Towns took 8 3 pointers while he was a freshmen at UK. Hardly any kind of sample size to say he was not a good shooter. I was extremely disappointed in how KAT was used here as he was billed coming in with an excellent perimeter game and we never exploited that at all.
The Z situation sitting makes no sense
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He also seems nonchalant and complains at every single whistle on him. I think there's a spot for him in the rotation... But man, he has been real bad on defense. Another year, a full year, with off-season and playing at least 35 games... That kid is easily a top ten pick.
I know yall are blinded by flashy passes and 3s, but the kid is the worst defender on a bad defensive team. Lost on every possession. Pick and roll defense worse than Oscar.
The only way he could play major minutes and not be a supreme defensive liability would be for Cal to run a 2-3 zone and park Z under the goal. We all know Cal won’t do that.
The only way he could play major minutes and not be a supreme defensive liability would be for Cal to run a 2-3 zone and park Z under the goal. We all know Cal won’t do that.
I honestly think the truth is somewhere in the middle here. Could he give us more than Bradshaw at this point? Quite possibly because Bradshaw shows some of the same weaknesses, but isn’t as pure of a shooter, so I’ll grant that point.
Some of y’all are vastly overrating him to be claiming he’s a lock to be an NBA all-star though. He’s a very incomplete player at the moment. He’s a great shooter who looks to be a creative and willing passer although he hasn’t done it enough for me to gauge his decision making. With that being said, he looks a bit slow, hasn’t shown much ability to put the ball on the floor yet, struggles on defense, and gets bodied too easily on rebounds. Maybe he eventually puts the rest of it together, but he hasn’t yet, or else wouldn’t be sitting mid second round in mock drafts.
Some of y’all are vastly overrating him to be claiming he’s a lock to be an NBA all-star though. He’s a very incomplete player at the moment. He’s a great shooter who looks to be a creative and willing passer although he hasn’t done it enough for me to gauge his decision making. With that being said, he looks a bit slow, hasn’t shown much ability to put the ball on the floor yet, struggles on defense, and gets bodied too easily on rebounds. Maybe he eventually puts the rest of it together, but he hasn’t yet, or else wouldn’t be sitting mid second round in mock drafts.
Exactly, once you see it, you can't un-see it. He's hoping the majority don't figure it out so he can keep the operation going.
I feel Ugo should be starting as his strength and size helps when our perimeter players get beat, which is most of the time. He is not a great rebounder, is limited offensively, and clogs up the middle. I do think he has improved tremendously since last year and may, in time, develop offensively.
Z gets pushed around and lost defensively. His rebounding numbers are not bad considering his playing time. Offensively, he is a perimeter player, pure shooter, and sees the floor. He offers much more than Aaron this season IMO and I am not picking on Aaron, he just needs to put on weight and get a year older. I believe that he can develop as he is fairly confident with the ball in his hands and runs the floor well.
With Z offensively, he makes the 4 other players on the floor better. You have to defend Z out to the 3 point line, he will find the open man, and he spreads the floor for our guards to penetrate. I would to see him get at least 15 minutes a game. Some posters say we need more defense instead of more offense. Don’t think we have a solution on the roster for better defense. But if Z can give us 5+ more points per game that helps.
I like all 3 of these kids. All have upside. Unfortunately, they play for a poor coach.
Z gets pushed around and lost defensively. His rebounding numbers are not bad considering his playing time. Offensively, he is a perimeter player, pure shooter, and sees the floor. He offers much more than Aaron this season IMO and I am not picking on Aaron, he just needs to put on weight and get a year older. I believe that he can develop as he is fairly confident with the ball in his hands and runs the floor well.
With Z offensively, he makes the 4 other players on the floor better. You have to defend Z out to the 3 point line, he will find the open man, and he spreads the floor for our guards to penetrate. I would to see him get at least 15 minutes a game. Some posters say we need more defense instead of more offense. Don’t think we have a solution on the roster for better defense. But if Z can give us 5+ more points per game that helps.
I like all 3 of these kids. All have upside. Unfortunately, they play for a poor coach.
You would have to admit that Onyenso is a better defender than Z though. Right?
To me Bradshaw is about the same as Z defensively. But, I would rather have Z for the offense. Onyenso is light years better than both of these guys though.
