No Way We Go Deep without...

[The_Answer1313]

122nd effective FG%
217th turnover%
233rd rebounding%
200th free throw rate

Those are the main four things that make up efficiency. We don't do any of them well on defense. Just improve on ONE of them changes the game.

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

...much better defensive fundamentals. This team's defense individually and as a team is appallingly bad. UT will be a true barometer of where we are. Maybe we'll be the hunter instead of being hunted, for once, and that will help.

We absolutely are weak when it comes to some critical fundamentals. Maybe some of it is attributable to the scouting report, but when we can't get into or stay in a stance, communicate better, cover shooters, anticipate primary threats, allow wholesale penetrating drives to the basket, allow attacks of the baseline, leave our feet, etc...it means we make teams like Vanderbilt look like they're at the top of the SEC. Compound that with a not very physical team, and we have to expect that neither tournament will yield the results that we want.

I have enjoyed watching their offensive prowess -- they are one of the very best offensive teams ever at Kentucky -- but I do not like our ability to defend and rebound. It's really our guards who fail the most. I love them all, but not pressuring the ball and constantly allowing drives (and so many dunks and layups!) is going to be the death of us. Time is up. We simply have no more time to get this right unless some kind of superhuman effort and some changes are made.

We don't have an enforcer that will inflict some pain or at least the threat of it when you come into the paint.

 

[The_Answer1313]

We haven't had a top 30 defense since the 2019 season.

 

[Wildcats1st]

No we will not win anything unless we suddenly find a defensive identity.

 

[rolaid]

Or to immediately pivot on your back foot and open the gate for a layup line without any attempt to stay in front of them.

OLE!!!!!!

Dillingham did that last night he just opened up and just let the guy go he didn’t even chase him just waived bye! Lol

 

[Creed Bratton]

the defense frustrates me bc we have the pieces. We freelance too much and play upright a lot. It’s essentially slightly better than AAU/Pickup ball defense where you are lackadaisically guarding ball and just challenging shots last second then turning to look for a rebound. A lot of sagging off (not true help position and just standing) off ball hoping to shoot a passing lane etc.

also have a tendency to have a narrow on ball stance w a bend at the hip instead of a wide stance, sitting in the defensive stance. Good defensive position (See below for textbook Defensive Stance…even Kawhi Leonard off ball is still wide and loaded/seated….not narrow hip hinged without a good knee bend and width. If we’d just get wide and slide, we’d improve defensively at least 10-30%. But we often are kinda shoulder width and reactionary and end up in a semi slide/run beside position once the offense dictates where we are going. Get wide…beat them to the spot when they make a move

Yep I agree that the stance is to upright, not sitting down enough, they tend to get their feet crossed up easily because they don't slide. They also are terrible at navigating around screens.

 

[qwesley]

Dillingham did that last night he just opened up and just let the guy go he didn’t even chase him just waived bye! Lol

Factoring in what he could be he is the worst defender in the Cal era.

 

[cardkilla]

We don't have an enforcer that will inflict some pain or at least the threat of it when you come into the paint.

I dunno Ugo looks pretty good in that role. Would love to be able to give him Bradshaw's minutes.

 

[GoNoles111]

I dunno Ugo looks pretty good in that role. Would love to be able to give him Bradshaw's minutes.

But Ugo at times is uh..offensively challenged, at that's being friendly. This team is going to have to outscore people to win. It just is what it is. It's not gonna magically change. We need all 5 guys out there who can score.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

But Ugo at times is uh..offensively challenged, at that's being friendly. This team is going to have to outscore people to win. It just is what it is. It's not gonna magically change. We need all 5 guys out there who can score.

I've been pretty impressed with his pick and roll offense. It's getting better game by game

 

[LineSkiCat14]

It's also worth noting. That the kenpom 50th ranked team in defense, wake forest, gives up 99.8 points per 100 positions.

So you'd think ours is probably a lot worse, just from what we've been seeing or hearing, right?

102.7.

That's the difference, less than a 3pointer, between us having this awful defense and us having a serviceable defense.

 

[The_Answer1313]

It's also worth noting. That the kenpom 50th ranked team in defense, wake forest, gives up 99.8 points per 100 positions.

So you'd think ours is probably a lot worse, just from what we've been seeing or hearing, right?

102.7.

That's the difference, less than a 3pointer, between us having this awful defense and us having a serviceable defense.

It's very weird. Because like.....the difference between 102.7 and 99.8 is 3 points over 100 possessions. So more like 2 points over a normal college basketball game.

Which sounds...........small.

But then you look at the difference a team say a 4 point favorite wins in comparison to say a 2 point favorite. A 2 point favorite wins 55% of the time. A 4 point favorite wins 65% of the time. The difference seems a bit larger when looking at things that way.

But yeah the margins are just very small here. We are talking one or two possessions. This is why when people are arguing between say the 12th best team in America and 13th, I have to laugh. It's the difference between say a 3 seed and a 4 seed, people will lose their minds over it but when it's all said and done teams are so close you can make an argument either is better.

