Sheppard's Defense

[K_TIME]

He outscored his position. Blame someone else. He

First of all…that is not how basketball is played (ie uf Ugo never gets plays run thru him yet his man on other end gets way more plays ran thru…we’d not blame Ugo for a loss)

Secondly….nothing excuse being up three last shot of game .and you’re wandering your ass all over the place while your man is stroking a three ball to tie the game up

i likeReed but that is the ymca bulcrap he got away with in high school And aau ball. He is constantly losing awareness of where his man is at….thusly he’s getting caught on screen, flat out getting burned off dribble as his man has space to drive the ball etc.

 

[wildcat_nation28]

Piss poor effort by Sheppard on D. Maybe he played too many minutes.

Was you blind or what because his defense was awful its ok to be a fan but in your mind Reed does nothing wrong

 

[ukwazoo]

That's why he'll be at UK for at least 3 years. Can't guard one person in the NBA.

No one guards anyone in the NBA

 

[Mike-McD]

If Sheppard doesn't play last night we lose by 15

 

[Aike]

He made a lot of mistakes on D. Did a lot well on offense. He also made a steal and a block back to back late that probably seals the game if Rob hits his free throws.

UGO had a huge game but if he secures one rebound when we’re up four instead of allowing a tip in, we probably win.

I know everyone is frustrated. But threads like this reveal a lot about character.

 

[Ron Swanson]

He made a lot of mistakes on D. Did a lot well on offense. He also made a steal and a block back to back late that probably seals the game if Rob hits his free throws.

UGO had a huge game but if he secures one rebound when we’re up four instead of allowing a tip in, we probably win.

I know everyone is frustrated. But threads like this reveal a lot about character.

We also likely win if Reed doesn't give up 3 after 3 and drive after drive.

It was a team loss. Plain and simple.

 

[sefus12]

Reed has been lit up at 3 all season because of how much he sags off shooters when they don’t have the ball. Big question is why is this happening? If all of us can see it, I know the coaches can. Seems they are ok with him giving the extra space in order to help/gamble for steals. It’s as much on the coaches for not fixing this as it is on Reed.

 

[CatPatrick13]

Reeds defense was bad. But did anyone also watch Mitchell? He has given terrible effort of late.

Mitchell had a terrible night offensively as well.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Reed has been lit up at 3 all season because of how much he sags off shooters when they don’t have the ball. Big question is why is this happening? If all of us can see it, I know the coaches can. Seems they are ok with him giving the extra space in order to help/gamble for steals. It’s as much on the coaches for not fixing this as it is on Reed.

I have seen him get chewed out a few times over it and benched over it. I think the belief is that he does enough other things really well that you still have to play him. He just needs to be less concerned with trying to anticipate passing lanes for a steal and actually focus on stay in front of the defender and the ball.

 

[ManitouDan]

Odd guy , our Mr Sheperd is , Here is my opinion , he knows his lateral quickness wont allow him to stay in front of most guards , so he roams , he gambles , he cheats off , he helps .... and hes really really good at team D , Good shot blocker , GREAT at steals , but he never wants to be solo on a guy .. but sucking down that far below the arch in a three point game was ?? unexplainable , he had a major brain fart .. and it cost us badly .. but Mitchell was hot ass all game , go scream about him

 

[megablue]

We also likely win if Reed doesn't give up 3 after 3 and drive after drive.

It was a team loss. Plain and simple.

Yes. A team loss. We are a good offensive team, but have glaring, reoccurring weaknesses on defense. We see it. The team sees it. What is hard for everyone to understand and accept is that we can lose this year on very good shooting nights. We’ve not seen this much in the past. It is alarming and concerning … for the team, coaches and the fans.

 

[Creed Bratton]

It looks great with the numbers far as steals and blocks. He is probably the worst on ball defender on this team after watching that game!

I am more concerned about him leaving his man to either go for those steals or sagging to double in the lane and leaving a guy who the scouting report says is a shooter. He has an amazing game IQ on the offensive end of the floor but his defensive IQ is severely lacking.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Great defensive teams have poor individual defenders all the time in the lineup. That's because defense isn't 5 1v1's. Defending is a team activity. Our players look like poor individual defenders constantly because they are so often put in losing situations. This has been the case for each of the last 5 seasons. There is something fundamentally broken with how we approach defending.

I agree and have been saying for the last 3-4 years that our defense if terrible. I posted a stat the other day that since KP left our defense has been ranked in the 100's 3 out of 4 years and it hadn't been ranked in the 100's any of the previous years Cal had been here and had actually been in the top 10 several times. Maybe KP was the coach behind the defense.

 

[Kyhoward]

Like all 3 of our freshmen guards but they probably did not play much defense in high school and now they are up against older players who may not be as talented but are much more experienced. Reed should have been Clayton’s shadow forcing him to drive the ball versus giving him a 3-point attempt. But he was “ball watching.” Freshman mistake but also coaching error. I don’t know anyone on this team who is a good ball defender, although CCC says Antonio is, FWIW. Ant is also a 5-year player. Coincidence?

