College basketball rankings, grades: Tennessee, Auburn earn 'A+', Louisville gets 'F'
Auburn and Tennessee passed with flying colors, while Louisville, Okie State and Vanderbilt received "F" grades
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CBS grader gives UK a C, Dook a D and UL a F
- Thread starter Smashcat
- Start date
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If this is C grade UK then we’re winning the championship, the team I saw vs Georgia is going to be nearly impossible to beat. This team has so much potential!
This.
I was telling friends yesterday that it's becoming increasingly difficult to defend Kentucky. UK still has about 60 days to polish the machine before the more difficult tournament games begin. The defense will improve, and the offense is already the best in the country.
You have to love the upside of this squad.
With 60 days to improve before the Sweet Sixteen round, I like our odds of getting that defense up to a C-.
That's all we really need with this team's offense.
Our offense is like a Douglas Murray debate performance.
Our defense is like a Malcolm Gladwell debate performance.
We just need our defense to climb a bit to Sam Harris level.
I looked up a crazy stat from the 1996 Wildcats.
They averaged 91.4 points per game for the season, and only gave up 69.4 points per game.
They scored 100 or more 10 times, and they scored at least 118 points six times.
So when Jack Pilgrim and his sensationalist buddies say, "We've never seen anything like this offensively", they either have short term memories, or they weren't old enough to see the greatest team in modern college basketball.
I wonder what percentage of their points came from fast breaks vs half court offense.
Good question.
That team could score in so many ways. Epps' post-entry passes were elite.
I’d give us a B-.
Offense: We get pushed around a bit on the inside and struggle a tad to finish strong at the rim. That’s about the ONLY weakness I can find. Spacing, sharing, ball movement is very strong. Still a solid A.
Defense: Solid at times, but can break down quickly. Weak side help slow to recover. Our Big guys get pushed around. Given all of this, we are close. It will be interesting to see how we develop/improve over the next 4 weeks. C-
Offense: We get pushed around a bit on the inside and struggle a tad to finish strong at the rim. That’s about the ONLY weakness I can find. Spacing, sharing, ball movement is very strong. Still a solid A.
Defense: Solid at times, but can break down quickly. Weak side help slow to recover. Our Big guys get pushed around. Given all of this, we are close. It will be interesting to see how we develop/improve over the next 4 weeks. C-
That is very crazy. But, in support of this year's team the stats say they averaged a little less than this year's team is currently averaging. So, with all those very high scoring games they must have had a number of lower scoring games to being the average down. My point would be - is this year's team more consultant, so far, than the '96 team since we hit near our average almost every game? Things to ponder.Let that sink in. 118 or more, SIX TIMES. That's crazy.
I still really like the underdog, middle of the pack type of critiques. Thought that from the beginning with Cal’s lowest preseason ranking.
Will make it all the sweeter when these Cats prove those prognosticators short sighted illiterates.
Will make it all the sweeter when these Cats prove those prognosticators short sighted illiterates.
Maybe us playing defense like Loyola Marymount the rest of the season and then play like nails, will definitely have less contact and less sprained ankles, butt bruises and injuries in a whole. It's just a way you look at it. Never seen too many injuries in a scrimmage where scoring is a priority but when defense is, total different ballgame. Be careful what you wish for.
Go Cats!!
Go Cats!!
This team hasn't even had every eligible player available yet. Theiro on the bench and big Z only one game under his belt. A bunch of freshmen improving daily.
This current team wouldn't touch 96.....but the team in March might make it interesting.
Time will tell.
I thought the defense was reasonable for the first 28 or so minutes given the pace of the game. The last 12 minutes were really frustrating but I don’t necessarily know how alarmed I should be given the combo of refs and our team clearly just coasting after being up 26. I also don’t know how working in Z changed things, plus we’re still missing Thiero.
Yes, the defense needs to get better. But I was annoyed rather than alarmed at the way we ended the game.
Yes, the defense needs to get better. But I was annoyed rather than alarmed at the way we ended the game.
