Breaking down how Kentucky has improved on both sides of the ball | Floppy Action

Kentucky basketball has finished the regular season strong. See how they were able to do it and why things are trending in the right direction in this week’s episode of Floppy Action.

Click below to subscribe to KSR Radio on Youtube ⤵️
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxlgPWNLi8UInV0HHhfSQCg?sub_confirmation=1

#kentucky #kentuckywildcats #sec #secnews #bbn

Welcome back everyone to another episode of floppy action here on ksr this is our basketball breakdown show we are on episode number six now got myself Zach gag and the phone is ringing Brandon Ramsey several years of coaching experience talented ksr videographer Steven Peak there we are in between the

End of the regular season the beginning of the SEC tournament it is Tuesday as we are recording this Kentucky obviously plays Friday night against the winner of Old Miss of Texas A&M but we’re not really going to jump too far ahead and get into that what we’re going to do

First is touch on some things that went right in that Tennessee win particularly on defense Bron has queued up a bunch of clips from us that he is I’m sure he’s watched that game probably three or four times proba fun one probably not as many as Steven though actually I bet Steven’s

Probably watched that game more Steven’s probably been watching like the game from 2009 or something probably well yeah I mean Reeves and uh Reed pretty much had the jod Meeks tot with 27es on it yeah they decided to split it just for you there Stephen but

Let’s get back on track for a second uh yeah so we’re going to focus on the uh def from the Tennesseee game and then Brandon has some clips from uh kind of focusing on Justin DJ just how they’ve live here yeah broke through whatever weird you know phrase you want

To say how they’ve just kind of have uh stepped their game up especially over the last I don’t know four or five week Justin in particular has probably been about a five we run now he’s run really well DJ probably about a two or three week uh run once that ankle has uh

Started behaving for him so uh we’re just going to dive through those and this will probably be a rather quick uh breakdown compared to our other ones I’m sure we say that now we’ll see how ites you you’re probably looking down it says 36 minutes or something like that right

But uh I’m sure we’ll do some stuff at the SEC tournament I’m going to be there with Stephen all week so we’ll see if we get anything done with that um but in the meantime this is what we’re going to focus on now and we will dump dump we

Will dive straight into our first play we’re going back to the Arkansas win um gosh this is what two weeks ago now I think at least yeah a little bit ago but this was kind of when DJ was starting to uh get in his Rhythm Justin had already

Been in his rhythm as well um but we’re pretty much just going to set up the play here I’ll I’ll kind of set things up and I’ll let Brandon dive in but what we have here is essentially just DJ sets himself at the top here we have a pin

Down screen from Aaron that sets up Antonio Reeves uh to get get the ball kind of like just above the nail there um and he draws in two Defenders that allows DJ to get up a really clean look pretty much an NBA range three yeah um

But Brandon why don’t you kind of take us through here what do you see what stands out what made you pick this play so I mean first and foremost as Zach mentioned off the top like what we really want to do here is pretty simply just kind of give credit to DJ Wagner

For how well he has come on here over the last couple weeks especially from shooting it from three-point range and and what you see here is what the the this is the value of having multiple Shooters on the floor and we’ve talked about it before here on floppy a but we

Talked about the gravity of Antonio Reeves and how players are just pulled towards him when he has the ball cuz the defenses are so worried about him as a shooter and then now this season so worried about him as a driver with his floater and all that I mean just today

As we’re recording this he was named a third team sporting news all-americans so first team again first team yeah so hash allamerican Antonio is working and and coming through but this is all American stuff and he doesn’t even score this because as Stephen flips through it

Here yeah so he’s already got 14 points we just started the second half and DJ Wagner’s Defender helps off of him so aggressively and it’s hard really blame Arkansas for that because even here a couple weeks ago like scored probably two or three times a game ree scores off

This exact side yeah yeah I mean Antonio ree scores off of this and DJ Wagner at the time is barely a 30% three-point shooter so you kind of want to help off of him but now over these last three four games he’s literally shooting 60% from three or something like that so

It’s going to be it’s going to become harder and harder for teams to help off of him so aggressively when he can make shots like this soes yeah yeah these are deep threes in so that’s going to open it back up for Antonio to be one of the

Best scorers in college basketball or they’re going to help on that take away Antonio and now you have another shooting threat in DJ Wagner and you could maybe blame a little bit of Arkansas’s defense here obviously they weren’t the best team in the world didn’t live up to the expectations but

Still a solid team personnel-wise I thought Aaron Bradshaw does a good job of just rolling to the rim he drags his Defender with him too you’ve got three guys guarding Antonio here uh and you’ve also got another guy focused on Aaron so you’ve got three guys guarding two here

