Top 40 Defense

[Silkk the Shaka]

Many of the people who were staunchly advocating for Shaka to be hired this past spring liked to bring up that he always has top 40 defenses and you could rely on that (had 10 consecutive dating back to VCU)

This year we are currently 59 in DRating at KenPom.

For those more intimately knowledgeable on his defenses, should we expect that to improve safely into the top 40 range this year? Are we doing anything differently tactic-wise than he has done in that past? Is it that he doesn't have the ideal player fits yet? Or do we just need more "time on task" so to speak to become more of a well-oiled machine on the defensive end?

I'll hang up and listen.

[WarriorFan]

I expect the defense will improve as the year progresses.  It's already nice to see all 5 guys on the court playing D and it's nice to see the rim protection.  What I don't see yet is the press/trap/zone press sets working consistently and the reason I think the defense will improve is:
a) some low scoring big east slug fests, some of which MU will win
b) as the team learns how to play together and as the freshmen mature, the full and 3/4 court defenses will improve.

There have been 2-3 plays every game where someone gets totally lost or out of position and the opposition gets an easy dunk or lay-in.  Those are tolerable up until this point in the season.  Starting Saturday, they must be completely eliminated.

[Goose]

I believe the D will improve and rotations that work will be found and utilized. While I have not been impressed with the results of the D thus far, I am a fan of the aggressive nature being used. There is a lot of work to do, but I feel that we will see ongoing improvement in the upcoming weeks.

[Shooter McGavin]

Many of the people who were staunchly advocating for Shaka to be hired this past spring liked to bring up that he always has top 40 defenses and you could rely on that (had 10 consecutive dating back to VCU)

This year we are currently 59 in DRating at KenPom.

For those more intimately knowledgeable on his defenses, should we expect that to improve safely into the top 40 range this year? Are we doing anything differently tactic-wise than he has done in that past? Is it that he doesn't have the ideal player fits yet? Or do we just need more "time on task" so to speak to become more of a well-oiled machine on the defensive end?

I'll hang up and listen.

This is kind of what I was referencing the other day with my Kenpom question.  If they had randomly slotted us higher originally would our body of work this year be good enough to have us higher in their rankings.

The answer is we have to wait til sometime in January when data from last year are eliminated from his equation. 

[swoopem]

I believe the D will improve and rotations that work will be found and utilized. While I have not been impressed with the results of the D thus far, I am a fan of the aggressive nature being used. There is a lot of work to do, but I feel that we will see ongoing improvement in the upcoming weeks.

Yup, as Shaka has said many times: one of his 3 key principles is growth. They’ll only get better

[MU82]

We'll see!

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

This doesn't look like a top 40 defense to me yet. Our weakest spot on defense is defensive rebounding, we are giving up way too many second chances. Shaka has been able to correct that in individual games, for example, in the New Hampshire game we gave up 8 offensive boards before the second media timeout but the rest of the game we only gave up 1. This makes me hopeful that he will eventually correct it for the season.

Fix the defensive rebounding, cut down on fouls a little bit (we're okay at not fouling, not great) and continue to improve on the deflections and I think we end up with a top 40 defense.

[esotericmindguy]

This is kind of what I was referencing the other day with my Kenpom question.  If they had randomly slotted us higher originally would our body of work this year be good enough to have us higher in their rankings.
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The answer is we have to wait til sometime in January when data from last year are eliminated from his equation.

It's my understand that its based of points per possession allowed. The 59 ranking does adjust for factors that they don't describe. So adjusted they're 59 (0.95 PPP) and unadjusted 66 (0.91).

I do think the press allows for way to many easy buckets. I'd like to see they defensive numbers in the half court. I don't think this team is built to press. Disciplined teams like WI or veteran teams like Bonny will beat them.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

One of the reasons our half court defense is successful is because the press takes 10-15 seconds off the shot clock and wears the opponent down in the second half.

The purpose of this press is not meant to generate live ball turnovers (though that is a byproduct of it). The purpose is to throw off the opponent's offensive scheme leading to dead ball turnovers and poor shooting. A cost of this strategy is the occasional easy bucket given up. As long as we improve and limit those easy buckets to 2 or 3 a game, the strategy will be successful.

