Kentucky Frontcourt

[hoophuskee]

I know they have superb offensive rebounding but are any of the others --good low post - back-to-the-basket players?

 

[auror]

Randle prefers to face up and drive and is a good finisher. Dakari Johnson has some moves and is big, but he's pretty raw, too.

 

[Nnocu]

Does anyone know Cauley-Stein's status?

 

[auror]

Does anyone know Cauley-Stein's status?

Tyler Thompson @MrsTylerKSR

According to @tracywolfson, Willie Cauley-Stein is out the entire Final Four. #WinItForWillie

5:47 PM - 5 Apr 2014 Dallas, TX, United States

 

[hoophuskee]

I s Fancey equipped to play any minutes as a rebounder in place of Olander? I know he has played little. I know of Randle he is very tough but they don't seem to have much in terms of back-to-the-basket post play so maybe we just need as many athletes up front?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Randle's pre-game dump will weigh more than Facey.

 

[huskyharry]

Poythress has given them great energy off the bench. In the celebration after their win over U of W, by report teammates fell on his knee. He says he is good to go, I guess we will see.

Randall may be the best low post scorer in college basketball and he is very physical. Johnson barely saw the court a few weeks ago but he has been very effective in the tournament, particularly in scoring against smaller, weaker opponents. Lee has played with a lot of energy and has had several dunks in the NCAAs.

Early in the season, Young was solely a perimeter player but the last few weeks, he drives all the time. The twins also drive most of the time and because of their strength and size, they usually draw a secondary or even tertiary defender over, leaving lanes for their rebounders wide open. All of our players will need to be focused on this: denying driving lanes, providing disciplined help (hopefully drawing a few charges) and head-hunting/hitting first in the box out process in order to force Johnson and Randall to go over the back for rebounds. If we do it right, we can get them into a little foul trouble and get into their heads so they won't be so aggressive in driving and on the O boards.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Randle's very good but has struggled a lot with double teams. Somewhere along the line Cal made the adjustment of moving him out to the elbows to get the ball and face up, rather than posting up, which makes it harder for teams to double him.

 

[hoophuskee]

Early in the season, Young was solely a perimeter player but the last few weeks, he drives all the time. The twins also drive most of the time and because of their strength and size, they usually draw a secondary or even tertiary defender over, leaving lanes for their rebounders wide open. All of our players will need to be focused on this: denying driving lanes, providing disciplined help (hopefully drawing a few charges) and head-hunting/hitting first in the box out process in order to force Johnson and Randall to go over the back for rebounds. If we do it right, we can get them into a little foul trouble and get into their heads so they won't be so aggressive in driving and on the O boards.

Calipari is just going to hav ethem attack the whole game. Ican remeber in 2004 he said before or after finals on an interview he said if he were Gat Tech he would have attacked Bynum against our guards whole game. In this game I believe he knows he has to do that. So I was wondering - a help and recover vs this type of Kentucky team doesn't seem to be Olander's strength. He's too slow and unathletic. Can Facey give them anything? KY just wants to play volleyball. Olander not sure he can play that. We don't need skill fighting for rebounds. Just another athlete for a spell.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Calipari is just going to hav ethem attack the whole game. Ican remeber in 2004 he said before or after finals on an interview he said if he were Gat Tech he would have attacked Bynum against our guards whole game. In this game I believe he knows he has to do that. So I was wondering - a help and recover vs this type of Kentucky team doesn't seem to be Olander's strength. He's too slow and unathletic. Can Facey give them anything? KY just wants to play volleyball. Olander not sure he can play that. We don't need skill fighting for rebounds. Just another athlete for a spell.

If he were coaching Gtech in 04 the result wouldve been the same. Nobody was beating that team that year. I remember the talking heads calling it the Uconn invitational by the elite 8.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Poythress has given them great energy off the bench. In the celebration after their win over U of W, by report teammates fell on his knee. He says he is good to go, I guess we will see.

Randall may be the best low post scorer in college basketball and he is very physical. Johnson barely saw the court a few weeks ago but he has been very effective in the tournament, particularly in scoring against smaller, weaker opponents. Lee has played with a lot of energy and has had several dunks in the NCAAs.

