Some wrong assumptions I think some may have about Pope’s offense next season

[megablue]

I said this in another thread and am starting to believe it more and more.

Now that Pope has so much more talent available to him, I think he’s trying to recreate the 96’ Cats type of team.

He’s bringing in defensive superstars from all over and try to mix them in with 3 point shooters. He’s going to play Rick Pitino in his prime type of basketball because he knows how to play and coach that type of basketball.

We’re going to go 8-9 deep, run, press, trap, and shoot 3’s.

It’s going to be glorious, I can feel it in my bones.

We may press and trap, but what team(s) in the country play that way now ?? I can’t think of any. Pitino has not played that way in decades.

 

[megablue]

Pope has always used a 5 out or 4 out offense with a ton of zoom action. He did some innovative things out of the zoom and I expect him to do the same at UK. I expect to see a ton of off the ball movement and cutting/screening, but that doesn’t mean we have to shoot half of our attempts from 3. We just need a couple capable guys who can keep the floor spaced.

I like his zoom action, but does he also employ “floppy” action ?? If we can both zoom and flop, combined with crisp passing, we could be an offense that gives every opposing coach headaches.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

I think some are going to be surprised because pope's offense leads to players taking spot up 3's.. and both Butler and Oweh were over 35% on spot up 3's., they were just both really bad at shooting when they had to create the 3pt shot for themselves.

 

[cats#1again]

You may very well be right based on the roster he’s building, but if so, it’s a risky pivot that I’m not sure I’m completely sold on. His BYU teams were actually pretty good considering how hard it is for them to get top talent, so I don’t really see why that style just with the athletes available to Kentucky wouldn’t have been a good starting point instead of immediately trying to morph into a Houston/Tennessee bully ball team.

I’m willing to see how it works before declaring Pope a failure, but you can’t really fault some fans for being confused that he seems to be trying to reinvent himself a bit before ever coaching a game in the style we were sold on after he was hired.

Don't forget to add UConn in that list. Oh wait a min, maybe he's looking to do what uconn does. Offense and defense.
UConn isn't talked about defensively because everyone sees their offense as special. UConn had been one of if not the best defensive teams the last 2 years.

 

[know1]

It's hard to believe that some people don't realize that a smart, motivated coach like Pope might actually be trying to improve on his results and systems all the time. He's taking what worked well and trying to improve on that and at the same time fixing the things that didn't. His "system" is likely an ever evolving process.

I guess I can understand that to a degree since we've had a coach forever that wasn't doing that so people forget.

 

[North Carolina Blue Wildcat]

If you watch his teams over the years, he has adjusted style of play to match the strengths of his team.

What’s common is that he is very innovative in his sets, his teams do a great job of creating space, and movement off the ball is constant. The days of dribble hand off at the top and GO offense are over.

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

There have been a couple repeated refrains I’ve heard from others that I think are based on some possible misunderstanding.

1. That he wants to be a major 3-point shooting team.

Mark Pope made some remarks at his introductory presser about how BYU was number 2 in some 3-point metric. He then said something about how at UK we don’t settle for second place. This, understandably, led many to believe he was saying he was aiming for UK to be number 1 in that metric. But if you listen to the next thing he said (sorry, I’m just going by recollection) it makes it more clear that he was using these examples from his BYU team to make general statements about expectations at UK. So, I think he meant that UK likes to be number 1 in general, not necessarily at that particular 3-point metric, and I think the wording was just a little clunky and confusing.

2. Pope will play the same type of offense he played at BYU.

There was a Lexington channel that had an interview with Pope a couple days after his presser and during the interview he said something to the effect of, being at UK he would be able to try some different things offensively than what he did at BYU.

So, I think anyone who believes that Pope is trying to play the same style he played at BYU and that he’s just missing on shooters is at least partially mistaken. I think he is adapting to the SEC and has a different plan for this team. I’m sure it will include some shooters, but it’s clearly defense/passing-focused first and foremost.

I think we finally have a guy that will build teams and play to the strengths of the team built that year and do what it takes to WIN. Cannot wait.

 

[DreadLox]

I’ve assumed Pope will continue to play the offense that he’s developed over the years. That’s one of the attractions of him as a coach.

I don’t think we know the reasons behind his choice of players or the qualities he sees in them or his plans for them. The idea that we would know individual players out of the thousands in college to determine if they fit his plans is really dicey.

I have had the time to watch 8 or so BYU games from last year to be able to get a sense of what Pope does. But to be able to do that with the dozens of players casually mentioned as targets? If you have more free time than me, you’re in jail.

I’m not predicting anything more than tomorrow will resemble today. And I haven’t put any money on it.

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

I like his zoom action, but does he also employ “floppy” action ?? If we can both zoom and flop, combined with crisp passing, we could be an offense that gives every opposing coach headaches.

I can’t recall seeing them run floppy. That’s not to say they didn’t out of a timeout or for a single series. They do run an option from the zoom where instead of zooming it turns into a fade for the zoomer and the big rim runs back door. It serves the same purpose as floppy action except it keeps the lane clear.