[Goose]

TAMU

Agreed on the purpose of the full court press and how the half court D benefits from it. In addition, if we could get defensive rebound our D rating would go up a great deal.

[rocky_warrior]

I don't pay for Kenpom anymore, but looking at T-rank, the "Adjusted Defense" is current ranked #65 and the trend has been that it is getting better.  Go here and pull down the chart for adjusted defense.

That said, I also looked at his last 3 years at Texas, and last 3 at VCU. In all of those years, his defense either stayed flat, or trended worse as the season went on.  FWIW.

[Herman Cain]

Every game has its own unique set of circumstances .

So my definition of Defense is did the other team score less than us. 7-1 record demonstrates that we have played good defense .

[rocky_warrior]

And FWIW, all the talk of "it's too early for kenpom/t-rank" is becoming obsolete.  I think they both phase out last years data over the course of 13 games.  So, after 8, we've got over half the data we need to compare MU to other teams. It is worthwhile to see how we're trending vs. them. 

So far, for overall t-rank we're trending down from where preseason stats placed us, which only means other teams are outperforming their expectations, not necessarily that MU is worse.  But it does have us at #96 (started at #89, peak of 81, low of 104).  The next 5 games will either catapult us up (optimistic), or, more likely, cement us in the 80s/90s. 

Edit: phases out over 13 "adjusted games", which Torvik claims generally ends up being 15 or 16 actual games

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Every game has its own unique set of circumstances .

So my definition of Defense is did the other team score less than us. 7-1 record demonstrates that we have played good defense .

Thanks John Madden

[MU82]

Every game has its own unique set of circumstances .

So my definition of Defense is did the other team score less than us. 7-1 record demonstrates that we have played good defense .

Who knew that we were such a great defensive team during the Rowsey/Markus years?!?!

One of the reasons our half court defense is successful is because the press takes 10-15 seconds off the shot clock and wears the opponent down in the second half.

The purpose of this press is not meant to generate live ball turnovers (though that is a byproduct of it). The purpose is to throw off the opponent's offensive scheme leading to dead ball turnovers and poor shooting. A cost of this strategy is the occasional easy bucket given up. As long as we improve and limit those easy buckets to 2 or 3 a game, the strategy will be successful.

This. Lots of times, even when there are turnovers, they happen in the frontcourt after the opponent seemingly has broken the press. They get sped up and/or sloppy. Or they take a bad, rushed shot, which is basically the same as a turnover (as long as the pressing team gets the rebound).

There are all kinds of reasons for pressing. I share your hope that ours gets better.

[Dr. Blackheart]

This doesn't look like a top 40 defense to me yet. Our weakest spot on defense is defensive rebounding, we are giving up way too many second chances. Shaka has been able to correct that in individual games, for example, in the New Hampshire game we gave up 8 offensive boards before the second media timeout but the rest of the game we only gave up 1. This makes me hopeful that he will eventually correct it for the season.

Fix the defensive rebounding, cut down on fouls a little bit (we're okay at not fouling, not great) and continue to improve on the deflections and I think we end up with a top 40 defense.

Besides these points, I think the best way to improve the defense yet is to improve the offense. MU is playing way too fast, launching on early threes leading to long rebounds or quick turnovers which lead to break-outs the other way. MU's near proximity defense is one of the worst in the land as a result.

[tower912]

Shaka's offense is Shaka's offense.   Pick and roll and dribble drive.   Take the open 3, regardless of who you are.   Emphasis on 3's and  lay ups.    So there are going to be long rebounds, there is going to be dribbling into traffic.     Until the guys grow into it.    He clearly has given everybody on the team the green light.   

I would love to see more dribble, drive, dish opposite, lather, rinse, repeat, a la Buzz and the midgets.    That isn't this coach or this team.     So, sit back and watch.   

[GooooMarquette]

This is kind of what I was referencing the other day with my Kenpom question.  If they had randomly slotted us higher originally would our body of work this year be good enough to have us higher in their rankings.

The answer is we have to wait til sometime in January when data from last year are eliminated from his equation.

Yep. KenPom is kinda meaningless when it includes last season’s numbers. Especially true with a new coach and almost totally new roster.

