LOUISVILLE, KY - MARCH 15: Anthony Davis #23 and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist #14 of the Kentucky Wildcats position themselves for a rebound in the first half against Vinny Zollo #41 of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers during the second round of the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at KFC YUM! Center on March 15, 2012 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)Kentucky has almost no defensive holes, and there’s no combination of players Louisville, Ohio State or Kansas can put on the floor that would give the Wildcats any matchup problems.
They have a 6’9, 245 power forward (Terrence Jones) who can defend any forward in the country and a 6’7 230 swingman (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) who can defend any perimeter player. They can stick a 6’8, 235 combo forward (Darius Miller) or a 6’4, 210 combo guard (Doron Lamb) on the other team’s third, fourth or fifth option. Their worst athlete is their 6’2, 190 McDonald’s All-American PG (Marquis Teague).
Looming behind some combination of those five future NBA players is one of the most formidable shot-blockers in recent memory, an impossibly long 6’10, 220 forward who has the wingspan of Yao Ming and the foot-speed of a guard. Anthony Davis plays on an entirely different plane than nearly anyone else in the country. He’s the ultimate safety net, literally towering over the court.
On the off chance a college guard can beat the first Kentucky defender off the dribble, they end up in a vast forest of impenetrable limbs moving at impossibly fast speeds. In their Elite Eight victory over Baylor, the only way “the point guard” duo of Pierre Jackson and AJ Walton, who combined for five turnovers and eight personal fouls, were scoring in the half-court was through wildly hosting up pull-up 3-pointers. The two combined to shoot 9-23 from the field and 1-8 from deep.
However, poetically enough, Kentucky’s greatest strength is also their Achilles heel. While Davis’ historically unique combination of length and foot-speed makes him a devastating perimeter defender, that same lack of bulk leaves him vulnerable at the point of attack.
The common theme in their tough games was a 6’10+ center too big for Jones and too strong for Davis. Indiana’s Cody Zeller (6’11 230) was able to get Davis into foul trouble in both their match-ups while UNC had his brother Tyler (7’0 250). Tennessee had Jarnell Stokes, an athletic and fundamentally sound big man (6’9 260) who will end up being a better pro than either Thomas Robinson or Jared Sullinger, and Vanderbilt had Festus Ezeli (6’11 255).
Of course, there aren’t many players with that size in the world, much less in college basketball. When Kendall Marshall went down in the second round, effectively eliminating UNC, the only team in the field of 68 who can match up with Kentucky at every position, it removed the Wildcats’ biggest roadblock on their path to a national championship.
Even the most formidable offensive team will have nights where their jumper isn’t falling, while a zone team is always vulnerable to a hot-shooting opponent. A team stocked with NBA athletes at every position who play aggressive man-to-man defense isn’t going to have an off night.
Kentucky has multiple defensive answers for the top players on Louisville, Ohio State and Kansas. On the other end of the floor, none of those teams have defensive answers for all of Kentucky’s weapons. When the ball is tipped on Saturday night, that’s what is ultimately going to matter, not any type of beef between the coaching staffs or the fan bases.
