From: suffridge@ncrcol.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Rick.Suffridge)
Subject: Re: Kentucky over Indiana
Organization: NCR MCPD Columbia SC.
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 93 16:08:47 GMT

Craig.Simpson@launchpad.unc.edu (Craig Simpson) writes:
: 
: The thing that bothers me about Ford is his defense, it looks rather weak.
: If Patino has to pull him on D at the end of each game like he did against
: IU then teams with really good point guards will eat him up (someone like
: Hurley).
: 

 Ford is really not a weak defensive player - he's no Eric Murdoch but
 he isn't bad (especially for a 5'9" guy without blinding quickness).
 The reason Pitino took him out for defense late against IU was because
 he was guarding Damon Bailey - who is excellent at posting up underneath.
 Thus Pitino went with the bigger Dale Brown against him on the crucial
 late possessions.  This will not be a problem against most teams because
 few teams have a point guard who posts up as well or as often as Bailey.

: I seems like the only half court offense that UK has is the three or
: one-on-one moves by Mashburn and Rhodes (and maybe Ford).  Packer seems
: to think that they will get better as the year progresses but I'm not
: sure.  Ever sense Patino has been coach at UK thats all I've seen from 
: them.  Is this the case?  Would some UK fan let me know if I'm wrong
: one this?
: 

 You are correct when referring to this year's offense.  However, you 
 must have been watching a different UK team than I was last year (or
 listening to the televidiots rant about how "UK lives and dies by the
 3-ptr") because last year's team executed one of the finest half-court
 offenses I have seen at the college level.  They had tremendous motion
 on offense and scored often on backdoor cuts (a Feldhaus specialty) and 
 post-up moves by Jamal and Gimel.  Even their 3's were set up by good
 execution - pinpoint passing, good movement away from the ball, and 
 often penetration followed by a kick-out.  Last night on ESPN Jim
 Valvano showed 5 different methods UK uses to set themselves up for
 wide-open 3-ptrs.  With the personnel on the UK team last year, good
 execution was essential to make up for mediocre athletic ability and
 a lack of size and speed.  Pelphrey, Feldhaus, Farmer, and Woods were
 intelligent players with good court vision and passing skills but only
 Woods had the quickness to beat anyone one-on-one.  Each of these guys
 had an assist/turnover ratio of around 2:1.  The team shot 56% from
 inside the 3-pt line and you don't do that by going one-on-one unless
 your name is Jordan.  Pitino's offense is built around good spacing,
 good passing, and a lot of movement off the ball and last year's team
 executed that to perfection, especially in Feb. and March.  This year's
 team has far superior athletic ability but is not executing the offense
 very well.  It remains to be seen whether this is due more to lack of
 court awareness and passing skills (not easily correctable) or just
 inexperience in the system where the players do not instinctively 
 know where to go or what to do yet.  I tend to think it is more of
 the latter because it appears to me that their biggest problem is 
 poor spacing and not enough motion away from the ball.  If lack of
 experience is the reason then UK should be a dramatically improved
 team by March, which is pretty scary since they are alreay as good
 as anybody.  

 Beware of letting a dislike of Pitino lull you into believing that
 his offense is just "throw the ball out and let them play" because
 there is FAR more to it than that.
-- 
Richard D. Suffridge   803-791-6491  <suffridge@ncrcol.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>                                  
From an AP report:  Gore ... asked voters skeptical of their promise of
change to remember that every communist government in Eastern Europe had
fallen in 100 days. "Now it's our turn here in the United States," he said.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college