[Nukem2]

Warren Nolan.com’s CBB site still cranks out the RPI #s just for fun.  MU is #18 and WI is #11.  fwiw

[MarquetteDano]

One of the reasons our half court defense is successful is because the press takes 10-15 seconds off the shot clock and wears the opponent down in the second half.

The purpose of this press is not meant to generate live ball turnovers (though that is a byproduct of it). The purpose is to throw off the opponent's offensive scheme leading to dead ball turnovers and poor shooting. A cost of this strategy is the occasional easy bucket given up. As long as we improve and limit those easy buckets to 2 or 3 a game, the strategy will be successful.

This.  Our defensive rebounding has been atrocious.  If we go from letting up 30% of opponents misses as offensive rebounds to,  let's say,  25% (which right now would only be like 80th in the country) this will be a good defense.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Shaka's offense is Shaka's offense.   Pick and roll and dribble drive.   Take the open 3, regardless of who you are.   Emphasis on 3's and  lay ups.    So there are going to be long rebounds, there is going to be dribbling into traffic.     Until the guys grow into it.    He clearly has given everybody on the team the green light.   

I would love to see more dribble, drive, dish opposite, lather, rinse, repeat, a la Buzz and the midgets.    That isn't this coach or this team.     So, sit back and watch.

They are playing almost four seconds faster than any other Shaka team, including his super fast VCU teams. Listening to the Nevada Smith podcast, that’s the intent as we know, and we will see how successful that is. He has confidence that our shooters will come around on the quick threes. If they do and our freshmen growing pains dissipate, this can be a Top 40 Defense.

[Goose]

I am 100% on board with the pace of play and philosophy behind it. I fully expect better shooting days ahead and it will make a world of difference. As a matter of fact, they can speed it up even more, IMO.

[Uncle Rico]

Offense wins nattys

[MU82]

I am 100% on board with the pace of play and philosophy behind it. I fully expect better shooting days ahead and it will make a world of difference. As a matter of fact, they can speed it up even more, IMO.

Given the shooters' histories, I'm not as confident that something suddenly will click. Morsell, for example, appears to have had a revision to the mean these last 4 games after an absurdly good start that was nothing like 4 years of history suggested was possible. But maybe. I hope you're right, Goose.

[Shooter McGavin]

Given the shooters' histories, I'm not as confident that something suddenly will click. Morsell, for example, appears to have had a revision to the mean these last 4 games after an absurdly good start that was nothing like 4 years of history suggested was possible. But maybe. I hope you're right, Goose.

When Morsell is not forcing shots he looks pretty smooth on his threes and midrange shots and probably is capable of averaging 15 ppg.   20 ppg was excessive.

[MU82]

When Morsell is not forcing shots he looks pretty smooth on his threes and midrange shots and probably is capable of averaging 15 ppg.   20 ppg was excessive.

I agree. And I certainly allow that players can improve. But it's not as if there was a limited sample size for Morsell before this season. In 4 years as a starter at Maryland, he shot .267 from 3.

As a fan, I want to believe his .182 over the last 4 games was an outlier ... but as a realist, the outlier probably was the .571 over the first 4 games.

Morsell looked real comfortable at the start of the second half against Jackson State. I'll take that all day!

[DoctorV]

All Marquette’s reach equilibrium

[esotericmindguy]

Yep. KenPom is kinda meaningless when it includes last season’s numbers. Especially true with a new coach and almost totally new roster.

How does it include last years numbers? Their raw defensive rankings are based off of points per possession allowed, they're 66th. The adjusted (59th) may take into account last year, but my guess is it has more to do with the quality of schedule.

[Goose]

82

I have seen enough of this team to believe that all of the guys are capable of shooting the 3 better. You normally can tell when a guy shout never take a three and I do not see anyone, aside from Kur, that falls into that camp. I hope they keep firing it up and see what happens.

[Shooter McGavin]

82

I have seen enough of this team to believe that all of the guys are capable of shooting the 3 better. You normally can tell when a guy shout never take a three and I do not see anyone, aside from Kur, that falls into that camp. I hope they keep firing it up and see what happens.

