A few things that bother me heading into tournament play and a few things that have gotten better.

[wobycat]

The worry

1. Inbounding the ball. Don’t think I’ve ever been nervous as a fan watching a team throw the ball in.
2. Rebounding a ball. We watch the ball a lot on shots.
3. Transition offense. Sometimes butler brings it up, sometimes Williams, sometimes Oweh. Just go to the basket

What’s gotten better

1. Defense has really improved. We got lax at the end today but played well for the most part
2. Confidence in brea and chandler
3. Williams inside offense. I feel more comfortable when he gets it in the post

 

[K_TIME]

The worry

1. Inbounding the ball. Don’t think I’ve ever been nervous as a fan watching a team throw the ball in.
2. Rebounding a ball. We watch the ball a lot on shots.
3. Transition offense. Sometimes butler brings it up, sometimes Williams, sometimes Oweh. Just go to the basket

What’s gotten better

1. Defense has really improved. We got lax at the end today but played well for the most part
2. Confidence in brea and chandler
3. Williams inside offense. I feel more comfortable when he gets it in the post

You have to add Carr to what's gotten better list. He was nearly unplayable mid year with the back injury...he's back to non conference solid stat line night in/night out now.

 

[wildcat_nation28]

You have to add Carr to what's gotten better list. He was nearly unplayable mid year with the back injury...he's back to non conference solid stat line night in/night out now.

agree

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

I worry Williams is due for a bad FT shooting night.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

I worry we are going to forget that this is supposed to be fun. The likelihood is your season is going to end in a loss well over 90% of the time. Let’s enjoy the ride because there isn’t much of it left. Cheer our hearts out until the final buzzer whether in the crowd or at home in front of our tv with family around. GBB!

 

[pauled]

I worry Williams is due for a bad FT shooting night.

He sure has gotten better at FT since the beginning of the season. I actually feel pretty good with him going to the line. He shot 80% today! We can live with that!

 

[blue cincy]

All good points but we have been better with plays called for our inbounds. Cal just said throw it to the center and typically we had a bad possession. I saw the one really bad inbound today. The rest seems to be no better or worse than anyone else out there.
Defense is much better.
Offense seems to be finding their stride again with the new line ups.
Brea getting better with 2pt game and rebounds.
Perry playing solid minutes, yes we lose defense with him and Chandler is much better on defense.
Williams still worries me game to game. You never know when he will come out and just not look engaged. He has been much better the last 8 or so games.
Oweh is one of the bigger keys, we need his steals, we need him to be much smarter on the fouls. We need him to finish strong, play through the contact. Some times he does great drive and just falls apart at the rim.

I worry about the early games against lesser competition. We get through the first weekend and we will be able to beat just about anybody. Let the fun begin. Gonna be much harder for me to get the NCAA games after the final buzzer. I tried today to watch the game live. Lasted 2 minutes. I will try again Wednesday to watch a game or two of the first round SEC. I think I will do it with no sound and see if just the visual watching helps with the spells I get. Then maybe by the next week I can try a little of sound and live action.

 

[NociHTTP]

Positive:
+ Brea starting to penetrate more and taking contact
+ Amari rebounding better, even better passing
+ Carr a beast around the basket
+ Chandler moving better off-ball
+ BG threat for lobs
+ whole team a threat from deep
+ Oweh ability to slash

Negative:
- Oweh at risk of shooting us out of game
- Butler sometimes doesn't facilitate, tends to dribble air out of ball
- team tends to not fight for loose balls
- team tends to not anticipate rebounds


Those last two negatives are a general mindset thing and if they're put to rest this team is Top Five in the country.

 

[CrazyCat74]

The only thing that really worries me at this point in the season is

-taking care of the basketball
-foul trouble

The win yesterday was the type of win that can create a lot of momentum going into this post season.

Another 5 days for this experienced "older" group to get healthy and recharged from the grind of the conference season and travel could be extremely helpful.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

Regarding the OP's first concern with inbounding the ball, it's an issue that is growing not just in CBB but the NBA level as well. I've seen more 5 second turnovers in the NBA this year than previous years watching combined. Everyone seems to be spending practices working on sets/plays and forget you have to get the ball inbounded. So while not trying to absolve UK from some sloppy turnovers, they are far from alone in this. It seems you either get a dunk/layup from sloppy/bad defense (which we lived with watching Cal's teams for years) or you resort to some risky pass thrown near sidelines over a defender challenging the pass. Then there's the old reliable "Izzo Play" where you launch the pass 75 ft away into the backcourt and start your play from there.

 

[Wonky]

I’m just glad we have a guy back (Butler) who can get to the rim whenever he wants. We didn’t have that for 4-5 games and it killed us. It changes things for our shooters.