Switching completely out of control on this team
- Thread starter UK till Death
- Start date
It screwed us last year vs Wisconsin...
This roster DEFINITELY is not equipped for everyone to guard 1-5!!!!
It's nonsensical!
Yep, Cost us the game against Wisconsin last year cause they would keep making us swith till Booker got caught on Frank. That and taking the air out of the ball and running shot clock to 3 seconds. Kind of how tonights game was given away. Love Cal for a lot of reasons, but the switching and stalling drive me nuts and has cost us a title or 2. Not to mention this game tonight.
Cal's refusal to even play some token zone in tight spots has cost us some pretty big wins. Sad but true.
Switching is the reason our 3 point defense is so good. Occasional the miss match inside is exploited but not enough to say it cost us anything.
They ran a little weave the entire second half until they got the match ups they wanted. Same as Wisconsin last year.
Booker was on Decker until we switched and then he would get caught gaurding a 7'1 all American which gave Wisconsin many a easy basket.
I think we should have handled their talent better.
Our 2nd half was anything but fluid...too many fouls and couldn't stop enough of their drives.
I'm disappointed, but this will only help us going forward.
We have got to improve our half court offense.
Our 2nd half was anything but fluid...too many fouls and couldn't stop enough of their drives.
I'm disappointed, but this will only help us going forward.
We have got to improve our half court offense.
I don't seem to recall Lucas or Traylor hurting UK on the switches. KU is the perfect team to play that way because they shoot so well from the perimeter, yet their five men have zero offensive game and aren't a threat to score.
Why do you think we switch every ball screen and handoff? Seems like it bites us when we are playing a good team. Last night so many times we had a big on a point guard, or our guards on their bigs.
This is how Cal plays, he will not change it. He refuses to try anything different to stop runs of players going insane on us.
I've saw teams switch, but when the switch outside occurred the defender would sorta push him back and be physical. Seems like we back off giving whoever has the ball a running lane to drive it. Several games I recall in the Cal era where switching cost us. I like the options of just not switching, man up and guard your guy, because it is an easy way out. Then, I like when teams trap it and force the ball handler to go backwards instead of forward to the basket, then if you're trapping recover to your man.
It is not as much about the 5 guy beating the guard as it is the big man for UK having to guard the smaller and quicker ball handler. The post player gets put into a bad situation as the guard goes by and then the post player fouls, or the help defense fouls. The post players don't exploit our guards as much, but there were several times on Saturday where the post player posted up and they called a foul on our guards who were trying to fight the post up. I remember at least one of those being on Hawkins, who had switched.
Not to mention the fact that switching these screens is very hard for a post player such as Humphries or Wynyard. So, it makes them less effective on defense and somewhat negates any offensive advantage that they give us.
All that being said, Cal has an amazing record at Kentucky. He's the coach and I am a mere spectator. I don't like the 5 man switch defense (many don't), but that doesn't change my love for Kentucky and the respect I have for Calipari.
Not to mention the fact that switching these screens is very hard for a post player such as Humphries or Wynyard. So, it makes them less effective on defense and somewhat negates any offensive advantage that they give us.
All that being said, Cal has an amazing record at Kentucky. He's the coach and I am a mere spectator. I don't like the 5 man switch defense (many don't), but that doesn't change my love for Kentucky and the respect I have for Calipari.
A lot of Kaminsky's buckets came against WCS. I completely agree that I am not a fan of switching on every screen and it has driven me nuts as well. It is frustrating because Cal is so great at adapting his offense and style to fit his current team but it doesn't seem that way on the defensive side. His refusal to play zone sometimes is also frustrating. I would love to see him be more adaptable to the defensive side of the ball. I think coaches know this about Cal and use it to their advantage, ala Bo Ryan last year. While Kaminsky did score points on WCS also, especially late, it seemed as though Wisky would simply keep screening until they got a favorable matchup and that completely changes the effectiveness of your team and the tactical advantage of match ups. I love Cal like no other but I would love for him to get creative on defense and play to the strengths of each team's personnel. Don't know that it cost us that game last year but I know it didn't help.
clearly cal's defensive philosophy was flawed last year
it's a shame you weren't in a position to guide him in the direction
Why? Because they bring up places where we lack?
What "bullshit" are you speaking of?
This board is amazing. People like you are what make it the shittiest board possible. We have a thread talking about where we lack defensively and citing where it's cost us and you get your little feelings hurt. Show me where it says "This is a positive comment about UK everything board". Otherwise gtfo
The switching was very loose against Kansas in the 2nd half. I think we were looking at bone-tired players. Several players haven't developed as quickly as hoped. Muldur. Matthews. Labissiere. Hawkins's injuries. Briscoe isn't the replacement PG (as a freshman) that's needed. Ditto Murray. Result: against talented teams we're weaker in the 2nd half than we've been recently. Not coaching: genetics. Well, a bit of coaching. Calipari wants a "positionless" team, but it helps to have a real PG or 2 or 3.
