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Author Topic: The Defense Issue  (Read 8695 times)

avid1010

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Re: The Defense Issue
« Reply #25 on: January 10, 2011, 09:37:47 PM »
I do not agree with either of you that it is a matter of personnel. 

Honestly, I'd like to see someone convince me that our defensive issues are anything but a scheme/coaching issue.  There are shorter teams that play good defense.  There are inexperienced teams that play good defense. 

Kevin O'Neill could get this roster to play better defense.  Deane could too.  Sh*t.  Crean could probably get this roster to play better defense.  Crean had a top 10 defense with Barro, Burke, and Fitzgerald in the post.

I think the scheme has to be looked at on both sides of the ball.  If MU consistently took the ball deep into the shot clock, didn't try to break at all, and wanted to play a half court game in the 60's I would imagine they could do so tomorrow.  I really like what Buzz does offensively.  I think they pay for it a bit on defense, and hopefully he finds ways to improve their defense as he gains experience and the type of recruits he desires.  ND didn't score tonight, but I wasn't overly impressed with MU's D.  The were able to have some success taking ND's clean looks away from their two best shooters.  If they could have done that to Pitt's two best shooters that game would have been very different as well.

brewcity77

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Re: The Defense Issue
« Reply #26 on: January 10, 2011, 11:38:42 PM »
After tonight, I'd just like to say "wow". I seriously felt like I was watching a different team right from the start. Five minutes in I was amazed with our defense. We were quicker on rotations, we did a great job of rotating on to the open man when they passed out of the double team. Yes, there were some mistakes made, and some open jumpers that ND missed, but that was the kind of performance we need to see.

I'll be honest, I don't get how this is the same team we saw 2 days ago. Yes, Notre Dame lacked an inside presence, and isn't as quick as Pitt, but they're still a solid team that should have been a lot tougher. We were tenacious on the defensive end and frankly, I think we would have beaten pretty much any team in the country with that defensive effort. Blowing the doors off a highly ranked Notre Dame team? Very impressive.

Not everything is solved with one game, I fully realize that. Maybe this team simply needed time to figure it out. But I don't think that's it. I hope this isn't an aberration. But man-oh-man was that something else. Well done, boys.
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chren21

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Re: The Defense Issue
« Reply #27 on: January 10, 2011, 11:44:10 PM »
I agree, very pleased with tonight other than the open 3's they missed early...  That set the tone along with following that up with lockdown D on ND's shooters after that.  Let's see if we can win on the road at UL.  I will try and temper my enthusiasm until then.

brewcity77

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Re: The Defense Issue
« Reply #28 on: January 10, 2011, 11:48:15 PM »
I agree, very pleased with tonight other than the open 3's they missed early...  That set the tone along with following that up with lockdown D on ND's shooters after that.  Let's see if we can win on the road at UL.  I will try and temper my enthusiasm until then.

Agreed, and honestly, even if ND was hitting some of those open shots, we still would have won handily. Maybe not by 22, but still by double-digits. Their misses helped, but a number of times they got those open three attempts with 3-6 seconds left on the shot clock. It sucks to give up an open shot that late, but it's nice to see solid defense for 30 seconds rather than a team nailing an open 3 with 15-20 seconds left on the clock.
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Dr. Blackheart

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Re: The Defense Issue
« Reply #29 on: January 11, 2011, 12:27:25 AM »
I will finally chime in here on my interpretation of what Buzz likes to do on D--feeding off Billy the Kid.  I think of it this way:  He is like the Lovie Smith of Hoops--a Tampa Two analogy.  Zone the receivers in boxes/areas, play for turnovers, pressure the passer, constrict the running game, double team the ball once received looking for a turnover. Defense is an efficiency play to feed the offense with turnovers.  It is not a stop defense, IMO.
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First and foremost, Buzz pressures the point guard 3/4ths. He wants to use up 10 seconds of the shot clock getting the ball up to delay the offensive flow, and he wants the ball out of the playmaker's hands as soon as the PG passes mid-court. (Think Cubbie, Reggie, Junior and Dwight).  

Second, he wants the shooters to receive the ball on the wing as they typically cannot create for themselves and are very trappable. When we trap, that leaves the cross-court wing open as the help side defender slides toward the middle to stop a drive if the wing reverses it back to the PG. Where MU gets burned is with a quick reversal to the open wing...even tonight...for a wide open look...but hopefully rushed. We have been slow to rotate in these instances.

Third, we typically back the post, but the help side defender stays closer to the post to try to deny or double in the paint.  MU's bigs are space eaters as their goal is simply to protect the paint. In the Revealed video, you saw Buzz reaming Junior on being slow to the rotation down low to set blocking positioning just out of the paint to constrict a wing driver.  In the Vandy game, the 'Dores flashed the post at the end and DW and Jae went to double the ball, leaving Otule to double guard the paint. MU is still not good at any of this as a team--it seems like it is a communication thing which will come. I thought they were very good tonight, however.

Switches: MU will fight over a pick but will not generally switch.  When you see Otule out on the perimeter with the picker, his goal is to stop the penetration of the dribbler and retreat.  MU gets beat often on switches on backpicks--aka how the Princeton offense is so successful with their back door cuts (dribbler drives to the pick, defense doubles and picker slides to the hoop unguarded).  

The reason he wants switchables, which A&M had, is they are athletic, strong but have disruptive wingspans (hard to throw over). He needs good footspeed (recovery on rotations) as well in our wing defenders. He has wingspan today on the roster, but Wilson or Anderson are more protypical.

Buzz's D seems to me a bit scattered at times in terms of what he wants to scheme--perimeter, interior, in-bounding, match-up, slow rotations. And then he throws in a 3-2 zone to limit the perimeter, but we get burned inside.

The ND game I thought was a great scheme--they knew that to stop ND, you stopped their only playmaker--Psycho B.  Make the frosh Atkins beat you on the road.  With Scott out, MU could control/limit the paint.

But, Buzz makes the big $$ and I am a keyboard PG so what do I know. Others feel free to add your 2 cents. The team is really starting to come together but we do have a long ways to go on Team D yet. Sorry for the opus.  
« Last Edit: January 11, 2011, 12:34:50 AM by Dr. Blackheart »

Henry Sugar

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Re: The Defense Issue
« Reply #30 on: January 11, 2011, 09:02:16 AM »
Dr, that's a really interesting perspective, which I appreciate.
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