More of the same from Kentucky
A perfect storm of factors combine to embarass the Wildcats. Can it be fixed?
After Kentucky’s 3 point win over LSU, I wrote that I was concerned that Kentucky had some favorable shooting luck in transition and on putbacks, and without that the Wildcats may well have lost that game. My point was that the process Kentucky was using on offense (types of shots, structure, frequency of transition) was pretty bad, and the fact that the results worked against LSU was a bit of a mirage. I was worried that a bad process would eventually produce bad results, and that absolutely showed up on Saturday.
Let me be clear about one thing up front: Kentucky was unlucky to lose by 26 points. Synergy recently added metrics around shot quality and good/bad shooting luck, and the Wildcats had bad shooting luck on Saturday. However, without that bad luck they still would have lost the game, probably by 8 points or so. I’ll explain in a bit more detail after the paywall break.
Let me now be clear about a second thing: Kentucky’s offense is a major problem, and has been for a while. I’ve written about UK’s offensive issues for three seasons now, and it’s been a lot of the same things. The players have changed, the assistants and support staff have changed, but Kentucky’s offense continues to be dependent on offensive rebounding and midrange shooting with little understanding of shot quality, spacing, or game planning for opponents.
The offensive issues didn’t come out of nowhere, and probably can’t be completely fixed. There are things Kentucky could do, but for a few different reasons I don’t think much will change this season. I’ll explain that in a bit more detail, too, after the break.
Premium subscribers will get my breakdown of where UK got unlucky (and lucky!), and how the Cats set themselves up for trouble. Plus, what are some possible fixes?
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