So many basketball fans completely disregard the defensive side of the ball even though it’s 50% of the entire sport and they also typically are enamored with counting stats. I think that’s why so many people are struggling to understand the utter calamity Oscar is on defense. Ugo needs to be binge eating all summer and living in the weight room strengthening his lower body. Right now he can be backed down too easily. If he gets stronger and can root himself to a spot it wouldn’t be surprising for him to be the most impactful rim protector in the county next year. (assuming Sanogo declares and stays in the draft). Lively completely turned Duke’s season around once he got healthy with rim protection and defense. That part of the game is a big deal even if it doesn’t have the sizzle of: points, rebounds, & assists.
Kyle Tucker- "Increasingly Likely that Oscar Returns"
- Thread starter Tampa_cat54_rivals112262
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So, he is going to go and make money while the rest of the team is competing and working their butts off? That should go over well.
Working their butts off? You think Oscar doesn't work his butt off?
Those dudes are going to be playing exhibition games for fun, you have them working pick axes at a rock quarry. Give me a break.
LOL. Most people would have under It was a TN fan that wanted Oscar gone, posing as a KY fan. Guess we blew your cover.
Yes, and everyone that can, will. Such is the very destructive way that NIL and the transfer portal will affect college basketball.
A very reduced role are you serious? One of the best rebounder college basketball has ever seen and you want him to have a reduced role? He doesn't need a reduced role other than the offense not being ran through him but still getting him touches and letting him get his points off offensive rebounds and dishes off of gaurd penetration. Let him get iso touches every now and then and the free throw line jumpers as well but he just needs a shot blocker out there with him and we would be ready to go then. Some of you can't be Kentucky fans trying to push this narrative that Oscar needs a very reduced role. Get outta here with that nonsense. Things don't have to be all or nothing.
He wasn't the first man they went to last season that went to CJ Wallace Reeves and Toppin. Or we would have won a few more games. They rarely feed him the post not even half of much as 2021-2022. What are you talking about?
Is sisk a reliable source, I don’t know who that is?
He seems to have a pretty good pulse on things UK. He is in with Travis Graf and that bunch. Who knows what is going on for sure.
Alright graf is about as reliable as it gets, so this is top tier info then. Good news then. Now go get knecht and let’s roll
I didn't say he was top option, although he was some games. Even so, he will have to accept a role where he is maybe not even an offensive option at all.
Don't agree with this. I think the lack of talent the last two years, coupled with the rash of injuries to our guards, really made things difficult for Oscar. I think by the time we played K-State (where we had no Wheeler and Cason was proving to not really be the PG we needed), K-state was throwing like 4 bodies at Oscar, because they knew we had little else in the way of play making.
I don't know if Oscar will all the sudden be improved next year.. but I'd still like to see what he can do with Wagner and Edwards, two guys who will likely be better than anyone Oscar had to play with in his 3 years here. They can make a huge difference in opening things up for Oscar.
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I also get the sense that Oscar is the type of player who could care less if he's the focal point on offense. I feel like he'd welcome other players being the focus on offense
So Matt Jones on one side, and Kyle Tucker, Travis Graf and David Sisk on the other?
The nerd fight between Matt and Tucker about who was right gonna be epic when Oscar makes his decision.
"Fighting through screens" is a foul. If a player sets a legal screen, and the on ball defender displaces him by barreling into him...that's a foul. The options are 1. Going under the screen and hoping you don't get burned by a three...or. 2. Switching and or hedging the screen and hoping your big can contain the dribbler or buy time until the primary defender can recover.
Respectfully, this is all incorrect.
You can't run the screener over, obviously, but you can absolutely fight through the screen (what some coaches call negotiate the screen) to dictate the guard being able to use it effectively and be able to recover quicker.
Also, the only 2 options are not switching or hedging. You can switch, soft hedge, hard hedge, flat, drop, red (double) or ice a ball screen, and those are just the main ones, there are other sub coverages within that plus some other, less-popular ways.
We do not switch ball screens by design, we ice side ball screens and we play a drop coverage on middle ball screens. When we switch, it's what's called a "forced" switch, basically saying that the guard did not do what they were supposed to do which forced the big to do a full switch, but it is absolutely not what we are schemed to do.
