He might be but cal won’t zone bc he can’t teach it. Also if cal actually had a real year end cal in show these questions would be asked. He should be forced to sit there for 3 hours wo commercials and take Cals. Another failure for Barney to protect him with his lame 20 min show after commercials are considered. Such a crappy AD we have that’s ruined Kentucky bb yet a lot of you dopes want to keep him bc football is now on the above average side of mediocrity.
Question, Why Cal. Refuses to zone ?
- Thread starter mrhotdice
- Start date
Because his way is the best and the only way to play regardless of personnel "if we just play our game we'll be fine." And thats exactly what he does regardless of what's unfolding on the floor right in front of his eyes.
You point out valid issues, I just feel that there is more than smoke coming from where Cal has the program now. There is a full fledged fire. I wish it was different but I question if Cal has the tools to put it out and right the UK ship.
Last edited:
It was only division 3 but I play lacrosse in college. We spent 1 week on man to man. 1 week.
More than likely, this is the reason that makes the most sense. These players aren't here long enough to teach man basics plus zone. The fact that the NBA doesn't play zone would likely be another.
Let's be honest here, he's perfectly capable of teaching a zone, oob plays and running different offenses. He's done it in the past at uk and elsewhere.
The title in 12 proved to him that playing the way that team played was all that matters. Stingy defense (like having mkg and Davis will ever happen again) by switching everything, offense based on "making a play" and superior talent was the equation.
He will use some excuse about preparing players for the next level where zone is not used but it comes at his and our expense. The kids will still be drafted regardless. He's just stubborn now.
The title in 12 proved to him that playing the way that team played was all that matters. Stingy defense (like having mkg and Davis will ever happen again) by switching everything, offense based on "making a play" and superior talent was the equation.
He will use some excuse about preparing players for the next level where zone is not used but it comes at his and our expense. The kids will still be drafted regardless. He's just stubborn now.
The problem with his man to man is he likes to switch out front, good teams that scout UK just keep screening forcing the cats to switch until the get the match up they want then take that guy off the dribble, breaking down our defense, forces our big to help then we get back doored all day long. A Cal coached team is one of the easiest to scout, we do the same thing all day long on both ends of the floor.
I coached for 26 years and I can tell you all I would need is to scout one game of a Cal coached team and figure him out.
I agree he hasn't adjusted since 2012!! Offensively or defensively its sad how lazy if a coach he is !
If nothing else, if he just played it a little, then that bit of practicing it would improve how we play offense against it.
Adolph Rupp never played zone until later in his career. He used it sparingly even then. He also had his critics in his desire to play man to man almost exclusively. Worked out quite well for Rupp all in all I'd have to say.
There are a whole myriad of options as to how you can play man to man. From tight vs loose to under over screens, switching everything, double down, trap, where do your dd and traps come from? What does your rotation look like when you do this? I could go on all day and I've never even coached BB. It is not quite as simple as you think.
Your criticisms are opinion. You are certainly welcome to that opinion. That is a hypothetical that may or not ever play out(only way to actually know). There is no denying Cal has hit a rough patch but it is no certainty that playing some zone would equal more wins.
I am okay with your position. But, yeah, it is my opinion that zone would have won some games that we lost.
This is exactly correct. It's silly saying he can't teach a zone. Zone is easier to play and by extension easier to coach. There's plenty of evidence that Cal is just stubborn. It's his worst enemy right now. Stubbornness isn't an issue when things are going well but will be your down fall when they aren't and you aren't willing to change. UK basketball is broken right now. The problem is that Cal would rather have 20 years of losing basketball than to admit that what's he's doing isn't working.
And just to be clear I don't believe the lack of zone is our problem. Sure every team should have it in it's tool box and there are times that we should have been playing it. However the real problems right now are that he's playing an antiquated and inefficient offense and won't change. Also he is putting the NBA draft ahead of the program.
We fought fought through screens if we could. If we didn’t think we would make the coverage in time the original defender would yell “SWITCH!” Under/over screen is based on the screener’s position and your position to him. At least that’s how we were coached. And again, that was included in our week long focus of man to man defense in the off season.
Most of the building blocks owe already had. Hell I already new some different zone defenses from high school as well and our college coaches built on that.
not sure on what double down means. Might be a difference of vocab. Do you meant double team? Because things like double team and trap were just things we would do when the coach said to. Again, nothing complicated about double teaming a guy or trapping someone. Although we really don’t do a whole lot of either in lacrosse because of how fast it is and how big the field is. Double teams would really only happen if an attacker attacked the crease in an attempt to score.
Man to man defense isn’t very complicated for college athletes. And zone really isn’t either. They’ve been exposed to both in high school and building upon that knowledge shouldn’t be very difficult.
Duke‘s zone the other night was not extended out . Not sure why but it was almost impossible to get into the middle of it .
That's a bad take. If you press right it can create havok....no one presses anymore because no one can do it right.
I agree it still can work and should be used more. But that poster is right that pressing went out of style simply because teams got far better at beating it.
The gravitation toward the four-out small ball style of play had a lot to do with that. It was far easier to create havoc with the press back when teams would have only one or two true ballhandlers on the court. But not so much when even your forwards can dribble and pass like guards.
Glad you brought a new subject to the board. Was getting old talking about Why does Cal have such a contract where we can't just up and fire him, I also wonder, why does Jim Boeheim never play man defense? Mysterys of the world. Where is Jimmy Hoffa? Melanie Flynn?
You are talking about learning the basics. To learn what your coach wants and how you might be able to accomplish it against the strength and level athlete you face at this level might take awhile for some. I'll grant you it is not rocket appliances but there is a learning curve for most.
I do not disagree but you must concede it may have lost us some that we won.
He does not play zone because the NBA does not zone. It is all about his guys being "prepared" for the next level OP.
The only time I can remember him using zone is in the UCONN 2014 title game without WCS when they were just embarrassing us going to the hoop to get layups in the first half. He didn't stick with it in the 2nd half, but our defense was fine in the 2nd half whatever we were in...offense lost us that game. That is a theme of most Cal UK losses...offense blowing the game.
As for pressing/pressure, we saw what happened at the end of the TN game so not sure why we didn't do that more and do not do it more often. Just another bizarre Cal trait that is infuriating.
The only time I can remember him using zone is in the UCONN 2014 title game without WCS when they were just embarrassing us going to the hoop to get layups in the first half. He didn't stick with it in the 2nd half, but our defense was fine in the 2nd half whatever we were in...offense lost us that game. That is a theme of most Cal UK losses...offense blowing the game.
As for pressing/pressure, we saw what happened at the end of the TN game so not sure why we didn't do that more and do not do it more often. Just another bizarre Cal trait that is infuriating.
I hear ya. But if Division lll athletes can get the gist of it in a week, then there’s no reason why division l atheletes can’t do better.
Yes. I do have an answer for you. Cal obviously thinks the defense he’s playing is best suited to his players strengths and weaknesses. Since he’s at practice every day, and you and I are not, I’d say he’s in a much better position to judge what type of defense his team should play in order to give them the best chance to win. Would you not agree?