The Good and The Bad

[megablue]

1. Kriisa is overmatched physically at the high D1 level. Surprised Chandler didn't get some of his minutes.
2. Carr was bad last night and isn't physical enough against those type of athletic bigs
3. They were sitting on Brea's three opportunities and making him drive to beat them. He isn't a great athlete either...there's a reason he was a sixth man at Dayton. Glad we have him, just trying to be real about strengths/weaknesses. You could make a case he should have played more down the stretch.
4. Our lack of an elite athlete/scorer is concerning. Jaxson and Oweh are the closest we have, and yet their ceiling is mid 2nd round NBA draft pick at best. That probably limits our ceiling in March.
Overall, Pope did a great job of putting together this team at the last minute, but we do have some limitations.

This, right here, is a helluva post. It is thoughtful, objective and realistic. We are a finesse team, with limitations and weaknesses. We are not talented enough to get buckets when threes aren’t falling, especially when Butler is not on the floor.
What I am most unsure about is whether we can realistically expect to get, shoot and hit threes against tough opponents, especially on the road. Having said that, we are a pretty good team and will win our share of games. GO CATS !!!

 

[yoshukai]

You can't grab 20+ rebounds and not foul. Especially when you miss almost every shot you take and look like you just left the Banquet Table after a 9 plate binge.

At halftime time I told my son “that #4 kid will wear down in the second half “ but like the energizer bunny, he kept going

Simple Simon was able to roughhouse all night and never get called for it, despite being over the back and banging in to bodies the whole game. If both teams can do it, its ok, but when one can and one can't without it being called, that's no good. We still had plenty of chances ad couldn't hit open or contested shots along with missing free throws we usually hit. Now this team sho

Well technically he wasn’t athletic enough to go “over our back “ , he was kinda going “through our backs” , lol

 

[Cawood86]

This is a team put together in April and May. There are holes for sure. Every team has them.

This staff will adjust and modify for sure. The Jimmy's and Joe's are the issue. This is not a downgrade comment. These are really good college players. They will also adapt. Last night they felt what it means to have Kentucky on your chest on the road.

Robinson and Brea are going to have to improve dribble drives and ball handling. Gonna have to learn to move, press, drive and grind for shots.

 

[yoshukai]

Before I get bashed…… this isn’t a “is Richie gonna play” type post.

A serious question here. What does Kriisa do better than Travis Perry? I guess it comes down to experience? Kerr isn’t a better shooter. He’s not a better scorer. He can be a better playmaker for sure. He’s not an elite level defender at all.

If Kerr is off & Butler needs a breather, I wouldn’t have minded seeing Perry for a minute or two.

I’ve been pretty disappointed in Kriisa’s shooting the entire season actually. Analytics said he was in the 98th percentile on catch and shoot accuracy.

 

[yoshukai]

Brea's +/- wasn't good, but you can't leave his shooting or shooting threat on the bench like that in the 2nd half imo. I would have liked to have seen Carr, Brea, Robinson, Oweh and Butler. Yes you give up some bulk but spacing may have been better for some looks for guys.

That +/- can be misleading though. All of those guys with terrible scores were in there at the same . If Brea had been in with Butler and Williams instead Kerr and Garrison , I’m sure his score would have been a lot better.

 

[CapnBlubs]

This, right here, is a helluva post. It is thoughtful, objective and realistic. We are a finesse team, with limitations and weaknesses. We are not talented enough to get buckets when threes aren’t falling, especially when Butler is not on the floor.
What I am most unsure about is whether we can realistically expect to get, shoot and hit threes against tough opponents, especially on the road. Having said that, we are a pretty good team and will win our share of games. GO CATS !!!

Really other than Oscar we've BEEN a finesse team for a few years and that's been the problem.

Basketball should not be played like football. But since the bad (corrupt) refs often dictate that it is, we have to adjust and play just as rough.

 

[Kybluedude]

Do we win that game on a neutral floor?

 

[yoshukai]

Some over on the other board were saying the team is dealing with some type of flu/sickness right now . I thought CMP sounded a little rough on the post game interview with Leach . Not that it’s an excuse but , doesn’t bode well for flying out west and taking on Gonzaga.

