Tyler Davis' effort is the expectation for every player.
Too many guys taking plays off. If they'll all fight like Tyler, well be fine.

And if I see Vila turn the ball over and then not run the floor to defend his error one more time, I'm going to lose my mind. Effort, son!!!

How about free throws and defending the three.

And Hogg stepping up and growing a pair....

txag614 said:

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There's three constants of the BK era.

1) Can't shoot FT's

2) Can't defend the three

3) No capable PG

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We had 'capable' PG play last season. You don't win 28 games, a conference championship, and a NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance without some decent lead guard play.

Method Man said:

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Agreed pumpkin that bad FT shooting and poor strategy defending the 3pt line persist.

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Logan has discussed that 3-point thing at times. Apparently Kennedy's preference in man-to-man is often a 'packline defense'. Which by design tries to discourage opponents from penetrating and getting inside the paint, trying to force them instead to try to beat you with outside shooting.

So encouraging opponents to take 3-point shots has apparently often been by design. However, even if playing packline, it is still important that defenders close out hard on shooters.

Last season's team finished #9 nationally in defensive efficiency on Kenpom. Allowing 91.4 points per 100 possessions. That was comparatively 'elite' defense to other programs across the country. I think describing the strategy of defending the 3pt line 'poor' when you finish top-10 in defensive efficiency holds no water.

Do posters realize how HARD it is for a school not named Kentucky to finish first in the SEC since the Calipari era started over there? That is just as impressive as finishing first in SEC West in football with Saban at Bama. I think John Thornton during one of the games mentioned how he felt some Aggie fans don't seem to fully appreciate how impressive that accomplishment last year was. That it didn't seem to really 'sink in' with some of the fan base.

Here are the basketball programs in the SEC who have won a conference championship since calipari came to Kentucky:

2010 Kentucky
2011 Florida
2012 Kentucky
2013 Florida
2014 Florida
2015 Kentucky
2016 Kentucky/Texas A&M

So Billy Donovan and Billy Kennedy have been the only two head basketball coaches thus far to rain on Calipari's parade. That was damn impressive last season what A&M basketball pulled off. I certainly wouldn't hold your breath on any specific SEC coach (whether Pearl, Howland, Avery Johnson, White, whomever) eventually accomplishing what Kennedy accomplished last year. One of them eventually might, but it is damn hard to pull off.

Method Man said:

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fmp3 said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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I think describing the strategy of defending the 3pt line 'poor' when you finish top-10 in defensive efficiency holds no water.

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Whoa. Might have to rethink my position.

I was under the impression that the use of common sense was forbidden on this site.

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I've said it's not the worst strategy

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You opined that it was a 'poor' strategy.

Method Man said:

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Ok. It's not the best strategy IMO to give the other team open 3s and have 2-3 guys crash on someone driving.

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I don't think the 'packline' strategy premise is to just give wide open threes. Guys are still supposed to close out on shooters on the perimeter.

But #9 out of #351 teams last year was an excellent defensive ranking. Saying it is poor or 'not the worst'...I will just assume that you recognize the defensive strategy can work fine and it is just a personal preference thing with you.

Method Man said:

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Did anyone notice Tyler is shooting his FTs with way higher arc? Seems different than last year.

Also, I saw plenty of open people last year Pumpkinhead. We had some great defensive efforts but I don't like the way Kennedy coaches it. Pick any game and we can watch it and count how many looks are open. I notice it every game so maybe I'm too focused on it.

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Method, you can watch virtually every game on a given Saturday and find teams getting open shots throughout the game if you look for it. Just like virtually every team goes through a period of bad play that the opponent takes advantage of at some point during a game. Texags just seems to dwell on those phases of the game. It happens in basketball to all teams at all levels.

I've been critical of our perimeter defense as well, but the truth is that it's really good most of the time.

We do a few things really well. We make players who don't like taking a lot of shots to take a lot of shots, and we make them do it from spots on the floor they don't want to shoot from.

It's very by-the-numbers, and it works, again, most of the time. Where I have a hard time is it seems like we're slow to adjust when some player goes One Shining Moment on us. That strategy is probably still playing the numbers. Regression to the mean and all that, but sometimes it seems like it would be better for your team emotionally to go ahead and adjust and lock that guy down.

But Kennedy's strategy is what it is, and for the most part it works really well, if you're going to beat us, it's probably not going to be your best player doing it, and it almost definitely isn't going to be from inside the paint.