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Is it possible to critique Calipari here?

Wade Boggs

Wade Boggs

Nov 30, 2015
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Not sure if I'll respond to your answers here, but anyways here we go....

  1. Lack of a 3 point threat
  2. Dribble Drive Motion Offense
  3. Lineup/Substitutions

***I believe most of these statistics are before tonight's game***

3 Point Shooting:
  • At 11.9 Minutes Per Game, Derek Willis is shooting .355 from deep
  • Derek Willis attempts 2.6 per game
  • At 33.5 Minutes Per Game, Jamal Murray is shooting .382 from deep
  • Jamal Murray attempts 6.8 per game
  • At 35.4 Minutes Per Game, Tyler Ulis is shooting .288 from deep
  • Tyler Ulis attempts 4.9 per game
Obviously, we don't have the kind of legit threat from the outside this year. When you look at years when we have made a deep run, Cal has had a legitimate threat from the outside, if not more than one:

  • Devin Booker on just 3.6 attempts per game shot .411 from deep, and that includes a horrific slump towards the end of the season.
  • Doron Lamb(2012) on 4.075 attempts per game shot .466 from deep
  • Darius Miller on 3.725 attempts per game shot .376 from deep
  • Kyle Wiltjer on 2.025 attempts per game shot .432 from deep
  • Doron Lamb(2011) on 3.68 attempts per game shot .486 from deep
The other 2 seasons(12-13 and 09-10), we did not have a single "shooter" other than Josh Harrelson/Jon Hood(Whom only shot 19 3s in total) shoot above the .385 mark.

This year is another example of not having that consistent, can always rely on, the guy who makes the shots when we don't ABSOLUTELY need them, but the guy who makes the shot when we could use a run so to speak.

Guys like Dairus Miller and Doron Lamb seemed to be "that guy"

The Dribble Drive Offense:

  • Let's be honest here, this system only works with an outside threat
  • Briscoe is a PG, not an off-ball threat.
Briscoe is a bull. He works best when bringing the offense to his cadence. He needs to have the ball in his hands at the start of the offensive set or he is otherwise useless.
  • 3 Guard lineup is killing the offensive flow when 3 guards(Ulis, Murray, Briscoe) start
Murray and Ulis are too "hot & cold" from deep. They're lack of an outside presence showed tonight as they were unable to find separation inside the three point line.
  • There needs to be a threat to keep defenses honest so they cannot just, simply, pack the middle
  • Where are the plays designed for specific players?
Each and everyone of these players has an individual skill set. Why are we not running plays that maximize the talents of Poythress(Inside/middle as he did against UofL), 8-12ft baseline shots for Skal, setting picks for Murray to create, etc....

Lineup/Subs:

  • Substitutions are killing some players' confidence
  • Willis is immediately subbed out for any wrongdoing --> killing his confidence and ruining his rhythm on the offensive end.
  • Briscoe's playing time off the ball is only hurting his natural abilities as Cal did with Archie. They are by no means the same type of player, yet Cal has forced them to be contrived of their abilities(driving/ FT shooting). I understand Briscoe has been much worse at the line, but he is being misused in a similar fashion that Archie had been
  • Skal needs an Enforcer when in the lineup. A "Goon" if you will. If he is going to play this soft, we cannot rely on Poythress to make up for that(We've seen enough of Poythress to see he is not going to bring that mentality game in and game out).
Mulder or Willis need to be a starter. It does not matter which one, but we need to abandon this 3 guard lineup that cannot consistently create a threat from deep. Otherwise, the dribble drive is doomed.

Anyways, just my thoughts. Have at it boys



 
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JerseyCat84 said:
Well I like your presentation, I'll give you that.
Click to expand...
I appreciate that. I tried to put my full/honest opinion in here without speaking immediately after and giving some sort of irrational response like I have seen others do. Hopefully I won't be replied to as a troll anymore.
 