 

[ganner918]

We played bad in a lot of ways, and were in it at the end on the road against a tournament team and had three wide open threes late that we missed. That's the encouraging part.

We were able to adjust against Duke, but that game was the first that showed us that physical in your face defense is how to disrupt this team's offense. We struggle to make people pay for extending out and playing us tight. Pope's gonna have to work on beating that.

I worried about Kriisa as our backup PG before the season started, and nothing has changed my mind. Butler is going to need to play the most minutes on the team. He's light years better than Kriisa on both O and D.

 

[ace on the river]

This team got BULLIED! plain and simple. This team needs to play MUCH MORE physical to compete at the highest level. That will also help compensate for our lack of athleticism

 

[jedwar]

We played bad in a lot of ways, and were in it at the end on the road against a tournament team and had three wide open threes late that we missed. That's the encouraging part.

We were able to adjust against Duke, but that game was the first that showed us that physical in your face defense is how to disrupt this team's offense. We struggle to make people pay for extending out and playing us tight. Pope's gonna have to work on beating that.

I worried about Kriisa as our backup PG before the season started, and nothing has changed my mind. Butler is going to need to play the most minutes on the team. He's light years better than Kriisa on both O and D.

Butler is going to have to play 33 or so mins. I'd rather see point guard by committee spell him. Whatever the question is, Kriisa is not the answer.

 

[Chief Paducah]

This team got BULLIED! plain and simple. This team needs to play MUCH MORE physical to compete at the highest level. That will also help compensate for our lack of athleticism

This. This is the right answer. This team got punched in the face in the first half. Came out the second half and fought a little harder but road games are rough. Loud crowds create bias refs. It is the nature of college basketball. Refs love to get involved to hype the crowd more. We will see it all season on the road in the SEC. You have to be a good enough team to overcome those things. I think I was most bothered by the body language, but especially Robinson several times. They didn’t like the physical play and it showed. Most of these guys were either mid-majors or from high majors on underdog teams. They have never seen how opposing teams treat the UK, Dukes, UNCs of the world. It’s doubtful they have ever seen a court storming unless it was for the team they played for. They are going to have to learn what UK is and fast.

 

[yoshukai]

These season numbers definitely need to improve


Butler - FT 64.5%
Krissa - 3pt 24.2%
Krissa - FG 25.0%
Robinson - 3pt 30.8%
Robinson - FG 43.4%
Williams - TO 2.9

 

[kywildcat41035]

Brea's +/- wasn't good, but you can't leave his shooting or shooting threat on the bench like that in the 2nd half imo. I would have liked to have seen Carr, Brea, Robinson, Oweh and Butler. Yes you give up some bulk but spacing may have been better for some looks for guys.

I totally agree what we had last night wasn't working would've loved to see this lineup. You're 100% correct the spacing would be fabulous with this 5!

 

[FirewithFire]

Some over on the other board were saying the team is dealing with some type of flu/sickness right now . I thought CMP sounded a little rough on the post game interview with Leach . Not that it’s an excuse but , doesn’t bode well for flying out west and taking on Gonzaga.

I saw CMP blowing his nose throughout the game and wondered if he had a cold or something. If he does then it is almost for sure running through the team as well. Dead on for Saturday.

 

[mebeblue2]

The bad.

We played bad in all facets.

Shooting was bad. If we aren’t hitting a good clip of 3s it’s going to be some grinders.

The bench was almost unplayable except for Brea. Kriisa and Garrison just killed us. Afraid depth will be an issue. I’d rather had Robinson or Oweh run the point some.

Williams is doing too much and handling the ball too much. He’s a on the block and a putback guy. Same with Garrison.

Brea sat too much in the 2nd half.

Bad subbing and lack of some adjustments. For such an analytical guy I’m suprised the first half +/- wasn’t addressed. I would’ve liked to see Carr at the 5 with four shooters. I know Carr didn’t play well but it worked against Duke.

The Good

The rotation is more clear.

Rebounded better in 2nd half.

Played quite bad and still was in the game in a hostile environment.

We won’t shoot this bad every game. Three games is plenty.


Wanted to get this game because Saturday will
be tough.

Jed i seen nothing good the entire game
it was one of those games that i knew early in the game that we were going to lose