IMO Pope is trying to put together a team that played the same style as the ‘96 team
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Lot of variables but it’s not a terrible analogy. This part is especially relevant: we will be able to press the Sam Hill out of teams if we decide to play that way.
I agree he's putting together a deep, talented roster that he intends to play at a PACE similar to the 96 squad, but I don't think it will necessarily be the same style.
I don't think he will do an all-out press like the 90s teams, but with the depth of this 25-26 team, I could see him using a lot of 2/3 - 3/4 court token press just to slow the opposing offenses down and give them less time to run their regular offense.
Pace is a good way to describe it.
There is no one on this team as good as Delk, Mercer or Anderson.
I saw two of them play in high school. Delk and Mercer every time they got on the court knew they were the best player on it and it showed.
I saw two of them play in high school. Delk and Mercer every time they got on the court knew they were the best player on it and it showed.
Didn’t say there was anyone on this team that was better. Same style and pace is what I’m referring to.
It’s crazy looking back just how good and deep that team was. People are quick to talk about how 2015 was so dominant, and they were, but the 96’ squad playing in that era runs the table easily, imo.
One advantage this team should have is wearing out opponents with their depth. Occasional pressing would facilitate this. But in today’s game, teams know how to punish you if you press them after every basket. So you have to pick your spot and be strategic about it. I think Pope will do that.
96 was a beastly machine of a team. Best of all time in my opinion. Loved watching them destroy teams. If I remember correctly, our average margin of victory in the SEC regular season was like 23 or something.
Teams don't press anymore, at least not as a normal style of play. The athleticism of the '96 teams and their pressing ability was one of the reasons they were so damn good.
Kids have a better handle on the ball today than they did back when the 96 team tripped everyone up. Not saying a press can't be effective it will just be harder than ever.
However no one preps for it anymore so bringing it back might be interesting, and man was it fun to watch.
I would love for our team to be in the cardio/physical shape of the 96 team, dudes could go forEVER!
However no one preps for it anymore so bringing it back might be interesting, and man was it fun to watch.
I would love for our team to be in the cardio/physical shape of the 96 team, dudes could go forEVER!
If this team is half as good as the 96 team was watch out! That 96 team was the most talented team that was ever assembled.
I think pace was what we lost last year when Kerr went down. Fatigue was absolutely a factor in the game against Duke. When Kerr, Butler, Robinson and Carr started getting hurt, we had to play a different game that favored the more talented starting 5’s. He will use this again next year. He may use some token pressing to speed up the opponent, but not like Pitino used it.
Wanna bet...... Shows says bring it..............
That would be nice to have a coach that's actually willing to change how he coaches things for the greater good..................Pope sure is a breath of fresh air that's for sure.
I think pace is a huge reason for this roster. I also think a huge reason is to simply have better athletes and have better defensive players to go against the likes of an Alabama team.
Token pressure is almost always worthless except as an occasional surprise to throw off a team’s rhythm. There’s a modern myth that full court pressure doesn’t work anymore but that’s silliness. Pressure works every bit as it ever did and no amount of added timeouts will ever change that. Timeouts don’t help ball-handlers with geometry or replenish glycogen stores. In reality coaches generally don’t install pressure since the advent of the 20-hour weekly practice ceiling and I expect that will keep Pope from doing it as well. You don’t want to be trying to apply pressure if your squad hasn’t had the chance to master it in practice. But Pitino proved you really can make that work with the practice time available, especially with his ‘96 team. Pope has the length, size, speed, depth, and defensive acumen to build that exact same kind of suffocating press if he wanted to. And if he did, that would be the closest way our team could correspond to that ‘96 team. That’s all I was saying. He won’t do it, but that won’t be because of any break periods. It’s just because our offense is an incredibly complicated animal all by itself to get fully installed in one season and he wants the practice time for that.
I think maybe more important than replicating the press of the 96 team would be to replicate their half court defensive pressure to create more live ball turnovers.
That team in the half court was suffocating and they pounced on any error you made and turned it into two points about 2 seconds later.
This was one of the weaknesses of this year’s team IMO, not creating easy offense through live ball turnovers.
That team in the half court was suffocating and they pounced on any error you made and turned it into two points about 2 seconds later.
