Duke vs. uk LIVE TWITTER DEBATE (May 12th)
- Thread starter Quavarius
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Didn't we already win that one? Cal said they lost because they were looking ahead. Therefore, we beat them while not even being the team that played them. 
The 2015 UK team is in my opinion and many so called experts and knowledgeable college basketball fans alike, the most talented and complete ( the best in my opinion) college team from top to bottom in the past 30 years. That team was scary good. What they did to Kansas and Ucla ( absolutely embarrassed UCLA) that year was complete dominance from start to finish as were most games they played that season.
Its called march madness for a reason. Anything can happen. The better team lost when Whisky and Uk played in the final four. UK was exceptionally better than them and the 68 team field. Not to take anything away from Wisconsin because they were an amazing team as well. Sam Dekker played out of his mind in that game and UK couldnt contain or slow him down.
This day in age, 38 wins in a row is unheard of with so much parity in CBB. That has not happened since Indiana went undeafeated in 1978(?). 30+ years and it probably wont be done again for another 30+ years, if it happens at all.
But to say who would win if UK and Duke played in 2015 is all hypothetical and we will never know. Its all about match ups across the board and UK went 2 deep at every position with a plethora of talent. Their second platoon would have been ranked top 5 in the nation.Duke won and congrats to them but had they met Id take UK and its not even debatable imo. This can be debated but that UK team will go down as one of the best ever assembled to play CBB.
Its called march madness for a reason. Anything can happen. The better team lost when Whisky and Uk played in the final four. UK was exceptionally better than them and the 68 team field. Not to take anything away from Wisconsin because they were an amazing team as well. Sam Dekker played out of his mind in that game and UK couldnt contain or slow him down.
This day in age, 38 wins in a row is unheard of with so much parity in CBB. That has not happened since Indiana went undeafeated in 1978(?). 30+ years and it probably wont be done again for another 30+ years, if it happens at all.
But to say who would win if UK and Duke played in 2015 is all hypothetical and we will never know. Its all about match ups across the board and UK went 2 deep at every position with a plethora of talent. Their second platoon would have been ranked top 5 in the nation.Duke won and congrats to them but had they met Id take UK and its not even debatable imo. This can be debated but that UK team will go down as one of the best ever assembled to play CBB.
Nope sorry but best teams ever win the title....they didn't....end of discussion
lol there were 5 great teams in the NCAA that season including Duke, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, and Arizona. Bragging about dominating two down teams in Kansas and UCLA is nothing to write home about. Kansas was eliminated in the 2nd round by Wichita State and I don’t recall if UCLA made the 2015 NCAA tournament. Kentucky got owned by Dekker, Kaminsky, Koenig, and company. The same Wisconsin team that got beat by Duke not once but twice that season. Kentucky fans should stop with their hypotheticals saying “we would have beaten Duke if we had met in the Final 4”. I am talking about 2010 and 2015. Duke demolished that same West Virginia team that sent Wall, Cousins, and company packing and as we all know Duke beat the same Wisconsin team that sent uk and their fans home in tears.
Your right there were several good/ great teams that year. Im not discrediting Duke or anyone else as you could see in my post above. I actually congratulated Duke and gave props to Wisconsin and Dekker in particular. As for 2015 Duke won and deservedly so. 2010? Not sure i said anything about that but ok. Kansas that year lost in the 2nd round to a damn good Wichita St team and also won big 12 title. Not a down year. And Ucla went to the sweet 16. Not to bad either. Dont seem like down years!
As for "UK fans using hypothetical saying we would have beat Duke if we met in the final 4". You literally did the exact thing your complaining about by saying " Duke beat the same West Virginia and same Wisconsin team that sent UK home". As I stated in my original post its all hypotheticals from here. Its pointless. I stated my opinion and opinions i saw written by so called "experts", that 2015 UK team was the best top to bottom ever in college. Anyone that follows college basketball, recruiting and such thats not drowning in their own biasness would agree to some extent. Team was loaded.
