Obviously defense is our biggest deficiency right now. We've talked a lot about offensive lineups, so I wanted to look at what our best defensive lineups have been this year.
Here are the 5-man lineups sorted by defensive efficiency (points given up per 100 possessions, adjusted to strength of opponent) according to EvanMiya:
Dillingham, Sheppard, Reeves, Mitchell, Bradshaw looks to be the best defensive lineup thus far, giving up less than 50 points per 100 possessions, though it's far from the best offensive lineup.
Seems like Dillingham, Wagner, Sheppard, Thiero, Mitchell gives us the best balance between defense and offense.
And because the sample size on 5-man lineups can be small here are the 3-man lineups:
Seems like Dillingham and Sheppard are the key to a lot of our best defensive combos.
Here are the 5-man lineups sorted by defensive efficiency (points given up per 100 possessions, adjusted to strength of opponent) according to EvanMiya:
| lineup | team | adj_team_off_eff | adj_team_def_eff | adj_team_eff_margin | def_poss |
| A. Bradshaw / R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 103.69 | 49.26 | 54.43 | 43 |
| R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 120.17 | 57.90 | 62.27 | 54 |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 140.06 | 63.52 | 76.54 | 23 |
| J. Burks / R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 160.74 | 69.49 | 91.25 | 30 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 131.42 | 86.66 | 44.76 | 60 |
| J. Burks / R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 149.32 | 87.39 | 61.93 | 19 |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / U. Onyenso / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 140.20 | 87.46 | 52.74 | 45 |
| T. Mitchell / U. Onyenso / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 136.80 | 88.87 | 47.93 | 25 |
| A. Bradshaw / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 139.50 | 89.81 | 49.69 | 30 |
| A. Bradshaw / R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 108.31 | 91.38 | 16.93 | 35 |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / U. Onyenso / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 98.23 | 92.66 | 5.58 | 25 |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 133.60 | 93.78 | 39.83 | 36 |
| A. Bradshaw / J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 88.93 | 94.58 | (5.65) | 20 |
| T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 143.56 | 95.23 | 48.33 | 26 |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / A. Thiero / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 118.44 | 97.06 | 21.38 | 17 |
| R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 143.69 | 99.82 | 43.87 | 24 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 110.22 | 101.54 | 8.69 | 35 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / U. Onyenso / A. Reeves / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 93.18 | 102.31 | (9.14) | 23 |
| A. Bradshaw / J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 119.27 | 102.52 | 16.75 | 82 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / A. Thiero / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 101.11 | 103.40 | (2.30) | 115 |
| J. Burks / R. Dillingham / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 127.26 | 108.61 | 18.64 | 28 |
| R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 124.60 | 116.58 | 8.02 | 51 |
| R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 70.97 | 139.72 | (68.75) | 19 |
Dillingham, Sheppard, Reeves, Mitchell, Bradshaw looks to be the best defensive lineup thus far, giving up less than 50 points per 100 possessions, though it's far from the best offensive lineup.
Seems like Dillingham, Wagner, Sheppard, Thiero, Mitchell gives us the best balance between defense and offense.
And because the sample size on 5-man lineups can be small here are the 3-man lineups:
| lineup | team | adj_team_off_eff | adj_team_def_eff | adj_team_eff_margin | def_poss |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 116.58 | 80.05 | 36.52 | 397 |
| R. Dillingham / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 124.90 | 83.05 | 41.84 | 251 |
| R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 118.15 | 83.48 | 34.66 | 186 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 114.93 | 85.21 | 29.71 | 265 |
| T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 123.85 | 86.75 | 37.09 | 419 |
| T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 116.56 | 87.20 | 29.35 | 304 |
| R. Dillingham / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 115.26 | 88.17 | 27.08 | 219 |
| A. Bradshaw / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves | Kentucky | 108.36 | 90.28 | 18.07 | 190 |
| A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 131.86 | 91.98 | 39.86 | 175 |
| J. Edwards / A. Reeves / R. Sheppard | Kentucky | 125.44 | 92.01 | 33.42 | 195 |
| T. Mitchell / R. Sheppard / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 122.11 | 92.14 | 29.96 | 177 |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves | Kentucky | 123.96 | 93.92 | 30.02 | 310 |
| R. Dillingham / T. Mitchell / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 106.40 | 95.59 | 10.80 | 283 |
| A. Reeves / R. Sheppard / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 125.94 | 97.94 | 27.99 | 163 |
| R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / T. Mitchell | Kentucky | 116.52 | 99.35 | 17.16 | 230 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 104.77 | 101.16 | 3.60 | 424 |
| T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 115.02 | 101.64 | 13.37 | 277 |
| T. Mitchell / A. Thiero / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 108.43 | 102.35 | 6.07 | 203 |
| R. Dillingham / J. Edwards / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 115.25 | 102.45 | 12.79 | 164 |
| A. Bradshaw / T. Mitchell / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 110.73 | 103.22 | 7.50 | 171 |
| J. Edwards / A. Reeves / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 114.47 | 103.39 | 11.07 | 198 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Reeves | Kentucky | 111.88 | 103.53 | 8.34 | 466 |
| A. Reeves / A. Thiero / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 105.90 | 104.70 | 1.19 | 183 |
| T. Mitchell / A. Reeves / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 109.08 | 104.82 | 4.25 | 486 |
| J. Edwards / T. Mitchell / A. Thiero | Kentucky | 105.16 | 108.18 | (3.03) | 225 |
| J. Edwards / A. Reeves / D. Wagner | Kentucky | 105.30 | 108.80 | (3.51) | 351 |
Seems like Dillingham and Sheppard are the key to a lot of our best defensive combos.
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