Kansas vs Arkansas Exhibition Friday

[WeWant9]

When has Cal just signed 3 Freshmen?

A couple of his original recruits didn’t follow him to Ark, so he did have to pivot. If they followed him, I doubt he would’ve have gone to the portal.

The real question is will he continue on that route (portal), or go back to loading up on 5* freshman.

 

[ukcatz12]

The change I was talking about is his antiquated offensive philosophy.

This is still the most overrated talking point. His offense is fine and will be fine this year. It's efficient, that's all that matters. They scored just about the same points per possession in the exhibition game as we did to start the season last year. Everyone on this board dilutes a good offense down to just the number of 3 point shots teams take. That doesn't make a good offense on its own, it just makes an offense that shoots a lot of 3s.

The last five years his problem has been defense. And if that's still a problem for him at Arkansas they will lose because of that, not the offense.

 

[TCurtis75]

He would’ve had the same class at UK with the exception of Jaden Quaintance. Last year he signed DJ, Bradshaw, Edwards, Reed, and Rob. Reed was expected to be a multiple year player. He has been working towards that o over the past couple of years. He stopped signing 7 or 8 freshman a few years ago. Also, the timing of his taking the Arkansas job was a big hurdle to signing more freshman. He is doing nothing any differently than what he had been doing at UK.

Keep defending him. We’ve seen it all because we’ve offered the same defenses over the years. Come get your told ya so in March.

 

[TCurtis75]

This is still the most overrated talking point. His offense is fine and will be fine this year. It's efficient, that's all that matters. They scored just about the same points per possession in the exhibition game as we did to start the season last year. Everyone on this board dilutes a good offense down to just the number of 3 point shots teams take. That doesn't make a good offense on its own, it just makes an offense that shoots a lot of 3s.

The last five years his problem has been defense. And if that's still a problem for him at Arkansas they will lose because of that, not the offense.

His offense isn’t fine. He refused to play the most effective lineup in college basketball last year. The fact you posted this with a straight face is both hilarious and concerning for your own wellbeing.

 

[ukcatz12]

His offense isn’t fine. He refused to play the most effective lineup in college basketball last year. The fact you posted this with a straight face is both hilarious and concerning for your own wellbeing.

The offense wasn't even close to the problem last year. It was the defense. It doesn't matter how efficient an offense is if the defense is just a revolving door that can't stop anyone. Our offensive efficiency was 7th in the country. Defense was like 110th. The offense was more than good enough to win a title.

And for the record, the lineup with Reeves, Sheppard, and Dillingham was literally the most played lineup by the end of the year and Sheppard was getting 78% of the minutes at PG. The talking points don't match reality.

 

[TCurtis75]

The offense wasn't even close to the problem last year. It was the defense. It doesn't matter how efficient an offense is if the defense is just a revolving door that can't stop anyone. Our offensive efficiency was 7th in the country. Defense was like 110th. The offense was more than good enough to win a title.

And for the record, the lineup with Reeves, Sheppard, and Dillingham was literally the most played lineup by the end of the year and Sheppard was getting 78% of the minutes at PG. The talking points don't match reality.

We just aren’t going to agree. It seems like you and most of the rest of the fanbase watched 2 different teams. I will find the numbers but what I saw was that lineup was one of the least played lineups. Defense was an issue as well but the offense has been a problem for a long time. The defense just started to be as bad.

 

[ukcatz12]

I will find the numbers but what I saw was that lineup was one of the least played lineups.

Here is the Kenpom stats for our minutes distribution and most used lineups at the end of the year.

 

[TCurtis75]

Here is the Kenpom stats for our minutes distribution and most used lineups at the end of the year.

That is for a grand total of the past 5 games and not the course of the entire season which is how long that lineup should have been played the must. I was commenting on the season as a whole while you picked a 5 game period.

 

[ukcatz12]

That is for a grand total of the past 5 games and not the course of the entire season which is how long that lineup should have been played the must. I was commenting on the season as a whole while you picked a 5 game period.

I didn't pick a five game period, it's just that Kenpom only publishes those stats for the most recent five games. It looked similar to that for most of the season. Almost every main talking point about the offense last year is not supported by the actual advanced metrics.

People love to say when the bigs came back the offense slowed down and Cal returned to his old ways. Which the metrics show is not true. Once the bigs got healthy the offensive tempo got faster and the efficiency got better. In December we were scoring 1.18 points per possession, in January 1.19, in February, 1.21, and in March 1.23.

I'm 100% willing to agree with criticism that is backed up by actual facts and not emotions. It's just incredibly clear if you look at the stats that the defense has been the major problem over his last 5 or so years at UK. If you go look at the offensive and defensive efficiency numbers each year Cal was here it's the defense that dropped off a cliff after Covid, not the offense.