Just to be clear im not bashing Duke as it seems you think i am for some reason or another. they won it all that year. How it played out. And congrats to them! [/QUOTE
As for "UK fans using hypothetical saying we would have beat Duke if we met in the final 4". You literally did the exact thing your complaining about by saying " Duke beat the same West Virginia and same Wisconsin team that sent UK home". As I stated in my original post its all hypotheticals from here. Its pointless. I stated my opinion and opinions i saw written by so called "experts", that 2015 UK team was the best top to bottom ever in college. Anyone that follows college basketball, recruiting and such thats not drowning in their own biasness would agree to some extent. Team was loaded.
Just to be clear im not bashing Duke as it seems you think i am for some reason or another. they won it all that year. How it played out. And congrats to them! [/QUOTE
Kentucky was scary good defensively yes, but their half court offense was often times anemic, mostly due to the Harrison twins inability to do much of anything on that side other than thrown down flashy dunks on fast breaks. You all faced a team that took away your biggest weapon (turnovers) and without the near constant stream of them you struggled to get points. If UK had managed to get past Wisconsin I just don't believe the Harrison twins would've been enough against the best backcourt in the country with Tyus, Quinn and of course Grayson.
It's bench was good but saying they wouldve been top 5 in the country is huge ****ing stretch lmao. Maybe top 30. There were a load of great freaking teams that year.
And lastly, the SEC was probably the absolute worst its ever been that year with 3 or 4th best team (Florida) finishing with a pitiful 16-17 record. Not to say 38 straight wins isnt impressive, it is, but it was sincerely helped by the fact that the SEC was worse than the WCC. Had you guys playes in the ACC, you wouldve entered the tourney with no less than 3 losses as it was absolutely stacked that year.
They aren't even the best team to not win a title in that time frame. 99 Duke would have beat the piss out them.
Also, Duke was the only team to beat that Wisconsin team at full strength! Wisconsins other losses that year took place when they had injuries, but both of their losses to Duke was when they were fully healthy.
I'm not too worried about any debate. If they want to hang a hypothetical banner, they are welcome to. I'm pretty excited about our real one.
That 2015 UK team was INSANELY good. They had Booker and Ulis as their BACKUP guards, FFS.
I would concede that if the game was played as a 7 game series that UK would be big favorites over us. They could go 11-12 deep, essentially all were future pro's, and their depth, length, and size would wear us down over time.
However....in a 1 game scenario, I'll always take the team with the best player on the floor (Okafor was the best COLLEGE basketball player on the floor, not Towns) and I'll of course always take the team with the better coach (and that one is not close at all). Duke was rolling and playing it's best basketball of the season. UK was not nearly as dominant as they were in Nov/Dec/Jan, teams were starting to play them tight. Cal REALLY screwed up by thinking a platoon of 2 teams could work, they had zero chemistry. Duke by 6.
However....in a 1 game scenario, I'll always take the team with the best player on the floor (Okafor was the best COLLEGE basketball player on the floor, not Towns) and I'll of course always take the team with the better coach (and that one is not close at all). Duke was rolling and playing it's best basketball of the season. UK was not nearly as dominant as they were in Nov/Dec/Jan, teams were starting to play them tight. Cal REALLY screwed up by thinking a platoon of 2 teams could work, they had zero chemistry. Duke by 6.
Essentially all were future pros? Nah. Towns and Booker are good but the only others still in the league are Stein and i think Lyles? And neither are particularly impactful. I'm sorry but I cannot fathom why people glorify that team so much. They were good sure, but they flat out were not nearly as good Duke, Wisconsin, Arizona, hell UVA would've beat the snot out of them. I got to see them play a few times as I lived in Kentucky then and athletically and defensively they were impressive, but on offense they had little to no clue what to do with the ball.
For sure. They very, very easily could have lost to a really good Notre Dame team in the Elite Eight. They were really good, but any notion that they were light years ahead of anyone is misguided.
