Well, moving along, will MU's style of play be an advantage...

[downtown85]

in the NCAA tournament?

What does MU do:

1) We 3/4 court, full court press.
2) we play an aggressive switching man to man defense which can't stop dribble penetration (ala cincy)
3) the aggressive D creates live ball turnovers which lead to easy transition points
4) in the half court, we focus on "paint touches", mainly through dribble penetration, thus drawing a lot of fouls and getting to the line often.
5) we have a change of pace on offense with a decent post player so we can play small ball and 4 out and 1 in.

Generally we play a fast tempo, up-and-down, style of play with a pressure defense. 

I have noticed that, mainly from the cincy and louisville games, the opposing coaches and teams didn't deal with the style well the first time they were faced with it but the second time around, adjustments were made (particularly on breaking our press in the case of Cincy and pressing us, in the case of Louisville) that neutralized our strengths.

My point is, one reason Syracuse has done well in the tourney is that not many teams face a team that exclusively does 2-3 zone and does it so well as the orange.  Carolina runs the break.  These are styles that one can prepare for but it is hard to execute against once you face it.  Is our style unique enough and disrupting enough to provide an advantage against most of the teams that will be in the tourney?  I say, the answer is yes.

[MU_LOL]

in the NCAA tournament?

What does MU do:

1) We 3/4 court, full court press.
2) we play an aggressive switching man to man defense which can't stop dribble penetration (ala cincy)
3) the aggressive D creates live ball turnovers which lead to easy transition points
4) in the half court, we focus on "paint touches", mainly through dribble penetration, thus drawing a lot of fouls and getting to the line often.
5) we have a change of pace on offense with a decent post player so we can play small ball and 4 out and 1 in.

Generally we play a fast tempo, up-and-down, style of play with a pressure defense. 

I have noticed that, mainly from the cincy and louisville games, the opposing coaches and teams didn't deal with the style well the first time they were faced with it but the second time around, adjustments were made (particularly on breaking our press in the case of Cincy and pressing us, in the case of Louisville) that neutralized our strengths.

My point is, one reason Syracuse has done well in the tourney is that not many teams face a team that exclusively does 2-3 zone and does it so well as the orange.  Carolina runs the break.  These are styles that one can prepare for but it is hard to execute against once you face it.  Is our style unique enough and disrupting enough to provide an advantage against most of the teams that will be in the tourney?  I say, the answer is yes.

Cincy shoved our own game down our throat and Louisville outplayed us. Siva and Kuric tore us apart, and everyone but DJO decided to take the night off for MU (although he even had 6 turnovers!). I still think our style of play has an advantage come tourney time for at least two rounds. Besides, when we're on our game, we're close to unstoppable.

[hairy worthen]

Excellent points. I thought to myself last night, is this the blue print to beat Marquette? but then I decided it had more to do with our poor play than anything Louisville did.

I think it comes down to matchups. Louisville has the players to pull off what they did last night against MU, most other teams don't and will have to find other ways. The answer to your question is yes, the style of play will be an adavantage because most teams will not be able to match marquette's atheleticism.

[MUMac]

in the NCAA tournament?

What does MU do:

1) We 3/4 court, full court press.
2) we play an aggressive switching man to man defense which can't stop dribble penetration (ala cincy)
3) the aggressive D creates live ball turnovers which lead to easy transition points
4) in the half court, we focus on "paint touches", mainly through dribble penetration, thus drawing a lot of fouls and getting to the line often.
5) we have a change of pace on offense with a decent post player so we can play small ball and 4 out and 1 in.

Generally we play a fast tempo, up-and-down, style of play with a pressure defense. 

I have noticed that, mainly from the cincy and louisville games, the opposing coaches and teams didn't deal with the style well the first time they were faced with it but the second time around, adjustments were made (particularly on breaking our press in the case of Cincy and pressing us, in the case of Louisville) that neutralized our strengths.

My point is, one reason Syracuse has done well in the tourney is that not many teams face a team that exclusively does 2-3 zone and does it so well as the orange.  Carolina runs the break.  These are styles that one can prepare for but it is hard to execute against once you face it.  Is our style unique enough and disrupting enough to provide an advantage against most of the teams that will be in the tourney?  I say, the answer is yes.

That was a point I made earlier in the week.  I think MU's style and speed are difficult to duplicate in practice.  Few play that style.  The thing I like about the way Buzz puts the press on, he shows it for a bit, before really engaging it.  Lulls the other teams to a sense of comfort.  Did that last night and when they turned it on, started the 1st half comeback.

Add to that, the speed of the team, I think MU will be a very difficult out.

[ecompt]

it should be an advantage very early in the tournament. But by the second or third round any team with quick guards and a player over 6-8 will pose problems. Good thing is, we cannot possibly be worse with the ball than we were against Cincy and Louisville.

[Goose]

We need jamil and Vander on the court all the time to apply the pressure needed. Every time we made a run last night they were on the court. No pressure on the D and we struggle. We need to pressure the hell of the other team for entire game, not just spurts.

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

Excellent points. I thought to myself last night, is this the blue print to beat Marquette? but then I decided it had more to do with our poor play than anything Louisville did.

This. Louisville shot something like 35% from the floor. It's not like they played out of their minds. MU literally handed them the game with 27 turnovers.