Mark Story's Article in LHL today suggests.....
- Thread starter rivercatinfl
- Start date
Yep.
Good defense and rebounding can lead to good offense.
Pope was on the 96 team, so he should know that. They created so many easy opportunities with their defense.
Their depth allowed them to play great defense as well. Relentless pressure on the ball.
Hope we see that with this team.
Are we done with the roster. Does Pope leave one spot open or go get some kind of point guard that’s off the radar?
Too early to predict 3 point shooting for me.
I think the team will be fine.
As far as the last post, Aberdeen, Johnson and Chandler likely fill the backup slot at point.
I think the team will be fine.
As far as the last post, Aberdeen, Johnson and Chandler likely fill the backup slot at point.
If they sign a 15th guy, I doubt he plays much. I really think he will hold it unless he finds someone with potential willing to come in and redshirt. But I could be wrong. I didn’t think we had a shot at getting Hawthorne.
Upgrades at point guard, power forward, and perhaps even center.
Oweh is back so that's a fourth position that will remain the same or improve from a production standpoint.
Only question is shooting guard with Brea/Robinson vs. Aberdeen/Chandler/Johnson/Williams.
I personally don't think it will be much different when the dust clears. I'm expecting at least two of those wing guards to take a big step forward. We likely won't have a 44% three point shooter this year, but our collection of shooting guards are way more athletic this upcoming season and immensely more versatile in terms of what they will be able to do collectively.
Oweh is back so that's a fourth position that will remain the same or improve from a production standpoint.
Only question is shooting guard with Brea/Robinson vs. Aberdeen/Chandler/Johnson/Williams.
I personally don't think it will be much different when the dust clears. I'm expecting at least two of those wing guards to take a big step forward. We likely won't have a 44% three point shooter this year, but our collection of shooting guards are way more athletic this upcoming season and immensely more versatile in terms of what they will be able to do collectively.
Last year we had some great shooters that didn’t get great looks. Kentucky was outside the top 75 in 3 pointers attempted per game. They struggled to get open. A good offensive system with better athletes should get more guys open.
I could definitely see a drop off offensively. But a step up defensively and in toughness. This team will also be deeper
Optimistic. As others have said, we should be better at getting open looks due to athleticism and speed. We struggled to get open last year and still shot decent.
Some people seem to forget that Brea didn't show up for a lot of games and was pretty difficult to keep on the court. Look, I like Brea, but when you look at his total game, he's not the player some people elevate him to. IMO.
Don't know if he'll be better but I feel many are underestimating him. It's mostly a wait and see on how our offense will be but I don't expect we'll be as strong an outside threat as last season. Defense will be much stronger and that could more than offset lack of shooting comparison.
Shooting doesn’t bother me as much as how this team will be able to gel together as a cohesive unit. Will they be able to work well as teammates and share the ball while enjoying playing together? If Coach Pope can mold this group into a unified, highly functional team who has each other’s back, they will be unstoppable….
This! Also, Pope’s offense makes for much better shot selection, thus I can see several guys will have their shooting numbers go up in his system. Not really worried about the offense. Our defense will be noticeably better.
Defense- better.
Rebounding- better.
Offense- about the same, maybe slightly worse.
Coaching- better (Pope is learning)
Experience- about the same, losing seven Seniors, but actually getting some guys back from last season.
Talent- better.
Depth- better.
I don’t see us stepping back.
Sweet Sixteen floor. Title ceiling.
Rebounding- better.
Offense- about the same, maybe slightly worse.
Coaching- better (Pope is learning)
Experience- about the same, losing seven Seniors, but actually getting some guys back from last season.
Talent- better.
Depth- better.
I don’t see us stepping back.
Sweet Sixteen floor. Title ceiling.
not exactly a stretch , pretty tall order to repeat being one of the top 3 scoring offenses in the league.
I like the front court power UK has this year. I think they'll be a more traditional team - but the beauty is UK won't let fouls or injuries disrupt the team. If the team can stay tight on defense - no 3 point barrage, I think this years team has more upside than last years.
I like the front court power UK has this year. I think they'll be a more traditional team - but the beauty is UK won't let fouls or injuries disrupt the team. If the team can stay tight on defense - no 3 point barrage, I think this years team has more upside than last years.
Neither Jackson or Brea was much of a threat to drive or do big work inside. This year our 2-4 positions have that in spades which will draw the defense and open things up outside. Our offense may 'only' average in the low 80's but opponents will have a heck of a time scoring that on us. Story is just looking for clicks.
