Kentucky has the Prettiest Offense in the Country, according to Buzz Williams

Buzz Williams is not college basketball’s arbiter of offensive basketball, but the guy spent five years or more coaching in the Big East, ACC, and SEC. He’s seen a lot of ball and he hasn’t seen too many offenses prettier than the one Kentucky runs for Mark Pope.

“I’ve enjoyed studying them, for sure the prettiest offense in the country. Analytically, they’re the third-best offense. Just how they play, it’s very unique, dissimilar to any team in the SEC in the time we’ve been here. It’s easy to see why Coach (Mark Pope) has had such success and has such notoriety relative to his offense. I really, really have enjoyed studying them,” the Texas A&M head coach said on Monday.

“I don’t know that we know how to slow it down or stop it. Not many teams have had much success with that. They’re not only talented and skilled. That’s easy to figure out. Their style of play is very distinct and you have to make a lot of decisions just on how you’re going to try to slow ’em down.”

A big reason why the Wildcats are so hard to guard is what they do behind the three-point line. They have the second-most made threes in the SEC. Koby Brea is the most efficient three-point shooter in the league, sinking 48% of his attempts this season.

It just so happens that this might be the best three-point defense Buzz Williams has had since he arrived in College Station. Texas A&M ranks in the top 15 in defensive efficiency, allowing opponents to shoot just 30.9% from three. Buzz credits his players and some of the tweaks they’ve made in ball-screen defense and how they help on the weak-side. They’re going to have to make more tweaks to prepare for this pretty Kentucky offense.

“Almost everything they do is 5-out, so that changes your weak side, but a lot of times the ball stays in the channel, so there’s not a weak side,” said the Texas A&M coach. “That’s why they’re hard to guard.”

Jaxson Robinson Revenge Game?

People forget that Jaxson Robinson was one of Buzz Williams’ first Texas A&M signees. The Oklahoma native started his career in College Station. He spent one year with Williams and one with Musselman at Arkansas before connecting with Mark Pope in Provo. There are no hard feelings between Williams and his former player.

“He’s a beautiful kid. Covid was a tough experience for everybody, including him. I still have great relationships with his parents and we’ve done this before. He was at Arkansas when he left here. He’s a really good player and was a really good player when he was here,” said Williams.

“I think Texas A&M, Arkansas, BYU, Kentucky, you could argue he’s been really good to close down his career, even at BYU. He’s a big part of what they’re doing.”

Robinson was scoreless in two games against Texas A&M back in 2022. Coming off his best performance as a Wildcat, hopefully, he has a few more threes in the tank for his old team.

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