Final Grades:
Offense B
Defense B
Effort A++++++++
Overall A-
Great win !!!!!
GO CATS !!!
Offense B
Defense B
Effort A++++++++
Overall A-
Great win !!!!!
GO CATS !!!
Final Grades …. What Are Yours ???
- Thread starter megablue
- Start date
I can agree but I would add
Coaching and game time adjustments
Coaching A
Game time adjustments A+
There were many great adjustments in that game. One that hit me this morning while watching Sportscenter was that Williams was guarding Flagg on that last play where he dribbled it out of bounds. A 7 footer with quickness and shot blocking ability guarding the guy you know is taking the last shot.
Defense 1st half, C-.
Defense 2nd half, A+ (this is why we won)
He jumped Flagg on the switch and I think he caused him to mishandle the dribble and then Flagg couldn’t recover on the move and it snow balled badly.
But watching the replay Williams was t worried about reaching, just smothering under control and not letting him turn the corner. Loved it!
This!!! In the first half I was saying where is our great defense. Second half....there it is.
I mean we beat the evil ones for the first time in 10 years. There isn't a mark high enough.
Yes. It was fabulous defense by Williams at his height, reminded me of Willie Cauley-Stein.
Amari did a lockdown job on Flagg, no question.
He was who needed to be guarding him at the end and his defensive reputation showed.
Amazing testament to how good Flagg is right now, for him to have the ball at crunch time.
He is five (5) years younger than Williams and it showed at the end. Williams rattled and suffocated him. A man against a boy ...
Williams 01/28/02 ... will turn 23 in January
Flagg 12/21/06 ... will turn 18 next month
GO CATS !!!
Offense - B-
Defense - B
Effort - A
Coaching: B+
Overall - B
I didn't even think we played that great of a game...and that's a very, very good thing.
Defense - B
Effort - A
Coaching: B+
Overall - B
I didn't even think we played that great of a game...and that's a very, very good thing.
There is no substitute for desire and effort. I think these veteran players know and understand this. The reward is in the effort.
With our age, experience, depth, focus and desire ... this can be a SDSU / FAU type of team and run it to the Final Four.
This.
1st Half: It looked like Calipari against ball screens.
2nd half, it looked like Pitino making adjustments.
Anytime you can beat a loaded Duke team, it's an "A".
Oweh A+++++++. That kid did it all at the end. Massive critical steal on Flagg, nailed all 4 critical FTs at the end, and battled 2 Dukies for the game clinching rebound at the end. Thank you Oweh!!!!!!
Offense: C
Our overall three point shooting numbers look good, but 5 out of our 10 makes came in the first few minutes of the game. Once Duke focused in on taking that away, I feel like we struggled to counter and looked stagnant for long stretches in the half court. Butler really struggled at times, and Kerr took a couple of really questionable shots from the parking lot that threatened to break our momentum, so my concerns about our point guard play weren’t completely alleviated at least on offense. We got more transition baskets after our defense cranked up in the second half, and found some critical baskets by playing Carr at the 5 and letting him attack the paint late, but I still came away with some concern that our half court sets could be an Achilles heel against elite competition.
Defense: B
Really a tale of two halves here. We weren’t good at all in the first half and gave up way too many easy baskets in the paint. We completely put the clamps on them after halftime though, and that’s what got us back in the game to eventually win it. Hopefully that will be our consistent level on that end of the court going forward.
Effort: A+
There’s no questioning the heart of this team. They battled from start to finish, and our superior conditioning played a role in the final outcome.
Overall: B
A solid overall effort that ended up being good enough to get a big win. Some things we could improve on for sure, but winning games when things don’t go perfectly is a sign of a good team, so that’s encouraging. Also, I have more confidence than I have in a long time that the coaching staff will actually work to make those improvements. I’m feeling better about our team now than I was in preseason, or honestly even during the first half of the game last night.
Our overall three point shooting numbers look good, but 5 out of our 10 makes came in the first few minutes of the game. Once Duke focused in on taking that away, I feel like we struggled to counter and looked stagnant for long stretches in the half court. Butler really struggled at times, and Kerr took a couple of really questionable shots from the parking lot that threatened to break our momentum, so my concerns about our point guard play weren’t completely alleviated at least on offense. We got more transition baskets after our defense cranked up in the second half, and found some critical baskets by playing Carr at the 5 and letting him attack the paint late, but I still came away with some concern that our half court sets could be an Achilles heel against elite competition.
Defense: B
Really a tale of two halves here. We weren’t good at all in the first half and gave up way too many easy baskets in the paint. We completely put the clamps on them after halftime though, and that’s what got us back in the game to eventually win it. Hopefully that will be our consistent level on that end of the court going forward.
Effort: A+
There’s no questioning the heart of this team. They battled from start to finish, and our superior conditioning played a role in the final outcome.
Overall: B
A solid overall effort that ended up being good enough to get a big win. Some things we could improve on for sure, but winning games when things don’t go perfectly is a sign of a good team, so that’s encouraging. Also, I have more confidence than I have in a long time that the coaching staff will actually work to make those improvements. I’m feeling better about our team now than I was in preseason, or honestly even during the first half of the game last night.
I’m going to have to take issue with this. More like Tubby making adjustments. In fact I can’t recall many games where Pitino turned it around by making smart changes. What I remember Pitino excelling at was player development and most of all, pre-game preparation. He was absolutely outstanding at that. Pitino’s teams came into almost every game with the right plan for the particular opponent and with the talent he recruited he rarely needed to make adjustments.
Of Pitino’s 219 wins, only 28 were come-from-behind-at-the-half, and in 17 of those the margin at halftime was down only 1 or 2, maybe not really calling for major changes. Only 7 of those games had a halftime deficit of 5 or more. One the other hand, Smith already had 8 wins with halftime deficits of 5 or more in just his first two years. That man knew how to make adjustments.
I always felt Pitino was an A on pregame preparation, and a B- on in game adjustments.
I felt Tubby was a B- on pregame preparation and an A on in game adjustments.
Pope may be a positive mix of those.
I felt Tubby was a B- on pregame preparation and an A on in game adjustments.
Pope may be a positive mix of those.
Offense C+ thought there was too much standing around at times. Not really about how much they scored because they made enough 1 on 1 plays but just seemed to be stagnant at times with players just standing and not moving as much.
Defense B Actually 1st half was an F 2nd half was an A+. Held a really good team to just 26 points in the 2nd half.
Effort A++++++++ You couldn't ask for any more effort than they gave.
Overall A+ Less than a few months ago these guys weren't even a team and now they just beat the #6 team in the country. Duke is really really good and these guys stood toe to toe with them and beat them. In their first big time primetime game under the big lights, they played as ONE and won.
Coaching A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Half time adjustments who knew that you could make them. On court action awareness. Motivation to trust and believe in your teammates. His ability to remain calm even in the 1st half when things weren't going right and the refs had seemed to pick who they wanted to win.
I wonder if the offense looked weak at times because Pope hasn't been able to get it fully implemented yet? I honestly don't know. But watching it just seems like parts of it are missing to me. I'm guessing it's a complex system that takes time to teach, especially when 95% of your team is brand new to it. I'm hoping the offense will cotinue to improve as players learn it and get more used to it.
