Pros and Cons

[shadow force]

I missed a lot of the 2nd half so I didn't see some things the team did obviously but these are maybe some areas of concern so far. And no I don't mean the sky is falling just some observations.

CONS:

*Heavy reliance On 3 pointers. Making them at a good clip makes the team high scoring and hard to stop but if the team is off from 3 against a great opponent it could be trouble.

*Front Court is the biggest weakness though they give the opponent a tough assignment to guard since they can handle and shoot outside.

*Interior defense/Rebounding. Gave up 32 points inside but Its tough playing 5 out to get rebounds.

*How will they handle a talented, beefy post player inside?

*Got kinda sloppy and discombobulated in the 2nd.

PROS:

*Outside shooting was tremendous for the most part though some 3s were a bit rushed

*Really good ball movement/passing/player movement/spacing and sharing the ball. Not a bunch of one on one throw up prayers against defense shots.

*Very deep team.

*Good overall hustle. Great to see after the walking up the court and low energy/effort of the last few seasons.

*Looks like they are prepared and well coached

*CPK and Assistant coaches all looked alive and engaged on the bench.

*Fun, fast pace, exciting style of basketball to watch

 

[nccardfan]

Yeah, it is really hard to evaluate a team based on these exhibitions especially if the talent level is not on the same level. Yes, I do wonder how our post defense will be against bigger post players but we do have good depth with size. My biggest takeway is that Kelsey was able to experiment with a bunch of different lineups which will help him figure what players should be on the floor together depending on what we need to do. And of course, the energy of the coaching staff!!

 

[shadow force]

That's definitely true about it being hard to judge/evaluate from these exhibition games against inferior talent.

Kelsey hasn't been known for his defense so I'm curious to see how it holds up when they play teams like #12 Tennessee which is very soon.

They let Young Harris College score a bunch of paint points and had some trouble stopping paint penetration. I'm sure CPK will make adjustments but we'll see. Though the way they pass and shoot the 3 makes them hard to stop. This should he a very high scoring and fast paced UofL team.

 

[EKYCard643]

That game wasn't a true indication of the style this team will play. I don't think we will get anywhere close to attempting 56 3s in a single game.

Kelsey's teams are typically near the top at shots taken and we will likely see somewhere around 60-66 shots per game and at that rate we will likely attempt around 30 3s.

There's a level of defense that you sacrifice to play at the pace that Kelsey will play. If you look at Ken Poms adjusted tempo stats you can see that of the top 50 highest tempo teams there were only 7 ranked inside the top 100 in adjusted defensive efficiency, only 4 ranked inside the top 50 and only 2 ranked inside the top 10 - Arizona and UNC.

The way I look at this UofL team is that James Scott is our rim protector. He's probably not someone you'd label as a defensive stopper, but he is someone that should find success coming out of nowhere to block shots. Pryor and Waterman's primary role - to me at least - is to annoy the opposing bigs just enough to make it difficult. They aren't lock down defenders or the sort of players to body an opponent up and stop them. They are there make sure that getting the ball in the paint is annoying. This team should outshoot and outlast 99% of the teams the play with their depth and scoring ability. So just slowing down opponents in the paint should be enough to win most of the time.

 

[Cardiac Red]

I think CPFK was content to just let the guys run with it in that game. I think going forward you'll start to see their true identity, although, I think depending on opponent and style of play we can play at a different pace as needed.

It's very hard to judge a team against a far inferior opponent but I think this team is going to be really good

I'm just glad that we're no longer the far inferior opponent.!! 😄

 

[AnotherCFD]

They didn’t apply help defense so they could work on stopping penetration and not leave anybody for an open three. Coaches actually work on different things in these games that most don’t see. As for shooting threes, Kelsey said it on his radio show, they gave us threes so we took them.

 

[2330859]

I see some parallel between CPK’s perspective of the game, to that of Pitino’s UK team using Masburn in the middle, with 4 perimeter shooters forcing the defense to guard the 3 point line. UK was successful getting the ball inside to Mashburn when the 3 was not open.

