Cal's coaching tonight was outstanding

[liveblue92]

Completely took Allen and Ingram out of the game. He corrected the rebounding problems we had early on. Told our guards to take them off the dribble at every chance. He just let Ulis take over down the stretch. Great coaching job by Cal. He completely out coached K tonight.

 

[buckkiller]

He put on a coaching clinic!!

 

[brianpoe]

Have never seen a team simply improve that much during one game.

These kids will be lethal.

 

[WildMoon]

Coach cal usually does amazing job. reason why he's won so many games.

 

[UKCatnNC]

Well, Cal has been at the OAD longer. Go Cats!!

 

[*CatinIL*]

Yep...he did good!

 

[TNCatfanforever]

Well, Cal has been at the OAD longer. Go Cats!!

Cal has finally learned that you can't totally stall with a lead and 5 min left...tonight we kept playing until about the 3 min mark.

 

[WeWant9]

Ulis is becoming a little Cal clone. Hell, even the interviewer was saying he sounded like Cal. Having a PG and a coach that insync will pay huge dividends. The 2nd half we took some gut punches, but we'd find ways to go down and score.

 

[kyjeff1]

We call Coach Cal out when he screws up or gets outcoached so this thread needs to go 10 pages and Cut Nets needs to get in here too. Cal deserves some praise.
Hell of a job tonight Cal.

 

[BostonCat2001]

game plan was brilliant.

 

[mj2k10]

The defense, particularly the perimeter defense, was astonishingly good. They fell asleep on a couple of Matt Jones' 3's, and one from Allen, but in general UK completely smothered Duke's guards. UK hit the jackpot on Briscoe and Murray in a lot of ways, but one of the most obvious is that they're the rare freshmen who are clearly willing and able to play high level D right from the start of the year.

And Cal drilling it into guys to attack the basket was key. That's Cal's default mode, but we got a stark example tonight of how much of a difference athleticism makes. Jones and Kennard are a step slow compared to UK's guys, Allen is merely OK, and while Thornton has decent quickness he's also smallish and lacks strength. When UK attacked the lane and didn't settle for jumpshots, Duke had 0 answers. In the 2nd half, every time Ulis or Murray started a drive, I thought it might end up as a layup for them or a dunk for someone else on UK. And every time Duke's guards were handling the ball it seemed like a TO was imminent.

Scary good performance for so early in the year. With just a few plays here or there, UK could have won this game by 20. I'm sure Duke will have better performances, but they have a long, long, long way to go to get to where UK was tonight.

 

[ganner918]

Great job by Cal tonight. Great game plan and great adjustments.

 

[katwest]

Yea he did do a great job despite the refs efforts to take our big's out with a few phantom calls.

 

[irishcat1965]

We call Coach Cal out when he screws up or gets outcoached so this thread needs to go 10 pages and Cut Nets needs to get in here too. Cal deserves some praise.
Hell of a job tonight Cal.

You won't find Cut Nets or 3rex anywhere tonite.

 

[preacherfan]

I love what Cal did with Poy tonight. He told him to get in there and fight. His confidence in Poy will pay off big time this year.

 

[liveblue92]

I think cal used the first two games as practice for tonight. I questioned why we were pressing Albany and NJIT, getting beat down court for easy buckets. I get it now. Cal wanted to press Duke because they lacked a true PG, and it worked to perfection. Dudes were wore out from the constant pressure. It took Duke completely out of their rhythm.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Have never seen a team simply improve that much during one game.

These kids will be lethal.

Ulis and Murray already are.

 

[kyjeff1]

You won't find Cut Nets or 3rex anywhere tonite.

Actually cut Nets just posted something positive in another thread but I don't know which one. Been in a lot if threads tonight.

 

[zannmann]

Great job by Cal tonight. Made substitutions as needed.

 

[NineSec95]

 

[rockhound24]

I was wondering if someone would start a thread about Cal's coaching today. Great game plan and adjustments by Cal. He was by far the better coach tonight!

