digger dagger

Cats lose to South Carolina. We played poorly, John Wall in particular. Bledsoe was not good, Patterson was absent, and for a team with such great height, we were totally outmanned on the boards. Downey for the Gamecocks was tremendous, though he did only shoot 9-29 (which speaks to 2 things: his ability to get to the line and just how badly Kentucky played on offense).

But what really drives me nuts is that with Kentucky's first loss -- as the last undefeated team -- Digger Phelps now gets more screen time because of his theory that all teams need a loss going into the tournament. From a player standpoint, I could see where the pressure of continuing to win might eventually build to an unmanageable level, but from a practical standpoint, what is a coach or team really to do? Shouldn't teams aspire to greatness (not suggesting Kentucky is anywhere close yet)? Instead, we have to listen to Digger who parlayed his one-Final Four-career into a cushy ESPN "analyst" job on the back of ending UCLA's 88 game win streak.

Moral of the story: when previously undefeated teams go down, Digger Phelps wins, and that in itself is enough reason to always pull for the favorites.