Former UK All-American Jack Givens likes the older roster Mark Pope has with players like Otega Oweh and Kerr Kriisa. (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky Radio Network basketball analyst Jack Givens saw a “whole bunch of men as opposed to the 18-year-olds we’ve seen coming in” when he went to his first UK basketball practice with new coach Mark Pope.
Givens joined Tom Leach on The Leach Report recently and the former UK All-American admitted he was excited with the experience Pope has on his team.
“The guys that are big and strong and know how to use it, they’re quick and don’t waste any motion, they know what needs to be done. I noticed that very quickly about this team — and that’s a good thing,” Givens told Leach.
He liked the way the older players talked a lot even in practice.
“That’s going to be a good thing,” Givens said. “I saw a lot of really, really good players, but I haven’t yet seen a really good team. There’s a difference. It’s going to take some time.
“Everybody right now is in that trying to be nice stage, and teams go through it. They want to pass the ball, want to get the ball to this guy and that guy, want to make sure everybody is involved.”
Givens said Pope’s offense is built around getting the ball to midcourt in three seconds and if you have an open shot, shoot it.
“That keeps the defense from having time to get set up. You can’t zone this team when the offense is really working,” Givens said.
8 Responses
I would rather have 7 really good players than 3 great players. Last year Kentucky had 3 great players and 2 of them were freshman. This year I see 7 really good guys and a couple more that could start for any team in the nation. Our top end is not as good as last year, but we are alot more deep this year. Our bigs are better this year and our guards are about the same as last year. The difference between a Kriisa and Dillingham is you won’t see as much selfish play at times. I think this year’s team is night and day better than last year’s team. We had the worst defense I’ve ever seen here at Kentucky. Yes our offense was very good but our defense was so bad that it offset the offense. We have a top 10 defense this year and our offense is almost just as good. The thing that sets this team apart from last year is we have a ton of experience. We’ve got guys who’s been to the championship game. We’ve got guys who have been on great teams. Butler Oweh Jackson Carr and Garrison will probably be the starting 5. It will be a toss up between Kriisa and Butler. We will be running so much both of them will get quality minutes. Brea will back up the 2 and 3. Chandler will also log some minutes. Alomonor will backup Carr and Williams and Garrison will alternate. Maybe Perry gets in and knocks a couple of 3s down. I think Noah is the odd man out. You might even be able to redshirt him this year.
Everybody is new to Kentucky and to their credit, they all are respectful of the skill that each one brings to the floor. Playing Duke in Atlanta will be our first benchmark game. Pope’s focused practices should have us ready for from an X and O standpoint, but on a team full of alphas it may take a game like Duke to bring out the biggest of the big dogs. Our first true road game test comes the first week of December when we play Clemson and Gonzaga on their floors. Even if it takes playing Ohio State and Louisville to fully come together as a team, that will have us ready for SEC play which is going to be a gauntlet. Playing through such a tough schedule will produce a team that should do well in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments. I think we will hold our own in year 1, but year 2 will be better, and year 3 will give us a clear picture of what we can expect from Mark Pope teams going forward.
COACH Mark Pope will be making the decisions about who plays the most. He will decide whether Perry & Noah are just “also-rans” or will play some significant minutes to fully benefit from the talented UK depth.
UK has never had a National Champion team without a KY born player being a key contributor. This team can only reach its highest peak with the impact & influence which Perry & Noah add to the TEAM.
History is a great teacher to an open mind. Pope will never turn a blind eye to history-making recruits out of KY!
Great comments by Jack. We absolutely have no where to go but up on defense compared to last year…and we will and then some. The offense will be as good if not better. Definitely a more experienced and stronger team from top to bottom. Will be a ton of fun to watch them.
I like this team the biggest Williams an garrison good rebounders that’ll help them run Williams get the ball out quick great passer , just have to see how some can improve on defense but definitely better defense than last yr .
If Pope signs the kid from New Zealand…watch out!!!
Not going to get too excited … Remember Big Z did not save a season
It turns out that Halaifouna is looking at North Carolina now. Apparently, he thought we were too solid in the frontcourt for him to get the PT he wanted. This could very well mean that no highly skilled player will want to be scholarship No. 13; not that we need anything to complete this team. Maybe there is a project kid who wants to play for Kentucky and would be open to redshirting his first year. It’s going to be hard enough to dole out enough minutes to keep a 12 man rotation happy. Talk about redshirting Perry is ludicrous; he is our best 3 point shooter. Chandler is too old to consider a redshirt year and none of the upper classmen will do so either. That leaves Noah. I am not sure that redshirting just one guy will solve the minutes problem. I hope all 12 stay active and let them compete for PT. Barring foul trouble or injury, the best team of 5 gets 24 minutes each; a big, a wing, and a guard get 16 minutes each; the remaining 4 guys eat up the remaining 32 minutes based on matchups, foul trouble, score, effort in practice, or injury. Or the last 4 could simply get 8 minutes each. Would that keep 12 kids happy; I don’t know. Remember the Poythress injury on the 2015 team…let’s hope that doesn’t happen again, but this team is built to withstand such misfortune.