Not Jerry Tipton's Friday Basketball Notebook

The 2013-14 season is quickly approaching, and Big Blue Nation holds its collective breath. John Calipari’s Kentucky team will go to war this year relying only on what a few “experts” are calling “the greatest recruiting class ever assembled,” a couple of sophomores, and a few older guys. Is this a recipe for success? We shall see. But probably not. Unfortunately for Kentucky, only one team has ever won the national championship using this formula, and this happened way back in 2012. To stay apprised and educated, follow me on Twitter @NotJerryTipton. Here’s the weekly notebook: *Set The Stage: Kentucky held its Blue-White scrimmage on Tuesday. Big Blue Nation was abuzz about it afterwards, as the Blue downed the White 99-71. Specifically, people were more than upset at what transpired. Altogether, Kentucky gave up 170 points. That kind of defense, to be blunt about it, will not many basketball games. And collectively, the team’s three point defense was abysmal, as it allowed 15 for 28 shooting from behind the arc. Again, this simply will not get it done once the real games start. To make matters worse, the Cats also allowed four freshmen to score 25, 21, 21 and 19 points, respectively. If freshmen are scoring that many against you, what happens when you go up against veterans? Stephen Van Treese is probably licking his lips right now. Lastly, Kentucky’s alleged “Alpha Beast,” Julius Randle, wound up on a poster when he was dunked on by walk-on E.J. Floreal. What does it say about your team when your supposed best player is embarrassed by a guy who wasn’t even good enough for a scholarship? *Fun And Games: One of the knocks on this UK team is that “there aren’t enough minutes to go around.” In other words, many players are of the same relative talent level, and in the push for minutes, this will result in tension and discord. For example, there are 6 or 7 players who are projected to go in the 1st round of the NBA Draft. With so many players of comparable skill level, how will they all stay happy? The last UK team that had this problem was the 2011-12 team, and the most talked about moment from that year is when they lost to Indiana. Folks in Bloomington still watch that game on a loop. Other lowlights from that year include Terrence Jones’ car wreck and losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. Calipari is known to be a motivator, but he will have his hands full in keeping this bunch happy. Maybe this is why he recently said that “this team has 7 starters.” He knows the only way to keep his collection of 1st rounders in good spirits is to play all of them, all the time. *Slackjawed: In a recent exhibition, Oklahoma State came from behind to defeat Campbellsville University by 10 points. This does not bode well for Kentucky. OSU is projected to be better than Kentucky by many experts- and Campbellsville is an NAIA team. If the Cowboys are only 10 points better than an NAIA team, what does that say about Kentucky? Maybe this is why Calipari didn’t schedule any NAIA teams for the regular season this year, i.e., because he knew the Cats would have their hands full. Also, this probably specifically why he didn’t schedule any teams from the Mid-South Conference, such as Georgetown College, Lindsey Wilson, St. Catharine or the University of Pikeville. These are all in-state schools just as good as Campbellsville, and the prospect of losing to them would not be a good look for the once mighty Wildcats. The only people who are able to put a positive spin on this OSU/CU game are those who believe that the pundits who said that Oklahoma State was better than Kentucky- are idiots LOL. - Doug Gottlieb - Doug Gottlieb * On this date: On this date in 1995, Kentucky was about to tip off a season that would see it lose to UMass. The same UMass who finished 11th in the Atlantic 10 four years ago.