We had a bad night. On the road. Against a top 10 opponent. And lost by 3. That's really it. We know this team is capable (see UNC win)
My Take On Last Night
- Thread starter IndyCat1995
- Start date
yep our capability is Monk going for 47 and shooting 75% from 3pt range. So lets count on that 6 games in a row to try and win a title
Kentucky wins last night if we play even half of what we're capable of. We could not have played worse.
Just as easily as last night slipped away the NC game took a far FAR above average performance to win . My point BOTH easily could have been L's . At least we did control the NC game til the last 2 min . But we were never in control last night. Truth is I think we are all guilty of having our expectations too high for this team . Fun to watch , but fun doesn't always win against toughness and experience .
The team isn't great in the half court yet. Ball movement and finding the mismatch and going after it all game have to better and I thing it will.
I am surprised this team hasn't increased the defensive intensity. They love to run and haven't seemed to figure out that stops, steals, blocks,etc.. lead to easy buckets.
I am surprised this team hasn't increased the defensive intensity. They love to run and haven't seemed to figure out that stops, steals, blocks,etc.. lead to easy buckets.
What is missing is discipline. The capability is there, but the discipline on both sides of the ball is lacking. We have to be discipline in our defensive assignments. Rotate when needed, and quit taking big risks, like trying to block shots you can't get to, and going for steals that would be amazing plays, with the risk of giving up baskets. On offense, be discipline enough to know when it's a good shot and when it's a bad shot. Against UNC Monk took several shots with a guy in his face, which I consider good shots because he was on fire. Against UL, Monk takes an open three with a driving lane available when he is 0-6 in the game, bad shot. Fox and Monk are right now high risk, high reward. Some nights they can win a game single handed. Some nights they will cost you games you otherwise would win, and that is from both sides of the ball.
If and when this team becomes disciplined like they should be, they will be almost impossible to beat. Right now they are making the right decision about 30% of the time. Once that gets to around 65-70%, they will be scary good.
If and when this team becomes disciplined like they should be, they will be almost impossible to beat. Right now they are making the right decision about 30% of the time. Once that gets to around 65-70%, they will be scary good.
I concur and I'll add, we also had a stupid night.
We could have been just as cold, played the same olé defense, been punked for all the same rebounds, and still won easily with some slightly less idiot shot selection.
However, we are getting a great education. I differ with the "you need a loss crowd." I think you can win anyway. I think you can technically win a title without a handful of "am I gonna get up again," "do we really have what it takes" moments and nights of every single player not getting to sleep because of what just happened. That's all "experience" really is for the most part. You can win it all without that. You can't be the best imaginable version of your team without that. I don't think you necessarily need to be the best imaginable version of your team to win a title. So much of title dreams are at the mercy of chances and so many title game losers would have easily stomped title game winners from other years. But this team I think we can all agree has to be the absolute best imaginable version of itself to have a realistic shot. And we're getting a lot of chances to become just that.
I don't think it's in vain. I expect many more struggles this year. But I see more of '14 in our struggles than '13 so far.
We could have been just as cold, played the same olé defense, been punked for all the same rebounds, and still won easily with some slightly less idiot shot selection.
However, we are getting a great education. I differ with the "you need a loss crowd." I think you can win anyway. I think you can technically win a title without a handful of "am I gonna get up again," "do we really have what it takes" moments and nights of every single player not getting to sleep because of what just happened. That's all "experience" really is for the most part. You can win it all without that. You can't be the best imaginable version of your team without that. I don't think you necessarily need to be the best imaginable version of your team to win a title. So much of title dreams are at the mercy of chances and so many title game losers would have easily stomped title game winners from other years. But this team I think we can all agree has to be the absolute best imaginable version of itself to have a realistic shot. And we're getting a lot of chances to become just that.
I don't think it's in vain. I expect many more struggles this year. But I see more of '14 in our struggles than '13 so far.
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anon_013cn8yrfncx2
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[QUOTE="weatherbird, post: 5461039, member: 4912
If and when this team becomes disciplined like they should be, they will be almost impossible to beat. Right now they are making the right decision about 30% of the time. Once that gets to around 65-70%, they will be scary good.
[/QUOTE]
Solid analysis with one caveat. You assume that this can be done in your freshman year. Doesn't happen very often. But hey, they're already scary good!
If and when this team becomes disciplined like they should be, they will be almost impossible to beat. Right now they are making the right decision about 30% of the time. Once that gets to around 65-70%, they will be scary good.
[/QUOTE]
Solid analysis with one caveat. You assume that this can be done in your freshman year. Doesn't happen very often. But hey, they're already scary good!
Preach. Thank goodness for non blue tinted take. Unless we start valuing possessions and taking pride on defense then this team accomplishes NOTHING.
