IMO, the main theme of this game was that this was one of the first games UK played this year against a team that ran man-to-man defense for the entire game against Kentucky. And it showed. Kentucky struggled somewhat against Alabama's man to man, as well. Kentucky missed a lot of easy shots that will fall in later games when the team learns to expect that certain looks will be there. Still, there was no shortage of intrigue from the UK bench against Vandy. Calipari had several points of emphasis that came through loud and clear. A few notes…
(1) Clutch: down the stretch Kentucky scored or went to the line on 12 of its final 15 possessions, including 7 of the last 8. Sometimes, you do not demoralize a team by blowing them out, but by matching their best punches blow for blow. To rub salt in the wound, UK did not use an ounce of complexity down the stretch, but simply won by improvising and overpowering Vandy. Take Andrew's incredible drive: that was a simple high post screen that he took, saw a gap, and went strong.
(2) An astonishing 15 times, Kentucky forced the ball into the post area, resulting in a turnover or a badly missed shot, before ever setting up the offense. Vandy anticipated UK's post entry game very well and should be commended. But not too much: Calipari's game plan coming out of the gate was to force the issue very early in each possession on half of UK's possessions and to stick with this ratio come hell or high water. Even when we were turning the ball over, he kept calling similar plays until UK got it right (which they never did). Cal seemed okay with Vandy calling the right game plan; he wanted UK to execute the game plan regardless of what Vandy was doing. Andrew, in particular, forced the issue on numerous occasions, but only because he was following orders.
(3) Because UK made so many mistakes early in the possession, it might be tempting to conclude that UK was inefficient on offense. They weren't. UK scored or went to the free throw line on 21/40 of their true half court possessions, which is almost the exact same percentage obtained at Alabama. Again, early mistakes, UK's stubbornness, and Vandy's familiarity with UK's game plan made things look a lot worse than they were.
(4) Calipari's game plan in the half-court offense went down like this:
--About 50% of the plays were variations of curls, with guards starting out low and coming around anywhere from 1-3 screens. These plays involved lots of flashes, fakes, and an amazingly large number of resets. You could even hear Calipari yell out "do it again" several times when the first effort at a play did not work.
--About 15% of the time, Calipari called for a double down screen, with two post players setting a pick for a curling wing. Booker, Aaron, Hawkins, and Lyles were the recipients.
--About 10% of the time, Calipari called a backdoor play for Lyles. A clear trend is emerging for Calipari to call Lyles's name against a man-to-man defense. Lyles needs to shoot earlier in his possessions or pass back out, IMO. He and a few others got caught in no man's land tonight.
--On two straight plays, Calipari ran a vintage DDMO and it worked like a charm. It was at the 6:11 mark in the first half, involved Ulis, Booker, and Lyles, and it darn near made me salivate, even though both plays lasted just a few seconds each. Calipari saw that it worked and promptly put it in his back pocket, using it only once more for the rest of the game. Again, he was very committed to his game plan of forcing the issue early, even when it was not working.
--About 15% of the plays were confusing as heck, with neither players, coaches, or myself knowing exactly what was happening. There were players bumping into each other, three man weaves that went nowhere, and most of the time, Vandy generally knew exactly what we were going to run.
--About 5-10% of the plays entailed two posts lining the key on either side, with guards circling the floor around them. It was a beautiful experiment that worked when it was used.
(5) Vandy is to be commended, but at least 12 of their points came off of poor turnovers associated with 4/5 of our players being caught on the baseline and nobody back to help defend. In each case, these turnovers came from forcing the issue into the post or missing bad shots. I'm not saying that Cal was sandbagging, but there was a lot he could have done to make this win more comfortable that he did not do, including going back to the DDMO or abandoning the early post feed. Clearly, he wants his team to learn how to strike quickly on offense.
(6) On second viewing, Vandy was both a very good ball handling team and a team that did a lot of grabbing on defense. That's not an indictment. They did what they had to do and the refs let them do it. They are a good team, period. It's just that I saw more fouls on the replay than I did in real time, and it usually runs the opposite way for me on replays. Calipari said it best (and I'm paraphrasing): "Kentucky will always face teams that play out of their heads against us, because they HAVE to. It's the only way they can win." So give Vandy all the credit to which they are entitled.
(7) Calipari is perhaps the best out of bounds play-caller I've ever seen. UK was 1/2 tonight, with the miss being a wide open Lyles jumper he usually makes. His efficiency in this department is generally stellar.
(8) Underrated: Booker's first step, going both left and right. Do yourself a favor and watch the replays; it is a thing of beauty. He is a complete player.
(9) Another trend: It is becoming clear that Calipari loves having his wings start out down low and even stay there for much of a possession. What a luxury it is to have our bigs who can handle the ball well enough to pull this off.
