ADVERTISEMENT

Back from Indy, my thoughts on the Duke game and beyond

502 Wildcat

All-American
Gold Member
Sep 11, 2007
21,342
19,970
113
32
Louisville, KY
For what it's worth. (Sorry for the length, but I have a lot to say, feel free to click your back button and ignore)

Back from Indy, and have now had time to process everything.

This was a tough pill to swallow. Certainly a dose of reality.

What an ugly ugly game. Worst defensive effort I've seen since Cal has been at UK. Partly because Barrett and Zion are incredible players, partly because we looked ill-prepared, shell shocked, and gave very minimal effort. We went down early and panicked. Played tight and scared the rest of the game for the most part. Can't win like that.

Offensively I thought we were "decent". We missed some 3's and we didn't feed the post enough, an area where we should have had a big advantage. Montgomery had some nice moments, so did Keldon. Obviously Reid was effective when the opportunities were there for him. He just didn't get nearly enough touches. PJ I thought could have been a weapon, but was rattled from the foul trouble. As a sophomore, he has to play smarter than that. Kid is so talented, but he has to understand his role on this team.

Here's the thing for me, and again, take it for what it's worth. All coaches constantly offer their own version of "coach-speak". For Cal, the common phrases are "I like my team", "we have a long way to go", "this is a process", and "we'll be fine". Obviously, things are spun either negatively to damper expectations, or positively to boost fan morale, depending on the circumstances. This season, particularly after the IUP game, we have been hearing Cal say that we "have to figure out how to play".

I'll say this, what I saw last night from Section 104 wasn't JUST Duke's star freshmen. Make no mistake, they were fantastic, hats off to them. They are better than I previously thought, that's for sure. The story of the game for me is I saw a Duke team that had a very calculated, apparent, specific way they want to play basketball. Offensively, they want to space the court, set screens, create the mismatch, and drive the ball to generate opportunities to score. Defensively, they want to create turnovers for fast break opportunities. It was a simple style of play, but very calculated. And they executed perfectly. They would have beaten anybody last night.

On the other side, I saw a UK team that is, as Cal says, clueless on how to play.

They didn't know what to do on defense, they didn't rotate, they didn't execute any help defense, and they didn't even show that they understood how to apply ball pressure without risking straight-line drives.

Offensively, way too much 1v1. We have a really talented and deep frontcourt, but didn't get them nearly enough touches. Way too many contested shots, many of which were way too early in the shot clock.

Just an ugly ugly game, despite the few bright spots that I mentioned above. I think when Cal says "we have to figure out how to play", he is hitting the nail on the head. I witnessed a talented UK team that had no idea how to play cohesively as a team last night.

A lot of people are calling for Cal's head after last night. Should he get some blame? Sure. We were ill-prepared, and that's on him, to some degree. But at the end of the day, it's a long season, and this was game 1. I do not believe that Duke is 34-points more talented than us. I just can't see it. But they were certainly the better, more prepared team last night.

Personally, I look at all of our pieces and I see a lot of potential. I think the first step for us is on the defensive end, obviously. I think we can all agree that defense is our primary issue right now. I think we have the pieces to be a tremendous defensive team, but the mindset has to change. A huge part of Duke's success last night was because they did a simple screen up top and got our bigs (Reid, Montgomery, and Richards in particular) to switch on Barrett or Zion. That simply can't happen, especially with no help defense. Granted, we won't face another Zion or Barrett all year...but that is common sense at best. Of course they are going to torch us if we make it that easy.

Offensively, the most important element is that we need one of the PG's to step up. I think Quickley can be that guy, but he needs to get comfortable with himself and provide some scoring. The kid can score. For some reason, it just hasn't clicked yet. I think that will open up a lot of opportunities for our bigs. The rest is philosophical. Cal has to embrace that we are a post-dominant team. That's a little out of the norm for him, but I think he will. For us to be as good as we can be, he has no choice in my opinion.

