Per Ramsey Oakland plays a lot of zone

[IL Wildcat]

They do. A matchup at times an a sagging at times.,Keep in mind they played 2 teams in their conference semis and finals who were horrific perimeter shooting teams.

Yes, I noticed this as well. Cleveland St shoots 33.5% from 3 as a team. Milwaukee got hot in that conference near the end of the season, but they do their damage on drives and finishing in the lane. They shoot the 3 even worse than Cleveland St- they are 32.2% from 3 on the season. So, against those 2 teams, a zone would be ideal. UK may come out cold shooting, but they will eventually start making those. The other thing here is that Oakland doesn't force steals or block shots. So, guys like Dillingham, Reeves, and Wagner should be able to finish without a lot of resistance. If we can defend Townsend (their best player by far), we should be fine in this one. He's only 6-6, so we should be able to throw multiple guys at him. Their only chance of winning is to come out firing and making threes at a high rate. That could happen, but I expect our guys to come out focused and ready. If we're playing close to our potential, it should be a comfortable win.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Idk what you were watching but when I seen us go zone three times we made two stops and then gave up a floater that was a garbage shot

Yep we got about five stops in a row but made uncharacteristic mistakes on o so couldn't capitalize. Then adou was out of position twice giving up two 3s. That was the end of zone.

Was a good time to get back out of it. Did it's job but they adjusted.

 

[IL Wildcat]

Yep we got about five stops in a row but made uncharacteristic mistakes on o so couldn't capitalize. Then adou was out of position twice giving up two 3s. That was the end of zone.

Was a good time to get back out of it. Did it's job but they adjusted.

Yeah, from my experience, what you want from that zone is not to completely go to all zone but just to break the rhythm of a team that is seemingly scoring every time down the floor. I also saw that the zone worked in doing exactly that, but we picked a terrible time to stop scoring and making mistakes. I was very frustrated with that. I was glad to see Cal go to the zone, though.

 

[ukfan1622]

A zone will work great against our starters; close out on one shooter and they'll easily jump out go a good lead before Cal decides it's too dangerous to keep going with a lineup with only one good shooter.

 

[Jakerz]

A zone will work great against our starters; close out on one shooter and they'll easily jump out go a good lead before Cal decides it's too dangerous to keep going with a lineup with only one good shooter.

If Cal doesn’t start the lineup he should in the tournament then the only logical explanation is he wants fired. If I see Wagner trot out there then you know he don’t care. Even as bad as they were against AM as a team we were still net positive on the floor with the three Rs in the game.

 

[ala_kat2]

In theory, we should be hard team to zone effectively because of our shooting, but it also seems like Cal’s teams in recent years haven’t always executed a zone offense very well. I feel pretty good about the first game though. All bets could be off after that.

Maybe because Cal doesn’t like playing a zone on defense they don’t practice against one.

 

[UPSCat4080]

4-22, E8 2010

We had one true three point threat that year and even Dodson was spotty. This year no excuses with Dillingham, Reeves and Sheppard.

 

[crawfords corner]

Kentucky scores I believe between 1.2 and 1.3 points per possession against zone. Probably not wise to zone this team a lot.

 

[KYFOSSIL]

Ashley since they

Uh, not Mitchell. Mitchell hasn't been playable (for significant minutes) for a few months. Back-up minutes for him unless he finally gets back to form.

Act since they brought him back, they have not played Mitchell as they did when they were so successful with them and he is great about getting in the middle of the zone and passing it off

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

Idk what you were watching but when I seen us go zone three times we made two stops and then gave up a floater that was a garbage shot

Watch again

The commentators even mentioned it.

 

[TheDude73]

I wish Kentucky would zone. They did for like three possessions last game and it worked

Not against Oakland. They have three guards that live and die by the three. You don't zone a team with perimeter threats everywhere. None of these three guards have high penetrating skills.

 

[TheDude73]

In theory, we should be hard team to zone effectively because of our shooting, but it also seems like Cal’s teams in recent years haven’t always executed a zone offense very well. I feel pretty good about the first game though. All bets could be off after that.

