Editor’s note: Apologies on the late post from the Southeastern Conference Tournament. I had to hitch a ride back from Atlanta and we got into some car trouble on the way back, so it’s been a long day since the tourney ended. Here’s my best effort to wrap up some storylines from the SEC Tournament only.
Defense the Cats’ calling card in title defenseATLANTA – If there was a book of clichés, chapter one would read “defense wins championships.”While that really isn’t always the case, defense was the reason Kentucky was able to defend its Southeastern Conference Tournament title in Atlanta this weekend. UK used a smothering defensive approach in the final game – really, it was all three games – to defeat Florida, the SEC regular-season champion, 70-54 in Sunday’s finale.UK held the Gators, the league’s top shooting team entering the weekend, to an uncharacteristically bad shooting afternoon. Florida hit just 38.6 percent from the floor, well below its 46.4 season mark. “We swarmed them,” said DeAndre Liggins, one of five representatives on the All-SEC Defensive Team. “We wanted to take away layups and contest all their 3s. That’s the only way they could beat us.”UK limited Florida’s top three leading scorers – Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton and Chandler Parsons – to a combined 11 of 38 from the floor. “We’re playing the best defense we’ve played in a long time,” senior forward Josh Harrellson said.Following a fantastically frantic offensive start for both teams, Kentucky laid the hammer down defensively halfway through the first half. After Florida took a 24-21 lead with 10:26 in the first half, points and field goals were hard to come by for the Gators. Florida was held without a point for more than seven minutes in the first half, and UK would yield just two more field goals until halftime.It didn’t get much easier after that either.With a mix of zone and on-the-ball pressure, Florida netted only two field goals for the first 7:54 of the second half. In all, after scoring 24 points in the first 9:34 of the game, the Gators totaled just nine points in nearly 19 minutes of action.”I thought we had some things around the basket we weren’t able to finish,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought we missed a lot of layups. The biggest part was I didn’t think that we were strong enough and physical enough around the basket.”Florida missed a lot of bunnies inside, but the Cats’ significant size advantage at the guard positions had a lot to do with that. UK’s height and physicality bothered diminutive guards Boynton and Walker, and UK guard/forward Darius Miller used his versatility to limit Parsons, the SEC Player of the Year, for the second straight meeting.”Everybody is playing together finally and helping each other out and not trying to take assignments on their own,” Harrellson said. “If we get down or something, we try to come back as a team and try to fix it as a team instead of trying to do it by ourselves.”Kentucky has been one of the most underrated defensive teams in the country all season long, entering the week ninth in field-goal defense, but the Cats really put their foot down in Atlanta. UK held its three opponents to 37.9 percent shooting.”Every game starts with defense,” freshman guard Doron Lamb said. “We’re going to score regardless because we’ve got great players.”MVP maturation: Turnaround gratifying for MillerMaybe it’s not so much a conclusion in development for Miller, but his evolution over the last month has already been remarkable. For every time head coach John Calipari said Miller had the talent to be the league’s best player, he seemingly followed it up with a lackluster performance. Potential seemed to define him. Inconsistency plagued him.That all seems to be in the past as Miller’s turnaround reached a sweet pinnacle Sunday afternoon in Atlanta. Miller backed up his coach’s confidence in him by winning SEC Tournament MVP honors.