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Story could be right, because Brea and Robinson were not only lights out perimeter shooters but also seniors with tournament experience. Lowe is a penetrator and finisher, not primarily a perimeter scorer. How much will Collin Chandler improve as a sophomore? What do Williams and Aberdeen bring to the table? There is only one way to find out. But I expect our interior offense to be much better this year. So the scoring may come from different places.
We have to wait and see because this is the type of team to play high pressure and speed the game up. And I don’t necessarily mean full court press. It seems like a team that will get a lot of point on tos. It all begins with defense for this team. no where near the shooting team we were.
I think it's a fair concern but feel like our improvement in defense and rebounding will outpace any losses in offense,
I disagree with this premise. I actually think we will be better and more versatile on the offensive end. Jaxson and Brea were great but Jaxson was only really draining it for a few weeks. Next year's team is loaded with dudes who can shoot AND get to the rim. Plus all that size. Teams will struggle mightily to slow us down because of the versatility and depth of options.
Offense is more than 3s. This team will
have more run outs created by D and substantially more second chances off offensive boards. There was not much of a threat posting up last year. JQ will dunk lobs not miss bunnies 🐰. Penetration will create good looks and plus 1s. Should shoot substantially more freebies. Athleticism makes running an offense much simpler.
have more run outs created by D and substantially more second chances off offensive boards. There was not much of a threat posting up last year. JQ will dunk lobs not miss bunnies 🐰. Penetration will create good looks and plus 1s. Should shoot substantially more freebies. Athleticism makes running an offense much simpler.
We might lose some three point shooting as a team and passing from the 5. Amari's ability to pass from the 5 is rare. But in exchange, we get better on the offensive glass and finishing around the rim. If we take care of the ball as well as we did last year, we should be in good shape offensively.
There is no one factor that determines success or failure on the basketball court. This team won’t shoot it as well as the past two did. Hard to argue that. Interesting to see if/how Pope adjust the Zoom stuff to this mix of essentially non-shooters.
More depth, more athleticism, better ball handling, more toughness, better defense, better rebounding. A little less experience but still veteran. Sure, no Brea level shooter, but I see us having equal shooting to the rest of last year's team. Offense will still be top 20, defense can be as well.
There’s more to offense than just three-point percentage. Based on stats, Kentucky will likely shoot 34-36% from three this season, only a slight drop from 37.4% last year. With improvements across the board, the team should generate more open looks, making it very possible to match or exceed last season's 3PT%.
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IMO, it depends on perspective. We don't have two 3-point shooters like Brea and Robinson anymore, notwithstanding that Jasper, Aberdeen, and Williams might be solid from deep. But we have a whole lot more scoring versatility now.
Prior to last season, there was so much talk about 3-point shooting that some people may have gotten the idea 3-point shooting was going to be the foundation of Pope's offense. Then Pope himself started talking about shooting >30 threes a game. But when we got to the meat of the season, our offense didn't shoot anywhere near 30 threes a game. Motion and cutting became focuses during the grind of the schedule.
In truth, we didn't have the personnel to score much in the lane last year. Amari and Carr are huge, but not particularly skilled scorers on the low block. Amari's game is mainly rebounding and defense. Carr is skinny and gets shoved around. Actually, our best baseline scorer was probably Oweh.
This time, though, our team is deeper, stronger, and more athletic. Maybe we don't have guys who will drain half of their 3-point attempts. But we have guys who can score at all three levels and also defend SEC athletes. It's a bigger and more balanced team that can score every way there is to score on a basketball court. And this team won't get beat by opponents' offensive rebounds. This is just a better team up and down from 1-13 (or 14).
Shooting percentage alone is not a very telling stat IMO. If you shoot 50% and don’t get any rebounds you are scoring half of your possessions. If you shoot 33% and grab all your missed shots you are scoring every possession.
Then you have to factor in defense and how many times you stop the other team from scoring.
Then you have to factor in defense and how many times you stop the other team from scoring.
All in my original comment in this thread. The one you quoted while clearly not having read it (because I'm gonna give you more credit than assume you actually read my comment that you replied to and still misunderstood it that badly). I just explained it better.
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This was all in my original comment too. But I appreciate you being genteel about it.
If that's true, you buried the lead. This is a message board, not your fevered blog.
I expect us to be better next season in pretty much every category. Sure we had 3 shooters but...we had plenty games where all or most of those 3 shooters were cold from deep.
I respectfully disagree! This team will score slightly “differently”, but I still expect a highly potent offense!
My take is that his "take" is no more valid than the next. His job is to bloviate and that is what he is doing. Believe it or not ... we will just have to wait and watch it all play out. I trust CMP over Story.
