The $64,000 question...Will Cal...

[MdWIldcat55]

play zone tomorrow at Texas A&M?

Usually I completely agree with Cal's reluctance to play zone. Man-to-man is by far the better defense if played with intensity by the team with the best athletes.

But with Poythress out, Lee maybe dinged, Willis 'deteriorating,' whatever that means, and TAMU having excellent front court players capable of drawing volumes of fouls in man-to-man coverage, it would seem like the perfect time to try some zone. The team played it some at USCjr, but of course Cal wasn't around...

I predict we see it.

 

[JohnBlue_]

I sure hope the hell not. I'd rather them play to win the game.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Problem being Texas A&M is a good shooting team and USC was not. They also rebound well on the offensive side.

I think given our situation with injuries we see some of it...........but man to man will still be the primary D

 

[JerseyCat84]

Is Willis 90 years old?

 

[JC for 3]

If Willis' movement is slowed by his knees/ankle issues, going zone would help him a bit.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Stop worring about aTm...
We are going to eat their collective lunches.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

Stop worring about aTm...
We are going to eat their collective lunches.

Who would steal 30 bagged lunches????

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

I sure hope the hell not. I'd rather them play to win the game.

Not really sure what you mean John.
If playing zone in patches gives you the best chance to win the game, why play man to man exclusively?

Isn't it all about winning each and every game?
I don't care about the myth that playing zone is a ding to someone's pride or if it's a supposed sign of weakness.

I want to win every game. 1000 in a row if it leads to it.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Not really sure what you mean John.
If playing zone in patches gives you the best chance to win the game, why play man to man exclusively?

Isn't it all about winning each and every game?
I don't care about the myth that playing zone is a ding to someone's pride or if it's a supposed sign of weakness.

I want to win every game. 1000 in a row if it leads to it.

But that's the real question isn't it?

I'm not sure we have any evidence that playing zone in patches would be more effective than full man to man.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Anyways cal has been here for years now. If we do play zone it'll only be a small handful of possessions or because we are severely in foul trouble like we were at usc

 

[ThroughBlue]

'deteriorating' lol hopefully Willis keeps his butt in the gym so his body is ready for more than mop up minutes. He is the key to our run this year and would be awesome if he could come in and start next year and give us some major leadership on what will be a young team BUT that starts with his work ethic in the off season as well as during the season. He needs to be on the treadmill before practice every day getting some miles in.

deteriorating my ass

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

All I know is that on the road in the SEC, every time we touch someone we get a foul. Looks like we might want to minimize the 'cheap' fouls we are getting assessed, especially at a time when we're a little dinged up.
Zones really hinder teams that like to drive the basket looking for a touch foul, and/or, aren't very proficient from the 3 point line. God knows we're gonna get plenty of touch fouls as soon as a road opponent starts looking for that 'light' contact.

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

'deteriorating' lol hopefully Willis keeps his butt in the gym so his body is ready for more than mop up minutes. He is the key to our run this year and would be awesome if he could come in and start next year and give us some major leadership on what will be a young team BUT that starts with his work ethic in the off season as well as during the season. He needs to be on the treadmill before practice every day getting some miles in.

deteriorating my ass

LMAO at the deteriorating thing. The kid was exhausted was all. He'll be ready, just hope those shots are falling.

You're right about him being the key to our success. Not that he's the best player, even the best shooter, but he drags that defense all the way to the corner because they have to honor the fact that he's hitting 50% from the 3 mark. This is opening up all kinds of stuff for Ulis, Murray, Lee, and Poythress when he returns. No real way to defend us seems to me. He's just got to keep pulling that defense over out of the lane.

 

[capnmonkey]

Man, I kept wishing that interview with Willis would just end last night, I feel like every time he talked he was disclosing a new ailment/injury. It was painful to listen to.

 

[caneintally]

Why on God's green earth would you play Zone against a team who shoots well? Hell No . Play zone against UF or USC but not A&M or Bama .

 

[caneintally]

Man, I kept wishing that interview with Willis would just end last night, I feel like every time he talked he was disclosing a new ailment/injury. It was painful to listen to.

Most players have a ton of little injuries this time of the year , big whoop .

 

[CatPhight]

If we get in deep foul trouble in the front court, particularly if Lee can't play, hell yes we zone to keep bigs on the floor. Nobody is saying we pull a cuse and play 40 minutes of zone, just at spot points in a game.

Words right out of Cal's mouth was we'll zone if the above occurs.

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

Stretch zones can be effective against good shooting teams as well.

 

[capnmonkey]

Most players have a ton of little injuries this time of the year , big whoop .

I'm sure that's true, but I feel like most guys don't TALK about their injuries so much

Its unlikely it matters, maybe this is more of a football thing, but in the NFL if you have a guy that is hobbled and he is asked about it you'll get a "It's fine, I should be 100% before the game", though football injuries are probably much more exploitable than basketball.

It was just funny to hear him be so open about all his scuffs and scratches.

 

[JohnBlue_]

Not really sure what you mean John.
If playing zone in patches gives you the best chance to win the game, why play man to man exclusively?

Isn't it all about winning each and every game?
I don't care about the myth that playing zone is a ding to someone's pride or if it's a supposed sign of weakness.

I want to win every game. 1000 in a row if it leads to it.

The problem with your question is that it's an assumption. There is no proof that a zone wouldn't be the worst thing to happen. Why would you change something that is working on an assumption? I think UK should play to it's strengths and their regular defense has always been better than a zone. It is all about winning, not change just for the sake of change.

Look at the match up too, this doesn't look like a team that I would want to zone. They shoot better from 3 than UK does but worse inside the arc than UK. They are also if you can believe this worse at shooting ft's than UK. What reason would you have for switching defense against this team? Man to man is the best defense, there would have to be a critical situation to abandon it and go with a weaker defense imo.

 

[dave5164]

If you watched the interview with Willis and they were asking him questons because he had ice paks on both knees and he said he slightly sprained his ankle in practice on Wednesday. When he said 'Deteriorating body' he had a smile on his face. I believe he said that because he looked like with both Knees with Ice Paks and his ankle that he had a Deteriorating body at that time. He had said before the UGA and South Carolina games his knees, Ankle, and lower back was bothering him. By watching Willis play the last couple of games he sure didn't look like he had bad knees or ankle going for 25 points last night.