How to fix our Offense

[Farsight]

This is quite simple really.

The starting five needs to be.

Butler
Oweh
Brea
Robinson
Carr

This will create space and have shooters everywhere.

Amari has been a disappointment this year, offensively and defensively. Not sure what's going on. Garrison has spurts of massive potential, but very inconsistent.

The Center playing on top of key distributing the ball in most of our plays is interesting, but it needs to change.

We are playing 1v1 basketball and not making cuts or back doors to the rim or to the three. Our pick and roll from the beginning of the year is non existent.

I know Pope is a very likeable guy, but he needs to channel is inner Rick Pitino and get on their ass for lack of effort.

Try the 3 guard 2 forward play line up. Play fast. If they don't cut or try to get open or be lackadaisical on defense, sit their ass.

Physical teams ruin us. Most of these guys are not use to physical teams because most played in mid major.

Butler, Oweh and Carr can be physical. Robinson can be, but he's too soft. Carr dribbles way to much.

Passing and cutting with this line up can create way better space.

 

[ncaaky]

This is quite simple really.

The starting five needs to be.

Butler
Oweh
Brea
Robinson
Carr

This will create space and have shooters everywhere.

Unfortunately, there is really only one shooter in that group. We are just not a good shooting team despite what we were told all summer and fall.

 

[cal=8]

Brea and Robinson are a huge defensive liability.

My hope is that Garrison and Chandler develop into great players as the season progresses. We need another guard that can defend and score and we really need help around the rim as Williams is not good.

Robinson has the potential to be a better defensively but I'm afraid Brea is not that guy.

 

[TopCatCal]

This is quite simple really.

The starting five needs to be.

Butler
Oweh
Brea
Robinson
Carr

This will create space and have shooters everywhere.

Amari has been a disappointment this year, offensively and defensively. Not sure what's going on. Garrison has spurts of massive potential, but very inconsistent.

The Center playing on top of key distributing the ball in most of our plays is interesting, but it needs to change.

We are playing 1v1 basketball and not making cuts or back doors to the rim or to the three. Our pick and roll from the beginning of the year is non existent.

I know Pope is a very likeable guy, but he needs to channel is inner Rick Pitino and get on their ass for lack of effort.

Try the 3 guard 2 forward play line up. Play fast. If they don't cut or try to get open or be lackadaisical on defense, sit their ass.

Physical teams ruin us. Most of these guys are not use to physical teams because most played in mid major.

Butler, Oweh and Carr can be physical. Robinson can be, but he's too soft. Carr dribbles way to much.

Passing and cutting with this line up can create way better space.

Our offense is what it is. If we're making shots & knocking down 3's we can out score the other team and beat anybody. BUT if our 3's aren't falling we're in trouble because our 2 big guys under the basketball Amari Williams & Brandon Garrison gives us absolutely nothing on the offensive end Amari's a heck of a passer, other than that we get ZERO offense from these 2. If the 3's aren't falling you've got to get your points around the basket. We simply don't have the bigs to give us those points.

 

[The_Answer1313]

How to fix our offense?

Get better players? lol.

 

[Kuhldaddy]

Unfortunately, there is really only one shooter in that group. We are just not a good shooting team despite what we were told all summer and fall.

Very true. Robinson has been a very poor shooter. Brea is out only great shooter and he struggles to get open looks.

 

[aikenite4uk]

It’s pretty obvious that Williams and Garrison are clogging up our spacing because other teams don’t respect their outside shot. Give Carr the ball at the top of the key as a stretch five, and things will open up. Of course we give up some rebounding. It would also help if our bigs and guards could finish around the rim. Ohio State had no difficulty in that regard.

 

[TTTblue24]

Ball movement and screens off the ball, we can’t stand around & watch Carr back his guy down then not shoot. Screen the screener and roll to the goal, the big at the 3 line standing there holding the ball does not open the lane up cause why would you guard Williams or garrison there??

 

[NociHTTP]

Lol. No set of specific guys is going to give you the best chance if the team isn't buying into what they've been taught. What happened yesterday wasn't because the wrong guys were playing or playing together. It's because everyone reverted to "me" ball. Pope talked about it. Once the team is back to moving when they don't have the ball in their hands, pass-first, doing the little things, THEN you start to look at tweaking the lineup.

