Lech Walesa's Depaul Game Report and News and Views

by:Matt Jones11/21/06
This is a great day for mother Poland!!! The man who is the leader of all that is good, WOOOOOO had one of his three best games as a Cat (joining NCAA game vs Utah and at Alabama) in tonights 87-81 victory over Depaul. Watching the game tonight, made me feel like a proud papa. My affinity for Woo is well-known and will never die. However he made two plays tonight that I would never in a million years have dreamed were possible. His first half catch of the Bradley bounce pass and dunk was pure greatness. But it was topped by his UNBELIEVABLE pick and roll in the second half, leading to a layup and foul that still makes me shake my head in wonderment. This was Woo's night and there is no doubt that Lech Walesa, former leader of Solidarity would have taken his Nobel Peace Prize, held it in his hand tonight and yelled....WOO!!!!! Before we get to the game thoughts and the news, a couple of quick tidbits. First of all, jf you didnt see Michael Richards on television tonight (thats Kramer from Seinfeld if you dont know) apologizing on David Letterman for his outburst at a comedy club last weekend....well you should have. IT was bizarre! Kramer said racist stuff (I mean REALLY racist) and came on to apologize. But the crowd didnt really know how to act and they were laughing at first (thinking he was playing a Kramer type character) and the whole scene was surreal. Richards looked pained and it was totally bizarre. Check it out on YouTube when you can. As for the second thing, EPISODE 14 of Kentucky Sports Radio was released today and is ready for your enjoyment. This episode contains the debut of Ravi Moss, giving his unique perspective (and hilarious backstage commentary) on the Cats, rants from Gregg Doyel and some recruiting news that you most definitely need to use. So make sure to check out the show, if you have not yet done so. Now onto the game report and news: (1) There are lots of things to like about what we saw tonight from the Cats. First of all, one can likely make the argument that this was the team's best offensive performance since the Chuck Hayes era and was better than anything we saw last season. Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery (when not making somewhat annoying "inside" jokes to each's affinity for food and drink) were exactly correct in noticing that a Ramel Bradley-led offense is much more conducive to moving the basketball and creating multiple scoring opportunities. On the offensive end of the court, the big 4 guys (Bradley, Crawford, Morris and Perry) are all settling into a nice offensive rhythm. Each can create his own shot and the team just seems to flow much better than the more stagnant offense we saw last year. Plus, it was good to see Kentucky play with consistency and confidence. I like the idea of a second team with the three freshmen and Woo and Thomas. The athleticism seems to balance with the experience and leads to a solid conglomerate. I was very impressed once again with Meeks and his ability to take the ball to the basket, and a shout out has to be given to our man Sheray. While often abused, Sheray showed some signs of life tonight and likely played the best interior defense of the entire group. (2) Having said that, there were some real problems defensively. The interior defense was absolutely dreadful and Randolph Morris had one of the poorest defensive performances that I have seen in some time. Our guards were beaten consistently off the dribble and virtually no help defense was to be found. The team resorted at the end to zone, which was moderately successful, but as Tubby noted in the post-game, Depaul got any shot they wanted....at any time. Nevertheless, I left the game strangely positive. Kentucky exhibited poor defense, but showed an ability to score that was remarkably refreshing. I have missed the idea that we could get baskets when we need them without tediousness and miracle shots. This team looked like a team that COULD end up good. That makes me happy, and the win over Depaul (who is better than their 1-3 early start) is a good one. (3) There was some absurdity of course in the building. First of all, Jared Carter in a Hawaiian shirt (do they even make the hurt players wear them?) was the type of strange sight that makes me consistently happy. Depaul coach Jerry Wainwright (who the Turkey Hunter correctly pegged as the principal from the "Breakfast Club") looked to be constantly dipping with a mouthpiece in and made me laugh just at his mere sight. And the continual string of Depaul fat big men was enough to make me year for the days of Dwight Stewart. All in all, a happy game from a fan standpoint. (4) Also a big day on this here blog as it pertains to football recruiting. Our man Rob Gidel, broke not one, not two, but THREE football commitments on here, scooping all the people who do this for a living. Most importantly, Rob announced that Brad Durham has committed to Kentucky, thus making it possible that he will be able to extract revenge in the future on the Cards. This was a big haul of a day for UK and you should scroll down the blog and check out all of the news that Rob broke today. (5) There is a young man, power forward recruit, by the name of Isiah Martin who might be interesting to keep an eye on. As I stated yesterday, Kentucky has set their sights on a couple of new power forward prospects and Martin, a guy who has been linked with UK in the past, may be one of the primary new targets. Keep your ears open about Martin in the next few days... (6) Hearing Marshall Moses and UK are trying to work out his visit for December 9 for the Indiana game. There are conflicts on both ends, but both sides want this visit to happen as soon as possible....that is good news. We will have more on the Depaul game, previews for the UCLA game and much more as the day goes on. In the meantime, listen to EPISODE 14 and have a good Tuesday....

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