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Here Calipari talks about his team’s defense against the 3-pointer.

Here Calipari talks about his team’s lack of communication on defense.

Here Calipari talks about how beneficial the holiday break will be to his young team.

Calipari talks here about Ramon Harris’ play, and next week’s trip to Cancun.

Here Calipari talks about the way team plays on offense, and gives a little scouting report on Rider.

Put together an Excel file of UK individual basketball stats through the first three games.

Here’s the link, using Google docs.

Or you can see the jpeg view by clicking to expand the thumbnail chart to the right. Keep clicking on it until it increases to full size.

Please feel free to point out any and all errors.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

John Calipari exclaimed last night that this may be his worst defensive team since 1988.

My statistical library doesn’t go back that far, but I do have the stats for his nine years at the helm at Memphis, where the Tigers were generally very good defensively. In fact, last year stats guru Ken Pomeory ranked Memphis best in the country in defensive efficiency.

Opponents managed to shoot better than 40 percent just three of Cal’s nine years there. And the 3-point percentage by opponents was normally around the 30-32 percent mark, which is certainly respectable.

Through three games, a very small sample, this year, opponents are shooting 42 percent from three-point range and averaging a mind-blowing 12.33 triples per game.

Morehead State must be kicking itself, wondering why it didn’t hit more threes. The Eagles were 4-of-24 from behind the line.

When analyzing Memphis’ stats under Cal, it should be noted that Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette and South Florida left C-USA after the 2004-05 season.

Anyway, here’s the chart comparing Calipari’s reign at Memphis with the rain of threes this year:

Go back over the past eight years and look up the top 10 three-point shooting performances by a Kentucky opponent. Eight of the 10 happened at Rupp, including Sam Houston State’s prolific 18-of-38 super-showing from three-point land last night. And that came on the heels of Miami of Ohio’s blistering 15-of-26 showing on Monday night. So in two games, the Cats have allowed 33 made three-pointers in 64 attempts, a statistic that has led to John Calipari fearing that his head just might leave his body.

Anyway, eight of the top performances happened by opponents at Rupp. One happened in last year’s season finale when Notre Dame hit 12 threes on the way to beating Kentucky in the NIT. (Billy Gillispie’s final game as the Kentucky coach, it turned out.) And one happened in Maui. That was the Gonzaga game when the Zags hit 12 of 27.

Here’s the chart (because you knew it was coming):

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes on UK’s 102-92 win over Sam Houston State, leading with, “Kentucky continued to show a record-breaking defense. Alas, for all the wrong reasons.”

• Mark Story of the H-L writes, “The performance on the substance side, however, left something to be desired. For the second straight game, the UK perimeter defense was defenseless.”

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader writes that Saturday will be a homecoming for many UK players, “The 2009 Kentucky roster is nearly as much Peach as it is Bluegrass. UK has 22 native Kentuckians on scholarship, but Georgia ranks close behind with 15 scholarship Wildcats.”

• Matt May of the Cats Pause writes, “Corey Allmond must have been watching Miami’s Nick Winbush do his best Crispin brother impersonation Monday night the way he lit up UK’s perimeter defense.”

• Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal writes, “Three games into his career as the men’s basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, and coach John Calipari is already shaking his head. And his team didn’t even lose.”

• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate Messenger writes, “Mississippi State assistant coach Phil Cunningham says Rider, the team Kentucky hosts Saturday, is the kind of team in NCAA Tournament play that ‘can give you fits’ if you are highly-seeded team.”

• The Herald-Leader slide show from last night’s basketball game.

• Metz Camfield of the Kentucky Kernel writes, “Calipari warned anyone who would listen at the beginning of the season that his team might not be where he wants them to be until January. However, when he said that he was talking about offensively, not defensively. He said he got so mad in Thursday night’s game that his head almost popped off.”

• James Pennington of the Kernel writes, “If fixing 3-point defense somehow wasn’t at the top of John Calipari’s to-do list before Thursday, it better move up. And on that to-do list, he better write it in all caps. Underline it, too. And slap some exclamation marks on the end.”

• Jeff Schultz of the AJC picks Georgia to cover the spread against Kentucky on Saturday, writing, “People say the Wildcats aren’t very good. But if they’re 6-4, same as Georgia, and they beat Auburn by a touchdown, same as Georgia, does that make them same as Georgia? Close. But not quite. Dogs cover 8 1/2.”