100% agree Goose.  I think our percentage goes up as the year goes on. 

[JakeBarnes]

82

I have seen enough of this team to believe that all of the guys are capable of shooting the 3 better. You normally can tell when a guy shout never take a three and I do not see anyone, aside from Kur, that falls into that camp. I hope they keep firing it up and see what happens.

Same, Goose. I think that they are going to grow into this offense a bit. Assist rate is good. Just need capable shooters to start making em. Justin started to and joplin looks like a frosh year Cain from 3.  Now time for Kolek and Omax to start hitting and I'll feel good.

[Dr. Blackheart]

82

I have seen enough of this team to believe that all of the guys are capable of shooting the 3 better. You normally can tell when a guy shout never take a three and I do not see anyone, aside from Kur, that falls into that camp. I hope they keep firing it up and see what happens.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Just checking in on this again, DRating has slid from 59 when originally posted to 68 now, trending further away from the top 40.

Anyone have any thoughts as to why that's deteriorating? Schedule? Tactics? Morsell limited? We seem to be pressing less just from anecdotal observation. I was lukewarm on the Shaka hire but I was hopeful we'd at least get that top 40 defense we were promised.

Can we get the defense turned back towards the direction of top 40 even if we don't end up there by season's end? What needs to happen? Again I'll hang up & listen.

[Shooter McGavin]

I think so.  D was good against Creighton.  Their half court D will have them steadily moving up.  In my opinion Shaka is getting a better sense of his players and his team as a whole as the year goes on. Less but more timely pressure will help as well and he seems to be doing that now. 

[rocky_warrior]

D is trending up, slowly.  The oscillations are decreasing.  I hope that continues, I don't expect the trendline to change drastically though.

https://www.barttorvik.com/trends.php?y=2022&team=Marquette&type=adjd

[Silkk the Shaka]

D is trending up, slowly.  The oscillations are decreasing.  I hope that continues, I don't expect the trendline to change drastically though.

https://www.barttorvik.com/trends.php?y=2022&team=Marquette&type=adjd

And just like that they turned in an 84.5 on this chart, 2nd only to the Illinois game (which was a bit more fluky with Curbelo seemingly just giving the ball away)

Nice to see!

DRtg down to #59, trending back towards 40

[oilcan]

Smart can’t press like he would like to because he doesn’t have the athletes to pressure people one on one in the back court. They are young and skinny. And they stumble. They can hit the weights and next year they will defend chest to chest and force bad passes. Kolek can’t press anyone physically but he will learn to anticipate an opponent’s moves and be a decent defender.  For now, just play hard defensively and force your opponent to score with five seconds on the clock. Rebound, get it out and pass the ball. Look inside. If you rebound, it’s an easy game. Drip drip drip. Culture. Commitment. Hard work. Success. 

[Dr. Blackheart]

#36 in Haslam. Already there.

https://haslametrics.com/ratings2.php?yr=&tid=561

[LAZER]

#45 in Pomeroy

[JakeBarnes]

#45 in Pomeroy

Came here to post this. Boom

[Silkk the Shaka]

Loving the trend!

On the eye test we seem to be full court pressing at least a touch less, anyone have data to back that up?

Helps to have a couple high level shot blockers like Kur & Oso anchoring the paint!

[Silkk the Shaka]

Up to #34 after last night

That's what holding the #9 offense to 0.89 PPP will do for your rank!

Also #22 in the Haslametrics link from above

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I don't have data to back it up, but we are clearly pressing less.  And that's fine.  Shaka's defensive acumen has "Havoc" as a brand, cause that's cool and fun, but his teams do the hard and dirty work in the half court where it matters a helluva lot more.

[wadesworld]

I don't have data to back it up, but we are clearly pressing less.  And that's fine.  Shaka's defensive acumen has "Havoc" as a brand, cause that's cool and fun, but his teams do the hard and dirty work in the half court where it matters a helluva lot more.

I said early on that I like the 3/4 court "trap" much more than the full court "havoc."  We were giving up layups and dunks in 3 on 1 situations way too much against poor competition with the full court "havoc."  The 3/4 court is much more controlled and leaves less space to try to recover if the press is broken.  It's also easier to match up man to man out of.  It still creates a few turnovers, and it makes the opponent's offensive possession shorter as they take their time getting past half court.