 

[Padsfs07]

I agree and have been saying for the last 3-4 years that our defense if terrible. I posted a stat the other day that since KP left our defense has been ranked in the 100's 3 out of 4 years and it hadn't been ranked in the 100's any of the previous years Cal had been here and had actually been in the top 10 several times. Maybe KP was the coach behind the defense.

I think Calipari has eased up on the guys.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

It’s a complete joke. Most ignore it but he cost us the game tonight with his awful defense.

His positives far out weigh the negatives. He made an amazing block on a corner 3 in front of the Florida bench that kept us in the game as well. His ability to score over come some defensive shortcomings

 

[nptb]

I think they defended the pick and roll the best they have all season last night. There is too much help defense when we have guys that can erase mistakes at the rim. Situation awareness is lacking with this squad.

 

[Creed Bratton]

His positives far out weigh the negatives. He made an amazing block on a corner 3 in front of the Florida bench that kept us in the game as well. His ability to score over come some defensive shortcomings

Calling it "some defensive shortcomings" is being very generous. I like him but let's call it what it is because he gave up at least 5-6 wide open 3's by leaving his man and he does it every game. This many games into the season he either isn't being coached to stay with his man or just not listening.

 

[kelzer]

Great defensive teams have poor individual defenders all the time in the lineup. That's because defense isn't 5 1v1's. Defending is a team activity. Our players look like poor individual defenders constantly because they are so often put in losing situations. This has been the case for each of the last 5 seasons. There is something fundamentally broken with how we approach defending.

Yup. One of my pet peeves last year was Cason Wallace's team defense. He was a fantastic on-ball defender, but if you watched closely you saw he was rarely in the right place defensively when off-ball. And it seems like this is the rule, not the exception, when it comes to high-level incoming freshmen. We can blame Cal, but really these guys should be learning how to play good help defense before they get to college.

 

[K_TIME]

If Sheppard doesn't play last night we lose by 15

Nobody is saying Shep should be benched....when on the floor he needs to quit going for steals so much and stick to his man. He gets burned a good bit due to bad high school/aau habits he got away with.

 

[ukcatz12]

If Sheppard doesn't play last night we lose by 15

Can't find it in yourself to give Sheppard even the smallest critique, can you? I don't think anyone said anything about wishing he didn't play.

He played great offensively last night. He ran the offense very well, looked for his shot a bit more and hit those shots. There were also times he was absolutely lost on the defensive end. The one shot we couldn't give up on that last posession is a 3 and Reed is lollygagging eight feet from the three point line, lost track of his guy, and gave up a wide open shot. That just can't happen. He played 40 minutes, he was probably exhausted, but he's gotta at least know where his guy is on the court.

 

[kelzer]

This discussion supports my belief about the problem with the commonly used defensive metrics. The Defensive Rating stat uses a complex formula that includes defensive rebounds, blocks, and steals, as well as how the team as a whole does with the player in the game. Similarly, Defensive Box Plus/Minus includes these individual stats.

And according to evanmiya.com Reed is the 15th best defender in the country with a DBPR of 3.51. This also includes those individual stats in the calculation.

The problem is that a player who goes for a ton of steals every game and manages to get 2 gets a good rating even though the many times he goes for steals and doesn't get them he ends up in bad defensive position and his teammates have to scramble to compensate. In essence, the opponent ends up playing 5 on 4, often leading to easy baskets.

And if a player jumps at every pump fake, but manages to get a block or two per game, he gets a good rating even though his opponent or his teammates might end up with some easy baskets.

I wish somebody would come up with a stat that really just reflects how well a player's team does defensively while he's on the floor, and leaves out the individual stats entirely.

 

[bnewt]

It’s a complete joke. Most ignore it but he cost us the game tonight with his awful defense.

Was he the only one that got beat on defense? Sure didn't look like that to me. EVERYONE got beat on defense.
If it wasn't for Shep's offense & passing, UK would not have even been in the game. He also had 8 rebounds. more than anyone other than UGO. If UK had a coach, the last shot would not have mattered, but since they don't everyone is hanging on the shot instead of the many other reasons for the loss. How many layups did UK miss? How many 1' shots did Ugo miss? Lot of reasons for the loss, not just the last shot

 

[JFCats22]

Was he the only one that got beat on defense? Sure didn't look like that to me. EVERYONE got beat on defense.
If it wasn't for Shep's offense & passing, UK would not have even been in the game. He also had 8 rebounds. more than anyone other than UGO. If UK had a coach, the last shot would not have mattered, but since they don't everyone is hanging on the shot instead of the many other reasons for the loss. How many layups did UK miss? How many 1' shots did Ugo miss? Lot of reasons for the loss, not just the last shot

Go look at the details. Guys that Reed defended scored 33 points tonight including being in no man’s land on the last play.

A lot of guys have blame but the UK fans refusal to critique Reed baffles me.

