With Kentucky hiring new basketball coach Mark Pope many Kentucky fans are curious about how the team will be run without coach John Calipari. Last year BYU came into the year as the projected worst team in the Big 12.
Pope made this team into the 5 seed in the Big 12 and a 6 seed in March Madness. They garnished big wins over prestigous programs like Baylor, Kansas, and San Deigo St. They ended up as the 14th-ranked offense, 60th-ranked defense, and the 18th overall ranked team. This was ranked higher than many top seeds like Kentucky and Kansas. They also ranked above the final 4 team NC State. They had the 4th highest 3-point shooting rate and the 6th highest assist rate. This shows me that Pope encourages his players to move the ball to the best shot and gives his players the freedom to shoot at all times. With the 3-point game expanding at a rapid pace, especially in college basketball, this will make for an electrifying offense for years to come.
BYU ended up shooting more 3-pointers than they did 2-pointers last year. They get most of their 3s in transition or on the fastbreak. They achieve this by throwing the ball down the court before the defense can get set. They also have 5 players on the court at all times that can hit transition 3s. Their big man Aly Khalifa is the best example of all 5 being able to shoot as he takes many shots that most centers won’t take, or won’t make consistently. The ability to shoot the 3 so effectively along with BYU having great spacing allows for lots of easy buckets off cuts or drives because opposing defenders are so worried about the 3-point shot. This also opens up post-up opportunities for BYU’s big men. The 3-point shooting threat allows for the big men to work 1 on 1 with their defender. This allows for the big men to get very efficient looks on the inside. Even the 6 foot 6 Fousseyni Traore was able to shoot 60% of his post-up opportunities.
Byu also uses the zoom action popularized by Purdue. This action consists of a pin-down screen for the zoomer who then receives a dribble handoff. This action creates open-point shots for good shooters. An example of this that Kentucky fans will remember well is Jack Gholke. The vast majority of his shots came off this action. Even though we played our best defender Ried Shepard on him and face-guarded him we couldn’t stop this action. However, where Oakland fell short BYU excels. When Oakland ran this action it became predictable and defenders would just go over the incoming screen. When the defender hedges up against the screen the BYU players will cut to the basket to get easy layups.
Another thing BYU does out of this action is start a forward in the paint and drag him out when the action is rejected or set into motion. This allows for easier buckets in the paint because it gives the opposing defenders the illusion of help defense. It can also create open looks from 3 if the forward’s defender sees the action and tries to help. They also implement a curl off of this action. If the defender is trailing behind the zoomer after the pin-down screen he will curl towards the basket for another easy layup. Teams have tried to counter this action by either switching, putting more pressure on the passer, or sagging off the passer. When the defense tries to switch the zoomer simply doesn’t move and while the switch happens the zoomer gets the pass in the corner for an open 3. If more pressure is put on the passer it allows for the passer to take his defender off the dribble and create for himself or his teammates. If the defense sags off the passer the passer can shoot the ball. Someone like Aly Khalifa for BYU who is a 38% 3-point shooter makes defenses pay for sagging off. Where BYU struggles is when they can’t hit their 3s or when the defense plays drop coverage on the pick-and-roll. BYU was a team that lived and died by the 3 last year. This created some offensive struggles for them when they went cold from deep. When drop coverage is played in the pick-and-roll game it made BYU players take more midrange shots off the dribble which they did not make a high percentage of.
The Kentucky Side
Being from Kentucky I and many others want to know how Mark Pope’s offense will transition to Kentucky. This is only speculation as nothing is set in stone yet, but this is how I believe the Kentucky basketball team will operate next year. I believe this is pretty obvious, but it makes sense that Kentucky will be shooting lots of 3-pointers next year. It’s hard to say what Kentukcy’s roster will look like next year as only two players are on the active roster as of this moment. However, the two recruits that Kentucky has are both very good 3-point shooters. Pope has also been targeting good shooters in the transfer portal. I also see Pope sticking with the Zoom action set that he ran at BYU. I mostly believe this because the Zoom action is run by so many top offenses in college basketball. However, it’s further solidified by Pope recruiting centers that pass very well like Aly Khalifa and Great Osobor. The Zoom action should give Kentucky a sustainable
offensive set that can transfer from year to year. Now the problem of finding our stars won’t happen. This should give Kentucky more early-season success because they won’t have to find their footing as much. Another thing that will change with Kentucky basketball is the one-and-done philosophy that coach Cal had. Most of the players Cal recruited were coming to Kentucky to get drafted. This was good for the players because it worked. Kentucky has the most players in the NBA currently and some of the best like Anthony Davis, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, and Tyrese Maxey. Pope however doesn’t recruit the same way as Cal. Pope recruits guys that fit into his system. This will create a more system-oriented team than a player-oriented team. This should give Kentucky more long-term success because the players don’t fluctuate. As a Kentucky fan, I am very excited for the Pope era of UK basketball.
