Kentucky

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Kentucky

Nice Stories on the Jacks in the Sports section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Sunday and Monday.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/5723263.html


http://www.startribune.com/stories/512/5724653.html

[TK22867]

Re: Kentucky

I watched the game on ESPNU with DirecTV and I want to throw in my two cents worth as well. SDSU got exactly what they wanted tonight, a Kentucky team that played mediocre at best. If this game was a year later, and/or a few more players played as well as Beran and actually made some shots, today we could very well be talking about one of the greatest upset in the History of SD college athletics.

It felt (through the tv) that the Kentucky crowd was nervous for almost the entire game. If SDSU could have only dropped a few timely, WIDE OPEN shots, the margin would have been within 10 and it would have been GAME ON.

Alltogether I was very happy for our program and can tell we are headed in the right direction.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: Kentucky

It seemed as though every time SDSU did hit a big shot and looked like they were one or two buckets away from a single digit game Kentucky answered with an even bigger shot. All in all, a great game. I'm looking forward to see what this team will do this year. There's a lot of potential ;D

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Kentucky

The thing that showed up last night and will be an issue all year is the depth. The biggest guy we can come in with off the bench is Michael Loney. This team will have a year to gel and then with the addition of the 4 redshirts available next year (Engen,Bilitz,Yackley,Hornby) we will be able to have a deep rotation. I also wouldn't be surprised if it's determined that Bassett and Cordova can contribute right away and not be redshirted.

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

Re: Kentucky

Can we confirm that Hornby and Yackley will be redshirted this year? I hope thats the case, we're pretty good a guard depth this year.

My two cents on the game last night, Beran was incredible, he could pretty much do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Gilbert will be great once he gets more experience. but my favorite is Casey, he missed a lot of shots last night but he can really run the point. I am so impressed with his court presence and ability. He will be fun to watch throughout his career at SDSU.

[89rabbit]

Re: Kentucky

Can we confirm that Hornby and Yackley will be redshirted this year?  I hope thats the case, we're pretty good a guard depth this year.

My two cents on the game last night, Beran was incredible, he could pretty much do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Gilbert will be great once he gets more experience. but my favorite is Casey, he missed a lot of shots last night but he can really run the point. I am so impressed with his court presence and ability. He will be fun to watch throughout his career at SDSU.

If you go to the roster section of the Men's Basketball team and click on any of the true Freshmen's names it says they are "expected to redshirt during the 2005-06 season". I think this is a good idea in all cases give them a year in the program and then turn them lose. So unless something unforeseen happens Blake Yackley, Cam Hornby, Mark Engen, and Robert Bilitz will redshirt this season.

http://www3.sdstate.edu/Athletics/Va...ster/Index.cfm

Go State! ;D

[filbert]

Re: Kentucky

Also, SDSU trivia, this was undoubtedly the first basketball game the Jackrabbits have played in front of more than 20,000 fans--20,144 to be exact.

Won't be the last . . .

[Jacks99]

Re: Kentucky

Was nice today, to see the Jacks/Kentucky score listed on the front page of the USA today sports section.

I think that has to be a first also.

[SUPERBUNNY]

Re: Kentucky

Cubby's was a great scene last night!

Ben Beran is a fantastic basketball player. Kentucky didn't have an answer for him.

I can't wait until we win a game like that. It's going to happen sooner rather than later!

SUPERBUNNY

[filbert]

Re: Kentucky

Tubby being interviewed on ESPNU at the half of the UNC-SDSU game, opens up by again crediting SDSU . . .

I think I'm becoming (more of) a Tubby fan . . .

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Kentucky

Just a word in regards to Ben Beran's game against UK. We were sitting with some very strong but nice UK fans, and they continually said in the second half -- could you leave #50 here with us -- we could use him! Nice tribute to a great showing by Big Ben.

We heard lots of good words about the team during last night and tonight -- great to hear from the rarified air at Rupp Arena!

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Kentucky

I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in having just returned from a 5 day visit to Wildcat country.

First of all, nobody had any idea who SDSU and most didn't know where South Dakota was even located (not that it surprised me) before the game. However, after the game everyone knew and was talking about us. Most of the newspapers in the area painted the outcome more as a lack of flow by Kentucky rather than a good defensive showing by the Jacks. By the way, I was very impressed with our defensive effort in the game. Except for a few Rondo drives, there was never a point in the game where I felt like we were just too slow to hang with UK. Finally, while having lunch at a local diner in the small town (Mays Lick, KY) where my in-laws live, all you heard was discussion about the game and how they couldn't believe this SDSU made Kentucky look so bad. It was nice to hear.

As for the game, a couple things stood out to me. In the first half we obviously came out intimidated and looked it. The shooting line was ugly and some of that can be blamed on Rondo and Co, but some can be blamed on simple shot selection.

In my opinion, if that 7'3" giant for UK doesn't have 3 blocked shots and a dunk in a matter of 2 minutes, we go into the half only down 6-8. The swing in momentum and confidence for both squads was staggering. Prior to that kid blocking those shots and getting the dunk (which essentially just fell into his lap) the 20,000 faithful were noticeably quiet and the doubt was evident. Our guys started to look like they believed they belonged. However, the blocked shots set us back in a hurry.

Another point. Our shot selection by some of our players was horrendous. I would take Casey over Frias at this point of the season any time the choice was mine to make. Casey played hard and played within the scheme. Frias looked like he was forcing things. Too often he would take a bad shot after we had just come away with a big stop on defense. Gilbert, Berte and Holdren were guilty of this, too. All four of these players are incredibly talented, but too often Jackrabbit runs were thwarted by a bad shot from one of the above.

I'm not a basketball coach and don't play one on TV, but I knew everytime Coach Nagy was going to pull one of those three from the game. It was very easy to see. We'd work our tail off, hustle down the court only to see us throw up a quick, ill-advised shot and give the ball right back to UK. We're simply not a good enough of a team to be giving away possessions. The turnovers were bad, but somewhat expected when playing a team as good defensively as UK. However, the poor shots that killed any momentum has to stop. I think the starting lineup against UNC may have addressed this.

Here's the point (and you could see the frustration in Coach Nagy because of this). We could have played much better. Our opportunity to get this game within 5-8 was there. Heck, our opportunity to win this game was there. We can't squander those opportunities by shooting ourselves in the foot.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Kentucky

One other thing. Not sure if this was already posted, but the score was UK 34 - SDSU 30 in the second half.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Kentucky

With their starters in until the last buzzer. Rondo handed the ball to the ref.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Kentucky

MilwaukeeJack, I'll add to your post. With 9:56 to go in the first half, Kentucky led by 18. For the next 29:56 minutes, the Jacks outscored the Wildcats by one. Not bad for a starting lineup of two juniors (one in his first SDSU game), a sophomore, and two redshirt freshmen who had only two exhibition games under their belts, and two sophomores as the main substitutes!