Gonzaga 89 Kentucky 85

[16thBBall Fan]

Just now, nikeman49 said:

When you stand and watch your team get beat on high ball screens and low post ups for 40 minutes and make absolutely no defensive changes then you 100% deserve to lose the game and that’s exactly what Cal did tonight, really feel sorry for the Ky players to be put in that situation, what could you be thinking as a head coach? This team hasn’t gotten one bit better since the beginning of the season, three straight home losses which is a record but could get worse. Another sad day for Ky basketball!

Not just tonight, stands and watches it All the time without any adjustments 

[futurecoach]

10 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Mix in some zone, try to change up tempo, get the other team out of rhythm maybe, HOW COULD IT BE ANY WORSE!!???

I don’t disagree. We are in February now, you can keep working on your man defense in practice. At this point though you also now need to say we at least have to try to mix something else in when things clearly aren’t working. No reason not to try at least some zone now to make teams at least have to do something different. 

[16thBBall Fan]

2 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

I don’t disagree. We are in February now, you can keep working on your man defense in practice. At this point you also now to say we at least have to try to mix something else in when things clearly aren’t working. No reason not to try at least some zone now to make teams at least have to do something different. 

Agree, absolutely you keep working on it trying to get better.  Can anybody on here say their man D has improved since opening night??

[bugatti]

It’s horrifying how little UK gets out of the 5 position, sans a few blocks Onyenso is sometimes able to get. I still think UK should go weird. Play 4 guards and put Thiero at the 5. What are you losing?

[futurecoach]

2 minutes ago, bugatti said:

It’s horrifying how little UK gets out of the 5 position, sans a few blocks Onyenso is sometimes able to get. I still think UK should go weird. Play 4 guards and put Thiero at the 5. What are you losing?

True or honestly once Mitchell is healthy go back to what they were doing at the beginning when all the bigs were hurt. Mitchell at the 5 and Theiro at the 4. 

[bugatti]

12 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Not just tonight, stands and watches it All the time without any adjustments 

Thought it was fitting UK went to a zone on a BLOB and Edwards left his guy in the corner open by about 15 feet. They missed the open look but it led to the easy putback.

[bugatti]

Just now, futurecoach said:

True or honestly once Mitchell is healthy go back to what they were doing at the beginning when all the bigs were hurt. Mitchell at the 5 and Theiro at the 4. 

Yep. The rigidity today kept Dillingham on the bench the second half. Granted, they were scoring, but if you’re not stopping them anyways, might as well have your best scorers on the court.

[nikeman49]

The last play of the game with the lob to Thierio would be the last possible thing you would do in that situation, has to be perfect with way to many things that could go wrong, Shep was the hottest man on the planet, why not let him go to the hole and take the shot or dish to someone else if needed? Because it would make sense and Cal doesn’t operate under those conditions.

[bugatti]

Jay Wright was a tough listen talking over the other guys continually. I’m sure he’ll improve but it’s a skill set you don’t just pick up and do well.

[sportsfan41]

12 minutes ago, bugatti said:

It’s horrifying how little UK gets out of the 5 position, sans a few blocks Onyenso is sometimes able to get. I still think UK should go weird. Play 4 guards and put Thiero at the 5. What are you losing?

I said it at work the other day.  I know it's not ideal, but if Mitchell is healthy, perhaps it's time to go back to small ball.  Thiero has played well since returning, Edward's playing better and Burks holding his own.  I can't explain why, but it seemed like Kentucky played slightly better defense when they weren't counting on a 7 footer to bail them out. 

[Voice of Reason]

38 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

I said this last week and it's still the same. Bigs are soft.  Mitchell being out hasn't helped. Wagner still isn't 100%.  Calipari lineups the last few games have been awful at times, just awful. 

Meanwhile, Washington Huskies are struggling, but Keion Brooks is out there averaging 21 points and 7 rebounds per game. 

I liked what Cal did the second half today with the lineup. Stuck with the five who started the second half for 7 minutes. Got them some rest and then finished the game with them over the last 4 minutes. They didn’t get it done the last 4.

[16thBBall Fan]

17 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

True or honestly once Mitchell is healthy go back to what they were doing at the beginning when all the bigs were hurt. Mitchell at the 5 and Theiro at the 4. 

Would agree with this

[Voice of Reason]

34 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

When you stand and watch your team get beat on high ball screens and low post ups for 40 minutes and make absolutely no defensive changes then you 100% deserve to lose the game and that’s exactly what Cal did tonight, really feel sorry for the Ky players to be put in that situation, what could you be thinking as a head coach? This team hasn’t gotten one bit better since the beginning of the season, three straight home losses which is a record but could get worse. Another sad day for Ky basketball!

No changes?

[bugatti]

9 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

The last play of the game with the lob to Thierio would be the last possible thing you would do in that situation, has to be perfect with way to many things that could go wrong, Shep was the hottest man on the planet, why not let him go to the hole and take the shot or dish to someone else if needed? Because it would make sense and Cal doesn’t operate under those conditions.

I guess shame on Cal for drawing up the play he did (Onyenso cluttered it all) but we’re just going to continually praise Sheppard’s decision making yet act like he is incapable of seeing that wasn’t going to work in the moment? If the lob wasn’t there it was supposed to go to Reeves at the top of the key.

[Voice of Reason]

26 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Agree, absolutely you keep working on it trying to get better.  Can anybody on here say their man D has improved since opening night??

Yes. Still bad but better.