Mark Story's Article in LHL today suggests.....
- Thread starter rivercatinfl
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Probably true. I don’t think we’ll shoot it as well but will be stronger in the post and tremendously better defensively.
Probably the case but on the other hand our D should be the best in several years.
I do think the offense takes a hit but the defense and rebounding being so much better makes up for it.
Actually, Story did not specifically mention Jackson but I kinda read between the lines. When healthy, Jackson was good.
all around we will be a much better team imo. More post scoring for sure.
all around we will be a much better team imo. More post scoring for sure.
It’s a TBD.
Nobody knows until the games are played. For example, we all thought Butler was a bricklayer and he shot the 3 better than he ever has in his one year at UK.
On paper, we have less outside shooting than last year. But, the games aren’t played on paper.
Nobody knows until the games are played. For example, we all thought Butler was a bricklayer and he shot the 3 better than he ever has in his one year at UK.
On paper, we have less outside shooting than last year. But, the games aren’t played on paper.
He’s right, we’re probably not gonna shoot as well as last year’s team.
But fortunately we should easily make up for it in other areas. We’re bigger, stronger, deeper, more athletic and just plain more physically imposing now.
But fortunately we should easily make up for it in other areas. We’re bigger, stronger, deeper, more athletic and just plain more physically imposing now.
This whole "Kentucky won't shoot the 3 as well" trope is overblown, in my opinion, especially when Quaintance starts playing. The Cats will have more inside scoring threat, and more guys who can attack the basket off the dribble. That should create even better looks on the perimeter for shooters in Pope's offense, and guys like Lowe and others will raise their averages -- Williams already shot within two percent of what Brea shot.
I'd bet $100 Kentucky as a team shoots within two percent of the same percentage as last year - either higher or lower.
By the way, the Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, Antonio Reeves team shot 3 percent HIGHER than last year, set a UK record for 3-point percentage - and lost to Oakland in the first round. So it is far from the factor that determines success or failure anyway.
I'd bet $100 Kentucky as a team shoots within two percent of the same percentage as last year - either higher or lower.
By the way, the Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, Antonio Reeves team shot 3 percent HIGHER than last year, set a UK record for 3-point percentage - and lost to Oakland in the first round. So it is far from the factor that determines success or failure anyway.
Who is this “Jackson” everyone keeps speaking of?
Chandler will be better than Brea.
I didn't read the article but I think we will be better offensively.
We will definitely get more easy baskets from our defense. We will certainly get more rebounds. Which are possessions even though kenpompom says they aren't. More possessions=more points. What did we average last season, 85-86 PPG? That's with mostly mid major talent. Now we have major talent.
We will definitely get more easy baskets from our defense. We will certainly get more rebounds. Which are possessions even though kenpompom says they aren't. More possessions=more points. What did we average last season, 85-86 PPG? That's with mostly mid major talent. Now we have major talent.
What Story doesn't seem to get is that it's CMP's offense that elevates these guys, not the other way around.
I would say due to all the injuries last year, if we stay healthy, we will be lots better this year.
Will the new guys not be better prepared to contribute than Carr after back injury or freshmen versions of Perry, Noah, and Chandler?
We had plenty of games where we didn't make that many threes and still had solid wins. I think the 30 three pointers a game is an aspirational notion for coach. He's going to play to his strengths and get Ws.
North Florida made the most threes out of every team in college ball last year. Florida was middle of the pack (27th best 3pt% for the tournament). Take your pick on which result you'd prefer.
North Florida made the most threes out of every team in college ball last year. Florida was middle of the pack (27th best 3pt% for the tournament). Take your pick on which result you'd prefer.
They mean Jaxson? We have to factor in his injury and the fact that it probably cost us a few games, a seed line, and who knows, maybe a final4.
He played just 12 minutes beyond February 8th. And his 3pt shooting didnt get going until January-ish.. he was a 30% 3pt shooter in November and December..
Imo its hard to miss a player who was only really in this 3pt heater for a 6 or 7 game stretch. Nothing against him, I imagine if he was healthy his numbers would be different.. but I think we will be OK if our big loss next year is not having Jaxson's month of January..
