Kenpon defensive rating

[Digger-Cat]

Just jumped up to 68. Gotta love that, especially when we are missing the best on ball defender in the country and a 6'7" guy that can defend much better than Brea can.

Great job by Pope here. That's great coaching.

 

[Fox2monk]

Just jumped up to 68. Gotta love that, especially when we are missing the best on ball defender in the country and a 6'7" guy that can defend much better than Brea can.

Great job by Pope here. That's great coaching.

Definitely trending the right direction.

 

[michaeluk26]

Just jumped up to 68. Gotta love that, especially when we are missing the best on ball defender in the country and a 6'7" guy that can defend much better than Brea can.

Great job by Pope here. That's great coaching.

Damn, we were 118 not to long ago.

 

[ukcatz12]

We've jumped like 43 spots in the past couple weeks. I really wonder what this team would have looked like at full strength, or close to it, for the full year.

 

[will1976]

Nice post this is very promising.

 

[Digger-Cat]

Damn, we were 118 not to long ago.

You know, I really think KP doesn’t really weigh the competition well enough.

I see teams in other conferences that look worse than us defensively, but they're 30 spots better than us.

If they had to play our schedule, would they be where they are? I don't think so.

But I'm not taking anything away from what CMP has done, he flipped the script with a depleted team tonight. The rebounding and defense in the 2nd half was damn good.

 

[Fox2monk]

We've jumped like 43 spots in the past couple weeks. I really wonder what this team would have looked like at full strength, or close to it, for the full year.

We already know they are easily top 10. Probably top 6-7 id say.

 

[Digger-Cat]

We're on the up and up, just inched up to 67th, SMU slipped to 68th.

Does anyone really believe SMU is right there with UK defensively? I get it, we have our issues, but SMU is just not any good. They would be LSU bad if they were in this league.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

Just in time to play at Alabama so we can give up 105 pts and slip back down to 100th .

 

[silentsaregolden2.0]

Just in time to play at Alabama so we can give up 105 pts and slip back down to 100th .

IMO, we have to play zone and slow it down on offense. We cannot win a shootout in their place, unless we are crazy hot and they aren't. Now that they are coming off 2 losses, their motivation will be thru the roof. Not looking forward to this one.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

IMO, we have to play zone and slow it down on offense. We cannot win a shootout in their place, unless we are crazy hot and they aren't. Now that they are coming off 2 losses, their motivation will be thru the roof. Not looking forward to this one.

You're right that it would take a crazy hot UK team to steal one at bama. But that's what Missouri just did- played even faster than bama did and beat them at their own game.

 

[Digger-Cat]

You're right that it would take a crazy hot UK team to steal one at bama. But that's what Missouri just did- played even faster than bama did and beat them at their own game.

Maybe if we were at full strength, but as hobbled as we are, Pope is going to have to come up with something else.

Funny thing is, Alabama shoots better from 3 point range on the road (40%+), than they do at home (30%+).

"So you're saying there's a chance?"

 

[Bigblueincincy]

Just in time to play at Alabama so we can give up 105 pts and slip back down to 100th .

And still have Auburn and Missouri on top of Bama. I think Missouri could be a sleeper. I think I just threw up a little saying that.

 

[Creed Bratton]

This is from the ESPN Power Rankings article. ​

15. Kentucky Wildcats (18-8)​

Previous ranking: 10

Kentucky's defense has been much-maligned all season, and for good reason. But the Wildcats have started to show signs of life over the past couple of weeks -- which bodes well once they get fully healthy, particularly when it comes to point guard Lamont Butler. They held Vanderbilt to 21 second-half points Wednesday in a 21-point win. It was the third time in four games Kentucky had limited a team to fewer than 65 points and also the third time in four games a Kentucky opponent has been held to one point per possession or lower.

Next seven days: at Alabama (Feb. 22), at Oklahoma (Feb. 26)

 

[UKBB4Ever]

You know, I really think KP doesn’t really weigh the competition well enough.

I see teams in other conferences that look worse than us defensively, but they're 30 spots better than us.

If they had to play our schedule, would they be where they are? I don't think so.

But I'm not taking anything away from what CMP has done, he flipped the script with a depleted team tonight. The rebounding and defense in the 2nd half was damn good.

It's a pace metric. He doesn't measure anything about basketball. He never even played the game. It's just nerd numbers. And he even changes the numbers. He's a complete phony.

 

[NociHTTP]

Just jumped up to 68. Gotta love that, especially when we are missing the best on ball defender in the country and a 6'7" guy that can defend much better than Brea can.

Great job by Pope here. That's great coaching.

I can't find any rankings that show Butler as the best on ball defender in the country. Amari was listed as the best by one article, lol.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I can't find any rankings that show Butler as the best on ball defender in the country. Amari was listed as the best by one article, lol.

I never read it anywhere, it's an opinion shared by many. I've heard it mentioned by guys on the SECN and guys like Jimmy Dykes.
If he's not THE best, he's certainly top 5.

 

[HenryMuto]

Kentucky ranks like #14 in DEF EFF the past 4 games though if you look at who they played you can see why that said still good to see. Just wish we beat Texas like we should have and we would be on a 4 game winning streak.

 

[runt#69]

What's happened is that Kentucky has had to found some defensive improvements because it has been frankly abysmal at times. At the same time, some teams have played so far above the consistent level of quality they have played for the season, and we're used to seeing teams and guys just "having that kind of night" where we couldn't stop them or their team.... i guess the good games teams plays against us balances out with the bad nights.

But our defense has definitely improved.

I'd say the addition of Noah, Perry, and Chandler has kept the motion of defense and effort levels consistently higher than it was pre-injury wise for the team. I don't know if the stats back that up, but it SEEMS that way. I like to see them all active.

Good job Cats ! Keep on improving defensively !

Go Big Blue !

 

[The_Answer1313]

On February 5th our adjusted defensive efficiency was 103.4.

Today it is 101.6

So 1.8 points per 100 possessions or about 1.3 points in a typical game.

Same time frame our Efficiency Margin went from 21.88 to 24.89. So we gained 1.8 on defense and 1.2 on offense.

The EM numbers (not the rank) is the most important part of this equation. The greater separation between offense and defense (and thus high EM), the greater our spreads will be in our games.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Again I do want to warn about small samples tho.

There was a stretch last season we held some pretty good offensive teams to low outputs and it was definitely NOT an indication of what would happen later on in the season.

But it's a step in the right direction. Just how much of a step it was (vs maybe we are just playing poorer offensive teams than we have been) remains a question. Obviously it's adjusted for SOS but like noted above people tend to question the weighing there.

Our last four opponents had OEs ranked 125th, 29th, 30th and 34th. Not terrible but definitely a step down from previous opponents. Now the good news......when comparing what we did to those teams on defense vs other teams we held South Carolina to their 2nd lowest output of the season, UT to their 3rd lowest, and Vandy to the 2nd lowest.

THAT to me is more indicative than anything.

 

[HagginHall1999]

We already know they are easily top 10. Probably top 6-7 id say.

Yep. Fully healthy we are at worst a 2 seed.

 

[crawfords corner]

I wonder what UKs defensive efficiency is when Butler is actually on the floor vs when hes getting a breather or flat missing a game