This was one of the weaknesses of this year’s team IMO, not creating easy offense through live ball turnovers.
So you never watched the 96 team play. Cool.
Might as well said Pope is trying to put together the Durant era Golden State Warriors.
Might as well said Pope is trying to put together the Durant era Golden State Warriors.
Not nearly as good of a shooter but similar impact in the game for sure. Both seem to be outstanding leaders.
By token pressure, I just mean enough pressure to burn 7-8 seconds off the play clock, make the offense feel somewhat uncomfortable and possibly create a careless turnover here or there (maybe 2-3 for the game). By having less time when they get across half court, teams will often press a little too much and make worse decisions... either a careless pass or a poor shot choice.
I agree that smothering half court defense is great and will hopefully be one of the trademarks with this upcoming team...
pressure defense w/ good rebounding leading to high tempo offense with good spacing and attacking the lane for easy 2s or kick-outs for open 3s.
Offensive scoring in the upper 80s
Defense scoring in the low 70s
My standards are low, so I'm not wanting much 😁
Maybe playing a fast pace on offense and trying to wear teams down with depth is still on the table, but as fun as it was at the time, that 90s style defense that coaches like Pitino and Nolan Richardson were using where they picked up full court on almost every possession isn’t coming back.
The game has evolved to the point where a lot of teams have at least competent ball handlers and passers at 4 if not all 5 positions, so one of the biggest advantages of that style, which was forcing the the ball to go to players not used to making those plays and creating mistakes, isn’t really available anymore and offenses now have more options than ever for generating easy points when they break the press. Even Pitino himself hasn’t played that way in a very long time, and it’s not just because he didn’t think he had the roster for it.
The game has evolved to the point where a lot of teams have at least competent ball handlers and passers at 4 if not all 5 positions, so one of the biggest advantages of that style, which was forcing the the ball to go to players not used to making those plays and creating mistakes, isn’t really available anymore and offenses now have more options than ever for generating easy points when they break the press. Even Pitino himself hasn’t played that way in a very long time, and it’s not just because he didn’t think he had the roster for it.
It’s also annoying bc that style is very dependent on winning the war of attrition…and due to all the added TV timeouts in the reg season and even more added tv timeouts in March, it heavily neutralizes that advantage.
I really wish they’d go to in game ads like soccer for all sports
Remember when a lot of people picked Wake Forest and Tim Duncan to beat us? The defense in that game was stellar.
Just looked it up, Duncan was 2-7 and 10-12 from the free throw line. Beat them by 20.
We played at a very high pace in 2024-25, with an injury-shortened roster and limited athleticism. The roster next year is built for speed. Super athletic, with guys that will excel in transition, and the depth to keep legs fresh. Relentless pace is absolutely what Pope wants to do. That doesn't really mean it'll look like 96, though. Different era. Not a lot of pressing anymore with the increase in skill across the board. I bet we see some mixed in though.
I imagine with the rim protection we should have (assuming JQ is healthy), we will gamble a bit more on defense. We have the defensive guys to create turnovers, athleticism to recover, limit good shots, and rebound well. Then it's off to the races.
I imagine with the rim protection we should have (assuming JQ is healthy), we will gamble a bit more on defense. We have the defensive guys to create turnovers, athleticism to recover, limit good shots, and rebound well. Then it's off to the races.
96 was the most dominant team in my fandom (since 1970). Had great depth that was super talented. Full court pressure all game. Other talented teams were beaten into submission by the defensive pressure, as much mentally as well as physically.
Next years team
1. Has depth not talent of 96 team
2. CMP in his coaching career has used offensive tempo with multiple basket cuts per possession to wear out the opponent. We did not run the BYU version of the offense as well as they did. Maybe this upcoming year, we will
3. Pitino used full court pressure in 96 to wear down opponents. CMP has not done this at previous coaching stops. Lack of depth or just a different philosophy?
4. I am not necessarily advocating 40 minutes full court pressure. Maybe after free throws, timeouts etc. Keep the opponent guessing. Only played point guard in high school but pressure wears on you physically and mentally.
5. Good way of using depth and keeping the top 10 players happy with playing time.
6. Most of the teams we play will not have our depth. Wear them out,
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