He played just 12 minutes beyond February 8th. And his 3pt shooting didnt get going until January-ish.. he was a 30% 3pt shooter in November and December..
Imo its hard to miss a player who was only really in this 3pt heater for a 6 or 7 game stretch. Nothing against him, I imagine if he was healthy his numbers would be different.. but I think we will be OK if our big loss next year is not having Jaxson's month of January..
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CMP probably got him to say it to motivate who we have now to work at their shooting. We have the ability to be a better shooting team.
Our offense will be so much quicker because of better athletes. Better Shots. We will see!
Go Cats!
Our offense will be so much quicker because of better athletes. Better Shots. We will see!
Go Cats!
This year’s team will shoot better than last year’s team. UK lost Brea but improved in all areas.
The reduction in firepower is incredibly obvious and anyone who’s been paying attention has been talking about it for a long time.
Thank God I haven’t wasted my time reading a Herald Leader article. But if it’s as you’re describing, Story’s response is overly simplistic as usual. Pope will tailor the offense to be as effective as possible given the pieces available. And he has a lot of options with that since, compared to last year, we have more pieces available and more of the pieces are multi-level scorers even if you take perimeter shooting off the table. Also the perimeter shooters we have, while they are lower tier at least in terms of proven efficiency, play better defense and have deeper toolkits compared to everyone who left besides JR and Butler. And are probably tougher than JR. We also look to be better at rebounding, which will erase a lot of zeros we had last year that we had to average in with our scored-from-distance possessions.
There are a lot of variables. There are truly some hurdles to overcome on the path towards being as high-powered offensively as we were last year. There are also some possibly clear paths to us being as efficient as we were last year, just with different dynamics, even if none of our incoming guys blows up unexpectedly from the perimeter and turns into a much more lethal high-volume distance threat than we expect. We also almost can’t help being better defensively than last year and that may easily have a bigger effect on our bottom line than what we lose offensively.
My thing is I really hoped we could have added one more well-established sniper simply because if you add one more well-established sniper to what we already have, we become the Death Star. Other teams may as well just lay down. But that’s about my ‘druthers and wishful thinking. Someone saying it’s going to be a problem that we don’t have that is just someone being sensationalist to drive clicks. I.e., Mark Story.
Thank God I haven’t wasted my time reading a Herald Leader article. But if it’s as you’re describing, Story’s response is overly simplistic as usual. Pope will tailor the offense to be as effective as possible given the pieces available. And he has a lot of options with that since, compared to last year, we have more pieces available and more of the pieces are multi-level scorers even if you take perimeter shooting off the table. Also the perimeter shooters we have, while they are lower tier at least in terms of proven efficiency, play better defense and have deeper toolkits compared to everyone who left besides JR and Butler. And are probably tougher than JR. We also look to be better at rebounding, which will erase a lot of zeros we had last year that we had to average in with our scored-from-distance possessions.
There are a lot of variables. There are truly some hurdles to overcome on the path towards being as high-powered offensively as we were last year. There are also some possibly clear paths to us being as efficient as we were last year, just with different dynamics, even if none of our incoming guys blows up unexpectedly from the perimeter and turns into a much more lethal high-volume distance threat than we expect. We also almost can’t help being better defensively than last year and that may easily have a bigger effect on our bottom line than what we lose offensively.
My thing is I really hoped we could have added one more well-established sniper simply because if you add one more well-established sniper to what we already have, we become the Death Star. Other teams may as well just lay down. But that’s about my ‘druthers and wishful thinking. Someone saying it’s going to be a problem that we don’t have that is just someone being sensationalist to drive clicks. I.e., Mark Story.
IMO, offense will be just as good as last year. We don't need guys that shoot 40+%. That's a luxury. What we lose in a Brea or JRob, we gain in slashers that'll get defenders off the perimeter and open up shots for others who have pretty consistently hit in the mid to upper 30s in their careers. Furthermore, we gain so much rebounding with the bigs we brought in that it should negate our guys hitting at a lower rate.
