Negatives from tonight's game; I'll go first

[sdryan2]

I felt like our bigs got pushed around a bit. A few too many fade aways instead of beating their man with post moves. Also, a few too many miscommunications when a player thought his teammate was gonna zig when he zagged causing a pass to nobody or out of bounds. All things that are fixable and I’m not worried. I loved that I went into this game thinking we were gonna bomb threes but ended up picking apart the defense and taking what they gave us. Beautiful basketball.

 

[yoshukai]

Okay, I'm done.

Playing this well will never prepare us for a close game.

 

[blue cincy]

The negatives I saw will be turned into positives tomorrow. Pope had a 41point blowout for game 1 (#41 Pope). He has a bunch of film to show, Chandler, playing through contact instead of getting knocked off his path, losing his man and so forth, same for Brea on defense, Garrison has good film work. even Williams and Butler had some film stuff as well. All can be turned into a positive.

Right now when we go against a team that has the height we have and the shooters, (only a few teams like that this year and we play 3 I think), anyway if we get in foul trouble what does Pope do? I am sure we will see some zone and such. But that is the only concern I see right now. Butler, Oweh, Brea, Krissa, Chandler, Perry, Noah, Robinson we have the 1-3 covered with foul trouble.

 

[ukcatz12]

Not trying to get too excited until we play a real team, but we looked really good tonight. That said, Wright St. did have a good amount of wide open 3s they just missed. Tons of time to work on every aspect of this team's game, but giving up looks like that isn't going to fly against the likes of Bama.

 

[DreadLox]

Their defense actually looks ahead of their offense, and their offense is very good. They have a nice pinch move on defense to narrow the opponent's goal to the rim. Just shading a little, but it makes the path to the rim harder. Because they do it in a timely way and almost every time. So, nobody is on a defensive island by himself. It's the college game rather than the pro game.

 

[yoshukai]

Not trying to get too excited until we play a real team, but we looked really good tonight. That said, Wright St. did have a good amount of wide open 3s they just missed. Tons of time to work on every aspect of this team's game, but giving up looks like that isn't going to fly against the likes of Bama.

Can you imagine the pace of play when we play Alabama. It’ll be like watching a ping pong match.

 

[NerlensCat]

Because he is.

Obviously feels like KY should have let Cal just continue sucking at the tournament without saying a word. This makes me want Pope to succeed even more, and that is saying something. 40-0, let’s go🤣🤣

 

[StubbornPenny]

Even if it doesn't click this year for Garrison, Almonor seems more than ready to handle the backup minutes when Williams is out of the game. And Williams should only come out when the other team is going to foul or he needs rest; dude is everything I had hoped for and a little more.

Garrison had a bunch of assists though so that’s good.

 

[NerlensCat]

Not trying to get too excited until we play a real team, but we looked really good tonight. That said, Wright St. did have a good amount of wide open 3s they just missed. Tons of time to work on every aspect of this team's game, but giving up looks like that isn't going to fly against the likes of Bama.

I think they scouted the shooters and left the non-shooters open. That big dude who banked one in had to be 1-10. He just kept shooting.

 

[Catapult]

We still don't defend the high ball screen any better than under Cal. Only real negative I've got.

 

[ukjenning44]

We play so fast it’s hard for me to post on here during the game lol

 

[Mike-McD]

I dunno, I kinda miss GOOOOOOOOOOOO and RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN

 

[ukcatz12]

I think they scouted the shooters

Wait, that's allowed?

 

[UKCats_1019]

If you post during live action you WILL miss something.

Yeah I’m used to looking at my phone and glancing up when we get below 15 on the shot clock.😂

 

[Lempface]

Not to rain on the parade but Garrison didn't have a good game. Looked slow and lumbering. He also had the vast majority of the bad shots we took. Not sure what he brings at this point, hopefully just a bad game and not a trend.

 

[Kybluedude]

The main negative and only negative point is the crowd at Rupp Arena. Not all seats occupied, after the 3 -4 possessions when the crowd was in the game , the only points to raise the decibels were missed free throws by the WS players and of course when Noah and Perry were getting ready to enter the game.

Hopefully as the season goes the fans will want to see this exciting team.
However, if you’re not going give the tickets away.

 

[TheDude73]

The positives are you don't have to watch Cal screaming and yelling at the players to GOOO!! And yelling at the refs on every single whistle. You have to still get on the players for mistakes but not every sec.

For the first time in 15 years I had no idea who the refs were, and didn’t care.

 

[ukfan1622]

Not to rain on the parade but Garrison didn't have a good game. Looked slow and lumbering. He also had the vast majority of the bad shots we took. Not sure what he brings at this point, hopefully just a bad game and not a trend.

I agree. I really think Almonor, though short for the center position, is better in every aspect of the game(including defending the post). There were rumors a month ago that Garrison was very much behind Williams and another rumor that only one transfer hadn't been what they expected. I guessed from the 1st rumor that Garrison was the subject of the second rumor. But, as somebody pointed out earlier, he had 3 assists tonight so he is at least a good passer. I'm predicting that Almonor will take some of his minutes and he'll play 8 mpg so even if he doesn't improve the team will still be fine.

 

[ukfan1622]

the spread was 21, right ?

I went with a 97 - 62 call.

it was 103 - 62.

I blew it BADLY. MY BAD ! I promise to do better next time.

I wanted to open a sports betting account so bad pre-game and bet all my deposit on the Cats to cover tonight but didn't have any money I could afford to lose and I try not to bet on UK games because of my emotional attachment. But, like you, I did expect us to win by over 30 points. It feels good to feel like that going into games again.