[tower912]

MU has several variations of the press.     The hard trap of the initial pass.    The 3/4 designed to take time off the clock and attack the cross court pass.    The man to man.   IMO, just like getting MU to play fast on offense from the beginning, the goal with this team was to get them in a play fast, always attack, no fear, get everybody involved and comfortable with contributing in different ways from the very start.     
Defensively, having that mindset makes it easier to mix and match presses to keep the opponent off guard.  With the mindset installed, it makes it easier to play an aggressive man to man.

Offensively, getting them in the mindset to attack and fire up the first open look makes it easier later to put in the next layers of the offense, which, similar to the midgets, involves getting into the paint, firing opposite, attacking the recovering defender, knowing when to cut without the ball, all leading to shots at the basket or open 3's.     

So, yes, as the season progresses and the league develops a scouting report and the point guards get better, MU does the hard trap on the initial pass less often, saving it as a surprise.    But forcing the opponent to prepare for it and be wary of it.     

[Silkk the Shaka]

Up to #23 now... the defensive trajectory has been amazing

[JakeBarnes]

Up to #23 now... the defensive trajectory has been amazing

I LOVE the lock down defense to end games. This team really wears down other teams.

[Silkk the Shaka]

https://twitter.com/PaintTouches/status/1487157575741227010?t=EtdTHd2UfD4BFkKVi02tNw&s=19

Paint Touches with some great data on tactic shifts in that thread. Long story short much less pressing of late. Whatever works!

[mileskishnish72]

Given the shooters' histories, I'm not as confident that something suddenly will click. Morsell, for example, appears to have had a revision to the mean these last 4 games after an absurdly good start that was nothing like 4 years of history suggested was possible. But maybe. I hope you're right, Goose.

reversion?

[bilsu]

Marquette has played a very tough schedule and I am assuming that has a negative effect on our defense ranking. Our defense would look even better if our competition was much weaker.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Marquette has played a very tough schedule and I am assuming that has a negative effect on our defense ranking. Our defense would look even better if our competition was much weaker.

The KenPom defensive rating is adjusted for competition, so schedule strength is factored in there

And it's now at 23, which I am pleased with! As advertised.

Top 10 over the recent stretch according to that Paint Touches tweet

[mileskishnish72]

Lucky enough to be courtside  Wed. at the Rock. Our defensive intensity, esp. the first half,  was impressive. Hall didn't match it. Bit of a letup second half, but picked it up again when they made a run. In the first half, they got nothing, and when they got it inside Kur was Eberhard Faber @rim.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Lucky enough to be courtside  Wed. at the Rock. Our defensive intensity, esp. the first half,  was impressive. Hall didn't match it. Bit of a letup second half, but picked it up again when they made a run. In the first half, they got nothing, and when they got it inside Kur was Eberhard Faber @rim.

A lot of the 2nd letup really was due to careless turnovers by MU on offense.

[Sturgeon General Warrior]

Our defensive intensity, esp. the first half,  was impressive.

Agreed. We gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half and still held SH to 21 points, which is crazy. Makes you wonder what the ceiling is for this team if we could cut down some of the opponent extra possessions.
 

[brewcity77]

Agreed. We gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half and still held SH to 21 points, which is crazy. Makes you wonder what the ceiling is for this team if we could cut down some of the opponent extra possessions.

One of the stats the team tracks is the ratio of offensive rebounds to opponent turnovers. Basically under the premise that while they're getting extra possessions on the glass, you're taking those back through turnovers.

Marquette is 10-3 when they create more turnovers than offensive rebounds allowed, 1-0 when it's tied, and 4-3 when they create fewer turnovers than offensive rebounds allowed.

[Sturgeon General Warrior]

One of the stats the team tracks is the ratio of offensive rebounds to opponent turnovers. Basically under the premise that while they're getting extra possessions on the glass, you're taking those back through turnovers.

Marquette is 10-3 when they create more turnovers than offensive rebounds allowed, 1-0 when it's tied, and 4-3 when they create fewer turnovers than offensive rebounds allowed.