 

[Mike-McD]

Everybody's bagging on Sheppard, but did anyone ELSE block Clayton's three point shot in the second half?

No.

Sheppard did.

 

[know1]

I can't defend it.

 

[ThunderCat98]

I don’t know anyone on this team who is a good ball defender

This^^^ is accurate. Especially for our guards. They're all $h!t on the ball. Interestingly enough, they're all - especially Reed - good with help defense and reading the passing lanes. It's kind of odd.

 

[jwphelps]

It looks great with the numbers far as steals and blocks. He is probably the worst on ball defender on this team after watching that game!

To be honest, tell me one guard we have that can actually stay in front of his man.

 

[ukcatz12]

Everybody's bagging on Sheppard, but did anyone ELSE block Clayton's three point shot in the second half?

No.

Sheppard did.

You really do have a weird need to defend Sheppard at absolutely any cost. Yes, he blocked that shot. Yes, he gets a lot of surprise blocks and steals. That's also why he gets beat so often, because he sells out for the steal or the shot contest. Both things can be true.

It's not up for debate he lost his man on that last play. He was eight feet from his man like he was trying to protect against a drive to the basket when the 3 point shot is the only shot that hurts us. He should have sold out for the 3 point defense and not cared about the potential drive to the basket.

 

[Creed Bratton]

 

[Creed Bratton]

What exactly was Reed doing when his man, who had already hit 5 3's, was breaking to the ball to shoot. He has to stay closer to his man and keep him in his peripheral vision. He totally looked away and lost his man.

 

[chevyman 50]

I think Shep is the best player on the team does he make mistakes from time to time yes he is human but overall he does everything well I blame Cal for this team s lack of D.

 

[DreadLox]

Offenses have advanced more than defenses. It's commonplace for bigs to hit 3s. It's almost as common for players to hit shots 4 and 5 ft outside the 3 pt line. Players are bigger and better than they used to be. And talent is more spread out. The gradient in talent among college players is tinier, too. All that makes gauging how close to play your guy difficult to the point of being arbitrary.

I'm sorry we lost but people are complaining about things that are almost impossible to control. Look at the number of Top 10 teams that have lost recently. Coaches didn't give each other the high sign to quit teaching defense.

I watch a lot of chess videos. It's the same there. Everybody has fantastic computerized chess engines to sharpen their games against. The human race didn't suddenly become super genius. Training has just become fantastic.

But people do love to feel anger and to vent it dramatically.

 

[sluggercatfan]

It looks great with the numbers far as steals and blocks. He is probably the worst on ball defender on this team after watching that game!

If it wasn't for Sheppard last night we get beat by 20. The "man" played 45 minutes while CCC'S prima Donna Sissy’s sat over on the bench cutting up laughing two prom girls.

 

[WayneDougan]

I didn’t see Shep play in high school, but he strikes me as a dude who was able to get rewarded with some high risk techniques as opposed to playing fundamentally sound D.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

If it wasn't for Sheppard last night we get beat by 20. The "man" played 45 minutes while CCC'S prima Donna Sissy’s sat over on the bench cutting up laughing two prom girls.

Two different times, I at least saw Wagner intently watching the game, while Edwards was more concerned trying to tell him a funny.

Edwards has one more game to come back and/or prove a legitimate reason why he's out. After that he should be removed from the team for all I care. He's clearly showing to be that employee who put in his two weeks, but hasn't left yet. At this point, you can hand in your ID badge and clock out.

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

Reeds defense was bad. But did anyone also watch Mitchell? He has given terrible effort of late.

He shoots too many threes. It needs to stop. He needs to focus on rebounding and Defense but he probably won't.

 

[thedahc]

This is dumb as f***... Reed scored more than his opponent. it wasnt Reed who lost us the game...... it was cal for having reed inbounds a damn ball instead of calling a timeout to have Mitchell or Dill inbounds it so Reed or Reeves could be shooting FT's.

this loss is on Cal ........ his team, his teaching and coaching all season. if players keep making undisciplined plays..... at this point in the season that is always on the coach .

You are wrong on this. Reed gave up more points than he scored. He guarded multiple people and they all scored at will on him.

Pullin and Clayton both scored the majority of their points when guarded by Reed. Go give it a look. 30+ points were allowed to players when Reed was primary defender

 

[fisherscatfan]

He shoots too many threes. It needs to stop. He needs to focus on rebounding and Defense but he probably won't.

Agree. Just watch Mitchell on D. He just flat out does not give effort. He will often walk to his man instead of trying to beat his man to the spot. He is either worn out (which is pathetic), doesn‘t care or is lazy.

He is on his 4th team right? My son plays baseball at a small college-nowhere near the level of UK basketball—and there is a kid that is on the team that is on his 4th school. That kid is all about himself and carries himself very similar to Mitchell. I get there are circumstances for transferring but 4 times in a career would require some self reflection.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Before we go on talking about Reed Shepherd's defense, is there really even a white guy on this earth that can play defense really? Lol there's not too many white guys true white guys playing in the NBA guarding
Point guards.