 

[BlueRunner11]

Unfortunately, there is really only one shooter in that group. We are just not a good shooting team despite what we were told all summer and fall.

They’re a great “catch and shoot” team. The issue is to catch there has to be a pass. It’s not a create your own shot type team, it’s a create a shot for your teammate type team.

Need to get back to this and away from the hero ball.

 

[TucsonCat]

No one in that 5 can rebound for shit.
What offenses didn't score abusing Robinson down low would be made up on putbacks with plus 1s over Carr.

 

[Wonky]

If Pope learned anything from Pitino, it’s that defense is the catalyst for offense. Until we start playing sound defense, the offense is going to struggle.

I’m not just talking about defense leading to transition baskets, either. Stops not only result in zero points for your opponent, but they also give you confidence and energy on the other end. When you can’t get any stops, every offensive possession becomes a must-score. You start overthinking things, and that’s when hero ball appears.

 

[NociHTTP]

If Pope learned anything from Pitino, it’s that defense is the catalyst for offense. Until we start playing sound defense, the offense is going to struggle.

I’m not just talking about defense leading to transition baskets, either. Stops not only result in zero points for your opponent, but they also give you confidence.

Not true. You can be a high scoring team, and still lose games because of poor defense. Hello, Loyola Marymount? You are right, good defense gives you confidence.

 

[know1]

I'm just going to let Pope fix it.

 

[Oldbluefart]

You can nit pick all you want but teams will throw out a dud over the course of a season. What you have to hope for a s coach is it against a weaker team where you have a better chance to overcome it.
Consider this:
If UK had hit just 3 more three pointers for a 31 % clip instead of 4-22 and 18%, this would be worth 9 points.
If UK had hit just a few of those close in layups, cutbacks, just 6 more instead of 17-57 (29%) and hit 23-57 for a 40% clip, that is 12 points.

We win by one and we bitch all day but happy with a win.

UK missed at least 10 close in shots for no reason, just had a bad day against a better team than many gave credit to who came to play.

Several times we got it down go 5-6 points but missed shots and Ohio St made theirs to push it back out. You hit a few of them, put pressure on a team, things change rather quickly.
Now if this continues going forward, then we are toast.

 

[fisherscatfan]

Very true. Robinson has been a very poor shooter. Brea is out only great shooter and he struggles to get open looks.

To me Robinson just seems to be a guy who doesn’t have the extra gear nor does he want to be the man. Just feels like a guy who has natural ability but does not have the desire/commitment to go to the next level. Not criticizing him because it takes an incredible effort to continually elevate and he seems like a really good guy. Just has the vibe that he is ready to be done with basketball at the end of the year.

 

[The_Answer1313]

I think it's way too early but we have to consider the possibility this isn't fixable.

This isn't like a Cal team, where we look god awful in November and wait around for the light blub to come on.

These players have been in college for years. Maybe...........this is what we are. Doesn't mean we can't improve but there might be a limit to it all.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

The bennies are back baby!

Telling the coach how to fix all the teams problems.

 

[DrH. Lecter]

No offense, but our offense is offensive.

 

[fatguy87]

How to fix our offense?

Get better players? lol.

Ha! Yeah.

Compared to last years team, how many of our players are as good as Reeves, Dilly, or Reed?

 

[The_Answer1313]

Ha! Yeah.

Compared to last years team, how many of our players are as good as Reeves, Dilly, or Reed?

Exactly lol

 

[B.B.H.]

The offense doesn’t need fixed. The defense needs fixed. The offense can’t leak out in transition for easy buckets because it is stuck in the half court all game due to a lack of stops. I’m beginning to hope we go to a lot more trapping action like we did at points yesterday. Since we already aren’t getting stops, at least the traps may force a few turnovers which could help generate some transition offense and might speed the opponent up some and create a little havoc. I thought that seemed to work well against Ohio State, but will be watching the tape again to get a better look.

 

[CrimsonCats]

They’re a great “catch and shoot” team. The issue is to catch there has to be a pass. It’s not a create your own shot type team, it’s a create a shot for your teammate type team.

Need to get back to this and away from the hero ball.

The thing is, even with an unselfish team playing within a system, it helps a great deal if you have ways to initially force the defense out of position, then you can move the ball to open men. Probably the two simplest ways to do that are dribble penetration, or having a post threat who’s hard to stop with single coverage. Unfortunately, this team doesn’t really have a consistent ability to do either of those things and relies almost entirely on running actions to get shots. When you’re left in that position, there will be days when an athletic and disciplined defense blows up your sets and leaves you struggling to score, which is what we saw for long stretches yesterday.

None of this is to say that I’m down on Pope. He’s actually done an incredible job scheming his way to a couple of the wins that he did, and I’m excited to see what he’ll do in the coming years with some of the high end talent he’s been recruiting. I do think though, that we’re starting to see the limitations of this particular roster, and how they have a pretty small margin of error against high major competition.

 

[sambowieshin]

You can nit pick all you want but teams will throw out a dud over the course of a season. What you have to hope for a s coach is it against a weaker team where you have a better chance to overcome it.
Consider this:
If UK had hit just 3 more three pointers for a 31 % clip instead of 4-22 and 18%, this would be worth 9 points.
If UK had hit just a few of those close in layups, cutbacks, just 6 more instead of 17-57 (29%) and hit 23-57 for a 40% clip, that is 12 points.

We win by one and we bitch all day but happy with a win.

UK missed at least 10 close in shots for no reason, just had a bad day against a better team than many gave credit to who came to play.

Several times we got it down go 5-6 points but missed shots and Ohio St made theirs to push it back out. You hit a few of them, put pressure on a team, things change rather quickly.
Now if this continues going forward, then we are toast.

My take as well. We missed wide open shots and layups. Energy was low on D. Just one of those days.

 

[megablue]

Lol. No set of specific guys is going to give you the best chance if the team isn't buying into what they've been taught. What happened yesterday wasn't because the wrong guys were playing or playing together. It's because everyone reverted to "me" ball. Pope talked about it. Once the team is back to moving when they don't have the ball in their hands, pass-first, doing the little things, THEN you start to look at tweaking the lineup.

What I do not understand is that ... if Pope says that players are resorting to "me" ball and he really believes that is the problem ... then, why doesn't he simply take them out of the game and let them watch from the sidelines and put players in who will try to do what he wants, regardless of whether they're as capable ?? Talking about "me" ball and not doing something about it, DURING THE GAMES, is what confuses me ... SIT THEM, if they are not doing what you want.

 

[kywildcats8]

You can nit pick all you want but teams will throw out a dud over the course of a season. What you have to hope for a s coach is it against a weaker team where you have a better chance to overcome it.
Consider this:
If UK had hit just 3 more three pointers for a 31 % clip instead of 4-22 and 18%, this would be worth 9 points.
If UK had hit just a few of those close in layups, cutbacks, just 6 more instead of 17-57 (29%) and hit 23-57 for a 40% clip, that is 12 points.

We win by one and we bitch all day but happy with a win.

UK missed at least 10 close in shots for no reason, just had a bad day against a better team than many gave credit to who came to play.

Several times we got it down go 5-6 points but missed shots and Ohio St made theirs to push it back out. You hit a few of them, put pressure on a team, things change rather quickly.
Now if this continues going forward, then we are toast.

Couldn't believe how many close shots we missed- like you said, make a few of those and prob a different game

 

[NociHTTP]

What I do not understand is that ... if Pope says that players are resorting to "me" ball and he really believes that is the problem ... then, why doesn't he simply take them out of the game and let them watch from the sidelines and put players in who will try to do what he wants, regardless of whether they're as capable ?? Talking about "me" ball and not doing something about it, DURING THE GAMES, is what confuses me ... SIT THEM, if they are not doing what you want.

I'm hoping that's what we'll see in the next game. He's talked about this being a problem the last two games. Maybe too many guys are doing it?

 

[fatguy87]

The offense doesn’t need fixed. The defense needs fixed. The offense can’t leak out in transition for easy buckets because it is stuck in the half court all game due to a lack of stops. I’m beginning to hope we go to a lot more trapping action like we did at points yesterday. Since we already aren’t getting stops, at least the traps may force a few turnovers which could help generate some transition offense and might speed the opponent up some and create a little havoc. I thought that seemed to work well against Ohio State, but will be watching the tape again to get a better look.

