Stopping ND's Guards

[Henry Sugar]

Apart from developing a deep hatred of Harangody in last year's game, I remember our team having a total inability to stop Tory Jackson.

My question, now that McAlarney is back and taking a larger role, who would you prefer to see match up with McAlarney and Jackson?

James on McAlarney and McNeal on Jackson?

or

James on Jackson and McNeal on McAlarney?

[🏀]

I believe this decision will depend a lot of DJ's wrist.

I feel that McNeal can stick with Jackson more. However, he could disrupt McAlarney's shot more as we have seen some blocks from him at the 3-point line this year.

[RJax55]

Good topic, Henry.

I would put McNeal on McAlarney. McAlarney is the key to ND offense. When ND lost earlier in the year to Baylor and GT, McAlarney had sub-par performances. If MU can shutdown McAlarney, I believe MU wins, even if Harangody has a great game.

[Secret of the Ouse]

Good topic, Henry.

I would put McNeal on McAlarney. McAlarney is the key to ND offense. When ND lost earlier in the year to Baylor and GT, McAlarney had sub-par performances. If MU can shutdown McAlarney, I believe MU wins, even if Harangody has a great game.

good point, in their 2 losses, is i remember correctly, Harangody put up good numbers, but McAlarney did not.  I almost think that for this game, defensively, we should almost concede that Harangody will drop 20 and focus on stopping the other 4 players on the floor.

[dwaderoy2004]

James is the better on the ball defender, so you put him on Jackson.  Mcalarney is the shooter, so you put the taller mcneal, which is also better at fighting through screens than james.

[denverMU]

I agree, McAlarney is the key.  Put our best defender on him, McNeal, and DJ can blanket Jackson.  The bigger question is, How can ND cover our guards?  They only have two halfway decent guards, we must exploit this mismatch.

[MUfan12]

There's a few factors at play, the first being James' wrist. McAlarney can beat you, I'm not sure Jackson can. MU can let Jackson get his, if they can do a good job of denying the ball to McAlarney and Harangody.

I would put James, if healthy, on McAlarney. He has shown he can deny the ball and handle guys that are bigger than him. McNeal gambles a lot defensively and is much stronger on the ball than he is denying the ball.

How do you handle Harangody? Attack him from the start and get him into foul trouble. I would also consider changing defenses here and there, like MU did against Georgetown two years ago. They switched into a collapsing zone that slowed Hibbert down quite a bit, but still played primarily man.

[Henry Sugar]

I'm thinking that it's better to put James on Jackson as well and to have McNeal cover McAlarney. 

Jackson just killed us last year with his dribble penetration and I believe that James will be able to shut that down.  I see McNeal's coverage of passing lanes and blocks as better suited to cover McAlarney.

Cracked Sidewalks had a guest from the ND blog today do a preview of the ND players (shameless plug!)

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/01/know-your-opponent-notre-dame.html

His opinion was that you have to choose between McAlarney or Harangody and that you can't stop both.

[RJax55]

Jackson has a huge weakness, he can't shoot. Current shooting %:

FG %: 37%
3 %:   19%
FT %:  46%

He also averages 3.5 TOs a game. Jackson's game is driving to the basket ... Hopefully MU plays off him a bit and forces him to shoot from the outside. The key is to keep him out of the lane.

[MU]

I was at the ND-UConn game last saturday when Jackson got smashed by Thabeet.  My brother goes to ND and keeps up well with their basketball information.  He told me word is Jackson still isn't fully recovered from that injury and isn't at 100%.  He said TJ is still expected to play but minutes and contribution may be down.  Take that for what it's worth but that may have some effect on our game plan.

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

A Phillie Blunt should do it.

[mosarsour]

i think that a better question would be, who's gonna stop MU's guards.

[AlumKCof93]

Put DJ on Macalarney.  He shouldn't be able to drive past DJ - the key is to limit his outside shot.  DJ is more than capable of playing man defense on MaCalarney and shouldn't need too much help. The help defense should be focused on Harongody who is a bad matchup for us.  As always, we need Matthews and McNeal to stay out of foul trouble.  Those two driving to the basket and drawing fouls on Harangody will be key.

[MR.HAYWARD]

DJ will start the possesion on Jackson quaranteed, but do you guys watch the games?  MU switches on the perimeter.

[Daniel]

I say we unleash the secret weapons and start the walk-ons - ND is not prepared for that HA!

Going to be a heckuva game - down to wire maybe, unless we blow them out.
GO MARQUETTE!

[chefrad]

>think that a better question would be, who's gonna stop MU's guards.<



Well said, and prescient.