I know the offense will score. Make us an elite defensive unit. Make teams dread seeing us, this is the key to cutting down the nets.
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Please Pope
- Thread starter bleedsblue5
- Start date
Once JQ returns this UK team will have the best defensive center in the country, one of the elite defensive fours(MoD), and several elite defensive perimeter players(Aberdine, Oweh, Williams, Chandler). If our coach knows how to coach defense(I think he does), then this will be an elite defensive team. That doesn't mean we'll hold teams in the sixties since our style of play rules that out; I'm talking defensive efficiency.
Defense was solid (not elite) last year despite the lack of athleticism. I fully expect this team to be a meat grinder almost by default.
I think we have the length, athleticism, and meanness to switch constantly and still have great matchups. We've also got the depth to get a bit chippy and play with a little piss and vinegar.
Looking forward to the season. We get our first taste of UKMBB next month.
Well, i thought our defense was terrible for a good chunk of the season.
But it DID start to improve rather rapidly the last 10 games or so.
We were just sitting back and letting teams pick us apart for too long. And by the time Pope realized it wasn’t going to work and made the adjustments it was too late and we were too depleted because of injuries.
The good news is, unlike the previous regime he wasn’t too arrogant to question his principles and eventually DID make the changes. If that carries over to this season and we start off more aggressive on that end we won’t have much excuse to not be elite on defense given the drastic increase in physical ability in the roster from last season.
But it DID start to improve rather rapidly the last 10 games or so.
We were just sitting back and letting teams pick us apart for too long. And by the time Pope realized it wasn’t going to work and made the adjustments it was too late and we were too depleted because of injuries.
The good news is, unlike the previous regime he wasn’t too arrogant to question his principles and eventually DID make the changes. If that carries over to this season and we start off more aggressive on that end we won’t have much excuse to not be elite on defense given the drastic increase in physical ability in the roster from last season.
We can throw out a lineup full of lockdown defenders who aren’t liabilities, offensively. And, really, most guys on the roster are pretty solid, defensively. Tons of size, length & athleticism regardless of the lineup combinations.
The versatility of this roster is insane & we’ll have the ability to match up against any style of play. But, for example, a grouping of Aberdeen, Oweh, Williams, Dioubate & JQ would be lights out on the defensive end without compromising the spacing/scoring/shooting too much. I actually think the defense & depth will be the biggest strengths of this team, though.
The versatility of this roster is insane & we’ll have the ability to match up against any style of play. But, for example, a grouping of Aberdeen, Oweh, Williams, Dioubate & JQ would be lights out on the defensive end without compromising the spacing/scoring/shooting too much. I actually think the defense & depth will be the biggest strengths of this team, though.
No excuses this year...all we heard last season the reason we were *** on defense is because we didn't have the overall team quickness and athleticism...We have all that this year, so if we suck again, it's on Pope. We'll see if he can actually coach defense this season. How good or bad on defense we are will determine if he will make it long term here imo
Last year was like a mid major all star team. This year we’ve got power five starters coming in.
