Our offensive identity

[kyjeff1]

I'm not sure what this team was trying to do last night, but that wasn't the offense I expected to see with this team.
Where were the back cuts or the motion sets that create wide open layups, or threes?
Last night's offense looked like pickup ball, where the goal was to just jack up threes. Any time our guys drove the ball, it was without a plan, or to try to score through 3 guys.
This offense won't work. It’s something a mid major runs against bigger teams.
My hope, is that Pope was playing possum before Tuesday night's game. I say that, because our guys didn't run the things Pope is known for offensively.
Or, maybe they just haven't worked much on offense. Not sure, but hopefully we see a better structure to the offense from here on out.

 

[RunninRichie]

It's the same offense we "ran" last year. I really want to know where the offense from year one is at.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

That’s exactly what I saw. It looked like a 1-4 spread if there was a plan at all.

It looked like Cal’s take your man off the dribble and the other crash the boards except without the board crashing.

 

[SECualHealing]

Saving the good offense for later

 

[HolySmokes]

It's the same offense we "ran" last year. I really want to know where the offense from year one is at.

Year one had a really good point guard that led his mid major team to a final four or even maybe the national championship game. People really under estimate that first team. We had a damn good squad that year when healthy. Those fifth year seniors all knew how to play the game without Pope. They really hid him that year.

 

[gbl97]

We should be doing exactly what James Madison does on offense. They are hard to guard.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Year one had a really good point guard that led his mid major team to a final four or even maybe the national championship game. People really under estimate that first team. We had a damn good squad that year when healthy. Those fifth year seniors all knew how to play the game without Pope. They really hid him that year.

And that team quit too. But that team was far better than they were coached. They bailed pope Pope out many times. Took a heroic game by butler to beat UL at home when we were 20 points better than them.

There were many red flags that 1st season. Masked by blind optimism because it was new after Cal ball had gotten stale. That first team could have been so much better with coaching.

 

[RedwoodHigh]

Tuesday night against Kansas is the game to judge this years team.
We are undefeated & have a team that really acts as if they like each other.
By far the best bench in Pope’s three years at Rupp.

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

And that team quit too. But that team was far better than they were coached. They bailed pope Pope out many times. Took a heroic game by butler to beat UL at home when we were 20 points better than them.

There were many red flags that 1st season. Masked by blind optimism because it was new after Cal ball had gotten stale. That first team could have been so much better with coaching.

Look moron. We know you’re the biggest idiot on this board. You don’t have to prove it on a daily basis.

UKBBNever is not a UK fan. I know that term gets thrown around a lot but you can tell these POS by the fact that UK is Always lucky when they win. Like that one Duke fan that lied about Flagg and Kneupel missing big minutes in the second half of that game UK won when they played the entire second half. Lol

 

[Chadrock]

Saving the good offense for later

Yes, what was thinking too. Pope doesn’t want to show too much this early.

 

[bigblueinsanity (the real)]

It's the same offense we "ran" last year. I really want to know where the offense from year one is at.

Imo pope heard from elite targets (especially pgs) they don't like the zoom offense because it doesn't develop or showcase nba abilities.

So now he doesn't take advantage of the one halfway decent asset he brings to the table and still doesn't get elite guys.

 

[UKCowboys]

I'm not sure what this team was trying to do last night, but that wasn't the offense I expected to see with this team.
Where were the back cuts or the motion sets that create wide open layups, or threes?
Last night's offense looked like pickup ball, where the goal was to just jack up threes. Any time our guys drove the ball, it was without a plan, or to try to score through 3 guys.
This offense won't work. It’s something a mid major runs against bigger teams.
My hope, is that Pope was playing possum before Tuesday night's game. I say that, because our guys didn't run the things Pope is known for offensively.
Or, maybe they just haven't worked much on offense. Not sure, but hopefully we see a better structure to the offense from here on out.

