Alex Poythress. Remember him? Man-child. Mashburn-esque. Inspiration for nifty little 'e-cards' that said things like "If Alex Poythress wants to dunk, you should be somewhere else." Same kid. Except, he's not the same kid. He's not even a shell of that kid anymore it seems.
Tonight in Nashville, he showed us just how unlike that Alex Poythress, this Alex Poythress is. To be as nice as can possibly be done tonight, he half-assed his way through what should not have been a game that we would need to rely on a botched shot clock violation call in our favor to beat a Vandy team who lost to Marist...MARIST.
He was lazy, sloppy, and un-enthused. He was stubborn, and at times crybaby-ish. He moped and eye-rolled everybody about everything. Basically, he acted like a 18-19 year old kid. He had no offensive rebounds, and quite frankly got pushed around by that kid on Vandy like he wasn't even there. He was out hustled and out toughed.
Poythress fouled out with 7 points. All the 'Camp Cal' stuff where the team has been getting tougher and coming together as a team and understanding how to play together to live up to their limitless potential, seems to have been lost on Alex. He is either not getting it or he just doesn't care. Thank God Ryan Harrow did.
Coach Cal's words after the game tend to lend credence that it is of the later. Right now, Alex Poythress just doesn't care.
"I was very clear to Alex after the game. Either you want to change or you don't." were Cal's exact words. Alex is going to be getting the cold shoulder from Cal for the time being. Hopefully, that cold shoulder will reignite his fire within.
While it's not my place, nor am I attempting to make you believe that I am qualified to say one way or the other on if Poythress will return to being that Poythress who was thunder-dunking and absolutely beast-ing people out of his way, I will say that right now, Kentucky has lost the services of that Alex Poythress. Hopefully, he finds his way back home.
Let's not get started on Kyle Wiltjer. Every offense in the country should have been taking notes. Want to stay in the games with Kentucky and possibly beat the Cats when their 2nd Half collapse happens? Then attack and go at Wiltjer. If the last few games, especially tonight are any indication, Wiltjer will wilt.
And he knows it. You can tell by the looks Kyle gives during the games that he isn't getting it done. At times, it almost seems he doesn't want to be out there because he knows they are going to come at him.
But... I Bleed Blue. I don't know what is going on with Alex, nor do I know why Wiltjer just hasn't improved on the defensive end, but I think these kids are more than capable of shaking this whatever this is, and get over the bump in the road this is for them.
Good lord, it's hard to believe with all this going on in one game, in one of the most unwelcoming and hostile environments to play in, we still managed to get a win. Albeit, in a very controversial manner. We'll take it in 2013.
And yes, I was surprised by Bobby Knight and his almost, at times, love affair with this Kentucky team during the broadcast. He wasn't negative. He wasn't taking his usual shots at Kentucky or Calipari. It was truly surreal at times, and one might have even gotten the impression that he was gushing with love for these kids and what he saw as a team on the rise that nobody would be able to handle once they got it together. Heck, if he'd have had a bird hunting trip planned for the morning and a Field and Stream magazine at the broadcast table, I'd almost say that he would've pitched a tent for Kentucky.
Then, I realized what was going on. It became clear that Knight was either off his normal medication or heavily medicated after misplacing his mental faculties somewhere in a distant universe when he had no clue what was going on during the hub-bub over Noel's maybe-maybe not shot clock violation.
Ryan Harrow is the leader we needed (16 pts.,4 ast, 4 reb), as he led us to a close-call win in Nashville at the Opera House for the conference opener, 60-58. Now hopefully for Ryan, the rest of the Cats will become the troops he needs to lead into March.
So, in a plea of sorts, Alex, come home.
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