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Not bad. Disagree on your third point - he takes Willis out quickly because he can't or won't guard anyone and is little help on the boards, for example.

Cal isn't perfect. Commenting on any number of things is fine, provided the person has some sense and some perspective. Most people are just venting and have no sense and little perspective. If you only show up to complain when we lose; if you say Cal can't coach or can only coach if he has the most talent; if you say Cal is the worst offensive coach in the SEC; if you say something stupid, well, naturally you'll get blowback.....
 
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Very good post. To me, I would just sit Skal down until he proved something. He can't rebound, defend, score, or catch the ball in traffic. He actually waited until a defender caught up to him when he was wide open (eventually turning the ball over). He is intimidated and a liability that should not be playing right now. He does set a good pick, but it is the roll and pop part that he has trouble with.
 
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Dreklie said:
You can't really say anything about the almighty cal around here without being clowned on. Fact remains it would have been REALLY hard not to win the title in 2010 and last year ... and we managed to lose.
Click to expand...
See, OP, this is a person with little common sense and is lacking perspective. So naturally he gets "clowned on."
 
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Dreklie said:
You can't really say anything about the almighty cal around here without being clowned on. Fact remains it would have been REALLY hard not to win the title in 2010 and last year ... and we managed to lose.
Click to expand...
Almighty Cal, huh? Go away troll
 
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Dreklie said:
That's your opinion, as remedial as it may be, it is your opinion. How is that post indicative of little common sense?
Click to expand...
Because you said it was "really hard not to win" the title in two years. Which, of course is untrue and stupid. The very best, most dominant teams have way less than a 50/50 shot of winning 6 consecutive games, the last 3 of which will be against good teams that are really hot. So, no, it's not really hard "not to win", it's really hard to win, even if you have the best team (which we didn't even have in 2010, but at least you got one out of two).

Posts like yours are why people like Dick Vitale belittle some UK fans.
 
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Cal isn't the greatest basketball coach on the planet and of course he isn't perfect. OP, you should be allowed to critique our coach as long as you present an intelligent and well thought out argument. You've obviously done that so, I don't see any problem with your post.
In fact, I agree on most of your points.
 
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Dreklie said:
His results have been fantastic so I doubt it, still a hard pill to swallow not winning in 2010 and last year ... ugh. Hard to believe we would have had more success with anyone else here though.
Click to expand...
You got a point, or just want to stir the pot? Swallow this
 
Blueworld_3.0 said:
Cal isn't the greatest basketball coach on the planet and of course he isn't perfect. OP, you should be allowed to critique our coach as long as you present an intelligent and well thought out argument. You've obviously done that so, I don't see any problem with your post.
In fact, I agree on most of your points.
Click to expand...
Appreciate your response. Thank you
 
Wade Boggs said:
That's fair. Willis looked absolutely lost trying to guard Simmons.
Click to expand...

Simmons is only the best player in college basketball. I'm not defending Willis' defensive ability but it's easy to look lost trying to guard Simmons.

I think we turned Simmons into the next Lebron in preparing for the game. He's great but his team has lost 5 games this year. We should have played off of him outside. He's not a great outside shooter. He drools when he gets a big guy guarding him outside. When we put a small guy on him he would give up the ball and go in the post. Just don't guard him outside. I think that's the best way to slow him down.

This is Cal's 7th team and we get tired of hearing it but he coaches a completely different team, dominated by freshmen, every year except last year, and look what happened then. I don't care how talented someone is, there is a huge learning curve for freshmen. We do have some veterans on this team but they've never been responsible for much. Cal gets a lot of talent in here but he hardly ever gets experience.
 
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Wade Boggs said:
Not sure if I'll respond to your answers here, but anyways here we go....

