Why was the defense so bad last season?

[K_TIME]

PG....Reed (Not a bad defender)
SG...Dilly (Small for a SG )
SF...Reeves (slightly slow of foot....but had plenty of length and wasn't a bad defender)
PF....THiero (plenty strong and athletic to guard PF)
C....Ugo (fine for defensive end)

Depth
DJ...(NO reason he wasn't able to guard that spot)
Edwards (Not a plus athlete....but plenty big enough to be passable for a Forward)
Mitchell (Not a plus athlete....but he would have been fine as a backup)

In the end, insisting on playing nearly equal minutes for guys like Edwards and DJ didn't help the defensive end. Also, playing Mitchell way too much (especially when he came back late in year) was another coaching decision that never helped the squad perform. FInally, the merry-go-round at Center....never allowed a player to settle in and gel. In particular Ivisic and Ugo made sense for rotation but for some reason Bradshaw was getting his empty minutes along wtih Mitchell.

Alot of bad coaching decisions.

 

[howitis]

the defense we played (or didn't play) last year was the worst i've ever seen from a basketball team at any level. our players usually gave the other teams guards 4 feet or more of space, perhaps in an effort to stay in front of them. but would still easily get burnt to the rim by having a full run toward the rim at a completely stationary player guarding them. since we are playing man to man against a team usually going 5 out it was an easy lay up. don't want a lay up? take the wide open 3 we always give you. We had to of told our players to play off like this. no way you play basketball at any lvl and not learn some kind of defensive technique. it was infuriating. Since we played no defense in man the fact that we wouldn't go zone to solve our coaches obvious incompetence was criminal.

 

[Cats192]

The NBA didn't seem to mind, drafting two of those defenders #3 and #8 in the draft.

Let's cut the BS and call it for what it was: our bad defenders never improved defensively all season. Not even a fraction.

That's ultimately coaching.

This.

If we're really saying "The players are so inept that they could never play good defense." Well, who brought in those awful, inept defensive players?! John Calipari did.

If you believe that they can become better defenders with the appropriate coaching (and the NBA CLEARLY does), then why didn't they get better under Calipari? Because he didn't coach them up.

People also love to say "He can't make shots for them." Who recruited players that can't make shots? Who failed to coach them up to where they could hit shots with the lights on?

At some point, preparedness falls on the guy who gets paid to prepare you. But some on this board STILL give Calipari a pass.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

Because Cal wouldn't play zone or press.
Pope will do both!

 

[know1]

There's no argument/point about the defense that can possibly be made without pointing straight back to Cal. He wasn't coaching college basketball. He was collecting a paycheck and NBA Draft notches on his belt.

 

[Slowwalker]

The NBA didn't seem to mind, drafting two of those defenders #3 and #8 in the draft.

Let's cut the BS and call it for what it was: our bad defenders never improved defensively all season. Not even a fraction.

That's ultimately coaching.

The NBA didn’t draft either of them for their defensive abilities.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

Did OP forget that Dillingham already told us 2 months ago? That Cal didnt have defensive game plans and the whole team had to guess what the plan was so there would be a few guys doing one defense and the others doing another on certain players etc.

 

[saxonburgcat]

PG....Reed (Not a bad defender)
SG...Dilly (Small for a SG )
SF...Reeves (slightly slow of foot....but had plenty of length and wasn't a bad defender)
PF....THiero (plenty strong and athletic to guard PF)
C....Ugo (fine for defensive end)

Depth
DJ...(NO reason he wasn't able to guard that spot)
Edwards (Not a plus athlete....but plenty big enough to be passable for a Forward)
Mitchell (Not a plus athlete....but he would have been fine as a backup)

In the end, insisting on playing nearly equal minutes for guys like Edwards and DJ didn't help the defensive end. Also, playing Mitchell way too much (especially when he came back late in year) was another coaching decision that never helped the squad perform. FInally, the merry-go-round at Center....never allowed a player to settle in and gel. In particular Ivisic and Ugo made sense for rotation but for some reason Bradshaw was getting his empty minutes along wtih Mitchell.

Alot of bad coaching decisions.

Good analysis. Having said that, it really doesn't explain why in our last game (as just one example) that they had a player go off on us from 3 who later said that he was surprised he wasn't being guarded better. What I saw with my own eyes was a team that was clueless on how to play defense.

 

[fatguy87]

The NBA didn’t draft either of them for their defensive abilities.

Reed's steal rate and high block rate for his position most definitely fueled NBA interest. They are some of the best markers for athleticism and defensive potential in the NBA.

 

[chroix]

Did OP forget that Dillingham already told us 2 months ago? That Cal didnt have defensive game plans and the whole team had to guess what the plan was so there would be a few guys doing one defense and the others doing another on certain players etc.

Yes. When was that? What the hell? You’d think an assistant would jump in with something or I don’t know what. So glad he’s gone.