Kentucky isn’t alone. ‘This year nobody has a margin of error,’ Bilas says.
Although Kentucky has been winning, the way it has been winning gives pause. After the 69-60 victory at Texas A&M on Tuesday, John Calipari spoke about much in the game that tempered his enthusiasm.
Failure to execute a called play (the ball did not go to Nate Sestina, who was open in the corner). Reckless risk-taking (charging in the post rather than passing out of a double-team). Not following instruction (Calipari said he repeatedly told Tyrese Maxey not to drive toward a teammate that had just passed him the ball).
Calipari went as far as to say he was worried about his team.
UK coaches have spoken of the team’s small margin for error. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said that Kentucky should not feel alone.
“This year nobody has a margin of error because there are no overpowering teams,” Bilas said. “The teams that have gaudy records have done so by virtue of consistency rather than power.”
Bilas’s point: There’s no team like UK in 2015 or the national champions of 2012 or North Carolina in 2009.
“Most teams are not going to be able to absorb a bad performance,” he said.
UK associate head coach Kenny Payne spoke recently of the looming NCAA Tournament.
“We’re at a critical point …,” he said. “This is the moment now we have to be headed in the right direction.”
Payne lamented the six- or seven-minute “lulls” that Kentucky experiences in games.
“We have to clean that up …,” he said. “We train all this time for this time of year. Right now, we want to be playing our best basketball leading up to going into the NCAA Tournament.”
Kentucky’s small margin for error is reflected in how competitive most games are. Going into the rematch with Auburn on Saturday, Kentucky had played 28 games. Of those, 22 had a margin of seven points or fewer inside the final seven minutes. A single possession could erase a lead inside the final six minutes of 14 of those games. The last time UK remained comfortably ahead down the stretch was against Missouri on Jan. 4.
What does that say?
“That they don’t have overwhelming talent,” Bilas said of the Cats. “I don’t think you need to be a basketball savant to see that. They have really good players. But there are not as many lottery picks on this team as they’ve had.”
Kentucky’s first NCAA Tournament game will be either March 19 or 20. Is there enough time to eliminate the “lulls” and increase the margin for error? Bilas thought so.
“Teams can get a lot better in a short period of time,” he said. It helps to be healthy and relatively fresh going into the NCAA Tournament, he added.
For Kentucky, a loss early in the SEC Tournament wouldn’t hurt, said Bilas, adding, “That means you get to go home and practice and come into the NCAA Tournament with a little bit of an edge.”
In the postgame news conference at Texas A&M, a reporter asked Calipari how good he thought Kentucky could be. The UK coach joked about the Cats being projected as a four-seed “and moving down.”
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, however, did move Kentucky up to a three-seed in the pairings he updated on Friday.
Bilas attempted to provide perspective by pointing out that perfection is an unreachable goal. No team plays to its optimal level every game.
“That’s never happened in the history of the game,” he said. “The mark of a really good team is to win when you don’t play your best. That’s where the teams separate themselves.”
Options
Enter this year’s NBA Draft. Play overseas. Transfer to another college.
Those seem to be among the options for his basketball future that Kahlil Whitney might be weighing.
Mike Irvin coached Whitney on a Chicago-based AAU program. Here was his take on those options.
▪ Play overseas? “Basketball, it’s a world sport, now,” Irvin said. “So, you’ve got to weigh your options (for) wherever you play next to get to where you’ve got to go.”
▪ Enter this year’s NBA Draft, which is considered especially weak? “I think that’s still got to be an option,” said Irvin, who added that he could not say how viable an option it is. “I can’t see too many guys in college that are better than him in 2020. So, that’s still got to be an option.
“Eventually, the goal is for him to one day play in the NBA. So, however that shakes out, you kind of look at all options.”
▪ Transfer to another college? “It could be (an option),” Irvin said.
The AAU coach mentioned how the NCAA is considering allowing players to transfer once without having to sit out a season.
“That’s the best rule in America,” Irvin said, “because, right now, (sitting out a season as a transfer) doesn’t favor the players. It’s lopsided.
“Now, with this new rule, a coach can’t tell a player, ‘You can come in here and be the man.’”
If adopted, the new rule would allow players to transfer without having to sit out a season should being “the man” not happen.
No, Irvin said, UK did not promise Whitney he’d be the man.
“I mean, Ray Charles can see they’ve got five or six five-star guys coming in every year,” the AAU coach said. “So, I mean, you don’t have to tell anybody, ‘You’ll be the man.’”
Good company
Kahlil Whitney played on an AAU program coached by Mike Irvin. Although Whitney averaged modest numbers in his half season for Kentucky (3.3 points, 1.7 rebounds, 12.8 minutes), Irvin called Whitney “one of the best players I’ve coached.”
That’s saying something. Players formerly coached by Irvin include Jabari Parker (United States Basketball Writers National Freshman of the Year for Duke), Jahlil Okafor (USBWA National Freshman of the Year and ACC Player of the Year for Duke) and Jalen Brunson (National Player of the Year and point guard on two Villanova teams that won national championships).
“Without a doubt in my mind, he’s definitely in that group,” Irvin said of Whitney. “I think that player is still there.”
Second thoughts?
With Kentucky having won seven straight games entering this weekend and the grand stage that is the NCAA Tournament looming, might Kahlil Whitney be having second thoughts about leaving?
“Nah,” Mike Irvin said. “He’s from Chicago. Once you make a decision, you don’t have second thoughts about the decision. You just try to make the best of what’s coming.
“You look at it as a stepping stone he had in his life. He started out there, and you’ve got to look forward to the future.”
Player-driven
Former Auburn coach Sonny Smith recalled a game at Illinois that featured what could be considered an example of a player-driven team.
His top player, Chris Morris, came near the bench during the game and said, “Coach, run that play where you throw it up in the air and I dunk it,” Smith recalled.
To which, Smith said he replied, “Chris, I was going to. What do we call that play?”
Morris replied, “Coach, you know I don’t know the plays. Just run that play where I dunk it.”
Recalling this exchange, Smith said, “It was called ‘Five-up.’ We ran it. He liked to have torn the rim down. He looked over at me and winked like he was saying, ‘I can tell you how to do this thing, coach.’”
Happy birthday
To Tayshaun Prince. He turned 40 on Friday. … To Marquis Teague. He turned 27 on Friday. … To Florida Coach Mike White. He turns 43 on Monday. … To former Louisville coach Denny Crum. He turns 83 on Monday. … To Tom Leach. The “voice” of UK basketball and football turns 59 on Tuesday.