(10) Because of the game plan, Aaron works a lot harder against man-to-man defenses than he does against a zone. I thought he was an MVP tonight.
(11) Our bigs are much further along in setting screens (both ball screens and off the ball screens) than our guards.
This post was edited on 1/21 3:13 AM by pascat
(1) Clutch: down the stretch Kentucky scored or went to the line on 12 of its final 15 possessions, including 7 of the last 8. Sometimes, you do not demoralize a team by blowing them out, but by matching their best punches blow for blow. To rub salt in the wound, UK did not use an ounce of complexity down the stretch, but simply won by improvising and overpowering Vandy. Take Andrew's incredible drive: that was a simple high post screen that he took, saw a gap, and went strong.
(2) An astonishing 15 times, Kentucky forced the ball into the post area, resulting in a turnover or a badly missed shot, before ever setting up the offense. Vandy anticipated UK's post entry game very well and should be commended. But not too much: Calipari's game plan coming out of the gate was to force the issue very early in each possession on half of UK's possessions and to stick with this ratio come hell or high water. Even when we were turning the ball over, he kept calling similar plays until UK got it right (which they never did). Cal seemed okay with Vandy calling the right game plan; he wanted UK to execute the game plan regardless of what Vandy was doing. Andrew, in particular, forced the issue on numerous occasions, but only because he was following orders.
(3) Because UK made so many mistakes early in the possession, it might be tempting to conclude that UK was inefficient on offense. They weren't. UK scored or went to the free throw line on 21/40 of their true half court possessions, which is almost the exact same percentage obtained at Alabama. Again, early mistakes, UK's stubbornness, and Vandy's familiarity with UK's game plan made things look a lot worse than they were.
(4) Calipari's game plan in the half-court offense went down like this:
--About 50% of the plays were variations of curls, with guards starting out low and coming around anywhere from 1-3 screens. These plays involved lots of flashes, fakes, and an amazingly large number of resets. You could even hear Calipari yell out "do it again" several times when the first effort at a play did not work.
--About 15% of the time, Calipari called for a double down screen, with two post players setting a pick for a curling wing. Booker, Aaron, Hawkins, and Lyles were the recipients.
--About 10% of the time, Calipari called a backdoor play for Lyles. A clear trend is emerging for Calipari to call Lyles's name against a man-to-man defense. Lyles needs to shoot earlier in his possessions or pass back out, IMO. He and a few others got caught in no man's land tonight.
--On two straight plays, Calipari ran a vintage DDMO and it worked like a charm. It was at the 6:11 mark in the first half, involved Ulis, Booker, and Lyles, and it darn near made me salivate, even though both plays lasted just a few seconds each. Calipari saw that it worked and promptly put it in his back pocket, using it only once more for the rest of the game. Again, he was very committed to his game plan of forcing the issue early, even when it was not working.
--About 15% of the plays were confusing as heck, with neither players, coaches, or myself knowing exactly what was happening. There were players bumping into each other, three man weaves that went nowhere, and most of the time, Vandy generally knew exactly what we were going to run.
--About 5-10% of the plays entailed two posts lining the key on either side, with guards circling the floor around them. It was a beautiful experiment that worked when it was used.
(5) Vandy is to be commended, but at least 12 of their points came off of poor turnovers associated with 4/5 of our players being caught on the baseline and nobody back to help defend. In each case, these turnovers came from forcing the issue into the post or missing bad shots. I'm not saying that Cal was sandbagging, but there was a lot he could have done to make this win more comfortable that he did not do, including going back to the DDMO or abandoning the early post feed. Clearly, he wants his team to learn how to strike quickly on offense.
(6) On second viewing, Vandy was both a very good ball handling team and a team that did a lot of grabbing on defense. That's not an indictment. They did what they had to do and the refs let them do it. They are a good team, period. It's just that I saw more fouls on the replay than I did in real time, and it usually runs the opposite way for me on replays. Calipari said it best (and I'm paraphrasing): "Kentucky will always face teams that play out of their heads against us, because they HAVE to. It's the only way they can win." So give Vandy all the credit to which they are entitled.
(7) Calipari is perhaps the best out of bounds play-caller I've ever seen. UK was 1/2 tonight, with the miss being a wide open Lyles jumper he usually makes. His efficiency in this department is generally stellar.
(8) Underrated: Booker's first step, going both left and right. Do yourself a favor and watch the replays; it is a thing of beauty. He is a complete player.
(9) Another trend: It is becoming clear that Calipari loves having his wings start out down low and even stay there for much of a possession. What a luxury it is to have our bigs who can handle the ball well enough to pull this off.
(10) Because of the game plan, Aaron works a lot harder against man-to-man defenses than he does against a zone. I thought he was an MVP tonight.
(11) Our bigs are much further along in setting screens (both ball screens and off the ball screens) than our guards.
This post was edited on 1/21 3:13 AM by pascat
