@Matney

I'm glad you're here. I'm sure you'll be called another Cal apologist soon. Wear it with a badge of honor, just means you know basketball, how much the college game has changed since the mid 90s, and have some common sense.

1 minute ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

You must not read here much GURU, I’ve said several times on here that Cal needs to hard hedge ballscreens, fight over and get back, if you go back and watch the games when we started rolling that’s EXACTLY how they were defending them, WHY he went away from that is baffling!

Hard hedge ball screens?

 

Your plan is to put undersized Oscar hard hedging opponents big men (that are typically bigger than him anyway) making him a step behind on the roll while also asking him to re-direct the primary ball handler (let alone a guy Wallace struggled staying in front of today) and we all know how well he plays position perimeter defense. 
 

He would be ate alive and in foul trouble quickly. Not to mention he is then in the negative position for rebounding as he is behind the roll man and that is the 1 thing he does at an elite level. 
 

We got on a roll because of the matchups favored our style of play and the 6th best 3 point shooter in UK history (statistically) shot like the 6th best 3 point shooter in UK history. 
 

Tonight he didn’t and the season is over. Blaming Cal because of the way Oscar can’t play pick and roll like a girls team in the 16th region is beyond absurd. 

5 minutes ago, Matney said:

Hard hedge ball screens?

 

Your plan is to put undersized Oscar hard hedging opponents big men (that are typically bigger than him anyway) making him a step behind on the roll while also asking him to re-direct the primary ball handler (let alone a guy Wallace struggled staying in front of today) and we all know how well he plays position perimeter defense. 
 

He would be ate alive and in foul trouble quickly. Not to mention he is then in the negative position for rebounding as he is behind the roll man and that is the 1 thing he does at an elite level. 
 

We got on a roll because of the matchups favored our style of play and the 6th best 3 point shooter in UK history (statistically) shot like the 6th best 3 point shooter in UK history. 
 

Tonight he didn’t and the season is over. Blaming Cal because of the way Oscar can’t play pick and roll like a girls team in the 16th region is beyond absurd. 

Go back and watch some film when Ky was playing their best, they were HARD HEDGING ballscreens and Oscar did fine at it, NOTHING is truly absurd if it works!!!  AND Wallace did fine guarding Nowell 1 on 1, he did most of damage attacking our 4/5 when we trapped or just flat switched, Nowell’s first 3 (and K-States) was when Oscar was guarding him 1 on 1, you really think that’s better???  If you do THAT’S what is absurd!

11 minutes ago, Matney said:

There is ALOT of truth here. 

 

9 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

Love Oscar. Love his interviews. Love his smile. Love his tenacity. Very glad he had the chance to fall in love with bball again at Kentucky but man that is so damn true.

He seems like a genuinely good guy (I could see where his teammates would get annoyed with him), but the reality is for all of Oscar’s gaudy numbers, his impact on the scoreboard - when it mattered most - was negligible.

I've seen enough of Oscar hard hedging to know that he ain't good at it. He gets split way too easy and then the fouls start mounting up. Which means either he isn't in a ready position or he's just slow laterally. 

Just now, 16thBBall Fan said:

Go back and watch some film when Ky was playing their best, they were HARD HEDGING ballscreens and Oscar did fine at it, NOTHING is truly absurd if it works!!!

Oscar couldn’t hard hedge and contain Nowell in a phone booth!!! 

The SEC teams we got on a run against did not have a PG with the playmaking ability of Nowell. 
 

Comparing apples and oranges does not help. 
 

I wouldn’t recommend playing Steph Curry the same as Russell Westbrook but that’s just me. 
 

 

8 minutes ago, Kentucky Windage said:

I've seen enough of Oscar hard hedging to know that he ain't good at it. He gets split way too easy and then the fouls start mounting up. Which means either he isn't in a ready position or he's just slow laterally. 

You’ve seen that happen in DROP coverage, he did fine at hard hedging.

Edited March 20, 20233 yr by theguru

2 minutes ago, bugatti said:

 

He seems like a genuinely good guy (I could see where his teammates would get annoyed with him), but the reality is for all of Oscar’s gaudy numbers, his impact on the scoreboard - when it mattered most - was negligible.

Oscar is a special person and for me personally he is a tremendous Christian role model for my children, but as a basketball player he is flawed in so many ways. 
 

 

1 minute ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

You’ve seen that happen in DROP coverage, he did fine at hard hedging

No he didn’t. He struggled hard hedging too. 
 

You just don’t want to accept it because it was Cal’s fault

7 minutes ago, Matney said:

Oscar couldn’t hard hedge and contain Nowell in a phone booth!!! 

The SEC teams we got on a run against did not have a PG with the playmaking ability of Nowell. 
 

Comparing apples and oranges does not help. 
 

I wouldn’t recommend playing Steph Curry the same as Russell Westbrook but that’s just me. 
 

 

Hard hedging has NOTHING to do with containing, that’s drop coverage, and Oscar was fine at it.

Edited March 20, 20233 yr by theguru

I think the biggest thing we have learned is when Cal loses its always because of him and not the players.  Yet when Cal had won rather at Umass, Memphis, or UK it has nothing to do with him and it was more luck or just the players that won the game. 

4 minutes ago, Matney said:

No he didn’t. He struggled hard hedging too. 
 

You just don’t want to accept it because it was Cal’s fault

Absolutely he did not struggle at it, ask Bruce Pearl about, their PG is pretty good, really don’t think I’m the one not wanting to accept something.

Edited March 20, 20233 yr by theguru

4 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Hard hedging has NOTHING to do with containing, that’s drop coverage, and Oscar was fine at it.

A hard hedge requires Oscar to re-direct the ball handler to go around him while Wallace fights over the screen. 
 

He will have to contain him while he attempts to redirect him. If he splits the screener’s feet as most young people are taught he will be sideways facing while Nowell attacks. 
 

That is a recipe for foul trouble and rolls to the basket with slow footed Oscar behind the offensive player (screener) with no rim protector. 

8 minutes ago, Kentucky Windage said:

I've seen enough of Oscar hard hedging to know that he ain't good at it. He gets split way too easy and then the fouls start mounting up. Which means either he isn't in a ready position or he's just slow laterally. 

Nowell wouldve killed him and this would've got ugly quick.

If you hard hedge with Oscar, then your best big guy and primary rebounder would've played eight total minutes in this game due to foul trouble.