Our improvements the past 2-3 weeks

[lakercat]

I don't know. I'm of the mindset that more information the better.

Just because the nerd numbers can't get you 100% of the way, doesn't necessarily mean they should be ignored either. They are helpful in their own way.

I think Pope knows there's a balance; I am in Finance as well, and I love #'s. From a 30,000 foot view, give me #'s all night, but from a granular view (play to play), sometimes, you see something and you ignore the #'s and go with what works. I know the balance concept is as obvious as it gets, but still.

 

[The_Answer1313]

I think Pope knows there's a balance; I am in Finance as well, and I love #'s. From a 30,000 foot view, give me #'s all night, but from a granular view (play to play), sometimes, you see something and you ignore the #'s and go with what works. I know the balance concept is as obvious as it gets, but still.

It’s like when baseball got into the whole sabermetrics thing and moneyball came out and it tried to pit the stats people against the scouts and whatnot.

It’s like well no. You need both.

Any information should not be ignored. Both what the numbers can tell you and what they cannot.

 

[ukwazoo]

I think Pope knows there's a balance; I am in Finance as well, and I love #'s. From a 30,000 foot view, give me #'s all night, but from a granular view (play to play), sometimes, you see something and you ignore the #'s and go with what works. I know the balance concept is as obvious as it gets, but still.

Yep. You need the analytics, but also need adaptability and common sense.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I don't know. I'm of the mindset that more information the better.

Just because the nerd numbers can't get you 100% of the way, doesn't necessarily mean they should be ignored either. They are helpful in their own way.

I know. I was posting the extreme.

It is a tool. But that’s all it is.

But kenpompom is not even a tool. He removes possessions. So it’s fake numbers.


KP is a pace measurement. Nothing more.

It’s not as useless as the +/- crap. But it’s close.

Whatever Pope is using is working. Keep doing it. 👍🏀

 

[SPECT imaging]

I think it’s clear - Carr is playing much more physical , last night it looked like he just said “ he’ll with it , I’m gonna push , lean , push , hack , claw “ until they call some fouls . Thankfully they did not .
Amari Williams deciding he’s not going to get pushed around .
The improving confidence and play of Jaxson . Willing to take wide open 2s when needed . Sometimes it’s the best shot . Also gathered 8 rebounds last night - that help is so much needed with a frontline that needs the help on the boards .

Garrison coming along , still maddening at times , but he seems to figuring it out . And our own Ky boy , T Perry giving Lamont some valuable minutes to get a breather .
I really think the team is coming on .
What are you guys thoughts on the team looking like it truly learned some things from losing a game or two . We flat got ripped at Ga , I’ll look over that one .

Offensively we are good as long as it is not a night when everyone is cold from the floor. There are so many shooters on this team that someone is always dangerous from the floor. Pope is willing to make adjustments during games and he is good at it. Refreshing. We outrebounded A&M last night, so I am getting over earlier concerns about rebounding. The one lingering problem is defense. The stats say we are ranked in the 80s in team defense nationally. It has gotten better lately, but not that much better. Lamont Butler is a good defender but I would say he has met his match a couple of times already in the SEC. Oweh is our best all around player and he can really dig. But some of our players just can't stop the guy they check from turning the corner. It is a problem. I also worry what happens if Carr's back gets worse.

 

[Soupbean]

I think it’s clear - Carr is playing much more physical , last night it looked like he just said “ he’ll with it , I’m gonna push , lean , push , hack , claw “ until they call some fouls . Thankfully they did not .
Amari Williams deciding he’s not going to get pushed around .
The improving confidence and play of Jaxson . Willing to take wide open 2s when needed . Sometimes it’s the best shot . Also gathered 8 rebounds last night - that help is so much needed with a frontline that needs the help on the boards .

Garrison coming along , still maddening at times , but he seems to figuring it out . And our own Ky boy , T Perry giving Lamont some valuable minutes to get a breather .
I really think the team is coming on .
What are you guys thoughts on the team looking like it truly learned some things from losing a game or two . We flat got ripped at Ga , I’ll look over that one .

Its all about the first two things you mentioned. I love this team but I've been frustrated as heck all year with the soft play from three bigs, especially Williams. We just havent protected the rim much at all and get pushed away from what should be easy rebounds. I think I've been so hard on Amari because of his potential and the way he looks. The guy has the body and physical ability to absolutely dominate around the basket, but has at times played like a lot like he's 6-2 with a little mans mentality.

Last night was the first fire I saw from him in a long time and he was challenging everything at the rim, throwin his weight around and banging some. He (and the other two) are game changers for us to go long in March if they play this way. We're good enough everywhere else, we just have to have them play more aggresive to win anything big.

 

[Fox2monk]

I think it’s clear - Carr is playing much more physical , last night it looked like he just said “ he’ll with it , I’m gonna push , lean , push , hack , claw “ until they call some fouls . Thankfully they did not .
Amari Williams deciding he’s not going to get pushed around .
The improving confidence and play of Jaxson . Willing to take wide open 2s when needed . Sometimes it’s the best shot . Also gathered 8 rebounds last night - that help is so much needed with a frontline that needs the help on the boards .

Garrison coming along , still maddening at times , but he seems to figuring it out . And our own Ky boy , T Perry giving Lamont some valuable minutes to get a breather .
I really think the team is coming on .
What are you guys thoughts on the team looking like it truly learned some things from losing a game or two . We flat got ripped at Ga , I’ll look over that one .

My favorite play from Jaxson last night was a 3 he missed on the left wing and he immediately moved to the middle of the court to grab the miss and it led to a basket. He would have watched that ball early in the year and let it go.