That’s interesting. Is the implication that the defensive style of trying to force turnovers leaves you out of position to get defensive rebounds? I can see tracking that stat if you’re playing a high risk high reward defensive scheme but I’m not sure that’s what Marquette is doing (sell out for steals etc.) Otherwise that stat just seems like “yeah we gave up a bunch of offensive boards but we created more turnovers so we’re good”

[Newsdreams]

That’s interesting. Is the implication that the defensive style of trying to force turnovers leaves you out of position to get defensive rebounds? I can see tracking that stat if you’re playing a high risk high reward defensive scheme but I’m not sure that’s what Marquette is doing (sell out for steals etc.) Otherwise that stat just seems like “yeah we gave up a bunch of offensive boards but we created more turnovers so we’re good”

Actually yes I think they're going high risk high reward, and yes the aggressive inside D creates lots of offensive rebound opportunities but leaves us out of position.

[brewcity77]

That’s interesting. Is the implication that the defensive style of trying to force turnovers leaves you out of position to get defensive rebounds? I can see tracking that stat if you’re playing a high risk high reward defensive scheme but I’m not sure that’s what Marquette is doing (sell out for steals etc.) Otherwise that stat just seems like “yeah we gave up a bunch of offensive boards but we created more turnovers so we’re good”

Honestly not sure. Rebounding is clearly the weakness of this team, and I've never felt forcing live ball turnovers was the intent as you'd see with a team like St John's or even Shaka's VCU teams.

Often I feel like we give up what end up being meaningless offensive boards. What I mean by that is a team will get 1, 2, 3 offensive boards on a single possession and we still end up getting the stop. I appreciate that this team stays connected even when that happens and is able to string stops.

This was just something I heard coming from the Athletics office (the OReb to turnover ratio, that is).

[MU82]

We still have far too many occasions where MU players don't find a body and box out and/or where our guards don't help rebound.

I like to think that maybe giving up O rebounds and forcing turnovers is somehow connected but as I sit here today it sounds like a "feel good" stat.

[bilsu]

A lot of the 2nd letup really was due to careless turnovers by MU on offense.

and bad shots.

[brewcity77]

We still have far too many occasions where MU players don't find a body and box out and/or where our guards don't help rebound.

I like to think that maybe giving up O rebounds and forcing turnovers is somehow connected but as I sit here today it sounds like a "feel good" stat.

Agreed. While I get the possession aspect, it seems a bit unrelated, though I suppose no different from assist to turnover ratio.

[Sturgeon General Warrior]

We still have far too many occasions where MU players don't find a body and box out and/or where our guards don't help rebound.

This is my impression as well. One thing I’m curious about is guards closing out on shooters, especially on threes, we tend jump and fly by to contest the shot. Is this something players are coached to do? Seems like it completely takes you out of position for long rebounds and doesn’t affect the shooter any more than just trying to face check.

[tower912]

MU is getting out rebounded and the opponents are shooting more free throws.   
IMO, there are two factors at play with the rebounding.    One, with the exception of Lewis, MU's length is skinny.   Two,  MU emphasizes the perimeter pressure and transition so much that it is not automatic for all 5 to collapse and crash.

First world problems.  You have to have something to worry about or you aren't a real fan.

[MU82]

This is my impression as well. One thing I’m curious about is guards closing out on shooters, especially on threes, we tend jump and fly by to contest the shot. Is this something players are coached to do? Seems like it completely takes you out of position for long rebounds and doesn’t affect the shooter any more than just trying to face check.

Fly-bys are not part of close-out defense taught at any level I know of. You are supposed to approach the offensive player with choppy steps at the end, hand high. I can see an occasion where you are desperately trying to close out and the fly-by is the only way to avoid a foul, but having to do that is usually a sign of poor defensive positioning to begin with. I'd be curious to hear what Shaka says about that.

During the mic'd up game, Shaka could be heard urging "all 5 guys to the boards." I'm guessing that's not the only time this season he's had to remind them.

[wadesworld]

The Bucks started coaching the fly by perimeter contest last year. And then won a title. Maybe Shaka and staff picked Budenholzer’s brain on it given they share a building.

