In just under 24 hours, the two winningest programs in the history of college basketball will face off. The University of Kentucky boasts 1,995 wins to North Carolina's 1,991. There are many keys to this game, and while I think UK has the edge in almost every department, they don't have the edge in experience. It is early in the season, and they are far from cohesive. Despite a home-court advantage for the Cats and my heart telling me UK can win, my head tells me UNC will take this one. They have too much experience. UK is still adjusting to a whole new system.
However, Metz Camfield of the Kentucky Kernel has done a great job outlining what the Cats need to do to achieve success tomorrow.
Click here to read his entire post on the Blue Nation Blog.Here are his 5 Keys:
1.)
DeMarcus Cousins must stay out of foul trouble. In UK’s first seven games, Cousins has averaged only 20 minutes per game – that’s only one-half of a game for those who aren’t very good at math. He’s still getting 16.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, so just imagine if he got more minutes. Cousins routinely gets in bad foul trouble in the first half, and because of that, his minutes are limited. If Cousins can keep his head and stay out of foul trouble, the Tar Heels will go up against one of the best young centers in the country. What could help Cousins is the fact that he’ll be going up against fellow big men for once. In many of the early games Cousins went up against smaller, quicker “forwards/centers.”
2.)
John Wall must keep his emotions in check. It’s been well documented that Wall wasn’t recruited by UNC head coach Roy Williams. Williams today on the Dan Patrick Show (phenomenal show, highly recommend it) said Wall is the best point guard he’s seen out of high school since Jason Kidd. So why didn’t he recruit him? I still don’t understand that. Either way, Wall says he isn’t holding a grudge against his hometown school and his favorite school when he was a kid. Cousins, on the other hand, is saying we’ll all see a different side of Wall because he believes there’s “bad blood” there. Wall can’t make this game about himself and not get his teammates involved. Calipari said he might talk to Wall privately before the game. If Wall plays unselfishly like he did against UNC Asheville the Cats will be better suited.
3.)
Transition defense still must improve. In the first three games teams were shooting 3-pointers on the Cats like it was the new cool thing to do – and really, it was. Miami of Ohio and Sam Houston State were setting records at Rupp Arena they were hitting so many threes, and the Cats thus were in cat fights (pun intended) in both affairs. I’m going to read my crystal ball and say UNC has better 3-point shooters than the RedHawks or Bearkats. If you watched the UNC-Michigan State game on Tuesday night you should know what I’m talking about. The Heels’ 3-point shooting is dynamite and if the Cats don’t hustle back on defense they’ll be in trouble.
4.)
The outside shot must be present. This one’s simple. Conversely to the last point, the Cats need to hit their 3-pointers in transition and in the set offense. If the Cats can hit their outside shot they’ll be very difficult to beat – that will be true for the rest of the season. It’s been pretty spotty so far this season against lesser opponents so it should be interesting to see how it goes against a top-10 opponent. Sophomore guard Darnell Dodson is the best 3-point shooter the Cats have, but his defense so far this season has been a liability.
5.)
Fans must be involved. The Big Blue Nations held a special practice on Wednesday to work on new cheers, heckles and routines for this game. While obviously they’re not going to be as choreographed as the Dukies at Cameron Indoor since there was only one practice for about an hour or so, there are still 24,000+ fans in the building. If everyone is on the same page, Rupp Arena can become the home court advantage that it was back in the day. The Heels played Syracuse in Madison Square Garden, but that crowd won’t be the type of crowd they’ll see on Saturday. This is the toughest environment UNC has played in so far, and if the UK fans are into it and loud the entire game (not just during runs and dunks) – the Cats will have an added advantage and they’ll feed off that energy.
