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What’s the fix????

TTTblue24

Junior
Feb 1, 2004
3,234
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Whitesburg, Ky
We can’t guard a statue from getting to the rim so go zone?? That just gives up more open 3s but until these guys decide to pick up the intensity and show some grit along with some basketball iq then we will struggle to win 1-2 more games. Pope knows you have to defend to cut down nets and win in the SEC, doesn’t matter if you score 90 and give up 91 but defense doesn’t take talent, it does help but you can be a good defender and not a 5 star. I didn’t see elite of elite talent or huge portal gets on ole miss so why can’t we compete like that on defense??? 2nd half was better but there’s 2 halves in a game and crawling back from 27 is extremely unlikely in this SEC.
 
We can’t guard a statue from getting to the rim so go zone?? That just gives up more open 3s but until these guys decide to pick up the intensity and show some grit along with some basketball iq then we will struggle to win 1-2 more games. Pope knows you have to defend to cut down nets and win in the SEC, doesn’t matter if you score 90 and give up 91 but defense doesn’t take talent, it does help but you can be a good defender and not a 5 star. I didn’t see elite of elite talent or huge portal gets on ole miss so why can’t we compete like that on defense??? 2nd half was better but there’s 2 halves in a game and crawling back from 27 is extremely unlikely in this SEC.
We need a point guard
 
There is no fix. And we may even lose to South Carolina at home. A quick look at their SEC schedule shows me they played Auburn, Vanderbilt, Florida, and Mississippi State very close. I’ve been thinking this would be one of our easier games but now I’m not so sure.
 
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Health. And that may not be in the cards. Frankly, even healthy we were still one piece away I think. But when we had a full deck we were definitely a very good basketball team. Sometimes things like this happen
 
Does this pg defend all 5 players cause I’m pretty sure the other 4 guys need some help with intensity as well.
The problem is when guys like Jaxson and Amari need to take over point guard duties it takes away effort they can expend on the defensive end. It's hard to play really hard on both ends of the floor. Especially if you're doing something more mentally taxing like needing to worry about being the PG when you're not the PG.
 
Does this pg defend all 5 players cause I’m pretty sure the other 4 guys need some help with intensity as well.
He doesn’t, but he was the one who set the tone for the entire team on offense and defense. Look, he’s not a miracle worker. He’s just the difference in being in most games with a chance to win or being just out of reach.
 
More talented players. Mark can get them to play, just needs to get the players. Will be a year or two before we have the kind of team we want.
 
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There's no fix . We are what we are. We won 3 games we had business winning Duke, UT, an Florida . Duke it was early and they were green , UT had their worst gsme of season every level m Florids we were just on fire.

Fact is we csn be a fun team to watch sometimes when hitting but were not a good team . We cannot defend , struggle rebounding but Williams , tesms crowd the 3 an we got no plan B.

Pope - was a coach for 8 years prior . His last year at BYU. He had a few god reg season wins ........ in 8 years that was his biggest achievement n still no tourney win. ByU is no UK. But it had success a bit every now an then - Pope was either the same as coach he took over for or slightly regressed.

Pope has had some big wins this year an i do t want to kick him out yet. Hes also a greatcalum an just a really good guy............ but let's face facts HE SHOULD OF NEVER BEEN HIRED . At least untill 5 other people said no an we just had to. How Donovan want asked was just Barney fife being lazy Barney Fife.
 
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Does this pg defend all 5 players cause I’m pretty sure the other 4 guys need some help with intensity as well.

Everything breaks down. If we don't have either of our starting two PGs then the ball is simply going to penetrate the paint more. That means more opprotunities for our wings, forwards and centers to get scored on.

Imagine if Butler was healthy and he's able to set the defensive tone on every possession. Not only does he create turnovers, but makes it hard for Carrs man to even get the ball. If he gets the ball it might be out of position or late in the shot clock... and in all this Carr might have not done a single thing different.. he was simply given a better situation to come away with a missed FGA on him, or a turnover or a shit clock violation.

On top of this.. the rest of our guys are getting worn out, and honestly, probably frustrated. Hard to be 100% focused at all times when you know the beating you're about to take. When Carrs man can do whatever he wants because he's getting the ball early and in position without having to try.. that's going to wear on the defender. They will get trusted, they start to play tight, play tired, etc..
 
The problem is that we have no dogs on this team. We have pretty good role players, but you need a couple of players to break down the defense for an open three. If they don't have to help then our role players are doomed. Teams have figured that out. Also when teams score almost every trip that pretty much takes away transition threes. This team is not built to play in the SEC. No dogs coming in next year either. We will have to do very good in the transfer portal. We are reportedly to have top 4 NIL, so if we can't get some of the best, then we have a problem.

We are also a poor shot blocking team. You can't close out and have to play more help side when your bigs don't get off the floor. Williams can't react in time. Someone got beat tonight and Garrison was in the vicinity and never even jumped to contest it. Carr doesn't jump well. It kills you with so many people having to help and leave the three point line too far in. Worst shot blocking team I can remember at UK.
 
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I’ve been struggling for fixes but one thing I’ve picked up on(upon many) that crushes our defense…a stretch big. When teams have a big that pulls Amari/BG away from the basket multiple things happen: one they’re slow to get out on their big man shooter, two: it takes away help rim defense to help make up for our terrible on ball defense.

Thankfully USCjr doesn’t have a stretch big.

Moving forward I’m not even as worried about stops as sometimes guys just make shots even against good D. We just play D on so freaking few possessions. There’s no reason they can’t give good effort/communication on 25-40% percent of possessions. Thats not asking too much.
 
We run into the same issue we had last season.

The shooters on this team that are a vital part of the offense clicking are the same ones that cannot play defense.

So Butler being out obviously hurts. So does Kerr.

But Robinson and Brea just aren't good on defense and never will be.
I never thought I’d see a good player as bad on defense as Rob was last year. But wouldn’t you know, I’ve never seen opponents get so many easy shots off against a UK defense as I have this year.
 
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We can’t guard a statue from getting to the rim so go zone?? That just gives up more open 3s but until these guys decide to pick up the intensity and show some grit along with some basketball iq then we will struggle to win 1-2 more games. Pope knows you have to defend to cut down nets and win in the SEC, doesn’t matter if you score 90 and give up 91 but defense doesn’t take talent, it does help but you can be a good defender and not a 5 star. I didn’t see elite of elite talent or huge portal gets on ole miss so why can’t we compete like that on defense??? 2nd half was better but there’s 2 halves in a game and crawling back from 27 is extremely unlikely in this SEC.
Good points but guys we have to stop with the notion that a zone defense gives up more threes than man. It’s just not true and somebody can probably find metrics that back this up.

Just go back and chart our games…where do all the 3s come from? Man Defense. Same when Cal was here.

It’s MUCH easier for a good attacking offense to move the defense out of position by dribble penetration ball rotation and kick outs for open looks from 3 than against a zone that leaves defenders in position on the perimeter without chasing
 
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I never thought I’d see a good player as bad on defense as Rob was last year. But wouldn’t you know, I’ve never seen opponents get so many easy shots off against a UK defense as I have this year.

It's crazy how the players have changed but the two teams are so similar.

Both shot the ball well on offense. Both took good care of the ball (at least when we were healthy this year)

Neither team could force turnovers on defense. Neither team could stop anyone on defense.
 
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Good points but guys we have to stop with the notion that a zone defense gives up more threes than man. It’s just not true and somebody can probably find metrics that back this up.

Just go back and chart our games…where do all the 3s come from? Man Defense. Same when Cal was here.

It’s MUCH easier for a good attacking offense to move the defense out of position by dribble penetration ball rotation and kick outs for open looks from 3 than against a zone that leaves defenders in position on the perimeter without chasing
I do think this team needs to play more zone. As long as they practice the zone so everyone knows where they are supposed to be. Two times tonight we left the left corner wide open and no defender around and both times we gave up easy points. That cannot happen.
 
Well you need a point guard. That’s like taking out a quarterback for offense and a middle linebacker for. And we just need better overall players in general. We have about 5-6 good, not great ones. But 1-2 of those are out. We don’t have depth. It kills is. These white players have zero athleticism
 
Two part fix: 1) score more points; and 2) don't let the other team score as many points.

Do those two things and we should win more games. YWIA.
 
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