On being the engineer of the zone defense UK is using some now:
Well, I’m the engineer only when it works. When it doesn’t work, I’ll put it back on Cal. But no, we played zone quite a bit at some of the other spots I was at, so I’m familiar with teaching it. As far back as I’ve known Cal – and everybody knows how long I’ve known him and played for him and worked for him, all those things – he hates zone. Let’s put it that way. You guys all know that. I just stay in his ear that there are some teams that I think we can use the zone against and it’ll be fairly effective and some that we can’t. It took him getting thrown out of the South Carolina game for us to play it for half a game, and it was fairly effective. But I think he understands it, too, that zone, sometimes you can’t give a team a steady diet of one thing. And then we’ve got a good zone team, too. We’ve got good length. We’ve got good quickness. Our guys are smart and really play well off each other in the zone.
On why Calipari hates zone defense:
I think it comes down to accountability. That's why his teams have always been so good defensively. He's been able to hold everybody accountable out of the man to man, whether you stopped your man, whether you were in the right position in help. So it's easier to do that than it is in zone.
On if he was happy for the opportunity to play zone after Calipari got ejected at South Carolina:
(Laughs) No, actually we needed it because the foul trouble our bigs were in in that game, so we had to out of necessity.
On if he's surprised by the players embracing zone:
No. Our guys are excited about it. We work on it quite a bit in practice because you never know when you're gonna need it. We've struggled guarding the dribble some this year, and I've always been in coaches ear. It's a good way to stop dribble penetration, is out of that zone. And it worked in that game.
On if Calipari turns his back to the floor when they switch to zone:
(Laughs) No, but the first time they make a shot when we got to the zone then he's in my ear.
More from presser:
http://kentucky.247sports.com/Board/296/Contents/QA-Tony-Barbee-pre-Alabama-43861684
Well, I’m the engineer only when it works. When it doesn’t work, I’ll put it back on Cal. But no, we played zone quite a bit at some of the other spots I was at, so I’m familiar with teaching it. As far back as I’ve known Cal – and everybody knows how long I’ve known him and played for him and worked for him, all those things – he hates zone. Let’s put it that way. You guys all know that. I just stay in his ear that there are some teams that I think we can use the zone against and it’ll be fairly effective and some that we can’t. It took him getting thrown out of the South Carolina game for us to play it for half a game, and it was fairly effective. But I think he understands it, too, that zone, sometimes you can’t give a team a steady diet of one thing. And then we’ve got a good zone team, too. We’ve got good length. We’ve got good quickness. Our guys are smart and really play well off each other in the zone.
On why Calipari hates zone defense:
I think it comes down to accountability. That's why his teams have always been so good defensively. He's been able to hold everybody accountable out of the man to man, whether you stopped your man, whether you were in the right position in help. So it's easier to do that than it is in zone.
On if he was happy for the opportunity to play zone after Calipari got ejected at South Carolina:
(Laughs) No, actually we needed it because the foul trouble our bigs were in in that game, so we had to out of necessity.
On if he's surprised by the players embracing zone:
No. Our guys are excited about it. We work on it quite a bit in practice because you never know when you're gonna need it. We've struggled guarding the dribble some this year, and I've always been in coaches ear. It's a good way to stop dribble penetration, is out of that zone. And it worked in that game.
On if Calipari turns his back to the floor when they switch to zone:
(Laughs) No, but the first time they make a shot when we got to the zone then he's in my ear.
More from presser:
http://kentucky.247sports.com/Board/296/Contents/QA-Tony-Barbee-pre-Alabama-43861684
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