[Rosiak's Blog] Wrapping up West Virginia

[ToddRosiakSays]

Wrapping up West Virginia
Morgantown, W. Va. -- When I received the final box score from the game today, I began perusing it as usual. My eyes stopped at the rebounding totals.

MU's total said 26. I assumed it was either an unofficial box or a typo, considering the Golden Eagles had 21 boards at halftime. Alas, it was right on the money.

I guess it's hard to rebound when you allow the opponent to shoot nearly 70% from the field in the second half, as MU did West Virginia.

Especially troubling for the Golden Eagles was how open Alex Ruoff - one of the Big East's top three-point shooters - was on three of his four makes on Sunday. Dominic James was in his face once, but to no avail.

"The defensive game plan, we played today like we just flew into town, didn't do any scouting, didn't do any film-watching, and we just came into play," coach Tom Crean said. "And it wasn't good enough. Very lethargic play, especially in the first half, not the energy that we're accustomed to playing with, and we certainly could have played a lot better, no doubt about it."

I asked Crean later if he'd have to make any drastic changes in practice, like putting the rebounding bubbles on both rims and so forth. He said that he'd already had the bubbles up in the past week, and no, he wouldn't overreact to the poor performance.

"It's not like you look at it and say, ‘OK, we've got to make a bunch of changes. It all comes down to communication," he said. "So much of your energy is derived from that communication because we're making plays. For example, we had 51 deflections on Thursday and we had 29 today - 13 in the second half - and that's not good enough. We're trying to win a basketball game. The deflections are a barometer of active defense, and when you've got low deflections odds are pretty good that you're going to have a high shooting percentage for the opponent."

-- Crean noted that his team's been most effective when he's been able to keep Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews under 30 minutes per game.

James wound up playing 35 - a season high - McNeal 30 despite still battling the flu, and Matthews 28, mostly because he didn't feel as though his reserves were up to the challenge.

"We ended up having to play Dominic too many minutes because I never felt comfortable with a second defender on Ruoff as much, and that's got to change," he said. "Our bench did not even hold the fort today, with the exception of Ousmane. We've got to be much better. We've got to continue to be able to be deep. I don't want to go to a short bench, but we've got to be a lot better than we were today."

-- Crean offered an interesting statistic on Lazar Hayward: in 42 minutes of Big East play, he's grabbed one offensive rebound.

"He's got to pick it up, especially in the rebounding department, and we're expecting a lot more out of him," he said. "He's got one offensive rebound in the Big East. That's not good enough for a guy playing the 4 spot."

-- The Golden Eagles put together a run of 12-0 in the first half and 15-4 early in the second half, but couldn't sustain the momentum either time.

"Runs 80% of the time come from great defense, and there was a stretch where we were playing excellent defense," Crean said. "But then we lost the ability to keep the run going because our defense went down."

-- Considering he'd rarely ever used it at Cincinnati, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said after the game that his primary objective in using the triangle-and-two and 1-3-1 zone defenses - imagine that, Huggins playing zone! - was to cut off the driving lanes to the basket for MU.

He added he sought the advice of a few coaches in employing it, most notably Southern California coach Tim Floyd.

-- Dan Fitzgerald took his first three shots from inside the three-point arc this season, making one. He had been 12 for 24 from three-point range on the year coming in, and didn't attempt one against the Mountaineers.

-- The crowd and atmosphere wasn't nearly as intense as it was two seasons ago in that shootout MU lost. The arena wasn't close to being full, either.

-- Having seen Huggins plenty during his Conference USA days at Cincinnati, I'd say he's got three, maybe four guys who could have played for the Bearcats - Ruoff, Joe Alexander, Da'Sean Butler and Darris Nichols. Alexander and Butler stood out in particular because of their extraordinary athleticism and length.

-- Crean called West Virginia center Jamie Smalligan one of the best screeners in the Big East. He then noted that his Golden Eagles didn't even set 20-25 good screens in the game. Normally he expects about double that amount.



http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/01/06/wrapping-up-west-virginia.aspx

[chapman]

You have to like that Crean didn't sugarcoat anything and he's willing to call out the team and even some players who aren't stepping up.  Better than the Ned Yost response to a loss of talking about how great the other team played.