It's defending a modern offense that passed him by, not being able to score.

 

[Cleatortoises]

I didn't pick a five game period, it's just that Kenpom only publishes those stats for the most recent five games. It looked similar to that for most of the season. Almost every main talking point about the offense last year is not supported by the actual advanced metrics.

People love to say when the bigs came back the offense slowed down and Cal returned to his old ways. Which the metrics show is not true. Once the bigs got healthy the offensive tempo got faster and the efficiency got better. In December we were scoring 1.18 points per possession, in January 1.19, in February, 1.21, and in March 1.23.

I'm 100% willing to agree with criticism that is backed up by actual facts and not emotions. It's just incredibly clear if you look at the stats that the defense has been the major problem over his last 5 or so years at UK. If you go look at the offensive and defensive efficiency numbers each year Cal was here it's the defense that dropped off a cliff after Covid, not the offense.

It's defending a modern offense that passed him by, not being able to score.

The last sentence is correct, and a great observation.
It just took a long time to get there.
I'm worn out.
Carry on.

 

[Ron Mehico]

The offense wasn't even close to the problem last year. It was the defense. It doesn't matter how efficient an offense is if the defense is just a revolving door that can't stop anyone. Our offensive efficiency was 7th in the country. Defense was like 110th. The offense was more than good enough to win a title.

And for the record, the lineup with Reeves, Sheppard, and Dillingham was literally the most played lineup by the end of the year and Sheppard was getting 78% of the minutes at PG. The talking points don't match reality.

The best part of Cal leaving is not having to read posts like this for much longer hopefully. I mean my god

 

[ukcatz12]

The best part of Cal leaving is not having to read posts like this for much longer hopefully. I mean my god

I dont know how you can possibly argue the offense was the problem if you look at the actual metrics. The statistics just don't reflect that.

Offense: ranked 7th in efficiency, scoring 1.222 points per possession by the end of the year. A number that slowly improved all year long.

Defense: ranked 109th in efficiency, allowing 1.03 points per possession. A number that got worse as the season went on.

Our most played lineup at the end of the year: Sheppard, Reeves, Dillingham, Mitchell, Big Z, with Sheppard getting 78% of the PG minutes.

There's just no rational world where you look at the gulf between the offensive and defensive stats and conclude the offense was the problem.

 

[Ron Mehico]

I dont know how you can possibly argue the offense was the problem if you look at the actual metrics. The statistics just don't reflect that.

Offense: ranked 7th in efficiency, scoring 1.222 points per possession by the end of the year. A number that slowly improved all year long.

Defense: ranked 109th in efficiency, allowing 1.03 points per possession. A number that got worse as the season went on.

Our most played lineup at the end of the year: Sheppard, Reeves, Dillingham, Mitchell, Big Z, with Sheppard getting 78% of the PG minutes.

There's just no rational world where you look at the gulf between the offensive and defensive stats and conclude the offense was the problem.

Just reading 5 paragraphs defending Cals shitshow last year and his lineup combinations is truly incredible. Like legitimately amazing. The offensive game plan and strategy and lineups against Oakland was phenomenal as well. Just defending it over and over in multiple posts. Like I said, I’m thrilled not to read this shit anymore, just garbage twisted to cover up the absolute shit smeared all over our TV screens.

 

[ukcatz12]

Just reading 5 paragraphs defending Cals shitshow last year and his lineup combinations is truly incredible. Like legitimately amazing. The offensive game plan and strategy and lineups against Oakland was phenomenal as well. Just defending it over and over in multiple posts. Like I said, I’m thrilled not to read this shit anymore, just garbage twisted to cover up the absolute shit smeared all over our TV screens.

None of the comment you replied to was me defending anything. Those are true statistics. If you disagree with them feel free to find you own. I said nothing about the Oakland game. The strategy to play through Mitchell was not the correct one, but it does not change anything else I said.

I just can't understand why you all focus on offense so much. Two of the last three years we had a top 10 offense. Last year's defense was absolute dog crap. Probably one of the worst coaching jobs Cal has ever done. It's the obvious thing to critique him on, and yet no one does.

 

[Ron Mehico]

None of the comment you replied to was me defending anything. Those are true statistics. If you disagree with them feel free to find you own. I said nothing about the Oakland game. The strategy to play through Mitchell was not the correct one, but it does not change anything else I said.

I just can't understand why you all focus on offense so much. Two of the last three years we had a top 10 offense. Last year's defense was absolute dog crap. Probably one of the worst coaching jobs Cal has ever done. It's the obvious thing to critique him on, and yet no one does.

