Breaking Down Kentucky's Lineups: Best and Worst Combinations in SEC Play

BryantheIntern

Kentucky's starters talk before tipoff at Rupp Arena - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

Since the start of SEC play, Mark Pope has played 34 unique combinations of players during five games. By now, the rotation of who plays is pretty well set but the combinations have varied from game to game. Collin Chandler has seen the floor in some games and not at all in others. Travis Perry has played integral roles in some games, but not so much in others.

But through these first five games, I wonder which lineups have been the most effective, which lineups have we seen the most, and do those two things correlate? Remember that a key criticism of later John Calipari teams was he wasn’t playing the right lineups. Has Mark Pope improved in that area?

7 MOST PLAYED LINEUPS

(45:21) – Andrew Carr, Amari Williams, Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Lamont Butler: +2
(15:54) – Brandon Garrison, Ansley Almonor, Koby Brea, Oweh, Butler: -2
(13:20) – Carr, Garrison, Brea, Robinson, Butler: -7
(12:59) – Williams, Almonor, Oweh, Robinson, Butler: +14
(12:37) – Garrison, Almonor, Brea, Robinson, Butler: +5
(11:59) – Carr, Williams, Brea, Oweh, Butler: -18
(10:07) – Carr, Garrison, Oweh, Robinson, Butler: +10

These are the seven lineups that have played at least 10+ minutes together in SEC play. A mixed bag of results to say the least. The most used lineup, by far, is the lineup that starts both halves every game. And they have generally played level with the opponent. But, the things that I noted the most were Lamont Butler gets the heavy loads of serious minutes and Jaxson Robinson and Butler together have been the most effective duo. Four of the five lineups in this list with those two guys together have a positive plus-minus.

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5 MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

(12:59) – Williams, Almonor, Oweh, Robinson, Butler: +14
(10:07) – Carr, Garrison, Oweh, Robinson, Butler: +10
(7:32) – Carr, Williams, Oweh, Robinson, Perry: +7
(4:54) – Williams, Almonor, Brea, Robinson, Butler: +5
(12:37) – Garrison, Almonor, Brea, Robinson, Butler: +5

As I mentioned above, the major trend that I see is that the most effective lineups for Kentucky are ones with both Jaxson Robinson and Lamont Butler on the floor. In fact, Robinson is in all five of these lineups. Mark Pope is able to mix and match Carr, Williams, Garrison, and Almonor as the big guys. And he is able to mix and match Oweh and Brea as his small forward. But when Robinson and/or Butler are off the floor, things go south. Especially if both are off the floor.

6 LEAST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

(11:59) – Carr, Williams, Brea, Oweh, Butler: -18
(2:33) – Williams, Almonor, Brea, Robinson, Perry: -10
(13:20) – Carr, Garrison, Brea, Robinson, Butler: -7
(3:51) – Carr, Williams, Brea, Robinson, Butler: -6
(1:45) – Carr, Williams, Chandler, Robinson, Butler: -4
(0:41) – Garrison, Almonor, Chandler, Robinson, Butler: -4

What can we take from these lineups? The only real trend I see is that Koby Brea is in the four worst plus-minus lineups. You can somewhat understand that because of his defensive liabilities. Andrew Carr also appears in 4 of the 5 worst as well. Probably the most concerning thing is the 3rd and 6th most-played lineups are also two of the worst lineups we’ve got going. The others have just played spot minutes together. So it will be interesting if we see improvement from these groups moving forward.