The dude has always had solid defensive teams so I can’t blame it squarely on him. You’ve got several defensively minded dudes in that bench. Chin, Ulis, etc. not sure what the issue is.
Accountability to what? I’m not sticking up for Cal. Just saying bad defense for him IS an anomaly.
It hasn’t been great. But it hasn’t been this bad either.
You are asking something from Cal he cannot do.
Cal: “blame me not these kids”
Cal called BCG and found out they aren’t tough enough. He told them to get tougher, we shall see how it plays out tomorrow night. Cal”s coaching 101 for Dummies, Chapter 6. Tell players to get tougher and play defense.
There’s probably a reason for that. When you’re playing plow mule offense, your defense is going to look better. This team gets up and down the floor so another smoke and mirror of Cal has been discovered.
Cal's defenses have largely been good because he can funnel the ball handler to a generational shot blocker in the middle. He had Cousins, Davis, Jones, and Willey Cauley Stein/Towns/Randle in 2013-2015. This team doesn't have that elite shot blocker. Ugonna is decent but he doesn't start. Bradshaw isn't that type of shot blocker.
We all know. The Yellowstone volcano could erupt and kill millions of people, shut down air traffic, break the electric grid, cause massive crop failures, and plunge the entire country into ash covered darkness and you'd still figure out a way to blame Cal.
A&M shot 40% for the game. Something like 32% from 3.
I guess it's easy to sit there laughing it up (when he was injured) and clowning around, because it wasn't him that had to be out there. But now that he's playing he runs from contact and asks to be subbed out. AB needs to be getting garbage minutes for when Mitchell and Ugonna need to come out. And he should never step outside the free throw line.
So do you disagree with my observations that UK guards struggle to stay in front of their man on defense? If so, you’re more of a homer than I thought.
They all did. It’s maddening to watch guards let their man go by like they’re stuck in glue.
Why is Edwards literally starting over anyone on this team? He’s one of the most disappointing players we’ve ever had here.
I respect your posts. I’ll try to tone it down.
Of course u do. We've always had good defensive teams and the year we don't it must be his fault
Looked pretty dang good in the 22 season. On the road at Kansas being up 20. Against UT as well.
You’re dreaming. We haven’t had good defensive teams for years now. Oscar and Reeves and Wheeler did no better. Try again.
Bradshaw may be the worst big on defense we've had. He has no idea what going straight up means. Wcs was so great at that.
I tend to agree with this and it might not be popular opinion. Ugo has much better instincts on the defensive end. That’s not to say Bradshaw can’t get there, but at times he becomes a defensive liability and trying to block everything, you become a rebounding liability as well.
I think it's a coaching issue. No way the entire staff sits there and doesn't see that AB defends like he's 6'2". That or they have told him and he's not receptive. I also agree that road games are tough, but I don't really buy into "conference" playing into it. Especially when people say "oh this conference plays a different way than that way", but I know you weren't suggesting that. The coaching staff needs to be doing a better job, unless they're just a bunch of recruiters who go home and pet their dogs.
Those that say cal doesn’t promise players starting positions need look no further than Edwards and Bradshaw. Neither have done anything this year to have earned a starting role yet here they are and here they will stay regardless of production.
Well what do you think the reason for the poor defense is? Players? Because it can really only be coaching, players or a combination of both. And in two of those scenarios, Cal is to blame. And in the other one, it's the players he recruited and is supposed to be teaching, directing and developing strategies to make them perform the best they can as a group. So really, it's all three.
