net point differential when the player is on the floor compared to when he is not. If a player has a positive value, it means the team scored more points when he was the floor, and a negative value means the opposite. If you want to read more about the stats, take a look at the original post from early in the season. Last time we noticed the team was spreading the wealth among its stars, but the biggest concern about the team was defense. Some players were logging big points every week, but because of poor defense, their individual +/- was down by allowing the opponents to match the output. Andrew Harrison, Willie Cauley-Stein, and James Young each were top dog in the Roland Ratings against Texas-Arlington, Cleveland State, and Eastern Michigan. But Julius Randle and Aaron Harrison both had significant contributions. How did the team react to this next set of games against stiffer competition? ********** It was Willie Cauley-Stein who flirted with a triple-double against the Friars, but Julius Randle who finished atop the box score — if only by a little. Cauley-Stein collected 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 blocks, surpassing Anthony Davis’ best mark of eight in a single game. Thanks to some exceptional shooting by PU’s Bryce Cotton the Friars were able to hang with the Wildcats in the first half. But once that shooting turned spotty, it was all Kentucky on the heels of Cauley-Stein and Randle down low. It’s gut-check time for this Kentucky squad. Baylor proved to be too much for the second-straight season as the young Wildcats played in a vacant AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Coach Calipari played his starting five for 90 percent of the game and they had no answers in the 2nd half.  Aaron Harrison was the one bright spot for an otherwise ugly game with an even uglier collapse down the stretch. Harrison scored 15 points and finished with a +15 RR. His brother Andrew scored 7 and had a -21 RR. Boise State allowed the Cats to open things back up and have a little fun. And more importantly, the team didn’t coast to the final horn: a ten-point halftime lead turned into a 15-point win. The Harrison twins shone and it was one of Andrew’s best games of his young career. Cauley-Stein was limited because of chest pains, but you can imagine his hot streak will continue against North Carolina on Saturday. At the final tally, it was Aaron Harrison by a mile with the best total Roland Rating against these three tough teams. His +20 average tops Julius Randle’s +13 average. In a distant third is Cauley-Stein’s +9, followed by Andrew Harrison’s +3 and James Young’s +2. @StuartHammerKSR