The NCAA Tournament has just completed its first weekend of play, and is there anybody out there who can beat Kentucky?
I thought Mark Fox’s Georgia Bulldogs had the Wildcats a couple of weeks ago, but the Bulldogs blew a nine-point lead in the final seven minutes.
The 2015 Kentucky Wildcats, whether they win this thing or not, could be the best basketball team in the history of the NCAA. This is a team that goes nine deep, and coach John Calipari can run his players in and out like a hockey team. The scary thing is there is hardly any drop-off in talent.
Even more scary is the fact the Wildcats played much of the year without 6-8 junior Alex Poythress, who was injured after eight games.
Even some of the great North Carolina, Duke, UCLA and UNLV teams of the past weren’t as deep as this Kentucky squad.
And, with NCAA pools everywhere you go, if somebody hasn’t picked Kentucky then they are just trying to be different.
None of the three seniors play unless it’s a blowout. They have eight players who AVERAGE 20 minutes of playing time with another at 16.9 and another at 11.4.
It’s an unselfish group, and that’s surprising when you have a group of superstars. The Wildcats only have two players who average more than 10 a game, and three others are more than 9 a game. That is extremely rare for a top-ranked team.
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And, speaking of Fox, Georgia awarded him with a two-year contract extension recently. The Bulldogs won 20 games for the second consecutive season, and Fox also joined Herman Stegeman, Red Lawson and Hugh Durham as coaches who have won 100 games. Fox is 51-51 in the SEC through six seasons. No coach with at least five seasons on the job had an SEC record of over .500. Durham, the winningest coach at Georgia, was 148-150 in league play.
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The high school baseball season is still in its infant stage, but I already like what I see from the Carson High baseball squad.
This is a young group, and quite frankly, this team may be a year away from being a first-division team in the Northern Division I pennant race. The one thing I like about this group is there doesn’t seem to be the “attitudes” that have plagued the program for a few years.
This is a team that has been a little inconsistent at the plate, and this is a team that’s going to win games with solid pitching and defense. It’s exactly the message coach Bryan Manoukian tried to convey after Tuesday’s win at Reed.
One of my biggest concerns is throwing in the outfield.
The arms aren’t overly strong, and only right fielder Joe Nelson can throw one a long way. The outfielders are fast, however, especially Cody Azevedo and Jesse Lopez.
The outfielders will need to make strong throws to the cut-off men, and not allow runners to take an extra base.