Statistically, this team and the 96 team are close on offense. I stated earlier (above) that our defense is showing moments of being pretty solid. But we have multiple break downs. Interesting fact: This team is 7 points on the defensive end in matching the 1996 team.
If we improve a bit on the defensive side, you are correct. Our March team would make things very interesting. And that’s saying a lot!
The 96 squad scored a lot off full court defense induced turnovers and rattled opposing players.
The 96 squad scored 86 in the FIRST HALF at LSU.
"Pushed around" = illegal sealing and more than 3 seconds in the lane. If Cal can get the refs' attention, that stops.
Defense actually was dramatically improved in the first half of UGA. The 2nd half they had such a lead, you could see them lay back and just let Georgia go at it (61 points in a half isn't a good metric...).
The worst defensive team to win the title since 2002 had a defensive ranking of 22nd according to Ken Pom. We are currently ranked 73rd and dropping. We were in the 40's just before the start of the SEC schedule.
Our defense definitely has to get better and we’ve got to finish teams off. Had we finished Georgia our grade would be different.
Cant blame them for giving a C to a team that plays such poor defense.
Cant blame them for giving a C to a team that plays such poor defense.
To be for real the defense was damn good 70% of that game we just have to bring it for 40 minutes no matter how much we score or are up.
Georgia got the benefit of some head scratching calls in the 2nd half when we were hammering them into submission. 5-0 in fouls the first 4 minutes. I'm not sure there were fouls on either 3 point shots that went in. Give the UGA credit for kicking his legs into the vertical plane of the defender, falling down, and getting bailed out by the officials.
They closed the gap in garbage time when it really didn't matter.
They closed the gap in garbage time when it really didn't matter.
Yeah let’s play all out all the time, beat teams by 50 and peak in January. SMH
Right now I would say Kentuckys defense is like that W they put on your transcript when you withdraw from a course In college
The defense and closing out games needs to get better, no doubt. I do find it funny that former college players/coaches, who cover the sport, all seem to rave about this UK team. It’s the regular media members who make this team out to be some middle of the pack type college team.
Statistically (other than PPG defense which is often influenced mostly by game tempo) aren’t the Cats at least average already?
C seems very unfair and biased. Yes, we can be better, especially defensively but all the pieces are there and they were there even before Z became eligible. This is a very young team that is improving. If you want to give us a C, I would suggest we have a far higher ceiling than any other team in the country.
Watching 3 GA lay-ups off of own-basket, out-of-bounds plays = “F” for Defense — heck it could have easily been 4 but an easy in-bounds lay-up was missed.
Only thing worse was UK football only having 10 men on D, and giving 2 easy TDs to UF.
Heck, even the announcer on Sat said (paraphrase): “…one of UKs assistants is squirming in their seat “— whomever is responsible for that D. — what he doesnt realize is that this is just usual and customary practice!!
Only thing worse was UK football only having 10 men on D, and giving 2 easy TDs to UF.
Heck, even the announcer on Sat said (paraphrase): “…one of UKs assistants is squirming in their seat “— whomever is responsible for that D. — what he doesnt realize is that this is just usual and customary practice!!
Full Court Press
back in the 90's, for whatever reason the full court press really caused trouble for most teams. It not like that anymore. But our press led to many more possessions, quick easy scores and fewer possessions for the opponents
back in the 90's, for whatever reason the full court press really caused trouble for most teams. It not like that anymore. But our press led to many more possessions, quick easy scores and fewer possessions for the opponents
Teams used lineups with less capable ball handlers 2-5 in the 90's. It's easier to force turnovers when over half the players on the court aren't great at dribbling in the the full court.
They just destroyed teams. Pitino’s defenses would propel this team to the championship:
Tennessee looked like the real deal against Bama’s offense. Auburn looked like the real deal, but I don’t think OM is nearly as good as Bama. Game against UT will be our best indicator of how well we handle a good to great defense, because we’re sure to run into a few of them in March
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