Tubby Predicts Turnaround for Cats

[CatDaddy]

LEXINGTON, Ky. — You might think this University of Kentucky basketball season looks a lot like the last.

But UK coach Tubby Smith would beg to differ.

Though his Wildcats (18-8, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) have lost three straight games entering tomorrow's 9 p.m. tilt with Louisiana State at Rupp Arena, Smith stood up for his team at a news conference today, predicting that it's on the cusp of a turnaround, and saying that his program has made significant strides in a year.

"We've been close all year," Smith said. "I just look at every game — we're so far ahead of where we were last year, it's a joke."
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"We all hear it," UK guard Joe Crawford said of speculation about Smith's future. "We try not to engage in those conversations, because we know you can't just put it on one person. It's a team, and we have to come together. We can't worry about things like that. We have to come together and win ballgames. It's the players who make the plays. We can't rely on the coach to make a shot."

Crawford agreed with Smith that the Cats are significantly better today than they were this time last year.

But coach and player agreed UK needs a turnaround in a hurry.

Smith said that's a realistic hope.

The Cats' five SEC losses this season have come by an average of 6.4 points per game, and a 72-61 loss to Alabama last Saturday was UK's first double-digit loss in conference play.

"These are the times when you've got to really continue to believe in the system," Smith said. "That's one thing I know about this team — we've shown a lot of heart, a lot of courage, a lot of toughness. We just haven't been able to make some of those shots down the stretch that we need to make."

www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070219/SPORTS03/70219042/1002/SPORTS

-D

[CatDaddy]

Clay read on the "so far ahead of last year" quote..

"At his press conference today, Tubby Smith said this year's team is "so far ahead of last year, it's a joke." Asked to explain, the UK coach mentioned passing, rebounding and that this year's team is "a little more athletic."

That made us curious about the numbers as compared to last year.

Category 05-06 06-07
W-L 17-9 18-8
SEC 7-5 7-5
Points per game 70.8 73.2
Opp points 66.1 66.2
FG% 44.7 47.8
Opp FG% 42.4 39.7
3pt% 35.0 35.1
Opp 3pt% 32.6 31.9
Reb margin +2.9 +3.5
Off reb% 37.4 33.8
Def reb% 66.4 67.4
Assists pg 14.1 16.2
Turnovers pg 13.3 14.8
Blocked shots pg 3.0 5.2
Steals pg 5.9 5.9

Last year's team shot 50 percent or better in 11 of 35 games, or 31.4 percent of its games. This year's team has shot 50 percent or better in 10 of 26 games, or 38.5 percent of its games.

Last year's team allowed opponents to shoot 50 percent or better in 10 of 35 games, or 28.6 percent. This year's team has allowed opponents to shoot 50 percent or better in just four of 26 games, or 15.4 percent.

Last year's team was outrebounded in 13 of 35 games, or 37.1 percent. This year's team has been outrebounded in just six of 26 games, or 23.1 percent.


UK's rankings in SEC stats (conference games only)

Category 05-06 06-07
Scoring offense 4 4
Scoring defense 7 5
Scoring margin 5 2
FT% 9 4
FG% 2 2
FG% defense 7 1
3pt% 3 9
3pt% defense 12 3
Reb margin 4 3
Assists 6 2
Turnover margin 8 9
A/TO ratio 4 3

www.johnclay.typepad.com/

-D

[bluegrassking]

Some improvement but "so far ahead of last year, it's a joke." fails to spring to mind.

[tcot]

I like those numbers and they are a little better than last year ( NOT ALOT ). The trouble is the SEC as a whole is ALOT better and that is also killing UK that they only improved a little.

[tayshaun]

It doesn't matter about the stats, we still aren't winning games.