Matchup zone would have worked
- Thread starter HalHR2500
- Start date
Not so much intelligent, its just a defense that you have to practice because of how nuanced it is
Yes and not leaving Lee and Gravchad open to shot 100s 3 by running under screens or both the the big and guard rolling with the big of FL.
Pope wasted 1/2 of the season trying to teach this team his offensive system that he negligent a lot of other aspects of the coaching job, developing players, teaching zone, teaching press, inbounds, defense, rebounding,,,etc…
Pope wasted 1/2 of the season trying to teach this team his offensive system that he negligent a lot of other aspects of the coaching job, developing players, teaching zone, teaching press, inbounds, defense, rebounding,,,etc…
The team fought today. They did too many mistakes. At times they look lost On what we were doing.. it‘s frustrating to see players pointing to each other where to go….by mid February we should know what we are doing both in offense and defense….
even the stupid time out scheme that pope is running where he asks the ball handler to bring the ball in front of him to call time out…. How many time can you do that until opposing team scout you and turns you over like Fland did today? Then you take JJ out?! That’s on you Pope… just let The ball handler to cross half court and call time out! stop being cute… this is not nba…
even the stupid time out scheme that pope is running where he asks the ball handler to bring the ball in front of him to call time out…. How many time can you do that until opposing team scout you and turns you over like Fland did today? Then you take JJ out?! That’s on you Pope… just let The ball handler to cross half court and call time out! stop being cute… this is not nba…
Well, Florida is ranked 349th in 3 point shooting %
Nothing was going to work when they could hold, hack, double dribble, etc. and we couldn’t even play soft defense. Seriously. It wasn’t going to happen.
Lee and Klavzar were 9-18, rest of the team 1-10. It was easy to see we needed to go zone about 6 minutes into the game and commit to that a good portion of the game. We had so many breakdowns on defense today and not complicated breakdowns. Just running away from Lee or Klavzar or just letting them hang out unguarded. Pope has to accept accountability for that nonsense.
They made a bunch of 3’s that they never do. Same old story, different venue.
Like you actually know what Pope does in practice and is trying to teach.
Still doesn't mean "you" have a clue what Pope does or says in practice, just making an inference.
if you want to make that point okay ….but then you cannot make either that he is because we are all inferring being from outside.
and let’s say like you want to believe that he has not wasted half of season figuring out what type of team he has put together, and let’s say that he is teaching all the right things to players , the final product on display says that the players are not performing . What does it say about the Coach ? or about his evaluation of talent when he put the team together?
remember this supposed to be a Ferrari …. Not my words …. Not inferring …
the team is fighting. I am grateful that we are not blown out of the gym like in other games, some players like Chandler , Moreno are developing nicely , others like JJ , Jela could be developed next year, KW and Hawthorne could continue to be developed if healthy so not everything is bad for next year.
Pope needs to hire a GM so he can get help with recruiting, talent evaluation, raising funds and managing of NIL,etc….
if he hires one now that can hit the job running he might have a chance to have a successful portal transfer campaign. The HS recruitment takes longer to be successful….if he doesn’t hire one or hires a GM like him that will learn on the job , next year will be the same like this one…
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To play a matchup zone well, you've got to be communicating and disciplined on defense. We aren't great at either of those things consistently. How many times do we see our guards get bumped and pinned off because nobody called out that a screen was coming? Even if you execute, a zone only works if the opposing team isn't going to hit longer shots at a high rate. Florida was hitting those way above their average.
If a team as good as Florida is allowed to walk, go over the back, and camp out in the lane with no violations or fouls being called for long periods. There's a cumulative effect of all the BS that is difficult to overcome. This squad doesn't have a huge margin for errors in their play to begin with, due to the roster construction. We are going to be lucky to get to the NCAA tourney and be seeded well enough to win a few tough games.
If a team as good as Florida is allowed to walk, go over the back, and camp out in the lane with no violations or fouls being called for long periods. There's a cumulative effect of all the BS that is difficult to overcome. This squad doesn't have a huge margin for errors in their play to begin with, due to the roster construction. We are going to be lucky to get to the NCAA tourney and be seeded well enough to win a few tough games.
I absolutely hate threads like this. The "we should play zone" crew always forgets that you have to work a ton on a zone defense for it to actually be good. A matchup zone even more so. It's not as simple as just switching to a zone midway through a game.
With the exception of some stupid mistakes we made giving Klavzar space, that's kind of exactly what we did. We let Fland shoot any outside shot he wanted and he airballed most of them. Lee is a 25% 3 point shooter and we let him shoot and he just luckily started 4/4 from 3 and not one of those shots even touched rim.
In an addition to “an intelligent team” and lots of practice, successfully utilizing a matchup zone at the Power 4 level requires a collection of dudes who are committed to one another to shut down the other team. I don’t see that on this UK roster…
Nazr Mohammed was 9-16 from the free throw line in the 1997 NCAA Finals against Arizona. And people thought UK lost because Derek Anderson didn't play.
I think Pope did what he had to do to give us the best chance to win. Can’t expect them to hit 3s like that. Lee and Klavzar beat us. We held our own beneath the basket. If we played again today, Pope would adjust. It’ll be different in Lexington. We’ll be going over screens on those 2 instead of being loose and going under. I would’ve gone under some also with how they normally shoot. Tighten up the possibility that maybe they actually CAN be better shooters occasionally and it’s a different game. Also, Dioubate played really tough for us yesterday and will again in Lexington when we meet again. Hadn’t heard him get much credit.
Again it seems the point for you is you have an axe to grind when it comes to Pope, my point is we don't know what is going on, now I can agree on the GM, because I don't think a head coach of a major college bball team can handle, the overall recruiting, the coaching and then have to worry about all this money and their agents and on and on.