Synergy numbers on defensive improvement

[MuMark]

Good thread from Paint Touches

https://twitter.com/painttouches/status/1096486584822710272?s=21

PS Markus's improvement on the defensive end of the floor from freshman year until know is impressive....(They had a typo that I corrected).

Howard's defensive numbers, per Synergy:

2019: (.697 PPP, 218 poss, 88%ile)
2018: (.912 PPP, 238 poss, 35%ile)
2017: (1.00 PPP, 177 poss, 13%ile)

Don't let the offensive wizardry overshadow his complete growth.

[CrowdOf5]

Good thread from Paint Touches

https://twitter.com/painttouches/status/1096486584822710272?s=21

PS Markus's improvement on the defensive end of the floor from freshman year until know is impressive....(They had a typo that I corrected).

Howard's defensive numbers, per Synergy:

2019: (.697 PPP, 218 poss, 88%ile)
2018: (.912 PPP, 238 poss, 35%ile)
2017: (1.00 PPP, 177 poss, 13%ile)

Don't let the offensive wizardry overshadow his complete growth.

Every year he's grown by leaps and bounds in almost all facets of his game. I'd imagine PG skills are up for a major upgrade going into his senior year and I have no doubt we'll see more, massive improvement there.

[barfolomew]

Markus's improvement on the defensive end of the floor from freshman year until know is impressive....(They had a typo that I corrected).

Aren't typos are just the worst?

[mileskishnish72]

Sweet, Markus.

[tower912]

Markus is working harder on the defensive end, as well as smarter.    SJU still posted up whoever he was guarding.    I can see that being a strategy in the dance. 

[PaintTouches]

Markus is working harder on the defensive end, as well as smarter.    SJU still posted up whoever he was guarding.    I can see that being a strategy in the dance.

Markus has been primary defender on 18 post-up possessions and it has resulted in only 13 points, a "very good" .722 PPP. I'm sure many teams will try to do so, but don't let a few possession sample cloud your vision.

STJ Game 1: 7 post ups, 4 points, 1 TO
STJ Game 2: 3 post ups, 2 points, 1 TO

[MuMark]

Impressive stuff from Paint Touches

Look at these numbers compared to the last 2 or 3 years

https://painttouches.com/2019/02/15/is-marquettes-defense-for-real/

[Dr. Blackheart]

One of the knocks on Markus by pro scouts is his defense.  Is he NBA ready?

That said, defense is really a team game, and there are major improvements/ adjustments on scheme starting with pick and roll and sealing dribble penetration by protecting the paint.

Major improvements:
-2Pt defense—from 304th to 20th
-Opponents OR rate and our size
-Fouling less
-2Foul Participation rate has dropped from 31.7% to 9.8%.  We forget how often both Andrew and Markus had to sit or play tentatively due to early foul trouble on dumb fouls pressing out on the perimeter. We remember the bigs sitting, but not them.

So is Markus the sole reason or is MU protecting the paint and offering him help as he isn't left on an island as much? I will give you this that Wojo recently mentioned at a recent press conference:  MU's opponents shot 67% last season at the rim which ranked 335th.  This year MU is 19th.

[MuMark]

How about this for the strange stat of the season

6'9 Joey Hauser as 2 block shots on the season......and none in Big East play.

Now I understand he isn't a great athlete......but playing 72% of available minutes and only 2 block shots for someone that tall is pretty unusual I would think.

PS Rowsey had 7 blocks last season.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Subtract Andrew Rowsey add in massive improvement by John and the result is a vastly improved defense.

The reality is, we could have been a solid defensive team last season. But that would have meant benching Rowsey for most of the year. The best strategy for us to win games was to try and outscore our opponents. The poor defense was an intentional choice, a sacrifice in order to put an elite offense on the floor. No coach and no scheme was going to result in a good defense with a Markus Howard and Andrew Roswey backcourt playing major minutes.

Problem with the defense the last two seasons was primarily personnel. Personnel has been fixed.