  1. Lack of a 3 point threat
  2. Dribble Drive Motion Offense
  3. Lineup/Substitutions

***I believe most of these statistics are before tonight's game***

3 Point Shooting:
  • At 11.9 Minutes Per Game, Derek Willis is shooting .355 from deep
  • Derek Willis attempts 2.6 per game
  • At 33.5 Minutes Per Game, Jamal Murray is shooting .382 from deep
  • Jamal Murray attempts 6.8 per game
  • At 35.4 Minutes Per Game, Tyler Ulis is shooting .288 from deep
  • Tyler Ulis attempts 4.9 per game
Obviously, we don't have the kind of legit threat from the outside this year. When you look at years when we have made a deep run, Cal has had a legitimate threat from the outside, if not more than one:

  • Devin Booker on just 3.6 attempts per game shot .411 from deep, and that includes a horrific slump towards the end of the season.
  • Doron Lamb(2012) on 4.075 attempts per game shot .466 from deep
  • Darius Miller on 3.725 attempts per game shot .376 from deep
  • Kyle Wiltjer on 2.025 attempts per game shot .432 from deep
  • Doron Lamb(2011) on 3.68 attempts per game shot .486 from deep
The other 2 seasons(12-13 and 09-10), we did not have a single "shooter" other than Josh Harrelson/Jon Hood(Whom only shot 19 3s in total) shoot above the .385 mark.

This year is another example of not having that consistent, can always rely on, the guy who makes the shots when we don't ABSOLUTELY need them, but the guy who makes the shot when we could use a run so to speak.

Guys like Dairus Miller and Doron Lamb seemed to be "that guy"

The Dribble Drive Offense:

  • Let's be honest here, this system only works with an outside threat
  • Briscoe is a PG, not an off-ball threat.
Briscoe is a bull. He works best when bringing the offense to his cadence. He needs to have the ball in his hands at the start of the offensive set or he is otherwise useless.
  • 3 Guard lineup is killing the offensive flow when 3 guards(Ulis, Murray, Briscoe) start
Murray and Ulis are too "hot & cold" from deep. They're lack of an outside presence showed tonight as they were unable to find separation inside the three point line.
  • There needs to be a threat to keep defenses honest so they cannot just, simply, pack the middle
  • Where are the plays designed for specific players?
Each and everyone of these players has an individual skill set. Why are we not running plays that maximize the talents of Poythress(Inside/middle as he did against UofL), 8-12ft baseline shots for Skal, setting picks for Murray to create, etc....

Lineup/Subs:

  • Substitutions are killing some players' confidence
  • Willis is immediately subbed out for any wrongdoing --> killing his confidence and ruining his rhythm on the offensive end.
  • Briscoe's playing time off the ball is only hurting his natural abilities as Cal did with Archie. They are by no means the same type of player, yet Cal has forced them to be contrived of their abilities(driving/ FT shooting). I understand Briscoe has been much worse at the line, but he is being misused in a similar fashion that Archie had been
  • Skal needs an Enforcer when in the lineup. A "Goon" if you will. If he is going to play this soft, we cannot rely on Poythress to make up for that(We've seen enough of Poythress to see he is not going to bring that mentality game in and game out).
Mulder or Willis need to be a starter. It does not matter which one, but we need to abandon this 3 guard lineup that cannot consistently create a threat from deep. Otherwise, the dribble drive is doomed.

Anyways, just my thoughts. Have at it boys


Click to expand...
You do understand we don't just run dribble drive..most of the ole miss game was indeed set plays.

If your pouting about willis..tell him to wake up on defense. Kids at the middle school level can learn how to switch, hedge, show, etc. He is completely lost. Funny how only his confidence is the one we are worried about. Mulder got his name called and did fine.
 
UKBrassowTipIN said:
You do understand we don't just run dribble drive..most of the ole miss game was indeed set plays.

If your pouting about willis..tell him to wake up on defense. Kids at the middle school level can learn how to switch, hedge, show, etc. He is completely lost. Funny how only his confidence is the one we are worried about. Mulder got his name called and did fine.
Click to expand...


Can you provide me with some plays other than the dribble drive?


