Oweh is not at all what I’d call selfish he just happened to be the only shot creator after February really.
Shooting concern
- Thread starter chasingwildcat
- Start date
I think Lowe, Oweh, Aberdeen, and Chandler can all be 36% + 3pt shooters, Johnson if he cuts out some of his show time threes can get to 35 ish %. Kam can be the 40% shooter he was this past year, Dioubate can be a 35-40% but he wont shoot as much, Jelavic with the college 3pt line might be able to do the low 30 %'s to 39% + leap Big Z did. We wont have a Brea but what we will have is a much more athletic team
But hey Florida as a team shot like 35% from 3 and looked dominant all season
But hey Florida as a team shot like 35% from 3 and looked dominant all season
We need to be more concerned about defense like guarding the three and rebounding instead of shooting the 3 and I truly believe Mark has masterfully addressed this in the off season . You can't be a great rebounding team unless you play hard defensively the two go together
I agree with this 100%. People are far too hung up on 3%. Look at it like this it don't matter if your whole team can shoot 50% from 3 if they can never get off a shot, get a rebound or play defense you are still very limited. Brea was the best shooter in college basketball last year, but the problem was he struggled to get off good looks. This team will get far more open looks than last year because our driving will demand respect and we will also be stacking up consecutive stops on defense plus snagging way more second chance points. When you add all that together I feel like this rosters is way ahead of last year even if you take several % points off the 3 point shooting. Some nights that 3 ball wont be falling no matter how good you shoot and if so this team will be just fine.
Just something to watch... Bama fans seemed to be impressed with how much Dioubate improved his shot this year and that they expected him to keep working on it and improve upon that shot even more this off-season.
He might take more threes per minute than we expect.
This is why Brea had games he could barely get a clean look from 3. We didn't have enough guys who could get into the lane and finish which would draw defenders. This was especially true after Jaxon and Lamont got hurt.
At this point, at least on paper, it's probably this teams biggest weakness. As others have said, early in the season we will likely face a lot of zone to prove we can make them.
Our PPG likely comes down a bit over last season, as will the overall 3 pt %, the real question is are the likely improvements with defense, rebounding, athleticism, strength and toughness enough to make up for it and make us a more competitive team in the end.
Our PPG likely comes down a bit over last season, as will the overall 3 pt %, the real question is are the likely improvements with defense, rebounding, athleticism, strength and toughness enough to make up for it and make us a more competitive team in the end.
They will be fine from the perimeter. I like this team for the athleticism of guys who can create their own shot and get to the rim for a bucket. Butler and Oweh really were the only guards who could do so last year. Brea got a little better towards the end, but still an area he needs to improve post-NCAA.
I agree w/you and others...I think Pope would agree as well. Just do the math...
Pope wants the team to shoot 30-35 threes/game. Even if they just attempt 30 but avg 35% as a team, that's still 10 makes per game.
IF the athleticism really improves the defense/rebounding, and there is no reason to think that it shouldn't, they will be a REALLY tough out if they also make 10-11 threes.
By comparison, of the losses by the 2024-2025 Cats, they made at least 9 threes in the losses to:
- Bama in Lex (UK 11/27, Bama 13/34)
- @Vandy (UK 9/23, Vandy 12/33)
- ARK @ home (UK 10/23, Ark 13/25)
- @ Ole Miss (UK 10/21, OM 13/30)
- @ Bama (UK 9/26, Bama 11/31)
The 25-26 roster appears that it should do just that considering Pope didn't recruit a bunch of athletes who shoot 15-20% from 3pt range.
Pope's system made the iffy guys last year, Butler and such better. No reason to believe the system will not help shoot the ball better. If guys force shots like Lowe had to do last year, then they will still shoot poorly. If they lean into the system, trust the movement of the ball, everyone will get better shots. I say we are on part with last year for the most part. Plus having guys that should be able to rebound the ball on misses for more open shots.
The one thing about Pope's system that helped guys like Butler, though, is having Brea or Jax on the floor as those guys create a vacuum to draw help defenders, which opened up both driving/cutting lanes AS WELL AS perimeter shooting for other guys. For example, if a pass went out to Butler, no help defender was leaving Brea even if that meant leaving Butler wide open.
