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Sean Woods did not play with Mark Pope at Kentucky but he knows plenty about Pope and closely watched his first season as UK’s head coach.
Woods, one of “The Unforgettables” who played for coach Rick Pitino, liked what Pope did to get UK to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 with a new roster but he does think Pope has to make one change in year two.
“He has to change on the defensive end,” Woods, who has over 20 years of college coaching experience and will coach LaFamilia in the TBT, said. “Starting off he has got to hone in on teaching defense.
“I know that is not his forte, but he has got to put more emphasis on defense than last year. I think he thought he could out offense SEC teams and shoot 3’s and outscore them. Now he realizes how tough and physical the SEC is because Kentucky got embarrassed in some games last year.
“This year he has brought in tough, physical guys that come from big-time programs. They may not shoot the ball as well but they will be tougher and more physical which is what you need in the SEC.”
7 Responses
This team should be much better defensively than last year. To improve, you must first have players with the ability to play defense. On paper, this team looks to have the athletes to be very good defensively. The next thing you must have is players with the will, and that one is a wait and see.
You nailed a major key to defense –
the will, the desire, the heart.
A part of that is to play for the “UK” on their jersey.
Playing defense and playing Team First ball are directly proportional to how much playing FOR UK means the player.
Now we know there will be a 15 players limit roster for basketball as we been discussing all along. This will give back the walk on a chance to be included on the roster.
This might be the best defensive team we’ve seen at Kentucky in a very long time. During Cals time we mainly had 5* freshman usually they are very bad at defense from playing AAU ball. This years team has experience and youth that blend together perfectly. Our starting 5 of Lowe/Oweh/Mo-D/JQ/Garrison might be the best starting 5 we’ve ever seen on the defensive end. All 5 guys have great defense. Lowe has above average defense but it can improve alot. All 5 starters can play defense and score. They might even be better defensively than offensively this year. Last year was a team full of scorers. We lacked defense last year besides Oweh Butler and Williams. Butler was hurt all year so he wasn’t even able to defend as great as he was at it. This year we are scary athletic and even better defensively. Kam Williams is also a great defender. JQ if he comes back 100% will be the best defensive big man in the country. Oweh could be one of the best defensive guards in the country. Mo-D will shut any wing down. The one thing I can see happening to this team is us going cold from 3. Williams Chandler Johnson Noah and Potter might be our best 3 point shooters. If Oweh and Lowe both improve there 3 point shooting we will hang banner #9.
I don’t get the 15 player roster move. You practice with 10 and you play 8; 10 if someone fouls out or gets hurt. Now there will be no more redshirting, but that means there will be 5 guys who have nothing to do at practice unless someone gets hurt. Even in that event the most any kid in the surplus 5 will ever get to do is be on the practice team. Kids are hitting the transfer portal because they were in the second group of 5, even if they saw significant playing time…Aberdeen and Dioubate are examples of that. Why? The starters are the ones getting the big NIL money. Kids 6-8 don’t do bad, but everyone wants to play and everyone wants to get paid. How do you keep 15 kids happy?
It’s a shame that we now pay cash to kids to get a college education and represent an institute of their choice. Out lesson now is money first and the rest be hanged. The transfer rules need to atleas be changed to one transfer only and pay back the institution if you leave it. Let’s at least instill some morals in these people and teach obligory lesson’s.
I think he will play 10-12 players, with no one getting much more than 20 minutes and most under 20.