Cal and zone offense

[CUT-NETS]

Cal in his post game presser admitted that his team hadn't really worked on any zone offense yet and thus struggled a bit when Albany threw zone at them.

Given Cal's history with struggling against the zone and it being the recipe so many teams use against us, is anyone else surprised that Cal hasn't placed more emphasis on it? I was shocked when he said that in the presser. He said he thought Albany would play them "man". Why would he think that?

 

[kyjeff1]

He just hasn't had enough time yet to work on it but with the shooters this team has they won't see too many zones.
Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill.

 

[UKrazycat2]

Like my 108 year old Grandmaw said to my 112 year old Grandpaw, "Yer schtick is really old".

 

[Joneslab]

Looks like everything was a little glitchy. Zone offense. Help defense. The press. Having guys on the same page. The DDMO (which looks like it's more "random" than the traditional DDMO) was hit and miss. Guys were throwing passes behind people.

The reason: it's November 14.

But this team shouldn't see a ton of zone. It's going to be able to shoot most teams out of it.

Albany went to the zone a couple of times last night it looked like, but I think this team is different than last year in that we'll see a lot more man-to-man. People aren't going to be frightened of our post presence.

 

[ulismyman]

Yes im very surprised OP...i'm not one of those who thinks just because you have s legit observation you are stirring the pot. Its a concern we never work on zone offense thats because Cal hates zone and doesnt work on it

 

[Mike-D]

First game of the season with a brand new team. That's all I'm gonna say about it.

 

[Teachable Moe]

He doesn't coach zone because they won't see it in the NBA.

 

[CatPhight]

This team will carve up the zone like the Christmas Goose as the season progresses.

 

[throatpoker]

He's said the same exact thing to start every single season since arriving here, maybe before, but I didn't follow. Amazing how predictable his post game pressers have become.

 

[UKrazycat2]

We don't work on attacking a zone defense(zone offense) because Coach doesn't like to use a zone defense much? Makes perfect sense.

Yes im very surprised OP...i'm not one of those who thinks just because you have s legit observation you are stirring the pot. Its a concern we never work on zone offense thats because Cal hates zone and doesnt work on it

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Farrrrr Cal!!!!

 

[Nubb16]

This isn't a team that will be zoned a lot just like 2011. We have the shooters to bust a zone up bad after we get t all together

 

[JohnBlue_]

History of struggling against the zone? What team have you been watching.... I love it when a team goes zone against UK, those are the easy wins.

Cal is so successful because he does not play down to weak teams but instead focuses on the strengths of his team and forces teams to beat them. Hard to argue with the success he's had doing it his way.

 

[The_Answer1313]

So many inaccuracies

Struggle to score vs zone?

Don't practice against the zone?

What evidence does anyone have of this? lol.

 

[tmuck]

Mods, just pull the trigger while it's still early. I don't wanna put up with this clown all season.

 

[Double Tay]

 

[Tummygoat]

Seems odd knowing that's how every team plays us. I guess that's how he keeps teams improving as season goes forward.

 

[Mike-D]

Seems odd knowing that's how every team plays us. I guess that's how he keeps teams improving as season goes forward.

You think every team is going to zone us this year?

 

[spotter34]

Cal in his post game presser admitted that his team hadn't really worked on any zone offense yet and thus struggled a bit when Albany threw zone at them.

Given Cal's history with struggling against the zone and it being the recipe so many teams use against us, is anyone else surprised that Cal hasn't placed more emphasis on it? I was shocked when he said that in the presser. He said he thought Albany would play them "man". Why would he think that?

You think that maybe Cal has higher priority items he prefers to work on this early in the season with so many new faces? Do you honestly think Cal has geared his preseason prep work based on what Albany and NJIT will throw at his team?

I guarantee you he's focused on preparing his team for the dUKe game. Do you think coach K will have his team play zone against us? In case you're not sure, the answer is NO!

 

[ulismyman]

Did you listen to postgame last nite??? Of course you didnt. He said Albany threw a zone at them they hadnt practiced against.thats why they had deer in headlights look

 

[Joneslab]

Did you listen to postgame last nite??? Of course you didnt. He said Albany threw a zone at them they hadnt practiced against.thats why they had deer in headlights look

Yeah, it was weird. I couldn't even tell it was a zone at one point. Looked like they might've been doing what teams did last year: play for a little in man and then switch mid-possession. It was definitely some kind of unusual match-up.

This is where some Kentucky fans are in a vacuum. Teams jump into defenses all the time and it confuses the other team. This is what mid- and low-majors do on the regular. What happens is that you can often put a team in a funk for a possession or two, but once they figure it out they get into the mis-matches.

Cal's teams tend to struggle against the zone at times because he wants the ball to go into the post first. When you can't do that it takes a natural adjustment.

 

[DwayneMeighan]

I'm going to just take a guess and say they haven't had a chance to work on it yet because they haven't had the time. This is a brand new team with lots of newcoming freshmen playing key roles. I'm sure there are plenty of other things that had to be taught and worked on that took priority over zone offense.

 

[CUT-NETS]

History of struggling against the zone? What team have you been watching.... I love it when a team goes zone against UK, those are the easy wins.

Cal is so successful because he does not play down to weak teams but instead focuses on the strengths of his team and forces teams to beat them. Hard to argue with the success he's had doing it his way.