[MilTown]

What's the obscession with deflections? For me, that is one of the most overrated made up statistics I have ever heard.  I actually think it hurts our team in many cases as our defenders end up out of position on the perimeter as they are going for a deflection instead of keeping the proper angle and spacing between the basket and the offensive player. Also, it potentially adds to our foul problems, particularly on the road where we don't get the benefit of the doubt on a lot of close plays. Bottom line, for me, steals matter more than deflections.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

What's the obscession with deflections? For me, that is one of the most overrated made up statistics I have ever heard.  I actually think it hurts our team in many cases as our defenders end up out of position on the perimeter as they are going for a deflection instead of keeping the proper angle and spacing between the basket and the offensive player. Also, it potentially adds to our foul problems, particularly on the road where we don't get the benefit of the doubt on a lot of close plays. Bottom line, for me, steals matter more than deflections.

I absolutely agree and I also believe it's the reason there are certain boards that do nothing but complain about officiating. We're constantly reaching in and gambling on defense...of course the refs are going to call us for fouls. That McNeal foul was a perfect example. Sure, it might have been a clean strip, but what's he doing trying to strip the ball at mid-court with three fouls in the first place? And then we point fingers at referees? Reaching in is going to get called almost every time.

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

What's the obscession with deflections? For me, that is one of the most overrated made up statistics I have ever heard.  I actually think it hurts our team in many cases as our defenders end up out of position on the perimeter as they are going for a deflection instead of keeping the proper angle and spacing between the basket and the offensive player. Also, it potentially adds to our foul problems, particularly on the road where we don't get the benefit of the doubt on a lot of close plays. Bottom line, for me, steals matter more than deflections.

I absolutely agree and I also believe it's the reason there are certain boards that do nothing but complain about officiating. We're constantly reaching in and gambling on defense...of course the refs are going to call us for fouls. That McNeal foul was a perfect example. Sure, it might have been a clean strip, but what's he doing trying to strip the ball at mid-court with three fouls in the first place? And then we point fingers at referees? Reaching in is going to get called almost every time.

While your point is valid the flip side is that if the team comes out with that mindset and plays that way throughout the year they gain the reputation for being aggressive defenders that can take the ball away (a la Kansas). As a result, the more referees get them twice the more they recognize the type of game that Marquette plays and the hope is that during those 50/50 calls the MU players get the benefit of the doubt because that's the way they've played all year rather then being an over-aggressive team one night.

A perfect example of this is Wisconsin. It's been well known for the last couple of years that Wisconsin teaches their inside guys to slip their legs under the attacking player. Well, since their play has been consistent throughout 35 games a year for 5 years the referees who get them over and over again have been conditioned to call the game knowing their style. In essence, they get the benefit of the doubt. That's why people are always complaining about Madison "floppers". It's not the players' fault that they've learned how to get the calls.

[MilTown]

I see your point, but I think in our case we are starting to develop a reputation for reaching and grabbing vs. aggressive defense. I think in many cases it's true as our guards do a lot of slapping, reaching and grabbing, vs. fundamental ball denial. Referees are usually very consistent with foul calls on reach in's.

I just think we can still be aggressive without constantly overplaying passing lanes and going for ill-advised steals on the perimeter.

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

I see your point, but I think in our case we are starting to develop a reputation for reaching and grabbing vs. aggressive defense. I think in many cases it's true as our guards do a lot of slapping, reaching and grabbing, vs. fundamental ball denial. Referees are usually very consistent with foul calls on reach in's.

I just think we can still be aggressive without constantly overplaying passing lanes and going for ill-advised steals on the perimeter.

I'm not sure we've devloped that reputation yet but it could be coming. I see your point clearly and agree with it. To this point, there was never a game where I felt they were reaching too much and not playing deny the ball until WVU and a lot of that had to do, I think, with them knowing they were on the road and had to fight harder for their points.