 

[The_Answer1313]

This is also why I always say the actual number is more important than the rank. Saying we are 99th in defense really isn't all that meaningful IMO. It's all about getting the number down, which increases our efficiency margin which makes us a bigger favorite. That's all this is.

 

[TheBlueMax]

...much better defensive fundamentals. This team's defense individually and as a team is appallingly bad. UT will be a true barometer of where we are. Maybe we'll be the hunter instead of being hunted, for once, and that will help.

We absolutely are weak when it comes to some critical fundamentals. Maybe some of it is attributable to the scouting report, but when we can't get into or stay in a stance, communicate better, cover shooters, anticipate primary threats, allow wholesale penetrating drives to the basket, allow attacks of the baseline, leave our feet, etc...it means we make teams like Vanderbilt look like they're at the top of the SEC. Compound that with a not very physical team, and we have to expect that neither tournament will yield the results that we want.

I have enjoyed watching their offensive prowess -- they are one of the very best offensive teams ever at Kentucky -- but I do not like our ability to defend and rebound. It's really our guards who fail the most. I love them all, but not pressuring the ball and constantly allowing drives (and so many dunks and layups!) is going to be the death of us. Time is up. We simply have no more time to get this right unless some kind of superhuman effort and some changes are made.

Funny take by some who don't like reading about another defensive thread for the, their words, 10,000th time. Why, then, are they reading and commenting about it? You do have a choice, right?

BTW, I'm writing about it because it is the reason why this stellar group has lost eight times and is still having individual and team defensive difficulties. What we expected to improve after 30 games has not. It is amazing that we are still seeing the same problems, so we may want to tailor expectations.

But, now the real tests begin. I do hope for the very best, that we win the next ten games, but we're still writing about it because not much has changed since November.

 

[THE_HOOK]

If we beat Tennessee, one of the hottest teams right now and IMO deserving of a one-seed in the NCAAT, then we will have played championship level defense, a la the Auburn game. It'll take an effort that we didn't see these past two games against reasonably athletic and good teams but teams you should handle convincingly. For whatever reason, Calipari is not the defensive coach he once was, and that may be due to the general difficulty in today's more modern game of guarding the three-point line and also lethal drives to the basket. My concern is being fundamentally sound on each possession...even just a hint of defensive fundamentals and we could have been 27-3 and on the one-seed line. That's where it's legit to question our defensive "heart," as well as our staff placing adequate attention on that as a requirement to be on the floor. I do think we will compete hard at Tennessee.

With this offense power, UK only has to play average defense, if they do they will go deep. But they haven't play average defense all year. Their only positive is they can outscore other teams

 

[Jeff2Reed]

Weynen

 

[Disappointed Cat]

...much better defensive fundamentals. This team's defense individually and as a team is appallingly bad. UT will be a true barometer of where we are. Maybe we'll be the hunter instead of being hunted, for once, and that will help.

We absolutely are weak when it comes to some critical fundamentals. Maybe some of it is attributable to the scouting report, but when we can't get into or stay in a stance, communicate better, cover shooters, anticipate primary threats, allow wholesale penetrating drives to the basket, allow attacks of the baseline, leave our feet, etc...it means we make teams like Vanderbilt look like they're at the top of the SEC. Compound that with a not very physical team, and we have to expect that neither tournament will yield the results that we want.

I have enjoyed watching their offensive prowess -- they are one of the very best offensive teams ever at Kentucky -- but I do not like our ability to defend and rebound. It's really our guards who fail the most. I love them all, but not pressuring the ball and constantly allowing drives (and so many dunks and layups!) is going to be the death of us. Time is up. We simply have no more time to get this right unless some kind of superhuman effort and some changes are made.

Defense is pathetic...rebounding not much better....going home early again.

 

[moses1uk]

Defense is pathetic...rebounding not much better....going home early again.

Then don’t watch

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

Yep I agree that the stance is to upright, not sitting down enough, they tend to get their feet crossed up easily because they don't slide. They also are terrible at navigating around screens.

AAU at its finest.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Bartovik has a similar resumes part of his website. Here's the similar resumes to UK and their results (it's not pretty)

TEAM	YEAR	NET	RESUME	WAB	ELO	POWER	SEED	TYPE	RD
Kentucky	2024	19	12	20	26	19	-	???	???
Illinois	2022	15	13	20	25	15.7	4	At-Large	R32
Purdue	2021	22	12	16	23	18.3	4	At-Large	R64
Iowa St.	2019	21	11	22	30	15.3	6	Auto	R64
West Virginia	2011	21	13	22	33	18	5	At-Large	R32
Arkansas	2022	20	10	17	18	19	4	At-Large	E8
Illinois	2009	22	8	21	29	23	5	At-Large	R64
Duke	2016	20	12	17	32	14	4	At-Large	R16
Connecticut	2008	18	13	21	22	28	4	At-Large	R64
Purdue	2009	20	13	20	16	15	5	Auto	R16
Vanderbilt	2012	19	18	20	19	16	5	Auto	R32
	4.6

Interesting that all these teams had significantly better resumes than their NET would suggest but all of them fell rather short. Once again I suspect that computer models (NET, KP, etc) are better predictors than "resume"