Saw the weaknesses of our team against WKU

[uk78]

I know the game was never in doubt. However, observation reminded me of our game against Oakland. It seemed the game plan was to take advantage of the inside superiority. So, the offense that has been spectacular by an inside out game reversed to outside in which led to bad passes and turnovers. I will always be convinced that Reed's bad game occurred because he was Cal coached to get that ball to the paint players. It seemed to be similar against WKU and it also explained the missed 3's as they were rushed without the typical perimeter passing we had seen before. I will keep my fingers crossed that these issues will be corrected but it is the first game where I could see us losing to good teams.

 

[rick64]

Sometimes shots just aren't falling. 13 missed FTA didn't help either.

 

[KentuckyCat420]

We’re going to take some L’s.

Oweh is really the only guy outside of maybe Carr that can create a shot for himself when the offense isn’t flowing due to good defensive pressure from the opponent.

We saw it against Duke, they played fantastic defense against us in the 1st half. We were just able to ramp up our defense in the 2nd half and it created offensive opportunities to win that game.

I think we’ll drop 5-6 games when it’s all said and done. However, I don’t see us losing games to bad teams or having any games where we’re not very competitive to the very end.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Pope will go over the wku game and make adjustments for that type of defense and attitude.
SEC teams play us similar to that WKU effort.
I appreciate the strategy and style.
Their coach won't be there long.
💯

 

[blue cincy]

I know the game was never in doubt. However, observation reminded me of our game against Oakland. It seemed the game plan was to take advantage of the inside superiority. So, the offense that has been spectacular by an inside out game reversed to outside in which led to bad passes and turnovers. I will always be convinced that Reed's bad game occurred because he was Cal coached to get that ball to the paint players. It seemed to be similar against WKU and it also explained the missed 3's as they were rushed without the typical perimeter passing we had seen before. I will keep my fingers crossed that these issues will be corrected but it is the first game where I could see us losing to good teams.

Remember with Pope offense they do not target inside or outside for an opponent. They game will decide how many shots we get and where. That is straight from Pope. He does not say because of team A we are going to put it in the post. A basketball game is a living entity and the offense will determine how we play. Last night we hit our Freethrows and we win by 25 plus points and score 100 again. We had an off night shooting. Our weakness was Amari last night. He probably should have played less minutes. He was not into last night. Bad body language, bad passing, bad offense, stopped the ball more than moving the ball. It will be a good coaching moment on film today. One more game and we get into a week of games that will tell us where we are at as a team. Look for a shortened bench next week maybe.

 

[TheDude73]

Yet we still won comfortably.

Some people just want to be nervous nellies I guess...

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Even some of our best modern teams (1993, 1995, 1997, 2017) would not come out unscathed with the upcoming SEC schedule. When we lose, it will be because other teams are just that good, and we'll be facing them on the road.

I think UK going 13-5 in the SEC would be a good record actually. 12-6 is reasonable. 11-7 and I still wouldn't be panicking given the probably eight or nine tournament teams we'll be facing, many on the road.

 

[Rockfly78]

They don’t poop ice cream and they aren’t robots.

 

[ManitouDan]

Yeah we didnt play great , it happens . And yes , we are going to lose a few games . But we look like a well coached team . Even bad games happen to well coached teams . and credit to WKY , they came after us last full force . I'm just happy we are represented by a guy that loves BBN and UK . GO CATS

 

[BlueBomb]

They don’t poop ice cream and they aren’t robots.

True. The better question is, "do robots poop ice cream?"

 

[JonathanW]

Players will have good games and bad games. My disappointment was that we went to a more traditional 8-man rotation with 4 guys playing 28-33 minutes.
IMO, we aren't going to win most (some but not most) games because our best 5 are better than their best 5; we are going to win most games because our bench is significantly better than their bench, allowing us to either wear-out their starters (i. e. Duke) or play significant minutes with our better bench vs their bench. We aren't platooning (which is fine), but our best team looks to be where we have 10 guys playing double digit minutes (most of them 15+).

