Why Blue Blood BBall programs struggle this year?

#1
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volberry

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#1
UK ( haha) , Duke, Kansas, etc. are all terrible this year. Worse than midway programs. Any idea why the normal power houses are this bad when everyone else is doing mostly ok or great? Is it Covid?
 
#2
#2
I was wondering the same thing in the Duke/UNC thread.

Somebody more knowledgeable about CBB than me probably has a better answer, but I wonder if the schedule disruptions have affected the development of younger players more (particularly true freshmen), so it hurts programs that tend to go the one-and-done route.

If you take a look at some of the good teams this year...Gonzaga, Baylor etc., they tend to roll with more sophomores and juniors. Kentucky is a mess, and they are much more reliant on true freshmen. However, in UT's case, our 2 best players are true freshmen and we rely on them for scoring. So who knows.
 
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#3
#3
Not saying this is the reason but I think it plays a part in it.....Without crowds or with very limited fans you loose the home court advantage. Games have basically turned into a "practice or scrimmage" environment. I know everyone is playing under the same conditions for the most part but I believe this why there has been so many upsets and some of the bigger programs have struggled.
 
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#4
#4
05_never_again said:
I was wondering the same thing in the Duke/UNC thread.

Somebody more knowledgeable about CBB than me probably has a better answer, but I wonder if the schedule disruptions have affected the development of younger players more (particularly true freshmen), so it hurts programs that tend to go the one-and-done route.

If you take a look at some of the good teams this year...Gonzaga, Baylor etc., they tend to roll with more sophomores and juniors. Kentucky is a mess, and they are much more reliant on true freshmen. However, in UT's case, our 2 best players are true freshmen and we rely on them for scoring. So who knows.
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I definitely think there is something to the fact that the younger teams didn’t have as much time together to gel. I think as a coach when you’re dealing with these younger guys you learn how to coach them differently, what motivates them, what lineups work the best, how to discipline guys, etc... For example, in Duke’s loss to Notre Dame yesterday Jalen Johnson was MIA down the stretch. He’s far and away the most talented player on the floor. He should’ve been wrecking a 2-3 zone by playing in the middle of that zone making 15-17 footers and distributing the ball. He was awful in his decision making and turned the ball over multiple times. He was checked out and is a liability on D. Therefor he sat. That’s a small example of how I think things have gone with some of these teams that play a lot of young guys. However, I don’t think this would’ve happened w/ UK in 2012 or Duke in 2019. Those teams were loaded with legit NBA stars, who not only had the game physically, but were mentally better than most upperclassmen .
 
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#6
#6
I think it’s simple as these teams rely on freshmen and those freshmen desperately rely on that practice time they just didn’t get pre-season
 
#8
#8
Mose Phillip's Watch said:
Not a single team in the top 15 in alltime wins were not ranked at one point this season
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tenor.gif
 
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#12
#12
It sounds too simple but at least with KU and UK (UT opponents), they just don't have the same horses they normally do. UT beat KU by 20 and should have beat UK that bad.

I watched a half of the Duke, UNC game. It looked the same way. They may have a player or 2 but for the most part are just not that good. It was just bad basketball.
 
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#14
#14
BeecherVol said:
It sounds too simple but at least with KU and UK (UT opponents), they just don't have the same horses they normally do. UT beat KU by 20 and should have beat UK that bad.

I watched a half of the Duke, UNC game. It looked the same way. They may have a player or 2 but for the most part are just not that good. It was just bad basketball.
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The coaching career of Coach K is nearing it's end
 
#15
#15
This years Freshman class is a very weak class. Living in the 1anddone world has consequences.
 
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