The few times we faced one this year we busted it easily. Maybe one turnover if I recall, but most teams and coaches know better than to zone with our perimeter threats.

 

[TheDude73]

The zone defense should not be a problem if: We have guards that drive to the basket and post players who can score in the paint. Just don't decide that a zone is gonna affect our offense is all Im saying.

Well, this is backwards. A zone is designed to prevent drives to the basket and paint scoring. It's usually used against poor perimeter shooting teams, not against a team like Kentucky.

One tried and true zone buster, however, is the backdoor lob. But I feel like we'll bust Oakland's zone with a plethora of threes before they decide to just go man, upon which time Dillingham, Reeves, Shep and DJ will drive to the rim at will.

This will be a 20+ pt beating.

 

[TheDude73]

A zone will work great against our starters; close out on one shooter and they'll easily jump out go a good lead before Cal decides it's too dangerous to keep going with a lineup with only one good shooter.

The zone doesn't stop shooters. It stops penetration.

 

[ukfan1622]

The zone doesn't stop shooters. It stops penetration.

You said "shooters". The starting lineup we've been player has a shooter, not shooters.

 

[Jakerz]

Not against Oakland. They have three guards that live and die by the three. You don't zone a team with perimeter threats everywhere. None of these three guards have high penetrating skills.

I’m just saying our man to man has given up 90 points a game this year no matter who we’ve played so it’s not like it can get worse

 

[TheDude73]

You said "shooters". The starting lineup we've been player has a shooter, not shooters.

Well let's hope the starters either change, or aren't in for much longer than 2-3 minutes.

Remember Reed, Reeves and Rob play a huge swath of minutes per game now, regardless of not starting. So a few minutes of zone early in each half shouldn't bother us. And also remember both DJ and Edwards started hitting a few more threes there towards the end of the season. Maybe they can do the same early on against any zone.

 

[catsfanbgky]

Nothing is for granted with this squad, especially if they throw together something unusual for this game. I could see a matchup base zone with some triangle and 2 or box and 1 mixed in.

You do not have a clue what you are talking about. The box and 1 just sounds neat to you, it is designed to go against a team that has ONE capable scorer. That would be the worst defense to play against this UK team. Guards would have a field day.

 

[FilsonCat]

You do not have a clue what you are talking about. The box and 1 just sounds neat to you, it is designed to go against a team that has ONE capable scorer. That would be the worst defense to play against this UK team. Guards would have a field day.

I think you've got even less of a clue. If they are set on playing zone and the lineup includes Wagner, Reeves, and Edwards, some type of junk defense to chase Reeves might make sense. I think it will be dependent on which lineup is in the game. You won't see them playing around a lot if we have Reed, Dillingham, and Reeves on the floor as much as we should.

They probably want Wagner and Edwards to be taking shots in that scenario, and would be ok with the odds on that versus Reeves getting on a roll.

 

[ukfan1622]

Well let's hope the starters either change, or aren't in for much longer than 2-3 minutes.

Remember Reed, Reeves and Rob play a huge swath of minutes per game now, regardless of not starting. So a few minutes of zone early in each half shouldn't bother us. And also remember both DJ and Edwards started hitting a few more threes there towards the end of the season. Maybe they can do the same early on against any zone.

We can always hope. Of course, most of Edwards and DJ's made 3 pointers have come from kickouts from Sheppard or Dillingham. I also would like to see the starters change. It makes no sense to start either half with
a lineup you wouldn't dream of having on the floor at the end of a close game.

 

[lpkilla7]

They zone alot they lose to mr Alley

 

[Smashcat]

 

[MakinMusic]

I don’t think they zone this team. Makes no sense.

 

[DreadLox]

Need to DJ and Edwards to start hitting layups when they penetrate the zone!

Not Oakland's zone. The zone I saw looked almost like 5 guys in the paint. (only watched 2 of their games)

 

[Smashcat]

 

[know1]

Do we think Cal knows they play a lot of zone?