[tower912]

Subtract Andrew Rowsey add in massive improvement by John and the result is a vastly improved defense.

The reality is, we could have been a solid defensive team last season. But that would have meant benching Rowsey for most of the year. The best strategy for us to win games was to try and outscore our opponents. The poor defense was an intentional choice, a sacrifice in order to put an elite offense on the floor. No coach and no scheme was going to result in a good defense with a Markus Howard and Andrew Roswey backcourt playing major minutes.

Problem with the defense the last two seasons was primarily personnel. Personnel has been fixed.

Last year, there was 9 scholarship players.  3 of whom played the same position and could not be used together.  The option to sit either Rowsey or Howard was a 3 star freshman.  In reality, there was no option.   And there is no defense that can hide two 5'10 guards.  Unless they defend like Dominic James.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Subtract Andrew Rowsey add in massive improvement by John and the result is a vastly improved defense.

The reality is, we could have been a solid defensive team last season. But that would have meant benching Rowsey for most of the year. The best strategy for us to win games was to try and outscore our opponents. The poor defense was an intentional choice, a sacrifice in order to put an elite offense on the floor. No coach and no scheme was going to result in a good defense with a Markus Howard and Andrew Roswey backcourt playing major minutes.

Problem with the defense the last two seasons was primarily personnel. Personnel has been fixed.

We'll continue to disagree. If you haven't noticed the changes in scheme and other personnel changes other than AR, you haven't really paid attention, including from Wojo himself. Matt sitting, Ed and Theo in, Sacar at the two guard, Joey and Bailey.  To continue to blame Rowsey almost singularly isn't giving the team any credit.

As someone with close ties to the program told me recently, Wojo has improved five times as a coach this season.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

We'll continue to disagree. If you haven't noticed the changes in scheme and other personnel changes other than AR, you haven't really paid attention, including from Wojo himself. Matt sitting, Ed and Theo in, Sacar at the two guard, Joey and Bailey.  To continue to blame Rowsey almost singularly isn't giving the team any credit.

As someone with close ties to the program told me recently, Wojo has improved five times as a coach this season.

I pay very close attention. The changes in scheme have been relatively minor, still the same base defense, still switching on ballscreens. Biggest change is an emphasis on helping in the paint which is a product of having better personnel to defend the paint. I mentioned Theo's emergence in my post along with the removal of Rowsey. I was only expecting a top 75ish defense this season and I think Theo has been the main reason it is even higher, did not see that coming. Matt sitting was a product of Theo's emergence. Same with Sacar playing the 2 guard being a product of Rowsey's removal.

Bailey and Ed are nice additions as well though I think relatively small in the grand scheme of things. Joey hurts our defense at the moment, though he more than makes up for it on offense.

Impossible to prove, but I still hold that we could have had a top 100 defense last season. It just would have meant sacrificing our elite offense.

[LAZER]

We'll continue to disagree. If you haven't noticed the changes in scheme and other personnel changes other than AR, you haven't really paid attention, including from Wojo himself. Matt sitting, Ed and Theo in, Sacar at the two guard, Joey and Bailey.  To continue to blame Rowsey almost singularly isn't giving the team any credit.

As someone with close ties to the program told me recently, Wojo has improved five times as a coach this season.

I gotta think it becomes easier to coach with better talent and depth.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I gotta think it becomes easier to coach with better talent and depth.

Or this person knew that Wojo and Staff spent the entire summer revamping the defense? As Wojo himself has stated.

What's so hard to understand?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Or this person knew that Wojo and Staff spent the entire summer revamping the defense? As Wojo himself has stated.

What's so hard to understand?

That's great and it has gone a long way towards giving us the top 40 defense we have today.

