Get rid of all the other assistants, pay Sampson 4 million a year and his only job is to coach the defense. Sound like a plan? Just joking cause I know some u of will overreact and call me a troll. But seriously something has to give with this defense. This ain’t cuttin the mustard. Hard to watch
Bring in Kelvin Sampson…
- Thread starter Basscat1987
- Start date
Bro, the defense is better than last year & really good in stretches. Alabama is an extremely talented offensive team. I guess Alabama's defensive sucked as well?
His game would be neutralized at UK, and he'd be as dumbfounded as we are, why his system worked at Houston but isnt allowed to work at UK
Is the defense really that much better than last year? Currently 87 KP and 109 last year. That’s really calling it “better” in your eyes? And u say it’s good in stretches? So anytime the opposing team misses a shot are u calling that a good stretch? Please enlighten me on how I should feel good about our defense for a March run. I’m not busy today so i got all day to sit and wait for a good well thought out response by you. Feel free to display numbers to back it up if you’d like
It was a joke and it was just to have him be an assistant. Geez lol
No I'm not shitting on the idea. You're at least trying to solve a problem while others sit here saying "welp I guess we just foul a lot".
I'm just unfortunately being the the one to throw cold water on this idea because his system simply wouldn't be allowed. Hed have 7 players fouled out with 2 TV timeouts left.
I mean this is basically a thread to make a thread.... in zero universes this happens.
We might seriously need to consider snatching up one of his elite assistants tho for next year. We all knew defense wasn’t popes strong area, but u can’t be this bad. It’s gonna be decent atleast and it’s been anything but that
It was awful early & has visibly improved. I don't need a stat to tell me. I've watched the defense improve immensely. Do they still have to get better? Yes! But playing Alabama is not the measuring stick. Very gifted offensive team. #1 in the country.
You guys are aware alabama is the top scoring team in the country and played in the final four last year, no?
UK has beat 5 top 15 teams this year. Houston beat UCF by 1 today, oh and they also lost to Alabama.
UK has beat 5 top 15 teams this year. Houston beat UCF by 1 today, oh and they also lost to Alabama.
Visibly improved lately huh. Was it the 100 points given up to Florida that makes u say that or the 90 given up to miss st?
22 entire points different in KenPom. Bro, you answered your own question. Better defense than last year with far inferior athletes. We will be fine, don’t overreact to this loss. Alabama is really good
I mean if you wanna win 65-63 we can bring can bring cal back. I’d rather win 106-100 any day of the week and I’d say most on here would. You spew negative 24-7. I mean it was the top two offensive teams in the county, wtf did you expect? We did enough to win, we just didn’t capitalize but we’re due to lose a ranked game eventually.
I don't think this post is specifically about what happened this game. I think everyone realizes that Alabama is a very good offensive team.
It's what's happened in the past several years.
We've just not been a good defensive team. Years under Cal and now this year under Pope.
As far as beating top 15 teams, no one is saying we are bad overall. But those games were won in large part on the offense, not the defense. It's why we have a top 5 offense and a defense that's creeping under 100th.
Eh I'm not sure you can really do it that way.
2024 Defense Efficiency = 102.9
2025 Defense Efficiency = 101.7
There's not really a major gap there between last year and this year.
This team is very much in the same vein as last year with an elite offense and a poor defense.
The positive to take from that is that it did in fact net us a 3 seed last season and could very well do the same this season. I think most would sign up for that.
But no, this defense is still very bad. We've given up nearly 1.20 points per possession on defense in conference play. That's dead last. That's 16th out of 16 teams. That's not going to work.
We did Enough to win??????? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day. We did enough offensively to win yes. That’s never been a debate
I didn’t say it was good. I said it is better than last year’s. Then you post efficiency numbers showing that is better. Lol. We all want better defense but I’m not sure this team is capable of becoming a really good defensive team. In short, let’s not argue over granular details like you stressed the vowel too much…pronounce it like this. The defense is better with far worse athletes. That’s not a bold statement, it’s the facts for now (but subject to change as we could get worse defensively or better).
