Welcome back to the Wrap everyone is
just more tennis with me this week.
Louis robot taking the week off.
We will start with Kentucky who barked
this was a kind of a bubble battle
of a game between them and Florida.
Similar teams resume wise who can't really
afford any key losses down the stretch here.
If you would have told me at the
beginning of the Kentucky was going
to win a game where Oscar she way
had four points and fouled out,
I would have been like there's no way
that is happening because they weren't
getting enough from everybody else.
Cason Wallace had 20.
Jacob Toppin, 17,
CJ Frederick chipped in with 12.
I feel like this was a kind of the
win that UK really needed to to prove
that they can win a game without
Oscar putting up a monster stat.
I you might even go a step further
and say that it seems like there
has been more of an emphasis to get
non Oscar more involved and to get
a larger percentage of like winning
effort from people that are not Oscar
that maybe cow is is working towards.
The best version of this team
isn't so Oscar dependent, yeah.
And I think he's probably on to something,
especially as teams continue to
try and isolate him as, you know,
who they go after and who they
target on defense.
You know, I think to the extent that they
can maybe lessen their dependence on him,
maybe even minutes wise to
avoid that very thing,
they might be working more towards that.
And at least in terms of production,
yeah, I think,
I think there's something to be said for,
hey, we were able to to overcome what
we've been used to getting from other
people and there's been more of that.
In the second-half of the season.
So it's encouraging,
I would
think. I like what Jacob Toppin has done
with his game ever since the Louisville
game we've talked about and that he
is relentlessly attacking the rim.
He takes a jumper here and
there when he gets it.
But but that guy is too athletic of the
specimen to not be good around the basket.
I think it's changed his whole game
when he's set his mindset to that.
And I think it's always nice to get
a good reminder that for as much as
the certainly the NBA and increasingly
college basketball has become not
really much of a post game. You know,
lots and lots and lots of three pointers.
But there's still a place for a crazy,
athletic guy who can get the ball kind
of near the rim and put it in the rim.
Yeah. And that's what topping is.
And also, I do think it's good for
Kentucky to have a game where it's
very clear that the opponent is,
is executing what now seems to
be the book on Kentucky.
Let's do pick and roll and make Oscar
Sheba have to move and have to defend.
And it's not just as simple as we'll
roll it out there and we'll win that.
Yeah, look, Florida had some success with it.
They clearly tried to win that way,
and it wasn't enough.
And it's probably a good thing for Kentucky.
To survive somebody really trying to
capitalize on that and it not working.
And I thought it was important that
case and Wallace really led the way
and scoring 20 points because out
of anybody on Kentucky's roster he
is the guy who anybody in the NBA
looks at and says hey that guy is
is something we could build around
because he's a tenacious defender.
He's a better shooter than
he's given credit for.
And you have seen the transition from
giving the keys to severe Wheeler
to be the main point guard to now
really giving it to Cason Wallace.
As as long as he stays healthy,
we know we've got he's dealt with the back.
But he is a lot of fun to watch
when when he's on for this team.
But for now, if if Kentucky,
they know they're gonna get
some big games out of Oscar,
but to get a result like that with
him on the bench and really not
scoring it on was big for them.
Louisville was close to a big win,
a big comeback.
They were down by 17 to Florida State
and come back to just lose by three.
And we've had this conversation
before about how much credit do
you want to give for showing quote,
UN quote fight when you were down by 17?
But I believe this game if if you
want to give credit for that,
this one felt like it warranted that
more than some of the other efforts
we've talked about this season.
Yeah, because I think the reason that it
felt like it is I never felt like even
as Florida State ran up that lead that
it was because Louisville was loafing.
You know, I thought Florida State
was shooting the ball, you know,
better than they typically do and
I thought they were playing well.
I thought Louisville was really
loose with the ball,
but it just didn't feel like
they just sort of sagged and and
Florida State ran this lead up, so.
They never really seem to to stop
fighting it just I think they were way
more efficient in the second-half.
They fought through it and that they
need way more of this that this is
I think the problem these are the
signs of the little heartbeats.
The little you know shoots of things
that we really needed to be seen in
late November and in December we're
way behind. That's encouraging.
I think the question is how do
we get this far behind?