Early in the season, Young was solely a perimeter player but the last few weeks, he drives all the time. The twins also drive most of the time and because of their strength and size, they usually draw a secondary or even tertiary defender over, leaving lanes for their rebounders wide open. All of our players will need to be focused on this: denying driving lanes, providing disciplined help (hopefully drawing a few charges) and head-hunting/hitting first in the box out process in order to force Johnson and Randall to go over the back for rebounds. If we do it right, we can get them into a little foul trouble and get into their heads so they won't be so aggressive in driving and on the O boards.

The only way uk drives on us is if the refs arent letting us play. i thought both games on saturday were poorly officiated and i expect more of the same in uk`s favor on monday unfortunately.

 

[mauconnfan]

Randle - Shoulder down and gets a lot of phantom calls on first contact, scary there. I could see 1 or 2 Nolan flops, hopefully they work and get him in trouble. But the kid can score….amazingly enough he only shoots 50% from the floor.

Johnson - another bull-in-a-China-shop player, dirty down low, will push and shove to get rebounds but usually not called. You counter with hitting him early and often FIRST, make him work and box him out to death. Is a lefty and you need to remember that or you'll guard to his weak side and we've seen kids there?!?!?

Poythress - active, has come on. A lot like Dawson, weak side rebounder and slasher. We all know what Dawson did? Hope it's the same!

Lee - I think he may end up being the best of the bunch - good news is the Squid hasn't figured it out yet. Bouncy big guy pals way over the rim but raw. Over the back, anything he goes and gets it…….

Our bigs (and littles) need to be hitting these guys before they have a put back dunk barrage and get all happy. I expect our guys will step up as they have always of late!

 

[hoophuskee]

If he were coaching Gtech in 04 the result wouldve been the same. Nobody was beating that team that year. I remember the talking heads calling it the Uconn invitational by the elite 8.

Right- but that wasn't the point. A poster above suggested maybe KY wuld slwo them from attacking if htey got into some foul trouble- and my point was even when Gat Tech was overmatched Calipari explained he just would have attacked with 1 player the whole game. None fo this move the ball to the open man stuff. They aren't goingto slow down becuase of foul trouble imo unless it is extreme. We'll just have to rebound. They aren't going to stop attacking trying to make it a game of volleyball.

 

[CTBasketball]

Lee has been playing good in Cauley-Stein's absence. He has ridiculous hops and can pretty much do nothing other than dunk the basketball at this point. Very limited offensively.

Johnson is really fat and annoying. Not saying that's bad, but when you pair that up with a Kentucky jersey, he's worse than the New Jersey Turnpike. He'll out-fat all our bigs, but once again we need to get them uncomfortable from the get-go.

Randle is very good. We will only hope to contain him. Need to get him uncomfortable, like Payne, off the tip. Maybe it'll get into his head and he'll just die down, not likely though.

Poythress is a headcase. He'll look for contact and little cheerleaders to steal into the night. The key for him is to keeping our men cheerleaders up front, and the girls in the back. And then we need to get in his head. And maybe he'll throw a punch or an elbow like against Wisconsin.

Harrison twins are grossly overrated. The ScumCats as a team have a negative AST/TO ratio for every March game except for the Wisconsin (they went even vs. Wichita St.). Need to play super tight defense and force them to make freshman mistakes. They haven't played a UConn-type team all season, so our defense should come as a shock. And in my opinion, you cannot prepare for our defense in 1.5 days.

 

[asuwish]

I know they have superb offensive rebounding but are any of the others --good low post - back-to-the-basket players?

Randle has great skills and should be a top 5 NBA lottery pick. If they let him get to the hoop he will kill us. Young has played great. He's a lefty and everyone forgets that and lets him drive where he is very good. Coach Cal wants the other team in foul trouble and felled at his kids the whole Wisconsin game to drive. help defense causes open players to crash the boards. Turn them into an outside shooting team like we did with Mich St and lets see what happens. I know we have been GREAT at guard pressure, and Ollie knows if he goes zone he makes it easier to make entry passes, but he may have to have a zone up his sleeve and pack it in if their big kids are to hard to handle and they are able to penetrate and dominate the glass. We need to return the favor and keep them honest by having Gifey and Daniels try to get to the rim a few times and run run run.