Murfessius aka gr8one1 aka old man river

[Blackhat]

sounded the horn on Buzz's lack of defense at UNO three years ago and predicted he would struggle here.

The gr8one1 is a f**king prophet sent to us by the spirit of Eddie Hickey.

[madtownwarrior]

Sucks that he may be right....

[ChicosBailBonds]

sounded the horn on Buzz's lack of defense at UNO three years ago and predicted he would struggle here.

The gr8one1 is a f**king prophet sent to us by the spirit of Eddie Hickey.

The UNO fans said the same thing but they were just being bitter.

[Blackhat]

Sucks that he may be right....

I know.   I remember being totally stoked about Buzz because of his work ethic and recruiting.   But then I saw his defensive ken pom rating at UNO and the UNO fans comign to the scout board and saying have fun with no defense, then I started getting a little worried.

Hoped it would pass and it was just a talent thing but ........ don't know what to think now.  Next year is huge for Buzz.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

What I cannot understand is, with all the horrendous defense being played by our regulars, what is keeping Erik Williams and Jamail Jones on the bench? It can't be defense!

[groove]

What I cannot understand is, with all the horrendous defense being played by our regulars, what is keeping Erik Williams and Jamail Jones on the bench? It can't be defense!

I agree. If he is so gung ho on not making mistakes on defense to earn playing time, then there are plenty of mistakes being made out there to warrant people sitting and giving Williams and Jones a chance.

[GGGG]

I hate the booing. I hate calling out the players. But this is a legit problem. What is particularly disturbing is now he has made no adjustments to his philosophy as the year has progressed.

[M@RQUETTEW@RRIORS]

When you watch this MU team and the past couple of teams play half court defense, it is maddening.  Basic middle/high school principals are missing.  Players cant seem to grasp things like ball-you-man and help-side defense. And its not just one or two, its almost all of them from time to time.  You would assume by the time these players reach a D1 program that these concepts would have already been taught to them, wouldnt you?  How much time does Buzz spend in practice on these concepts?  How many lay-ups can MU give up before something changes.  This team needs to devote as much practice time as needed until they start to grasp the basic fundamentals of defense.  Stop pressuring 40 ft away from the basket and play down and dirty solid defense.  Buzz says all the right things when you hear him talk about defense, which makes me question his ability to teach said principals to 18-22 year old players.  I would have to assume he himself grasps these basic principals.  I dont think Buzz should be replaced, but maybe he should hire an assistant/consultant that can help teach these kids how to play TEAM defense.

Two gaping holes I see in the defense:
As mentioned above, maintaining basic ball-you-man positioning when you are not guarding the ball.
Helpside defense being late because of slow reaction or being improperly positioned in the first place and having to far to come to help in the first place.

Its not rocket science and can easily be rectified.  But it should be about 75% of your early season practice schedule.
It looks like Buzz likes to spend a lot of time on offensive basketball.

[Blackhat]

When you watch this MU team and the past couple of teams play half court defense, it is maddening.  Basic middle/high school principals are missing.  Players cant seem to grasp things like ball-you-man and help-side defense. And its not just one or two, its almost all of them from time to time.  You would assume by the time these players reach a D1 program that these concepts would have already been taught to them, wouldnt you?  How much time does Buzz spend in practice on these concepts?  How many lay-ups can MU give up before something changes.  This team needs to devote as much practice time as needed until they start to grasp the basic fundamentals of defense.  Stop pressuring 40 ft away from the basket and play down and dirty solid defense.  Buzz says all the right things when you hear him talk about defense, which makes me question his ability to teach said principals to 18-22 year old players.  I would have to assume he himself grasps these basic principals.  I dont think Buzz should be replaced, but maybe he should hire an assistant/consultant that can help teach these kids how to play TEAM defense.

Two gaping holes I see in the defense:
As mentioned above, maintaining basic ball-you-man positioning when you are not guarding the ball.
Helpside defense being late because of slow reaction or being improperly positioned in the first place and having to far to come to help in the first place.

Its not rocket science and can easily be rectified.  But it should be about 75% of your early season practice schedule.
It looks like Buzz likes to spend a lot of time on offensive basketball.

Agree in total with you and sultan.   These are basic concepts that we don't do, so it's not a talent thing.   Hard to watch, over and over again

[GGGG]

I think it is a scheme problem more than anything. He needs to change the scheme.

[bilsu]

I believe the problem is recruiting not coaching. I predicted 6 or 7 conference wins this year and I was okay with that, because I thought better seasons were ahead of us. Now looking at the roster after next year with DJO and Crowder gone we are the last place team in the Big East. He is recruiting top 100 players that cannot play.

[M@RQUETTEW@RRIORS]

I think it is a scheme problem more than anything. He needs to change the scheme.