I don't know since he was ranked as a small forward, I bet Cal would have used him exactly like Justin Edwards.
Makes total sense. Cal’s the coach which makes no sense. 🤣
AD, Remember here he was just a shot blocker and lob dunker.
ABSOLUTELY ZERO REASONS why Cal would not have at least played Z and Burks the last 3-minutes of the Ole Miss game when UK was up by 15, especially with Mitchell getting hurt again!!!!!!!!
I agree and I am surprised Z has not left KY
I think UGO's major flaw is his hands, he needs to be carrying a basketball around with him 24/7!!!
Z won't transfer. He will either come back or play professionally somewhere. Believe it or not Z loves Cal and Kentucky. Fans are the only ones who believe he is mistreated etc. 🤷♂️
Just my $0.02....
As talented as Z seems to be, there are times when he"s like an awkward 16-year old boy out on his first date and his girlfriend's Dad (Cal) and Uncle (refs) are chaperoning the date!!!
Z has probably never had such an intense (over) critiquing from a coach before like he's seems to exclusively receive from Cal.
When Z's not overly thinking about the game too much and constantly looking over his shoulder (at Cal/ refs), playing relaxed, he has a natural ability to his game.
Z and Burks ABSOLUTELY deserve 5+ minutes per game just to have some "in the fire" game experience to be ready in case of the constant injury plague, foul trouble, succession planning, etc. that CANNOT BE duplicated in an empty Joe Craft (practice) Center!!!!
What would happen if Z decided to come back to UK next year with limited college game experience under his belt, a full offseason of strength and conditioning to transition his body into being a lottery pick?????
Some of the language that stands out in Cal's contract are that he use any and all resonable actions to SUSTAIN and INCREASE student and FAN INTEREST and support of UK basketball and to FAITHFULLY SERVE the Athletic Dept and the UNIVERSITY................. Argument could be made that he's becoming a detriment to University of Kentucky !!!!
As talented as Z seems to be, there are times when he"s like an awkward 16-year old boy out on his first date and his girlfriend's Dad (Cal) and Uncle (refs) are chaperoning the date!!!
Z has probably never had such an intense (over) critiquing from a coach before like he's seems to exclusively receive from Cal.
When Z's not overly thinking about the game too much and constantly looking over his shoulder (at Cal/ refs), playing relaxed, he has a natural ability to his game.
Z and Burks ABSOLUTELY deserve 5+ minutes per game just to have some "in the fire" game experience to be ready in case of the constant injury plague, foul trouble, succession planning, etc. that CANNOT BE duplicated in an empty Joe Craft (practice) Center!!!!
What would happen if Z decided to come back to UK next year with limited college game experience under his belt, a full offseason of strength and conditioning to transition his body into being a lottery pick?????
Some of the language that stands out in Cal's contract are that he use any and all resonable actions to SUSTAIN and INCREASE student and FAN INTEREST and support of UK basketball and to FAITHFULLY SERVE the Athletic Dept and the UNIVERSITY................. Argument could be made that he's becoming a detriment to University of Kentucky !!!!
I concede Z is poor defender...but do you think he's appreciably worse than Bradshaw? I can't come to that conclusion (especially after watching the white Gonzaga backup Center score on him like 4 times in a row). Bradshaw was a disaster vs. Tennessee in a physical game to not just their starting C...but the backup C destroyed Bradshaw as well.
But what is not even close....Z is eons better than Bradshaw offensively. He can shoot way better, pass better, etc...
So why would I play Bradshaw at all over Z is another Cal coaching problem.
He is but
1) we give up a bucket basically every possession anyway
2) his high basketball IQ also says he just needs time to get it. Iirc he wasn't able to practice for a long stretch of time due to the NCAA. He gives us something no one else has but we're afraid he might give up a bucket.
3) playing zone would solve that because it must've been what he played before
In the paint, none of our bigs can guard a fence post at the top of the key on a switch, which is what we see constantly.
Ugo has a clear advantage in the paint because that's his game...in a 2-3 zone things would be
drastically different since the only switches would only come for help defense or a trap.
Cal is a moron with his one size fits all man-man approach...he has zero alpha defenders.
Cal kowtows to the agents. Not playing Z will not keep any future recruits from Kentucky.
Therefore, Z doesn't play as much. It's that simple.
Therefore, Z doesn't play as much. It's that simple.
I'd love to see a 3-2 zone with Ugo and Z being the two, could even pick up man to man late in the shot clock. Couldn't be any worse than the defense we've seen so far. At least some post help...everybody talks about how bad defensively Z is but neither Bradshaw nor Ugo can guard a strong guy one on one in the post. Ugo is clearly the best at that but he still gets abused without some help eventually coming; I love Ugo's shot blocking but they don't generally happen a guy is backing him down in the post.
Amen!!!
He's supposed to playing very well in practices.
I think you are spot on with him playing facing the basket.
If he isn't playing because of his defense, it's beyond my comprehension as to why the coaches can't get him up to speed. It's not NASA!!
I really don't understand the bad defense comment. He's not that bad. Has he been burnt? Yes. So all three of the 7 footers. Take his numbers and average them over 40 minutes and it's not even close to who is the best 7 footer we have. Z! He would average 10 and 8 minimum.
Oh but it does, go back year after year. Remember 2015 in particular , booker sat/ulis sat needed to get Harrisons minutes. There are literally countless examples of this since he has been here. Z will be a solid NBA player and would flourish at Gonzaga but klutch told him you play Bradshaws ass or your cut off. Dude, as I have said over and over, is a complete fraud as a bench coach and most are witnessing this now.
No worse than Bradshaw who brings NOTHING to the table period.
Look who is saying his defense is terrible. It's ALL Calbois. They're throwing him under the bus to support Cal's irrational and INSANE decision not to play this future All-Star. They don't know a thing about basketball.
I agree that a zone would help this team tremendously on defense. Our man defense is awful. Our defense in the pick and roll is awful. There's nothing about our defense that I would say is good.
BUT, switching to a zone would hurt us on offense. We get a lot of offense in transition, and it is incredibly difficult to score in transition off of a defensive zone. It is incredibly difficult from a zone a) to rebound and b) push tempo from that rebound. Further, switching to a zone, would force our opponents to slow down - even further limiting the possessions. There is nothing about a zone that I like when I have athletes and talent.
To me, switching to a zone defense at the expense of our offense would be a mistake.
But, even on the perimeter in defense UGO is better than both Bradshaw and Z...even though they all three are terrible perimeter defenders.
If you are making the argument that Z should be on the floor, because you don't care about stops on the defensive end and you want as much firepower on offense as possible...ok. But, I fundamentally disagree with that approach. To win consistently - in any basketball, at any level - you have to be able to get stops.
I prefer the approach to continue working man principles with the best defenders you have. Our offense is fine. It is our defense that must improve...not the other way around.
I'm not sure what you consider as 'not that bad'. All three of our 7 footers are bad - and it's not even close.
if you are saying "Let's give up on defense and just score as many points as possible"...fine. But, we won't win consistently playing that way. Reference Wilmington. Reference TX A&M. Reference every f-ing loss we have this year.
None of them can guard a fence post at the top of the key on a switch in man-man defense.
Z leads the team in Rebounds per minutes played, by a significant margin. As has been posted on here before
I love Z's offense but go back and watch him on D it's easy to see why he don't play. When I say watch him I mean just watch him not the ball the kid is more lost than any I've seen. I know they play a different style of ball in Europe but you would think a kid that's played as much as him would have some feel for the game but he plays D like a 6th grader. What makes this even crazier is his feel on offense is second to none. After gaining strength and a year or 2 of american ball this kid will be good but that doesn't do much for us right now. He's a spot guy in certain matchups nothing more at this time.
He's better on D than Smoochy who plays many more minutes than he does. Smoochy can't even face his opponent. Z scores more, has more rebounds, and gets more steals and blocked shots. 6th grader my ass. Some of you are blatant, despicable haters.
I would like to see more of Z. But I’m not in practice everyday.
I trust the coaches that are.
And there seems to be no friction on this team about playing time.
And there would be is the players thought it was wrong.
I trust the coaches that are.
And there seems to be no friction on this team about playing time.
And there would be is the players thought it was wrong.
Yep. Anyone have a picture of the play where Bradshaw was under the basket guarding a guy with his back to him lol?
My response when I read your post out loud:
Tyler1 is greatMy response when I read your post out loud:
