Five things: John Calipari and the zone defense, plus Leonard Hamilton gets paid
Five thing of interest on this Tuesday:
1. Calipari and the zone defense
Many were the complaints Saturday when Kentucky basketball’s offense was brought to a grinding halt by Florida’s 3-2 zone defense in UK’s 71-67 loss. The gripes: Why do Calipari’s teams always look unprepared for zone defenses? And why doesn’t Calipari himself play a zone defense from time to time?
It probably didn’t help when assistant coach Jai Lucas said Monday that Florida’s 3-2 was a zone the Gators had not played previously, at least not the matchup zone Mike White’s team deployed on Saturday. And Kentucky will face a 1-3-1 zone on Tuesday night when the Cats play the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford.
As for UK not playing zone, Calipari is a staunch believer in tough man-to-man defense. To play defense well, you have to concentrate on that defense. And you’d have to say that strategy has worked out pretty well so far. Calipari is in the Hall of Fame. And here are his defensive ratings, according to kenpom.
2. Leonard Hamilton gets paid
The 72-year-old Florida State head coach and former Kentucky assistant under Joe B. Hall and Eddie Sutton agreed to a five-year contract extension that will pay him $11.25 million in guaranteed money.
Hamilton is 395-225 as the Florida State coach, including 14-4 overall and 10-3 in the ACC this season. The Seminoles are ranked 11th in the nation, but when on their game have a legitimate shot at a Final Four run and even a national title.
3. Malik Williams’ bad luck
The 6-foot-11 Louisville forward played all of 62 minutes this season before re-injuring his right foot in the second half of the Cardinals’ 80-73 overtime win at Duke on Saturday. Coach Chris Mack announced Monday that, although surgery is not required, Williams will be out 4-6 weeks, meaning his season is probably over.
It’s a tough break for the Cardinals, as well, who play at 22nd ranked Virginia Tech on Wednesday night before returning home to finish the regular season against No. 21 Virginia on Saturday. Then again, Louisville has played without Williams for almost the entire season.
4. The NIT moves to Texas
The annual postseason tournament, which is run by the NCAA, will be limited to 16 teams rather than the usual 32. And instead of being played at campus sites until the semifinals and finals at Madison Square Garden, the tournament will be played entirely in Texas, at the Comerica Center in Frisco and at North Texas University’s arena in Denton.
Not sure how many teams are going to want to play under that setup. I know it’s a bubble-type setup, starting March 17 and running through March 28, but will programs want to submit their players to playing in the NIT during a global pandemic?
5. The Kentucky Knicks are above .500
Especially early in the season, John Calipari’s Zoom calls with the media the day before UK games would be invaded by at least one or two writers from New York to ask the Kentucky coach about the various New York connections with the Knicks.
Julius Randle is the Knicks’ bona fide star player. Immanuel Quickley has been a revelation in his rookie season. Kevin Knox and Nerlens Noel are also on the roster. And Kenny Payne is in his first year as an NBA assistant coach, serving under never-happy head coach Tom Thibodeau.
And guess what, here on March 2, the Knicks are actually above .500 at 18-17. If the NBA playoffs were held today, New York would be the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. And the Knicks haven’t made the playoffs since 2012-13. No wonder the Big Apple is excited.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 8:16 AM.