[MU82]

The Bucks started coaching the fly by perimeter contest last year. And then won a title. Maybe Shaka and staff picked Budenholzer’s brain on it given they share a building.

NBA teams are filled with shooters, and the court is more spread out because the line is deeper. Defenders are farther away and have longer to run on close-outs. NBA refs are more likely to call 3-shot fouls, too.

But maybe Shaka got his cue from Bud. It would be great to ask him.

[wadesworld]

NBA teams are filled with shooters, and the court is more spread out because the line is deeper. Defenders are farther away and have longer to run on close-outs. NBA refs are more likely to call 3-shot fouls, too.

But maybe Shaka got his cue from Bud. It would be great to ask him.

NBA trends trickle down to college all the time. And college and pro coaches discuss strategy all the time.

[MU82]

NBA trends trickle down to college all the time. And college and pro coaches discuss strategy all the time.

Agreed. About this particular thing, we'll never know unless Shaka either volunteers that information or is asked about it.

But it doesn't help our rebounding to have our defender flying out of bounds rather than doing a classic close-out followed by a box-out.

[DoctorV]

Another GREAT defensive effort despite the loss.

54, 64, 63, 65

That’s the points allowed in the last 4 games against Villanova, X, SH, Providence with 3 on the road.

The rebounding margins were
-9, -3, 0, -9 in the 4 games.

Find a way to clean up the boards and this defense becomes ELITE.

[Newsdreams]

Another GREAT defensive effort despite the loss.

54, 64, 63, 65

That’s the points allowed in the last 4 games against Villanova, X, SH, Providence with 3 on the road.

The rebounding margins were
-9, -3, 0, -9 in the 4 games.

Find a way to clean up the boards and this defense becomes ELITE.

2nd half 40+ pts allowed and 22 second chance pts to 1 = no bueno

[fjm]

2nd half 40+ pts allowed and 22 second chance pts to 1 = no bueno

That isnt good.

But the rugged up thing!? We only
Lost by 2. Our D is that good. Stop those 2nd chance points.

[Dr. Blackheart]

2nd half 40+ pts allowed and 22 second chance pts to 1 = no bueno

17-1 in the 2nd half. Ugh

The reality is, though, Shaka's teams are average to below average at offensive and defensive rebounding rates. This team may be his worst. That said, the emphasis on long defensive possessions (ranked 328th fastest or 31st slowest) is why MU is #22 overall best defense.  Let's hope for improvement on rebounding but know it's not an emphasis.

[tower912]

They had been emphasizing the defense creating more turnovers than offensive rebounds allowed.   

Not today.

[Dr. Blackheart]

They had been emphasizing the defense creating more turnovers than offensive rebounds allowed.   

Not today.

+1

I believe they exceeded the 32 deflections magic number today. To start the year, Shaka said he only has lost once when they exceeded that number (a hot shooting Crean I4) team. Now he has lost to Creighton and today against PC while exceeding. Those missed rebounds matter.

[rocky_warrior]

The KenPom defensive rating is adjusted for competition, so schedule strength is factored in there

And it's now at 23, which I am pleased with! As advertised.

Top 10 over the recent stretch according to that Paint Touches tweet

Back down to #47 per Pomeroy.  Need to pick it up again, and all will be better.

Oddly, currently both Pomeroy and Torvic say MUs offense is (ranked) better than the D.  Which is REALLY surprising given the way the season started.

[MuggsyB]

Before today's game we were #202 in scoring defense.  The bottom line is we haven't been good in recent games.

[NotAnAlum]

Don't know if BE teams have just figured out MUs defense or if we simply aren't playing it as well.  Not creating turn overs, not forcing teams to start their offenses later.  Strange because just like "defense travels" I didn't think defense would get less effective as you played it more.  Not sure what is going on but it's starting to get concerning.

[MU82]

On numerous occasions, Creighton players (especially guards) got around Marquette defenders. It happened repeatedly to Kam, Kolek, Elliott, O-Max, even Morsell.

When that happens, it puts stress on the entire defense. The bigs have to try to cover up the mistake, which leads to interior passes or offensive rebounds. It also led to quite a few of our fouls -- you will never get the benefit of doubt when you are defending from the side of a player.