What set Nova apart this season

[Marcus92]

An interesting article from The Guardian (link below) on Jay Wright's approach to leading Villanova to 2 titles in 3 seasons.

What really stood out to me was setting a college basketball record with 464 made three-pointers. Nova had five players (including Omari Spellman) who averaged more than one trey per game. All of them shot at least 40% from long range, except for Phill Booth (still strong at 37.9%). Eric Paschall came up just short at 0.95 threes a game -- perhaps not surprising, because he was the least efficient 3-point shooter of the group (35.6%).

Now that's spreading the floor. By comparison, Marquette, widely considered to have a lot of deep threats, had just 3 players average at least one three per game. And we just lost one of them.

Villanova wasn't even extraordinarily deep last season; the above six players accounted for 86% of the minutes and 91% of the points scored.

Defense is the #1 concern for me going into the fall. But I'll also be very interested to see how the addition of Chartouny and the development of Sacar, Cain and Elliott make MU a more diverse and dangerous offense.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/03/how-villanova-learned-to-win-against-college-basketballs-nba-talent-machines

[MuMark]

" only losing Brunson" prediction was slightly off.......

[Jay Bee]

Now that's spreading the floor. By comparison, Marquette, widely considered to have a lot of deep threats, had just 3 players average at least one three per game. And we just lost one of them.

Defense is the #1 concern for me going into the fall. But I'll also be very interested to see how the addition of Chartouny and the development of Sacar, Cain and Williams make MU a more diverse and dangerous offense.

Who is Williams?

MU shot a better 41.7% and 40.6% of our points were from deep. Nova's marks were 40.1% and 40.5%. Remember, also, that Nova played a boatload of games - 40. There were teams ahead of them in 3FGM per game.

Nova was excellent on 2FGAs.. 59.0% 2FG%, good for third best in the nation... and their defensive 3FG% was a top-15 31.7%.

[Marcus92]

Who is Williams?

Good question. Don't know where that name came from. I meant Greg Elliott. Thanks for the catch (fixed above).

[Lennys Tap]

Villanova wasn't even extraordinarily deep last season; the above six players accounted for 86% of the minutes and 91% of the points scored.

As I've said many times here, depth, while being a positive, is generally overrated.

[tower912]

86% means that somebody other than those 6 accounted for 28 minutes a game

[Marcus92]

...and their defensive 3FG% was a top-15 31.7%.

This gets very little attention, which is surprising because it was so essential to the Wildcats' success. Here's one of the few articles I could find that focuses on Nova's three-point defense, following their 95-79 win over Kansas:

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/apr/01/villanovas-defense-3-point-line-just-crucial-its-s/

Mikal Bridges talked about team defense and moving as a unit. "It's not just one guy on the ball. There's four other guys behind him." Kansas senior guard Svi Mykhailiuk said, "They just don't let us catch the ball and played aggressive." Donte DiVincenzo added, "We were doing a great job of making it difficult for them."

I'd be interested to see a film breakdown that quantifies how Nova made shooting threes so much more difficult for opponents throughout the season. Are Marquette's defensive issues due to athletic shortcomings, scheme, lack of effort, inability to "play together" or all of the above?

[tower912]

Anecdotally....it looked to me that Villanova extended and switched everything.  They had enough size and lateral quickness to be able to do it.  If Brunson switched on to a big who went to the basket, he would front him, forcing the lob and giving his (quick, tall) help time to arrive.  They weren't afraid to have Spellman guard in space.  They would have long wings right up on shooters contesting the catch as well as the shot.   Length and quickness matter.

[Marcus92]

86% means that somebody other than those 6 accounted for 28 minutes a game.

Collin Gillespie played in 32 games, averaging 14.4 mpg, 4.3 ppg and 1.3 rpg. But look at how he was used.

Gillespie played 19 minutes in each of Nova's early-round NCAA wins against Radford and Alabama. But Nova led by 21 at halftime against Radford, and opened up the lead against Alabama to 22 points with 15 minutes to go in the 2nd half. So lots of minutes, but not exactly essential minutes. Gillespie played just 5, 2 and 8 minutes in the next 3 NCAA games against West Virginia, Texas Tech and Kansas, respectively.

Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree played in all 40 of Nova's games, averaging 11.3 mpg, 3.1 ppg and 2.4 rpg. But the story is similar: racking up big minutes in blowouts or against lesser competition (15+ minutes in 13 games won by an average 18.5 point margin), barely seeing the court in other contests (just 7.9 mpg).

Jermaine Samuels (6.1 mpg, 1.1 ppg) is the only other player who saw more than 50 minutes of court time during the season for Villanova.

That's not extraordinary depth IMO. Nova's top six players set them apart.

[Marcus92]

Anecdotally....it looked to me that Villanova extended and switched everything.  They and enough size and lateral quickness to be able to do it.  If Brunson switched on to a big who went to the basket, he would front him, forcing the log and giving his (quick, tall) help time to arrive.

I'll have to watch some of Nova's games again with that in mind. At 6-3/190, Brunson was certainly a bigger and more physical guard than either Rowsey (5-11/180) or Howard (6-0/178). He also seemed to be much better at staying in front of his man. Can't wait to see what kind of a difference having Chartouny (6-3/205) in the lineup makes.