Because we ice the side ball screens, teams stopped doing that against us, they would run almost entirely middle ball screens because Oscar struggled so much in our drop coverage, and Toppin and Oscar were so good at icing screens on the side.
High school rulebook Rule 4:40. "A player may not use arms, hands, hips or shoulders to force his/her way through a screen or to hold the screener and then push the screener aside in order to maintain a guarding position on an opponent. "
I have no idea what "negotiating " a screen means. Sounds like coach speak for fighting through it and hoping you get away with it.
I have no idea what "negotiating " a screen means. Sounds like coach speak for fighting through it and hoping you get away with it.
Dude just say you've never coached before and move on.
Here is a video of 8 year olds being taught how to defend a ball screen and fight over the screen without having to hedge or switch (which you said were the only 2 options). It was the first result on google. If they can wrap their minds around it, I'm sure you can as well.
And you ignored the entire rest of my post about what you were also wrong about.
Let's just leave it at that.
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You have a dumb brain.
We should want Oscar back. We shouldn't want Oscar as the foal point of the offense or defense. Him being "The Guy" doesn't and hasn't translated to team success. Does he want to return and be anything other than what he has been will be the question? If he needs to average 20 and 20 then not sure that moves the team forward.
I agree.
I think next year needs to be a team by committee.
Oscar needs to do what he does, and we need reliable scoring from every other position on the floor!
If anyone was on the fence about if you were a Louisville fan or not, you just pushed them over to the "yes" side.
What an awful take.
Cal needs to tell Tshiebwe what he told Reid Travis when he came here, (I paraphrase) “I don’t expect you to still score 20 a game, you won’t need to on this team, but you can keep your rebound average the same.”
In other words, on the 23-24 team, Tshiebwe needs to focus on one thing, cleaning the boards. Get your 10-12 points off putbacks and at the foul line.
If Tshiebwe comes back and does that, we can have a very good squad.
If he comes back and has to get lots of paint touches or tries to shoot 3’s all the time, we are in trouble.
In other words, on the 23-24 team, Tshiebwe needs to focus on one thing, cleaning the boards. Get your 10-12 points off putbacks and at the foul line.
If Tshiebwe comes back and does that, we can have a very good squad.
If he comes back and has to get lots of paint touches or tries to shoot 3’s all the time, we are in trouble.
I've seen some things on this board in my time here.
I never thought I would see people not wanting back a former national player of the year or expect him to have a reduced role on the team lol.
I never thought I would see people not wanting back a former national player of the year or expect him to have a reduced role on the team lol.
No kidding. One of these guys is an obvious UofL troll, but some of the others are legit UK fans.
So what, he isn’t good at guarding pnr, but he is still a ++++ player anytime he steps on the floor.
John Wall couldn't shoot 3's, would we turn him away if he wanted to come back? Hell no.
Tyler Ulis (with one 'L') couldn't block shots or rebound, would we not want him back in 16/17 if he wanted to come back? Uhhhh yes, yes we would. He couldn’t guard Sam Decker in 2015, but we all wanted him back in 2015/16.
Honestly, I think Oscar is so driven to get rebounds, that it affects how he defends. He thinks every shot is a miss and on top of that, refs call fouls on him for breathing, so he doesn't challenge shots like he should. That might be Cal telling him to do that too.
But wow, how any UK fan would not want Oscar back, is beyond my comprehension. We saw what he could do with a legit point guard in 21/22 when Tyty was healthy. Yeah, I want to see that again.
To add to that, I wouldn't be AT ALL SURPRISED if we were to learn that Cal actually encouraged the 'OLE' defense from Oscar in order to keep him out of foul trouble and on the court. That's why we need a three headed monster (Oscar, Bradshaw and ???) to man that position. Play aggressive defense, rebound like crazy, don't worry about fouls, and win ball games.
People that don't want back a NPOY are idiots or trolls, or both.
No. Portal stuff is pretty quiet. Did get an encouraging comment about UK making a move with Tre Johnson in '24 though.
So Ugo is pretty good offensive skills? Based on what exactly?
If he’s a defensive force why did Ware beat him out for backup minutes? There is more to defend then shot blocker
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