Getting Healthy

[Pobilly]

JQ will be great when he gets back into playing regularly. It will take time. The key for this team is to keep Lowe on the court. We are a completely different team when he is playing.

Coming back at this time of the year, where you have 1 game a week is good as he can play in a game, day of rest, practice a couple of days, rest his knee and so forth.

I did not see the game, so do not know if he tired easily or anything like that. I did watch one set of highlights and could not tell much from highlight clip. one thing is for sure, the guys playing this year in his stead can put up or shut up now. BG did not seem to get many minutes. MM seemed to shine early in each half. He is developing nicely and could be a good 1-2 punch with JQ.

[Catsrock]

Pope certainly played him more minutes than he intended to yesterday. He had played 2 or 3 very short stints. He was taken out for Moreno at one point. Moreno fouled immediately. Was his 4th foul so JQ came right back in and stayed a good while. If he fatigued it didn’t show. Still doubt he’ll play 30 minutes against Bellarmine as it won’t be needed. But I think he’ll be up to speed fairly soon based on what we saw yesterday.

[Mr.Nezzer]

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Cats won Saturday night. It felt good to watch that. But, I didn't see anything that made me think they'd turned a corner, so to speak. They played hard. I liked that. But they still shot 38% and 3-15 from deep. That's not going to get it done, night in and night out. They were outrebounded and missed 13 free throws as well. And no, I'm not doom and gloom all the time!!

The Cats shot 46% for the game(54% in the second half) and were 18 of 22 from the line(14 of 16 in the second half) yes they were 4 of 16 from 3pt land but still made adjustments and came out in the second half hold SJ to 34 points while scoring 53. They also out reboundsd SJ 39 to 28.

Do they still need work, of course. JQ needs more PT with the rest of the Cats to get dial in on where people will be on the floor. Lowe needs to protect that shoulder. Pope needs to develop some curl routes or screens for Chandler/Noah/Kam to be open. So no the problems are not " solved" but they are being worked on

[bucsrule8872]

The Cats shot 46% for the game(54% in the second half) and were 18 of 22 from the line(14 of 16 in the second half) yes they were 4 of 16 from 3pt land but still made adjustments and came out in the second half hold SJ to 34 points while scoring 53. They also out reboundsd SJ 39 to 28.

Do they still need work, of course. JQ needs more PT with the rest of the Cats to get dial in on where people will be on the floor. Lowe needs to protect that shoulder. Pope needs to develop some curl routes or screens for Chandler/Noah/Kam to be open. So no the problems are not " solved" but they are being worked on

4 of 16 is not good, but not terrible, and the Johnson toe on the line would have made it 5 of 17 or 29%, which is closer to respectable.

I think the key is to keep our attempts from 3 down around 15 or so a game, with the right guys taking them.

We do not need to be chucking up 3’s at break neck speed, and the guys that need to be taking them are Chandler (capable, good form, should be knocking them down more consistently), Williams (finding his rhythm finally), Johnson, Aberdeen, and occasionally Lowe and Oweh. Dioubate and Quaintance need to operate in the paint. Garrison can shoot on occasion just to stretch the defense.

Overall, the offense needs to be transition layups or good open shots. This team needs to be patient in the half court. Push it and if you can’t get the transition break easy score, pull it out and work methodically to get a good shot.

This is a defensive team with a good offensive coach, if he can teach them to run a good offense, this team could be hard to beat.

But everything hinges on our health, especially Lowe’s.

[Catsrock]

4 of 16 is not good, but not terrible, and the Johnson toe on the line would have made it 5 of 17 or 29%, which is closer to respectable.

I think the key is to keep our attempts from 3 down around 15 or so a game, with the right guys taking them.

We do not need to be chucking up 3’s at break neck speed, and the guys that need to be taking them are Chandler (capable, good form, should be knocking them down more consistently), Williams (finding his rhythm finally), Johnson, Aberdeen, and occasionally Lowe and Oweh. Dioubate and Quaintance need to operate in the paint. Garrison can shoot on occasion just to stretch the defense.

Overall, the offense needs to be transition layups or good open shots. This team needs to be patient in the half court. Push it and if you can’t get the transition break easy score, pull it out and work methodically to get a good shot.

This is a defensive team with a good offensive coach, if he can teach them to run a good offense, this team could be hard to beat.

But everything hinges on our health, especially Lowe’s.

Agreed. This is not a good shooting team. To think they’re going to just morph into a good shooting team would be a pipe dream. But with some coaching they can certainly become dangerous. By that I just mean lean on their strengths. Sure, work on your weaknesses. But lean on your strengths.

[bucsrule8872]

Agreed. This is not a good shooting team. To think they’re going to just morph into a good shooting team would be a pipe dream. But with some coaching they can certainly become dangerous. By that I just mean lean on their strengths. Sure, work on your weaknesses. But lean on your strengths.

Always heard you need at least two adquate 3 point shooters on the floor minimum to keep the defense honest.

Our best lineup has Williams and Oweh, both decent shooters. Williams is getting better and Oweh makes more than he should with a jacked up shot (got an ugly hitch in it). Lowe could be a decent shooter as well. Dioubate and Quaintance need to stay planted in the paint and just grab every miss those three throw up.

The second unit has capable shooters. Aberdeen, Johnson, and Chandler should be able to knock down some shots. Garrison is decent, but shouldn’t be attempting more than one or two a game. Garrison and Moreno should stay in the paint mostly.

Teams are going to bring out their best zones when they play us and just dare us to shoot. That scares me, but I am hoping our defense and rebounding balances out the lack of shooting.

Pope coaching a team that thrives in rock fights. Who would’ve thunk it?

[KentuckyWild2020]

Rumor is, we may be adding another point guard at the break via overseas.

My starting 5 right now would be

Lowe
Oweh
Williams
Dioubate
JQ

Chandler 6th man off the bench at 1/2/ or 3.
Aberdeen at 1/2 or 3, preferably 2 or 3
Johnson 1 and 2
4 and 5 by committee Moreno Garrison.

Brings me to AJ. Admittedly, I don't think he fits into this teams plans for whatever reason? Maybe he has a attitude problem, maybe he's getting punished for being a late arrival, I don't know. Prior to the season, I assumed he would be a big part of this season based off skill sets, shooting, etc. Nobody can deny he actually defended Wilson from Carolina and kept him in check, one of the best players in the entire nation. Shooting percentage hasn't been great but I do think it's a combination of trying to force shots and not really having that Andrew Carr role many like myself expected. I still think he can shoot, great form, shots just haven't been falling but unfortunately, looks like he is the odd man out. Some say he's been sick, some say he has some transfer issues they want to get cleared up before he plays again but who knows? One thing for sure, he's not playing.

The way Lowe finally showed up on Saturday and with the JQ being way better than I thought, I actually think this whole thing gets turned around. The pieces are here right now, just not 35 threes a game and finesse. Smash mouth physical defensive basketball with driving and attacking the basket, been seeing that for a while now.

Of course I was so freaking mad the first 15 minutes of the St. John's game I wanted the coach fired, everybody has a boiling point. Aint going to lie, was having Billy Gillispie and forgot how to coach COACH CAL flashbacks. Even had a little bit of Tubby Smith dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble some more and take a bad shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock flashback. Sorry Mark Pope has had to go through all this, he's a great family man and really is committed to the cause, takes these loses tougher than us fans do, i believe that.

Once the second half of the St. John's game started, something special happened. Oweh went on a 5-0 run followed by JQ absolutely changing the game on both ends of the floor, then Lowe started going off. Just like that, this aint the same team we saw the first 10 games of the season. This was a last year Florida game type of run that changed the season until the injuries mounted up.

Might lose every game from here on out, who knows? Still I think the formula for first 5 is set in stone now, just have to build off that.

[bucsrule8872]

Rumor is, we may be adding another point guard at the break via overseas.

My starting 5 right now would be

Lowe
Oweh
Williams
Dioubate
JQ

Chandler 6th man off the bench at 1/2/ or 3.
Aberdeen at 1/2 or 3, preferably 2 or 3
Johnson 1 and 2
4 and 5 by committee Moreno Garrison.

Brings me to AJ. Admittedly, I don't think he fits into this teams plans for whatever reason? Maybe he has a attitude problem, maybe he's getting punished for being a late arrival, I don't know. Prior to the season, I assumed he would be a big part of this season based off skill sets, shooting, etc. Nobody can deny he actually defended Wilson from Carolina and kept him in check, one of the best players in the entire nation. Shooting percentage hasn't been great but I do think it's a combination of trying to force shots and not really having that Andrew Carr role many like myself expected. I still think he can shoot, great form, shots just haven't been falling but unfortunately, looks like he is the odd man out. Some say he's been sick, some say he has some transfer issues they want to get cleared up before he plays again but who knows? One thing for sure, he's not playing.