And DJ he really likes to shoot these long threes and I don’t know what his I was trying to actually find his percentages real quick before we started this I don’t know what he’s shooting from NBA range from three but I guarantee he’s making just as many as

He’s missing um even with that line drive shot but this is it’s a very makeable shot for him we’ve seen him make it time and time again now over the last few weeks so um and then you’ve just got Justin in Ado it looks like they’re about to set up another play in

Case Justin doesn’t want this you’ve got to do setting a screen um but DJ makes the three and uh just kind of a demonstrates how yeah like you said having multiple Shooters can benefit you it worked out on this play right here absolutely I got a I got a question for

You uh why does Antonio what what makes him make the decision to cut inside the three-point line and not just go out not just go out to the wing there to catch and shoot what does he see that makes him not want to cut I I would say really

Here it’s the fact that mean a lot of times he’s probably assuming that the defender is going to chase him because that’s what you wanted like the defender wants to force him into that curl so that he can’t shoot the three yeah yeah so number 12 Tron Mark there like he’s

Chasing Antonio Reeves off of that screen if he would have gone on the other side of of Aaron Bradshaw then that’s when he kind of flares it over into this space but when he chases then that that that gets him to curl into that space there CU you have to think

You know if DJ’s man doesn’t help so aggressively as Aaron rolls to the basket like that’s where Antonio can kind of curl this on to like the SEC look logo there and shoot that little patented floater so you’re you’re kind of just taking what the defense gives

You so is this like a second thing for Reeds then yeah yeah he’s kind of feeling where that guy is on his hip and and reading reading both his Defender and a little bit of Bradshaw’s Defender there as well and seeing where they spaced at and and where the space is for

Him to cut into yeah and I mean to like Arkansas has to come down here and guard him too because if not that he he can shoot this he can drive it he can lob it yeah yep good play good play good play yeah Shout cow all right play number two

Here um actually Steve I’m going just look it up in my phone or you can play through if you want yeah um so this is yeah this is the Baseline yeah I like Z’s like rescreen yeah he that’s something Trey Mitchell we noticed like he did at the beginning

Of the year yeah and zir has been really good about that I I think probably some of his you know overseas European experience has kind of helped him be he he just flows into the offense very well he’s always kind of trying to do something he he’s not one that just

Stand and watch like he he he’s always going to set another screen or rescreen in this scenario here and and what we really wanted to talk about here was how effective this little Baseline cut has been both for du theier and then in this clip Justin Edwards obviously we know

How effective kuy’s guards have been playing off of ball screens this year whether it’s Rob Dillingham Reed Shepard I mean these are some of the highest assist guys in the SEC DJ Wagner all these guys I mean T Reeves even has made some really good plays recently off of the dribble

And with the with the attention that they draw there are some of those lob attempts and obviously early in the season it seemed like we couldn’t complete a lob to save our lives but now both as I said duer and Justin Edwards in this clip have gotten really

Effective as their man steps up to help on the drive they just slide along the Baseline and catch the lob and The Yards have gotten pretty comfortable throwing it up to him well and it’s also just credit to Rob for being such a a Dynamic scorer that once he gets in the lane

Here when if Steven will freeze frame it you see you’ve got four guys all pinned on him and you’ve got Reed Shepard in the corner you have to respect him so he’s staying out so Rob has you know he’s got a nice floater too so he can

Easily take this shot if he wants to but Justin this is another thing that we’ve been that I’ve been harping on with Justin especially the last four or five weeks he’s doing a lot better job of just being active all the time he’s always moving on both ends of the floor

And he’s gotten the benefit of a a couple of these type of place where he just happens to be the guy that’s moving at the right time um and like we mentioned you know I liked how big Z he rescreens himself noticing that Rob is uh kind of bouncing a different way like

He wants to set it so Rob can go left he realizes that’s not the case so he does a great job of just doing enough there to to get his guy off of Rob and then you’ve got just the easiest dunk you’re going to get um and this is kind of just

A no- win option for Arkansas because if you try and guard Justin you’re just going to give Rob a wide open layup and he doesn’t even have to Rob does better when his shots aren’t clean he almost does betters when they’re a little bit more contested so you you can’t even

Almost Bank on him missing this shot if he take decides to take it himself um but then you’ve got extra guys out here Shooters you know if you need a backup plan or anything so um yeah I was a big fan of this play too yeah pick some good

They keep working yeah they keep working Justin’s C catch and shoot stats I don’t know what those are but I imagine that’s probably the majority of his threes that he takes are catch and shoot and he’s gotten just very very good because he’s got a beautiful jump shot I think I even

