Cards and Cats Have a Lot of Room For Improvement

After watching a weekend full of college basketball games there's only one thing I can say about where the Cards and Cats stand: they both have a lot of room for improvement.


Let's start with Louisville, which was ranked third in the country going into Sunday's game against Western Kentucky University. But the Cards didn't look like one of the top teams in the country. The Toppers controlled the tempo, out hustled the higher ranked team, and flat out wanted it more winning 68-54. The Toppers exposed the Cards biggest weakness early in the season: shooting. Louisville shot just 27 percent from the field and made only 6 of 30 three pointers. They also had no answer for A.J. Slaughter who finished with a career high 25 points. Losing to WKU early won't spoil the rest of the season. But it's not the kind of outing the Cards want to have at any point in the season. Here are the areas Louisville needs to improve in if they're going to make a deep run in March.

• Offensive flow. Too many times the Cards offense bogged down and resulted in a missed three pointer. They need to get more movement on the offensive end.


• Earl Clark needs to be more of a factor on both ends. He has the talent to take over games when the Cards offense becomes stagnant but early on he doesn't seem comfortable out on the floor.


• Defensively they need to create more turnovers. WKU only committed 13 for the game even though they're a little inexperienced at the point guard position.
  

The Cats have rebounded nicely from losing their first two games to win three in a row. Their latest two wins over Kansas St. and West Virginia are nothing to write home about, but the Cats need wins anyway they can get them. The fact they were able to beat the Mountaineers, despite scoring only 16 points in the first half, shows resiliency. Jodie Meeks has been sensational offensively averaging better than 25 points a game but as a team Kentucky needs to value the ball more. They're averaging 23 turnovers a game and Meeks is leading the way with more than five a game. Against top 25 teams Kentucky will not be able to get away with that.

They also need to get Patrick Patterson more touches. While Meeks has been scoring a lot he still takes way too many shots. He's taken an astounding 104 shots in six games. That's nearly double what Patterson, who's second on the team, has taken. Meeks needs to play under control and within the system if the Cats are going to be contenders come March.

Their point guard play will need to improve as well. Michael Porter is good in spot duty but he can't be your primary ball-handler. Deandre Liggins played well against West Virginia, but as a freshman he's prone to inconsistency. In the previous game against Kansas St. he refused to go in during the second half. Instead of punishing him with playing time, coach Billy Gillispie used him 27 minutes against the Mountaineers. That shows how desperate the Cats are at point. They need to have him as the first option at the one spot.

At 4-2 the Cats are still a long way from beating a really good team. It was just a handful of games ago they lost to VMI.