For the Basketball Bennies out there...

[sambowieshin]

We saw lots of things almost every game under Cal that were jaw dropping coachable errors being committed repeatedly by his teams. For example.....Zero inbounds plays.....Zero adjustments to out of bounds plays by the opponent....No mixing up the D.....Very poor screens.....Very poor screens defense....etc.
The long pass inbounds play against Duke was a breath of fresh air from a coaching standpoint.
Anyone noticing any Bennie Blind Spots for Pope in the short amount of times to observe his coaching??

 

[KentuckyCat420]

Nope, we actually have a coach that is way F’ing smarter than us now.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Way too early to tell. The halftime adjustments in the Duke game, however, were incredible.

 

[CastleRubric]

I thought it was interesting that Bilas said Coach Pope uses data / analytics in a near genius way ---

I suppose that goes beyond recruiting but i don't know how (I don't understand basketball as well as football to be honest)

 

[Cleatortoises]

Nope, we actually have a coach that is way F’ing smarter than us now.

Amen brother, and that is a comforting thing.

 

[Lempface]

I loved what he said in the pre Lipscomb conference about emotional resiliency. Said you're likely to only get 1 of every 10 offensive rebounds if you go as hard as you can for every single one. It's easy to be discouraged when you're striving to do something that seemingly isn't paying off but one rebound can be the difference in winning or losing a close game so he's working to get his guys go focus on the effort and not necessarily the immediate desired result so it's 2nd nature.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Maybe he'll end up being too smart for his own good?
That's all I got cuz he's damn basketball smart.
Hopefully it serves him well.

 

[wildcatknh]

I thought it was interesting that Bilas said Coach Pope uses data / analytics in a near genius way ---

I suppose that goes beyond recruiting but i don't know how (I don't understand basketball as well as football to be honest)

I'll give you one example he mentioned. As far as conditioning and maximum effort, they use analytics and practice data to measure exactly how long our players can expend maximum energy before they start to tire and begin to lose efficiency. He said for most players it's usually somewhere in the 6-8 minute range. Jax he said could usually go 11-12 minutes before he started being affected negatively by fatigue. Pope said they use these kinds of metrics to help determine rotations and substitution patterns. They know when a player is likely to begin to fatigue even before it happens and hopefully someone will be subbed out before they make a big mistake because of fatigue.

 

[North Carolina Blue Wildcat]

I’m straight up nitpicking here but the rotation is too big. Stupid statement on my part because it is working out.. just feel like we would be even more efficient if the rotation was reduced.. in the event of injury, should be easier to introduce a next man up since most everyone is getting playing time though.

 

[katwest]

Well, we found out Pope is not afraid to change things up and make adjustments when things are not effective. That's two things his predecessor wouldn't or couldn't do.

 

[jwphelps]

We saw lots of things almost every game under Cal that were jaw dropping coachable errors being committed repeatedly by his teams. For example.....Zero inbounds plays.....Zero adjustments to out of bounds plays by the opponent....No mixing up the D.....Very poor screens.....Very poor screens defense....etc.
The long pass inbounds play against Duke was a breath of fresh air from a coaching standpoint.
Anyone noticing any Bennie Blind Spots for Pope in the short amount of times to observe his coaching??

I not sure why Cal ignored all those things as a coach. If he just was not a good coach, or too stubborn to change because his arrogance he thought his way would win no matter what. Or maybe winning was not that important, just getting his pet projects to the NBA.

 

[Mdnerd]

Well, we found out Pope is not afraid to change things up and make adjustments when things are not effective. That's two things his predecessor wouldn't or couldn't do.

He couldn’t, but claimed he wouldn’t, to hide his incompetence.

 

[KentuckyCat420]

I’m straight up nitpicking here but the rotation is too big. Stupid statement on my part because it is working out.. just feel like we would be even more efficient if the rotation was reduced.. in the event of injury, should be easier to introduce a next man up since most everyone is getting playing time.

Pope reduced it mid game.

Chandler and Almonor never saw the floor again after getting a few mins in the 1st half.

Chandler looked completely overmatched and uncomfortable. Almonor hit a 3 but I’m guessing both were removed for defensive reasons since that was the biggest issue of the 1st half.

 

[blue cincy]

Pope is a lot of Rick Pitino mixed with a little Phil Jackson. He talks about the karma of the game and such. He has a good balance of what he is doing. Will be fun watching it grow.