I think that is very possible. Pope knows that Kansas game could build some enthusiasm

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

pope's offense runs through the center position. year 1 he had amari williams who was kind of freak. he drove us crazy on defense and not rebounding but made all the right plays at the top of the key and executed them at a high level.

year two he had garrison and moreno. year three he has moreno and frank. and they just arent good enough.

first 5 half court possessions last night:

1. diallo drives to the wing, the bigs start at the elbow and cross underneath for a moreno post up - good action to get moreno on the block. he blows past his man, but misses the layup.
2. moreno is at the top of the key, diallo cuts back door. its not really there, moreno throws it out of bounds
3. moreno sets a high ball screen for milan at the 3 point line. it doesnt really get milan open, he shoots a contested three and misses.
4. horn set, its kind of clunky with milan, moreno, and wilkens all bunched up at the top of the key, milan tosses it to moreno who then hands it off to wilkens he drills a 3 from the top
5. another horn set with moreno and ndiaye. wilkens up top with the ball. wilkens goes to ndiay's side first, then he dives insides. wilkins come back to moreno. he sets a screen but it doesnt do anything the defender is still connected to wilkens in good position and there is no roll option. now the play clock is under 10 and jmy commits a silly foul with milan on the ball.

moreno does not set very good screens, neither does anyone else. no one really cuts hard. guys in the action on these horn sets look like they are going threw a walk through....the defenders know they are no threat to do anything, its just pointless action.

 

[RunninRichie]

Year one had a really good point guard that led his mid major team to a final four or even maybe the national championship game. People really under estimate that first team. We had a damn good squad that year when healthy. Those fifth year seniors all knew how to play the game without Pope. They really hid him that year.

Oh for sure, that was a solid team and Pope somehow landed most of his 1st targets. Poor recruiting has really undermined the guy here.

And IMO, that 1st team goes to the elite 8 if Pope doesn't pick Garrison over Great Osobor.

 

[RunninRichie]

Imo pope heard from elite targets (especially pgs) they don't like the zoom offense because it doesn't develop or showcase nba abilities.

So now he doesn't take advantage of the one halfway decent asset he brings to the table and still doesn't get elite guys.

Yeah, that tracks. But, his biggest selling point was his offensive system. Seems we hired a mid-major system coach who can't recruit, thanks, Mitch.

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

It's the same offense we "ran" last year. I really want to know where the offense from year one is at.

year 1:

• 103-66 vs wright statte
• 100-72 vs bucknell
• 77-72 vs duke
• 97-66 vs lipscomb
• 108-59 vs jackson st
• 87-67 vs western kentucky
• 105-76 vs georgia st
• 70-66 vs clemson (L)
• 90-89 vs gonzaga
• 78-67 vs colgate
• 93-85 vs ul
• 85-65 vs osu (L)
• 88-54 vs brown

7 times scoring 90+ in 13 games and probably would have been 1 or 2 more since guys started to get banged up in the later half of the non conference. fast forward to now we struggle with the likes of manhattan and james madison.

 

[RunninRichie]

year 1:

• 103-66 vs wright statte
• 100-72 vs bucknell
• 77-72 vs duke
• 97-66 vs lipscomb
• 108-59 vs jackson st
• 87-67 vs western kentucky
• 105-76 vs georgia st
• 70-66 vs clemson (L)
• 90-89 vs gonzaga
• 78-67 vs colgate
• 93-85 vs ul
• 85-65 vs osu (L)
• 88-54 vs brown

7 times scoring 90+ in 13 games and probably would have been 1 or 2 more since guys started to get banged up in the later half of the non conference. fast forward to now we struggle with the likes of manhattan and james madison.

Yeah, that first season was fun because the offense as fun. Man, that Florida game was one of the best UK games I've seen in years. What the hell happened? IMO, poor recruiting.

 

[Anon629549]

Saving the good offense for later

This. You think an offensive genius like Pope is going to show anything for a quality opponent. He's playing chess, people. I seen a team purposely playing with one arm tied behind its back keeping things deliberately vanilla. Pope knows what he's doing

Tuesday night against Kansas is the game to judge this years team.
We are undefeated & have a team that really acts as if they like each other.
By far the best bench in Pope’s three years at Rupp.

Everybody keeps talking about "liking each other." That's highly overrated.

 

[UKCowboys]

Yeah, that first season was fun because the offense as fun. Man, that Florida game was one of the best UK games I've seen in years. What the hell happened? IMO, poor recruiting.

Last years team was poorly constructed and injuries were impossible to overcome as a result. Then Pope made a mistake by staying all in on Stokes instead of taking a bird in hand in Holt. The one positive from that is that it looks like Pope at least is learning from his mistakes

 

[megablue]

Tuesday night against Kansas is the game to judge this years team.
We are undefeated & have a team that really acts as if they like each other.
By far the best bench in Pope’s three years at Rupp.

So far, I've not seen that much separation between the first five and the second group. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one ... ????

