What must we improve on, to reach the Final Four & win the national championship?

[NociHTTP]

Defense for sure. In particular guarding the three. We just lay back in fear of being burned on the drive.

Rebounding. The one thing I've gotten most agitated about in these last few games is our standing around waiting for the ball to just land in our hands rather than going after it or watching others go after it.

And free throws. There is no reason our best shooters should be missing free throws. We need to get to a consistent team 80%. These are easy to practice - just go shoot 100-200 per day in the gym.

That staying back on 3's is because we don't have a rim protector or anyone willing to take enough contact to be one. Both Garrison and Williams look like ticket-checkers at a cinema.

And I'm really surprised at the lack of effort on loose balls or GRABBING the damn thing instead of patting it. I'd like to hear Pope talk about that.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

Butler and Williams has to improve a little on FT shooting but how we play defense has to be the main point. Watch College basketball other than us? The best teams are super aggressive defensively daring refs to call fouls. The only one that doesnt really do this is Alabama and that will be their undoing in the tournament too.
You have to play bully ball and if refs are calling a lot of fouls early in the half, adjust then bully ball to start the 2nd half , if they are again calling a bunch of fouls, adjust.

 

[LmdCat]

They need to stop sleepwalking on defense. Williams needs to stop acting like he is a go-to offensive player at critical times.

 

[North Carolina Blue Wildcat]

Our help defense is spot on, then it’s not. They do a great job of doubling the drive and then immediately jump off the double to cover their man instead of forcing the offensive player to kick the ball out. Same for the post, they jump it and then close out on their man.. They have to control paint touches and not allow the easy scores.

 

[cathouse]

I'm thinking 1st, 2nd & 3rd on the list has got to be defense. Louisville had so many open 3 pointers yesterday it was like they were taking target practice. Plus other times a smaller UofL player would take it to the basket & score over 7'0" Amari Williams because Williams had his hands down at his side. And also there were several times that a UofL player would back our defender under the basket & our defender would get no help from a teammate to double down on the UofL player. There was one time that a UofL player backed our player under the basket & Andrew Carr stood there not 5 feet away and didn't offer to double team, which resulted in an easy basket for UofL.

#1. Talent
2. Defense
3. FT shooting
4. Effort
6. Rebounding

We currently have 1 FF level talent player on this team based on what we have seen thus far.

 

[mebeblue2]

I'm thinking 1st, 2nd & 3rd on the list has got to be defense. Louisville had so many open 3 pointers yesterday it was like they were taking target practice. Plus other times a smaller UofL player would take it to the basket & score over 7'0" Amari Williams because Williams had his hands down at his side. And also there were several times that a UofL player would back our defender under the basket & our defender would get no help from a teammate to double down on the UofL player. There was one time that a UofL player backed our player under the basket & Andrew Carr stood there not 5 feet away and didn't offer to double team, which resulted in an easy basket for UofL.

i agree
defense has to get much better
ul is not a good 3 point shooting team, but most players can hit wide open shots like we gave them

 

[bippus]

FT shooting

Absolutely, FT win championships.

 

[ala_kat2]

Is it possible that some of these 4,5 year players can’t progress very much more? Don’t get me wrong, I love their experience but maybe some have simply hit their ceiling?

Good point, and I might add “or have hit their ‘I don’t want to’ “. That might be a hard thing for a coach to overcome with 4th and 5th year players already getting paid. I love this team, though, they are what they are.

 

[mcwildcats04]

As others have said, we need Williams to step up and be a lot more consistent. He looks great in stretches and then disappears. Big fella just needs to be more consistent. I would also like to see another guy outside of our core step up. Almonor has regressed lately. It seemed to start with the Clemson game where he just kept getting outworked for rebounds and now he's not making shots either. Like to see him or at least one other guy outside our core step up (Chandler?).

 

[yoshukai]

Not necessarily saying it’s something we should improve on but, is anyone else surprised by the lack of three point attempts by Carr so far? He’s averaging a little over 1 attempt per game. Last year he averaged 3.4 attempts per game for Wake Forest.

