Coaching Defense (effort/technique)

[Worf88]

The more I see, the more I think a lot of the defense issues is a lack of effort and bad technique/coaching.

An example, Fears does whatever he pleased in the first half. Second half Butler started guarding him quite a bit and when he did, Fears had a hard time even getting the ball let alone scoring. Butler would keep his eyes on Fears and the ball at all times and it eventually got to him to a point where he wasn’t even trying to get the ball and would just stand around.

Counter that with our other guards and they rarely ever, if ever, have an eye on the ball. They’re mostly just chasing the guy around not even trying to deny their man from getting the ball and are usually a full step or two behind the guy they’re chasing/guarding. Oweh is the exception to this most of the time. But with them not trying to deny their man the ball and not having the speed to stay in front of the guy, they’re basically cooked when their guy gets the ball. Taking better angles while guarding on the ball would help this but they don’t do that well either. Surely this is stuff they’ve been told to do?

One other little thing. On offense teams are clearly playing to not let us shoot 3’s. If we don’t hit 3’s then we likely aren’t beating decent teams. Our shooters aren’t quick enough to get quality shots running off Amari’s screens so why isn’t Carr or Almanor coming up to set a double screen? The chance to get a good shot from Brea off a double screen, a pass back to Carr/Ansley for a 3 or a good matchup from a switch goes way up. But it seems like we continue to do the same thing we always do regardless of whether it works or not and that goes for both ends of the floor. Early in the year Pope would change things up if needed but that’s been non existent since December pretty much.

 

[oldsports_]

The more I see, the more I think a lot of the defense issues is a lack of effort and bad technique/coaching.

An example, Fears does whatever he pleased in the first half. Second half Butler started guarding him quite a bit and when he did, Fears had a hard time even getting the ball let alone scoring. Butler would keep his eyes on Fears and the ball at all times and it eventually got to him to a point where he wasn’t even trying to get the ball and would just stand around.

Counter that with our other guards and they rarely ever, if ever, have an eye on the ball. They’re mostly just chasing the guy around not even trying to deny their man from getting the ball and are usually a full step or two behind the guy they’re chasing/guarding. Oweh is the exception to this most of the time. But with them not trying to deny their man the ball and not having the speed to stay in front of the guy, they’re basically cooked when their guy gets the ball. Taking better angles while guarding on the ball would help this but they don’t do that well either. Surely this is stuff they’ve been told to do?

One other little thing. On offense teams are clearly playing to not let us shoot 3’s. If we don’t hit 3’s then we likely aren’t beating decent teams. Our shooters aren’t quick enough to get quality shots running off Amari’s screens so why isn’t Carr or Almanor coming up to set a double screen? The chance to get a good shot from Brea off a double screen, a pass back to Carr/Ansley for a 3 or a good matchup from a switch goes way up. But it seems like we continue to do the same thing we always do regardless of whether it works or not and that goes for both ends of the floor. Early in the year Pope would change things up if needed but that’s been non existent since December pretty much.

@MarkPope, hire this guy now. He can fix your problems.

 

[JonathanW]

I've always said DEFENSE is primarily EFFORT & playing smart. Yes, being athletic can certain help. I was average height, and overweight and always slow & couldn't jump, but I was a good defender (at least better than I should have been). I put in more effort on defense than on offense, not that I took offensive plays off (I didn't), but I was 100% on defense (& rebounding). I thought if I played my man tight enough without the ball, then the odds it got passed to him went way down. I played passing lanes, looked out for backdoor cuts, fought thru screens, kept eye on the ball and my man both at all times. Once he got the ball, I backed off some to try and protect the drives, which did allow jumpshots.

As for our offense, I just don't see enough movement. I want to see old Princeton offense type of constant movement. I want to see Brea non-stop moving to get open like Murray did in 2016.
It's also interesting that Butler did not have 1 assist Saturday. He needs to kick out to open man on some of those drives.

 

[catlogic15]

Auburns switches on defense were masterful. Takes talent mostly.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Oh here we go again with the effort stuff.