Also, Robinson led us in minutes, on the season he is 2nd in minutes (1 behind Carr) and 2nd in shots. Even though so far only Kriisa has been less efficient than Robinson. Until he figures it out, I'd rather see him in the 20mpg range than 30mpg (33 last night).

 

[kyrx]

Final thing I will say about Oakland: we were out-coached, out-played, and out-coached.
Heck, my high school basketball coach knows how to defend a hot shooter.

 

[ThunderCat98]

Yeah we didnt play great , it happens . And yes , we are going to lose a few games . But we look like a well coached team . Even bad games happen to well coached teams . and credit to WKY , they came after us last full force . I'm just happy we are represented by a guy that loves BBN and UK . GO CATS

Accurate. The overreactions in the game thread were both predictable and absurd.

 

[SemperFiCat]

8-29 from 3pt, and 13 missed FTs... and they still put up 87 points. It wasn't pretty, but still a solid win on an off night.

 

[Wildcats1st]

It’s nice to win big and have glaring areas to get better. That game goes to OT or we lose with cal.

 

[jgraf_1]

True. The better question is, "do robots poop ice cream?"

i don't know. haven't seen them

 

[B.B.H.]

Pope actually addressed WKU’s game plan on the post game. He said that his offense actually has wrinkles for when defenses pressure that far out on us. Coach believes the offense will only improve by seeing it. Time to stop being nervous and start getting excited. 40-0 was never going to happen but a Final Four absolutely could.

 

[Greatestalltime]

We’re going to take some L’s.

Oweh is really the only guy outside of maybe Carr that can create a shot for himself when the offense isn’t flowing due to good defensive pressure from the opponent.

We saw it against Duke, they played fantastic defense against us in the 1st half. We were just able to ramp up our defense in the 2nd half and it created offensive opportunities to win that game.

I think we’ll drop 5-6 games when it’s all said and done. However, I don’t see us losing games to bad teams or having any games where we’re not very competitive to the very end.

Yes. I’d say that may be out weakness. Only those two can create his own shot. Maybe Brea head fakes, but not really the same.

 

[TheDude73]

Even some of our best modern teams (1993, 1995, 1997, 2017) would not come out unscathed with the upcoming SEC schedule. When we lose, it will be because other teams are just that good, and we'll be facing them on the road.

I think UK going 13-5 in the SEC would be a good record actually. 12-6 is reasonable. 11-7 and I still wouldn't be panicking given the probably eight or nine tournament teams we'll be facing, many on the road.

I would be very surprised if we lose 6-7 games in the SEC. This is based on what we've seen so far. There will be tough games, for sure, and many like last night against the likes of UT, Auburn and someone like Vandy (from the hack-and-smack muck it up perspective). But to say we're likely to lose 6+ of them after what this team has showed us is extreme in my opinion.

I believe last night was one of our overall worse games and we still scored 87 and won by 19. 2nd worse game statistically was Duke, yet we also won. I can't imagine us playing worse than either of these two games, and I think WKU played WAY above their ceiling, which is a good thing because as many here have said, the way they played is a great trial for this UK team as we get closer to hack-and-grab teams in the SEC.

 

[megablue]

Tremendous quickness and defensive pressure bothers our team in many ways. That appears to be our weakness, the ability to handle much quicker opponents. When we're on offense, their quickness affects ball-handling, passing, hurries shooting and creates stress and fatigue. That fatigue also manifests itself when we're on defense, as it takes more energy to play a quicker team man-to-man. Fatigue begets fatigue ... and fatigue affects everything.

We will win a helluva lot of games this season, but matching up against quickness will be our toughest challenge. Good teams that can tightly defend us without fouling, especially if they're scoring well, will be tough for us to defeat ... especially if we are struggling to get good looks for three-pointers and aren't hitting them. Butler's and Oweh's ability to move with the ball, get to the rim, score and/or get fouled, will be very important for us in these types of games.

That's how I see it, right now.

 

[chevyman 50]

This WKU played super D and Ky could hit there 3s but thing is they still won.

