TRAVIS GRAF:

Where do we start? Everything I’m about to say is a broken record, but it still has to be said at this point. This is the product you get when there’s no point guard on the roster, no shooter that’s allowed to play more than five minutes at a time on the roster, and when you play forwards as wings. It’s going to be this hideous brand of basketball every time out. It’s not going to get fixed, as the Florida game seems like an outlier at this point. The collective basketball IQ of this team is middle school level and players are not developing because the player development guru has moved onto the professional ranks. This season is a recipe for disaster because of everything I just mentioned. With COVID and not having a full summer together, it’s a perfect storm to miss the tournament. Until Cal actually plays his best five players and stops coddling certain five-star players, this team will not be very good at all. Normally, you have some wiggle room to allow those players to grow, but not this season.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

For the second time this season (Kansas being the first) Kentucky lost a game in which the opponent could not throw the ball in the ocean for the vast majority of the game. Auburn shot 24% in the first half, missing 15 of its first 16 shots from the field, but the Cats were clinging to a precarious 25-21 lead at halftime. That was a bad sign for me today. It felt like just a matter of time before the Tigers strung a few buckets together and built an insurmountable lead. That's how it played out. Kentucky went on one of its long offensive droughts, going nearly six minutes with only one field goal, while Auburn reeled off a 15-3 run to take command. Once again, Dontaie Allen was a focal point of fan frustration as he sat on the bench for most of the second half despite leading the Cats in scoring in the first half. Allen or no, this particular UK team just cannot sustain anything offensively, and that's highly unlikely to change the remainder of what's shaping up to be a disastrous season.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

John Calipari has a lot to answer for after this one. The difference in scores when Dontaie Allen was in the game versus when he was out is almost impossible to ignore or explain away. He played, but he should have played more. Would he get BJ Boston's green light? Doubtful. This game and really this season has been defined by Calipari's stubborn attachment to a method that just isn't working the way it used to or doesn't without players like Wall, AD, and the others we saw several years ago. This loss was pretty much the nail in Kentucky's regular season, as far as I'm concerned. With a win, they could have been 4-1. An ugly 4-1, but chugging along. There's a really tough road ahead. Devin Askew does deserve a shoutout for playing so hard.

DAVID SISK:

In a frustrating season, the level of angst may be at an all-time high after today’s loss at Auburn. It seemed the team may have found itself after an impressive win. But now it is as lost as last year’s Easter egg after a worst-case scenario type of week. Questions will arise again about John Calipari’s lineup decisions, and they should. Dontaie Allen not staring in the second half was a head-scratcher. Simply put he spreads the floor and is the only hope of getting this offense into space. Jacob Toppin not starting after the half was also an issue. I love Lance Ware’s heart, but he cannot play the extended second-half minutes he did when the team has to score points. An 0-2 week puts Kentucky further behind the eight ball of getting back to .500 with games against LSU and Texas on the horizon. They needed to find a way to split this past week, and the offense today insured that it didn’t happen.