That's debatable... Jarrell Martin would give him a run for his money. And Jarrell Martin is actually athletic enough to get shots off against NBA level bigs. Towns, Cauley-Stein, and Johnson would make life hell for for Waldow. They definitely aren't Karnowski and Sabonis with 4 inch verts out there.
Storm the Court azzkick(&^
They could beat them maybe 2-3 out of 10, but Kentucky is definitely better than both those squads. Kentucky isn't overly athletic, although as a whole are much more athletic than most teams, they are just incredibly tall and long... making it very difficult for any team that plays in half court sets. The only real way to beat Kentucky are teams that have shooters and can push the ball. I think Duke would have a decent chance, but teams like Virginia would struggle. You can't out defense Kentucky and you can't beat them up in the paint, they are probably one of the top 5 defensive teams in NCAA history. Virginia and Gonzaga would have such a difficult time scoring against Kentucky. And in terms of SOS, the only competitive teams that can talk are Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Kansas. And we already saw what Kentucky did to Kansas and UNC. Otherwise, Wisconsin, Villanova, Arizona, Notre Dame, Norther Iowa, or Gonzaga don't have any room to talk about Kentucky's "easy conference".
I'm comparing them against Kentucky here, not saying they are a bad team at all and I've seen them play quite a few games, most recently the game against St. Mary's which was fun. But Karnowski and Sabonis are good because other teams don't have the size to guard them. Kentucky doesn't have that problem. And not only do they not have that problem, that is their strength. Which is why I don't think Gonzaga would match up well against them. I think the only way to beat Kentucky is playing uptempto and shooting the lights out. Once they get in that half court defensive set, you aren't getting anything inside. One of the best defenses in the history of the game.
I mean Kansas and UCLA aren't bad teams at all and Kentucky made them look like YMCA teams. So to say Kentucky can dominate Gonzaga isn't that far of a stretch.
Arizona definitely has some length, I think they are one of the teams that has a chance to upset Kentucky. But, there are only like 2-3 NBA teams that have a taller and lengthier team than Kentucky. It's not even close when comparing them against other college teams. They are in a class of their own. I mean they have 5 players that are just as athletic or more athletic than anyone their size that play solid minutes that are 6'9 or taller. I mean their starting 5 last game was 7, 6'10, 6'11, 6'6, 6'6.
That's taller than any NBA starting 5 out there. And they are all very athletic. It's just almost impossible to compare other NCAA teams with the size and length of Kentucky this year.
And UVA has a great defense, they also play one of the slowest tempos in the game. I don't think anyone in the basketball world is arguing that Kentucky isn't one of the most athletic and intimating teams put together in NCAA history... other than on the RX forum I guess.
Comparing them to Gonzaga is absolutely laughable to me, especially after I saw what they did against St. Mary's. That was embarrassing even though they came out with the win. Definitely not Kentucky caliber.
Yea, I watched that game against Arizona. Arizona has struggled against a lot of teams this year, a lot of pretty bad teams. I wouldn't necessarily count that as a reason Gonzaga could compete with Kentucky. I would take Kansas over Arizona any day of the week and we all saw what Kentucky did to Kansas. That right there is dominance. Arizona, Gonzaga, and Kentucky have one common opponent and that is UCLA. What Kentucky did to UCLA was absolute destruction of a semi good team with semi good front 2. Something Gonzaga or Arizona could never do to a team like UCLA.
As for defense the only thing Virginia has over Kentucky is points, but like I said they play a style where they aren't going to give up many points. Kentucky is #2 in blocks, #1 FG%, #4 3pt FG%, . Virginia isn't even in the top 50 in blocks. Kentucky has given up more than 140+ shots than Virginia has. It all comes down to tempo with Virginia's D. Kentucky is a force inside and probably the best or at least top 3 defense in the history of the game.