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

Last years team was poorly constructed and injuries were impossible to overcome as a result. Then Pope made a mistake by staying all in on Stokes instead of taking a bird in hand in Holt. The one positive from that is that it looks like Pope at least is learning from his mistakes

year 2 still did the following:

• 107-59 vs valpo
• 99-53 vs eastern illinois
• 104-54 vs tenn tech
• 103-67 vs ncc
• 99-85 vs bellarmine

i just dont see the offensive juice with this years squad. and if last night is any indication of our defensive capability, it will be a long year

 

[UKCowboys]

year 2 still did the following:

• 107-59 vs valpo
• 99-53 vs eastern illinois
• 104-54 vs tenn tech
• 103-67 vs ncc
• 99-85 vs bellarmine

i just dont see the offensive juice with this years squad. and if last night is any indication of our defensive capability, it will be a long year

I think its a different team, but a better one now that I have seen both. I think we are closer to year one.

DA - Zoom
Chandler - Wilkins
OO - Momcilovic
Jelly - N'Diaye
Frosh Moreno - Soph Moreno
Jasper - M. Williams
Kam - Kam
Mo D - McBride
Garrison - Big Frank

I think this years squad is definitely more talented and has more quality depth and better floor balance than last year. I think Lamont Butler and Amari Williams swing year one the edge

 

[Anon1739778738]

And that team quit too. But that team was far better than they were coached. They bailed pope Pope out many times. Took a heroic game by butler to beat UL at home when we were 20 points better than them.

There were many red flags that 1st season. Masked by blind optimism because it was new after Cal ball had gotten stale. That first team could have been so much better with coaching.

The first team never quit the second team quit in Nashville against Gonzaga and was booed rightfully so

 

[Ednunn]

I like our guards.

 

[Cats_2010]

Pope doesn’t want to give anything away before conference play.

 

[UKCowboys]

I will see, Mitchell is EXACTLY what this team needs. Would have been a monster addition

 

[PooPooPeePeePoo]

Chucking 3s, F’n P’s and Sucking D’s

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

Pope doesn’t want to give anything away before conference play.

but other coaches do.......its so embarrassing when fans say stuff like this

 

[kyjeff1]

That’s exactly what I saw. It looked like a 1-4 spread if there was a plan at all.

It looked like Cal’s take your man off the dribble and the other crash the boards except without the board crashing.

I agree, I didn't like what I saw at all and I hope it was just Pope not showing his hand before the ku game.

 

[kyjeff1]

We should be doing exactly what James Madison does on offense. They are hard to guard.

JMU runs some really good stuff, they got open looks every time down the floor from effective penetration. They made our defense look lost at times.

 

[kyjeff1]

Tuesday night against Kansas is the game to judge this years team.
We are undefeated & have a team that really acts as if they like each other.
By far the best bench in Pope’s three years at Rupp.

Agreed. If we run that same offense, we're getting beat.

Of course, it would help if guys like Milan hit those open threes.

But also, our rebounding wasn’t good. The stats say we outrebounded them, but it didn't look like it. Seemed like JMU got every ball.

 

[kyjeff1]

Imo pope heard from elite targets (especially pgs) they don't like the zoom offense because it doesn't develop or showcase nba abilities.

So now he doesn't take advantage of the one halfway decent asset he brings to the table and still doesn't get elite guys.

I didn’t see any zoom offense last night, it looked like it was a bunch of individuals playing pick up.

 

[Kunt]

I didn’t see any zoom offense last night, it looked like it was a bunch of individuals playing pick up.

What are you talking about? Zoom gave us plenty of offense last night.

 

[kyjeff1]

pope's offense runs through the center position. year 1 he had amari williams who was kind of freak. he drove us crazy on defense and not rebounding but made all the right plays at the top of the key and executed them at a high level.

year two he had garrison and moreno. year three he has moreno and frank. and they just arent good enough.

first 5 half court possessions last night:

1. diallo drives to the wing, the bigs start at the elbow and cross underneath for a moreno post up - good action to get moreno on the block. he blows past his man, but misses the layup.
2. moreno is at the top of the key, diallo cuts back door. its not really there, moreno throws it out of bounds
3. moreno sets a high ball screen for milan at the 3 point line. it doesnt really get milan open, he shoots a contested three and misses.
4. horn set, its kind of clunky with milan, moreno, and wilkens all bunched up at the top of the key, milan tosses it to moreno who then hands it off to wilkens he drills a 3 from the top
5. another horn set with moreno and ndiaye. wilkens up top with the ball. wilkens goes to ndiay's side first, then he dives insides. wilkins come back to moreno. he sets a screen but it doesnt do anything the defender is still connected to wilkens in good position and there is no roll option. now the play clock is under 10 and jmy commits a silly foul with milan on the ball.

moreno does not set very good screens, neither does anyone else. no one really cuts hard. guys in the action on these horn sets look like they are going threw a walk through....the defenders know they are no threat to do anything, its just pointless action.