Also, not "pouting about willis" as you presume. He has weaknesses, yes, but he also provides an offensive utility that we have yet to exploit. He seems the most capable(other than Mulder) of playing the role Wiltjer played for us.
 
Seems to me like a critique of the players, not Cal. If you mean you are critiquing his assembling this squad, then every coach is guilty of the same thing when they have down years. No coach is never going to have down years. Cal missed on a LOT of players this past year, but we thought he pulled a rabbit out of his hat getting Murray and then Humphries late. Obviously Murray is good, but not the savior we thought he would be and Skal and Briscoe have not performed up to their hype. If that's your critique, then it's valid, but nothing to really hold against him. Nobody is perfect,
 
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Dreklie said:
You can't really say anything about the almighty cal around here without being clowned on. Fact remains it would have been REALLY hard not to win the title in 2010 and last year ... and we managed to lose.
Click to expand...

I must say, the NCAA is a crapshoot 90% of the time the best team does not win. I'm not digging on you, I'm just saying. It's just statistically very hard regardless of talent. A lot honestly is luck. Not saying Cal can't be critiqued, but the title thing is hard.
 
JeffGoodmansVestigialTwin said:
I must say, the NCAA is a crapshoot 90% of the time the best team does not win. I'm not digging on you, I'm just saying. It's just statistically very hard regardless of talent. A lot honestly is luck. Not saying Cal can't be critiqued, but the title thing is hard.
Click to expand...

Agree ... but the best team would statistically have the best shot, right? I know it hardly even works out that way ... just hard as hell to swallow the loss last year ... still. Even more so because our team is playing so terribly now.
 
Dreklie said:
Agree ... but the best team would statistically have the best shot, right? I know it hardly even works out that way ... just hard as hell to swallow the loss last year ... still. Even more so because our team is playing so terribly now.
Click to expand...

True, but at the same time. This isn't the same team.if this team drops the next 4 road games I'll legit be ready to jump overboard. But The 2014 UCONN team taught me anything can happen in March (they lost by 34 in their last game before the tourney) so as long as we're in the dance there is at least a shot.
 
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This is hilarious. Tonight was TERRIBLE but in Cal's tenure what gives you guys the idea to blame Cal? This team may not turn it around, but they very well can. From past years Cal gives us at least the chance to turn it around. Hell don't give up just yet we are 14 games into the season.
 
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What is his fault? I guess he put this team together, but the lack of an outside threat isn't a reasonable complaint since we have several people who had that reputation. Unless you think he should be able to make them shoot better.
 
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jwhite123 said:
This is hilarious. Tonight was TERRIBLE but in Cal's tenure what gives you guys the idea to blame Cal? This team may not turn it around, but they very well can. From past years Cal gives us at least the chance to turn it around. Hell don't give up just yet we are 14 games into the season.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I am resigned to it not happening, because our problems are just not likely to be remedied. Those being outside shooting, and a very soft frontcourt cadre. The shooting can be on and off, but asking it to be on for 5 or 6 games is too much. As for the frontcourt issue, Skal is just not able to bang down low, doesn't have moves around the basket, and isn't going to develop those this season. Just not gonna happen.

Alex is who he is at this point of his career. Shows flashes from time to time, but he can't create his own shot, unless he's being guarded by one player and there is no help defense. He doesn't have an outside shot, so he's basically down to put-backs, and alley-oops most games. Lee has been impressive this season, but he's a role player and with the Skal situation he is now needed to be the main guy down low. Humphries is a multi-year role player.

So, unless Wynyard somehow starts to get PT and surprises the hell out of everyone, we have little to no inside game, which against some opponents won't matter, but when we get into the tournament, it definitely will, and unless Murray and Ulis can pull a Kemba Walker, I will be shocked if we even make the second weekend.
 