 

[North Carolina Blue Wildcat]

Pope reduced it mid game.

Chandler and Almonor never saw the floor again after getting a few mins in the 1st half.

Chandler looked completely overmatched and uncomfortable. Almonor hit a 3 but I’m guessing both were removed for defensive reasons since that was the biggest issue of the 1st half.

I should have clarified I was referring to the season so far. But yes, he adjusts on the fly and people don’t play as much if they aren’t contributing. Can’t recall the last time Cal sat a high profile kid for not contributing.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I have no issues with anything Pope has said or done so far and that's refreshing.

As long as he wins a national title (or 2) and makes multiple final fours over the next decade or more coaching here, he will be a UK coaching legend.

 

[bowfreak]

In the past we had a random act of coaching here and there from Cal. All season we have seen Pope make adjustments. It is refreshing to say the least.

I was texting friends in the first half about us being manhandled in the first half. I texted that Duke was overplaying like crazy and eventually we are going to start cutting to the basket for an easy bucket. The next time down the court someone cut back door and a Duke player grabbed them to save a bucket prior to the pass being made. I am sure the game was full of these little things too.

 

[BigBlue1992]

I’m straight up nitpicking here but the rotation is too big. Stupid statement on my part because it is working out.. just feel like we would be even more efficient if the rotation was reduced.. in the event of injury, should be easier to introduce a next man up since most everyone is getting playing time.

Not stupid at all. There’s nothing wrong with us looking at the road ahead and critiquing. It was refreshing to play not so great and still beat Duke. However, there is still plenty to work on. Good post!

 

[mcnicKY91]

We saw lots of things almost every game under Cal that were jaw dropping coachable errors being committed repeatedly by his teams. For example.....Zero inbounds plays.....Zero adjustments to out of bounds plays by the opponent....No mixing up the D.....Very poor screens.....Very poor screens defense....etc.
The long pass inbounds play against Duke was a breath of fresh air from a coaching standpoint.
Anyone noticing any Bennie Blind Spots for Pope in the short amount of times to observe his coaching??

Definitely a breath of fresh air.

However, I can only imagine BBNs collective response if the inbounds pass flew over Butler's head and landed out of bounds. Duke would have gotten the ball right underneath their own hoop with 6 sec (or something like that) and only down 2.

Glad it worked out, but that is one of those high risk high, reward plays. No doubt UK has practiced it enough if Pope feels comfortable enough to run it at the end of a big game. But man, not sure if I would have had the stones to call that.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Pope reduced it mid game.

Chandler and Almonor never saw the floor again after getting a few mins in the 1st half.

Chandler looked completely overmatched and uncomfortable. Almonor hit a 3 but I’m guessing both were removed for defensive reasons since that was the biggest issue of the 1st half.

And that's what a good coach does, make adjustments at the half.

I like Chandler and almonor but they are clearly 9th and 10th men in some order for a reason.

 

[bowfreak]

Definitely a breath of fresh air.

However, I can only imagine BBNs collective response if the inbounds pass flew over Butler's head and landed out of bounds. Duke would have gotten the ball right underneath their own hoop with 6 sec (or something like that) and only down 2.

Glad it worked out, but that is one of those high risk high, reward plays. No doubt UK has practiced it enough if Pope feels comfortable enough to run it at the end of a big game. But man, not sure if I would have had the stones to call that.

The only way that goes bad is if nobody touches the ball. Even if it is picked off Duke is going away from their basket and time will be ticking. I loved the call. 100x better than shielding off your man and throwing it over the top.

 

[jeffky]

Nope, we actually have a coach that is way F’ing smarter than us now.

President elect said "we have to protect our geniuses so very few of them " 😃

 

[Soupbean]

Pope reduced it mid game.

Chandler and Almonor never saw the floor again after getting a few mins in the 1st half.

Chandler looked completely overmatched and uncomfortable. Almonor hit a 3 but I’m guessing both were removed for defensive reasons since that was the biggest issue of the 1st half.

Yeah and that may be the only pick I can come up with at all as I watched it live action. Once I saw that Duke extended the defense and took us out of any three point game rotations ointh perimeter, we really needed some kind (any kind) of dribble penetration to attack that as they were so extended they opened up some space behind them. And we tried it but none of the guys out there seemed to be able to get a shoulder by their man and I thought Chandler was our best at that and he never got back in. So thats my only pick at all.