Bottom line: It was ugly. We lost. Duke is better than us right now. I think they would have beaten any team in America last night with how perfectly they executed (and their unlikely 3pt shooting success). We are still a talented, deep team with a lot of potential. As much as it stings losing to Duke in that fashion, give them their kudos and let's move on. I still think we can be a final four team with a chance to cut down the nets, but it's going to take a lot of work and some somewhat unfamiliar territory for Cal. But I trust him. He's proven himself over and over again that his teams peak in March.
 
Last edited:
I know it was game one, and i typically live with blue tinted shades on, but I just don’t think we have enough takent to win 6 in a row in March.

Hope they prove me wrong. This is going to be one of those seasons where it feels like root canal through mid February.
 
do not believe that Duke is 34-points more talented than us. I just can't see it.
I don’t either and if we played them next week I’d say we lose but it would be single digits. That is not a team we would try to run with next out.
 
I sure hope you are right but just honestly don't see championship potential with this group.
 
My biggest concern is whether PJ and Reid can play together and actually compliment each other.
PG is a concern. Can't see the ceiling being any higher than somewhere in between Teague and Harrow.
 
If you are clueless on how to play doesn’t that fall more on the coach?


No. You have a lot of young guys that will take most of the season to get rid of bad AAU habits. They've never been taught nor know how to play half court man to man defense. I was baffled when we even had guys giving Zion & RJ their left to drive. Talk about suicide! Talk about low basketball IQ also. Most of us were taught when we were young to know who you're guarding & don't just give them their strong side.

When you are elite athletically like Duke it drastically enlarges your margin for era. We do not have that luxury. Bottom line, Cal's teaching this group is much more important than Coach K's.
 
It was coaching. But the disparity in talent was shocking also. You can draw up defenses all day long but the way Reddish, Barrett and Zion were playing, you have to have the horses to stop them. Too be blunt, UK doesn’t.
Do you think Cal was surprised by how good the three were?
 
Last night was men vs. boys, and it was scary. Those 3 guys for Duke are the real deal and they just seemed to elevate everyone's game around them, which is why even their bench players were dominating us.
 
  • Like
Reactions: clew84
The one concern I have when Cal says they gotta learn how to play is...

We had a head start on this season.

What, 4 games in the Bahamas and all the practice leading up to that?

We just gotta see where they go from here.
Yeah, if this was a “head start”, I would hated to see what the score would have been if they didn’t go to the Bahamas. [laughing]
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wildcat-in-STL
The one concern I have when Cal says they gotta learn how to play is...

We had a head start on this season.

What, 4 games in the Bahamas and all the practice leading up to that?

We just gotta see where they go from here.

I'm not saying Cal shouldn't get any blame. Technically, it's his job to prepare the team and game plan in such a way to put us in the greatest position to win as possible.

But I look at the broad dynamic of our team, and no clear, obvious "play-style" stands out to me outside of we have an outstanding front court. In the past, we've seen these obvious play-styles and how the team kinda fits into it.

But Cal is obviously exposed to the team a lot more than any of us fans are, but I have to assume he is struggling with that as well. And I think it's a personal battle in some ways too. I think he WANTS to play a certain way but realizes he may not be able to.

I'm not defending him when I say that, just offering my thoughts in an effort to explain why this may be the case.

At any rate, we have really good players. We just aren't a team at this point. I still have faith that Cal will find a way to get them playing to the best of their abilities. Not throwing in the towel quite yet, despite the pain and embarrassment from last night.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cal-4-Three
Dukes freshman sure didnt any help " figuring out how to play" Sorry , tired of the excuses.

They didn't. You're right. K recruited that team (either ethically or unethically, not giving my opinion on that either way) to play a certain way. Barrett, Zion, and Reddish on the same team...you don't play any other way than what you witnessed last night. Spacing, screen for switches, and ball pressure for turnover / fast break opportunities. It's really really simple honestly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fisherscatfan
This team isn't winning a championship. We can throw that dream out the window.
 
