Hearts of Lions (AP).
I promised myself that I wouldn’t post until I’d had a reasonable cooling period. You see, I’ve learned to cope with loss. I grew up cheering for a different breed of Wildcat. In fact, I spent my entire life until I went to Davidson in the basketball-crazed bluegrass of Lexington, KY. I’ve studied at UK. My father graduated from UK. His father was a professor at UK. I gauge my age by reference to UK milestones and lineups. The unalloyed success of the blue Wildcats’ program has helped to erect some of the highest standards in the land. Lexingtonians fully expect to be playing in the final game of each season. For this reason, a loss — any loss — stings and feels undeserved. In order to endure the relative trough in performance over the last ten years, UK fans have been made to develop effective defense mechanisms.
Freud posited several levels of defense mechanisms, more or less varying in their level of maturity or adaptiveness. My feelings immediately after the Oklahoma game were of the most basic or most childish sort (or, since I’m an adult, Freud might say of the most psychotic sort). I simply denied reality. I refused to accept that we’d faltered and the midwestern barbarians had sunk their free throws at an incredible 84% clip. Then, with slightly more nuance, I began to distort the night’s event. We hadn’t lost the game yet — there was an exception to an exception to an exception that granted the refs the discretion to instate an overtime period where the home team dunks after the buzzer and yells an obscenity at its opponent. We still had a shot!
My friend 4th Watts engaged in a slightly higher level defense, the sort that Freud supposed was exhibited most often by petulant adolescents. Immediately after the buzzer sounded he began his search for salve, which he found in the form of YouTube videos of the ‘Cats’ run last March. The only way by which he could survive the trauma was to retreat into fantasy.
In the end, however, my better senses prevailed. If my recollection of Psych 101 at Davidson isn’t too foggy, sublimation is the process of turning negative feelings into positive feelings or actions. Despite the shortcomings, the overworked Wildcats were able to turn a 21-point deficit into a one-possession game. And not on neutral turf either. (How quickly I forgot that during the Cats’ march through March they benefitted from the cheers of just about every neutral observer.) And they did it amidst difficult circumstances. Oklahoma’s game didn’t exactly crumble. Max was sent out of the game after being thrown to the ground. Rossiter joined him soon afterwards. And the pressure on Steph was unrelenting.
So if we must complain about shots that went halfway through the hoop before spinning out of it, about the tired legs that caused a few to clank off the front of the rim, about the incredible third foul on Curry that sent him to the bench with six minutes left in the first, about the incredible fifth foul on Max that sent him to bench with nearly ten minutes left in the second, about the lack of motion on offense, and about the occasional lapse in defensive awareness, then we must acknowledge our achievement as all the more exceptional.
This team has tremendous potential. Absurd as it sounds, Steph is even better. Rossiter has fully embraced the responsibilities delegated to him by Thomas Sander and he appears to bring a new offensive skill set. Brendan McKillop gave us a glimpse of his potential at the point and showed himself capable of knocking down big late-game shots. Will just might’ve gotten his groove back, if that dart from 30 was any indication. (That’s confidence.)
More than potential, close losses reveal a lot about a team’s character. This team never gave up. They pushed and pushed and will continue to push until the final buzzer sounds. This is the great spirit that Coach McKillop funnels into his system, a system imbued with huge ideas. Let us raise our heads and take in the big picture.
Base Rich
Lefty's Legacy 
Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain
Hearts of Lions (AP).
I promised myself that I wouldn’t post until I’d had a reasonable cooling period. You see, I’ve learned to cope with loss. I grew up cheering for a different breed of Wildcat. In fact, I spent my entire life until I went to Davidson in the basketball-crazed bluegrass of Lexington, KY. I’ve studied at UK. My father graduated from UK. His father was a professor at UK. I gauge my age by reference to UK milestones and lineups. The unalloyed success of the blue Wildcats’ program has helped to erect some of the highest standards in the land. Lexingtonians fully expect to be playing in the final game of each season. For this reason, a loss — any loss — stings and feels undeserved. In order to endure the relative trough in performance over the last ten years, UK fans have been made to develop effective defense mechanisms.
Freud posited several levels of defense mechanisms, more or less varying in their level of maturity or adaptiveness. My feelings immediately after the Oklahoma game were of the most basic or most childish sort (or, since I’m an adult, Freud might say of the most psychotic sort). I simply denied reality. I refused to accept that we’d faltered and the midwestern barbarians had sunk their free throws at an incredible 84% clip. Then, with slightly more nuance, I began to distort the night’s event. We hadn’t lost the game yet — there was an exception to an exception to an exception that granted the refs the discretion to instate an overtime period where the home team dunks after the buzzer and yells an obscenity at its opponent. We still had a shot!
My friend 4th Watts engaged in a slightly higher level defense, the sort that Freud supposed was exhibited most often by petulant adolescents. Immediately after the buzzer sounded he began his search for salve, which he found in the form of YouTube videos of the ‘Cats’ run last March. The only way by which he could survive the trauma was to retreat into fantasy.
In the end, however, my better senses prevailed. If my recollection of Psych 101 at Davidson isn’t too foggy, sublimation is the process of turning negative feelings into positive feelings or actions. Despite the shortcomings, the overworked Wildcats were able to turn a 21-point deficit into a one-possession game. And not on neutral turf either. (How quickly I forgot that during the Cats’ march through March they benefitted from the cheers of just about every neutral observer.) And they did it amidst difficult circumstances. Oklahoma’s game didn’t exactly crumble. Max was sent out of the game after being thrown to the ground. Rossiter joined him soon afterwards. And the pressure on Steph was unrelenting.
So if we must complain about shots that went halfway through the hoop before spinning out of it, about the tired legs that caused a few to clank off the front of the rim, about the incredible third foul on Curry that sent him to the bench with six minutes left in the first, about the incredible fifth foul on Max that sent him to bench with nearly ten minutes left in the second, about the lack of motion on offense, and about the occasional lapse in defensive awareness, then we must acknowledge our achievement as all the more exceptional.
This team has tremendous potential. Absurd as it sounds, Steph is even better. Rossiter has fully embraced the responsibilities delegated to him by Thomas Sander and he appears to bring a new offensive skill set. Brendan McKillop gave us a glimpse of his potential at the point and showed himself capable of knocking down big late-game shots. Will just might’ve gotten his groove back, if that dart from 30 was any indication. (That’s confidence.)
More than potential, close losses reveal a lot about a team’s character. This team never gave up. They pushed and pushed and will continue to push until the final buzzer sounds. This is the great spirit that Coach McKillop funnels into his system, a system imbued with huge ideas. Let us raise our heads and take in the big picture.
Base Rich
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