It’s time for a little bit of payback as the NCAA Tournament chugs on, as the Kentucky Wildcats set out to avenge their only regular season loss of the year when they get set to take on Tom Crean’s Indiana Hoosiers.
If you’re a college basketball fan, you’ve been constantly reminded of this game with TV replays, commercials and the like. It’s almost as if Christian Watford’s last second three-pointer has been etched into our minds permanently. A lot has changed since that shot was taken, as we’re dealing with two completely different teams.
For starters, Indiana lost its starting point guard, Verdell Jones III, on March 3 in their Big Ten tournament game against Penn State. Jones III provided leadership for a team who has seen a lot of adversity over the last few years, an emotional leader on the floor. This is not to mention his penchant for finding the open man, having been one of the team leaders in assists with 3.2 per game.
Freshman Cody Zeller is the rising star of this team. I joked in the first Indiana/Kentucky preview back in December that there must be a farm somewhere in central Indiana that grows nothing but Zellers, since we’ve seen so many over the past few years. Cody has done his share of carrying on the Zeller name, leading the team in points (15.5) and rebounds (6.4) per game. He’s scored no less than eleven points in 11 of his last 12 games.
And of course, Mr. Watford himself, or Laettener Lite as I like to call him, (that’s not a compliment, by the way), he’s still going strong for the Hoosiers, scoring 12.0 points and 5.9 boards per game. He shoots 44.5% from long distance to boot. He can create a matchup problem with some teams with his length and his speed, but a defensive platoon of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones and Anthony Davis should be able to contain him this time around.
PREDICTION: The Cats are shown that they’re a much different team than in their last meeting with the Hoosiers. Terrence Jones’ play has improved tenfold since last time, when Cal elected to sit him on the bench in the last minutes of the game. Anthony Davis hasn’t been in major foul trouble since that game, not having any more than tree fouls in any contest thereafter. Marquis Teague has shown he can be a capable point guard in John Calipari’s system. The tables should turn this time around, but we can’t forget that anything can happen in the NCAA tournament. That said, look for the Cats to rectify their previous loss and head on to face the winner of Baylor/Xavier.
-nationofblue