So, guys are really going to have to shoot well ENOUGH to either make defenders respect both guys allowing the ball to move to the "most" open guy, or SOMEONE has to be good enough to create that vacuum allowing other guys to be really wide open.
Cross your fingers.. The player who missed all those layups will be back 🤔
Great points made in this post as well as the one UKSanders commented upon ...
I would add :*I think* Williams is going to become the shooter in the Brea mold for next year's team, as well as Aberdeen in the Jaxson role in this regard. Lowe takes over PG duty and Oweh, just go be himself .... And essentially, you have the formula. My thought process says Lowe, Williams, Aberdeen, Oweh and Mo D (along with Jelavic) are those guys we need to shoot WELL ENOUGH as mentioned above, we're good to go.
I think Mo D. and Jelavic are more of a two player type replacement for Carr, maybe Jelavic more for his three point shot as opposed to Mo D. for defense and rebounding emphasis.
So then, we got :
Lowe ---- in Butler's role
Oweh ---- Oweh - just be himself
Aberdeen ---- in Robinson's role
Mo D (Jelavic) ---- in Carr's role
JQ ----- in Williams's role
Williams ---- in Brea's role
Garrison ---- Garrison ( just be himself)
and you have a similar system based team, upgraded, even, when you take everyone else into account.
But when you consider we have so many versatile lineup combinations, who knows? Maybe having Garrison and JQ at the 4/5 out there starting is the ultimate answer. It sure will be interesting to see how the minutes gets spread out and what lineups CMP trots out there. Especially early in the season.
Head still spinning !
Go Big Blue !
Pope has this thing about how we “earn” perimeter shots in our offense because they’re supposed to come in very specific circumstances.
Compared to last season we look to be awfully pedestrian at making open threes.
But we also look to be hella good at creating open threes. Worlds better than we were last season at least once the injuries cropped up. And a good bit better than when everyone was healthy last season.
I expect that will affect our bottom line as much as our defensive upgrades will.
Compared to last season we look to be awfully pedestrian at making open threes.
But we also look to be hella good at creating open threes. Worlds better than we were last season at least once the injuries cropped up. And a good bit better than when everyone was healthy last season.
I expect that will affect our bottom line as much as our defensive upgrades will.
Pg as good or better. Will see
2 better
3 better
4 better
Where is all the concern. With this staff is better
I'm not sure % Jelavic shoots but he may be a sleeper on this roster. I've only seen a few clips of his game but he looks fluid and athletic with the ability to shoot 3's when they are open. I like this kid in UK blue. He may be a difference maker.
Rebounding was always the bigger concern, and it looks like we've made the adjustments for that.
Uk fans can never seemingly realize there's two ends of the floor
Uk fans can never seemingly realize there's two ends of the floor
With what happened last season with injuries I expected Pope to use at least 14 of the scholarships in case of a couple of injuries.
Career numbers:
G Lowe- 30%
G Oweh- 36%
G Aberdeen- 34%
F Dioubate- 35% (low volume)
F Garrison- 30% (low volume)
G Johnson- 36% (OTE)
G Chandler- 35%
G Williams- 41%
F Jelavic- 31% (Europe)
F Quaintance- 19% (low volume)
What I see is 9 out of the probable 10-man rotation are at least capable of shooting the 3 and making around a third of them.
If the right people take the right shots at the right time, we should be fine.
A lot will depend on the flow of the offense and I trust Pope to run an efficient offense.
And Lowe will likely make a significant jump in Pope’s offense, especially if his finger has healed.
G Lowe- 30%
G Oweh- 36%
G Aberdeen- 34%
F Dioubate- 35% (low volume)
F Garrison- 30% (low volume)
G Johnson- 36% (OTE)
G Chandler- 35%
G Williams- 41%
F Jelavic- 31% (Europe)
F Quaintance- 19% (low volume)
What I see is 9 out of the probable 10-man rotation are at least capable of shooting the 3 and making around a third of them.
If the right people take the right shots at the right time, we should be fine.
A lot will depend on the flow of the offense and I trust Pope to run an efficient offense.
And Lowe will likely make a significant jump in Pope’s offense, especially if his finger has healed.
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