Kentucky Basketball: Cal's Short List
By Paul Jordan
These guys are not coming back.
Coach John Calipari has not always had the talent that we are seeing these days at Kentucky. He has always been a good judge of talent, but not always been in places he could get that talent to come to.But talent alone does not always get the job done. So what does any good strategist do? They improvise, they overcome, they adapt. And then they come after you with everything they have. Cue Coach Cal.
The game at Chapel Hill brought to light this team’s deficiencies once again. We no longer have the size to control the paint. At least not without Enes Kanter. Those guys from last year? They are not walking through that door. A whole new crop has, and they are not the same. No better, no worse, just not the same. Now don’t get me wrong, I have 20 pages of material on the bad calls from that game. The officiating was pathetic, and that is putting it mildly. But it is time for Cal to work his magic and get these guys to start making the in game adjustments when teams do what Carolina did and overpower us. DeMarcus Cousins learned really quickly what teams were going to do to him. Then he learned how to turn the tables. With either a gesture to the sidelines in a playful manner, or with a thunderous dunk or a vicious rebound, he made sure the opposition knew that inside was his domain, and no one else’s.
This team has to finesse their opponents. They need to get Calipari’s famous DDMO in full swing right away. Then they need to learn something else. Calipari’s concern about selfish play was not just a warning to the team about trust. It was also to get a point across. This team requires ALL pistons firing at once and in complete sync to get the job done. Jones cannot have an off night because he cannot get his normal penetration. He needs his teammates to open those lanes for him. Brandon Knight now has to lead the Cats into uncharted waters from him. He has to know when to step on the gas and when to step on the brakes. It is now about decisions. Calipari has always had guards in the past who were able to adapt and overcome their difficulties when faced with them in game situations. Knight has to do the same. We have to play smart basketball. Five guys in foul trouble will not work for this team, ever. We need to recognize where our weaknesses are and learn our adjustments immediately in game.
In the past John Calipari and his teams played in a weak league against inferior in-conference opposition. He has made a point of our playing the very best there is out there either at home or away, and that will serve this team well later on. But they need to get their footing and stand their ground now and force their opponents to adjust to their style of play.
While this team is not big as last year’s, they are fast. They have blinding speed. They have to learn to use that both ways. Speed can be a incredible offensive tool, and can also be a defensive nightmare for opponents. The old days of Arkansas and their Forty Minutes of Hell defense comes to mind. We need Cal to make this team understand that defense is what is going to get them over the top with bigger, more physical teams.
Calipari has a history of doing this with other teams. He knows how to get them to play above themselves, and this team is going to have to play above themselves. They will have to push and shove without fouling. They will have to squeeze teams away from the basket with speed and harassment on the court. They can already shoot. But they cannot shoot sitting on the bench with 5 fouls.So coach, it is time to rally the troops, put them on notice that they have to change their ways. They don’t need an overhaul, just a tweak here and there. More physicality here, less there. Make their speed work against their opponents on both ends of the court. And no more loss of concentration when the game is on the line. There were moments Saturday that you could see that they lost focus, for a minute there. Nothing drastic, and they always regained it, but they were not focused the entire game. This team does not have room for that. The margins for error are so slight they can not be played with.
I appreciate that this is not going to happen overnight, but we have the rest of this calendar year to make this team the next version of one of Calipari’s hot rod racers. We need them to get on board with his ideas forthwith. They need to understand that time is of the essence. No more making mistakes and hoping they don’t come back to bite them in their backsides. This team plays hard, very hard. But playing hard and not getting results is less than acceptable for talent such as we have. We have got to get the job done and start forcing the issue with our opponents, not ourselves.
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