I've heard a lot of folks concerned about scoring next season, but what about our D?
We return 4 of our 5 best defenders (Todd, Blue, CO, and Wilson), junior is probably good enough to keep up with 90% of the PGs in conference, and i think Juan showed flashes of being solid on that end as well. We also bring back a lot of this years rebounding in JWill, Blue and Gardner.
So despite the obvious gap in scoring that will need to be made up, this could be our best defensive team since 2003...
btw - i think this will be the big difference between the 2009-2010 squad and next years(heard some comparisons earlier), we had a good offense that year but almost no real defense/rebounding. i think that's a good position to be in... thoughts?
Totally agree. Defense is something that is much more constant when compared to offense. While we may have slumps on the offensive end, our defense should be solid enough to keep us in most any game. Much like it did this year.
i actually think next year's D will be better than this year's. as good as it was for most of the season, it was really dependent on speeding teams up, steals, turnovers and runouts, and not as much on just lockdown one-and-done D.
hoping we can find a good balance between our transition offense and really solid Defense...
Quote from: JTBMU7 on March 29, 2012, 08:01:51 PM
So despite the obvious gap in scoring that will need to be made up, this could be our best defensive team since 2003...
Were we a good defensive team in 2003? Wade had a lot of steals, but IIRC we were awesome on offense, not so much on D.
Quote from: Lennys Tap on March 29, 2012, 08:50:11 PM
Were we a good defensive team in 2003? Wade had a lot of steals, but IIRC we were awesome on offense, not so much on D.
maybe i made that up... always thought that was our best D/rebounding team in a while?? feel free to correct me if i'm off base.
either way i think next year is our best D in a long time.
Quote from: JTBMU7 on March 29, 2012, 08:58:44 PM
either way i think next year is our best D in a long time.
agree on this
Not to mention getting Otule back in the middle is huge for the defense as well..
i really hope Juan improves on that end as well, he's got great athleticism/length and will hopefully give us another asset near the rim to disrupt shots and clean the glass.
And, when needed, DWil defending the point.
With JWil, CO, Vander and Mayo--wow--just need Mayo or Blue to be something like the transition finisher that DJO is. Too much to expect from Blue, I think (I don't expect a big leap in his finishing ability, but hoping for a big improvement in his shooting). So, here's to Todd (with JWil trailing hard) taking it hard to the rack!
That's why I think that some of the comparisons to an offensively challenged Louisville from this year could be accurate.
I would like to see this defense on the court together at some point:
C - Otule
PF - S. Taylor
SF - J. Wilson
SG - Mayo
PG - Vander
Keep in mind, almost every time MUBB got stops and played great D this year, we got TONS of easy transition baskets. It was important for this year's team, probably will be doubly important for next year's.
Quote from: JTBMU7 on March 29, 2012, 08:58:44 PM
maybe i made that up... always thought that was our best D/rebounding team in a while?? feel free to correct me if i'm off base.
either way i think next year is our best D in a long time.
Our defense in 2003 sucked. According to Pomeroy, we were the worst defensive team to reach the Final Four in the history of his ratings. We had guys that could rebound and steal the ball, but we won games by outscoring the opposition. And R-Jax, as solid as he was, was never a great defender. Honestly, I could easily see DG being his equal or better on the defensive end by his senior year, and Otule is already a better post defender. For that matter, so were Lazar, Jimmy, and Jae.
As Suge has consistently pointed out, defense advances:
F4 KPom Ratings (D Rank/ORank)
- UL (#1/#102
- Ohio State (#2/#7)
- Kansas (#4/#16)
- UK (#11/#2)
With the experience MU is losing next season on offense, I think that MU returns more pluses on defense. Buzz callled Jamil the best defensive player in the BE. MU finished #14 on defense this past season, its best since Crean's last season and
second best in the decade since Pomeroy started measuring in 2003. Losing Jae will be a hole, but MU will have more height, length and girth.
http://kenpom.com/index.php?s=RankAdjDE
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on March 30, 2012, 02:25:43 PM
As Suge has consistently pointed out, defense advances:
F4 KPom Ratings (D Rank/ORank)
- UL (#1/#102
- Ohio State (#2/#7)
- Kansas (#4/#16)
- UK (#11/#2)
With the experience MU is losing next season on offense, I think that MU returns more pluses on defense. Buzz callled Jamil the best defensive player in the BE. MU finished #14 on defense this past season, its best since Crean's last season and second best in the decade since Pomeroy started measuring in 2003. Losing Jae will be a hole, but MU will have more height, length and girth.
http://kenpom.com/index.php?s=RankAdjDE
I'm hoping for a bit less girth from the Big Sheesh.