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Keys to a win over Kentucky

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E1k said:
All my concerns about this team showed up yesterday

We need another guy we can rely on to create shots for everyone and himself. Wong could get down hill and get a bucket or bend the defense, Jmiller can get u 15 in the mid post and was a high iq glue guy.

We’re gonna need guys to emerge or we will have to rely to heavily on our 3s to fall at a high clip. I love omier heart but he shouldn’t have to score 20 for us his focus should be defense,rebounding and playmaking as a hub on offense.

Also we have to find a way to get pack clean looks and leverage his shooting gravity into open shots elsewhere. He doesn’t look comfortable and he’s our best scorer.

Defensively we are bad at the point of attack defense so guards can get easy drives because omier has to hedge hard and then it gives teams easy outlets..Basically how uconn killed us, they had us in constant rotations all game.

Its still early and we have a great coach so i believe we can figure it out but the ceiling might not be as high as we thought
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Fantastic post
 
I watched the game again last night, because I couldn't sleep(Young folk, acid reflux hits way harder as you age and it is nothing to play with, trust me), and one thing was extremely obvious: There was a talent discrepancy that was tough to overcome. Wooga, Omier and George and Watson were really the only guys that looked like they belonged on the floor(size, athleticism and length wise), and honestly, those are the guys that are most likely to get to the next level. Miami has a ton of very solid collegiate players, Kentucky has a collection of likely lottery picks. Maturity helped keep Miami in the game, until that second half run swamped them. That said, this isn't the NBA, and as we've seen time and time again with Cal's teams, their lack of maturity usually comes back to bite them in March. Their raw talent should mean they roll to Phoenix, but it's experience, mixed with the ability to deal with lulls that gets you there.

This loss was frustrating, but it isn't fatal. Don't be shocked if this team rebounds strongly and recaptures momentum quickly. I want to see this team continue to build, and I want to see guys like Watson and George continue to get PT, you can see the light come on for Watson and I've seen enough of George to know that he is likely the future. When I see him play, I see Wooga when he first got to campus, a dude that when he turns the corner, will be special. You can't teach what he already does.
 
uba777 said:
The one thing that stood out for me was the fact that we are not a very good 2nd half team, K State also outplayed us in the 2nd half of that game but the lead was just too big for them to overcome! I don't know if its lack of adjustments or just coming out flat but need to figure it out ASAP!
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Most of Miami's games this year have been comfortable in the second half. Again, people run to these narratives, ignoring basic logic. KSU wasn't going to roll over and die, they kept coming and Miami kept going on runs to keep them at bay. How is that not being a second half team? A bad second half team would have completely blown that lead. Also keep in mind, Miami is one of the better FT shooting teams in the country, that usually comes in handy late in games.
 
CBurrr93 said:
Calipari finally lucked out. Not even he can ruin that team. They share the ball so well. Always made the right play. They won’t shoot like that all year though
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It's Cal, he'll find a way. Out of all the "Elite" coaches out there, he's the one that I would expect to mess this up. He is a great recruiter, beyond terrible on gameday. Honestly, he's Mario Cristobal like, the only difference is that it's more difficult to accumulate enough talent to be dominant in football, compared to basketball where you only need 4-6 top end guys. You need dozens of those guys to be competitive in football.
 
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Canefan73 said:
lol, this has to be the worst defensive performance I've ever seen.
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One of the driving aspects of last years team was defense. We ball hawked and didn’t allow driving into the basket unless it was UCON. In post game interviews coach L seemed too busy praising Kentucky to call last night outright unacceptable. This team needs a identity on both sides of the ball but especially on defense.
 
Canedude08 said:
I watched the game again last night, because I couldn't sleep(Young folk, acid reflux hits way harder as you age and it is nothing to play with, trust me), and one thing was extremely obvious: There was a talent discrepancy that was tough to overcome. Wooga, Omier and George and Watson were really the only guys that looked like they belonged on the floor(size, athleticism and length wise), and honestly, those are the guys that are most likely to get to the next level. Miami has a ton of very solid collegiate players, Kentucky has a collection of likely lottery picks. Maturity helped keep Miami in the game, until that second half run swamped them. That said, this isn't the NBA, and as we've seen time and time again with Cal's teams, their lack of maturity usually comes back to bite them in March. Their raw talent should mean they roll to Phoenix, but it's experience, mixed with the ability to deal with lulls that gets you there.