Just thought Cal would have learned his lesson after 2010 when Huggy-Bear threw zone at Cal and defeated what was one of the most talented rosters in the history of college basketball. Cal had absolutely no clue on how to attack that zone and he had Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe on the same team.

It's not like there are ten thousand different half-court defenses to prepare for and you prioritize them. There is man and zone. Obviously there are variations that can be thrown out of any, but Cal said specifically in his post game presser "we haven't worked on any zone stuff yet". Just shocks me as he has been bitten in his past by the inability to attack a zone. You would think that he would find some time, or make some time to work on it so he doesn't get bitten again.

Let's not act like we drilled Albany. Their zone gave us problems. Someone mentioned Coach K earlier and said he would go man against us for sure........that's not true. Last season Coach K, in a move that was uncharacteristic for him, went full on zone against UL because he knew they would struggle against it. They drilled UL. Coach K proved that he could make and adjustment to win the game not just be stubbornly stuck in his ways.

Again, surprised Cal isn't working on any zone offense in the preseason seeing how it's not necessarily a rare defense or something that's just not worth his time. But maybe another poster is right, NBA plays man and Cal is mostly about preparing his guys for the league. Which I understand that.

 

[WitnessGreatness]

Zone is also terrible

 

[CUT-NETS]

Did you listen to postgame last nite??? Of course you didnt. He said Albany threw a zone at them they hadnt practiced against.thats why they had deer in headlights look

Exactly. I just don't know how you can run a team out there with no experience in practice against the zone. Then again, Cal admitted last season that he didn't watch any film on Wisconsin last season so he definitely has his methods. Just worry that inability to attack a zone, like last night, could bite us in the end like it has before.

 

[Untouchables22]

I'm with the OP....my issue is that Cal publicly admitted that we haven't practiced against Zone....we have to play the best coach in the country on Tuesday and you shouldn't be admitting publicly that your team isn't prepared to defend something with very little to no practice time to fix the problem. I guarantee you that K was told about those comments and if we pull ahead of Duke he might throw a zone at us now. It's okay that we haven't practiced zone offense but don't publicly announce it with an elite opponent on the horizon why take the risk!!!! I'll never forget in 2012 when Self went triangle and 2 late against North Carolina and Roy Williams was a deer in headlights paralyzed to figure out what was going on and how to run offense against it. Once the games start counting gotta be prepared for all the "gimmick" defenses.

 

[goforitcats]

Just thought Cal would have learned his lesson after 2010 when Huggy-Bear threw zone at Cal and defeated what was one of the most talented rosters in the history of college basketball. Cal had absolutely no clue on how to attack that zone and he had Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe on the same team.

It's not like there are ten thousand different half-court defenses to prepare for and you prioritize them. There is man and zone. Obviously there are variations that can be thrown out of any, but Cal said specifically in his post game presser "we haven't worked on any zone stuff yet". Just shocks me as he has been bitten in his past by the inability to attack a zone. You would think that he would find some time, or make some time to work on it so he doesn't get bitten again.

Let's not act like we drilled Albany. Their zone gave us problems. Someone mentioned Coach K earlier and said he would go man against us for sure........that's not true. Last season Coach K, in a move that was uncharacteristic for him, went full on zone against UL because he knew they would struggle against it. They drilled UL. Coach K proved that he could make and adjustment to win the game not just be stubbornly stuck in his ways.

Again, surprised Cal isn't working on any zone offense in the preseason seeing how it's not necessarily a rare defense or something that's just not worth his time. But maybe another poster is right, NBA plays man and Cal is mostly about preparing his guys for the league. Which I understand that.

Do you really?

 

[kybassfan]

I know one thing that sucks worse than Cal's zone offense supposedly sucks.


That's a fan that whines about a zone offense after the first game of the season. Now that's some suckage right there.

 

[Blue Decade]

Cal in his post game presser admitted that his team hadn't really worked on any zone offense yet and thus struggled a bit when Albany threw zone at them.

Given Cal's history with struggling against the zone and it being the recipe so many teams use against us, is anyone else surprised that Cal hasn't placed more emphasis on it? I was shocked when he said that in the presser. He said he thought Albany would play them "man". Why would he think that?

I noticed some 1-3-1 zone offense last night and remarked about it to the other people in the room. This may be a way to get better shots for Labissiere since he isn't physically strong enough to fight for good position on the low block. Calipari continues to make adjustments to get the best out of his personnel.

 

[CUT-NETS]

I know one thing that sucks worse than Cal's zone offense supposedly sucks.


That's a fan that whines about a zone offense after the first game of the season. Now that's some suckage right there.

There is a reason you are defensive and I'm with you. I hate to see Cal's inability to attack the zone cost us.

 

[Poetax]

Cal in his post game presser admitted that his team hadn't really worked on any zone offense yet and thus struggled a bit when Albany threw zone at them.

Given Cal's history with struggling against the zone and it being the recipe so many teams use against us, is anyone else surprised that Cal hasn't placed more emphasis on it? I was shocked when he said that in the presser. He said he thought Albany would play them "man". Why would he think that?

He still has the problem of teaching it to the new group. And you know he's going to teach man to man defense first.

 

[Blue Decade]

I hate to see Cal's inability to attack the zone cost us.

Is this a joke?

 

[kybassfan]

There is a reason you are defensive and I'm with you. I hate to see Cal's inability to attack the zone cost us.

Naw. I'm just making fun of you.