Said that in the last episode it’s just it’s very technically sound you know I’m not some sort of shot Guru or anything but just from my from my experience looking and watching basketball that looks like a guy that is very confident his jump shot and this is another play

Here where just Rees his gravity draws in a Defender that otherwise you know probably wouldn’t do anything like that he’s also got a mismatch here on um Grant Nelson right yep the one of the bigger guys uh he was the transfer from North Dakota State I believe um

So you’ve got a mismatch there and and Reed just notices it he takes advantage he drives in there’s really nothing going on with Reed and to do this is basically just Antonio driving and kicking to a guy who’s shooting with the utmost confidence right now yeah and I I

Think you two of the things that that Zach pointed out are really good here first of all Antonio recognizes the mismatch that he has on the opposing fiveman and then also on the on one of those previous Clips we showed Antonio Reeves’s gravity kind of as a catch and

Shoot shoot threat when he when he came off that curl and DJ Wagner helped down so aggressively well here because I mean this is what has made him an an All-American this year is that he now has gravity off of the dribble too because he’s so good at scoring up from

Two-point range so as he starts to drive this you see Aaron Estrada step in there pretty heavily into the Gap also got four eyes you could even say all five sets of eyes are focused on Antonio re right now absolutely and then Justin does a good job of taking one or two

Steps sliding down the wing there and this is a really confident got from a kid who would have had every reason to lose his confidence and that’s something that we’ve talked about a lot and I think a lot of people have you know across ksr and the media and the nation

In general is that coach kipari kept kept rolling with Justin Edwards probably you know to the Chagrin of a lot of Kentucky fans at times and you know every once in a while it turns out that the Hall of Fame coach knows better than the rest of us and he

Trusts in these kids at such a high level that it allows them to trust in themselves and I think that we’re reaping the benefits of that as Justin Edwards is something like 10 for 14 or 10 for 16 over the last four or five games now from three-point range and

It’s so hard to go from where he was to where he is now making some of these confident plays like Zach said he he’s constantly moving now on both sides of the ballan he’s made some really big defensive plays in the last couple games too he’s rebounding better he’s

Obviously shooting it better and he’s now looking like that first round pick that we all expected and that there’s a lot of credit I mean the majority of the credit always goes to him but it’s also credit to the coaching staff for not just burying him on the bench like we

All kind of wanted to when now all of a sudden we’re going into March and it’s like we found this other star player and he was on our own darn team shout out to Stacey Shepard season signing yeah yeah yeah it’s like a trade deadline yeah and

You had Stacy shepher you know the whole thing that video was awesome Justin is just it’s like these are his you know to get on a Side Story here but like that’s what you love about college basketball is AB Justin go from to the brink of you

Know being in the lowest of lows to now right literally over a month now he’s I like we were said I think his shooting splits were 30 20 70 for the first 20 games and then over the last 10 they’re 60 50 80 right so it’s just like it’s

Something that you really don’t expect to see but but it’s fun to see when it happens it’s awesome to see it makes you want to cheer for those guys even more and there’s a reason that you know a lot of us tried not to give up on Justin

Because you don’t you don’t become a top a five star by accident you know so there was a reason we’re seeing it unfold right now and there and my thing with Justin is you know I was almost getting to the point where I wanted to

See him put together full games and i’ I mentioned this on sour to say when I was with Jack the other day but I’m almost fine with him just putting together all these stretches that he’s doing you know the two three minute stretches where he just gets hot and he just has moments

Where he’s just catching and shooting cuz we’re we’re going to see him being active all game Along on offense and defense now so when he can provide 10 minutes or 10 points in a matter of 5 minutes that can change an entire game and I would not be shocked if Justin

Helps Kentuck win Kentucky a game in the SC tournament or the NCA tournament absolutely I mean and andan what what you just said I think it’ll transition into what we’re going to talk about next perfectly is that I I I think this Kentucky team it’s it’s all about

Stretches for them because they they have so many weapons like you don’t need one guy to take over a full game necessarily Kentucky has guys to do I mean Reed Shepard Rob Dillingham Antonio Reeves those guys can take over a game as well as anybody in college basketball

But they also don’t have to so like you can you can have a game where Antonio Reeves mean heck we saw it last year like against Kansas State Antonio Reeves goes two for 19 or whatever three-point range I can tell you right now and I hope I’ll knock on what that ain’t

Happening this year because he a he’s not going to have to take 19 of them if he’s two for nine then Rob can step up Reed can step up and then to transition into the defensive side of things the defense just has to be good for those stretches too like we’re talking about

With Justin Edwards if he can make two threes that’s huge if Kentucky can get three stops in a row once in the first half and once in the second half that literally might be enough to to to just let the offense go win the game that’s