This loss was frustrating, but it isn't fatal. Don't be shocked if this team rebounds strongly and recaptures momentum quickly. I want to see this team continue to build, and I want to see guys like Watson and George continue to get PT, you can see the light come on for Watson and I've seen enough of George to know that he is likely the future. When I see him play, I see Wooga when he first got to campus, a dude that when he turns the corner, will be special. You can't teach what he already does.
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I don’t know if you meant to leave Cleveland off or forgot but he absolutely is an elite athlete.

It’s hard to make these judgments because there’s so much cross contamination. When the ball doesn’t move guys look less athletic and less skilled. When there’s confusion or frustration on the defensive end guys look slow.

Last night was a perfect storm type of situation. Foul trouble caused discontinuity, shots not falling caused frustration and pressing… we didn’t move well offensively or defensively, Omier tried to do too much… just a big Charlie Foxtrot all around.

This team is the same team we thought it was going into the game - getting run off the floor was always a possibility with a team that plays as fast and hot as they have the ability to play.

Wong and Miller would not have helped because more iso would not have impacted the outcome in any meaningful way.

For us to hit our ceiling the ball needs to move on offense and we need to nail our defensive rotations and play with extreme effort and energy. We didn’t do either last night and they hit open and contested shots and played fast and loose.
 
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I’m not worried about this result based on this result alone. Stuff happens. In 2013 we beat Duke when they were number 1 by 27. They made the Elite 8.

What I am a little worried about is how we’re playing. It isn’t just this game. We need to play better. Period.
 
Notsince1985 said:
I’m not worried about this result based on this result alone. Stuff happens. In 2013 we beat Duke when they were number 1 by 27. They made the Elite 8.

What I am a little worried about is how we’re playing. It isn’t just this game. We need to play better. Period.
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We always play our best ball after the new year.
 
I was there in person and I probably need to go back and watch the TV replay when I get time...but a few things very simply put:

1) Omier/Poplar showed up and played well considering the moment and the workload they were basically forced to handle.

2) #1 being said...Omier/Poplar shouldn't have to carry the load like they did - Pack/Joseph got outplayed at the guard spots TERRIBLY, and for as great of an athlete and former 5* as Cleveland is, he disppeared as well. Rupp is a difficult place to play, and Pack/Joseph/Cleveland all shrank like violets.

3) On the positive side, Nwoko looks better at this point in the season than I expected him to...I think he's gonna give us more minutes going forward, and not just because Omier has foul trouble every time the ball gets tipped. George and Watson also probably were more effective in their limited minutes compared to Pack/Joseph in their minutes - which doesn't need to be the norm of course, but good to see George/Watson not be scared of the moment/environment.

4) The last 2 minutes of the first half bled into the 2nd half and we never recovered. Pretty simple.

5) Kentucky is rounding into form. They looked good at every position. Even places where I thought we might have an advantage (Omier vs Mitchell, Poplar vs Edwards/Dillingham), they at least played pretty even. BUT - I told my coworkers/friends who are UK fans this...shooting 60% from the field and 43% from 3pt land isn't gonna continue. There will be regression back to the mean on both of those numbers.

6) Reed Sheppard is a stud - best player on the court last night hands down. He'll be a lottery pick as soon as he decides he wants to go. He won't be the 1st overall pick, but some team is gonna get him, and be very very happy ala the Lakers with Austin Reaves...who Sheppard (to me) probably projects as a slightly better version. Sheppard is a touch shorter at 6'3 but his game is so solid. We did him several favors by leaving him with wide open 3's and losing him off screens though. That was unacceptable.

7) Defensively, we have a problem on the perimeter. We cannot stop guards from the top of the key or wing who put their head down and go to the bucket aggressively. Omier got neutralized by having to stay home more due to Mitchell/Burks playing well and him being in foul trouble, so no bucket protector meant all those guards got to the front of the rim with EASE last night. Anytime they wanted it.

8) This won't be popular to say, but Pack quit early. There was an early 1st half drive where he went baseline, tried to get a reverse to go, and he basically got it blocked back off of him so hard the ball actually almost went in. After that - he stopped attacking. That's poor from a player as good as Pack. When he realized he couldn't out-quick Reeves and he was at the size disadvantage, he stopped trying to attack. He kept getting cut off anytime he wanted the step back, and even when he did shoot from 3 he was not himself. 0-3 from 3 for Pack isn't going to lead us to victory in any game ever.