“I think Darius Miller has the talent and ability and skill to be the best player in our league,” Calipari said again Sunday, “and this week, obviously, he was. I’m proud of him.”Miller averaged 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in three games in Atlanta, including a 15-point, six-board performance in the finals. With Florida hanging around midway through the second half, the Kentucky native nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to extend Kentucky’s lead to 14. Remember, it was just a month and a half ago that Miller passed up a shot at Ole Miss in the closing minutes. Now he’s found confidence late in the season to take the big shot.”His mindset changed,” freshman forward Terrence Jones said. “He’s not as relaxed. He believes in himself. He’s not nervous to shoot anymore. He doesn’t expect anybody else to shoot. He knows he’ll make the plays.”Miller has scored in double figures in nine straight games. Kentucky’s stock has been rising ever since, going 8-1 in those games, including a six-game winning streak heading into the NCAA Tournament.”It makes us a whole different team,” Jones said.Miller said the criticism of his inconsistent play used to bother him, but he’s learned to weather storms in his three years at Kentucky.  “I try to look past it now,” Miller said. “I’ve gotten over it.”Miller was at a loss for words in postgame celebration when asked about what it meant to win the MVP. His evolution has been so fast and so important to the team, even he’s a little taken aback.”I don’t even know how to explain it really,” Miller said. “I was excited, I was happy. I didn’t really think it was going to be me at first. It’s a special thing.”Sweeter championship than last year’s?Returning to glory last year was a defining moment in the revitalization of the Kentucky men’s basketball program under Calipari. It was the first time UK had won an SEC Tournament crown since 2004, a long and rare stretch by Kentucky basketball standards.But this year’s title may have been even sweeter.Written off a month ago by some people after losing five of 10 games, UK became somewhat of an underdog in the SEC. Yes, Kentucky finished out the regular season strong and earned a first-round bye in the tournament, but the crown was still Florida’s to lose.”Florida’s one of the best teams in the conference,” Harrellson said. “To come out and beat them like we did tonight and just execute and play team basketball like have been playing these last couple games, it just built a lot of momentum and confidence for us going into the NCAA (Tournament).”In the same mold as Miller, Harrellson has come a long, long way to get to the point where he was standing in the locker room in the Georgia Dome with a net draped around his neck.Harrellson averaged just a shade over a point a game in 26 appearances last season, and he was shrouded in controversy at the beginning of the season for some criticism of his head coach on Twitter. Now, Harrellson is one of the most important parts in Kentucky’s chances in the NCAA Tournament. He was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team after averaging 10.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in the title run, and Pat Forde of ESPN tabbed him as one of the five best big men in this year’s NCAA Tournament.Being able to contribute this year made the 2011 championship that much sweeter for Harrellson.”It’s definitely more meaningful to me,” Harrellson said. “Last year I figured we were going to win. We had one of the best teams in the nation. I was confident in the guys that they were going to win it. Just being actually out there playing and helping them win the championship. That just makes it mean a whole lot more to me right now.”Last year’s team had lost just two games entering the NCAA Tournament and went on to earn a No. 1 seed in the field of 65. It also had five first-round draft picks in the 2010 NBA Draft.This year’s team has faced a lot more adversity, is younger than’s last year’s bunch and has limited depth.”It’s great because we only played six guys,” Liggins said of this year’s championship.Sweeter than last year’s though?”I don’t know,” Miller said. “That’s tough to answer.”
Lamb’s a ‘man’The status of Lamb heading into the championship game was the storyline Sunday. After watching Lamb be carried off the court in Saturday’s win over Alabama, there were significant concerns, not only for his SEC championship availability, but the upcoming NCAA Tournament.Those concerns reached red alert following the Alabama win when Lamb could hardly put weight on his heavily wrapped and iced ankle. Lamb left the locker room on crutches and was listed as doubtful for Florida.It turns out it was all much ado about nothing. Lamb not only played Sunday, he logged six points in 23 minutes. The freshman guard didn’t start, but he was the first player off the bench.”We put him on crutches so that you guys would see him on crutches and make a big deal out of it, but he didn’t need the crutches coming out of the locker room,” Calipari said. The left ankle of Lamb received around-the-clock treatment from the time Lamb left the Georgia Dome floor Saturday until the time he took the court for warm-ups Sunday. Despite assuring reporters that he would play Sunday, Lamb said his ankle was “killing” him most of Saturday night. He said he only slept three hours before the game.”My mentality was to play anyway,” Lamb said. “I was never not thinking about playing. I told coach this morning I was going to play because I felt a little bit better after last night.”Lamb clearly wasn’t at 100 percent for the game and probably could have benefited from some rest, but he earned a lot of points with his teammates for riding the injury out and helping a thin bench. Calipari said Lamb will definitely start in the NCAA Tournament for being a “man” and “choosing to play.””He’s from New York, just like I’m from Chicago,” Liggins said. “Those cities are tough. He’s tough. He fought it out.”