Dilly and Shep both in Givony's espn NBA mock draft top 5

I know he was an ABA all star and the rest, but that was solely because of his crazy rebounding numbers. I'll concede that the man was a rebounding machine, but that was really his only well developed basketball skill ...hence why I think I aptly called him a "rebounding specialist." And...

kentucky.forums.rivals.com

Just read my stats I posted from page 2 of this thread if you want stats. I posted a ton. I can’t believe you’re wasting all of our time arguing the shit product from last year. I was arguing with that dipshit that claimed the reason Cal didn’t and shouldn’t play Reed that much was because of his defense. That Cal honk has thankfully moved on, you still seem committed for some reason.

Here’s one of the stats I posted about the lineups in late FEBRUARY:

“
We only have two lineups that have played more than 100 possessions together and only three that have played more than 90.

More fun with analytics:

- Creighton's #1 lineup has played 628 possessions. Purdue's #1 has 432 and their #2 has 267.

- As I just posted, our top 4-man combo has only played 355 possessions together.

- Our most-played 4-man combo is the 4th-worst of 32 different combos that have played at least 100 possessions together. It is one of only 6 of those 32 to have a negative Net Rating. All 6 contain Wagner and not Sheppard.

- None of our bottom-10 4-man combos have Sheppard. Sheppard is only in 5 of our top 10 most-played combos.

- There's not a single 5-man lineup including Sheppard that has a negative Net Rating on the year. He's a part of our best 9 lineups that have played at least 10 possessions. The 9th-best lineup with Sheppard in it has a +22.6 Net Rating. The best lineup without him in it has a +17.3.

- Probably the skill that we are singularly worst at, as a team, is defensive rebounding on 2-point shots. We only get 56.7% of defensive rebounds on close 2s, which is horrendous.”



I mean we can go on and on. I LOVE how you also downplay that we had an awful offensive game plan in the NCAA TOURNAMENT GAME 😂

We get it, you’ve officially zinged the southern Prego eating fans and you and your boy Cal can enjoy Raos and cannolis. Please give it up sooner than later FFS

 

[Tf2217]

Kansas will be at the top of my list for awhile until Self is gone.
Duke fell a bit for me when the Rat left.
Same for UNC after Ol Daggum hung it up.

I will always hate Duke. UNC is whatever Kansas is kinda whatever land too if they wasn't actively fighting us over #1 in a very close battle I really wouldn't care. Duke on the other hand if they never win another basketball game ever again I would be estatic.

 

[Fox2monk]

Dilly and Shep both in Givony's espn NBA mock draft top 5

I know he was an ABA all star and the rest, but that was solely because of his crazy rebounding numbers. I'll concede that the man was a rebounding machine, but that was really his only well developed basketball skill ...hence why I think I aptly called him a "rebounding specialist." And...

kentucky.forums.rivals.com

Just read my stats I posted from page 2 of this thread if you want stats. I posted a ton. I can’t believe you’re wasting all of our time arguing the shit product from last year. I was arguing with that dipshit that claimed the reason Cal didn’t and shouldn’t play Reed that much was because of his defense. That Cal honk has thankfully moved on, you still seem committed for some reason.

Here’s one of the stats I posted about the lineups in late FEBRUARY:

“
We only have two lineups that have played more than 100 possessions together and only three that have played more than 90.

More fun with analytics:

- Creighton's #1 lineup has played 628 possessions. Purdue's #1 has 432 and their #2 has 267.

- As I just posted, our top 4-man combo has only played 355 possessions together.

- Our most-played 4-man combo is the 4th-worst of 32 different combos that have played at least 100 possessions together. It is one of only 6 of those 32 to have a negative Net Rating. All 6 contain Wagner and not Sheppard.

- None of our bottom-10 4-man combos have Sheppard. Sheppard is only in 5 of our top 10 most-played combos.

- There's not a single 5-man lineup including Sheppard that has a negative Net Rating on the year. He's a part of our best 9 lineups that have played at least 10 possessions. The 9th-best lineup with Sheppard in it has a +22.6 Net Rating. The best lineup without him in it has a +17.3.

- Probably the skill that we are singularly worst at, as a team, is defensive rebounding on 2-point shots. We only get 56.7% of defensive rebounds on close 2s, which is horrendous.”



I mean we can go on and on. I LOVE how you also downplay that we had an awful offensive game plan in the NCAA TOURNAMENT GAME 😂

We get it, you’ve officially zinged the southern Prego eating fans and you and your boy Cal can enjoy Raos and cannolis. Please give it up sooner than later FFS

Don’t forget the absolute crap performance and strategy in the SEC tournament.