 

[Bill Bryson's Beard]

Cal has finally learned that you can't totally stall with a lead and 5 min left...tonight we kept playing until about the 3 min mark.

If anything good can come from that Wisconsin game, it's this.

 

[IL Wildcat]

He adjusts to the strengths of his players about as well as any coach I've ever seen. Many coaches are system guys. Pitino is a good example. Either play his system his way or sit down. But Cal adapts and always seems to have his guys playing to their strengths. He's done well with this group already.

 

[runt#69]

big bump for coach cal !

 

[Montana81]

Yeah good call. Cal was great tonight.

 

[screwduke]

Cut Nets still thinks Cal sucked tonight.

 

[kybassfan]

Cut Nets still thinks Cal sucked tonight.

Who gives a crap what that Dukie thinks? I guess Rat Face watched too much film.

 

[irishcat1965]

You could tell the last few days Cal wanted this game badly. He was the superior coach tonight and it wasn't close.

 

[-LEK-]

Good thread OP. Cal's plan of attack was perfect. We carved up their defense, and just kept driving.

 

[Raroyder]

This is totally what I took away from tonight: great game plan AND adjustments. Early on, I felt we were outplaying Duke, but they were just crushing us on the glass and getting those second chances. I did like how early on, defensively we just flat out DARED them to take it to the rack, because we will either swat it back or alter the shot.

Unfortunately, and partially because of this, Plumlee was gobbling up all the garbage he could ever want. Notice the aggressive help we got inside after misses as the game went on? Lee and Poythress were MEN inside on the glass after the early portion of the game.

We made it an emphasis not to let Plumlee and Amile embarrass us inside; instead that's how we continued to control the game. Offensively, our guard play dominated. They could not stop our quickness/poise combination, and Cal relentlessly put the ball in the hands of our guards (instead of playing post up basketball).

Start off with the BAM, and end with the JAMS. How can you not love Coach Cal.

 

[UKCatnNC]

Yea he did do a great job despite the refs efforts to take our big's out with a few phantom calls.

A couple of calls on Skal were obscene. The official, or officials who made those calls, and particularly the last one, should be embarrassed by just how bad they were. Go Cats!!

 

[Blueathletics]

Cal has finally learned that you can't totally stall with a lead and 5 min left...tonight we kept playing until about the 3 min mark.

The new shot clock forced his hand

 

[FlCATFan]

Cal was fantastic. So much for Coach K stealing his formula for One and Done. Cal's the master at that.

This game also gave him one of the best teaching tools available. Early on the bigs were getting punished under the basket. Skal, Marcus, and company are going to be reviewing game tape on how to correct that.

 

[BBUK]

We call Coach Cal out when he screws up or gets outcoached so this thread needs to go 10 pages and Cut Nets needs to get in here too. Cal deserves some praise.
Hell of a job tonight Cal.

Yeah, right....-N. Russell

 

[BBUK]

Actually cut Nets just posted something positive in another thread but I don't know which one. Been in a lot if threads tonight.

You know his sister or brother was using his account.

 

[Mike-D]

Has anyone checked on Cut-Nuts to make sure she's okay? Keep us updated.

 

[BBUK]

Has anyone checked on Cut-Nuts to make sure she's okay? Keep us updated.

No check necessary....just wish it well and hope it leaves...

 

[rabidcatfan]

Yea he did do a great job despite the refs efforts to take our big's out with a few phantom calls.

Actually, I think that the game was called pretty fair for the most part, despite it being a Duke game. There were a few bad calls, but nothing blatantly bad and nothing more than we'll see in any other game this season.

 

[jrpross]

A couple of calls on Skal were obscene. The official, or officials who made those calls, and particularly the last one, should be embarrassed by just how bad they were. Go Cats!!

Just watching the game now. I'm halfway through the first half and Skal's 2nd foul was that he basically spun around a defender. There was no contact whatsoever.

 

[Bodvar Bjarki]

You could tell Cal really wanted this game. He was intense.