Oscar Tshiebwe says players are not always in the spots where John Calipari wants them to be on offense. (Vicky Graff Photo)
One thing about Oscar Tshiebwe is that he is brutally honest, so when he explains what has been wrong with the Kentucky offense he does not mince words.
“I think the problem with the offense — we just gotta be exactly where Coach wants us to be,” he said while admitting at times he’s not been in sync with teammates in the half court offense. “Come in and tell me what we’re running so I can position myself. I gotta be in the right place.
“For us, sometimes, we’re just not in the right place. Sometimes, even me, I struggle, because I run so fast, and I get there. The gym is loud — if Sahvir (Wheeler) calls something, I don’t know what we’re running.”
If last season’s unanimous national player of the year doesn’t know what the offense is running in late December, that’s a huge problem that requires more than just the “tweak” coach John Calipari says he has added recently.
“If we put ourselves in a position where we’re always where Coach wants us to be, I think it would make it easy,” Tshiebwe added. “Most of the time, we (aren’t) in the right places and positions.”
Tshiebwe said Calipari has been a “little bit tough” on all the players recently trying to get them on the same page.
“He was jumping around. We were like, ‘Wow, he’s about to get me,’” Tshiebwe said about one recent team film session
Calipari has also been preaching patience with the players in the half-court offense.
“We’re not patient,” Jacob Toppin said. “I feel like, if we get an offensive rebound, we’re trying to put it back in instead of running another offensive play. We just have to have more patience offensively, and we’ll get better at that.”
3 Responses
Under Calipari UK has consistently underperformed with superior talent. If you have the number one recruiting class in the country each year, shouldn’t you be in the final four consistently? The X factor is coaching. He hasn’t won a single NCAA tournament game since 2020. His only championship came over a decade ago with upperclassmen he inherited from Billy Gillispie. When will the UK faithful get hip to this snake oil salesman?
Also “not buying it”
Calipari is the problem
The problem with Calipari’s offense is the out-dated grind it out, pick and roll. Wheeler stands out front bouncing the ball for 15 seconds and if a player doesn’t break open, he drives to the basket. Sometimes he scores, sometimes he makes an assist, but half of the time he takes a wild shot or makes a wild pass that kills the possession. This team too 47 shots today. That is not enough to keep everyone happy. We need to run more, look for quicker shots, and up the shot total to somewhere around 60 to 65 shots a game. The uptempo requires more substitution at quicker intervals and this would give more PT to the second 5. It will also require more discipline to get back on defense, but we have 10 kids who can play, so fatigue and foul trouble shouldn’t be issues. This is how Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, and Tennessee are playing. Calipari needs to stop F’ing with these kids heads and let them play.
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