What I’ve I was preaching that early on of like they don’t have to be great that it’s have to be good enough and I I think we are starting to see more and more flashes of good enough because if if they if they can just be to say it

Again good enough to let the offense win the game I think it was even you that were posting some of the numbers of maybe over the last two or three weeks kuy’s kenpom numbers are top 20 offense top 50 defense yes and that’s enough yeah yeah I mean to to to finish that

Point the the numbers are and this is actually per Bart torvic who does kind of the the daytoday uh you can kind of search them by periods but during kuy’s recent seven- one stretch they are yeah something like 18th or 13th whatever offensively and like 49th defensively

But then the really the the really encouraging part for March this time of year they are 28th in defensive efficiency in games not played at rep Arena that’s 13 games that’s a lot of tell me where do the postseason games happen not at R Arena none of them yeah

We’re going to be playing in Nashville and we’re going to play in where the heck ever else but none of them are going to be in Lexington and I mean that’s a legitimate sample size and you also consider like Kentucky doesn’t play any bad teams away from home because

We’re not going like so like we’re talking about playing mostly the best teams and we’re talking about 13 games played away from R Arena they’re one of the best defensive teams in the country that’s so we yeah and like those are the metrics we always talk about of like you

Have to be top 20 in offense and defense you have to be top 40 and top 37 like all those different kind of you know madeup monikers like Kentucky fits those in both kind of the the the more recent stretch of games and away from home and that’s pretty that matter right yeah

Yeah yeah so that’s pretty darn encouraging yeah yeah so crazy yeah that that going all the way back to the North Carolina game the Kansas game like anything away from home is the lighting and rup just better maybe it’s the balls yeah I mean Sten would say it’s the ball

Yeah yeah I mean you could probably sit and then I think it was their 177th defensively at rup which is I mean to be 177 at home and 28th on the road is just it’s mindboggling it’s almost so drastic that there’s not like there almost can’t

Even be a real reason for it like it almost some of it has to just be happen you almost you almost buy into the idea that that’s where you almost buy into the okay maybe they are dogs you know these guys just hippos hippos thank you yeah for correcting me that that was

Incorrect yeah corre yeah you’ve got hippos here so like they genuinely Embrace playing on the road and being in those environments and you know maybe that’s still kind of a you know just like an invisible type of you know that thing you can’t feel right but maybe that’s sometimes there is less like

There is sometimes less pressure on the road especially when you’re younger like they want to go in here like that they don’t have to you know some of it literally is like they don’t like listen to their families before the game telling them how great they are whatever

Like they’re on the road they kind of there’s a more of a general rout te like you have shoot around at a certain time you have your pregame meal at a certain time this is more structured and I think for certain teams like you can kind of

Buy into some of that structure and and like like to go back to the point of like them being hippos like Rob Dillingham like I I think he would rather Stick it to the opposing fan base then like then like prove it to his own fan base and like that’s certainly not a

Bad thing like his mentality is like I want to prove to you I’m the best player in the world and it’s easier to do that at like everybody’s cheering for him at home but I really think Rob Dillingham wants people cheering for him like I I

Think he wants to go tell everybody hey like you know you all aren’t what I am yeah but he can also score at home too we have seen scor 35 against tenness we we have seen that all right let’s talk about some defense defense yes so we’re

Going to the Tennessee game here all three Clips are from this Tennessee game um and it’s it’s not really anything that you can one thing that you can point to that’s actually different um as for from my perspective Brandon might have a different you know thought I will

Obviously let him go after this but I think Kentucky is just being more physical at the point of attack they’re just being stronger I think playing Ugo in this game was perfect for him this clearly was not a big Z game it clearly was not an Aaron Bradshaw game this was

A game where Tennessee preferred to kind of play in the half court and they could not just they could not get around Ugo and or you know whoever whatever UK Defender was there like Ugo credit to him just did a really good job in this

Game and he I mean he only blocked I think three or four shots by the time it was all done but he at least four or five more yeah did he deter guys from taking shots entirely in the paint um so we can I’ll brand I’ll just let you go

Dive and break down this whole play in general and then we’ll yeah there really from the I mean this was like a 30 second clip and you can just play it from here Steph you you don’t have to go the rest FL back but it was as close to

Perfect execution as you can have and what what was really encouraging is two points here at the end one Ugo sort of making zakai zagler pick it up as opposed to to turn in the corner and like I I think two or three weeks ago this would have been a right-handed

Layup at the rim for zakai eagler he would have just came off with no resistance and he would have gone and laid it up but ugo’s there to sort of make him take just a half step hesitation away from the basket and then watch this close out by Reed Shepard as