My last word on this game before I mentally put it to bed - flush it. Watch the tape and learn from it, but flush it and use it to get better for the rest of the year. We didn't expect a blowout at all of these proportions, but the important thing is to learn the lessons now that will become useful to us in March/April.
 
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Notsince1985 said:
I’m not worried about this result based on this result alone. Stuff happens. In 2013 we beat Duke when they were number 1 by 27. They made the Elite 8.

What I am a little worried about is how we’re playing. It isn’t just this game. We need to play better. Period.
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They are living on last years glory…better wake up……
 
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BWCD said:
I was there in person and I probably need to go back and watch the TV replay when I get time...but a few things very simply put:

1) Omier/Poplar showed up and played well considering the moment and the workload they were basically forced to handle.

2) #1 being said...Omier/Poplar shouldn't have to carry the load like they did - Pack/Joseph got outplayed at the guard spots TERRIBLY, and for as great of an athlete and former 5* as Cleveland is, he disppeared as well. Rupp is a difficult place to play, and Pack/Joseph/Cleveland all shrank like violets.

3) On the positive side, Nwoko looks better at this point in the season than I expected him to...I think he's gonna give us more minutes going forward, and not just because Omier has foul trouble every time the ball gets tipped. George and Watson also probably were more effective in their limited minutes compared to Pack/Joseph in their minutes - which doesn't need to be the norm of course, but good to see George/Watson not be scared of the moment/environment.

4) The last 2 minutes of the first half bled into the 2nd half and we never recovered. Pretty simple.

5) Kentucky is rounding into form. They looked good at every position. Even places where I thought we might have an advantage (Omier vs Mitchell, Poplar vs Edwards/Dillingham), they at least played pretty even. BUT - I told my coworkers/friends who are UK fans this...shooting 60% from the field and 43% from 3pt land isn't gonna continue. There will be regression back to the mean on both of those numbers.

6) Reed Sheppard is a stud - best player on the court last night hands down. He'll be a lottery pick as soon as he decides he wants to go. He won't be the 1st overall pick, but some team is gonna get him, and be very very happy ala the Lakers with Austin Reaves...who Sheppard (to me) probably projects as a slightly better version. Sheppard is a touch shorter at 6'3 but his game is so solid. We did him several favors by leaving him with wide open 3's and losing him off screens though. That was unacceptable.

7) Defensively, we have a problem on the perimeter. We cannot stop guards from the top of the key or wing who put their head down and go to the bucket aggressively. Omier got neutralized by having to stay home more due to Mitchell/Burks playing well and him being in foul trouble, so no bucket protector meant all those guards got to the front of the rim with EASE last night. Anytime they wanted it.

8) This won't be popular to say, but Pack quit early. There was an early 1st half drive where he went baseline, tried to get a reverse to go, and he basically got it blocked back off of him so hard the ball actually almost went in. After that - he stopped attacking. That's poor from a player as good as Pack. When he realized he couldn't out-quick Reeves and he was at the size disadvantage, he stopped trying to attack. He kept getting cut off anytime he wanted the step back, and even when he did shoot from 3 he was not himself. 0-3 from 3 for Pack isn't going to lead us to victory in any game ever.

My last word on this game before I mentally put it to bed - flush it. Watch the tape and learn from it, but flush it and use it to get better for the rest of the year. We didn't expect a blowout at all of these proportions, but the important thing is to learn the lessons now that will become useful to us in March/April.
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For the team's benefit, Pack is better playing off the ball. For him to have a shot at the NBA, though, the evaluators have told him he needs to play the Point. Also, he's undersized in terms of being able to "attack" the basket successfully. Joseph penetrates better but hasn't shown he can finish inside.

I think Cleveland will be fine. We need Nwoko to develop in December so he can contribute in the upcoming ACC battles.
 
hotshot said:
For the team's benefit, Pack is better playing off the ball. For him to have a shot at the NBA, though, the evaluators have told him he needs to play the Point. Also, he's undersized in terms of being able to "attack" the basket successfully. Joseph penetrates better but hasn't shown he can finish inside.

I think Cleveland will be fine. We need Nwoko to develop in December so he can contribute in the upcoming ACC battles.
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I think Joseph was 2/2 finishing inside last night. He missed two 3’s and I believe a midrange J.

Pack is a problem that needs to be figured out because his personal interests may not align with the team interests with respect to his role.
 
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