The way Lowe finally showed up on Saturday and with the JQ being way better than I thought, I actually think this whole thing gets turned around. The pieces are here right now, just not 35 threes a game and finesse. Smash mouth physical defensive basketball with driving and attacking the basket, been seeing that for a while now.

Of course I was so freaking mad the first 15 minutes of the St. John's game I wanted the coach fired, everybody has a boiling point. Aint going to lie, was having Billy Gillispie and forgot how to coach COACH CAL flashbacks. Even had a little bit of Tubby Smith dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble some more and take a bad shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock flashback. Sorry Mark Pope has had to go through all this, he's a great family man and really is committed to the cause, takes these loses tougher than us fans do, i believe that.

Once the second half of the St. John's game started, something special happened. Oweh went on a 5-0 run followed by JQ absolutely changing the game on both ends of the floor, then Lowe started going off. Just like that, this aint the same team we saw the first 10 games of the season. This was a last year Florida game type of run that changed the season until the injuries mounted up.

Might lose every game from here on out, who knows? Still I think the formula for first 5 is set in stone now, just have to build off that.

Heard a rumor that Jelavic may have academic issues. Just rumors, though.

I agree this is a completely different team than played the first 10 games. It frustrates me when the media isn’t smart enough to understand what I did: missing three starters for the majority of your season so far is going to hurt you.

People need to understand that no matter how deep you are, you can’t just replace your starting PG, PF, and C and be a contender. JLowe and JQ are elite players. You cannot replace them with bench players.

Imagine the 12 team without Teague, Jones, and Davis.

Imagine Duke without Foster, Boozer, and Ngongba.

Imagine Michigan without Cadeau, Johnson, and Lendeborg.

I could go on, but you should get the point.

And for all the praise that JQ is getting (and rightfully so), JLowe is the most important player on this team. Without him, we are lost on offense.

[KentuckyWild2020]

Heard a rumor that Jelavic may have academic issues. Just rumors, though.

I agree this is a completely different team than played the first 10 games. It frustrates me when the media isn’t smart enough to understand what I did: missing three starters for the majority of your season so far is going to hurt you.

People need to understand that no matter how deep you are, you can’t just replace your starting PG, PF, and C and be a contender. JLowe and JQ are elite players. You cannot replace them with bench players.

Imagine the 12 team without Teague, Jones, and Davis.

Imagine Duke without Foster, Boozer, and Ngongba.

Imagine Michigan without Cadeau, Johnson, and Lendeborg.

I could go on, but you should get the point.

And for all the praise that JQ is getting (and rightfully so), JLowe is the most important player on this team. Without him, we are lost on offense.

I can agree to a extent about missing the PG and C but Pope didn't help himself early on claiming this was 96 Ky team deep and 98 off the bench lol lol. Preseaon hype and wild expectations created a mess early on in my opinion.

Agreed, have to have Lowe. Asking Aberdeen even Chandler to run point just aint going to work.

As for AJ, who knows, it's weird but the show goes on.

Back to the reset part of this, I feel great about what we saw on Saturday. I do think JQ is a freak, game changer, better than I though to be honest. Initially i wasn't sure if we was getting a Isaiah Jackson type of players or something more, he's just good. JQ brings energy, IQ, awareness, more potential to be a scorer than I thought.

Not sure if anyone noticed, JQ had Ruben Prey afraid to touch the basketball, dude was shook...

[samsdad]

Rumor is, we may be adding another point guard at the break via overseas.

My starting 5 right now would be

Lowe
Oweh
Williams
Dioubate
JQ

Chandler 6th man off the bench at 1/2/ or 3.
Aberdeen at 1/2 or 3, preferably 2 or 3
Johnson 1 and 2
4 and 5 by committee Moreno Garrison.

Brings me to AJ. Admittedly, I don't think he fits into this teams plans for whatever reason? Maybe he has a attitude problem, maybe he's getting punished for being a late arrival, I don't know. Prior to the season, I assumed he would be a big part of this season based off skill sets, shooting, etc. Nobody can deny he actually defended Wilson from Carolina and kept him in check, one of the best players in the entire nation. Shooting percentage hasn't been great but I do think it's a combination of trying to force shots and not really having that Andrew Carr role many like myself expected. I still think he can shoot, great form, shots just haven't been falling but unfortunately, looks like he is the odd man out. Some say he's been sick, some say he has some transfer issues they want to get cleared up before he plays again but who knows? One thing for sure, he's not playing.

