Vanilla in their defensive looks

[tower912]

Brother Goose referenced that MU has been vanilla in their defensive looks this year.   Rather than sully a different thread, and because we have the rest of the week to kill before the game Saturday, what defensive changes do you want to see going forward?
1.  When possible, when Joplin is on the floor, have him guard a post player.  On the other board, Jop was compared to Justin defensively, meaning not quite quick enough in space to guard quick players.   I get that.
2.  Mix up the pick and roll defense.  Don't always switch all 5 spots.   Try to avoid getting Kolek guarding Sanogo for for example.
3.  Keep going on the traps and double teams.   But don't have your only two non-guards perform the double team, leaving three 6'3 guys to protect the paint.
4.  I like the full court pressure.  The lack of it recently tells me that the guys are getting a little tired, hence my concern about fatigue.

[PGsHeroes32]

Brother Goose referenced that MU has been vanilla in their defensive looks this year.   Rather than sully a different thread, and because we have the rest of the week to kill before the game Saturday, what defensive changes do you want to see going forward?
1.  When possible, when Joplin is on the floor, have him guard a post player.  On the other board, Jop was compared to Justin defensively, meaning not quite quick enough in space to guard quick players.   I get that.
2.  Mix up the pick and roll defense.  Don't always switch all 5 spots.   Try to avoid getting Kolek guarding Sanogo for for example.
3.  Keep going on the traps and double teams.   But don't have your only two non-guards perform the double team, leaving three 6'3 guys to protect the paint.
4.  I like the full court pressure.  The lack of it recently tells me that the guys are getting a little tired, hence my concern about fatigue.

Regarding #4 I mentioned it a bit leading up to the SHU game when someone brought up potential fatigue being an issue late in games.

We have this week of between games for a reason. Thats because only 3 of the other 10 BE teams have played 10 leagues games with us already. Creighton only has 8. Those 3 teams all have 5 or more losses as well.

We just played a grinder of 3 games in 1 week. I think with some rest we will see a little more pressure at times.

[MUfan12]

#2 is a big one for me. The guys need to realize when a switch is a need. They've been punished a bunch on soft switches over the last few games.

[Goose]

tower

I am not sure it is fatigue that caused the D to look more vanilla or the quality of teams they were playing. For about the past month, every time I hear Shaka talk about the defense needing to get better has had me thinking he might have something up his sleeve. MU will likely need to steal a game or two between and early April and quite possibly different defensive looks might be the reason why it happens. IMO, this team is the potential to be much better on defense.

[StillWarriors]

Brother Goose referenced that MU has been vanilla in their defensive looks this year.   Rather than sully a different thread, and because we have the rest of the week to kill before the game Saturday, what defensive changes do you want to see going forward?

4.  I like the full court pressure.  The lack of it recently tells me that the guys are getting a little tired, hence my concern about fatigue.

It seems the bench minutes have been a little shorter in some recent games. I wonder if that also has something to do with it.

[Elonsmusk]

We've definitely reduced the number of full court pressure possessions per game.  I suspect that was from a combination of evaluating risk/reward (turnovers generated versus easy baskets allowed), and to limit fatigue - especially for O-Max as he burned a ton of energy being at the point of the press.

It also seems as though we've gone to more trapping in the halfcourt.  On the whole I feel both of these modifications are good adjustments and will pay dividends as we move forward.

[Lennys Tap]

My preference is laid back zone press that turns into a trap at the 10 second line or baseline.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

We've definitely reduced the number of full court pressure possessions per game.  I suspect that was from a combination of evaluating risk/reward (turnovers generated versus easy baskets allowed), and to limit fatigue - especially for O-Max as he burned a ton of energy being at the point of the press.

It also seems as though we've gone to more trapping in the halfcourt.  On the whole I feel both of these modifications are good adjustments and will pay dividends as we move forward.

I agree with this anaysis.

[Skatastrophy]

You know what, the guys aren't getting lost on defense and they're communicating really well. The gripe may be that we're giving vanilla looks on D, but the execution has been pretty good. That's such a wonderful foundation to build on.

Part of the execution that I'd like to see tightened up is how weak our trapping is. It's like the guys read about trapping instead of ever having experienced effective trapping. I'd like to get a little more aggressive with it instead of giving the ball handler so much space. We'll get there.

[MuggsyB]

Brother Goose referenced that MU has been vanilla in their defensive looks this year.   Rather than sully a different thread, and because we have the rest of the week to kill before the game Saturday, what defensive changes do you want to see going forward?
1.  When possible, when Joplin is on the floor, have him guard a post player.  On the other board, Jop was compared to Justin defensively, meaning not quite quick enough in space to guard quick players.   I get that.
2.  Mix up the pick and roll defense.  Don't always switch all 5 spots.   Try to avoid getting Kolek guarding Sanogo for for example.
3.  Keep going on the traps and double teams.   But don't have your only two non-guards perform the double team, leaving three 6'3 guys to protect the paint.
4.  I like the full court pressure.  The lack of it recently tells me that the guys are getting a little tired, hence my concern about fatigue.

Excellent post Tower.  I pretty much agree with your points.  I would also add that we're getting beat in stretches off the dribble drive and our help is sonetimex late on the  interior.  I would like to see us draw some charges defensively. 

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I personally think the point of our press is to speed up the other team/game.  When a team already plays fast pace it isnt needed as often.  I would add against better teams it is less effective at forcing turnovers.

No one seems tired out there - our rotation is as deep as it gets. 

[4everwarriors]

Oh? Iz Joey back on da teem, hey?

[WarriorFan]

Given that there are two players on the team who - if they get in foul trouble - cannot be replaced with anything near the same level of effectiveness, and given the inconsistency of BEAST refs, Shaka has been smart to protect Oso and Omax with vanilla schemes

If there is ever a minute or two when both are off the court - then is the time to press... with Ross, Mitchell, S. Jones.  But that scenario means Gold would be at the 5 and hopefully Kolek is on the court to provide adult supervision.  Hardly the most efficient offensive lineup unless they get 2 minutes of points off TO's.

Sooo... maybe better to stick with Vanilla.

[MU82]

Oh? Iz Joey back on da teem, hey?

Teeing it up for me, but I'll resist.