 

[Catapult]

We made some adjustments in 2nd half, going more inside. Too little to late but maybe something Pope tries sooner if we get them in SEC tourney.

 

[Worf88]

We made some adjustments in 2nd half, going more inside. Too little to late but maybe something Pope tries sooner if we get them in SEC tourney.

That’s one of the issues with Popes philosophy. If he does happen to make a change then it won’t be until the second half at the earliest. He’s repeatedly said at half he looks at all the data of the first half to see what’s working and what’s not. Some games you can’t afford to wait that long. Especially when your team can’t play defense and isn’t hitting 3’s like they were early in the year. We just can’t make enough 2’s and get enough stops to catch up.

 

[Edgarman]

We made some adjustments in 2nd half, going more inside. Too little to late but maybe something Pope tries sooner if we get them in SEC tourney.

Our best hope is we do not see Auburn again. This year, we are not beating Auburn regardless of the adjustments. They are on a different level than us and most everyone else in the country, including Duke.

 

[TucsonCat]

Finally. Someone is imparting their middle school basketball knowledge to 9 year professional player and head coach of University of Kentucky.

 

[mcnicKY91]

Finally. Someone is imparting their middle school basketball knowledge to 9 year professional player and head coach of University of Kentucky.

Well unfortunately the nine year professional who is currently the head coach of UK looks to have a middle school defense, and unfortunately, that has been a problem everywhere he has been.

Fans are in for a rude awakening if they think Pope is just going to change his colors defensively...it ain't happening.

 

[Edgarman]

Well unfortunately the nine year professional who is currently the head coach of UK looks to have a middle school defense, and unfortunately, that has been a problem everywhere he has been.

Fans are in for a rude awakening if they think Pope is just going to change his colors defensively...it ain't happening.

If that is true, we will be in the market for a new head coach in 2027 - 2028 season. Just saying.......

 

[SkyPrince1]

Our best hope is we do not see Auburn again. This year, we are not beating Auburn regardless of the adjustments. They are on a different level than us and most everyone else in the country, including Duke.

Definitely not on a different level than Duke.
The Flagg UK saw in Nov won't be the one teams see in March.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Well unfortunately the nine year professional who is currently the head coach of UK looks to have a middle school defense, and unfortunately, that has been a problem everywhere he has been.

Fans are in for a rude awakening if they think Pope is just going to change his colors defensively...it ain't happening.

Currently we are 65th in defensive efficiency.

It does fall pretty much in line with his years at BYU.

Seems like his philosophy is to limit offensive boards. His BYU teams all hovered around top 25 in defensive rebounding % and at UK it's still good at 43rd. This despite playing in a conference that has a ton of teams that are great offensive rebounding teams.

His teams just do not force turnovers. Basically similar to Cal. In 3 of his last 6 years (his time at BYU and UK), turnover % ranked 325th or worse.

Teams are shooting 53,5% from 2 against us this season. If you are giving up that high a %, you need to limit shots by forcing turnovers. But we don't.

I guess what you have to hope for with Pope on the defensive end is that now that he's at UK, maybe he can recruit a higher caliber players than what he did at BYU. I think that's the thinking here. And just by that alone, should improve the defense.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Unfortunately this team looks like an Eddie Sutton or Joe B team that played its best ball in Dec.

A lot of our offensive problems now are just talent, (lack of), and slow foot speed.

Our guys are slow to recognize plan B and C after the defense takes away what we want to do. And slow to do when they do.

On defense we are just slow. Almost everyone is in a zone body playing man.

They do too much ball watching to play man. Too slow to play effective help defense.

So what do you do? You out execute teams. You don’t turn it over and you get defensive rebounds.

We have done better of late on defensive rebounds. But now we walk it up on offense making a slow team slower.

Is it conditioning? Seems like Pope doesn’t put a premium on conditioning.

There’s a reason all these guys are still in school.

But that reason shouldn’t be because they are out of shape.