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Pope was asked bout Amari’s body language

It was shocking how little Amari seemed to be interested in even moving let alone blocking sots or positioning for rebounds. I don't believe I've ever seen so little effort from him. I was hoping he wasn't hurt.
I wish he understood just how good he could be if he just tried hard and played with heart.

I hope he knows he's on a stage most players don't ever reach and this team could take a massive step if he turned the corner.
 
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Three time defensive player of the year in his old conference.

Hope he's not pouting about a role he has this year.

Lack of effort on D, and selfishly forcing many bad shots on offense is a really bad look.

SeC bigs will eat him up if the trend continues.

I enjoy seeing Garrison bring the energy though.
 
I hope Amari gets it. I don't think Pope will not coddle players like the past coach did and let them keep starting/playing. If he doesn't start to get it soon, then ride the pine will come into play.
 
I wish he understood just how good he could be if he just tried hard and played with heart.

I hope he knows he's on a stage most players don't ever reach and this team could take a massive step if he turned the corner.
He probably knows playing in Asia or riding the pine in the Euro League is his ceiling. He’s collecting NIL money and then he’ll be on his way. Garrison is the better athlete and perhaps his steady improvement will be more valuable to this team in the long run.
 
I wish he understood just how good he could be if he just tried hard and played with heart.

I hope he knows he's on a stage most players don't ever reach and this team could take a massive step if he turned the corner.
If he just put his long ass arms up it would help but if he’s guarding the post and his hands are down by his side all has. He’s doing nothing to stop them.
 
Three time defensive player of the year in his old conference.

Hope he's not pouting about a role he has this year.

Lack of effort on D, and selfishly forcing many bad shots on offense is a really bad look.

SeC bigs will eat him up if the trend continues.

I enjoy seeing Garrison bring the energy though.

Exactly, he has to at least try to block shots and rebound.
With his body, he should be a monster

He has the talent to be an SEC defensive star, and he is an elite passer and instigator of offense.

But I hope to never again see him backing down a defender with 6 sloppy dribbles before he chucks up an off balance brick.

Understand your strengths and play off of them.

One cannot teach “want to”, but I hope Pope can put a bug in his ear.

If he just put his long ass arms up it would help but if he’s guarding the post and his hands are down by his side all has. He’s doing nothing to stop them.
Good points!

I love that Pope is challenging him because right now, Williams is the missing piece. We're getting solid output from Butler, Oweh, Brea, Robinson, and Carr. Williams at the 5 is the last piece of the puzzle in order to Kentucky to take that step towards being a legitimate Final Four contender.

Pope knows it too.
 
He has the talent to be an SEC defensive star, and he is an elite passer and instigator of offense.

But I hope to never again see him backing down a defender with 6 sloppy dribbles before he chucks up an off balance brick.

Understand your strengths and play off of them.
100% Watching him catch the ball at the top of the key and then back his man down with those high dribbles and slow developing shot is a recipe to have to stolen repeatedly. Drives me nuts. He also has a bad habit when being defended by another legit big to just throw crap up at the rim. He really could help his game by working with Carr. Shocked an upperclassmen is still this raw without much of an offensive repertoire.
 
If he just put his long ass arms up it would help but if he’s guarding the post and his hands are down by his side all has. He’s doing nothing to stop them.
I will say this, when I heard he was a DPOY guy, I certainly wasn't expecting to see the things I've seen from him. Playing with his hands down, is odd at this level, but the biggest thing is, he only plays hard in short spurts.
His potential is really high, I wish he understood that.
 
Williams is often lazy on D and rebounding. I see him way to often not even attempting to challenge shots and just watches the ball go over his head.
He seems to he hunting rebounds. Oscar did that, he would rather stay on the floor and hope the guy misses, so he can get the rebound.
Amari's defensive rebounding is very good, but he should know, good guards don’t just miss bunnies at this level.
 
I think that's just the way Amari is, kind of reminds me of Sam Perkins. Perkins appeared to be emotionless when playing but was still effective and productive. He does a good job of rebounding, but I would like to see him go after people that get by their man for layups. When you are 7 foot tall you have to alter their shot or block it, you just can't continue to watch the play.
 
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I understand the desire to get more out of Williams, but just for a reality check and speaking only in terms of offense, the guy is 21/34 with 36 rebounds, with 11 assists and six turnovers over his last five games. He can go up stronger, pass more out of the post, etc, but the baseline of what we are dealing with here is good.

Defensively, I see what you see except I will note he is very good moving laterally. He needs to do a better job of contesting shots at the rim, as everyone is saying.

I really think he can be as good as Butler and Oweh with some minor adjustments. And if that happens, we are in a very very good position.
 
He has the talent to be an SEC defensive star, and he is an elite passer and instigator of offense.

But I hope to never again see him backing down a defender with 6 sloppy dribbles before he chucks up an off balance brick.

Understand your strengths and play off of them.
Agree, no multiple dribble plays.

Concentrate on the following:
1. Once he receives a pass on the block, he needs to make a quick decision - 1 or 2 dribbles to get in position to shoot a layup/dunk, pass the ball back out to the wing, or look to the weakside to pass to a cutter.
2. Offensively and Defensively - chase every rebound opportunity. Get into the paint for position every time a shot is attempted.
3. Be a force on the defensive end with shot blocking and intimidation. Don't try to block every shot as we don't need him in foul trouble.
 
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Check out this Southeastern 16 video with Evan Miyakawa. His stats show Amari as the best defender in the SEC. Can you imagine how good his metrics woupd be if he actually tried?

But watch the entire video, Evan has developed new metrics that enable you to plug and play players into lineups and the math tells you how efficient your lineups will be. You can plug players from different teams in. My goodness.

 
Agree with most all here. But will add ALL OUR BIGS in the "be more aggressive" need. I was thinking watching the game last week what are we missing and one thing popped up and thats we could be a totally different team if our bigs were a lot more active on both ends. Without any new skills or improvement on that level, just pure energy and activity around the basket by Williams, Garrison and Carr would take us to a new level

I watched Andrew stand there flatfooted on a couple of UL rebounds and thought maybe he's just not athletic enough. . . then he springs off his feet quickly to knock a drive away later and I think . . . wheres that been???!!!!
 
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I wish he understood just how good he could be if he just tried hard and played with heart.

I hope he knows he's on a stage most players don't ever reach and this team could take a massive step if he turned the corner.
Coach Pope: “Gratitude is a skill.”
 
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Play like your hair is on fire for the remainder of the season young man, because once they play the championship game in April...

Just play like your hair is on fire🏀
 
Agree with most all here. But will add ALL OUR BIGS in the "be more aggressive" need. I was thinking watching the game last week what are we missing and one thing popped up and thats we could be a totally different team if our bigs were a lot more active on both ends. Without any new skills or improvement on that level, just pure energy and activity around the basket by Williams, Garrison and Carr would take us to a new level

I watched Andrew stand there flatfooted on a couple of UL rebounds and thought maybe he's just not athletic enough. . . then he springs off his feet quickly to knock a drive away later and I think . . . wheres that been???!!!!

I'm not sure if it's conditioning or desire or what, but we need to find out who on the team will do whatever it takes to win each and every play and possession - no matter if it's against Duke or Mississippi Valley State. I hope we can find 5 or 6 that are willing to do what it takes to win each loose ball, rebound, ball screen, etc. We need that to be able to win 6 in a row.
 
I think it's just that he isn't buying into the role he's been given, just not a good fit. Right now if I had to pick a player who would hit the portal next year, it would be him. We'll see.
 
Agree with most all here. But will add ALL OUR BIGS in the "be more aggressive" need. I was thinking watching the game last week what are we missing and one thing popped up and thats we could be a totally different team if our bigs were a lot more active on both ends. Without any new skills or improvement on that level, just pure energy and activity around the basket by Williams, Garrison and Carr would take us to a new level

I watched Andrew stand there flatfooted on a couple of UL rebounds and thought maybe he's just not athletic enough. . . then he springs off his feet quickly to knock a drive away later and I think . . . wheres that been???!!!!
When you watch Auburn and UT play, then watch UK, the difference is eye popping. Their energy and physicality is soo much more intense than ours. It has nothing to do with talent, it has everything to do with effort. This team CAN play at that level.
 
If or when Amari gets it all together and BG continues his upward march, we will be ready for March. Amari better get it figured out quickly. SEC starts in 2weeks or so.

Agree! Some of these guys like Anari, are adjusting to playing superior competition at times than he's accustomed to. I like a guy wanting that gets frustrated because he wants to play well. But he just can't let go of the rope for 2-3 possessions because of that frustration.
 
Williams is often lazy on D and rebounding. I see him way to often not even attempting to challenge shots and just watches the ball go over his head.
Williams statistically is having the 2nd best rebounding season at UK in the 2000's, and I would venture to say in the past 50 years.
 
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