Isn't it also possible that improved personnel has also gone a long way towards improving the defense? It doesn't have to be one or other. In fact, I don't think we can see this much improvement without both.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I pay very close attention. The changes in scheme have been relatively minor, still the same base defense, still switching on ballscreens. Biggest change is an emphasis on helping in the paint which is a product of having better personnel to defend the paint. I mentioned Theo's emergence in my post along with the removal of Rowsey. I was only expecting a top 75ish defense this season and I think Theo has been the main reason it is even higher, did not see that coming. Matt sitting was a product of Theo's emergence. Same with Sacar playing the 2 guard being a product of Rowsey's removal.

Bailey and Ed are nice additions as well though I think relatively small in the grand scheme of things. Joey hurts our defense at the moment, though he more than makes up for it on offense.

Impossible to prove, but I still hold that we could have had a top 100 defense last season. It just would have meant sacrificing our elite offense.

So, was Rowsey guarding Haas and Edwards vs. Purdue, Maten vs. GA, Martin and Wideman vs. Butler twice, Strus and Maric versus DePaul (1), Bridges vs. Nova in BET or Stevens and Carr vs. PSU? 

Again, I am not disagreeing that Andrew was not a big defensive liability but MU was killed plenty by bigs last season with free movement to the rim.

[Dr. Blackheart]

That's great and it has gone a long way towards giving us the top 40 defense we have today.

Isn't it also possible that improved personnel has also gone a long way towards improving the defense? It doesn't have to be one or other. In fact, I don't think we can see this much improvement without both.

As I stated earlier in the thread I agree. The personnel and scheme are very different. This article's main premise is that the improvement was due to swapping out one player.

[BM1090]

So, was Rowsey guarding Haas and Edwards vs. Purdue, Maten vs. GA, Martin and Wideman vs. Butler twice, Strus and Maric versus DePaul (1), Bridges vs. Nova in BET or Stevens and Carr vs. PSU? 

Again, I am not disagreeing that Andrew was not a big defensive liability but MU was killed plenty by bigs last season with free movement to the rim.

No. But Rowsey guarding the 1 means it was harding to hide Howard on a poor offensive player. He also had to slide over to the 2 and was always giving up 6-8 inches to his defender. Sacar, at 6'5 then had to slide over and guard someone bigger than him. Sam did alright. Heldt was a good positional defender but very limited otherwise.

[LAZER]

Or this person knew that Wojo and Staff spent the entire summer revamping the defense? As Wojo himself has stated.

What's so hard to understand?

That wasn't supposed to be a shot a Wojo. I think better players - through transfer, recruiting, and development - give Wojo better options to make in-game adjustments.

[jesmu84]

We'll continue to disagree. If you haven't noticed the changes in scheme and other personnel changes other than AR, you haven't really paid attention, including from Wojo himself. Matt sitting, Ed and Theo in, Sacar at the two guard, Joey and Bailey.  To continue to blame Rowsey almost singularly isn't giving the team any credit.

As someone with close ties to the program told me recently, Wojo has improved five times as a coach this season.

CAn you provide more details on the scheme change?

[Dr. Blackheart]

CAn you provide more details on the scheme change?

1. Positioning. MU set ups with three players touching the paint on defense.  Last year it was often zero as they extended the defense. The point of setting the triad is to reduce driving lanes (geometry). Seal the seams.
2.  High hedge. MU employed it last year extensively. I love Matt but he wasn't very good at it. Theo and Ed are left in the paint this season.  We don't chase.
3. Secondary/Tertiary coverage and recovery. Think the end of the Nova game. Ed covered after Markus and Sacar blew the coverage but Wojo had the middle covered which Wright didn't anticipate. Third degree there. Smart.
4. Switching.  Last year MU was predictable (always switched).  This year mixed. 10 teams. Coaches swap scouting reports.
5. Fouling and depth. Doing and sitting less.
6. Rebounding. Bigger and taller.  We have grown ass men on the back line protecting the paint. Wojo is funneling drivers to them.
7. Variety. Second time through the BE. Wojo is mixing it up because of scouting. Be adaptable. Little zone this year but a lot of hybrid man-zone. On situationals, Wojo has been superb. Why? He studied all summer.