[Paint Touches] Is it as simple as P&R Defense?

[PaintTouches]

Marquette's defense is bad, duh. Marquette's P&R defense is worse. Again, duh. But the correlation I found in this post may be the silver bullet I've been looking for to explain why Marquette plays so well against Seton Hall.

https://painttouches.com/2018/02/09/is-it-as-simple-as-pr-defense/

[tower912]

It is.   Against teams that don't feature the high pick and roll, MU's bigs have found themselves to be decent post defenders.   Against SH, the double teams on Delgado were timely and effective.    It does really come down to pick and roll defense.    The question is why.   I have described it a few times but will try to again.   
Scheme:    MU runs a fairly standard pick and roll defense.    MU's big comes up, shows, hedges, and attempts to turn the PG.    When the PG is turned is where the adventure begins.    Under Buzz, Otule and even Gardner did a nice job of sprinting back to the paint with their hands up to attempt to disrupt the pass to the offensive big rolling to the basket.    The current crop of bigs tend to get caught in space, indecisive as to whether to double, switch, or whether to retreat.    Generally they stay high.    MSU does this, too.    This leaves the weak side wing to drop down to contest the rolling big, while a shooter stands all alone in the corner.     Where it really breaks down for MU is when the weak side wing defender sagging is Andrew or Markus.    Neither has the size to contest the big and if the PG throws a skip pass to the corner, they don't have the size to intercept the pass or actually contest the shooter as they return to their man in the corner. 
     Having the MU defensive big stay high is the fundamental difference between Buzz's scheme and Wojo's.    And it doesn't happen all the time.    Think of Luke up high in space.   And Matt.    Switching a slow big to a guard doesn't help.     

Personnel:   Two tiny guards hurts.    Slow to recover bigs hurts.   Next year, when it is Sam or Morrow coming from the weak side wing to cover the rolling big and then recover out to the shooter, it will help.   

Adjustments for this year.     Switch on the weak side defenders.    Let one of the midgets stay on the high weak side offensive player, let Sacar/Sam slide down to get the guy in the corner.        Once the PG is turned, quit helping with the big, having them sprint back to the lane instead of staying out high and showing.   

[Its DJOver]

Was surprised to see Creighton at the top of P&R charts.  My impression of them, with admitted small sample size, is that they shoot a lot of jump shots with Foster, and Thomas.  It'd be interesting to see how their offensive scheme has changed without Krampelj, as I would imagine that he or Hegner would be doing most of the rolling, and probably less Hegner anyway with him shooting 43% from threes.

[PaintTouches]

It is.   Against teams that don't feature the high pick and roll, MU's bigs have found themselves to be decent post defenders.   Against SH, the double teams on Delgado were timely and effective.   

Really nice breakdown, Tower. Nothing to add to that.

One nitpick about the Hall game, I didn't like the doubles at all. Hall had 16 post ups, and only scored 13 points. 7 points against single coverage , 6 against double, so you are correct in that it was effective overall. But in PPP, .63 vs single, 1.2 vs double. MU only doubled 5 times (3 Froling, 1 Heldt, 1 Rowsey) but it led to 2 made 3s, a missed layup, a missed fade and a missed open 3.

Heldt was unbelievable against Delgado straight up. 5 possession, 3 points, 1 foul. In fact, Angel only had 1 post up against Heldt the entire 2nd half. As good as his boxscore was, the denials and straight up D were even better. (AD went to town against Froling: 8 poss, 12 points created)

Long story short, MU shouldn't double for the same reason it shouldn't play zone, no length to contest shots from AR and MH, poor awareness on rotations from the ones with length (Cain/Elliott).       

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Nice stuff Andrei and Tower. One nitpick on Tower. I don't think the bigs are the main culprit on P&R defense. I think it's the PGs. They aren't meeting the opposing guard at the right spot and it forces the big to come up higher in order to turn them. They seemed to fix that during the Providence game

[tower912]

It can be both.  And, perhaps the reason the bigs stay high is because the guards can't contain the dribbler.   

[Dr. Blackheart]

Nice stuff Andrei and Tower. One nitpick on Tower. I don't think the bigs are the main culprit on P&R defense. I think it's the PGs. They aren't meeting the opposing guard at the right spot and it forces the big to come up higher in order to turn them. They seemed to fix that during the Providence game

They also left Theo at home in the paint versus PC. 

It's not Lent yet so my vow to not beat the dead horse on defense is not yet valid. 

There are literally many sets where we send all five defenders north of not just the free throw line, but the three point line. Thus, the blow bys are left undefended. 

Per the article Sultan sent out the other day, the BE has great guards/switchables who tear up the defenses.  Our guards are blowing by these other teams' guards too if you haven't noticed. The difference is the other defenses generally leave one in the paint and two on or near to collapse and body our guards...which is why Sacar is having a field day lately.

MU pushes out on the perimeter, and fouls a lot on the blow bys on a the drive or at the rim, usually on their best shooters as there is no secondary defense (or it's slow).  Wojo is making adjustments. 

Seton Hall only shot 40% in the paint, for example, despite the 118 Orating (free throws and a few lucky trey chucks).  In our losses this year, MU's two point defense was 61% and was 46% in our BE wins.

Btw, I am not against high hedging, doubles, etc.  I am for mixing it up including how we switch or don't, especially the 2nd time through the conference.  But, to also cover the paint when you do, as water seeks the weakest point.

Three Our Fathers and two Hail Marys now...

[Dr. Blackheart]

Btw, great article!  And I quoted TAMU to add to his point, not disagree.

[PaintTouches]

Btw, great article!  And I quoted TAMU to add to his point, not disagree.

Thanks! Here's something else I just calculated on Twitter that probably would have made sense in the article:

Record vs top half P&R O:
0-6,
Points allowed 551 (91.8 per)

Record vs bottom half P&R D:
5-1
Points allowed 433 (72.2 per)

MU is nearly 20 points worse per game against decent P&R teams, LOL.

[brewcity77]

Andrei, could you run the numbers for Creighton since Krampelj went out? How's their P&R the last 6 games?