Defensive things I noticed watching the game this morning

[tower912]

Watching the game this morning more dispassionately.....
High pick and roll:   MU does a couple of different things but having bigs as mobile as Kur and Osa certainly helps things.    On my favorite, Kur hedged out near the foul line.    The screener rolled along the outside of the foul lane, turned to his left looking back for a pass.   Joplin (a freshman!) slid  and was on his outside shoulder (his left shoulder, the high one) ready to contest a high lob while still in position to recover to his player in the corner.   I thought it was beautiful.

On the final possession, another freshman, Stevie, was moving his feet ridiculously well.    Curbelo was terrible all night and made another horrible decision, but he simply could not get past Stevie on the drive.    Steve was able to get him to go towards Kur and then Curbelo screwed up his dribble in traffic.    Phenomenal footwork from the freshman.   And he didn't reach.   

MU was switching on screens but as soon as the opportunity arose, was seamlessly switching back to preferred defensive match ups.   

Rebounding is an issue.    MU is pushing the offense far out and is contesting at the logos.    When the shot goes up, the defense is generally still spread out.    A lot of the Illinois rebounds were their guys reading the miss better and getting to spots because the defense didn't immediately collapse when the shot went up.     

Process.     The defensive effort is everything anyone could ask for.     

[wadesworld]

The half court defense was great, and the pick and roll coverage is so much better than the last 6 years already.  I loved at the end when Illinois was clearly trying to set a screen for the ball handler to one side of the court, Morsell just called it out and told our big where to wait, and forced the ball handler to either deny the screen or have the screen switch sides.  Basketball IQ and defensive aggressiveness are fun.

[tower912]

This will be a fun chess match against Villanova.    Jay runs concepts that usually are about PnR and getting switches for mismatches.   Theo guarding Gillespie.    With MU's size and the way they have played defense so far, I will be curious to see how Jay attacks it.   

[NWarsh]

This will be a fun chess match against Villanova.    Jay runs concepts that usually are about PnR and getting switches for mismatches.   Theo guarding Gillespie.    With MU's size and the way they have played defense so far, I will be curious to see how Jay attacks it.

My guess is Jay will create those mismatches off the press and looking to attack early while MU's D is still recovering.  Then in the half court potentially using more double ball screens that will force a switch that pull Kuath and Osa away and attack from there with their normal getting into the paint, kicking and great ball movement as the D is recovering.

[tower912]

My guess is Jay will create those mismatches off the press and looking to attack early while MU's D is still recovering.  Then in the half court potentially using more double ball screens that will force a switch that pull Kuath and Osa away and attack from there with their normal getting into the paint, kicking and great ball movement as the D is recovering.

Nova is so good at it.   You may be (W)right.    It will be a great test for the discipline of the freshmen.   How many and how often will they get spun.   

[wadesworld]

My guess is Jay will create those mismatches off the press and looking to attack early while MU's D is still recovering.  Then in the half court potentially using more double ball screens that will force a switch that pull Kuath and Osa away and attack from there with their normal getting into the paint, kicking and great ball movement as the D is recovering.

Nova doesn't really ever attack early.  They like to slow the tempo, limit possessions, and force teams into a half court game where they are more efficient.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

On the final possession, another freshman, Stevie, was moving his feet ridiculously well.    Curbelo was terrible all night and made another horrible decision, but he simply could not get past Stevie on the drive.    Steve was able to get him to go towards Kur and then Curbelo screwed up his dribble in traffic.    Phenomenal footwork from the freshman.   And he didn't reach.   

I thought Stevie took a huge step forward last night. The first two games he was foul prone and reached a lot; last night he moved over to Curbelo and allowed Morsell to take the hot shooter, and did it with very good defense while staying away from bad fouls.

Don't know what kind of defender Stevie was in high school, but playing and practicing with Morsell has to be a huge learning opportunity; Darryl even called out Stevie's on-ball defense in the post game.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I knew deep in my heart that Stevie was going to miss both those FTs though.

[tower912]

Everybody else had.   Sometimes, that stuff is contagious.   

[JWags85]

MU was switching on screens but as soon as the opportunity arose, was seamlessly switching back to preferred defensive match ups.   

Thats one thing I noticed clearly too.  So much more than the last few years, they didn't seem to get mismatched.  If you didn't watch the switches, you'd assume they never did.  Kur and others hedged out, but then didn't get left on an island, they made their way back quickly.  It was amazing to watch

[MU82]

I thought Stevie took a huge step forward last night. The first two games he was foul prone and reached a lot; last night he moved over to Curbelo and allowed Morsell to take the hot shooter, and did it with very good defense while staying away from bad fouls.

Don't know what kind of defender Stevie was in high school, but playing and practicing with Morsell has to be a huge learning opportunity; Darryl even called out Stevie's on-ball defense in the post game.

Some think things like being an example, role-modeling, mentoring, etc, are overrated, but I think it is so important to have this exact kind of situation.

Morsell's impact on this team's players could (and probably will) extend far beyond this season.

[brewcity77]

Some think things like being an example, role-modeling, mentoring, etc, are overrated, but I think it is so important to have this exact kind of situation.

Morsell's impact on this team's players could (and probably will) extend far beyond this season.

Watching Morsell this year, I'm sad that we will only have him around one season.

Watching Stevie, Kam, and Ellis this year, I'm happy that we might feel like we have three Morsells in the coming seasons.

[We R Final Four]

Curbelo was terrible all night and made another horrible decision, but he simply could not get past Stevie on the drive.   

Ahhh……I don’t know Jim.
I watched the game again this am after being there last night.
Curbelo got past Stevie, Darryl, and Kam.
While I agree that Kur was there to defend….but Curbelo got past our guards multiple times last night.

One thing I didn’t pick up last night was U of I ability to get to the middle of the lane on frickin out of bounds play. That needs to stop.