Well exactly. And and the defensive
intensity was something that that
just wavered because the reason
for state was able to get up.
17 because I don't think Louisville was
doing a great job on defense force.
They had open corner threes,
they were able to drive the lane.
They were able to beat you lol
back down the court and get dunks.
Florida State went scoreless for
I think almost like a 5 minute
stretch late in the second-half.
And you saw it crank up.
Yeah, for a little boy.
And I think that's the frustrating
thing for Cardinal fans because
Denny's preached about it before that.
This team's got to be built on defense.
They'll show it for you in a stretch,
but you can't let it get to
a point where it's like, OK,
now we have to do it because
we're down by so much.
Yeah.
And
I I do wonder if we'll get to maybe
the end of the year and so much of the
all or what percentage of the offenses
issues are or at least made far worse.
By the pressure that Louisville's
really poor defense puts on it.
Yeah, you know, there,
there there are no games that they can
really weather just your standard kind of
off shooting night because they don't.
They just don't stop, folks.
And I'd have to say of all the things that
have surprised me the most about this team,
it feels it's the defense.
It's the way that they defend,
the intensity with which they
defend and do it consistently.
I I thought they would just
almost automatically be better.
And they haven't been.
And that's that's the biggest disappointment.
That's the one that's that's
least talent dependent.
A Louisville women got a huge
win over North Carolina.
We talked about defensive intensity, man.
Carlos brought it on that end of
the four to beat the Tar Heels.
And to break that game down, we'll bring
in Christy Banta and Alexis Cupid.
So here they are now,
Alexis Cuba from the Courier journal
and Christy Banta from ESPN Louisville.
This was a huge win, I think,
for Louisville this season.
This the second big win over a
ranked opponent in ACC play.
They beat 4 to state.
They come back and beat #11 N
Carolina 62 to 50. Five.
And this was an absolute slugfest to me.
Neither team shot the ball well.
UNC shot 33%.
Louisville at 34,
and if there was a game from Macasa Robinson
to make the biggest impact possible,
I think it was really fitting.
It was this one.
She was outstanding in this ball.
Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, that's
the thing though, is so much emphasis.
I feel like it's put on points,
but she does everything else.
You know, she had eight rebounds today.
She was, you know, drew,
I think it was two offensive fouls on.
North Carolina in a span of during the
8 minute stretch in the third quarter.
So just the the little things that,
you know, may not readily get noticed,
but they can kind of help the team create
that momentum to get those points. She's so
big on that. Yeah.
And Speaking of her doing things that,
you know, don't show up on a stat line,
she's always the one who's out there
getting the pass that gets the pass,
that gets the shots.
And she did a lot of that today
continually, consistently.
She just had an outstanding performance.
And on top of that,
this game, as you said,
neither team was shooting great.
No, it was ugly.
It was defense that won this game,
and I think the defensive performance
today from Louisville was top notch.
It was almost like Macassa Robinson
single handedly flipped another energy
switch in the Yum Center where the town,
what she was doing. Yeah, it was
like she dug deep and found like
an extra 1% within her and it
really just brought the rest of
the team up to another level.
For the rest of the game.
And the other side of that is you are
now seeing her bring the ball up a lot.
And you're, you're talking about
like the hockey assist in a way.
Like the first pass in a string of passes.
Yeah. And I think she's really become
their most trusted ball handler or
somebody to run the offense because
Haley and CC are are great scorers.
But I don't think either one
of them is a true point guard.
But Macasa Robinson is probably the
best passer in the smartest player and
the best defender that Louisville has.
So it makes
sense. Well, I think when you
think about a point guard, right,
the point guard is supposed to be the leader.
The point guard is supposed to be the one
that dictates the pace of the offense,
the one who can see the court well,
you know, find that that open person.
And The thing is she,
she's a leader. She uses
her experience to her
advantage more times than not,
and oftentimes you can see her,
even if she's not on the court
leading the team running that point.
You can see her over on the bench,
coaching those players up and
getting their effort levels up.
And I wouldn't be surprised to
see her in some sort of coaching
role after she's finished. School
we've talked a lot about grit and
toughness as something being maybe
at times missing from this group
that you've become accustomed to
with Louisville women's basketball.