The ball gets thrown over there to number 15 mhak like he stays in his feet are inside the three-point line not jumping mehak’s not really he he’s actually relatively high percentage but it’s like on no volume I think he’s made like nine three-pointers he’s like nine

For 1 this year or something it’s like he doesn’t he’s not going to shoot even open three-pointers and that’s again two 3 four weeks ago Reed Shepard would have flown by him treating him like he was Steph Curry here he had a little bit of

Awareness of oh this is a this is not a very good shooter I’m going to close out short and let him drive it into me and then something we’ve talked about a lot is getting guys to take non-paint twos well he obviously gets into the paint

Here but the point is he’s still 8 10 ft away from the basket and he’s taken a contested two-point shot like I will I will sign up for this the the rest of the season if it if guys want to take this shot the rest of the year and

Kentucky loses either in the first round of the championship I’ll tip my hat and say well you know it wasn’t our year but I mean that’s just great disciplined defense some awareness of personnel which has been a problem this year and and and great execution for nearly 30

Seconds of the shot clock well I think it it it goes back to I think the very beginning where you were talking about Ugo making zegler pick up his his uh his dribble like was that always was that the game plan you think was to to hedge harder

Than they had been because it feels like just they haven’t been is this a game by game situation where they try and hedge harder against you they I’m sure it’s a team by team situation but that they normally don’t it felt like hard or HED that hard on guys yeah I it’s definitely

Not I they generally play more that kind of softer drop coverage I think it did seem like they wanted to be more aggressive because Tennessee doesn’t I I know there’s nothing that one thing I’ve learned on Twitter I think the the thing that people get most mad about is when

You give Duke credit but then secondly is if you give Tennessee any credit but I will give them a little bit of credit they have good guards this year like Z Zigler is a borderline all player he was defender of the year yeah also Defensive Player of

The Year Santiago vesy hasn’t had as great of a year this year but this is a you know been around for you know 17 years and has been a productive player for them he can shoot it he can drive it he’s a good passer obviously dton connect is an All-American like if you

Let those guys come off with space it’s going to be a problem so I I think they did want to be more aggressive at the point of not let them dice you up both as a playmaker and as scorers and and yeah just that half step to a full step

That OS up a little bit farther I think makes the difference I mean you can see like just having his hands out there and having his foot out there that made Zigler Retreat ever so slightly uh and that makes that that makes the defensive possession can I tell you something Cal

Said From the Bench since I was sitting like right oh yeah on the Ben basically Cal got uh I think this was the second half Cal went told the guys on the bench when you come in we’re up and we’re trapping we’re up trapping so that was clearly the strategy against Tennessee

Maybe not you know like you said trying to cut off zagler you know he hit a couple threes that game four four 17 in the first game they played they 20 something in the first he had 26 the first time I think that he had 17 in

This game so he was still you know he’s still still effective but yeah but yeah it’s a nearly 30 seconds of a pretty darn good def I also you know you’ve got you if we can go back a little bit too stepen uh another thing I just kind of

Noticed I was watching here is Reed doesn’t really he doesn’t overreact to anything that’s going on like right he could probably try and you know I think this is perfect here where he is is just enough to where he’s you know and then Retreats quickly yeah making zegler not

Want to make that pass but he’s not too far in or too far out as soon as he picks it up there he’s he’s back to his yeah and then of course you’ve just got someone just onconnect at all times that was kind of you know this that was the

Game plan was they want to make connect beat you and if you know or let connect beat you if if if someone else from Tennessee gets hot that’s fine that’s why they were perfectly content I’m sure with a paint shot from this guy right here who obviously missed the shot and

We saw how all of it played I think Tennessee shot 25% on nonon connect shots in that game 26 I like that stuff so that’s how you lose a game that is all right next defensive play another one I’ll say there’s a lot of movement from me not right not at this moment

From Tennessee but just early on in the shot clock oh yeah AB yes and and and it’s something that Tennessee does really well offensive they they keep you very spread out and there’s constant ball movement player movement screening that’s why they’re a top 20 offense in the country well there was a couple

Times on that defensive possession where yeah that was that’s a ball shot but there’s a couple times where even Justin uh kind of gets into a miscommunication when he’s switching but they still they are scrambling right they’re they’re connected enough while they’re scrambling right here right yes look

Anonio noticed he was able to tag his guy he ran like everyone is connected everyone’s paying attention is I think the main thing that was you know ran through two picks is probably confusing right two two months ago this is kind of what we were this is the only thing we

Were talking about was how Kentucky was just not paying attention like they should have been here they clearly are you’ve got like there’s almost a miscommunication there kind of is a miscommunication on the switch Antonio has enough of the of the awareness to step in giving ad do enough time to come

