Cal is right about ole defense.

[MrHotDice]

As with all things nowadays, work seems to be a dirty word. It’s all glitz over substance. Offense in basketball is the glitz and defense is the substance. UK has young players that are very gifted but all everyone wants to talk about is the great shooting that is not sustainable. When all UK players are hitting shot, making passes and assists IMHO they are unbeatable. But eventually a team has a bad night were they can’t depend on offense to win games. Last night was a prime example of not playing defense when the other team is making 3 after 3 and driving by their defender for uncontested baskets. Offense can’t be sustained but defense can. Everyone praises Reed for scoring 25 points but that won’t be the. Norm and if by scoring you allow the man you guard to blow by you that just won’t beat teams that you play that has a night of good shooting.

I’m no Cal lover but he is correct if you watch the game and how it was lost. Some nights you won’t be able to score and have to win with defense. That was last night. We had no Wagner, Edward’s was not shooting well, and it was Bradshaw first game. Playing man to man defense didn’t lose last nights game. It was playing it lazy. No matter how many points your guards score, you can’t depend on outscoring teams when you play.

 

[chroix]

Ole

 

[know1]

Why didn't Cal do something about it, then?

 

[the nail at the foul line]

He would rather complain that someone got blown by 17 times, than go zone.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

And get off my lawn!

But seriously, maybe he could
A) actually teach defense
B) Make a f@cking adjustment during the game if you don’t like what you’re seeing???

CAL DOES NEITHER

 

[SemperFiCat]

Cal has never gotten the credit he deserves for getting AAU scorers to play Def. Sometimes for the first time ever. Cal's best teams were always because of great Def. I'm not to worried about the Def. Cal will get it there. I'd be much more worried if the Off was starting out terrible.

 

[SemperFiCat]

He would rather complain that someone got blown by 17 times, than go zone.

I honestly don't think he knows how to teach, or run, an effective zone or press. You'd think, with all the great athletes he's had, it would be a hell of a weapon to use. But, nope.

 

[CROCAT]

I honestly don't think he knows how to teach, or run, an effective zone or press. You'd think, with all the great athletes he's had, it would be a hell of a weapon to use. But, nope.

He doesn't. His defensive strategy is "Roll the balls out and pray Anthony Davis is on the team"

 

[MrHotDice]

And get off my lawn!

But seriously, maybe he could
A) actually teach defense
B) Make a f@cking adjustment during the game if you don’t like what you’re seeing???

CAL DOES NEITHER

You can teach defense but the players have to do it during the game. I know of no defensive scheme that allows defenders to not be square to the basket. You can’t defend if you turn your shoulders. It’s basketball defense 101 and it’s hard to teach and even harder to do.

 

[ThroughBlue]

Ole

Did you just try to correct spelling of a made up word? Ol or ole aren’t real words

 

[chroix]

Did you just try to correct spelling of a made up word? Ol or ole aren’t real words

Nope. Ole. Matador defense. It’s what bullfighters say. That’s what I assumed the quote was referring to.

 

[cats2010]

As with all things nowadays, work seems to be a dirty word. It’s all glitz over substance. Offense in basketball is the glitz and defense is the substance. UK has young players that are very gifted but all everyone wants to talk about is the great shooting that is not sustainable. When all UK players are hitting shot, making passes and assists IMHO they are unbeatable. But eventually a team has a bad night were they can’t depend on offense to win games. Last night was a prime example of not playing defense when the other team is making 3 after 3 and driving by their defender for uncontested baskets. Offense can’t be sustained but defense can. Everyone praises Reed for scoring 25 points but that won’t be the. Norm and if by scoring you allow the man you guard to blow by you that just won’t beat teams that you play that has a night of good shooting.

I’m no Cal lover but he is correct if you watch the game and how it was lost. Some nights you won’t be able to score and have to win with defense. That was last night. We had no Wagner, Edward’s was not shooting well, and it was Bradshaw first game. Playing man to man defense didn’t lose last nights game. It was playing it lazy. No matter how many points your guards score, you can’t depend on outscoring teams when you play.

I don’t recall who Reed was guarding but Edwards was guarding white and white was the only one I recall doing whatever he wanted to do the last 10 minutes of the game. I believe he scored 18 points from the time we took a 55-49 lead. We did nothing to try and stop him. Different defender (nope), double team (nope), pressure (nope), different defensive look (nope). UNCW got into a rhythm offensively primarily through white and you have to disrupt that. Cal did nothing as usual and as usual under cal we lose a close game to an inferior opponent.