[MuMark]

In 3 games against Nova MU was 33 of 82 from 3......slightly over 40%.

Nova was 32 for 75 against us.

As JB said......where Nova had a huge advantage over us was on 2 point percentage(we shot over 50% the first 2 games against them on 2s and the games were close.....but only 43% in the BET....blowout city)......but they pretty much did it to everybody......they shot 59% for the season on 2 pointers!

[Nukem2]

In 3 games against Nova MU was 33 of 82 from 3......slightly over 40%.

Nova was 32 for 75 against us.

As JB said......where Nova had a huge advantage over us was on 2 point percentage(we shot over 50% the first 2 games against them on 2s and the games were close.....but only 43% in the BET....blowout city)......but they pretty much did it to everybody......they shot 59% for the season on 2 pointers!

Much a function of having so many 3 point shooters.  Spread the floor.

[MUDPT]

Don't want to hijack this thread on our PnR defense, but I came across this article last week about NBA D on PnR.

https://pickandpop.net/2017/08/pick-roll-d-chasing-the-snake/

[Marcus92]

https://pickandpop.net/2017/08/pick-roll-d-chasing-the-snake/

That's a great video. Seems like pulling this off depends on two things, once the on-ball defender gets beat: 1) One or more interior defenders step up to slow or stop the initial penetration. This gives the original on-ball defender enough time to recover; and 2) The original on-ball defender has to hustle to get back into position, allowing the other interior defenders to stick with their assignments.

I saw more hedge pick and roll defense from Marquette this season, but the same basic principles apply. The whole team has to play together. When interior defenders like Matt or Theo have hedged to stop penetration, they didn't get back quickly enough or lost their man entirely. And on-ball defenders like Andrew and Markus were too slow to get back in position, or never even seemed to make much of an effort.

When it comes to three-point defense, having a longer defender like Chartouny at the perimeter should make a significant impact. He can close with shooters more quickly and his 6-3 frame is harder to shoot over than the 6-0 Markus or 5-11 Rowsey.

[Lennys Tap]

Collin Gillespie played in 32 games, averaging 14.4 mpg, 4.3 ppg and 1.3 rpg. But look at how he was used.

Gillespie played 19 minutes in each of Nova's early-round NCAA wins against Radford and Alabama. But Nova led by 21 at halftime against Radford, and opened up the lead against Alabama to 22 points with 15 minutes to go in the 2nd half. So lots of minutes, but not exactly essential minutes. Gillespie played just 5, 2 and 8 minutes in the next 3 NCAA games against West Virginia, Texas Tech and Kansas, respectively.

Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree played in all 40 of Nova's games, averaging 11.3 mpg, 3.1 ppg and 2.4 rpg. But the story is similar: racking up big minutes in blowouts or against lesser competition (15+ minutes in 13 games won by an average 18.5 point margin), barely seeing the court in other contests (just 7.9 mpg).

Jermaine Samuels (6.1 mpg, 1.1 ppg) is the only other player who saw more than 50 minutes of court time during the season for Villanova.

That's not extraordinary depth IMO. Nova's top six players set them apart.

I agree with this analysis.

[MU82]

All kinds of things set Nova apart:

++ Ability to score inside and outside, leading to great court balance.

++ Defense inside and outside.

++ Experience.

++ Unselfishness.

++ Versatility, with players able to do many things on offense and guard anybody on defense.

++ Very high talent level throughout their rotation.

++ Outstanding coaching built on years of experience and success in recruiting, preparation and in-game moves.

Many here have said Villanova would be a great program for Marquette to emulate. And many here are correct.

Happy to have them in our league, and look forward to the day (which hopefully arrives this season!) that they are looking up at us.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

When u have essentially 4 first rounders everything goes better.  Takent wins

[Marcus92]

Here are a couple videos focused on Villanova's defense.

A collection of game clips from 2016, with the emphasis up front on switching, off-ball rotation and post defense. Also covers the Nova 2-3 zone and 1-2-2 press starting at the 4:55 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JuRr-WGTB0

Jay Wright talking about the 2-3 zone. "Every player is responsible for an area, and each player is responsible for a man." "You're always talking and thinking, 'Who's my next pass to close out on, and who am I going to tag when the shot goes up.'" Also from 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbHngANT7Qg

[bilsu]

I'll have to watch some of Nova's games again with that in mind. At 6-3/190, Brunson was certainly a bigger and more physical guard than either Rowsey (5-11/180) or Howard (6-0/178). He also seemed to be much better at staying in front of his man. Can't wait to see what kind of a difference having Chartouny (6-3/205) in the lineup makes.

Size wise(I mean muscle) we look like a high school team when we played Villanova.

[Herman Cain]

When u have essentially 4 first rounders everything goes better.  Takent wins

Size wise(I mean muscle) we look like a high school team when we played Villanova.

Winning and Losing in College sports, in general, is relating to exploiting talent differential. The stats last year confirmed what the eye test could easily see. Villanova fielded a lineup with every single player at the collegiate very good to great level . That is a pretty hard hurdle for most teams to overcome over the course of a season. 

[real chili 83]

I think it was because they usually were able to score more points than the teams they were playing.  Just a hunch.