Kentucky’s Jarrod Polson (5) shoots under pressure from LIU Brooklyn’s C.J. Garner, left, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/James Crisp)
By LARRY VAUGHT
His first two years at Kentucky, the Wildcats went to the Final Four each time and won the national championship in 2013. Coming off the success he had at West Jessamine High School the last two years of his prep career, UK junior Jarrod Polson expected this to be another banner year.
“This is not what we were expecting,” said Polson Friday after UK lost to Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Not only was it UK’s 11th loss, but the Cats scored a season-low 48 points — a low UK never reached during Billy Gillipsie’s two years and had not reached in seven seasons. Not only that, but it was the fourth straight loss by double digits away from Rupp Arena since center Nerlens Noel went down with a season-ending knee injury.
“No, not at all did I think this could ever happen this year. We thought we had a lot of talent coming in. It’s not like we have not been working hard, either,” Polson said. “We had a great week of practice before this. We definitely didn’t expect this loss. But we can’t do anything about it now but hope for the best.
“I think we have talent. I am probably biased. I think we have the talent to beat any team in the country on a given night. I don’t think talent is necessarily the problem. We just can’t, I guess, stay focused for 40 minutes. There were spurts where we got on runs and then we collapsed on defense and they made a 3 or something like that. When that happens and they get beer muscles, you can’t really stop it.”
Beer muscles are what Kentucky coach John Calipari defined earlier this season as letting an opponent have its way to where it plays better than it can because it gets to believing it can do that.
Kentucky lost its top six players off last year’s championship team, but had the No. 1 recruiting class again and was ranked third in the AP preseason poll, a spot Calipari said immediately was way too high. Still, even then Calipari likely would not have thought this team would lose seven games by double digits and be dominated by mediocre teams the way it was to put UK in the NIT, not the NCAA.
“I definitely think it is frustrating for him (Calipari). You have seen his resume. His teams are always in the (NCAA) tournament and playing their best at this time of year. I guess we are not the best we could be right now. We can’t look back, just forward,” Polson said.
“I don’t really know why we have been so inconsistent. You can blame it on being young or not enough experience or something. We just can’t seem to find what it takes to stay on a run. We beat Florida and then lose again (to Vanderbilt). We have had a lot of those cases and then go right to the next game and take a bad loss. I don’t really know the answer, but we better find it out soon.”
Does the team lack mental toughness, physical toughness or both?
“They (Vanderbilt) out-toughed us physically. They were driving to the basket at will on us and we couldn’t drive on them and when we did we missed layups and open shots,” Polson said. “I think they physically out-toughed us like a lot of teams have. They are mentally tough, too. When they are on a run like that, it is hard to stop them. And when we played bad like that, we had no chance. We don’t seem to be tough enough to snap out of it.”
Polson said having more experienced players like the previous two UK teams had “would probably help” at times.
“Last year had some veterans that played. Kyle (Wiltjer) is really the only one on our team that played at all last year and he didn’t play that many minutes. That might be the case, but you can’t blame it on that now. We played a whole season by now, so we have experience. I don’t know … we just didn’t come out and play to the best of our ability and Vanderbilt did. They just beat us fair and square,” Polson said.
He said rumors about chemistry problems on the team are not true.
“It is a bunch of good guys really. It is not like there are chemistry problems,” Polson said. “We all like each other off the court. It is not really that. I don’t really know what it is. Vandy did a great job. They hit shots tonight and we can’t take that away. They played one of their best games, and we certainly did not. We could have played a lot better than we did. We have to figure it out why we didn’t play our best. And not just this game, but other games.
Polson admitted maybe players kept believing the season would work out because Calipari’s past teams always seemed to figure things out by tournament time.
“We expected that everything we come together. We thought maybe we had turned the corner at Florida when we got that win,” Polson said. “But it has happened a lot in the season where we win one and get a bad loss the next one. I don’t really know what the problem is or I would have helped fixed it. Obviously, none of us know and that’s a problem, too.”
11 Responses to Jarrod Polson not sure why UK lacked focus and toughness but says team chemistry has never been a problem this year
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I don’t believe that there is a problem with the guys getting along. I think it’s just a case of youth. And no experienced Alpha personality on the team to ensure focus. The issue I think is just youth.
Here is a question: Was the failure of this year’s team due to youth in general, or to the youth of this particular team? We have had youth before, but under Calipari we have never had youth without obvious experienced players who have thrived before in the UK atmosphere. Unless Calipari recruits quality players who will support the super stars and stick around and PLAY quality minutes, we will have little experience and much youth. So, again…if it is youth that struck down this team, can we ALWAYS pencil in a great team when our recruits arrive on campus?
Joe, you always ask great thought-provoking questions. I think that the youth of this team contributed to the team’s problems in that there were no players who had played significant minutes in a UK uniform previously to show the young pups the correct way to practice, prepare for and play games. But, the development of this team was also slowed by Nerlens’ late arrival on campus compared to the other recruits, Ryan’s illness, Jon Hood’s illness, Willie’s injury and then Nerlen’s injury as well as the failure of the freshmen to mature at a above-average pace. It seemed like the Cats just couldn’t seem to catch a break. So, in my opinion, it was a combination of many factors and not just youth.
That being said, I certainly see the value in having players like a Darius Miller or a Patrick Patterson to lead the young pups. The best system would be to have a nice mix of both.
We need extremely talented youth like Cal recruits, but we also need a few tough seasoned veterans on the team as well. Guys that have been in battle and know what it takes to win in the sec. A team has just got to heave em. We also need some pure shooters who can dial up the threes, and hit layups consistently. When the chips were down, our guys couldn’t shoot in big games this year. That was the problem we had in my mind. Plain and simple. Plus we took a tough loss in Nerlens going down. Had he stayed healthy, I think we would have been in a whole lot better state come tournament time with a better possible road record too. We still should be in the big dance.
The problem is,Cal does’nt build a bench.He plays 6 or 7 guys and gives major minutes to his fresh reruits regardless of how they play.Case in point,Goodwin,Poythress,and Harrow this year,then add Mays who should have seen 10 minutes max most games and you have a train wreck .Hood who is a 4th year player,although he sat out last season,Polson a 3rd year player with limited game experience are prime examples of older players,but limited playing experience because they sat most games earlier in their career at UK. So the question becomes,who on the bench,do you rely on for leadership on this team.
There were one or two guys who could have been “leaders” on this collection of players but there was no one who assumed the responsibility of the “Alpha” male.
(Great term Juan). Ryan Harrow had a year of experience, Mays had several years experience, Kyle Wiltjer was a sophomore. None of the three took it upon themselves to assume the alpha roll and the team disintegrated into a collection of individuals.
No one needed that leader more than did Alex Poythress. I continually drew the comparison between him and myself during my first year of high school football. Fortunately I found an older kid under whose “wing” I was able to hide. Alex was in the public spotlight from day one, a case of a kid who was run over by the expectations placed on him.
Gene, I think your best players have to be your leaders. Mays tried, but was not UK’s best player. Noel was taking that role, then he went down. Will change next year
Larry V if you get a chance checkout Adam Himmelsbach’s article entitled “Jockeying For Position” appearing in the C-J Monday 3/18. This is a classic example of C-J sports writers throwing it back in UK’s face. This is why I hate Louisville so much. I have been reading this kind of crap from Louisville sports writers for as long as I can remember. They can kiss my ass. Them and Louisville.
The rhetoric continues, but, it is real simple…..we did not have a consistent inside or outside game this year. Wilter really did not force any bad 3 point attempts this year, he was slow to get them off making him guardable. Mays is small which limited his ability to get off many of his shots. Nerlens or WCS did not have a soft touch inside, if it wasn’t a dunk, we held our breath. The offense could not consistently get real low postups for Poythress or Wilter…too many times they had to dribble their way in giving the defense time to sag down and double. We were fortunate that we did have a good post defense even after Nerlens went down. I was suprised we did not see more zones this year. Archie will enhance his position by developing a consistent short range jump shot. I love this team just like all others to wear the Blue and will support them in the NIT.
great assesment from Mike F I agree completely. I will add 1 more thing to that and it was the inability to guard consistently without fouling. We had no stopper
I would add my agreement with both Mike F. and jkm&cat.