 

[DreadLox]

The Kentucky defenders were often caught too far from the shooters -- for 3s -- or the defender closed out to clumsily and let the guy with ball drive right by them. UNCW had open shots all day.

People imagine there's this yawning chasm between top talent and 2nd tier, but there isn't. If 2nd tier executes well and top tier is uninvolved, 2nd tier will win. The game looked like a classic case of players reveling in their press clippings.

 

[DreadLox]

Did you just try to correct spelling of a made up word? Ol or ole aren’t real words

"Olé" is a borrowing from Spanish. The type of word is an interjection. Hey, f***, s***, wow, crap, whoa, yahoo, bother [Winnie the Pooh], fiddlesticks and so forth. "Olé" is a cheer of approval. Most of our native interjections are of pain, disapproval, or dismay.

 

[kybassfan]

He would rather complain that someone got blown by 17 times, than go zone.

Can’t play zone if you are getting blown by. This ain’t church league or PlayStation. Playing bad zone is easy. Playing competitive zone is hard and requires many skills. If you can’t play man to man, you have no hope at playing zone.

This seems to be a difficult concept for Bennies.

 

[MrHotDice]

I don’t recall who Reed was guarding but Edwards was guarding white and white was the only one I recall doing whatever he wanted to do the last 10 minutes of the game. I believe he scored 18 points from the time we took a 55-49 lead. We did nothing to try and stop him. Different defender (nope), double team (nope), pressure (nope), different defensive look (nope). UNCW got into a rhythm offensively primarily through white and you have to disrupt that. Cal did nothing as usual and as usual under cal we lose a close game to an inferior opponent.

Based on what I’ve seen, Wagner is a good on ball defender. Him being out just showed his true worth to this team and it’s not just scoring. Freshman don’t want to play defense when they can score. It’s kinda like golf. You can’t get players to practice chipping and putting but they will spend hours driving the ball

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

Based on what I’ve seen, Wagner is a good on ball defender. Him being out just showed his true worth to this team and it’s not just scoring. Freshman don’t want to play defense when they can score. It’s kinda like golf. You can’t get players to practice chipping and putting but they will spend hours driving the ball

If we need Wagner to beat a team that just lost to East Carolina it's going to be a brutal season.

 

[Rockfly78]

We should have seen this coming. We have given up a zillion points in almost every game. But we just outscored everyone. It was exciting but then I kept asking myself what happens if we have a cold shooting night. We found out.

You don’t really have to even be all that skilled to play defense. You just have to want to. You have to have some dog in you. I’m not at practice but I’d like to think cal has tried to communicate this. Afterall, defense is his thing. I hope they take it seriously now. Volume scoring teams can beat anyone. But they can also lose to anyone unless they have a defensive identity and capability. It takes pride and heart

 

[DreadLox]

He would rather complain that someone got blown by 17 times, than go zone.

I'm guessing you've never coached. Criticizing the best player whose psyche can take it is an ancient motivational technique. Sheppard seems like the kid with his head on straight. He's definitely one of the best players. His dad will just clue him in on what's going on. (As if he couldn't figure it out for himself.)

I'm guessing that lots of the posters here have never coached anything. Or taught anything. And lots of posters imagine that if that if they say something often enough it must be true.

 

[mdlUK.1]

Why didn't Cal do something about it, then?

Like what? You can tell them to stay between the ball and the basket but if they don’t do it, what then? You can’t get new players during the game.

 

[Seth_C]

He's the ****ing coach! If he knows it's a problem why doesn't he fix it? Why didn't he teach better defense in practice? Why didn't he sit the players responsible for it?

Some of you are completely out of your minds at this point. Cal isn't a post-game commentator. It is HIS RESPONSIBILITY.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

I'm guessing you've never coached. Criticizing the best player whose psyche can take it is an ancient motivational technique. Sheppard seems like the kid with his head on straight. He's definitely one of the best players. His dad will just clue him in on what's going on. (As if he couldn't figure it out for himself.)

I'm guessing that lots of the posters here have never coached anything. Or taught anything. And lots of posters imagine that if that if they say something often enough it must be true.

Maybe if this were Knight. But Cal? I doubt it

 

[DreadLox]

Maybe if this were Knight. But Cal? I doubt it

Fine. When we read the Book of Life on Judgment Day we can find out.