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  • Panic is Not in Order Yeahbut



    Old Yeahbut is kicking and screaming to get out of lockdown but for now he has to remain in perpetuity. The young basketball Wildcats are in some quarters creating a state of trepidation amongst the BBN. This early in the season is not the time to throw the baby out with the bath water. Granted this class was advertised as the best recruiting class in history. And given time it still could prove out to live up to those heights.

    This is where the inimitable John Calipari comes into play..... Except for last season Cal has managed to mold his teams into top contenders by March Madness. Characteristically the period over the Christmas holidays is the key period for the most improvement. So this young team deserves a pass until such a Boot-Camp like period concludes. Things like focus, intensity, and desire can and most likely will be corrected. All of the aforementioned sums up the good news.

    Now the bad news and the coach issues. Why with such a deep bench does he not play his bench more. No matter how depth he has he rarely seems to use it to it's fullest. This writer is often in quarters with the 'old-guard' that consistently goes to Cal's practice sessions. My question is how much time does he spend on zone defense. I'm told is token at best. The common belief in anything is if you don't see IT you are clueless when you have to face IT. Every coach has his hang-up and Calipari has made it known he doesn't like to play the zone defenses. All well and good because he has won a lot of basketball games through the years doing it his way. But it would be that it's the end-of-the-day results.

    It's a commonly held opinion that opposing teams know they can't match up talent-wise and they have to pick their poison in their approach to defeating the Cats. So they feel that zoning the Cats is the great equalizer. Given the results of the two losses that philosophy is the best approach in contending for wins. Calipari knows that, yet in a detestable tone before the Baylor game he proclaimed "Bring on the Zone."

    Cal's attitude toward the zone defense is analogous to the era when the three-point shot came into the game. Coaching greats such as Denny Crum and Bobby Knight were resistant to the change and it ate them up before the finally bought in. Seemingly the ideal position would be versatility. Like the aforementioned history would dictate that the player issues can be fixed but will the coaching philosophy issue be changed?
    Comments 7 Comments
    1. dan_bgblue's Avatar
      dan_bgblue -
      He is pretty hard headed isn't he? The lack of bench play is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. After the MSU and the Baylor games he lamented that he had played the core 7 30 plus minutes and knew they were worn out. His solution, run them harder in practice I guess so they will be able to go the full 40 minutes at some point in the season
    1. KSRBEvans's Avatar
      KSRBEvans -
      It's too early to throw out the baby with the bathwater, but it may be too early for this, too:



      Last season left a bad taste in BBN's mouth (the group, not the Citizen--well, maybe him, too ). We saw how it can suck in December, and then suck worse in February. I don't think folks are in the mood to sit back in a detached manner (as if we ever were) and let it play out.
    1. dan_bgblue's Avatar
      dan_bgblue -
      Thanks for the clip. It is very appropriate
    1. CitizenBBN's Avatar
      CitizenBBN -
      Cal has made it beyond clear with his actions that he a) won't play a deep rotation, and b) won't play zone. The problem with the rotation is that it puts him in the same spot as last year, not holding guys accountable with PT for their actions or inactions.

      The zone thing is just stubbornness and the ingrained notion that zones aren't as aggressive or as good as man defense. That is b/c lots of teams that play zone do it to cover for being less aggressive and lower effort on defense, or to hide people, but that's not an inherent part of a zone. He can yell at them just as loud for not moving in a zone as he does for not moving in man. His claim that they have to learn to give defensive effort with man before they can do it in a zone is nonsense. Sorry, it just is. if anything asking them to do something they CAN DO better may up their aggressiveness and effort.

      He knows more than me about basketball by 1000x, but even guys with deep knowledge of their profession make bad decisions from time to time, and this is one where I have to disagree with him. This team is tall but a little slow and they clearly have no ingrained understanding of any team defense so you might as well pick the one that best fits their athletic makeup. This would also let you play Dakari and Willis more if needed as they are also big tall guys who are a little slower.

      The only reason I can see to not do it is they don't do it in the pros so they won't play it there, and maybe that impacts the NBA's assessment of them. Not sure if that's part of it or not, personally I think it's just coaching philosophy and in this case myopia. All good coaches have great confidence and that means some myopia and stubbornness comes with it. Pitino had his, Rupp had his, some things they just won't change no matter the roster. If they didn't have that they'd be in trouble b/c they wouldn't be able to stay the course and build teams, they'd be bouncing and going with what fans say on call in shows, very bad idea. It does however lead to some situations like this.
    1. ajp40505's Avatar
      ajp40505 -
      Great post, Citizen. If we come out of the boot camp phase of the season and are still playing man to man 100% of the time I'm going to scream. Like Darryl said a week ago, I've never seen a team more suited to play a zone, and conversely, less suited to play man-to-man. Those 6'6" inch guards are great on offense, but they can kill you on defense.

      The problem we have is Cal, and evidently his assistant coaches, do not know how to teach a zone.
    1. anderwt's Avatar
      anderwt -
      Quote Originally Posted by ajp40505 View Post
      Great post, Citizen. If we come out of the boot camp phase of the season and are still playing man to man 100% of the time I'm going to scream. Like Darryl said a week ago, I've never seen a team more suited to play a zone, and conversely, less suited to play man-to-man. Those 6'6" inch guards are great on offense, but they can kill you on defense.

      The problem we have is Cal, and evidently his assistant coaches, do not know how to teach a zone.
      This team is built for a zone defense...Long and athletic. I thought he would be more open to it, but I think he is afraid to. With the stretch of games we have and the SEC schedule just around the corner, he may think there just isn't enough time. I don't know
    1. Terry Blue's Avatar
      Terry Blue -
      If we don't become a better FT shooting team, it won't matter if we play man, zone, box and one, etc
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