ADVERTISEMENT

do you zone arkansas?

I think there are a couple of near guarantees Saturday. Adou is going to have a career game. Points, rebounds, the works. Wagner will hit 3's at a higher clip than he has all season. Big Z will play better than he has this season as well. I do think it would be in our best interest swapping up the defenses from time to time. M2M, 3/4 court pressure, 1/3/1 zone. One thing we all know is Cal teams always did terrible with teams changing up defenses.
Im gonna go the other way. They are all about to walk into the loudest environment of their lives. Only a few of them were on the nice side of BIG GAME RUPP but saturday they are coming in as the prey. It could easily be a 20pt win
 
1-3-1 the entire game CAL’s never heard of it and doesn’t watch film on his opponents.


I agree. I promise you Cal wants no part of that 1-3-1. I coached high school varsity basketball (obviously not the same as college) for years and there was no defense i dreaded facing more than a 1-3-1. There are universal offenses out there to counter it that almost all coaches will run against it, but much depends on the skill and acumen of your players. It's just a pesky, unorthodox, and challenging defense that not a lot of coaches will run because the principles and concepts, while not hard to teach, are difficult to execute in live-game situations.


My guess is that Pope will throw the 1-3-1 out of a timeout for maybe a possession or two and then likely come out of it which is great.
 
  • Like
Reactions: will1976
I'm not for boo'ing Cal out of the building but I'd be all for the refs and UK getting to dish him some 1-2-3 zone. 😅 Nothing better than a favorable uk whistle at Rupp... would probably have Cal going crazy, but he couldn't dis the bennies.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: twindaddy2003+1
I would in the second ten minutes of each half. Let them get tired a bit. Thiero and DJ will come out with their hair on fire. Let’s use it against them.
Exactly. Once the adrenaline has worn off they'll get tired and this will compound the issue. Arkansas simply doesn't share the ball well enough as a team.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mozzie
C'mon guys, you know the drill. We do what always killed us with Cal. Guard the 3 and pack the paint, but leave his bad shooters open for long twos.

Simple plan for victory.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SemperFiCat
we’re short handed, and they shoot 32% from three as a team. with fland (36%) out it’s probably closer to 30%.

it’d surely cut down the offensive rebounds we give up. given ark isn’t a great scoring team, keeping them to one and done is probably 3/4 of the battle.

or…. do you just trade 2’s for 3’s and completely negate their perimeter and the possibility of ivisic doing some crazy crap. what say you?
You would think that a team that doesn't shoot the ball very well, like Arkansas, that a zone would be the right defense. But with our luck. You zone them & they'll be banking in 3 pointers all over the court just like Tennessee banking in a 3 on us last night. We have got to be leading the planet on having the most 3 point shots banked in against us.
 
I don't ever worry about games and I don't ever think we are going to lose. But this game concerns me. In a vacuum we blow them out. We are just a far better team and we are at home. But it's not in a vacuum. Whatever you think of Cal and especially the last few years, the guy can coach and has proven it. And they have some very good players on that team. Cal didn't seem to be motivated to win here anymore. Arkansas for sure hasn't played to their abilities.

Will Cal be motivated to win here Sat? You know those players will be shy high. Now, that could be in our favor too? Maybe they are too high?

I think we win and win comfortably. I'll be relieved when this one is over.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT