What is missing for this team to win title?

[wobycat]

Aside from Cal, what does this team lack or need to win a title this year?

I have two.

1. Stick with Reed from the opening tip as point guard. Best option to get us in the best shot.

2. Onyenso lacking as a scoring presence inside.

 

[maysvilleky]

Consistency

 

[CatPhight]

A Willie Cauley Stein type player who could rebound and defend on a switch.

 

[catzfanjim]

Effort on rebounding and defense. You can have a terrible offensive night but you should play defense because it’s effort and hustle.

 

[ck-2]

A new coach and four months to fix what this coach has destroyed and failed to do.

 

[ManitouDan]

Aside from Cal, what does this team lack or need to win a title this year?

I have two.

1. Stick with Reed from the opening tip as point guard. Best option to get us in the best shot.

2. Onyenso lacking as a scoring presence inside.

Good answers . I'd add matching your opponents strengths and weaknesses , when we go small .. by all means go small. I still believe we are far better off playing a wide open fast style . You have Reed , Reeves , Dilly , Mitch and Adou you have a team that can wreck havoc .. but how many times has that 5 played together ? Far Far to little.

 

[Hjack]

I believe we all know what is missing.

 

[RMorris33]

Dominant rim protector. I don't count Ugo because he gets lost and scored on as often as he gets blocks. This team would win a championship with a Davis/Noel/WCS type shot blocker

 

[Jont0805]

Anthony Davis. Outside of that just as well follow another team if you want a title.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

A dynamic big man.

 

[weatherbird]

Aside from Cal, what does this team lack or need to win a title this year?

I have two.

1. Stick with Reed from the opening tip as point guard. Best option to get us in the best shot.

2. Onyenso lacking as a scoring presence inside.

Honestly, you need 2 things: Quit turning down open shots, and turn every game into a track meet.

That is the way to win a title with this group. Shoot 25-30 3s a game (with 20-25 of them coming from Shep, Dilly and Reeves). Pick up man to man with great intensity, and quit helping. If they beat you to the rim, then so be it, just get those points back quickly through transition.

And before anybody says anything about there are teams you can't make them play in a track meet, it simply isn't true. Cal is the one that slowed this team down, not the opponents. He doesn't want to play games in the 90s, he wants to play them in the 60s and 70s. The players admitted about 6 or 7 games into the schedule that Cal worked them on driving the ball. Stop that. Cal said just a few weeks ago that he loved that kind of game (rock fight type). I know you ruled Cal out, but Cal is the problem with this team. Thankfully, there is enough talent on this team that he could turn them loose at any point and have a chance to win the title regardless of what see they were.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

Kybassfan was right early in the year as much as it pains me to say. Our defense is our downfall

 

[FiveStarCat]

Literally just play Reed, Reeves, and Dillingham unlimited minutes and we’d put up 100 points per game. If someone outscores, so be it.

 

[North Carolina Blue Wildcat]

Pride in defense.. the attitude that I am going to lock you up and you aren’t going to score on me.

Watch Reed after he turns it over or makes a mistake. Watch his effort comparative to the rest of the game. Whole different motor trying to make up for his mistake. Imagine him and everyone playing at that level the whole game.


Calipari "I'll take talent over experience every time. "

Kentucky nearly sixty (60) 5 stars in 15 years. 1 national championship.

Uconn six (6) 5 stars in 15 years. 3 national championships. Possibly 4 coming this year.

 

[rick64]

Streamline the playing time. Unless someone gets injured or foul trouble quit playing 10-11 players a game. How can you have any kind of consistency of play rotating so many players in and out?

Your best 5 players should get the lion’s share of the minutes. When healthy Dilly/Reed/Reeves/Tre/Adou or Ugo.

 

[FiveStarCat]

Streamline the playing time. Unless someone gets injured or foul trouble quit playing 10-11 players a game. How can you have any kind of consistency of play rotating so many players in and out?

Your best 5 players should get the lion’s share of the minutes. When healthy Dilly/Reed/Reeves/Tre/Adou or Ugo.

It’s depressing how basically the entire board is in agreement on this and he just won’t change it. It feels like common sense.

 

[G-PIP]

A dynamic big man.

Do you think Hunter Dickinson would have filled that role well enough?

 

[G-PIP]

Consistency

Agree. And this comes from maturity, college experience, and the confidence that comes from putting in the development work.

 

[yoshukai]

Aside from Cal, what does this team lack or need to win a title this year?

I have two.

1. Stick with Reed from the opening tip as point guard. Best option to get us in the best shot.

2. Onyenso lacking as a scoring presence inside.

It’s not just Ugo’s lack of scoring that’s hurting us , he’s clogging up the middle making it hard for guys (especially Wagner) to drive to the hoop . There is always someone there to help. But we need rim protection. Big Z “could “ be the perfect answer IF he could defend better .

 

[yoshukai]

Dominant rim protector. I don't count Ugo because he gets lost and scored on as often as he gets blocks. This team would win a championship with a Davis/Noel/WCS type shot blocker

It’s weird, Ugo is a very good shot blocker but he is a very bad defender.

 

[yoshukai]

Kybassfan was right early in the year as much as it pains me to say. Our defense is our downfall

No , our coaching is our downfall. And you’d NEVER see him post that .

 

[Oldbluefart]

A bus ticket for our coach to get out of town.

 

[NociHTTP]

 

[NociHTTP]

It’s depressing how basically the entire board is in agreement on this and he just won’t change it. It feels like common sense.

Sometimes the board feels that way, too. It's been discussed how many times what needs to change, and then someone rolls in with "what needs to change" like it's never been discussed before.

 

[TriCountyCat]

Our bigs are so bad. Unless we go small ball we have no chance.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

It’s not just Ugo’s lack of scoring that’s hurting us , he’s clogging up the middle making it hard for guys (especially Wagner) to drive to the hoop . There is always someone there to help. But we need rim protection. Big Z “could “ be the perfect answer IF he could defend better .

The Ugo and Adou combo that offer us a defensive boost(sans LSU game) really clog the paint. The other team essentially has 2 guys they don’t have to go guard.

 

[jeffky]

Good coach who does choke

 

[catben]

STOP giving up Offensive rebounds and grab MOST of the 50/50 balls!!!!

6 of our 8 losses have come from these 2 aspects of the game. And those 2 areas SHOULD BE the easiest to fix!! Cal has been railing on it for the ENTIRE season, yet NOTHING has been done about it!!

What are all of those assistant coaches on his bench doing in practice??? Was Kenny the ONLY assistant coach capable of teaching???? Cal should be doing it if his assistants can't!!!

It is beyond ridiculous that we are LOSING games over an aspect of the game that my middle school coach could correct in 2 practices with his team!!!

SAD

 

[wobycat]

Sometimes the board feels that way, too. It's been discussed how many times what needs to change, and then someone rolls in with "what needs to change" like it's never been discussed before.

This was just banter for this team. The opinion of what would put us over the top.

 

[L.O.D.]

There's 8 players on our team that will be NBA players at least. We got talent maybe most talent in country but can't function consistently. This year should be right there with UCONN were that talented. No discipline, focus, or direction at least consistently.

 

[HenryMuto]

Anthony Davis

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Do you think Hunter Dickinson would have filled that role well enough?

Give me cousins or towns or AD.

 

[JonathanW]

Aside from Cal, what does this team lack or need to win a title this year?

I have two.

1. Stick with Reed from the opening tip as point guard. Best option to get us in the best shot.

2. Onyenso lacking as a scoring presence inside.

No and no.

Reed plays 28mpg, 33 the last dozen plus games. So what if he starts, that just means he is on the bench resting at different times.

We don't need Onyenso scoring (a lot) on the inside. All we mostly need from him is rim protection, controlling the paint on defense, and rebounding. His rebounding could be a little better. Yeah, he does need to finish better when wide open so his guy doesn't double on someone else. Offense if only half the game, defense is the other half.

The reason we lost to KU and TAMU and UT and Florida and LSU and especially both USC and Gonzaga, the other team was just more physical than we were. Theiro is the ONLY player on our team that can match that, and he missed about 1/2 of those games, and he's just 1 guy.

 

[JonathanW]

Do you think Hunter Dickinson would have filled that role well enough?

Probably. But he is so unlikeable, so much a punk, he would have taken away how enjoyable this team is to watch.

 

[crawfords corner]

Same thing it's been missing just about all season..... rebounding and defense.

 

[TheBlueMax]

Aside from Cal, what does this team lack or need to win a title this year?

I have two.

1. Stick with Reed from the opening tip as point guard. Best option to get us in the best shot.

2. Onyenso lacking as a scoring presence inside.

1. All hands on deck. Healthy and in shape. Tre & Antonio need to lead us.

2. Hard-nosed defense and rebounding for 40 minutes.

3. A killer mentality and instinct.

4. Better threat recognition.

5. Much better defensive fundamentals...no ball watching, no backdoor cuts, cut off drives to basket, don't EVER give up the baseline, get into and stay in a stance, stay between your man and basket, etc.

6. More set plays and ball movement on offense.

7. Post up Thiero on low blocks.

8. Force turnovers and create more fastbreak points.

9. Go to the foul line much more than opponents.

10. Impose defensive will from the beginning.

11. Prize the ball and every possession.

12. Prepare like there is no tomorrow...this will soon be over. Have a true sense of urgency. Eat well. Sleep well. Get in the gym for 1000's of shots and FT's.

13. Use timeouts to coach your team.

14. Use Joe B. Hall's method to motivate...you're on the bench if you don't do your job!

 

[CUJO_1970]

7 footers that aren’t soft effeminate ballwatchers.

 

[StaticKat]

Aside from Cal... I think we have everything we need to contend for a title...they just need to be coached properly.

 

[G-PIP]

Give me cousins or towns or AD.

Understand, lol. But they weren't available prior to this season.

 

[CatsnRoses]

Wagner, Bradshaw and Edwards all turning out to be busts of varying degrees is probably - along with awful coaching - what will seal this team's fate.

I think we could've been a real FF contender if 2 out of 3 panned out but getting virtually zero from all of them in mid/late February just puts way too much stress on Reeves/Dillingham/Sheppard to always play their 'A' game for us to have a chance to win.