Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Why Cornell does not Scare Me

I have read a number of articles throughout the web that discuss Cornell and how they can be a big threat to Kentucky in the tournament. There are a number of angles that journalist's have taken to talk about the Big Red pushing through the Big Dance.

I am here to tell you that it will not happen. Sure Cornell absolutely took Temple and Wisconsin to the woodshed, but you have to understand the matchup to know what happened there. First I don't want to discredit Cornell, they are a good team. But both Temple and Wisconsin play very deliberate half court games, they play a slower pace based on a half court offense which plays right into Cornell's game plan. Kentucky plays an up-tempo high powered offense which by design is to spread the ball run and attack. I think Cornell can score some points but how will their players match-up with Kentucky's athletes?

The other angle that newsies are taking is "Cornell has Mark Coury, former Kentucky starter, who is not talented enough to crack the starting lineup of this Cornell team." This is just plain ridiculous. Yes, Coury did start for Kentucky in 2007-2008, but he averaged 10 minutes per game and 2 points. Coury was not the most talented player on that team and would be nowhere near the most talented on this team. If Coury were still at Kentucky this year he more than likely would have been watching the games for the ERupption Zone. Coury started for Billy G. as a smack to the other players because Mark worked hard in practice and Gillispie didn't think the others did. I think Mark is a good kid but lets not look too much into this.

Basketball is a game of matchups and Cornell just does not match up with Kentucky. If both teams go out and play their games I think the Wildcats will roll. Just my thoughts.

1 comment:

redleg2420 said...

Agree completely. No one in the country plays a slow paced half-court offense like Wisconsin. The tempo allows for Cornell to find good shots. They should not be able to keep pace with UK. This has the potential to be another blowout.

That being said, the tournament is completely unpredictable, you just never know. If Wall, Cousins and Bledsoe just aren't hitting shots and Cornell is, there could be an upset.