 

[Kyhoward]

Pope has always used a 5 out or 4 out offense with a ton of zoom action. He did some innovative things out of the zoom and I expect him to do the same at UK. I expect to see a ton of off the ball movement and cutting/screening, but that doesn’t mean we have to shoot half of our attempts from 3. We just need a couple capable guys who can keep the floor spaced.

BYU also shot a lot of layups with players coming off 1 or 2 screens and cutting hard to the basket looking for a pass. This is where Aly Khalifa at BYU was so important in making this pass from the top of the key to a cutter. This is an overlooked component of the Zoom offense and creates open 3’s for others

I have watched numerous BYU games and would see a player driving wide open to the basket or a cutter getting a pass going to the basket and the defensive players still remained with their man instead of trying to slide over to challenge. Why? They were scared of a pass out to a 3 point shooter. The threat of a 3 point shot helps create dribble drives

My feeling is that this offense will be even more effective with players that are highly skilled basketball wise and better athletically than Pope had at BYU. Also few college programs run this offense, none in the SEC, so that will contribute to its effectiveness.

Agree that the 3 point shot will be a big part of Pope’s offense. But adding players that can see the floor, pass effectively, set screens, and make hard cuts to the basket will be the keys, IMO, to next years offensive success

 

[Rockfly78]

I said this in another thread and am starting to believe it more and more.

Now that Pope has so much more talent available to him, I think he’s trying to recreate the 96’ Cats type of team.

He’s bringing in defensive superstars from all over and try to mix them in with 3 point shooters. He’s going to play Rick Pitino in his prime type of basketball because he knows how to play and coach that type of basketball.

We’re going to go 8-9 deep, run, press, trap, and shoot 3’s.

It’s going to be glorious, I can feel it in my bones.

Wait, he doesn’t have “so much more talent available to him”. I mean, he has a handful of kids and they are not Uber talented. As a matter of fact they are less talented than we have had by a wide margin and that won’t change anytime soon.

Talent is not going to flock here because we are Kentucky. We have to let that notion go. Pope will have to recruit his tail off and use his NIL
Pot wisely. I love your positivity but I urge you to slow your roll or you’ll be let down. We are at a crossroads at the moment. This could be a .500 season. If pope really excels in finishing the roster then perhaps we can have a really nice season. But “glorious” is a lofty expectation

 

[jwphelps]

Cal ran an offense.

It was just so intricate and next level that only REAL fans and basketball gurus could see the adjustments he would make.

I know this because he told us all the time.

That is funny, good one.

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

BYU also shot a lot of layups with players coming off 1 or 2 screens and cutting hard to the basket looking for a pass. This is where Aly Khalifa at BYU was so important in making this pass from the top of the key to a cutter. This is an overlooked component of the Zoom offense and creates open 3’s for others

I have watched numerous BYU games and would see a player driving wide open to the basket or a cutter getting a pass going to the basket and the defensive players still remained with their man instead of trying to slide over to challenge. Why? They were scared of a pass out to a 3 point shooter. The threat of a 3 point shot helps create dribble drives

My feeling is that this offense will be even more effective with players that are highly skilled basketball wise and better athletically than Pope had at BYU. Also few college programs run this offense, none in the SEC, so that will contribute to its effectiveness.

Agree that the 3 point shot will be a big part of Pope’s offense. But adding players that can see the floor, pass effectively, set screens, and make hard cuts to the basket will be the keys, IMO, to next years offensive success

Agree and that’s why I think he’ll stay with the 4 or 5 out. It opens those lanes. Almost all their two’s were right at the rim because of this.

 

[Bluegrassking]

That’s hard to do, Mike Anderson tried the same thing here. Players are a lot better handling the press because that’s all these AAU teams do, so I think it’s much harder to do the way both our programs used to. The breakdowns when the press gets broken outweigh the turnovers you create. Also you have to be super deep to even attempt it. Also the way the game is officiated makes it dang near impossible because SEC refs are so erratic with the whistles and want to insert themselves so much in the game your guards will have 3 fouls before the first TV timeout. That said it sure would be awesome because wasn’t that a beautiful brand of basketball to watch? We miss it too…

Relic from a different age at least against better teams.
Everyone has too many ball handlers so it mostly is just a change of pace/situational defense now and as likely to slow the game down as speed it up favorably.

Even Calipari teams have little to no issue breaking a press and he probably invested next to no time on it.

 

[DDMatUK=NBA]

Agree and that’s why I think he’ll stay with the 4 or 5 out. It opens those lanes. Almost all their two’s were right at the rim because of this.

Pitinos system was easy 2's or take the 3. If you shot with a toe on the line, you sat down.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Agree and that’s why I think he’ll stay with the 4 or 5 out. It opens those lanes. Almost all their two’s were right at the rim because of this.

Why Z was crazy for going with the used car salesman. Would have be perfect with MP.