That definitely played a role.

I too would like to see more changing defenses and trapping.

 

[BBNinSC]

To me Robinson just seems to be a guy who doesn’t have the extra gear nor does he want to be the man. Just feels like a guy who has natural ability but does not have the desire/commitment to go to the next level. Not criticizing him because it takes an incredible effort to continually elevate and he seems like a really good guy. Just has the vibe that he is ready to be done with basketball at the end of the year.

Robinson is fragile. When he’s making shots, he looks great. But, when things aren’t going well, he can’t seem to push through the adversity.
Pope knows this and spends a lot of time building up Robinson.
I do believe that our backcourt is as good as any in the SEC and Carr is an all-conference player at the forward spot. This team needs more experience as a unit and will make strides during conference play once we get into the twice weekly grind.

 

[rick64]

Don't miss 15 of 20 layups. Simple.

 

[Justwantadecentteam]

Still got time, to get the stagnant offense fixed. Don't think we have the players, to fix the d though. Yesterday was as bad as imo we've could've played. Thought we'd have some bad games. Imo mistakes instill learning, but we'll see

 

[mcwildcats04]

Brea and Robinson are a huge defensive liability.

My hope is that Garrison and Chandler develop into great players as the season progresses. We need another guard that can defend and score and we really need help around the rim as Williams is not good.

Robinson has the potential to be a better defensively but I'm afraid Brea is not that guy.

I agree with OP. I've been saying for a while we need to move Carr to the 5. Just play more zone to address the defensive liabilities with that lineup. I think it's our best shot. Either way, we can't just keep doing what we're doing. Been trending the wrong direction for a while. Have to try a different approach.

 

[crestcat]

Still got time, to get the stagnant offense fixed. Don't think we have the players, to fix the d though. Yesterday was as bad as imo we've could've played. Thought we'd have some bad games. Imo mistakes instill learning, but we'll see

No one looked good on defense yesterday but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. 10 days to next game, 14 days to SEC and we have a very smart coach.

 

[wkycatfan]

Too much dribbling yesterday, we are not talented enough for that. More passing, cutting etc

 

[fisherscatfan]

Robinson is fragile. When he’s making shots, he looks great. But, when things aren’t going well, he can’t seem to push through the adversity.
Pope knows this and spends a lot of time building up Robinson.
I do believe that our backcourt is as good as any in the SEC and Carr is an all-conference player at the forward spot. This team needs more experience as a unit and will make strides during conference play once we get into the twice weekly grind.

I definitely can see that regarding Robinson. Knowing that, hopefully Pope makes him a complimentary player. The issue is who is the guy then?

If Amari had any semblance of an offensive game, the offense would look so much better. Don’t recall what other options were out there (not like 7 footers with an offensive game and toughness are super-abundant) but that is what UKs weakness appears to be. Zero reason to respect UK’s interior game.

 

[Emarc]

Too much dribbling yesterday, we are not talented enough for that. More passing, cutting etc

True. Many times we dribbled into trouble.

 

[ManitouDan]

Not true. You can be a high scoring team, and still lose games because of poor defense. Hello, Loyola Marymount? You are right, good defense gives you confidence.

Not many LMU types pass thru , you cant even reasonably dream we are going to approach that ( shows both our ages BTW) In general I agree , we have a better shot outscoring people than we do being Houston or Virginia types . Got to get in shootouts , not b!g Freaking suck ass T!n grind it outs , man I loathe Tosu . Loathe .

 

[ManitouDan]

BTW the suggestions and discussion has been great here today .. outside last nights " the sky has already fallen" types . Lot of solid takes

 

[the nail at the foul line]

The key is getting Chandler to turn into Jerry West by February.

 

[BlueRunner11]

What I do not understand is that ... if Pope says that players are resorting to "me" ball and he really believes that is the problem ... then, why doesn't he simply take them out of the game and let them watch from the sidelines and put players in who will try to do what he wants, regardless of whether they're as capable ?? Talking about "me" ball and not doing something about it, DURING THE GAMES, is what confuses me ... SIT THEM, if they are not doing what you want.

Because I don’t think he sees it as selfish as in most cases where it might a me first type player. He sees it as getting away from not trusting the system or trying to do too much for the team on your own.