2010 and 2015 should have shown people that sometimes the most talented team doesn’t win it all. Talent that plays as a unit do.
Also, having an actual coach to teach that talent helps too.
I agree with you. But what would we have said about Kentucky, or the Holes, had they had our talent in 17-18 and 18-19, and came up short like we did?
And the 2019-2020 Unc team would have beat the piss out of the 2018-2019 Zion-Barrett team. LOL! See that can go a number of ways! All what ifs and as said before, hypotheticals!
It happens Mac, its the draw you get and matchups. Anything can happen in a single elimination tournament, the best team dont always win!
99 Duke was 37-2, 2020 Holes were 14-19 so, not really even close to what he said. But in a hypothetical matchup, there aren't many teams 99 Duke doesn't beat the absolute piss out of. Also, Zion and RJ would've ****ing slaughtered 2015 UK. Willie Cocky Stein wouldve been crying like a bitch at the end of that match up.
if you believe the 2019-2020 dumpster fire unc team would have beaten the 2018-2019 Duke team then maybe you should stop watching college basketball altogether
I also have to question BBN obsession with 2015, you all had a team just 3 years before that one that was superior in every way other than they had 1 more loss. Oh and they got the job done, and for the most part throttled everyone.
Im pretty sure the topic at hand and this very thread is the 2015 season, correct? One thing at a time here guy!
Why do people keep using the words “best” and “most talented” interchangeably? They are not synonyms.
2015 Kentucky was really, really good.
1999 Duke was really, really good.
And lastly, 1991 UNLV was really, really good.
The latter two I thought were clearly better than the field in those particular years. I could be convinced UK was the ‘best’ in 2015, but there were other teams at least on par with them. The field was pretty damn good that year.
I also agree that there’s no way UK enters the tournament that year unbeaten had they played in the ACC. While they were outstanding, they benefitted from an awful SEC. That’s not their fault, of course.
1999 Duke was really, really good.
And lastly, 1991 UNLV was really, really good.
The latter two I thought were clearly better than the field in those particular years. I could be convinced UK was the ‘best’ in 2015, but there were other teams at least on par with them. The field was pretty damn good that year.
I also agree that there’s no way UK enters the tournament that year unbeaten had they played in the ACC. While they were outstanding, they benefitted from an awful SEC. That’s not their fault, of course.
I mean both UK and UNC have had more 'talented' teams that haven't done much tourney wise. But that 18-19 squad had 4 starters miss time in the second half of the season and we didn't have Bolden the whole tourney either. The only reason that team didn't win it all was because the avalanche of injuries in the second half , it was unquestionable who the best and most talented team was before that.
If anything we would win a series because of coaching. There's adjustments made in a series multiple times. I think Coach K would be better at making adjustments. Kentucky didn't have a dominant player that could just will their team to victory. Our top 8 was as good, if not better, than their top 8
I didn’t read anything after this post before posting because it sums it up perfectly. To top it off Cal said something similar in 2010. K owns Cal psychologically and in results. Suck it KY fans.Didn't we already win that one? Cal said they lost because they were looking ahead. Therefore, we beat them while not even being the team that played them.
And the strength of the ACC that year to go along with some HUGE road wins against Wisconsin, Louisville, UVA, UNC really helped prepare us for March.
The scary part in 2015 for Duke is that while playing their best basketball of the season at the end, I still think they could have been better. UK was clearly on the down slope by that time...
Clearly on the down?
Uk's average margin of victory throughout tournament play, including the SEC tournament was 15.5 points. While averaging 73.25 points per game and holding opponents to an average of 57.75 ppg.
Dukes average margin of victory, including the ACCT was only 13.3 ppg, while averaging 71.5 ppg and holding opponents to 58.12 ppg.
That also includes UK's ONLY loss of the season and includes Dukes loss to Notre Dame in the ACCT championship.
So saying UK was " clearly on the down slope by that time" is just not accurate considering they best Duke in scoring, defense and margin of victory throughout tournament play.
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