From: suffridge@ncrcol.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Rick.Suffridge)
Subject: UK 81 IU 78
Organization: NCR MCPD Columbia SC.
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 19:45:49 GMT

 Observations on the UK-IU game yesterday:

 - Pitino continues to enjoy success against Bobby Knight, winning for
   the second straight year after nearly pulling off huge upsets of the
   Hoosiers in his first two seasons at UK.

 - UK won despite poor offensive execution for much of the game.  They 
   were unable to get anyone open inside against the smaller Hoosiers
   and scored mostly on 3's and on one-on-one drives by Mashburn and
   Ford. 

 - Depth is going to be a problem for IU this year.  They really only
   go 6 deep whereas UK had 10 players getting significant minutes. 
   The fast pace at the beginning of the game tired the IU starters
   and prevented them from getting outside to guard UK's 3-pt shooters.
   Thus UK took the lead on a barrage of wide-open 3's, mostly by Ford
   Mashburn, and reserve Junior Braddy.  IMHO fatigue was probably also
   a factor in the Hoosiers poor free-throw shooting.

 - UK also won despite a subpar performance from 3 of their starters.
   Dent was a non-factor. Brown couldn't hit the side of a barn though
   he did play some good defense on Graham and Bailey.  Rhodes got in
   foul trouble, spent a lot of time on the bench, and finished with
   only 3 points, but he did play some great defense late on Cheaney,
   who did not get a field goal in the last 6 minutes.  UK got some
   good play off the bench, particularly Riddick and Braddy.

 - UK had a chance to break the game open in the first half when they
   had an 8-10 point lead and IU subs Leary and Evans were in the game
   but they stagnated due to poor offensive execution and IU didn't
   lose any ground (they went into the half down by 6).

 - Nover may be the nation's most improved player.  He is so active 
   offensively and is a good hard-nosed rebounder.  When he went to
   IU I thought he was just a Todd Jadlow clone whose purpose would
   be to set hard screens and use up his 5 fouls on the opponents'
   big men, but he has turned into a real player.

 - Chris Reynolds, on the other hand, doesn't impress me at all.  He
   is an offensive liability due to his horrible shooting (how many
   free throws did he miss yesterday?) and the opposing team doesn't
   even have to guard him away from the basket.  His passing is very
   average for a point guard.  I keep hearing what a good defensive
   player he is but he sure did nothing to stop Ford yesterday and 
   was not effective against Sean Woods the last two years either.

 - IU is playing excellent basketball.  They are certainly one of the
   top 6 teams in the nation right now.  They are a disciplined, well-
   coached, experienced team which doesn't make many mistakes.  
   Yesterday they executed the Knight offense to perfection and played
   excellent half-court defense.  Lack of depth is a major weakness
   though when comparing the Hoosiers against the other elite teams
   like UK or Michigan.  I think the Hoosiers are playing about as
   well as they are capable of right now aside from their poor free-
   throw shooting, as opposed to some of the other less-experienced
   elite teams which have yet to peak.

 - Jamal Mashburn is the POY.  Only Webber, Hurley, Hardaway, and maybe
   Glen Robinson are even close.  How many times did he make impossible
   looking shots yesterday while he was triple-teamed?  IU put 3 men 
   on him whenever he touched the ball and still he got 29 points. 
   He forced a number of shots but that was mainly due to the offense
   breaking down.  When UK is executing better offensively and players
   are in the right place all the time there should be somebody open
   when Mash is triple-teamed.

 - Pitino made an excellent move by having centers Dent and Riddick set
   picks out high for the 3-pt shooters.  IU was not sending anyone 
   out to guard the centers outside, so when the pick was set there 
   was nobody to switch onto the 3-pt shooter and they were wide open.

 - Another good coaching move by Pitino was to get an experienced lineup
   into the game when UK fell behind and the offense had fallen apart.
   He went with Ford, Brown, Brassow, Mashburn, and Martinez so that
   they could get some good shots.  He did a similar thing at crunch
   time of the EKU game - with Brown, Braddy, Brassow, Mashburn, and
   Martinez.

 - UK has proven that they belong among the nation's elite.  They are
   still a long way from hitting on all cylinders but I really like
   this team's potential.  Everyone is still trying to get used to
   playing together.  The newcomers are still learning the Pitino
   system.  Brassow and Martinez are trying to play their way into
   shape after recovering from injuries.  Brown has yet to find his
   shot this year.  This team is still a long way from peaking, but
   if they ever get their execution down watch out!  If this team
   could execute the offense as well as last year's team did they
   would be practically unbeatable.
-- 
Richard D. Suffridge   803-791-6491  <suffridge@ncrcol.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>                                  
From an AP report:  Gore ... asked voters skeptical of their promise of
change to remember that every communist government in Eastern Europe had
fallen in 100 days. "Now it's our turn here in the United States," he said.