Dukes freshman sure didnt any help " figuring out how to play" Sorry , tired of the excuses.


Again...when you're that athletic you have a greater margin of era. Hence Coach K's talent last year who never got it together versus this year. They have 3 superior athletes to anyone e in college basketball with some scrappy role players surrounding them.
 
The one concern I have when Cal says they gotta learn how to play is...

We had a head start on this season.

Yep. You can say that when practice starts October 15 like in the old days and you are just thrown together. This team has been together since the summer. How do they not have a semblance of how to play with one another after 4 or 5 months?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Montana81
Yeah, if this was a “head start”, I would hated to see what the score would have been if they didn’t go to the Bahamas. [laughing]

It actually might have been much closer.

Cal typically just lets guys play for the first few games to see what he has, then he starts tinkering and breaking down each player's game to work on his weaknesses. That's why you saw him let Malik Monk keep shooting against UNC 2 years ago in early December but then start hammering him about rebounding. He never scored 37 points again.

Seems to me the Bahamas games were the "let 'em play and see what we have" games. Last night was what we usually see in late December and early January - a team trying to learn another way to play and running into a talented team whose coach takes a very different approach.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheWyldKat
What I now fear is our season will begin and end with blow-out losses to Duke. They are far more talented and very well coached. I hope our recruiting is not crushed like our Cats were last night.
 
For what it's worth. (Sorry for the length, but I have a lot to say, feel free to click your back button and ignore)

Back from Indy, and have now had time to process everything.

This was a tough pill to swallow. Certainly a dose of reality.

What an ugly ugly game. Worst defensive effort I've seen since Cal has been at UK. Partly because Barrett and Zion are incredible players, partly because we looked ill-prepared, shell shocked, and gave very minimal effort. We went down early and panicked. Played tight and scared the rest of the game for the most part. Can't win like that.

Offensively I thought we were "decent". We missed some 3's and we didn't feed the post enough, an area where we should have had a big advantage. Montgomery had some nice moments, so did Keldon. Obviously Reid was effective when the opportunities were there for him. He just didn't get nearly enough touches. PJ I thought could have been a weapon, but was rattled from the foul trouble. As a sophomore, he has to play smarter than that. Kid is so talented, but he has to understand his role on this team.

Here's the thing for me, and again, take it for what it's worth. All coaches constantly offer their own version of "coach-speak". For Cal, the common phrases are "I like my team", "we have a long way to go", "this is a process", and "we'll be fine". Obviously, things are spun either negatively to damper expectations, or positively to boost fan morale, depending on the circumstances. This season, particularly after the IUP game, we have been hearing Cal say that we "have to figure out how to play".

I'll say this, what I saw last night from Section 104 wasn't JUST Duke's star freshmen. Make no mistake, they were fantastic, hats off to them. They are better than I previously thought, that's for sure. The story of the game for me is I saw a Duke team that had a very calculated, apparent, specific way they want to play basketball. Offensively, they want to space the court, set screens, create the mismatch, and drive the ball to generate opportunities to score. Defensively, they want to create turnovers for fast break opportunities. It was a simple style of play, but very calculated. And they executed perfectly. They would have beaten anybody last night.

On the other side, I saw a UK team that is, as Cal says, clueless on how to play.

They didn't know what to do on defense, they didn't rotate, they didn't execute any help defense, and they didn't even show that they understood how to apply ball pressure without risking straight-line drives.

Offensively, way too much 1v1. We have a really talented and deep frontcourt, but didn't get them nearly enough touches. Way too many contested shots, many of which were way too early in the shot clock.

Just an ugly ugly game, despite the few bright spots that I mentioned above. I think when Cal says "we have to figure out how to play", he is hitting the nail on the head. I witnessed a talented UK team that had no idea how to play cohesively as a team last night.

