UCLA's 78th ranked Def
- Thread starter SemperFiCat
- Start date
Yep. Basically a 3-2 zone with Ball at the top. How will UK handle that? Not many teams have tried to zone them recently, but UCLA may go exclusively to zone.
And lol at the notion that they "only" won the first game by 5. They were up double digits until UK made a push in the last minute. I can't stand them, but UCLA is legit.
Well UK was up on them the whole first half until they had the fluke 5 point play. UCLA was up pretty good the whole second half though. I like our chances in the rematch.
UCLA guy here. First of all, UCLA doesn't really run pick and roll much at all. They run a fluid motion offense. They like to run Alford off baseline screens where Ball can give it to Bryce or hit Welsh for the 15-17 foot pick and pop.
UCLA's defense improved rather dramatically (eyetest) since switching to 3-2 zone with Lonzo Ball at the top. We don't have the overall athleticism with Alford and Hamilton on the floor to ever be better than a decent defensive team, but the defense isn't the sieve it once was. The bigger problem in the second half of the schedule was the regression of our offense. Isaac Hamilton was in a major funk until the last two games, Aaron Holiday has become a low bball iq turnover machine, and now Bryce Alford can't seem to hit the broadside of the barn. Much of this is because teams have finally learned how to defend UCLA: face guard Bryce Alford behind the three point line with an athletic defender, run Holiday off three point line and make him a driver, and play Lonzo to pass instead of shoot. You do all of the above, and UCLA must get the ball into Leaf and Welsh's hands in the post and play inside out. However, UCLA just refuses to stick with that approach since their DNA is to gun threes and they can easily shoot themselves out of a game against a good team. This is what happened against Arizona and USC in their losses. Having said all that, we did go 10-1 over our last 11, including wins over Oregon, Arizona and USC (twice), and we can still be dangerous and give UK and UNC trouble if Coach Alford can make a few tweaks to the offense this week.
Anyhow, good luck to you fellas. I hope we both get through the first weekend, which is no given with Wichita State, Kansas State, Wake Forest and Cincinnati potentially on our teams' plates.
It's funny cause I was watching outside the lines and they did a segment on Alford and they had Bobby Knight on there talking about how he could shoot the ball but the other end of the court they had some serious discussions from time to time.
His team is basically the same thing as he was in college. Great shooter, poor at defense
His team is basically the same thing as he was in college. Great shooter, poor at defense
I actually like Hawkins getting a lot of PT in this game guarding Ball. Try to frustrate him and disrupt their flow, while keeping Fox out of foul trouble.
Hawkins will be a major factor from here on out. Fox/Hawkins will prob guard Ball. Briscoe/Hawkins will guard Alford. Willis will guard Leaf much better.
Never thought I would site Willis' defense as a reason we beat a good team but it is seriously a lot better than it was back then. He is more alert and is moving his feet much better. Our defense in general is much improved. I think they give us a tough game but we win...if we make it to play them.
I love the idea of Dom irritating the crap out of Ball.
I think Cincy does beat them. Have that happening on my one and only bracket (I don't fill out multiple versions - I do one and that's the one I go with). I also have all of the 1 seeds dropping to an 8/9 this weekend. I know, not likely, but why not!