Kentucky is Notre Dames Kryptonite

[CTPride]

I'm predicting a 25 point win by Kentucky tonight. We all might as well bow down to our new overlords the Kentucky Wildcats. Nobody will stand a chance they're just too good! The luck of the Irish runs out tonight.











Lets hope this works

 

[UConn990411]

It won't.

I'm not a superstitious person, but my understanding of the reverse jinx is that you actually have to believe what you're saying.

 

[Scoe]

UK is winning 200-3

 

[tzznandrew]

To be fair, Kentucky probably is going to kill Notre Dame, unless they have an all-time great performance.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

To be fair, Kentucky probably is going to kill Notre Dame, unless they have an all-time great performance.

It will take a small miracle and some Rudy magic:

Rudy: We're gonna go inside, we're gonna go outside, inside and outside. We're gonna get 'em on the run boys and once we get 'em on the run we're gonna keep 'em on the run. And then we're gonna go go go go go go and we're not gonna stop til we whip the Kentucky Wildcats. This is a team they say is... is great, well I think we're better than them. They can't lick us, so what do you say men?

 

[Rico444]

It would be hilarious if a program (and coach) known for coming up small in March knocked off the team that has the best chance in history to go 40-0.

 

[Horatio]

UK is losing . I put my uncle Lester on the job. He's a master of Anti - Mojo and he has a 97% success rate. Plus he hates Kentucky and after this he's gonna help our recruiting situation . Relax and put your money on Notre Dame. We're good.

 

[kobe]

Arizona is the only team that can beat them, IMO. They are a better version of us.

 

[tzznandrew]

Arizona is the only team that can beat them, IMO. They are a better version of us.

I think you must be using can in the sense of: if both teams are playing well, Arizona could still get them.

Because this Kentucky team hasn't lost, but a number of sub-par teams (Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M) had chances to take them out.

Good teams win those games, and they did. But any of the remaining teams can beat them. I mean, Louisville is probably the worst of the remaining teams, and they played UK tough for 30 minutes. I can't see why Wisconsin, or Arizona, or Gonzaga, or Duke couldn't do it for the full amount.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I don't think Kentucky is unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination but I also don't take much from those regular season "close calls," beyond the fact that everybody was gunning for them every night and they never lost, despite probably not treating every game like a super bowl like their opponents did. I think it's a little different now, we we saw then they were motivated to beat WVU.

That being said, I think AZ has the best shot at them, mostly because they have decent size (although Tarczewski is an enigma to me, great one minute, non-existent the next) and they seem pretty tough-minded and resilient. I love Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

 

[tzznandrew]

I don't think Kentucky is unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination but I also don't take much from those regular season "close calls," beyond the fact that everybody was gunning for them every night and they never lost, despite probably not treating every game like a super bowl like their opponents did. I think it's a little different now, we we saw then they were motivated to beat WVU.

That being said, I think AZ has the best shot at them, mostly because they have decent size (although Tarczewski is an enigma to me, great one minute, non-existent the next) and they seem pretty tough-minded and resilient. I love Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

I hear you.

And I do think they're the best team.

But they're the only team in the Elite 8 that didn't play any other KenPom Top 10 teams. I mean, think about that.

They don't have many weaknesses, but certainly Kentucky's strength is their interior defense. Vanderbilt was the only Top 100 3 point shooting team in the conference. Teams had to challenge them, and Kentucky killed them.

They are definitely the odds-on favorites to win. And the West Virginia win looked terrifying...but West Virginia's offense wasn't terrible, but they were one of the 60 worst 3 point shooting teams in the country. That's not the formula to beat them. You have to be able to move the ball the half court and make 3s.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Yeah I agree it's critical that Notre Dame be lights out from the perimeter, and it'll be interesting to see whether Kentucky puckers if it's a sub-10 point game late into the second half. I just think Kentucky has so many guys to throw at them that ND will need to be pretty close to perfect offensively to pull off a win. I don't think they're going to get many second chances on the offensive end.

 

[champs99and04]

To re-iterate what I said in a previous thread, I just don't think Notre Dame has a chance. We can make it more complicated than it needs to be citing three point shooting and Kenpom numbers - and those are useful, most of the time - but in this case the size disparity just renders it irrelevant, IMO. You look at the teams Notre Dame has beaten in recent weeks - Duke, UNC, Louisville, Butler, Wichita - and it's damn impressive, but they play Connaughton and Colson at the four who both go 6'5.

They'll score some points and keep it interesting for a while, maybe, but they could not have drawn a worse opponent in terms of exposing their major weakness (size).

 

[AstarIsBorn31]

As Mike Golic said: "Destiny, unless there is a guy named Jim Destiny on Notre Dame who is 7 ft 250 lbs and dominates inside then Destiny is not going to affect this game"