Amari was the perfect center for that offense, he was strong with the ball and hit cutters really well, we don't have a guy on this team that can do what Amari did.

He needs to use our guards to drive and find open shooters/drivers/bigs. That didn't happen at all last night. It was weird.

 

[kyjeff1]

This. You think an offensive genius like Pope is going to show anything for a quality opponent. He's playing chess, people. I seen a team purposely playing with one arm tied behind its back keeping things deliberately vanilla. Pope knows what he's doing

Everybody keeps talking about "liking each other." That's highly overrated.

I hope you're right about Pope playing possum against JMU, but eventually he has to put his cards on the table. It needs to happen Tuesday night. It’s not going to end well if the same offensive gameplan shows up against ku.

 

[chattanooga_wildcat]

year 1:

• 103-66 vs wright statte
• 100-72 vs bucknell
• 77-72 vs duke
• 97-66 vs lipscomb
• 108-59 vs jackson st
• 87-67 vs western kentucky
• 105-76 vs georgia st
• 70-66 vs clemson (L)
• 90-89 vs gonzaga
• 78-67 vs colgate
• 93-85 vs ul
• 85-65 vs osu (L)
• 88-54 vs brown

7 times scoring 90+ in 13 games and probably would have been 1 or 2 more since guys started to get banged up in the later half of the non conference. fast forward to now we struggle with the likes of manhattan and james madison.

Year 1 was Pope's best roster. Which is ironic because most people, including Matt Jones and most posters on here, loudly proclaimed that it would be the weakest roster Pope would have here. There was a topic on here earlier today that for some dumb reason got deleted by super sensitive mods that pointed this out.

It has gotten progressively worse. To me, this year's roster is the weakest Pope has had. Give me last year's backcourt with Oweh alone over our group this year. And say what you want about MoD and BG, but I'd take those dudes over N'Diaye, McBride, and whoever else. Milan is good but limited in a lot of ways.

Arrow is definitely pointing down on the program.

 

[kyjeff1]

I think its a different team, but a better one now that I have seen both. I think we are closer to year one.

DA - Zoom
Chandler - Wilkins
OO - Momcilovic
Jelly - N'Diaye
Frosh Moreno - Soph Moreno
Jasper - M. Williams
Kam - Kam
Mo D - McBride
Garrison - Big Frank

I think this years squad is definitely more talented and has more quality depth and better floor balance than last year. I think Lamont Butler and Amari Williams swing year one the edge

I'm really pulling for Pope to prove everyone wrong, but he didn't use our weapons properly at all last night. That was some ugly offense.

Then, deep into the 2nd half, we were in a dogfight and we had guys taking turnaround fadeaway jumpers with 20 seconds on the shot clock, like they didn't care. That's some Calipari stuff there.

 

[kyjeff1]

What are you talking about? Zoom gave us plenty of offense last night.

Interesting name you got there.

Yes, Zoom did play fairly well.

 

[Ash Williams]

Mason is this year's equivalent of IQ. We need to run tons of plays to get him into the paint for floaters and short easy jumpers. Threes too.

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

Year 1 was Pope's best roster. Which is ironic because most people, including Matt Jones and most posters on here, loudly proclaimed that it would be the weakest roster Pope would have here. There was a topic on here earlier today that for some dumb reason got deleted by super sensitive mods that pointed this out.

It has gotten progressively worse. To me, this year's roster is the weakest Pope has had. Give me last year's backcourt with Oweh alone over our group this year. And say what you want about MoD and BG, but I'd take those dudes over N'Diaye, McBride, and whoever else. Milan is good but limited in a lot of ways.

Arrow is definitely pointing down on the program.

looks that way

butler - elite defender and big time winner
robinson - few years in pope's system
brea - elite elite shooter and scorer
oweh - budding star
williams - unicorn big man