Friday Notes
What a strange game Kentucky won last night. They scored 102 points to beat Sam Houston State, but they let the Bearkats score 92 points. That’s a bit disturbing, but it’s hardly the strangest part of this game. Kentucky used just four bench players in the game, and those players spent a total of just 35 minutes on the court – less than nine minutes a piece. The strange part, though, is that none of those four players scored a single point. Yes – the five starters scored all 102 points. John Calipari doesn’t always strive for a balanced offense, but that’s ridiculous. I don’t even know how it is possible. On the plus side, this total lack of balance meant that we got to see that all five of the starters can score – Darius Miller was the least productive, and he still had 15 points. The lack of bench production has to be a real concern for the team. So does the fact that the Bearkats sunk 15 three pointers on just 26 attempts – a 58 percent rate. That’s scary. This team has obvious talent, but they are not yet playing like the fifth best team in the country.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are an incredibly lousy hockey team. They had a chance to cast some doubt onto that conclusion last night, but they really, really didn’t. They were playing the Carolina Hurricanes – the one team that can contend with Toronto for the title of worst team in the league. Toronto stormed out to a 3-0 lead after the first period. That should be enough for any team to win – especially against a bad team like Carolina. Instead of locking down for the win, Toronto got lackadaisical and let the Hurricanes back into the game – it was tied at four by 12 minutes into the third period. Toronto should have put it away when they scored with just 30 seconds left, but the Leafs can find a way to grab defeat from the jaws of victory in any situation. After scoring they acted as if they had already won – they all but skated off the ice to the dressing room. In the meantime, Carolina kept grinding, and scored to tie it with three seconds left. It wasn’t a hard goal to score because Toronto didn’t backcheck at all. Riding that momentum, the Hurricanes held firm in overtime, and then dominated the shootout by winning it in the fewest possible shot – two. If Toronto doesn’t have the combination of heart and determination to win in a case like that then they aren’t going to win a whole lot of games this year. Stunningly bad. I can’t think of a single situation in which I would bet on the Leafs right now. Not one.
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