Protecting the ball and fewer turnovers

[Darrell M1234]

Up front I don't know anything about our current roster. For those of you who seem to be better acquainted with the new players, how do you think they would compare to last years team in overall ball handling? Do you expect fewer or more turnovers from this roster?

 

[BleedBlue13]

Would expect way fewer with not having the ball in freshmen hands most of the time and also running an actual offense with ball movement and less one on one. Not to say experienced players don’t make mistakes but they will make fewer. Just never felt like our offense had a plan B if plan A wasn’t working..

 

[The_Answer1313]

Do you guys realize that UK only turned it over last season on 14.3% of their possessions? 26th in the nation.

We took really really good care of the ball last season. That's why we had a top 10 offense. Well that and the shootng.

 

[fatguy87]

We will probably turn it over more next season than last season. Last seasons team was pretty darn good at taking care of the basketball. They ranked in the top 30 nationally. Also, Pope's teams at BYU tend to be pretty average at turnover rate. Given how good last year's team was at ball handling and the turnover rate tendencies of Pope coached teams, I expect next year's team to be more turnover prone.

 

[Joe Plmmer]

Do you guys realize that UK only turned it over last season on 14.3% of their possessions? 26th in the nation.

We took really really good care of the ball last season. That's why we had a top 10 offense. Well that and the shootng.

Stop using facts.

 

[Phil_The_Music]

Would expect way fewer with not having the ball in freshmen hands most of the time and also running an actual offense with ball movement and less one on one. Not to say experienced players don’t make mistakes but they will make fewer. Just never felt like our offense had a plan B if plan A wasn’t working..

We had a plan A?

 

[MasonCoBlue]

First year playing together…more. It should improve as the year goes on though.

 

[The_Answer1313]

The offense definitely was not the problem last year....

 

[Skyguyb27]

Do you guys realize that UK only turned it over last season on 14.3% of their possessions? 26th in the nation.

We took really really good care of the ball last season. That's why we had a top 10 offense. Well that and the shootng.

Yeah the offense last year looked good until Cal “tweaked it”. It slowed down some as the year went along. The problem with good offensive power is that it becomes useless if you don’t slow down the other team from scoring more and while it isn’t a bash at Cal but last year’s game planning and defensive were embarrassing considering the athletes and talent UK had.

 

[The_Answer1313]

This is also a false narrative.

If I filter from February onward on Bartovik we had the 3rd best offense in the nation.

During SEC play (so second half of the season) we scored 1.18 points per poss. Tied for first in the SEC with Alabama.

AT NO POINT that season did we have a bad offense.

 

[The_Answer1313]

For the season our average offensive possession was 15.6 seconds. This was fast. 10th in the nation fast.

During conference play (so second half of the season) our average possession was 16 seconds.

AT NO POINT did we ever "slow the offense down".

Now the other team has the ball half the time. What they do on offense is dependent on them. It's true teams later on tried to slow it down on us......but that wasn't on our offense.

 

[BlueSince92]

Would expect way fewer with not having the ball in freshmen hands most of the time and also running an actual offense with ball movement and less one on one. Not to say experienced players don’t make mistakes but they will make fewer. Just never felt like our offense had a plan B if plan A wasn’t working..

Wait.....did our offense have a plan A?

 

[chroix]

Last year was an anomaly for Cal’s teams regarding turnovers. I’d expect more than last year but fewer than most of his other teams.

 

[JonathanW]

Up front I don't know anything about our current roster. For those of you who seem to be better acquainted with the new players, how do you think they would compare to last years team in overall ball handling? Do you expect fewer or more turnovers from this roster?

More turnovers that last year, simply because last year’s team was one if the nation’s best at not having TOs, and maybe the best UK team at that since that stat has been recorded.

 

[JonathanW]

First year playing together…more. It should improve as the year goes on though.

While “more” is probably the right answer, it’s not because 1st year playing together. The portal has made that an issue with Every team. AND last year, what players had played together at UK? Only Reeves, Theiro and Onyenso.

 

[MasonCoBlue]

More turnovers that last year, simply because last year’s team was one if the nation’s best at not having TOs, and maybe the best UK team at that since that stat has been recorded.

This is very true!

 

[The_Answer1313]

Another thing regarding tempo.....

The other team has the ball the same amount of possessions as you do. The only way you could ever "speed a team up" is by forcing turnovers on defense. This has never been a priority under Cal. As such if you are playing a Virginia and they want to hold the ball until 1 second on the shot clock, they will. Those games you aren't getting to 100. You aren't getting to 90. Probably not 80 either. It would take a massive offensive performance to do so.

So say last season, if we played a game and only scored 70 when our average was way higher. It doesn't necessarily mean we took longer on offense than say in a game where we scored 90. It's just possible we played a team that played at a slower tempo. The game tempo is dictated by BOTH teams, not just one.

 

[jwphelps]

Up front I don't know anything about our current roster. For those of you who seem to be better acquainted with the new players, how do you think they would compare to last years team in overall ball handling? Do you expect fewer or more turnovers from this roster?

For one they will be running a offense, so the players will have a better idea as to where the other players are and where they are going.