Back in and then he just Jets back out to the shooter um and makes that because that’s that’s a tough pass for for connect to make to you know to skip it all the way over there right uh and so that gives him enough time to recover so just really good scrambling defense

Overall from Kentucky and you’ve got Ugo out here guarding the best player yeah one of the best offensive players in the country and if like as we’re Frozen right here I think it was the last episode when we had a little bit of uh ramsy vocab time and and I taught well

We’re just going to revisit it like we we we talked about the difference between talking and communicating we like you you can use it in your Rel relationships like your your girlfriend will like when you tell her that we’re going to start communicating and not just talking and and all that good stuff

But life lessons with Brandon Ramsey too this is what this is what communication looks like is like right now you can see Jus Ed was pointing well a do Theo doesn’t really pick up on that but Antonio Reeves the fifth year senior does and he slides over he could have

Just had a do come out here and take vesy if he needed to but he he sees the ball coming cuz he’s the one that can see everything being that deep and he’s able to cover both Jonas to do at the rim and get back out to vesy so having

Those guys communicate what almost ends up being like a three-way switch with within each other that’s just really high level awareness communication execution and that’s stuff that you you hope to see that in game 31 of the season and like as as recently as a few weeks ago we still weren’t really seeing

It but you’re starting to see some of that and then yeah I mean what what Ugo did out on the perimeter is excellent the reason that vovi can’t get this shot off is because Ugo is guarding connect and this is still a tough but even if K

Puts this right in the numbers can probably shoot it but he has throw the ball over Ugo scovi has to rise up and catch the ball and that gives Reeves plenty enough time to not only you know stunt at him but he doesn’t he doesn’t overreact and maybe you know try and

Fall for a pump fake or anything he stays in front does a great job and then as the situation or as The Possession plays out you I mean this is just great defense right here like you got stuck in like there’s nowhere for him right here Justin almost gets kind of beat there

But you so much up in his face you’ve got Reed is there too it’s just a much it just seems more connected and more fluid overall let it play to the end when Reed Shepard does Reed sheeper things and Reed Shepard does his how the hell did

He just do that yeah just jumps the pass go back out again that length makes a difference got re cheating in like they were they were fully prepared to double Dalton here if he was going to drive in and got to make him give it up he’s not

Nearly as good of a passer and that like I said that was ky’s goal they said you’re well I I contradict myself a little there I’ll let Stephen edit this part out so I don’t sound D say it again what was it um but we’ll just end it

There and yeah Reed’s great great play here and then yeah I mean yeah re Seer is just incredible in the passing Lanes like that yeah all right last but not least um can you run up to that I think I can see it it’s make sure there’s a

Red box a red outline around yeah so this last play here is this is what it should feel like to play against Kentucky like you can almost feel how hard it is to score at The Rim for Tennessee in this game and they really struggled from two-point range Zack just

Pointed out the stat of them shooting like 26% or whatever on nonton connect shots and you have three different guys essentially block a shot on this one possession you have we got on yino gets vertical he’s he’s being seven feet tall and stops uh number 30 James at The Rim

Straight up that’s another thing is Ugo is very good about perfect verticality and then Ado being the freak athlete that he is comes in and just absolutely beats this into the ground he loves to do that he loves to do it and then T and then Jonas gets it yeah and then and

Then yeah Justin Edwards gets the block here as well so mean you have essentially three block shots in the span of four or five seconds and again like you can just feel how frustrating that must be of like goodness gracious like how do you score at The Rim on

These guys and I think Kentucky now on Ken palom is up to third in the country in block shot percentage and you know again they’re they’re not they’re not they’re not great defensively still they played well especially in the first half defensively against Tennessee it took us

Some slippage in the second half but it it was perfectly like what I was talking about earlier where the defense was good enough to let the offense win the game the defense was excellent for a half Kentucky was winning by four points at the half then at that point all you have

To do is score cuz you’re up by four and what if we’re being real Kentucky was up by 10 with 55 seconds left in this game and then just Cor and then 11 nearly screwed it down the stretch there so this like it’s a four-point win for

Kentucky but it really should have been closer to an 85 75 situations 85 but yeah I just really love this possession because of how athletic Kentucky looks how physical they were around the around the basket and and being able to block shots like that it’s what we all wanted

It to be at the beginning of the season when when we all were waiting for the seven-footers to come back I was like well yeah we we have these defensive issues but wait till we get the seven Footers back they’re going to cover up a lot of the mistakes well when you’re

Third how foolish we were yeah yeah we were definitely foolish for a while and and to some extent we still probably were but when you’re third in the country in Block percent it’s like well that that that matters and and you can start to see some of the effects of that

