Herding Cats

Did you ever try to get a cat to do something for you like come to you when you called it's name?  Dogs can't wait to please, they were born to make their masters happy, but not a cat.  That's kind of what it's like to coach a basketball team, particularly a basketball team that has a lot of freshmen players, who just got through being stars in high school, and now come together as stars, in hopes of making millions in the NBA.  That is what Coach John Calipari faces every year as the Head Basketball Coach at the University of Kentucky.

Coach Cal is a victim of his own success.  He has become the top recruiter of talented basketball players in the entire United States.  That's great right?  That's bad as well, since each year he is confronted with checking these enormous egos at the door of the Joe Craft Center{the practice facility of the UK Basketball Team} and get them to buy in to the team concept, and realize that most of the players that are now your teammates are just as good as you are.  And to make it just a little more difficult it has to be done in under six months. 

College basketball has changed.  No more do you see players coming and staying for four years unless they are not the McDonald's All Americans that have become the prize for the big time programs,  There was a time when players could grow and learn in a system that would nurture them into young adults, but now these young lions must come ready made,  with not just a jump shot, but real world experience and maturity.  Coach Cal has become the gold standard of taking the modern basketball youth and renovating them into a team that is not only good but will likely challenge for Final Fours and even National Championships.  A daunting task at best.  In Coach Cal's third season at Kentucky he has manged to do just that.  However at times I bet Coach Cal thinks it would probably be easier just to herd a bunch of cats.

Block Party

If there is a theme or description of this years Kentucky Basketball team it will certainly be defined by defense and of course blocked shots.  The 2011-12 version of the Cats is playing defense and blocking shots at a record pace.  Opposing players speak of their dread in playing them as fear and intimidation.  In fact Kentucky has never been thought of in these terms because of their defense, it was always the attacking pressure that they put on opponents through their offense.  The barrage of 3 pointers from the 90s and the end to end play of the 2000s.  Not now,  rugged defensive pressure from the half court line to the last line of defense the boundless presence of freshmen Anthony Davis.

AD is maybe the most outrageously talented big man that I have ever seen at Kentucky, and that is saying a lot since All-Americans have patrolled the post for 7 decades.  But what he has manged to do to this point has set the record book on it's ear.  I can't wait to go to games to see what this "phenom" will do next.  It's not just the blocks, it's the soaring dunks, and the galactic rebounds, and all of it is done with a humility that is quite foreign to most modern athletes.  Anthony Davis is simply a joy to watch.

We as Kentucky fans are so blessed to have him for this one year.  This time next year he will be doing the same thing for pay.  While I will be happy for him this is the one draw back in Coach Cal's phenomenal recruiting success.  We barely get to know them and than they are gone.  But at this moment AD and his teammates are ours to claim and the thrills are coming at us in waves.  I say let's live in the moment and immerse ourselves in the best "block party" this Wildcat fan has seen in years.