The way Lowe finally showed up on Saturday and with the JQ being way better than I thought, I actually think this whole thing gets turned around. The pieces are here right now, just not 35 threes a game and finesse. Smash mouth physical defensive basketball with driving and attacking the basket, been seeing that for a while now.

Of course I was so freaking mad the first 15 minutes of the St. John's game I wanted the coach fired, everybody has a boiling point. Aint going to lie, was having Billy Gillispie and forgot how to coach COACH CAL flashbacks. Even had a little bit of Tubby Smith dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble some more and take a bad shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock flashback. Sorry Mark Pope has had to go through all this, he's a great family man and really is committed to the cause, takes these loses tougher than us fans do, i believe that.

Once the second half of the St. John's game started, something special happened. Oweh went on a 5-0 run followed by JQ absolutely changing the game on both ends of the floor, then Lowe started going off. Just like that, this aint the same team we saw the first 10 games of the season. This was a last year Florida game type of run that changed the season until the injuries mounted up.

Might lose every game from here on out, who knows? Still I think the formula for first 5 is set in stone now, just have to build off that.

Maybe you need to get some help.

[SportsFan]

Maybe you need to get some help.

Maybe you need to lay off the insults. I didn't read anything that deserved that kind of remark. The man's certainly entitled to his opinion.

[KentuckyWild2020]

Maybe you need to get some help.

For what??

Im going to say this and be really nice to you in the most respectful way.

I do not and have never ever personally attacked another poster on this site in over 20 years whether we agree or disagree.

With that being said don't bark up my tree with all that personal bs.

Maybe you need to mind your business??

Anyone on this site for many years can attest that I will always flip the script and play devil's advocate and say some wild crap just to keep the natives restless, sheep going to be sheep. Yet when its slow and little action going on you can take a simple thread and turn it into a 100 page book...

[SportsFan]

Brings me to AJ. Admittedly, I don't think he fits into this teams plans for whatever reason? Maybe he has a attitude problem, maybe he's getting punished for being a late arrival, I don't know. Prior to the season, I assumed he would be a big part of this season based off skill sets, shooting, etc. Nobody can deny he actually defended Wilson from Carolina and kept him in check, one of the best players in the entire nation. Shooting percentage hasn't been great but I do think it's a combination of trying to force shots and not really having that Andrew Carr role many like myself expected. I still think he can shoot, great form, shots just haven't been falling but unfortunately, looks like he is the odd man out. Some say he's been sick, some say he has some transfer issues they want to get cleared up before he plays again but who knows? One thing for sure, he's not playing.

I think we'll have to disagree on Jelavic. Or more precisely, his shooting.

I saw some percentage stats of his three point shooting overseas, and it wasn't impressive. Close to 20%. I didn't figure that would translate to SEC D1 basketball all that well, and it hasn't. I also watched video highlights and thought his shot looked "decent" for a big man, but nothing to write home about.

Thing is, you're right about his defense. He's been admirable in that regard. And he may be the best low block scorer we have on this team. Problem is, he's not being used for that purpose, and he wasn't brought in to be used for that purpose. He was "supposed" to be a stretch 4, and he doesn't shoot well enough for that role. BUT ...he should still have a role on this team. If nothing else, he's the only other true 4 on the team besides Dioubate, even though Williams is seeing minutes there.

[KentuckyWild2020]

Maybe you need to lay off the insults. I didn't read anything that deserved that kind of remark. The man's certainly entitled to his opinion.

Please baby Jesus lord, help me control my emotions before I tell someone go blank themselves or meet and speak like men lol lol

I'll be good. Military and war taught discipline but be darn if I'm going to let someone talk down to me like a child..


Anyways, I didn't get to chime in on the pre game St. John's thread, I thought it was must win for many reasons.

After I got the 15 minutes out of my system, I was good. I was on a warpath Saturday on two hours sleep. Im a old man with a 7 year old who was sick all night Friday night. Woke up Saturday morning to hear my other son was hit by a drunk driver. Saturday emotions was two blanks given

[SportsFan]

Anyways, I didn't get to chime in on the pre game St. John's thread

If you got to watch it in it's entirety live, consider yourself lucky! I had to watch most of it via replay because I was too sick to watch it live for the entire game. Food poisoning all weekend. Wouldn't wish it on anybody.