A lot of people are calling for Cal's head after last night. Should he get some blame? Sure. We were ill-prepared, and that's on him, to some degree. But at the end of the day, it's a long season, and this was game 1. I do not believe that Duke is 34-points more talented than us. I just can't see it. But they were certainly the better, more prepared team last night.

Personally, I look at all of our pieces and I see a lot of potential. I think the first step for us is on the defensive end, obviously. I think we can all agree that defense is our primary issue right now. I think we have the pieces to be a tremendous defensive team, but the mindset has to change. A huge part of Duke's success last night was because they did a simple screen up top and got our bigs (Reid, Montgomery, and Richards in particular) to switch on Barrett or Zion. That simply can't happen, especially with no help defense. Granted, we won't face another Zion or Barrett all year...but that is common sense at best. Of course they are going to torch us if we make it that easy.

Offensively, the most important element is that we need one of the PG's to step up. I think Quickley can be that guy, but he needs to get comfortable with himself and provide some scoring. The kid can score. For some reason, it just hasn't clicked yet. I think that will open up a lot of opportunities for our bigs. The rest is philosophical. Cal has to embrace that we are a post-dominant team. That's a little out of the norm for him, but I think he will. For us to be as good as we can be, he has no choice in my opinion.

Bottom line: It was ugly. We lost. Duke is better than us right now. I think they would have beaten any team in America last night with how perfectly they executed (and their unlikely 3pt shooting success). We are still a talented, deep team with a lot of potential. As much as it stings losing to Duke in that fashion, give them their kudos and let's move on. I still think we can be a final four team with a chance to cut down the nets, but it's going to take a lot of work and some somewhat unfamiliar territory for Cal. But I trust him. He's proven himself over and over again that his teams peak in March.
Who has called for Cals head? Everything I am reading is fans want Cal to fix his system and/or staff and coach for UK not NBA.
 
For what it's worth. (Sorry for the length, but I have a lot to say, feel free to click your back button and ignore)

Back from Indy, and have now had time to process everything.

This was a tough pill to swallow. Certainly a dose of reality.

What an ugly ugly game. Worst defensive effort I've seen since Cal has been at UK. Partly because Barrett and Zion are incredible players, partly because we looked ill-prepared, shell shocked, and gave very minimal effort. We went down early and panicked. Played tight and scared the rest of the game for the most part. Can't win like that.

Offensively I thought we were "decent". We missed some 3's and we didn't feed the post enough, an area where we should have had a big advantage. Montgomery had some nice moments, so did Keldon. Obviously Reid was effective when the opportunities were there for him. He just didn't get nearly enough touches. PJ I thought could have been a weapon, but was rattled from the foul trouble. As a sophomore, he has to play smarter than that. Kid is so talented, but he has to understand his role on this team.

Here's the thing for me, and again, take it for what it's worth. All coaches constantly offer their own version of "coach-speak". For Cal, the common phrases are "I like my team", "we have a long way to go", "this is a process", and "we'll be fine". Obviously, things are spun either negatively to damper expectations, or positively to boost fan morale, depending on the circumstances. This season, particularly after the IUP game, we have been hearing Cal say that we "have to figure out how to play".

I'll say this, what I saw last night from Section 104 wasn't JUST Duke's star freshmen. Make no mistake, they were fantastic, hats off to them. They are better than I previously thought, that's for sure. The story of the game for me is I saw a Duke team that had a very calculated, apparent, specific way they want to play basketball. Offensively, they want to space the court, set screens, create the mismatch, and drive the ball to generate opportunities to score. Defensively, they want to create turnovers for fast break opportunities. It was a simple style of play, but very calculated. And they executed perfectly. They would have beaten anybody last night.

On the other side, I saw a UK team that is, as Cal says, clueless on how to play.

They didn't know what to do on defense, they didn't rotate, they didn't execute any help defense, and they didn't even show that they understood how to apply ball pressure without risking straight-line drives.

Offensively, way too much 1v1. We have a really talented and deep frontcourt, but didn't get them nearly enough touches. Way too many contested shots, many of which were way too early in the shot clock.