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SilentsAreGolden said:
Honestly, I am resigned to it not happening, because our problems are just not likely to be remedied. Those being outside shooting, and a very soft frontcourt cadre. The shooting can be on and off, but asking it to be on for 5 or 6 games is too much. As for the frontcourt issue, Skal is just not able to bang down low, doesn't have moves around the basket, and isn't going to develop those this season. Just not gonna happen.

Alex is who he is at this point of his career. Shows flashes from time to time, but he can't create his own shot, unless he's being guarded by one player and there is no help defense. He doesn't have an outside shot, so he's basically down to put-backs, and alley-oops most games. Lee has been impressive this season, but he's a role player and with the Skal situation he is now needed to be the main guy down low. Humphries is a multi-year role player.

So, unless Wynyard somehow starts to get PT and surprises the hell out of everyone, we have little to no inside game, which against some opponents won't matter, but when we get into the tournament, it definitely will, and unless Murray and Ulis can pull a Kemba Walker, I will be shocked if we even make the second weekend.
Click to expand...
Like I said, this team very well may not. I'm with you in the fact as I see almost no way in it happening. BUT all I'm saying is critiquing Cal isn't the solution here. I honestly don't know what else Cal could do to get something more out of this team. Only thing I guess you could say is that he may have gotten some of the wrong guys. I'm sure he has an idea, that's why we pay him the big bucks.

(Edited) I'll be honest I didn't see your earlier post in this thread, so everything I just said corresponded with what you've already said. So I basically reiterated it for no reason.
 
I want to see more of Mulder. Have him start in place of Briscoe and leave everything else the same.

Briscoe comes in to spell Ullis, until Hawk recovers or Briscoe improves.

Like someone else said, putting him at the line is a turnover.
 
I agree that fans have a right to critique Cal, just as I have a righttodisagree with all 3 of your points! I'm not even sure what those stats about 3or shooting 33rd about?! All in noticed is that Murray, and Willis weren't as high as a % as guys in the past, but are still respectable, and regardless of his % right now, Ullis can shoot, and should keep shooting. He shot 40% from deep last year!

You alsocherry picked your stats for other players like Wiltjer who shot 42% one year, and mid 30s the next, yet left out Wiltjers bad year, and Ullis's good year to prove a point which I'm unsure what it is. LOL!
 
Blueworld_3.0 said:
Cal isn't the greatest basketball coach on the planet and of course he isn't perfect. OP, you should be allowed to critique our coach as long as you present an intelligent and well thought out argument. You've obviously done that so, I don't see any problem with your post.
In fact, I agree on most of your points.
Click to expand...
THIS
 
When someone says Cal isn't the greatest coach, they are saying that from a specific snapshot in time.

Whether fans like it or not, for a coach that is only coaching for the moment, it probably does make sense to limit Skal and Briscoe, develop Willis, Mulder and Charles

But Cal isn't just coaching for a road game against LSU, he's coaching for a national title game in 2017, a recruiting class in 2018 and so on

Its like playing the stock market - fans want Cal to dump all his stocks for liquidity now in a bear market and he's playing the long game that over time those stocks will continue to pay dividends and grow.

Should Cal have more titles given the talent he has? Dean Smith had 2 - but under Dean Smith, UNC handed us our butt more often than not and was consistently the strongest program in college basketball (not interested in hearing about fake classes as a rebuttal).

This years team on paper should be better than they are - Cal made an investment in talent that hasn't paid off .....yet - and ultimately may not pay off, but you don't derail your investment plan that has been wildly successful because 1 year hasn't returned the immediate results that fans have come to expect. So I would encourage Cal to keep investing in Skal because there is no long term benefit to the program with him becoming a bust at UK.
 
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The truth is that even if you get ALL the recruits you want, you don't know how it's going to fit together on the court. Like most all coaches, Cal likes to tear his teams down before he builds them back up. I just hope there's still time to bring the team back together again, because right now they look a lot more like the Goodwin team than the Knight team (two most recent examples of completely tearing a team down to nuts and bolts, only to be rebuilt with vastly different outcomes).
 
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