When you have Ugo and these guys that do also in there Justin Edward is getting a block shot there where you have so many athletic guys around the rim where it does become harder for teams even if they beat you off the dribble it’s harder for them to actually score you’ve

Been around basketball for a long time how many times have you seen a guy play 30 minutes and not take a shot and be as effective as youo was it it doesn’t happen very often Beverly St yeah I absolutely loved that and like I I think

That I mean we saw it a little bit from Adu Theo too like he adu’s able to do things offensively obviously the Ugo can’t because adu’s gotten very good at driving it and and and uh passing it out to the other very talented players but like those two guys had real impacts on

This game and they took two combined shots they’re rebounding they’re getting steals they’re blocking shots and that’s so valuable because let’s be honest both of those guys do great things for Kentucky but yeah they don’t need to score because anytime they take a shot means one of the other guys isn’t taking

A shot and that’s again not Tak anything away from them but these other guys are so high percentage like how do you not want kuy’s guards taking every shot humanly possible well especially now you’ve got you can rely on Justin and DJ yeah so yeah you’re having other guys

Step up so you don’t need them to to carry a burden offensively it’s like just go be great defensively rebound block shots and your two field goal attempts like that that’s what makes Kentucky so dangerous is they’re able to have those guys in there still being valuable players without having to do anything

Offensively one thing here that I thought was good is as I’ve now watched it 30 times in the last 5 Seconds yeah is that uh even though it seems like they have 10 eyes on the basketball again uh Antonio Reeves does look like he’s going to go out and get connected

If this guy was was to turn and kick so I think he noticed so you can see him there kind of move out to guard I think he recognized like oh dton connect we probably should be on him so he does make but you know there was the moment

Here where just five guys and it maybe it’s just a case of like the it’s a loose ball now at this point we do all want to kind of right yeah cuz I mean you could also take it as like you know if if Antonio doesn’t get in there a

Little bit and ends up being a loose ball then you’re all mad at him for like well hey it’s a 50-50 ball you got to get in there so yeah Ian in that situation it’s tough when it’s kind of a scramble situation but yes I I agree I I

Love because and same thing Wagner does get this If he if he on his guy right yeah because but from Antonio’s standpoint you should have some like when you when you see a player like don’t connect alone in the three-point line there should be fear like you should be like

Oh my like something went terribly wrong I need to go get him so I I like that little move at the end and let these tall athletic dudes deal with getting the ball at The Rim all right we will shut down this episode by doing a little round table discussion here of talk

Square table Square table sorry yes of talking about ky’s front front Court rotation and kind of how we think that or maybe we see that playing out going into the postseason because as we’ve seen over the last pretty much two or three weeks all three of these guys can

Come in and by three I mean Aaron Bradshaw got on endzones zir visich all three of those guys can come in and make impacts in different ways in different games and we’ve like I said we’ve seen that play out over the last couple weeks and even if it’s in small spurts like

Someone like Aaron Bradshaw so I’ll start with you Brandon where do you see maybe should do it like this how many minutes per game do you see these three averaging over the the the two postseasons coming up postseason tournaments all right well I’m going to pull a coach Calipari and I’m going to

Not answer the question that Zach asked me but I’m going to I’m going to answer the question that I want to ask myself that’s fine and but what to to me and you know somewhat joking there but like to I think it’s actually impossible to answer that question because game by game yeah

It it’s not an amount of minutes for each game it’s an amount of minutes for a certain opponent and and I’m honestly not even 100% sure who those opponents are like I I I I do think that on yenso has proven to be a little bit better

Against a more physical team I I still don’t like you got on yenso is still not exactly like a Bruiser down low but I think he gives you a little bit more physicality than some of the other guys obviously if you need an offensive punch

Then Zan Visage is going to be your your option Aaron Bradshaw is probably a little bit of a blend of the two and I think that we’ve seen it probably just over the course of the last three or four weeks there’s been a game where we

We’ve all gone on Kos board or we’ve gone on Twitter or sub yeah subscribe to all those things Twitter um subscribe but I I think you’re going to have games where ugan Ono plays 28 minutes you’re probably going to have a game where vvir Mich plays 28 minutes I don’t know if

Aaron Brad would ever get to 28 minutes but he he’s number three in the pecking or I think we I think he’s probably third just because he doesn’t have the discernable Elite skill that the other two like ugan yenso has like an elite defensive skill zic has an elite

Offensive skill again Aaron Bradshaw has had some excellent games but it’s just harder to necessarily pinpoint what game fits for him other than him just having to play really well one game so yeah I think we’re going to continue to see them rotate minutes which again that’s a