Just an ugly ugly game, despite the few bright spots that I mentioned above. I think when Cal says "we have to figure out how to play", he is hitting the nail on the head. I witnessed a talented UK team that had no idea how to play cohesively as a team last night.

A lot of people are calling for Cal's head after last night. Should he get some blame? Sure. We were ill-prepared, and that's on him, to some degree. But at the end of the day, it's a long season, and this was game 1. I do not believe that Duke is 34-points more talented than us. I just can't see it. But they were certainly the better, more prepared team last night.

Personally, I look at all of our pieces and I see a lot of potential. I think the first step for us is on the defensive end, obviously. I think we can all agree that defense is our primary issue right now. I think we have the pieces to be a tremendous defensive team, but the mindset has to change. A huge part of Duke's success last night was because they did a simple screen up top and got our bigs (Reid, Montgomery, and Richards in particular) to switch on Barrett or Zion. That simply can't happen, especially with no help defense. Granted, we won't face another Zion or Barrett all year...but that is common sense at best. Of course they are going to torch us if we make it that easy.

Offensively, the most important element is that we need one of the PG's to step up. I think Quickley can be that guy, but he needs to get comfortable with himself and provide some scoring. The kid can score. For some reason, it just hasn't clicked yet. I think that will open up a lot of opportunities for our bigs. The rest is philosophical. Cal has to embrace that we are a post-dominant team. That's a little out of the norm for him, but I think he will. For us to be as good as we can be, he has no choice in my opinion.

Bottom line: It was ugly. We lost. Duke is better than us right now. I think they would have beaten any team in America last night with how perfectly they executed (and their unlikely 3pt shooting success). We are still a talented, deep team with a lot of potential. As much as it stings losing to Duke in that fashion, give them their kudos and let's move on. I still think we can be a final four team with a chance to cut down the nets, but it's going to take a lot of work and some somewhat unfamiliar territory for Cal. But I trust him. He's proven himself over and over again that his teams peak in March.
Always like to hear the perspective of people that were at the game . Thanks
 
For what it's worth. (Sorry for the length, but I have a lot to say, feel free to click your back button and ignore)

Back from Indy, and have now had time to process everything.

This was a tough pill to swallow. Certainly a dose of reality.

What an ugly ugly game. Worst defensive effort I've seen since Cal has been at UK. Partly because Barrett and Zion are incredible players, partly because we looked ill-prepared, shell shocked, and gave very minimal effort. We went down early and panicked. Played tight and scared the rest of the game for the most part. Can't win like that.

Offensively I thought we were "decent". We missed some 3's and we didn't feed the post enough, an area where we should have had a big advantage. Montgomery had some nice moments, so did Keldon. Obviously Reid was effective when the opportunities were there for him. He just didn't get nearly enough touches. PJ I thought could have been a weapon, but was rattled from the foul trouble. As a sophomore, he has to play smarter than that. Kid is so talented, but he has to understand his role on this team.

Here's the thing for me, and again, take it for what it's worth. All coaches constantly offer their own version of "coach-speak". For Cal, the common phrases are "I like my team", "we have a long way to go", "this is a process", and "we'll be fine". Obviously, things are spun either negatively to damper expectations, or positively to boost fan morale, depending on the circumstances. This season, particularly after the IUP game, we have been hearing Cal say that we "have to figure out how to play".

I'll say this, what I saw last night from Section 104 wasn't JUST Duke's star freshmen. Make no mistake, they were fantastic, hats off to them. They are better than I previously thought, that's for sure. The story of the game for me is I saw a Duke team that had a very calculated, apparent, specific way they want to play basketball. Offensively, they want to space the court, set screens, create the mismatch, and drive the ball to generate opportunities to score. Defensively, they want to create turnovers for fast break opportunities. It was a simple style of play, but very calculated. And they executed perfectly. They would have beaten anybody last night.

On the other side, I saw a UK team that is, as Cal says, clueless on how to play.