 

[Fox2monk]

I was still pretty skeptical of the potential of this team even after the Duke and Gonzaga wins. Mainly bc the comebacks were unlikely enough to know you can't expect a lot of those in a season, and getting down like we did in each game was troubling. The eye test didn't match the W/L record. But I've come around now, even after some disappointing losses. This team is playing so much better lately. Winning tough games and looking the part.

Two other notes--

Agreed on Jaxson taking the open 2s. Despite the hate for long 2s, a wide open 15 footer for a good shooter is still a great shot, and analytics agree. Oweh takes maybe one pull-up contested 2 a game that I would like him to cut out, but Jaxson can take that shot all day.

Matt Jones said on the postgame show last night he doesn't think Kerr will be back this season. So it's great to see the progression from Perry since conference play started. He looks worlds better.

What happened with Kerr’s recovery that is different? I hate that because I’d love to have him for the stretch run. I’m happy Perry is coming on though,

 

[Lost In FL]

Butler’s issue last night was getting slammed to floor, smashed in the face repeatedly. Hell he may feel better today after 12 rounds with Tyson.

1988 Tyson or 2024 Tyson?

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

WE’RE STARTING TO SHOW SPURTS OF CONSISTENCY……….

 

[Kybluedude]

Been a couple times I’d rolled more ( or less ) with a certain player . I wanted Carr in the floor at the end of the MSU game . And yes Tyler was playing super solid last night — huge improvement from a month ago . Like hard to believe after seeing him live earlier this year .

Tyler. New portal guy? I can’t keep up

 

[ManitouDan]

Tyler. New portal guy? I can’t keep up

Meant Travis ..

 

[The_Answer1313]

I know. I was posting the extreme.

It is a tool. But that’s all it is.

But kenpompom is not even a tool. He removes possessions. So it’s fake numbers.


KP is a pace measurement. Nothing more.

It’s not as useless as the +/- crap. But it’s close.

Whatever Pope is using is working. Keep doing it. 👍🏀

It's very much a tool.

Even if you don't believe in the overall rating part for the reasons you mention above, statistics on the team page like shooting %, turnover %, Rebounding % and Free Throw Rate is about as real as they can be.

It's not some major formula, it's what actually happened on the court.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

It's very much a tool.

Even if you don't believe in the overall rating part for the reasons you mention above, statistics on the team page like shooting %, turnover %, Rebounding % and Free Throw Rate is about as real as they can be.

It's not some major formula, it's what actually happened on the court.

But everyone has those numbers without some phony desk jockey changing numbers.

 

[fatguy87]

I don't know if we've improved over the last 2 or 3 weeks. We've had a couple crappy games and a some stellar performances.

I'm enjoying the ride! Every game has been a blessing this season. It's like drinking pristine glacial spring water.

 

[Skyguyb27]

1988 Tyson or 2024 Tyson?

88, shit man I don’t want him to lose an ear. 😂

 

[Skyguyb27]

Tyler. New portal guy? I can’t keep up

He is Jamal’s brother.

 

[Digger-Cat]

This might not be a popular opinion but to be honest I feel at times people say things like "oh this team isn't physical" or "this team is soft" or "this team shys away from contact) or "this team isn't built for rock fights of the SEC"

I never thought any of these things were true about this UK team. At all. We are in a conference that ranks 2nd among all conferences in offensive rebounding %. There's a ton of good teams in this conference that crash the boards and play very physical.

Guess what? We've played four games in this conference and have won three of them. We just faced the number 1 team in offensive rebounding % and held them to them only rebounding 28% of their misses. Which is basically our average of 27% for the season (62nd overall).

We were never as soft as people made us out to be.

I mean, that's called improvement. We certainly weren't playing like that even a week ago.
We played more physical on the defensive end last night than we had at any pount in the season.

Surely part of that is knowing the opponent. Our guys knew they had to match aTm's physicality znd they obviously practiced to play that way.

I kniw some don't want to buy it, but this team is getting tougher and more physical, because they know they have to.

 

[BlueManToo]

The defense has jumped about 25 spots in efficiency over the last few games. Last year we knew the defense sucked and were all wish we'd just get lucky in March that the offense carried the team. This year it seems like the defense sucked but there's actually signs it's improving. All the weakness we've seen this year have or are slowly being addressed.

I believe improved defensive rebounding (if it continues) will have the greatest impact on improving the team’s overall defensive efficiency moving forward. The defensive numbers have improved over the past 2-3 games, but the only thing that has perceptibly changed dramatically is the rebounding numbers, which accounts for the defensive improvement IMO. Defensive rebounding alleviates so many other issues (ie: fewer opponent possessions, committing fewer fouls at the rim on 2nd shot attempts, fewer opponent FT’s, fewer scramble kick-out passes to open shooters, etc., etc.), that a team’s defensive efficiency will naturally improve as well.

Although the Cats have turned the ball over a little more lately, they generally don’t give the opponent too many extra possessions via TO’s, so the only “extra” possessions they have routinely given up this season (up until recently) is on the offensive glass. If they keep moving in a positive direction on the rebounding front and those “extra” possessions continue to dwindle for the other team, then the game comes down to who can execute on offense and I really like our chances in that scenario!

I don’t think this roster has the caliber of athlete’s (across the board) to be smothering on defense — but they don’t have to be! They just need to be solid enough to challenge/contest on a majority of possessions and then limit the opponent to one shot on roughly 75-80% of those possessions (like they did vs. TAMU). Pope’s offense and these players are more than capable enough (even when not hitting on all cylinders) to make up for their defensive limitations IF they continue to limit turnovers and rebound effectively on both ends of the court.