And it it seems sort of fitting that
one of the biggest wins of the year is
due to those two things in this game.
Like I know C car shot the ball well,
Haley hit some big shots,
they both ended up with 17.
But I look at the box score and see
12 rebounds from Nyla Harris and be
like that's as big of a reason they
want as anything because Robbins and
all the other Staffs are mentioned.
Drew 7 total fouls,
whether that was getting a steal
and moving in transition and
going five or six at the line.
Morgan Jones didn't have
her best scoring game,
but I thought she was fantastic
on the backboard,
using her length and athleticism
to make a difference.
These are the little things that I
think have to add up together for
them to really reach the potential
because let's be honest, this is when
they are playing at their best with
the talent level of this team has.
This is another final four team,
you know, and some people
might disagree with that just
because of what's been shown.
And that's fair. But again when you
look at pound for pound the talent that
they have, this is a team that
when they are clicking on all
cylinders, I really think could do some
big things. They have not been
consistent with that talent and
that's why we're now having
conversations of are they going to
be a 789 seed in the tournament.
That is not a conversation
that we should be having.
So the conversation that piggybacks
off that is that we've now seen the
same starting five in back-to-back
games that is nowhere near the
starting five we saw at the beginning,
not even close defensive buy in though
it seems like with with that starting.
Five to start a game seems to be high and
then everybody kind of picks up from there.
So are you able to keep rolling like
this and maybe see some synergy created
by this change that we've seen recently?
Yeah, I feel like you have to.
I mean it's like I can't remember who
asked the question during postgame,
but you know, they asked if you
know what I guess what CC thinks
about coming off the bench.
And Jeff was like, well,
it's either that or you don't
play and she wants to play.
So I think the biggest thing
is just buying like they.
They know what this program
is expected and they know
the tradition and standard of
this. And that quite honestly,
has not been met this year.
And that has to play on them, you know?
So now when you're saying,
well, we, you know,
we may not win the ACC, you know,
but there's still the ACC Tournament,
there's still the postseason.
We need to do whatever it takes
to maintain that level and
that standard that we've had.
And it's a change of expectation,
I think, on our end for what
certain pieces would bring,
because coming into the season,
I thought Morgan Jones would be your #2.
Score in most scenarios, but honestly,
I think the biggest impact she can make.
Now look, if she wants to go
out there and drop 20 to 25,
I'm sure Jeff's gonna be like, Oh my gosh,
stop, please don't do that right?
But the biggest impact I think she can
make is is using her athleticism and
her length as a defender as a rebounder.
Morgan has
been an interesting one this year.
She's feel like and she's not playing badly.
I think that you and I had the same
expectation and you probably as well.
Have the same expectation with her coming
in that she was going to be a scorer,
and I think she had that
expectation of herself as well,
and she's had to learn this new
role of doing all of the other
small things to help her team.
It's beginning of your thought might
have been a shop and now has worked
her way into the starting lineup.
I didn't know how possible that could be,
but I did not expect her first
two starts to go this well,
whether it was the scoring against Syracuse
or the performance on the glass against.
With Caruana, she has a natural
knack for finishing around the rim.
And not only that, she's tough.
She's physical.
It seems like she is understood
what her role is from day one and
is getting rewarded for that now.
Yeah. I think you can definitely see her
being one of those young leaders next year.
You know, for the for the incomers
or just have that higher expectation
as a sophomore, which you know,
sometimes it might seem unfair just because,
you know, she's still young,
they're still learning curve.
Sure. Yeah. But when you're really
talented like that, I mean the the
standards rise, you know. But I think.
Is one that will, just, based
on what she's done this season,
I think she'll rise to the occasion.
But yeah, no, I think we're,
we're in the beginning stages
of seeing some really good
things from her for sure. Yep.
So big win for a little while.
As we talked about the seating moving
forward, I think this will be one,
if they can move up a seed line or two,
they will go back to OK,
you beat North Carolina,
you beat Florida State,
you beat Texas towards being a season.
But the good news is for this team as
they will have more opportunities.
But can you put together the
defensive intensity consistently
and get a little bit more.
Offense to do so,
we'll see down the stretch for now.
Alexis Cubit, Christy Banta.
I'm Tyler greever.
Thanks for watching the rap.