They didn't know what to do on defense, they didn't rotate, they didn't execute any help defense, and they didn't even show that they understood how to apply ball pressure without risking straight-line drives.

Offensively, way too much 1v1. We have a really talented and deep frontcourt, but didn't get them nearly enough touches. Way too many contested shots, many of which were way too early in the shot clock.

Just an ugly ugly game, despite the few bright spots that I mentioned above. I think when Cal says "we have to figure out how to play", he is hitting the nail on the head. I witnessed a talented UK team that had no idea how to play cohesively as a team last night.

A lot of people are calling for Cal's head after last night. Should he get some blame? Sure. We were ill-prepared, and that's on him, to some degree. But at the end of the day, it's a long season, and this was game 1. I do not believe that Duke is 34-points more talented than us. I just can't see it. But they were certainly the better, more prepared team last night.

Personally, I look at all of our pieces and I see a lot of potential. I think the first step for us is on the defensive end, obviously. I think we can all agree that defense is our primary issue right now. I think we have the pieces to be a tremendous defensive team, but the mindset has to change. A huge part of Duke's success last night was because they did a simple screen up top and got our bigs (Reid, Montgomery, and Richards in particular) to switch on Barrett or Zion. That simply can't happen, especially with no help defense. Granted, we won't face another Zion or Barrett all year...but that is common sense at best. Of course they are going to torch us if we make it that easy.

Offensively, the most important element is that we need one of the PG's to step up. I think Quickley can be that guy, but he needs to get comfortable with himself and provide some scoring. The kid can score. For some reason, it just hasn't clicked yet. I think that will open up a lot of opportunities for our bigs. The rest is philosophical. Cal has to embrace that we are a post-dominant team. That's a little out of the norm for him, but I think he will. For us to be as good as we can be, he has no choice in my opinion.

Bottom line: It was ugly. We lost. Duke is better than us right now. I think they would have beaten any team in America last night with how perfectly they executed (and their unlikely 3pt shooting success). We are still a talented, deep team with a lot of potential. As much as it stings losing to Duke in that fashion, give them their kudos and let's move on. I still think we can be a final four team with a chance to cut down the nets, but it's going to take a lot of work and some somewhat unfamiliar territory for Cal. But I trust him. He's proven himself over and over again that his teams peak in March.
Amen bro. Its real obvious even from watching on tv screen. This team has no gel on offense and no gel on defense. Bahamas had a herro hitting most shots, and quickly adding production. Along with team playing together. Hit real practice, stuff changed. We will grow to be a tough team. I have faith . thank you for great writeup bro. Spot on
 
Nope. He knew. But I don’t think he thought the they were THAT much better than his team as a whole. It was interesting, each one of those Duke freshmen came over and hugged Cal as each was introduced in the starting lineup.
They did? I didn’t catch that. That is interesting.
 
I am not going to make any predictions on what this team could do six months from now. No one has any idea. The scary thing is, I don't think Cal does either.

Just enjoy the process. [eyeroll][sick][poop]
 
I was there in section 116 row 10 so had a great vantage point. My take is a little different.
I think Cal really wanted to win this game and the players felt the pressure and urgency. He has likely been working these guys non-stop trying to get them ready for this or that. That’s all on Cal for making the moment too big as this team seems to play better loose.
Coach K had a distinct advantage of being ranked lower and knowing what he had and that his kids would rise up on their own so he thought them simple sets that maximized their talents. Barrett is very advanced for a frosh and Zion is a freak athlete. They were loose played well to start and got even more relaxed. Our guys pressed and felt more pressure and were simple thinking and trying to do too much while Duke was just playing. If the game was tied after 5 or 10 mins you would have seen a whole different ballgame. Were they better last night, yes for sure. But that doesn’t mean our season is over or we won’t have a better team come March. We have more depth. We have more upside. We have players that will learn roles and how to play at this level. I really feel we would likely play them close(r) if we played again tomorrow.
So my asessment is simply they aren’t as good as they looked and we aren’t as bad as we looked. Games have a flow. Everything went against us early and often in this and we succumbed to pressure and the more Duke relaxed the better they played.
I didn’t see a lack of effort or desire on our side at all. I saw too much thinking and reacting where in the Bahamas they were loose and having fun. I think we will still be very very good and this will be a fun season. 5-6 teams will have a good shot at a title and we will be one of those teams.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GG24
The one concern I have when Cal says they gotta learn how to play is...