If we can find an inside presence as viable option, this 3 point emphasis can work against any opponent when the ball rotation is effective.

There is no question that any team relying on the 3, will win some and lose some along the way, but emphasizing the 3 provides an opportunity to beat anyone when the shots are going in.

 

[nccardfan]

I see some parallel between CPK’s perspective of the game, to that of Pitino’s UK team using Masburn in the middle, with 4 perimeter shooters forcing the defense to guard the 3 point line. UK was successful getting the ball inside to Mashburn when the 3 was not open.

If we can find an inside presence as viable option, this 3 point emphasis can work against any opponent when the ball rotation is effective.

There is no question that any team relying on the 3, will win some and lose some along the way, but emphasizing the 3 provides an opportunity to beat anyone when the shots are going in.

Actually Mashburn was the leading scorer in 2 of 3 of those seasons. He was the primary scorer. That's not what Kelsey wants to do or at least I don't see our post player as our leading scorer.

 

[EKYCard643]

I'm curious to see how James Scott develops. He's the wild card on this roster for me. His development could impact their play on both offense and defense.

If Scott develops quickly and forces himself onto the court, you'll have a lengthy, athletic big who can block shots and run the floor but has limited ball-handling skills and no shooting ability. I couldn't watch the exhibition and didn't get to see any sort of rotation patterns, but Scott's minutes likely come at the expense of Waterman and Pryor. It also depends on how big or small PK wants to go with the lineup. Hadley, Traore, and Edwards are all big enough to play the Forward spots.

Pryor/Waterman/Hadley/Edwards/Chucky allows for us to go balls to the wall with size, shooting, and ball handling from all 5 spots.
Scott/Traore/Hadley/Johnson/Chucky allow us to play tight defense.
Pryor/Hadley/Edwards/Johnson/Chucky allow us to attack the basketball and have shooters.
Pryor/Waterman/Edwards/Reyne/Koren allow us to go lights out from 3.

 

[shadow force]

I'm curious to see how James Scott develops. He's the wild card on this roster for me. His development could impact their play on both offense and defense.

If Scott develops quickly and forces himself onto the court, you'll have a lengthy, athletic big who can block shots and run the floor but has limited ball-handling skills and no shooting ability. I couldn't watch the exhibition and didn't get to see any sort of rotation patterns, but Scott's minutes likely come at the expense of Waterman and Pryor. It also depends on how big or small PK wants to go with the lineup. Hadley, Traore, and Edwards are all big enough to play the Forward spots.

Pryor/Waterman/Hadley/Edwards/Chucky allows for us to go balls to the wall with size, shooting, and ball handling from all 5 spots.
Scott/Traore/Hadley/Johnson/Chucky allow us to play tight defense.
Pryor/Hadley/Edwards/Johnson/Chucky allow us to attack the basketball and have shooters.
Pryor/Waterman/Edwards/Reyne/Koren allow us to go lights out from 3.

One of my favorite things about this team is how versatile and deep it is. So many lineup combinations can be used depending on need and match ups.

Anselem-Ibe probably won't get that much PT but he's another 5 fouls inside if the Cards run into a big post center player.

 

[achilles992000]

Morehead State was 26-9 last year and made the tournament. so we will get tested early.
we have been playing sloppy in the second halves. seems like that is something to clean up.

 

[shadow force]

Morehead State was 26-9 last year and made the tournament. so we will get tested early.
we have been playing sloppy in the second halves. seems like that is something to clean up.

The very next game after that is #12 Tennessee. Not much time, if any, to tune up and iron out things like with a usual OOC schedule.

 

[2330859]

We do not have a Mashburn level player on this roster, but finding an effective offensive interior presence is not beyond the realm of possibility for PK to develop before the ACC season begins. I suspect he is considering that as one way to compliment his perimeter oriented team.

 

[LeFors4Ever]

Morehead State was 26-9 last year and made the tournament. so we will get tested early.
we have been playing sloppy in the second halves. seems like that is something to clean up.

Think they lost their coach and most of their roster if I’m not mistaken. Wouldn’t put too much into last year.