Not sure I'd say nothing , but going 30-6 or something close to that and losing at home to UCLA , losing to Lil Bro , and not making the FF would be disappointing , not bad , not reason to freak out , just not what we hoped for at the beginning when this team appeared LOADED .
Yeah let's ignore the fact that Jackson had a career high, Berry had his second career high, and UNC shot well above their average. Also UK led most the game.
It took 47pts by Monk to beat UNC by two. It was a great win but can't bank on Monk to single handedly beat teams which should be obvious after last night.
what I thought was particularly interesting, was that UL did not press us at all last night. I suspect Pitino assumed that we would have no trouble breaking the press and would get easy baskets. So, Louisville did not play the game they usually play either.
How many career highs does UK have to give up before it gets fixed? It isn't bad luck when it keeps happening. UKs defense is not good. Especially the guards.
UCLA and UNC have multiple weapons but do not play tough-nosed defense. Cats able to exploit for a lot of points but give up a lot as well. Run up against a mediocre offensive but tough defensive team in Louisville and the Cats struggle. Cats could easily win that game if they sucked it up on the defensive side. Bad shooting nights will happen but bad defense happens due to lack of effort and discipline.
This team will win a lot of games and win the SEC but unless they buy in on the defensive side and understand that Bam deserves more than 6 shots when he is abusing the defense, I don't think a 6 game title run will happen.
Again will put up good numbers in wins etc. and be fun to watch for the overwhelming majority of the year but was hoping for more and hoping we had caught lightning in a bottle again. If not it will still a darn good year. Then it will be bye to several players and restart next year. Still plenty of time but going to require some changes and buying in.
Can anyone give me a legitimate reason why Briscoe was in the game on the last possession last night?
We had to have a 3. Why would you not have Monk, Mulder, and Willis in the game? At least that's three guys you have to guard.
Instead we've got Briscoe in which is 5 on 4. Don't get it.
We had to have a 3. Why would you not have Monk, Mulder, and Willis in the game? At least that's three guys you have to guard.
Instead we've got Briscoe in which is 5 on 4. Don't get it.
From a Duke fans perspective you are scary good.I really wish I could see all of the weaknesses that your fan base does.You went into a hostile environment for the first time and one of your best players coming off a all time game had a predictable off game yet still only lost by three points.I hope I am wrong but you are going to be a bear to beat by March
Don't use reason and logic some posters here prefer the sky to be falling at all times
And it took career nights from Snider and Adel for UL to win by 3 at home. See how that works?
Stop it, we suck only way for us to win is for Monk to go for 47. Cal can't coach defense or recruit a small forward. The new logo sucks and we should play a 2-3 zone.
I'm not down in the dumps about this team's chances. Kind of surprised to see as many posters that I respect sort of write us off. Pretty clear to me that we didn't match their intensity/physicality, and I do think young teams can find the edge to correct that.
But we didn't have a bad night.
We have bad habits.
If we shoot well, we can overcome them. But we still have bad habits.
We get lazy on the perimeter.
We take jumpers when we should throw it inside.
It's not the end of the world. I'm not giving up or freaking out. But this team has a lot of issues, and last night it bit them.
Maybe it's just me but a few more made free throws and it's a win. No amount of defense or discipline can hide that fact. I cringed everytime they shot one.
Bam was also in the game on the last play . Why wouldn't you have your best 3 point % shooter in the game at that point? Mind boggling.
No I don't. I don't give an ish about UL season or tourney hopes. I do care about ours though and when teams zone us, we need more than Monk to be able to knock down shots.
I honestly did not think UL had a prayer, but they stuck to a defensive game plan and executed it. Snider played the game of his life. Realistically, if Monk hits that 3 late and goes to OT you all win. I really just think it is a law of averages. Eventually, in rivalry games, the other team wins. Pitino is still .20 against Cal since taking the UK job. I have not felt the bad animosity between the two fanbases lately-maybe because of the football game. Actually, your kids were all class, as was Cal. Fox was very gracious, and I sometimes think Cal has so much respect for Pitino he calls off the dogs. Pitino really needed this win, as did the fanbase. It really was good for the rivalry-even if the loss stings a bit. You guys are more talented, there is really no doubt. Better team? Nobody knows until March.
Well you have that bum Cal for a coach. let hm finish his contract and when K retires in a few years we will take that no coaching non recruiting joker off your hands lol
Thank you. Well stated. Bam needs the ball. Granted he missed his free throws but the offense should run through him. If a post entry is made then he scores, gets fouled, or kicks it to an open shooter. Too many ill advised 18 footers without ball movement.
This team MUST learn to value possessions on offense and defense. You gotta have pride and get pissed if your man scores and make the other team defend as well.