Lowe should hit around 35% this year with his new usage rate and offense. I actually wouldn't be surprised if he hit in the upper 30s. Hell, Butler did. Chandler will probably shoot in the high 30s if not low 40s (remember, he was taking notes from Brea last year). Kam is a known commodity from three. Garrison was at 30% last year and is almost certainly continuing to work on his shot. MoD can shoot it at a decent percentage, but he'll probably be more of a bulldog going after rebounds and we don't know how he'd do with a higher volume. Noah will almost certainly improve his 3pt%. Otega will almost certainly improve, which is great considering he was like 36% from deep this year.
We don't need a guy who will hit a three 42% of the time. How many times was JRob or Brea smothered on the perimeter this past year? I want consistent threats all across the court and bigs who can go and beat someone's ass for a rebound when they occasionally miss. That's what we have next year. We will improve in just about every single face of the game next year even if we lose a percentage or two on our overall 3pt%.
Lowe should hit around 35% this year with his new usage rate and offense. I actually wouldn't be surprised if he hit in the upper 30s. Hell, Butler did. Chandler will probably shoot in the high 30s if not low 40s (remember, he was taking notes from Brea last year). Kam is a known commodity from three. Garrison was at 30% last year and is almost certainly continuing to work on his shot. MoD can shoot it at a decent percentage, but he'll probably be more of a bulldog going after rebounds and we don't know how he'd do with a higher volume. Noah will almost certainly improve his 3pt%. Otega will almost certainly improve, which is great considering he was like 36% from deep this year.
We don't need a guy who will hit a three 42% of the time. How many times was JRob or Brea smothered on the perimeter this past year? I want consistent threats all across the court and bigs who can go and beat someone's ass for a rebound when they occasionally miss. That's what we have next year. We will improve in just about every single face of the game next year even if we lose a percentage or two on our overall 3pt%.
Not concerned. I think Pope's system means his teams will have a baseline offensive efficiency that automatically makes it "good enough." And our roster isn't a bunch of bumbling muscle men, we have plenty of skill. TeamRankings says we were 4th in scoring offense and 16th in offensive efficiency last year. If we drop from that a bit next year but take a big jump defensively... yeah, we'll be fine.
If anything this team may be more reliable on offense because it will have more shot creators. In other words they may be less likely to pop off for 100+ on any given night, but also less likely to score 65 against Ohio State.
If anything this team may be more reliable on offense because it will have more shot creators. In other words they may be less likely to pop off for 100+ on any given night, but also less likely to score 65 against Ohio State.
Offense might take a slight hit, but I think having our leading scorer back and the leading scorer from another P5 (albeit a bad one) team means we have two dudes known for getting buckets.
Replacing Brea’s shooting (44% from 3) will be tough, but I think Williams (41% from 3 as a Freshman) will help in that department.
What we gain defensively and rebounding wise should make up for it. Williams, Aberdeen, Dioubate, and Quaintance are all elite defenders to go with Oweh.
While replacing Butler, Robinson, and Brea sounds difficult, remember we made a Sweet Sixteen run with Butler hurt and Robinson out. Lowe gives us a much better scorer than Butler at the 1. Williams, as I mentioned, should fill Brea’s void with better defense.
Is he talking about replacing the offensive pieces from the team we had in November or the one we had in March? We didn’t have two and a half key pieces in March.
Replacing Brea’s shooting (44% from 3) will be tough, but I think Williams (41% from 3 as a Freshman) will help in that department.
What we gain defensively and rebounding wise should make up for it. Williams, Aberdeen, Dioubate, and Quaintance are all elite defenders to go with Oweh.
While replacing Butler, Robinson, and Brea sounds difficult, remember we made a Sweet Sixteen run with Butler hurt and Robinson out. Lowe gives us a much better scorer than Butler at the 1. Williams, as I mentioned, should fill Brea’s void with better defense.
Is he talking about replacing the offensive pieces from the team we had in November or the one we had in March? We didn’t have two and a half key pieces in March.
I think Chandler and Williams will be our go to shooters. I think they can both shoot between 36-40 percent on good volume.
The question is how can Lowe, Oweh, Aberdeen, and the rest of the crew shoot.
Maybe it ends up something like this.