 

[mcwildcats04]

Not necessarily saying it’s something we should improve on but, is anyone else surprised by the lack of three point attempts by Carr so far? He’s averaging a little over 1 attempt per game. Last year he averaged 3.4 attempts per game for Wake Forest.

Yes, would like to see Carr take more 3s for sure. He's had some opportunities and passed on them.

 

[davekersey]

Everything

 

[AshWilliams]

And free throws. There is no reason our best shooters should be missing free throws. We need to get to a consistent team 80%. These are easy to practice - just go shoot 100-200 per day in the gym.

Not exactly. They need to practice in-game situations. Namely, being out of breath and heart pounding, and having to calm down and relax and control breathing before shooting a free throw. Practicing free throws in a static environment does not simulate a game situation and they will find that their percentage falls during a game compared to practice.

 

[Mash 2.4]

Need to somehow develop the 3 young kids to the point that inserting them into the game is not a huge downgrade. In this same vein, have to get Almonor back to being a positive contributor. We’re essentially 7 deep right now. Gonna have tired legs by the end of the SEC season if we have to continue that.

 

[megablue]

Not necessarily saying it’s something we should improve on but, is anyone else surprised by the lack of three point attempts by Carr so far? He’s averaging a little over 1 attempt per game. Last year he averaged 3.4 attempts per game for Wake Forest.

I agree … he gets wide open looks and ignores them. He needs to shoot it !!

 

[megablue]

Not exactly. They need to practice in-game situations. Namely, being out of breath and heart pounding, and having to calm down and relax and control breathing before shooting a free throw. Practicing free throws in a static environment does not simulate a game situation and they will find that their percentage falls during a game compared to practice.

Same for shooting threes … have managers there to contest every shot in those drills

 

[yoshukai]

I agree … he gets wide open looks and ignores them. He needs to shoot it !!

I don’t get it . We KNOW CMP encourages them to shoot threes .

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I agree … he gets wide open looks and ignores them. He needs to shoot it !!

He’s definitely passing them up. I would guess he has the green light to shoot them.

Seems to have lost confidence.

 

[jwphelps]

I'm thinking 1st, 2nd & 3rd on the list has got to be defense. Louisville had so many open 3 pointers yesterday it was like they were taking target practice. Plus other times a smaller UofL player would take it to the basket & score over 7'0" Amari Williams because Williams had his hands down at his side. And also there were several times that a UofL player would back our defender under the basket & our defender would get no help from a teammate to double down on the UofL player. There was one time that a UofL player backed our player under the basket & Andrew Carr stood there not 5 feet away and didn't offer to double team, which resulted in an easy basket for UofL.

Consistency, At times we move the ball great and at times we take shot I would not have advised. Plus against UofL we did not defend the 3 very well.

 

[know1]

I agree … he gets wide open looks and ignores them. He needs to shoot it !!

How many wide open looks did he pass up yesterday? I don't recall many, if at all.

 

[chevyman 50]

I am not going to complain our team is 10 and 1 a mark of a good team you do what you do to win and Ky been doing that, it would be good if they would improve their FTs and rebounding but the Ville hit alot of 3's with a hand in their face.

 

[truckbrandon]

Seems like you guys have it covered.

Our offense is elite, so we're good there, but we aren't going anywhere with this defense the way it is now.

There is no reason we can't guard the 3 better than what we are seeing. We are giving shooters way to much space by guarding below the 3 point line and teams are getting WIDE OPEN looks off simple actions.

Also, what is Amari's deal? Is he just lazy, or is he acting out? What's this crap where he won't put his hands up, rotate over to take away dimple layups by guards, or go after rebounds?

If Pope can fix those issues, this team has a shot to do big things. This roster is good enough, especially when compared to some of the teams that have made the FF recently. I can assure you, SDSU, NC State and FAU weren't as talented as this team is.

Rebounds and free throws need work too.

We are giving shooters too much cushion, because, if our guards get beat, the bigs put up zero resistance. Fix the bigs first, then the guards can push out

 

[yoshukai]

How many wide open looks did he pass up yesterday? I don't recall many, if at all.

To me it seems like he’s not ready to shoot when he gets it’s . That 1 second allows the defense to close out on him .