 

[ukfan1622]

UK isn't likely to have a worse combined game from three and free throws all year and they still put up 87 points and won easily.
The team's future does not look bleak to me.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

I would be very surprised if we lose 6-7 games in the SEC. This is based on what we've seen so far. There will be tough games, for sure, and many like last night against the likes of UT, Auburn and someone like Vandy (from the hack-and-smack muck it up perspective). But to say we're likely to lose 6+ of them after what this team has showed us is extreme in my opinion.

I believe last night was one of our overall worse games and we still scored 87 and won by 19. 2nd worse game statistically was Duke, yet we also won. I can't imagine us playing worse than either of these two games, and I think WKU played WAY above their ceiling, which is a good thing because as many here have said, the way they played is a great trial for this UK team as we get closer to hack-and-grab teams in the SEC.

UK has road games at Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Alabama. Probably drop three of those and maybe one to two more road games (4 to 5 total). UK also has home against Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, and Texas A&M.

Probably lose two to three home games with that schedule.

5 to 6 SEC losses is not unreasonable. 7 would not shock me. Only 5 would exceed my expectations.

The SEC has never been more brutal. Next Monday, there will be three SEC teams in the top 5, and four in the top 7.

 

[Drcatfan]

The strategy against UK will be the exact opposite of the last several years. The strategy against Cal teams should be pack in a zone or loose man to man and force them into an outside shooting team. The strategy now against UK should be tenacious man to man not to give up any open shots and make them beat you by driving and inside players scoring.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

They don’t poop ice cream and they aren’t robots.

False

 

[HerrosHeroes]

UK isn't likely to have a worse combined game from three and free throws all year and they still put up 87 points and won easily.
The team's future does not look bleak to me.

Exactly. We slept walked thru that game and nearly dropped 90 on the Toppers.
Frightening team!!

 

[Bkocats]

Yet we still won comfortably.

Some people just want to be nervous nellies I guess...

We’ve had too many years of …shall we say… falling short and not improving. Even though we have a very different coach and team, and different style and outlook, I understand the nervousness
We’re conditioned to think the worst, it’ll take time to feel more confident

 

[trueblujr2]

FARRR POPE!

Just kicking off the inevitable when we lose our first game. LOL

 

[BlueSince92]

So the way to beat our team is spend all your energy running us off of the line, then get killed in the interior in the most victorious way ✅

 

[kats23]

Didn't remind me of Oakland at all. WKU was just really physical. They took the approach of "We're going to bump and foul you every time up the floor and they aren't going to call everything." Couple that with UK kind of being on cruise control and WKU really outhustling us, you have the game you have. The good news is we wore out WKU at the end because we are a deep team and Pope really knows how to use his bench and this is the type of play you are going to see throughout the SEC.

But yes, our weakness is we aren't a physical team and I knew that would give us trouble throughout the year when we hit those type of teams.

 

[Digger-Cat]

The only adjustment that needs to be made is effort. Our guys were not jacked up to play Western Kentucky. That was a completely different effort than what we saw when they played duke.
If your effort level isn't there, you're going to miss shots and you aren't going to run your stuff well enough to be at your normal.
It's human nature to do this and we've all been there. Playing your little brother and his buddies down at the park isn't going to bring out your best.
But if I'm Mark Pope, I get Williams figured out right now. He has bad body language and his turnovers are really bad. He played lazy last night.
Also, Butler's free throw shooting. He's our best driver, he's going to get fouled a lot, but he misses way too many free throws.

 

[DeerTurkHunter1]

Players will have good games and bad games. My disappointment was that we went to a more traditional 8-man rotation with 4 guys playing 28-33 minutes.
IMO, we aren't going to win most (some but not most) games because our best 5 are better than their best 5; we are going to win most games because our bench is significantly better than their bench, allowing us to either wear-out their starters (i. e. Duke) or play significant minutes with our better bench vs their bench. We aren't platooning (which is fine), but our best team looks to be where we have 10 guys playing double digit minutes (most of them 15+).

Also, Jackson led us in minutes, on the season he is 2nd in minutes (1 behind Carr) and 2nd in shots. Even though so far only Kriisa has been less efficient than Jackson. Until he figures it out, I'd rather see him in the 20mpg range than 30mpg (33 last night).

Who Jackson???? Man, your post loses credibility when you don’t even know one of our top three players.

 

[SemperFiCat]

UK has road games at Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Alabama. Probably drop three of those and maybe one to two more road games (4 to 5 total). UK also has home against Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, and Texas A&M.

Probably lose two to three home games with that schedule.

5 to 6 SEC losses is not unreasonable. 7 would not shock me. Only 5 would exceed my expectations.

The SEC has never been more brutal. Next Monday, there will be three SEC teams in the top 5, and four in the top 7.

I see your logic, and it isn't off-base. But I like Pope's approach, and this team hasn't shown signs of wilting under pressure, even when not playing well. So, I think we win a couple of games your logic thinks we could drop. This team's unknowns are certainly more fun than the past years'.

I will say, if William's effort last night becomes a pattern, your prediction could be right. Or worse. That needs to get corrected.

 

[Mike-D]

News Flash: we look vulnerable when we miss freethrows, and shoot 27% from 3. The sky is falling. Heeeelp.

 

[Digger-Cat]

We’re going to take some L’s.

Oweh is really the only guy outside of maybe Carr that can create a shot for himself when the offense isn’t flowing due to good defensive pressure from the opponent.

We saw it against Duke, they played fantastic defense against us in the 1st half. We were just able to ramp up our defense in the 2nd half and it created offensive opportunities to win that game.

I think we’ll drop 5-6 games when it’s all said and done. However, I don’t see us losing games to bad teams or having any games where we’re not very competitive to the very end.

Don't forget about Butler, he's probably the best we have at creating and getting to the basket.

 

[B.B.H.]

I’m expecting to see a lot more lineup of Butler, Oweh, Brea, Robinson, Carr as the year progresses. We will lose some on defense, but with that lineup, Butler and Oweh will have the room to operate against these teams that are playing us out like this. I noticed yesterday that WKU was essentially doubling the handoff recipient when Williams was out top. He isn’t a threat to score and if he goes iso the offense becomes inefficient. If he doesn’t demonstrate some skill that makes him a threat there, it makes him almost unplayable in that action.

 

[Mike-McD]

I know the game was never in doubt. However, observation reminded me of our game against Oakland. It seemed the game plan was to take advantage of the inside superiority. So, the offense that has been spectacular by an inside out game reversed to outside in which led to bad passes and turnovers. I will always be convinced that Reed's bad game occurred because he was Cal coached to get that ball to the paint players. It seemed to be similar against WKU and it also explained the missed 3's as they were rushed without the typical perimeter passing we had seen before. I will keep my fingers crossed that these issues will be corrected but it is the first game where I could see us losing to good teams.

Pope said he was delighted with the team's joy in defending.

69 points would have won the game. We scored 87 on a tournament team from last year.

 

[know1]

I saw the weakness in our fans v. WKU.

 

[Mike-McD]

We’ve had too many years of …shall we say… falling short and not improving. Even though we have a very different coach and team, and different style and outlook, I understand the nervousness
We’re conditioned to think the worst, it’ll take time to feel more confident

I don't see anyone blowing us out this year. I see some tough losses due to mistakes or missed free throws. But nobody's head and shoulders better than we are.

Not saying it can't happen. I just don't see it. Our guys are very prepared for every game. CMP is "deadly serious" about winning.

There will be no dogs or Little House on the Prairie on his mind during games.

 

[catsfanbgky]

Jaxson Robinson's shot selection, Williams body language and turnovers, and defensive rebounding are all legitimate concerns for ME. Against very physical teams and quick, athletic teams, it is going to be a struggle. Against any of the top SEC teams last night, that would have been a L. We are very good, exciting to watch, but depending on having to have a great shooting night is a dangerous game.
People can say WKU did this, WKU did that. WKU is NOT a good team, we struggled to rebound and contain. Everyone saying we had a off night and still won by 19. Well WKU shot it even worse. What could have happened if they shot their normal %'s ? And that is WKU, not Auburn, Tenn, Bama, and others. WKU only scored on back to back possessions 3 times all night, and with 12 minutes to go at home, it was a 6 point game. Not bashing the team at all, just stating concerns and that not everything is roses. Bash away, but remember this post later.