Not a real game, more of an exhibition. But the implications of an inevitable loss can not be ignored by University of Louisville basketball fans.
As if UofL partisans needed a reminder of how a Lexington team has dominated a once-fierce rivalry: the University of Kentucky alumni , aka, La Familia, dominating the locals at Freedom Hall. A timely reminder of how low UofL basketball has sunk, how much work lies ahead for new UofL Coach Pat Kelsey.
A record crowd of 13,509 is on hand for the TBT Tournament quarterfinal, largely consisting of UofL fans. Eager for a positive sign in the rivalry. Hyped up and boisterous, the bubble would quickly burst. The Ville missing its first nine shots — 3-point attempts, jump shot, close-in and layups. Nothing was going. A harbinger of what was to come, the losing 70-61 result a distasteful reminder of their second rate place in the commonwealth pecking order.
Montrezl Harrell would be diminished to a role player, as would everybody else on The Ville. David Johnson not a factor. The only semblance of an offense was Russ Smith with his magical act that wasn’t working for most of the game. Entertaining, Russ, but not about to make up for all of the other deficiencies on display.
Who was this Nate Sestina with five 3-pointers in the third quarter? The record books say he played one season at Kentucky but he was a total stranger to UofL fans. He sure loved doing those L’s down gestures after his freak show. And when did Willie Cauley-Stein learn how to shoot threes? He made only three of them during his eight-year NBA stint.
The rub-in-the-face drubbing for UofL fans, as always in a loss to Kentucky, are those incessant L’s down signs of UK fans. After their love of basketball, it’s what they live for, what makes them exuberant. They’re that fanatical.
Coach Kelsey and UofL have a lot of catching up to do.