We had a head start on this season.

What, 4 games in the Bahamas and all the practice leading up to that?

We just gotta see where they go from here.
That's it for me. Maybe instead of setting up in the stands for those Bahamas games, get your rear on the bench and coach your team.
Obviously. that trip was a waste of time. All those extra practices and games and you still don't know how you want this team to play. Why? That's just pathetic imo.
Right now, Cal strikes me as a King who has this empire and he can't grasp that his enemies are getting stronger while he eats grapes.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Wildcat-in-STL
That's it for me. Maybe instead of setting up in the stands for those Bahamas games, get your rear on the bench and coach your team.
Obviously. that trip was a waste of time. All those extra practices and games and you still don't know how you this team to play. Why? That's just pathetic imo.
Right now, Cal strikes me as a King who has this empire and he can't grasp that his enemies and getting stronger while he eats grapes.

Cal said he didnt like being too far ahead. guess he'd rather worry about being massively far behind *sigh*

You can always add in new plays... new wrinkles .... perfect new plays....... there is no such thing as too far ahead.
 
That's it for me. Maybe instead of setting up in the stands for those Bahamas games, get your rear on the bench and coach your team.
Obviously. that trip was a waste of time. All those extra practices and games and you still don't know how you this team to play. Why? That's just pathetic imo.
Right now, Cal strikes me as a King who has this empire and he can't grasp that his enemies and getting stronger while he eats grapes.
I don't know, but maybe Cal should sit in the stands every game.
 
For what it's worth. (Sorry for the length, but I have a lot to say, feel free to click your back button and ignore)

Back from Indy, and have now had time to process everything.

This was a tough pill to swallow. Certainly a dose of reality.

What an ugly ugly game. Worst defensive effort I've seen since Cal has been at UK. Partly because Barrett and Zion are incredible players, partly because we looked ill-prepared, shell shocked, and gave very minimal effort. We went down early and panicked. Played tight and scared the rest of the game for the most part. Can't win like that.

Offensively I thought we were "decent". We missed some 3's and we didn't feed the post enough, an area where we should have had a big advantage. Montgomery had some nice moments, so did Keldon. Obviously Reid was effective when the opportunities were there for him. He just didn't get nearly enough touches. PJ I thought could have been a weapon, but was rattled from the foul trouble. As a sophomore, he has to play smarter than that. Kid is so talented, but he has to understand his role on this team.

Here's the thing for me, and again, take it for what it's worth. All coaches constantly offer their own version of "coach-speak". For Cal, the common phrases are "I like my team", "we have a long way to go", "this is a process", and "we'll be fine". Obviously, things are spun either negatively to damper expectations, or positively to boost fan morale, depending on the circumstances. This season, particularly after the IUP game, we have been hearing Cal say that we "have to figure out how to play".

I'll say this, what I saw last night from Section 104 wasn't JUST Duke's star freshmen. Make no mistake, they were fantastic, hats off to them. They are better than I previously thought, that's for sure. The story of the game for me is I saw a Duke team that had a very calculated, apparent, specific way they want to play basketball. Offensively, they want to space the court, set screens, create the mismatch, and drive the ball to generate opportunities to score. Defensively, they want to create turnovers for fast break opportunities. It was a simple style of play, but very calculated. And they executed perfectly. They would have beaten anybody last night.

On the other side, I saw a UK team that is, as Cal says, clueless on how to play.