• Tim Tucker of the AJC previews Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia game, writing, “Kentucky has called (Cobb’s) availability “questionable,” although the Dogs expect him to play. He had a dazzling game against Georgia at quarterback last year and, if healthy, figures to be used primarily at wide receiver but also at quarterback, punt returner and kickoff returner this time.”

• Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald writes that tough runners await the Georgia defense, quoting Bulldog Kade Weston as saying, “”That’s fine with us. We like the challenge of (opponents) running the ball. That’s hard-nosed, play-in-the-box, who’s man is better, who’s bigger and stronger. We take that challenge.”

• Georgia historian Dan Magill writes that UK-Georgia started the nighttime tradition in 1940, “Georgia played its first night game in Sanford Stadium against Kentucky on Oct. 25, 1940. It was a 7-7 tie. The Wildcats led 7-0 until the final minute, when sophomore tailback Frank Sinkwich, a Heisman Trophy winner two years later, scored on a 1-yard plunge and Athenian Leo Costa kicked the PAT.”

• Michael Grant of the C-J writes that the UK offensive line will face a tough test in Athens, writing, “Brooks is particularly worried about pass protection for freshman Morgan Newton, who will start his sixth straight game. Brooks said communication between the quarterback and the line will be at a premium against the Bulldogs, whose 25 sacks rank fourth in the SEC. Linemen Justin Houston (six sacks), Demarcus Dobbs (3½ sacks) and Geno Atkins (8½ tackles for loss) are a lot to handle.”

• A Sea of Blue writes, “I have been watching college basketball a very long time, more years than some members of this blog have been drawing breath. But I am sure that I have never seen two opposing teams back to back hit so many three point shots.”

• Wildcat Blue Blog writes, “Bowl eligible for the fourth straight season, Rich Brooks can use a win here to finally shut up the nay sayers and improve his bowl status. It is intimidating to go down into the hedges and have to face the famed Bulldogs, but on paper, this is a game UK has a chance at.”

• Bluegrass State Basketball brought its camera to UK-Sam Houston State.

• Danny Jett of Inner Circle writes, “Coach Calipari was also disappointed in his star John Wall, saying “John Wall has all this reputation…..well, the kid tonight got 11 3’s on him.” Ouch. Just chalk that up to some freshman errors. Well, until Kentucky develops better defense on the perimeter, this season could get interesting really quickly. The big teams start knocking on Kentucky’s door within the next couple of weeks. When we face a team that is not only an outside threat, but an inside one as well, we could be facing a long night.”

• Straitpinkie writes,“Is UK being haunted by the ghost of Jodie Meeks? 2 games into the season, the Kentucky Wildcats have to feeling a lot like many of the ‘Cats opponents felt playing against Jodie Meeks last year.”

• Wildcat Wrap writes, “It doesn’t get any easier on Saturday against Rider, another mid-major team expected to win their conference and go to the NCAA Tournament. According to Calipari, they are a better shooting team than both Miami and Sam Houston State.”

• Kentucky Sports Network has a video notebook of the UK win over Sam Houston State.

• Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches wrote, “But there were also plenty of things to squirm about. UK failed to get a single point from its bench, made just 19-of-29 from the charity stripe and turned it over 23 times (six each from freshman guards Eric Bledsoe and John Wall). Take your pick at the most glaring issue. I’ll take the 3-point defense.”

• John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that Bruce Pearl is happy to welcome Tobias Harris to Tennessee.
• Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press writes that Harris puts the Vols in real paradise.
• Chip Towers of the AJC reports on the sudden death of Georgia’s beloved mascot, UGA VII.
• Tim Gayle of the Montgomery Advertiser reports that Alabama players are critiquing Nick Saban’s action abilities.
• Edward Aschoff of the Gainesville Sun writes on Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, who could be in demand for head coaching spots.

• Seth Emerson of The State reports on South Carolina’s 78-68 win over LaSalle in the Charleston Classic.
• AP report on Mississippi State’s 82-67 win over Southeastern Louisiana.
• Parrish Alford of the Tupelo Daily Journal writes on Ole Miss’ wonder Dexter McCluster.
• Bryan Mullen of the Tennessean writes that Vanderbilt has a tough test with the rival Vols.
• Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News writes that flying helmets are a college football issue.