Archive for November 27th, 2007

Though I wrote about Jeff Robinson in my game preview story today, the guy I’ll be watching closely tonight is Antonio Anderson. It has been a shockingly poor start to the season for Anderson, who really put in a lot of work over the summer to improve his game. And it’s not just Anderson’s shooting percentages — 28.6% from the field, 20.0% from the 3-point line and 50% on free throws. He’s constantly tried to make difficult plays, leading to turnovers. A typical stat line for Anderson last year was something around 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 turnover. But so far this year, Anderson has a team-high 16 turnovers, and it’s almost been painful to watch him.
What’s the answer? If I were John Calipari, I’d strongly consider moving Anderson to the bench — not as a punishment, but for his own benefit. It might help Anderson to be able to watch the first 4-5 minutes of the game, see the flow, get a sense of the pace, see how the opposition is playing. I also think it would be beneficial to the Tigers to start Doneal Mack. If teams are going to play zone — and I can’t imagine Austin Peay doing anything but that tonight — I wouldn’t mess around. Put your best 3-point shooter out there immediately and let him bomb away, then bring Anderson off the bench and let him drive.

I’m sure that title put a couple of you on your ear. But I’ve heard that from quite a few non biased types. Me, I think they’re one of the best around but I’ve got some serious bias working.
The Tigers wide outs are lead by Duke Calhoun and Carlos Singleton. They both play the same position so you have never seen them on the field at the same time. The two of them combined for 105 receptions, 1,554 yards and 15 TD’s. It sure helps having them alternate so they stay fresh during the game and can beat DB’s late. The Tigers had 8 100-yard reception yardage games. Calhoun and Singleton had six of them. They also combined to be the first Tigers WR duo to both have 100 yards in a game in over 4 years when they went for 107 and 100 respectively. Duke and Carlos also made clutch catches. Duke caught the game winner against Tulane in the final 2 minutes and Carlos took a 52-yarder in for six to beat Southern Miss. Both completed come from behind victories.
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