Coming into the games last night i worried about defensive issues only on the interior, but after last night i worry about defenzive issure on the perimeter as well...
Acker is going to be a defensive liability for the rest of the season. Louisville, pitt, and syracuse all have larger guards. They may not all be as skiled as Aj price, but jerry smith, lavance fields and johnny flynn are no slouches.
does anyone seem a remidy to this situation?
effort and help defense. there is no other answer.
We already sort of suffer problems defensively on the perimeter because our guards have to constantly keep an eye on the blocks because our big men can't handle their counterparts. DJ was more of the on-ball defender who tried to make it difficult for the opponent's PG to make a direct pass, while Matthews and McNeal kind of slough off/bounce back on their man to provide help down low.
Acker and Cubes are nowhere near the on ball defender James was. It's going to be easier to get the ball down low now.
agree this will be a big problem. While McNeal has a great reputation on D, I don't think he is great on the ball. As referenced, he's better cheating and helping. Same with Wes. We'll struggle stopping dribble penetration, and I would anticipate our ability to avoid foul trouble to the extent we have for the most part will also be impacted.
At this point, hey, they'll do the best they can and we'll see how far it can take them. All expectations are out the window and it's just scratch and claw for whatever we can get from here. Way it goes I guess.
Quote from: CTWarrior on February 26, 2009, 12:07:16 PM
We already sort of suffer problems defensively on the perimeter because our guards have to constantly keep an eye on the blocks because our big men can't handle their counterparts. DJ was more of the on-ball defender who tried to make it difficult for the opponent's PG to make a direct pass, while Matthews and McNeal kind of slough off/bounce back on their man to provide help down low.
Acker and Cubes are nowhere near the on ball defender James was. It's going to be easier to get the ball down low now.
Bingo. Also, DJ was strong enough to fight through picks and could block shots. Given Ackers short stature and slight frame. I think MU would be better served to go to a more traditional lineup and start Butler with Acker, Coobey and Fulce off the bench. fulce simply needs to play and give us more length.
I was thinking along the same lines of McNeal, Matthews, Butler, hayward and Burke.
I would like to see more of fulce, but the inexperience and lack of understanding on defensive schemes worries me.
there is no simple solution to this problem, but i have faith buzz will figure it out.
The way we played last night, i still feel we have a very strong chance against the last 3 teams