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Tom Hart praises Kentucky as a national darling, but cites ‘major road block’ to a national title
By Keith Farner
Published:
Tom Hart has become a regular voice for SEC men’s basketball, and the play-by-play broadcaster will begin a busy week of games on Tuesday when Kentucky meets South Carolina.
Hart offered a snapshot of UK during his latest segment on WJOX and “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning.”
Hart addressed Kentucky’s addition of Zvonimir Ivisic, and everything that surrounded his eligibility and availability.
“The idea that it’s kind of this new breed of basketball player, 7-2 and can shoot 3s and can handle the ball, kind of (Victor) Wembanyama-esque, I suppose,” Hart said. “The other part of it is an intrigue like this can only happen at a place like Kentucky, because it means so much to those people.”
Hart relayed that the UK coaches are most impressed with Ivisic’s defense.
“I think that’s where he impacts them most directly in terms of where he can help the most,” Hart said. “Kentucky is an incredibly talented team. They’re kind of everybody’s darling right now from a national perspective because of Big Z and the headlines and the fact that they’re leading the nation in offense. But they are horrific defensively.”
Hart noted that there hasn’t been a national champion outside of the top 20 in defensive efficiency since the stat was born, and there hasn’t even been a bad one since Kansas 2 years ago at No. 18. Hart noted that UK entered Tuesday in the 70s in defensive efficiency.
“To win 6 games in a row with a bad defense just doesn’t happen,” Hart said.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