IMO his belief is he wants to be up-tempo.  Thus, he needs to be able to pressure on defense to get the other team into an up-tempo game to create more posessions.  The error in his scheme is how far out on the court he applies the pressure.  If you watch a duke or kansas team play half court Defense they dont generally pressure 35 to 40ft away from the basket.  This is because the help defense has to help and recover way to far.  Buzz needs to back the defensive pressure back to 20 or 25 ft away from the basket.  This would help, however many of the guys on the weekside are also losing where their man is far to often.  Which makes me believe they are not practicing basic ball-u-man concepts very much.  Alot of this is film study and mental not physical.

[shiloh26]

I agree. If he is so gung ho on not making mistakes on defense to earn playing time, then there are plenty of mistakes being made out there to warrant people sitting and giving Williams and Jones a chance.

I honestly wonder if its because their defense is no better. I remember reading that Williams never learned fundamental defense in HS, he was just kind of a roving shot blocker/help defender. Earlier this year I remember him getting absolutely embarrassed on backdoor cuts, so it doesn't seem like he has the basic ball-man-basket concept down either... he just watches ball.  i don't know much about Jamail's defense. 

I agree with the sentiment here that its not a personal effort thing necessarily, but just a bad defensive scheme and lack of fundamentals.  Switching in bench players only has the desired effect if your poor defense is due to bad effort, which is not the problem here.

[NickelDimer]

All an opposing offense has to do is ball rotation and reversal and they will overextend our D.  We are the slowest reacting defense I've seen.  Any offense can get an open shot against this D if they're patient.

[downtown85]

I hate the booing. I hate calling out the players. But this is a legit problem. What is particularly disturbing is now he has made no adjustments to his philosophy as the year has progressed.

I generally agree with those posting on this thread that the defense has looked "flabby" or "weak" for most of the season, but what exactly did you (all) not like about the defense against St. Johns or Gtown?  I feel our offense let us down in those games not the defense.  Not hitting critical shots (and free throws) in Georgetown and too many turnovers in St. Johns.  I am not sure you can run your regular defense and make stops when Malik Booth picks your point guard's pocket at mid court.  

I actually think they played the best defense all year in both those games (with some occasional lapses).  Part of this has been Otule coming out and becoming a force in patrolling the paint.  Or maybe I was't watching the same games as you.  

[NersEllenson]

I generally agree with those posting on this thread that the defense has looked "flabby" or "weak" for most of the season, but what exactly did you (all) not like about the defense against St. Johns or Gtown?  I feel our offense let us down in those games not the defense.  Not hitting critical shots (and free throws) in Georgetown and too many turnovers in St. Johns.  I am not sure you can run your regular defense and make stops when Malik Booth picks your point guard's pocket at mid court.  

I actually think they played the best defense all year in both those games (with some occasional lapses).  Part of this has been Otule coming out and becoming a force in patrolling the paint.  Or maybe I was't watching the same games as you.  

People have a tendency to look for the easiest available scapegoat, and with this team it is its defense and coaching.  Pretty sure the offensive concepts you need to defend at the college level are a little more sophisticated, than are those being run at a high school and middle school level.

Gtown and Villanova D was pretty solid - last night a few bad lapses per usual - but down the stretch there were some terrible missed shot caroms, that resulted in ST Johns getting to reload - that was frustrating to watch as a fan..and for the players..truly...sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way, and there were multiple possesions down the stretch defended well..only to have the missed shot carom to an area where a St. John's player was.

[Blackhat]

I haven't looked at the stats but there seemed to be an astronomical amount of lay ups given up against SJU.  Against G-Town they weren't hitting their shots in the first half and when we needed stops in the final 5 minutes we couldn't get them, that's another huge red flag right there, imo.

Our spacing has been terrible on D all year.   You would notice G-Town and SJU just spacing their wings and 4 out opening up the drive or a two man game.   When we are two passes away from pass we don't have good sagging for ball-man position or  "showing chest" aka "show big" to dissuade the easy drive lay in.

 All five guys need to WORK IN CONCERT on help d and we don't do it.   Coach K has a great saying centered around if you show too much real estate on d in the half court you are screwed.  "cause if you see real estate, you buy it." in basketball.   

Well when we hyper extend on the wings and pg we open up a crap load of real estate.

[GGGG]

People have a tendency to look for the easiest available scapegoat, and with this team it is its defense and coaching.  Pretty sure the offensive concepts you need to defend at the college level are a little more sophisticated, than are those being run at a high school and middle school level.

Gtown and Villanova D was pretty solid - last night a few bad lapses per usual - but down the stretch there were some terrible missed shot caroms, that resulted in ST Johns getting to reload - that was frustrating to watch as a fan..and for the players..truly...sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way, and there were multiple possesions down the stretch defended well..only to have the missed shot carom to an area where a St. John's player was.

I said it then, but the defense was very poor in the second half against Georgetown.  There is a reason we are ranked near the bottom in defense in the BE.  It is more than just a "scapegoat."  And that fact that defense has gotten progressively worse under Buzz means that it is definately a coaching issue.