They didn't know what to do on defense, they didn't rotate, they didn't execute any help defense, and they didn't even show that they understood how to apply ball pressure without risking straight-line drives.

Offensively, way too much 1v1. We have a really talented and deep frontcourt, but didn't get them nearly enough touches. Way too many contested shots, many of which were way too early in the shot clock.

Just an ugly ugly game, despite the few bright spots that I mentioned above. I think when Cal says "we have to figure out how to play", he is hitting the nail on the head. I witnessed a talented UK team that had no idea how to play cohesively as a team last night.

A lot of people are calling for Cal's head after last night. Should he get some blame? Sure. We were ill-prepared, and that's on him, to some degree. But at the end of the day, it's a long season, and this was game 1. I do not believe that Duke is 34-points more talented than us. I just can't see it. But they were certainly the better, more prepared team last night.

Personally, I look at all of our pieces and I see a lot of potential. I think the first step for us is on the defensive end, obviously. I think we can all agree that defense is our primary issue right now. I think we have the pieces to be a tremendous defensive team, but the mindset has to change. A huge part of Duke's success last night was because they did a simple screen up top and got our bigs (Reid, Montgomery, and Richards in particular) to switch on Barrett or Zion. That simply can't happen, especially with no help defense. Granted, we won't face another Zion or Barrett all year...but that is common sense at best. Of course they are going to torch us if we make it that easy.

Offensively, the most important element is that we need one of the PG's to step up. I think Quickley can be that guy, but he needs to get comfortable with himself and provide some scoring. The kid can score. For some reason, it just hasn't clicked yet. I think that will open up a lot of opportunities for our bigs. The rest is philosophical. Cal has to embrace that we are a post-dominant team. That's a little out of the norm for him, but I think he will. For us to be as good as we can be, he has no choice in my opinion.

Bottom line: It was ugly. We lost. Duke is better than us right now. I think they would have beaten any team in America last night with how perfectly they executed (and their unlikely 3pt shooting success). We are still a talented, deep team with a lot of potential. As much as it stings losing to Duke in that fashion, give them their kudos and let's move on. I still think we can be a final four team with a chance to cut down the nets, but it's going to take a lot of work and some somewhat unfamiliar territory for Cal. But I trust him. He's proven himself over and over again that his teams peak in March.


Everything you pointed out all falls on the coach.
If they don't know how to play D then that's on the coach. He's holding the practices and been practicing for last couple months.
These guys are not amateurs or 7th graders been playing ball since they was little. Coach Cal been coaching some for 1.5 years now.

I've played ball and had several different coaches. At the 8th grade level most guys have a concept of different defenses, help defense, man to man, zones, basline traps, full court traps etc etc.. HS level will be more focused on intensity on D you have to be. College level is just a rehash of what you have learned previously and play on how coach wants you to play.
If you don't try then it's the bench.

If our guys are so stupid (which I don't believe) then it's on Cal for bringing them in.

What I saw was a piss poor coached team. They been playing piss poor prior to last night's debacle.


Ten loss Cal
 
It was coaching. But the disparity in talent was shocking also. You can draw up defenses all day long but the way Reddish, Barrett and Zion were playing, you have to have the horses to stop them. Too be blunt, UK doesn’t.
As you said, the talent differential was shocking. Truthfully, I don’t watch all those high school all star games the way a lot of you guys do. I knew their reputations but last night was the first time I had actually seen Barrett and Williamson play. I couldn’t believe how good those guys were. And Cam Reddish ain’t no chump either. We don’t have that kind of talent, not even close.
 
Think hard about each team with Cal here. The majority were clueless on how to play. Just a bunch of standing around and one on one ball. There’s absolutely no plays. The closest thing Cal does to coaching is having someone feed the post or set a screen.
 
We just don’t have any real superstar scoring threats this year. It appears we do next year, with Maxie and Whitley. Those two seem like killers that can be a go to guy. I think that’s what we are lacking.
 
ADVERTISEMENT