Great problem to have where you have three guys you can throw them all out there see which one plays well and next question is would you rather have three guys that can all kind of soak up the minutes and one of them isn’t kind of the dominant primary guy each game yeah

I think that’s kind of what Cal has been uh been doing and I think what he said before is like it’s good to have these options and it’s like one guy’s not bringing it today he told Trey Mitchell on the bench uh during the Tennessee

Game he said I need you today I need you like and and you know Trey’s been recovering from injuries and I would say this that u i we talked about the baseball anal I we don’t use other sport analogies but if you asked a baseball manager if you told a baseball manager

You didn’t have to bat on nine guys you can just you would just bat one through four right so I I like the idea of you have four guys on the floor almost every time that can that are Elite scorers I’m fine with running ugana cuz I think like

Z does give you a lot more offensively but I’m not sure that you need it as long as getting to Justin his the ability to catch and shoot I’m cool with running ugana out there for shot blocking and rebound um you know out of all three I think

Like Aaron Bradshaw might have the best hands but he probably does yeah but he’s also like you said he’s the third in the pecking order so you I think you just you just deal with ug’s deficiencies I’ll be honest I was not team ugana early in the season and that’s kind of

Changed and then this game really changed changed my mind uh more than any obviously just his impact while not stealing shots from the other guys on the floor and to me to kind of bring this episode a little bit full circle think uh is the reason that you’re able

To allow ugana to do what he’s doing is because Justin and DJ have stepped up because it it used to be when you I mean think about the starting lineup that made us all so mad for for you know a month well it was because DJ Wagner

Justin Edwards and nugan on yino were all on the court at the same time and can’t shoot well now guess what only one of those guys can’t shoot now and so now all of a sudden it’s the same darn people but all of a sudden it fits so

Much better because two of those guys have gone from Bad Shooters to really good Shooters over the course of the last month so now now you can get away with playing ugan yino the majority of the minutes because he’s not clogging it up in the same way that he was even with

The exact same Personnel because you’re having those guys shoot better so like ugana can be more valuable because DJ and Justin are playing so well yeah and if ugana gets a rebound that close to the basket again just go up there’s no need to pass it

But yeah I’m totally that I do like that seems like there’s going to be a rot those three guys if somebody picks up a second foul I think will continue to start yeah and he’ll just he’ll ride that and then he’ll play cow will play it like you said it’ll almost the first

Half will almost be a try out for the second half yeah of who is actually ready to bring fit in the best game who fits in the best and it really will just be a game by game like you know for fast games that maybe aren’t physical at all

That’s a game that maybe Aon plays for fast games that are physical maybe that’s where you bring in Z for slow games where it’s physical you bring in Ugo like you have different options um you know you’re probably not going to get the exact same production out of

Each guy but you you’re not going to feel like you have to be riing on one guy playing right out of not out of position but you know in in a bad situation for you yeah right what I’ve Loved is that um Aaron Bradshaw played 2

Minutes and he was the first guy up off the bench after every made three every block heting just like all you don’t have to worry about aand with his all three of those guys with his ego or anything and that’s that’s probably honestly one of the bigger parts of this

Whole thing is that there could have been a situation where we were forc will not be soaking and what was the game was it the Alabama game where he came off the bench and had play well or was Arkansas maybe it was a red team yeah it

One of the red teams from the south very recent game it might have been Arkansa I think but he came off the bench and literally played 5 six seven minutes had 12 points five rebounds MH like you just need but the the mindset of being able to just be

Like all right I’m ready I know that I’m my minutes have just vanished like I was the guy for like two weeks when he came back from his foot surgery he had the big game against Florida had the big shot against Florida and then it just

Kind of evaporated for him and a lot of guys can easily just bottle up and that can Crush their season but to Aaron’s credit he’s just very mentally strong and he’s been able to handle it and he’s ready the second he comes off the bench he might still do this whenever he’s

Defending a guy in paint but he’s ready to play and I think that’s that’s a very underrated part of that so absolutely boys I think we’re done here nine more games nine more games I don’t we don’t really have a plan for how we’re going to do floppy action but I’m

Sure at the very minimum we will do an in between SEC tournament and NCA tournament and uh kind of see what we what me and stepen see and Nashville Brandon will not be there with us but we’ll be getting first hand looks so we’ll be able to oh or Steven will

Probably be able to put up some nice uh in game footage up here from from the actual game maybe we can’t shoot anything inside sorry I didn’t say anything and NCA they don’t let us take any video from inside the arena which is crazy when you think

About all the people with their phones who are taking video from inside the arena during the game but he digresses and so do we so we are going to wrap this up here we will see you all soon like comment follow subscribe do all the things we’ll see you Soon