We are a good team. But no team is gonna win 6 games in a row in the tournament with poor defense. Or even 3-4 games in a row in the sec tournament with poor defense. They’ve gotta start showing they can dig in and get stops late. And that means force a missed shot PLUS get the rebound
in addition to Sampson, let’s bring Pitino back to help with free throws and Cal back just to recruit
The point being is it's a neglectable difference.
It's 1 point over 100 possessions lol.
I still think you’re missing that my point is that we are better, if even barely, with worse athletes. The point wasn’t that we are the 04 Pistons
Rob dillingham is an all time elite athlete but the worst defender I’ve ever seen. So that really didn’t matter
The point is being slightly better than last year isn't really something to hang their hat on.
The bar wasn't set very high last season lol.
If I was the 350th best offense last season and this year I was ranked 320th, that's technically better.......but my offense still sucks. It just sucks a tiny bit less lol.
To get where we want to go this season, that number can't be sub 100 like it was last year.......but it can't be I dunno 80th. it still needs to be better.
And frankly when it's as small as 1 point per 100 possessions I tend to think that's basically the same thing. When numbers are THAT CLOSE.
We are also slightly better on D to a more experienced roster. Last year's team had 6 freshmen it had to rely on at times and it didn't go well.
We both know what I mean. You cherry picked Rob. Is DJ Wagner a better athlete? Ugonna Onyenso? Adou Thiero? Reed Sheppard? Etc. people argue just to be arguing as if it isn’t abundantly obvious we have an athleticism deficit compared to last year.
Last season we gave up 1.09 ppp in conference play
This season we are at 1.20 ppp.
The SEC is a better conference this season but not to the tune of 0.11 ppp.
This season we are at 1.20 ppp.
The SEC is a better conference this season but not to the tune of 0.11 ppp.
Whoosh. Chalking this up to post loss frustration. People will argue over the smallest things without even trying to understand the point. Lol
The defense is what it is. It’s not going to consistently be good with this roster. Carr, Perry, Almonor, Brea and Robinson are all bad defenders. Williams and Garrison are average shot blockers. These are juniors and seniors, they are what they are. Just hope you outscore and not give up 90-100.
Kentucky does not have the athletes to compete defensively against teams like Alabama. I mean, it could be better, but you can only do so much. I do expect max effort like Bama played with, and at times, Kentucky did not.
I'm not sure anyone is really all that concerned with a good offensive team like Bama coming in and doing well on offense. Or even Florida for that matter. There's a lot of good SEC teams this season. Lots of them are very good on offense. They are going to put up big numbers.
We still need to be better tho if we want to do well in March. We have an offense that can really match up with anyone. If we can get just 10% better on defense, we can go on a run.
For sure we need to figure out Rebounding on a daily basis. We need to have someone teach guys how to stay in front of their man, we need to teach guys which players on the other team you cannot leave open from 3 and so forth. I am sure this coaching staff that works 100% off stats, is doing all they can, I am sure most of the guys are giving 100% on both sides of the ball. Other players are not giving 100% effort the whole game. We need guys to go balls out for whatever stretch of playing time they can, get a break, go back 100%. Does not help this team to keep guys in at 50 or 75% due to tiredness or what ever. Again I know we have several hurt and it will be good to get back healthy.
Alabama on the season has rebounded 37.3% of their misses.
Today, they rebounded.......37.5% of their misses.
I don't think that's bad. We rebounded 32% of ours. It wasn't a large difference.
Us fouling and them getting to the line and knocking down 85% of their free throws = difference.
Today, they rebounded.......37.5% of their misses.
I don't think that's bad. We rebounded 32% of ours. It wasn't a large difference.
Us fouling and them getting to the line and knocking down 85% of their free throws = difference.