The question is how can Lowe, Oweh, Aberdeen, and the rest of the crew shoot.
Maybe it ends up something like this.
| Games | 34 | |||
| player | 3pa/gm | 3pa | 3p% | 3pm |
| Williams | 6.00 | 204 | 38.00% | 78 |
| Chandler | 4.00 | 136 | 38.00% | 52 |
| Lowe | 3.00 | 102 | 37.00% | 38 |
| Aberdeen | 3.00 | 102 | 35.00% | 36 |
| Potter | 2.00 | 68 | 37.00% | 25 |
| Noah | 2.00 | 68 | 35.00% | 24 |
| Oweh | 2.00 | 68 | 33.00% | 22 |
| Dioubate | 2.00 | 68 | 33.00% | 22 |
| Garrison | 2.00 | 68 | 33.00% | 22 |
| Jelavic | 2.00 | 68 | 33.00% | 22 |
| Johnson | 2.00 | 68 | 33.00% | 22 |
| Quaintance | - | - | 0.00% | - |
| Hawthorne | - | - | 0.00% | - |
| Moreno | - | - | 0.00% | - |
| Totals | 30.00 | 1,020.00 | 35.59% | 363.00 |
Brea had some great games, especially late in the year, and won us some games, but let’s not forget that he went through stretches where he was nonexistent. Even a borderline bum haha.
Provided this team gels as quickly as last years team, I suspect the improved athletic and physicality of this team will increase the number of open three point attempts as last year. Initially, we may struggle with the percentage. However, the depth will be very apparent later in the games and we are likely to pull away from opponents that have little to no depth. I only care about wins. Not how we get them.
Folks can analyze shooting stats ad nauseum but it doesn't consider several major factors. The current roster has guys who can create off the dribble, thus breaking down the defense for more open looks.
Give me a 35% shooter wide open on a kick out over a 40% guy pulling a contested step back fade away.
Give me a 35% shooter wide open on a kick out over a 40% guy pulling a contested step back fade away.
Teams won’t be able to press up on the three line like last year. We have players that can create and get past their man. I think we are much better on both ends. I think we even shoot the three better because players will be taking wide open looks. Plus players should be fresh the whole season and not playing with broken down bodies. I never look into numbers from prior seasons with players. Look at the numbers after the season. The end of the year Robinson shot zero percent because he couldnt play. I think we will be much better than zero percent from Jackson Robinson and that’s not his fault. He was hooping when healthy. Oweh seems to be good for at least one break away dunk every game. I see a lot of easy buckets this year in transition and not a lot of Koby Brea dribbling side to side for a step back three. We will be going down hill this season. No side to side stuff. Just my opinion of course.
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If all of them shoot better than 35% and I think they will, we will be very tough to beat!
People are forgetting that Brea shot better, but at the expense of his teammates. He wasn't able to create his own shot, and didn't do consistently do the little things to help his teammates get better looks.
I think he’s incorrect. We will be better offensively than last year. Maybe shoot slightly lower percentage from three, but on more volume.
Will be better at getting in the lane. Better offensive rebounding. Should be better at getting out in transition.
May not have a sniper at Brea’s level, but I also don’t think we’ll have anyone blanketed by the defense who struggles to get off a shot.
Will be better at getting in the lane. Better offensive rebounding. Should be better at getting out in transition.
May not have a sniper at Brea’s level, but I also don’t think we’ll have anyone blanketed by the defense who struggles to get off a shot.
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The Brea of late Feb/March was a much better overall player than the Brea of Nov-Early Feb. He got substantially better on defense and creating his shot. We just could not overcome the injuries to Jaxson/Butler and the depth issues it created.
His individual game (especially on defense) improved, but we were a much better team with him as a sniper off the bench than as a starter.
Don’t disagree. But that is why I said even though he was a better player, the injuries were the main reason we were not as good.
They all got better, but defense was why he was better off the bench, and none of what you said addressed his wanting to hide somewhere and beg for the ball. He was Kellan Grady Version 2. This year's team will run through a brick wall.
Our depth should run other teams into the ground, making our offense easier to get better shots..