 

[Fox2monk]

The only significant negative to me that may carry through the season is Amari's FT shooting form...he shoots SOOO FLAT. If he only had a little more arc, no doubt his FT shooting % would go up.

His hands are so big he has that Shaq like grip on the ball, no spin.

 

[zoid1]

I thought Robinson would abuse a team like this with about 25 but he only had 8. I guess he didn't need to do much when your up double digits by the first timeout and 20 plus at the half. Carr also but I guess they will both have big games this year just not tonight. I'll take it against dUKe tho.

 

[ukfan1622]

His hands are so big he has that Shaq like grip on the ball, no spin.

And because of those huge hands, like Shaq should have, he'd do better with the Rick Barry underhand style.

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

Playing this well will never prepare us for a close game.

Only on a UK board do you get someone implying we play " too well"

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

Thought we played well for the first game. Really like the pace we play at. Fast but not to out of control.

Need to cut down the turnovers and Chandler looked like a freshman on defense at times. He got beat several times. That will get better with experience. Those where my only to real negatives. Both will get better as the season goes along.

 

[Phil_The_Music]

An you imagine the pace of play when we play Alabama. It’ll be like watching a ping pong match.

We are fast but they may be even faster. That game will give us whip lash.

 

[chevyman 50]

Coach Pope was great this team executed well he can actually coach unlike Cal teams that always looked lost. Could not stand Greenberg comments.

 

[jeffky]

Okay, I'm done.

 

[storm1507]

The only negative is that this game did not have 300 minutes available so we could have 12 players get 25 minutes each.

 

[storm1507]

I agree. I really think Almonor, though short for the center position, is better in every aspect of the game(including defending the post). There were rumors a month ago that Garrison was very much behind Williams and another rumor that only one transfer hadn't been what they expected. I guessed from the 1st rumor that Garrison was the subject of the second rumor. But, as somebody pointed out earlier, he had 3 assists tonight so he is at least a good passer. I'm predicting that Almonor will take some of his minutes and he'll play 8 mpg so even if he doesn't improve the team will still be fine.

Actually, Garrison had 5 assists to tie Kerr and Butler for team high.

 

[kywildcat41035]

the spread was 21, right ?

I went with a 97 - 62 call.

it was 103 - 62.

I blew it BADLY. MY BAD ! I promise to do better next time.

I picked UK by 42 I had faith and I don't trust anything they're saying in the media or predictions they have.

 

[kywildcat41035]

We play so fast it’s hard for me to post on here during the game lol

Isn't that the truth like horse racing on the court....... The 90's all over again........

 

[jusballin32]

They gave up 38 points in the second half.

You want to only give up 33 at most.

That's what I got.

2nd half 56-38 was a last year's team score.

I was okay with that. Helped me hit the game over 161.

 

[The_Answer1313]

If I had to harp on something maybe this team has issues rebounding once they start facing better teams.

That being said.......if you have an effective FG% of 68% and only turn it over on 9% of your possessions...........we can survive that LOL.

 

[ganner918]

My actual negatives/concerns:

As many have pointed out, Garrison is going to struggle. Threw up bricks on offense, and I'm worried about him getting pushed around by strong big men.

Not seen yet - I think the 4 spot may be our weakest link. I'm worried about defense and rebounding out of that position, especially against athletic bigs we're certain to go up against. And while every other position has guys who can slide over, we pretty much have to have one of Carr and Almonor on the court so we're susceptible to foul trouble/injury here.

Kriisa showed me some things but we're just better with Butler at point. And I wonder, as someone asked in game thread, if we're going to see defenses sag off Butler. But hoping with multiple shooting threats he'll still get into the lane and create.

 

[Deli owl]

Garrison shooting jumpers

 

[The_Answer1313]

I also did not realize how terrible Wright St was last season on defense. They ranked 348th in adjusted def efficiency. So maybe our offensive display shouldn't really have been a surprise.

Conversely they were 33rd in offensive and we basically shut them down on defense.

 

[TankedCat]

I will admit to asking out loud to no one in particular "why is he shooting a 2?" twice during the game.

With this system it seems its either a 3 pointer or a gimme - nothing in between

 

[trueblujr2]

My actual negatives/concerns:

As many have pointed out, Garrison is going to struggle. Threw up bricks on offense, and I'm worried about him getting pushed around by strong big men.

Not seen yet - I think the 4 spot may be our weakest link. I'm worried about defense and rebounding out of that position, especially against athletic bigs we're certain to go up against. And while every other position has guys who can slide over, we pretty much have to have one of Carr and Almonor on the court so we're susceptible to foul trouble/injury here.

Kriisa showed me some things but we're just better with Butler at point. And I wonder, as someone asked in game thread, if we're going to see defenses sag off Butler. But hoping with multiple shooting threats he'll still get into the lane and create.

Butler needs to go to the basket with a little more control. he's short, so maybe trying to get cute and dunk on a breakaway is not the best idea. just take it in for a routine layup and get the points. Fortunately it didn't matter last night but in tight games those misses could be crucial. Other than that, Butler is really fun to watch.

 

[TankedCat]

also last night during the Seth segment where he was slobbering Arkansas, he was also doing the half time show on ACCN for the Duke game. Then during the halftime of Bama/UNCC they played the same thing

so the halftime report was pre-recorded. What a way to open up college basketball season, ESPN, you lazy bastards

 

[WallMashKyBall]

I went into the locker room to check, and a couple of players forgot to flush their pooped ice cream.