The use of Hawkins in this game was very puzzling. Mulder has played pretty solid when he has been in games, especially when he goes up after rebounds and hustles. He might not be a lock down defender, but he's done solid, and he at least provides some sort of an offensive threat. Hawkins adds very little on offense and hasn't played in weeks. If Mulder shoots some of the threes that Hawkins took then the game may have looked a lot different, and I am willing to bet that Mulder grabs more than 1 rebound. Where this was particularly puzzling was when Skal fouled out and we put in Hawkins for him.
You can also argue the switching was loose in the later part of the 2nd half because all of our bigs were in foul trouble or had already fouled out putting inexperienced guys in that position. It's funny, the switching on defense was effective enough in the 1st half to give us a 6 point lead and create 11 turnovers.
I'm of the opinion that the officiating in the 2nd half made this game impossible to dissect. The way fouls were being called, especially the last 10 minutes, our guys weren't really sure how to defend. The game was clearly called different than it was the 1st half. That really messes with players.
Yeah, switching has killed us. Only getting to 4 out of 5 final fours, 2 nc games and one NC is pathetic. DWS
Yeah, wouldn't it be nice to go back to the good old days of the ball-line defense of Tubby. Man, those were some great times. Even better, the BCG days of who-knows-what defense. So frustrating to get to the FF 4 out the last 5 years with that awful defense Cal teaches. Doesn't seem to work....
Yeah, wouldn't it be nice to go back to the good old days of the ball-line defense of Tubby. Man, those were some great times. Even better, the BCG days of who-knows-what defense. So frustrating to get to the FF 4 out the last 5 years with that awful defense Cal teaches. Doesn't seem to work....
the NPOY, on the best statistical offense of the last 15 years, got a favorable matchup off switches in a game last year
so forget that uk was the best defensive team ever
clearly cal has to go back to the drawing board
While I agree that we have done amazing, it doesn't mean that we can't get better. There is an old story about Adolph Rupp bursting into the locker room at halftime. His team had only given up something like 2 or 4 points, but it was all to the same player. His team was proud of their performance but Rupp barged into the locker room angry and yelled, 'Who's guarding that guy, he's killing us!' While the players, and even Rupp, got a bit of a laugh from this it still showed just how much perfection that Rupp demanded from his players. Total perfection. Rupp knew that there was always room for improvement and that is why he continued to demand that perfection. While we've done amazing since Cal has been here it does not mean that we cannot improve.
Also, this is a message board. We are fans. This message board isn't just here to talk about Louisville, freak out after losses, and to pretend everything is perfect. It is here to discuss basketball, and UK basketball in particular. Having this discussion in no way means that we aren't happy as fans or that we want coach Cal fired. It is merely a discussion about a type of defense that many of us don't see as being the best defense. In no way does it mean that we want Tubby or BCG back, and to argue that is ridiculous.
Ok, you don't see Cal's defense as the best. That's why I mentioned the 4 of 5 final four and the NC games. Makes your argument seem pretty weak.
Yes, we can always get better. And yes, this is a message board to discuss UK. But it just gets a little tiring the hear people that MAY have played a little HS BB and played zone, think they know better than our HOF, NC winning coach.
What is ridiculous is to say that you know what is the better defense than a coach who is in the HOF and has taken UK to 4 out of the last 5 FF's and won a championship. Is it any wonder some coaches burn out here?
Yeah, wouldn't it be nice to go back to the good old days of the ball-line defense of Tubby. Man, those were some great times. Even better, the BCG days of who-knows-what defense. So frustrating to get to the FF 4 out the last 5 years with that awful defense Cal teaches. Doesn't seem to work....
Maybe some minor changes and tightening it up here in there could turn those trips to the final four into actual national titles................which is the freaking goal.
Sometimes I wonder if posters on here realize that reaching the final four is not actually winning the national title. The final four is the last four teams of the tournament. If you win the first game you are in the finals. If you win that game, you are the champion.
So again, just to make sure everyone who goes on and on about making final fours realizes, making the final four is not the same thing as winning the whole thing.
The best defensive teams switch out. Virginia is known for being one of the top defensive teams and they switch as well. You do this when all of your positions can technically guard all of their positions. If a smaller guard is up against a taller player in the post, you get weak-side help from a post-up player since they usually have to throw the ball over the smaller guard to get it to the taller post up player. When played right, it is very effective. Murray has a problem with the switching and ends up watching the ball too much, leaving his man for a backcut or him losing his man altogether.
yeah if only uk was as good as duke defensively last year
i hate you and everything you stand for
Which coach would like to have that gives UK a better chance to win more titles? Name him.
Actually you're right, UK was not as good defensively as Duke last year.....when it counted. Duke was putrid last season defensively at the beginning of the year. Then Coach K made "changes" and they got substantially better. By the NCAA tournament they were playing their best defense, where as we had regressed. Wisconsin beat us and Duke beat Wisconsin.
Some folks are considered stupid. Some folks then speak and remove all doubt.
Similar threads
